The Pan Book of Horror Stories Scrapbook - Johnny MainsA

Artwork: Les Edwards

Not the finished version, but this gives a good idea of what Johnny Mains' The Pan Book of Horror Stories Scrapbook will look like. The Cover is the work of talented artist Les Edwards.

The Pan Book of Horror Scrapbook to go ahead

The great news is that Johnny Mains' kickstarter campaign to raise £5,000 to publish the Pan Book of Horror Scrapbook has succeeded. At the moment the actual amount pledged stands at £5,756.

Pan Book of Horror Stories Scrapbook - Kickstarter Campaign

Johnny Mains has started a kickstarter campaign to raise funds to publish a lavish, in-depth scrapbook on the Pan Book of Horror Stories. So far, with 55 backers, he has pledges totalling £2,584. The target is £5,000 and there are another 19 days to go.  Whether this figure will be achieved is anyone's guess at the moment, but it is within reach.

I must admit to a bit of a vested interest in this as I was in the Eleventh Pan Book of Horror Stories with my first ever professionally published story, The Lurkers in the Abyss, which went on to be chosen by John Pelan for his two-part anthology, The Century's Best Horror Fiction (Cemetery Dance, 2012). It is also the title story for my collection from Shadow Publishing, The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (2013).

If you are interested in this scrapbook being published, just click on this link. Full details are there.

COPIED FROM THE SITE:

"A complete history of The Pan Book of Horror Stories, the infamous anthology series which ran from 1959-1989.

THE PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES SCRAPBOOK will be the result of 5 years in-depth research into this series which has haunted and thrilled me since I was thirteen years old.

Original 60s bookmark

The funds collected for this book will be put towards the following things:
There is still some more research needed and people to interview
Getting a high quality artists to do the book cover and illustrations.
Paying for a professional proof reader.
High-res scanning of artwork, photos, letters etc.
Printing of the actual books which will be to the highest standards available.
The cult of the Pan Horrors continues to fascinate, more than 55 years after they were first published and 25 years after the last volume hit the shelves. This book aims to publish the definitive history of the series, its editors, its authors - with as much information and paperwork that I've been able to gather together since 2009.
I've still got a lot of work to do on it, so have given myself the publication date of December 2015. It's a bit of a wait, but I'm working on this on my own, and have a full time job plus editing the Best British Horror series for Salt Publishing.
I'm the only person I know of bonkers enough to attempt a book such as this, and the main reason I want to do it is so I can be the first person to read it!
This will be a book for any fan of horror, its authors, the history of publishing, social history in a wider context and how a gentleman called Herbert van Thal created a series of books which has been ingrained into the national psyche."