Events and Book Promotion Coming Up

The Barry Humphries auction made over £4 million and some items went for way more than estimated.

Meanwhile, rather than working on another book this year I intend to do some promotional events, mainly for Mansion of Gloom. Copies will be for sale at all events (not sure about the walks!). 

Copies of Mansion of Gloom can be purchased here.

So far we have:

The Last Tuesday Society online talk on Mansion of Gloom April 10 20:00 to 21:30.

The Dracula Society April 26. A talk about Mansion of Gloom. See here.

Salon For The City October 30. See here. An in-person talk at the Horse Hospital on the artist Whistler and his life in London, together with Dr Ian Mudway from Imperial, who will talk about London fogs, so prevalent in the artist's works. Tickets not yet available.

I've agreed to do a talk for the Sohemian Society at some point this year - they are moving from the Wheatsheaf pub to the Fitzroy Tavern over the next few weeks and a new programme is being arranged.

I also said that I'd do a few walks for the Sohemians (probably my last) covering Decadent London, Whistler's Chelsea, and with the expert accompaniment of Bill Redwood and Jim Pennington, William Burroughs in the West End of London. Dates in the summer to be confirmed.

There will also be a Poe-related event for The London Month of the Dead in October.  See here for 2024.

In the autumn I'm hoping to screen the Jean Epstein silent Usher film at a venue in Hastings with live accompaniment by a local musician. Details when available.

Don't forget the Nick Drake event at Westminster Music Library with Richard Morton Jack, James Wilson and Cathi Unsworth. Tickets are getting low so a good time to book through Eventbrite here.

Sohemian Talk in 2025

 

Another talk on Poe and Mansion of Gloom has been pencilled in for the venerable Sohemians in Fitzrovia. I spoke about Sax Rohmer at one of their earliest meetings many years ago and the group later fell into desuetude and suffered like so many others as a result of the COVID period, to be revived very successfully recently by writer Paul Willetts.

More details closer to the time. The talk will take place at the Fitzroy Tavern later in the year.

The Sohemians can be found here.

Meetings used to take place upstairs at The Wheatsheaf in Rathbone Place, historic drinking den of such blog regulars as Julian Maclaren Ross, the Two Roberts, John Minton, Nina Hamnett and of course Aleister Crowley. It was also where Dylan Thomas met his wife Caitlin.

NB The Sohemians will relocate in a few weeks to The Fitzroy Tavern - even more appropriate given the cynosure it became for artist, writers, poets, Bohemians and Fitzrovian lowlife.

Mansion of Gloom available for online purchase on The Big Cartel

Mansion of Gloom: the Unsettling Legacy of Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is now available to purchase online through The Big Cartel Accumulator Press shop. The ideal Christmas present at £25.00 for what is bound to become a collector's item with a limited edition of 500 (50+already sold).

Click here to visit the shop.

The book should also be available from the following shops:

Hastings Hare & Hawthorn

St Leonards Black Gull Books

London Watkins

London Treadwell's Books

Talk in London about Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher'

 

In February next year I shall be delivering a talk based on my new book Mansion of Gloom about the various cultural interpretations and manifestations of Poe's classic tale 'The Fall of the House of Usher'.

It will take place at Westminster Arts Library in central London on Friday 7 February between 6 and 7pm.

It's FREE but you need to reserve a place through Eventbrite as two thirds of tickets have already been taken.

Book a place and find out more here.

Copies of Mansion of Gloom will be on sale at this event. Around 50 (of an edition of 500) have sold since the launch last Saturday.

In the meantime I have one copy for sale on eBay. See here

Watkins Books in London have taken 20 copies and you can purchase through them.

I'm hoping to have online sales of Mansion of Gloom sorted out in a couple of days - probably through The Big Cartel which I've used in the past and seems easy to use and efficient.

There will also be more Mansion of Gloom events in the early months of 2025 which will be announced here and on Facebook.