Mark Valentine


Mark Valentine is an English short story author, editor and essayist on book-collecting.

Works

Short stories

Valentine's short stories have been published in a number of collections and in anthologies. The Collected Connoisseur is about the mystical encounters of an aesthete whose real name is never revealed, some written jointly with John Howard. ‘The Descent of the Fire’, a story in this series by Valentine & Howard, was included in the 2004 World Fantasy Award winning anthology Strange Tales edited by Rosalie Parker. Herald of the Hidden collects stories about Ralph Tyler, a Northamptonshire folklorist.
Other short story collections include Selected Stories and Seventeen Stories. His story ‘Vain Shadows Flee’ was chosen for Best British Short Stories 2016 edited by Nicholas Royle. Secret Europe and Inner Europe are shared collections with John Howard of stories set in real and fictional European locations.

Studies and essays

He has written studies of Arthur Machen and Sarban. He also wrote numerous articles for Book and Magazine Collector, and his essays on book-collecting, minor writers and related subjects have been collected in Haunted By Books and A Country Still All Mystery.

As editor

Valentine has edited or introduced over forty books, mostly in the supernatural fiction field, including editions of work by Walter de la Mare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Saki, J. Meade Falkner and others. He has also edited anthologies, including The Werewolf Pack, The Black Veil and The Scarlet Sin – Stories for Dorian Gray.
From 1985 to 1988, he edited Source, a journal about ancient holy wells. He then co-edited Aklo, a journal of the fantastic, and edited Wormwood, a biannual journal of fantastic literature, from 2003 to 2022.

Publishing

In small press publishing, with Roger Dobson he ran Caermaen Books, principally devoted to titles about Arthur Machen and, with Jo Valentine, he has issued handmade artist books under the Valentine & Valentine imprint. Valentine also published the first book by Joel Lane, a chapbook titled The Foggy, Foggy, Dew.

Recordings

Valentine has also issued sound recordings. As The Mystic Umbrellas, he contributed "Journey to the West", a keyboard piece, to the Deleted Funtime tape, and as Radio Dromedary contributed treated shortwave recordings to National Grid 2. He also issued The Sound of the Sea/The Sound of Pendeen Watch, a sound recording of the sea and a Cornish lighthouse foghorn.

Online writing

He is co-writer of the literary blog Wormwoodiana with Douglas A. Anderson, with occasional contributions from others.

Books

Fiction

  • In Violet Veils, Tartarus Press, 1999
  • Masques and Citadels, Tartarus Press, 2003
  • The Rite of Trebizond and Other Tales, with John Howard, Ex Occidente Press, 2008
  • The Nightfarers, Ex Occidente Press, 2009. Reprinted Tartarus Press, 2020
  • The Seven Treasures of Bucharest, Ex Occidente Press, 2009
  • The Collected Connoisseur, with John Howard, Tartarus Press, 2010
  • The Mascarons of the Late Empire & Other Studies, Passport Levant, 2010
  • The Peacock Escritoire, Passport Levant, 2011
  • Secret Europe, with John Howard, Ex Occidente Press, 2012
  • Selected Stories, Swan River Press, 2012
  • Herald of the Hidden & Other Stories, Tartarus Press, 2013
  • Seventeen Stories, Swan River Press, 2013
  • The Uncertainty of All Earthly Things, Zagava, 2018
  • Inner Europe, with John Howard, Tartarus Press, 2018
  • Powers and Presences, with John Howard, Sarob Press, 2020
  • The Fig Garden, Tartarus Press, 2022
  • The Peacock Escritoire, Tartarus Press, 2023
  • Lost Estates, Swan River Press, 2024

    Poetry

  • At Dusk, Ex Occidente Press 2012
  • Star Kites: Poems & Versions, Tartarus Press, 2013
  • Astarology, Salò Press, 2021

    Non Fiction

  • Arthur Machen, Seren Books, 1985
  • Time, a Falconer: A Study of Sarban, Tartarus Press, 2010
  • Haunted by Books, Tartarus Press, 2015
  • A Country Still All Mystery, Tartarus Press, 2017
  • The Secret Ceremonies: Critical Essays on Arthur Machen, Hippocampus Press, 2019
  • A Wild Tumultory Library, Tartarus Press, 2019
  • Sphinxes and Obelisks, Tartarus Press, 2021
  • The Thunderstorm Collectors, Tartarus Press, 2024