DARK MEMORIES

One day in 1964, my 15-year old self spotted this volume on one of those revolving book-stands outside a newsagent's shop...

I had no idea who Frank Belknap Long was, but the name intrigued me...

'Frank Long' wouldn't have been half as interesting, but Frank Belknap Long –– now that really was a name!

Then there was the title – THE DARK BEASTS – and those beguiling words "spine-chilling tales" and "science-fiction" (like many another 15-year-old, I was an obsessive consumer of both!) and another curious conjunction of words, THE HOUNDS OF TINDALOS...

Tindalos!  

Where was Tindalos? Or, then again, who was Tindalos? I had to know...

Obviously, I was in no small measure enticed by the 'dark beasts' depicted flying, clawing and scrambling across the cover. I didn't know it then, but I had – for the first time – encountered the bizarre, melancholic imagination of that brilliant illustrator (and writer), Edward Gorey.

So began another satisfyingly weird diversion in my youthful literary travels.

I won't bore you with facts about Frank Belknap Long – although his story is an interesting one...

I won't even attempt to suggest you might read any of his extensive output as a writer – although it is pretty much all available...

Nor will I try to seduce you into discovering the bizarre world of the man who drew the cover art for The Dark Beasts or his many books – although they are certainly worth a look...

It is enough if I have mildly, briefly, stirred your curiosity –– as mine was stirred, standing outside a newsagent's shop, looking at one of those revolving book-stands, that day fifty-four years ago...