The Library

Welcome Kevin. And on behalf of all the contributors I offer you the warm embrace of friendship. I similarly was initially drawn to DW via his Black Magic books and their covers before moving onto the wonderful discovery his other works. I wonder if most current DW readers were first attracted by hi...

Cheers Shane. I know it's trivial, but the opening theme music to Professor Cushing's Crypt of the Macabre is the opening to the song Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. The very weak Dennis Wheatley connection to this is that the lyrics to that song were allegedly inspired by the DW black magic books t...

I have found another interesting podcast series hosted by a couple of American guys who are obsessed with British horror films. The series is called Professor Cushing's Crypt of the Macabre. The home page can be found at http://cryptofthemacabre.blogspot.co.uk/ It is interesting to hear a US persepe...

Hi folks, I've notice that 3 DW books are now available to buy on kindle. 2 in French (La Découverte de l'Atlantide and Territoire Interdit) and 1 in Spanish (La Carrera de Roger Brook). It's interesting that the first available DW books on kindle are not in English. I'm slightly disappointed as I ...

I loved it, Eric. I particularly liked Carnival of the Damned and xenward - Incantation - they remind me of Klaus Schulze or a more ambient Art Zoyd. I always read the DW black magic stories to Klaus Schulze music as the tracks are usually about 60 minutes long and provide that sinister atmosphere f...

Thanks Steve. I've followed the conventions over the years with some envy. You don't know me but I feel that I know you all from the convention reports and submissions to this forum.

As we are on the subject of the convention - when are arrangements usually made for the attendance?

Yes indeed. That's the plan - I booked annual leave well in advance. I'm looking forward to having someone to discuss DW with - I don't know any DW fans personally.

Of course we must mention the most famous DW - Heavy Metal Connection. BLACK SABBATH, with legendary lead singer Ozzy Osbourne. Legend has it that in the late 60s one of the band members was a big DW fan and suggested the band use his black magic themes as a concept for their band. Wikipedia has an ...

This might actually be the final push for me to get a kindle. The small print of the Heron books really test the limitation of my eyes.

Just to clarify - does being published through Bloomsbury Reader mean they are ebooks that you can get via kindle?

I'm of the opinion that DW was a fast learner. Most DW opinions are based upon The Devil Rides Out - his most famous work. It's also one of if his first. By the time you get to The Quest of Julian Day - and especially The Launching of Roger Brook 8 years later - his writing technique had advanced an...

What a splendid evening I have had. The rest of the family decided they were going to watch Ant and Dec which left me with a couple of spare hours knowing I wouldn’t be disturbed. I knew immediately what I was going to do – a treat that I had been saving for such an occasion. I opened a bottle o...

I recently acquired a first edition of The Second Seal and written inside is For Mr S Price, Best Wishes, Dennis Wheatley.

I was about to throw the packaging away when I noticed that the sender had written on the back "from Mr J Price" with his address. Out of curiosity I emailed the sender to see if he had any knowledge of Mr S Price and in what circumstances he had met DW.

He answered that his father was the Mr S Price and that he had a number of DW signed books. Sidney Price was the head buyer for Constance Spry and his son thinks that DW was a regular customer of Constance Spry.

I must confess I have never heard of Constance Spry but I asked my Mum who said she was a very famous flower arranger and writer of cookery books.

I have found reference to Constance Spry in a DW book. Towards the end of Chapter 12 (A tangled skein) of the Satanist is the following sentence: "As she was evidently out and might not return till lunch time, he rang up Constance Spry’s, ordered a big bunch of roses to be sent to her by hand, and dictated a card to go with them."

The way DW casually refers to Constance Spry but not her profession confirms how famous she must have been as a florist “brandâ€￾ back in 1960 when the Satanist was published. In which case it's not surprising that DW would have been a customer. I wonder if her services are used in any other DW novels.

Cheers.

I add this just for completeness. There is a 5 minute video excerpt of the Tina Rosenberg lecture. We probably all guessed right - it identifies Charles as the third voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWpUukxvQ5w

Not having had the pleasure of attending a convention (an omission I intend to correct this year), nor met any of the fine DW scholars that have attended I'll have to guess who the third one is. Clearly DW related podcasts are few - I am struggling to find any further ones of quality. However, this ...