The new logo's final Dagon Press. Courtesy by Bernardo Cicchetti Today, after five years of activity, it is time to take stock, and to look and plan the future with others, and many eyes, but always with modesty, passion and, yes, the great desire and commitment that we have characterized so far. But
proceed in order.
We must say that the results obtained, in light of the uncertain times and crisi che stiamo vivendo e delle rivoluzioni culturali in atto, specie nel campo dell’editoria a seguito della diffusione capillare di Internet, e con la nascita di nuovi supporti di lettura (ebook, ecc.), non ci sono stati favorevoli; in alcuni casi siamo andati anche in perdita, essendo noi una piccolissima, minuscola realtà che vive di vita propria, senza una distribuzione in libreria, e quindi quasi invisibile all’interno del più vasto e articolato panorama editoriale e professionale italiano.
Questo, sia chiaro, non ci scoraggia dal continuare la nostra attività, e seguiteremo ad andare avanti, nonostante tutto e tutti, lungo la strada intrapresa, con rinnovato impegno e la passione forte che ci ha accompagnato fin beginning. The Dagon Press, in fact, was not designed with a profit and has no economic self-interest to look after, only moved by the passion of the undersigned and those few trusted friends and associates who are with me, with enthusiasm, and we want to say, totally disinterested in this exciting adventure. So the recent losses, on the one hand, we demoralize the failure of response to our passionate commitment, on the other we have an added challenge to continue with renewed vigor and further, to offer exclusive, high-quality books, authors and non-fiction in a sector, such as that of fantasy and horror, that today in Italy leaves the field desolation more complete ... or vampire teen romance and more involved in sexual acrobatics to frighten. This without being polemic (just a pinch).
It 's a waste land , this (leaving aside the more prosaic and quoting Eliot profiqua Lovecraft), a heat blasted , a wasteland that we will try to make it less empty, for those few fans and lovers still appreciate the good genre literature, and who dream of being able to find even in Italy quality publications.
will be necessary for us to adjust a bit 'shooting, and make some necessary changes that hopefully will make us competitive and adapted to new times e alle nuove esigenze dei lettori moderni. Naturalmente, ciò sarà possibile con il supporto di voi appassionati e la rinnovata fiducia di chi finora ci ha sempre seguito.
Le novità che si prospettano sono tante. Ma procediamo con ordine...
Dopo l’estate presenteremo quello che, senza timore di esagerare, sarà un evento editoriale dell’anno. Pubblicheremo infatti l’antologia “definitiva” di un vero classico della letteratura fantastica, Edward Lucas White, un autore finora ingiustamente (e criminabilmente) ignorato nel nostro paese. Curato e tradotto da un esperto come Bernardo Cicchetti, il volume (qualcosa che non esiste nemmeno negli Usa) è attualmente in fase di revisione e presentarà, in a reasoned and almost complete, and new translations in full, all the best horror stories, fantastic and strange writer.
Edward Lucas White (1866-1934) is considered by experts as one of the greatest writers of fiction fantasy and horror, and today remains best known for writing "Lukundoo, one of the most impressive stories of supernatural literature, a macabre story of the African magic that the climax, raw and realistic, makes it highly persuasive. And it's more terrifying. Lovecraft himself, an admirer of White, considered him one of the most representative writers of horror 900, e di lui ha scritto che “... White sa conferire ai suoi racconti un pregio molto singolare: una sorta di fascino subdolo che possiede una sua peculiare capacità di convincere.” Oltre a “Lukundoo”, White ha scritto capolavori come “The Snout” (Il Muso), “The House of Nightmare” (La Casa dell’Incubo), “Sorcery Island” (L’Isola Stregata), “The Daeth Rattle” (Il Rantolo della Morte) e molti altri, tutti pregni di un senso di inquietudine e alienità che ne fanno dei capolavori assoluti del genere weird.
La grossa raccolta (quasi 500 pp.) che andremo a pubblicare li comprende tutti, e presenterà l’intero contenuto original anthology Lukundoo and Other Stories (1927), plus a selection of stories most beautiful and significant collections The Song of the Sirens and Other Stories (1934) and Sixth and Other Strange Tales (2001), with the rare introduction and afterword to the first two of the same White and those gathered in support of short stories, rare photos and documents about the writer that frame the life and work.
It 's a great amount of commitment and value, therefore, what we are about to submit a must for scholars, experts, or simply fans of good fantasy literature of the classical genre. Given its specialized nature, the book, published exclusively by us, will be controlled and limited print run, and you can only buy it directly, email reservation at drafting. Then print as many copies will be based on requests. Hurry to book it then, to now only verbally. Only then will you ensure a copy!
remains to say that, given the special occasions, the volume will be printed in hardcover and in paperback as the previous ones, with solid cover and dust jacket. This is exclusive and limited printing (In addition to the intrinsic beauty of the object itself) will determine the future value of the book, destined to become a collector's volume area.
If the response from the fans, particularly those of iron, will be positive, as we hope, will continue on this path by offering an exclusive rare texts of other classics of the fantastic, unpublished or forgotten works of writers who have left a permanent mark in the genre. Cicchetti with his friend (and one of the few real experts like we have in Italy and - rara avis! - Disinterested scholar) is already doing more than a little thought sull'inquietante Medusa EH Visiak, visionary masterpiece of novel-Hodgson and Verne, and the fabled and frightening (for their extreme rarity) Tales of the Grotesque of a titan forget how Lewis.
books, writers, and incredible masterpieces, then, in Italy things that never arrived and never reach you, but thanks to the real experts and editorial small businesses like ours, outside the official circuits of publishers and more sterile of profit and market.
And speaking of experts is in the finishing straight and comes out in late summer, edited by Luigi Musolino, the second volume of the series "The Giants of the Weird" dedicated to Carl Richard Jacobi , with 16 other stories chosen by the great fantasist of Weird Tales, arranged chronologically and introduced by valuable notes by the curator. As a bonus, the volume present the most complete bibliography of the author of the work world, illustrated with dozens of pictures and drawings reproduced from the original pulp era. A work of considerable philological reconstruction for our kind, always abused and neglected, and this edition also intended to enter the publishing history of the fantastic in Italy.
After Jacobi, the series will continue with other classics related to Weird Tales and Circle Lovecraft , and are already in preparation or under study volumes dedicated to Donald Wandrei , Frank Belknap Long , Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch , August Derleth, Henry Kuttner , and others. After years of research and collecting material tight, even the most rare, we are not lacking, and unpublished works abound! And let us now aching notes. These relate particularly to the magazine Lovecraftian Studies, which, after eleven numbers drawn, can claim to be tested in its results ... And these are not rewarding for us nor comforting. After a start in that figure stood at about sixty fixed readers (I mean readers, not buyers) the transition to the professional format, which occurred with no 8, was very unfavorable in terms of numbers: with the price increase (inevitable to propose a professional, well-printed and packaged) buyers have dropped significantly, issue after issue, touching down with the peak in the number 11. For this will inevitably be some changes positioned in the exit strategies of the magazine, subject to the idea of \u200b\u200bpresenting the public with a professional and quality. Back to the fanzine format would be a failure, that we are not willing to admit, and a significant step backwards, not we are willing to do. Here, then, that the next No 12, SL renews itself, maintaining its tradition of ethics and aesthetics, but with the times and new technologies of reading. A sprawling metamorphosis that will focus on its transformation / transaction / hybridization in ebook format. The new numbers, coming out, it will be presented in electronic form and, as a way to try to relaunch the magazine, will be offered FREE as a downloadable ebook. We will say soon what are the ways to do it, and while we anticipate that this is twice the number of over 200 pages, chock full of interesting articles, essays and reviews on all aspect revolves around Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos. A number that, to recover the costs (in constant increase for short runs such as ours), in printed format would have to be sold at not less than 18/20 euro, and instead we're going to offer free of charge to readers.
After this small experiment, by No. 13 to return to the usual format, combining But the paper version, for those who prefer it, even the ebook format, which will be on sale at a minimum price. With this we hope to bring more readers, even those young people more accustomed to the new technological world that e-readers, etc. iPad., Discovery and fascinating study of the Master of the literature of cosmic fear. Also under
Lovecraftian, we will take a project so far remained "frozen", the anthology written by Italian authors, in their intentions, the couple would have to do with his female counterpart, The Daughters of Cthulhu . Unfortunately, the latter book, published a year ago, although is unique in its kind, has achieved very little success, and this has adversely affected our finances making us decide to postpone the release of the other anthology, though it was ready for some time. Publicly apologize for this delay with the authors involved (including three Awards Urania) who had kindly agreed to come aboard the project and be part of it. Given the high quality of stories received, the anthology is also proposed to publish two other publishers, more widely known, but we got no response and then proceed as it was our original intention: the book we'll publish it, ebook formats or on paper (or maybe both) over the next year.
But things traveling at the speed of light at the Dagon Press, and we will not stop here. Another project is already underway, and another series will soon see the light. And it will be of some historical importance in the field of Italian genre of horror literature: stiamo infatti lavorando per pubblicare una ristampa ragionata, con i testi riveduti e corretti, dei migliori capolavori della mitica prima serie de I Racconti di Dracula . Questa serie di romanzi di genere fantastico, pubblicata dall’editrice ERP e uscita tra il 1959 e il 1965, è oggi sconosciuta ai più, e quindi rarissima e introvabile, ma grazie a Sergio Bissoli, collezionista e maggior esperto italiano, che curerà la collana, li abbiamo riscoperti e rispolverati della patina di polvere e dalle ragnatela che li aveva coperti. Ed è stata una scoperta incredibile! Come aprire uno scrigno pieno di corruschi gioielli... Le storie presentate in quelle pagine, oggi ingiallite dal tempo, sono vivid, full of imagination. And strange, fantastic, weird beyond words ...
result of an exceptional group of authors and favorable circumstances in the inimitable 60s, Tales of Dracula time had fired the imagination and the nightmares of many passionate readers. On those dark books were formed by their own admission, even today's well-known writers such as Valerio Evangelisti and Danilo Arona, to name two who have succeeded in renewing and advancing the genre of the fantastic in Italy. So be patient a bit ', and read the fine. Meanwhile, we can say that it will begin with an important name: the great Frank Graegorius , the mysterious writer who in her novels (over 100) had transfused his deep knowledge of the occult and black magic, creating works of amazing atmosphere and unfathomable mysteries. The first release will present three of his works long forgotten ...
Still other projects are in the works, some top secret , like the one that is caring for his friend Umberto Sisia, and which involves the biggest names in comics and illustration Italian ... But
time to time ... Our
, we repeat, is not a professional publishing house, and is carried out by enthusiasts who, like me, you work in free time at their disposal. For the projects above will be subject to some small, is absolutely unjustified delay. The Press was founded in Dagon amateur spirit, and is free from constraints and profit. And being a non-profit, the prices that our publications are directed exclusively to the recovery of printing costs (when we get!), Which runs as small as ours are enormous. And if in the end, removed the free copies which, inevitably, they leave between employees and so on. and significant impact on costs, there is a small gain, the sum is re-used to finance other projects and books.
And I end on a more personal note: I had creato questa piccola realtà editoriale mosso unicamente dalla passione, passione per Lovecraft, per il fantastico, per i bei libri e le edizioni curate con tutti i crismi, devo qui personalmente ringraziare tutti coloro che, come me, si adoperano per far vivere la Dagon Press in questa maniera libera e disinteressata. In particolare devo ringraziare gli amici Andrea Bonazzi (ideatore e curatore dei nostri spazi web), Luigi Musolino (grande appassionato, teorico e ottimo scrittore di new weird ), Davide Mana (sua tra l’altro la più bella recensione di SL, qui: http://strategieevolutive.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/studi-lovecraftiani-11/ !), Umberto Sisia (Which has energy to spare, and analyzing gender as few can do), Matthew Bocci (Extraordinary designer, cover artist's official now SL), Scarlett Cirigliano (tireless translator). And then all the other friends and associates who have accompanied me and accompany me in this strange, difficult, but exciting adventure: Massimo Berruti, Stefano Mazza, Luca Foffano, Fabio Calabrese, Lorenzo Mastropierro, James Bencistà, Renzo Giorgetti, David Ross, Bruno Gargano, Helvetius Sciallis, Gianluca formwork, Fabrice Marcon, Francesco Cortona, Massimo Soumaré. And I apologize if I forgot someone! We close
signaling with pleasure the birth due piccole ma coraggiose nuove realtà editoriali affini alla Dagon Press, che seguiremo con interesse e alle quali auguriamo la miglior fortuna, nonchè di ritagliarsi presto un loro spazio all’interno della caotica scena italiana legata al fantastico. Le Edizioni XII ( http://www.xii-online.com/ ) che pubblicano libri di qualità e che svolgono un lavoro pregevole e unico per promuovere talenti italiani, autori di narrativa fantastica che hanno davvero qualcosa da dire nel genere. Questo gruppo di competenti e agguerriti appassionati ora si apprestano a portare in Italia anche uno scrittore di culto come Brian Keene! Seguiteli, e state con loro, non ve ne pentirete.
Un augurio va anche new editions Hypnos friend Andrea Giusto ( http://www.hypnosweb.com/News.html ), which arise in the wake of the homonymous fanzine pleasant and in tune with our tastes and our literary choices. If you like good fantasy el'horror "doc", to classic authors such as HH Ewers, Jean Ray, Robert Chambers, Fitz-James O'Brien, etc.., Well, here you will find bread and gruesome stories at will for your canine sharp.
Definitely, it is a good time to revive a culture of Fantasy in Italy, good Fantastico (the real one), which is free from partisanship, flattery, opportunities and narrative market.
Seize the moment and not let it pass!
Happy weird at all.
Pietro Guarriello
PS: If you have editorial proposals related to our line of publications, or you want to collaborate in some way in our initiatives, with translations, essays, articles, reports, reviews and more, please contact: studilovecraft@yahoo.it
