Bloomsbury to re-publish Dennis Wheatley

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Darren
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Post by Darren »

I know, I know - there is so much more to DW than The Devil Rides Out, but I couldn't help myself. TDRO was the first DW book I read and it is now the first DW ebook I have read. It's like going down to the pub and having a few pints of best bitter with some old friends. Or relaxing with the family with a mug of hot strong coffee and a piece of chocolate fudge cake. Or snuggling down in your favourite comfy chair in front of a warm fire nursing a bottle of scotch. Revisiting TDRO is one of life's luxuries you have to give in to every now and again. (At this point I exhale a long, relaxed sigh - but I don't know how to spell it.)

No, it isn't spoilt with typing errors. And no, it hasn't been edited to bring it in line with 2013 correctness. There is a new introduction by Dominic Wheatley.

I have placed it in my ebook library on an eshelf alongside Frankenstein, Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, A Picture of Dorian Gray, E. A. Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. One of the great things about ereaders is that you can own one ebook and have it on lots of different eshelves. So TDRO is also on my DW eshelf as well.

Enjoy.
Regards,

Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

I'm going to approach these new releases of ebooks the same as you, Eric. I haven't decided which one I'm going to read next, but after getting TDRO out of my system I'm going to catch up with the ones I haven't read yet. I'll still buy them in hard book form as I find them - but for the actual reading experience I'm hooked on kindle.
Regards,

Darren.
Darren
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Post by Darren »

There is a very positive review of The Forbidden Territory by the highly regarded Times Literary Supplement (TLS). It can be seen via the following link:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothar ... atley.html

The reviewer conveniently provides a link to this site at the end of the article.
Regards,

Darren.
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Thanks for that, Darren !

But for your post I would have completely missed that review, and its rather pleasing reference to the website !
Charles
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Post by ericmocata »

The Forbidden Territory was one of the first books of Wheatley's that I read that wasn't black magic/occult/fantasy related. I think the first that wasn't occult related that I read was They Found Atlantis, but I figured I'd like that one. When I started reading Forbidden Territory, I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it due to the lack of subject material that usually appeals to me, figuring that I would get through it, albeit rather slowly and with a lot of effort, but I tore through that book and enjoyed it thoroughly. I think it was that book that made me a full-fledged Wheatley fan, rather than just a fan of some of his books. To this date, I have enjoyed all the books of his that I have read to some degree, though, obviously, some are better than others.

It is great that somebody else in this day and age sees that it is just a great story. I remember a particularly exciting sequence with a shootout in an old house or something along those lines. I think I should read it again.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Wow--a wonderful (and quite fair) write-up!
duffellbag
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Post by duffellbag »

Wow!

Wheatley on Kindle, is it not wonderful everyone? Suddenly (almost) we now have many of the fiction titles on the amazon store. Just think, many of us lamented the lack of Wheatley in current publication; the ebook market has rectified this. Many of us remember the days (in the UK anyway) of regularly seeing the Wheatley paperback titles in WH Smith etc. The ebook, being the new paperback, with similar reasons for popularity, cheapness and portability, Its the 1970s all over again.

Lets celebrate the fact Wheatley now has his novels back in "print" and probably here to stay! :D
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Well, I saw the first DW title from Bloomsbury in the U.S. today--and bought it! Eighty years after its first appearance, I have a new first printing of The Forbidden Territory.

I'm not happy to see the words "edited by Miranda Vaughan Jones" on the title page, but I guess some "correcting" of the texts was inevitable. (On page 1, Simon's "pronounced nose" has lost the original "Semitic," and I'm sure you could find a dozen similar examples. Unfortunately, some of the changes are pointless. In the original, when Simon and the Duke first take shelter in the Tobolsk synagogue, Simon tells the Rabbi that the Duke "is a goy," but like a father to him. Now Simon tells the Duke that the Rabbi is Jewish, as if it were not obvious.) Also, some spelling and punctuation are modernized--although Jones can't decide whether Rabbi is capitalized or not. However, for the first time ever, the Duke's name is consistently spelled through the entire series!

I looked at, but did not buy, The Devil Rides Out (a second printing already). Oddly enough, the numerological tables--missing in that Prion omnibus--are restored to the text.
CharlesAdmin
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Post by CharlesAdmin »

Dear Jim,

I had not realised that the books had been 'edited' ... glad you pointed that out.

I know that you and I have long held a fascination for how De Richleau's name was spelt differently in The Forbidden Territory, and while a historical curiosity has disappeared, I am kind of glad that my favourite hero's name is now spelt 'correctly' in one of my favourite novels.

Any chance of our seeing you at the Convention ?

Very best wishes !
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Charles (or anyone else who might know), the DW Wikipedia article says "His availability and influence declined following his death, partly owing to difficulties of reprinting his works because of copyright problems." Weren't all the copyrights assigned to Brook-Richleau Ltd? What complicated the situation (if we can say here)?
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Jim,

I am not aware of any complicated copyright issues in relation to the majority of DW's works. Unless someone knows something I don't on this (they may well), perhaps that passage in the Wikipedia entry should be amended.

The filming rights - at least for The Devil Rides Out, and possibly for others - may however be a slightly different story.

All best as always ... and standing to be enlightened !
Charles
Jim
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Post by Jim »

I just spent a few days in Vancouver (British Columbia). While the bookstore situation there is not exactly inspiring--in the whole downtown area, I saw only two shops carrying new titles--I was able to get a first printing of the new Bloomsbury TDRO, so I was happy about that.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

I was surprised to see today that Matthew Coniam's Dennis Wheatley Project has new content...for the first time in over two years! He's only gotten up to the book (and film of) Uncharted Seas, but the most interesting thing came a few days before that: a link to an interview with Miranda Vaughan Jones, who is supervising the editing of the new Bloomsbury editions of DW's novels. The interview is almost two years old, but I have not seen anything about it here, and it is definitely worth reading:

https://bloomsburyreader.wordpress.com/ ... s-wheatley

It's funny that the first comment on the page accuses Bloomsbury of exactly what she says they are trying to avoid. I wonder if that's why Matthew has removed the function to make comments on his own blog...
Charles
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Post by Charles »

Very interesting, Jim - thanks for sharing that ! I had not seen it before.

Best wishes !
Charles
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