THE FANTASTICAL ART OF JIM PITTS.
Review by Trevor Kennedy for Phantasmagoria Magazine.
The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts is a bumper hardback dedicated to the
life works so far of the man of the title, one of the great fantasy
artists of our time. On top of that, it also serves as a history of
sorts of the much esteemed British Fantasy Society (and related
publications) and the early days of these guys at the forefront of the
movement, highlighting their good times, and quite often difficulties,
over the last almost half a century.
Jim Pitts
and his exquisitely detailed artworks are our guides through this
fascinating and hugely important period for the UK fantasy/horror scene.
And I loved every single page of it!
Jim’s life, from his
working class Northern English beginnings and folk band days with ‘The
Jim Pitts Folk Quartet’ to the present day, is chronicled over 212 pages
alongside a bonanza of his macabre works and written contributions from
BFS stalwarts such as
David A. Riley, David A.
Sutton,
Ramsey Campbell,
Stephen Jones,
Brian Lumley,
Adrian Cole,
Peter Coleborn
and more, fascinating real life stories concerning what really must
have been a golden era for these pioneers, especially in the 1970s and
‘80s. Reading about the difficulties they faced back then just made me
realise how lucky wannabe publishers/writers like myself get it these
days. My first job when I left school was with a printing firm, so I
know only too well how expensive lithographic printing was, and probably
still is.
On the subject of Jim’s artwork itself, firstly I
must state that I am no art expert, especially from a technical
viewpoint. But for me, as a layman, I found his numerous pieces included
on the pages to be brilliantly atmospheric, haunting and Lovecraftian. I
particularly enjoyed his representations of certain M.R. James’
stories, some of his Cthulhu mythos-based creations, his cracking
portrait of Vincent Price in Witchfinder General, along with a classic
Universal monster or two. On a personal level, Jim’s artwork also
brought with it warm feelings of nostalgia for my own childhood when I
would have read some of the various publications referenced, including
Fantasy Tales and the B.F.S. Bulletins, mailed to me in the 1980s by my
then pen-pal cousin Dave Carson, another fantasy artist also mentioned
in the book and associate of Jim and the aforementioned contributors.
For me to now be just a small part of this scene is the greatest of
personal honours.
This is a very special book for many reasons,
so if you have even a passing interest in fantasy artwork (especially
that of Jim Pitts obviously) or the recent history of the UK weird
fiction scene, then you really need to grab a copy for yourself as soon
as humanly possible!
A limited number of 250 signed copies of
The Fantastical Art of Jim Pitts have been published by Parallel
Universe Publications. If you are interested in acquiring a copy you can
contact them through the following:
Parallel Universe Publications
David A. Riley; Linden Riley
Head Office: 130 Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, BB5 3DR, UK.
Email: paralleluniversepublications@gmx.co.uk or davidariley@gmx.co.uk
A future issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine (number 10, late May 2019)
will feature interviews with Jim Pitts, David A. Riley and David A.
Sutton.
Got to watch the final episode of the second season of Fauda today,
which started with our hero Doron in perhaps the stickiest postion an
Israel counter-terrorist agent could find himself! I love this series.
The main characters actually for once look the part. In other words
they're not your usual Hollywood pretty-faced heroes and action men (and
women). The photography and shots of the Israeli and Palestinian areas
are fascinating glimpses into what it looks like there, and I
particularly liked the interplay between the many, sometimes overlapping
factions at work in the area. Very much recommended - and thanks again
to David Dubrow for putting me onto this. 
