J. N. Williamson's Illustrated Masques

Edited by Mort Castle and David Campiti

The Masques series of anthologies, published from 1984 to 2006 and edited by J. N. Williamson, presented superlative work by established and emerging horror writers, including Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Charles Grant, Ray Russell, Charles Beaumont, Tom Monteleone, Robert Bloch, F. Paul Wilson, Ramsey Campbell, Richard Christian Matheson, Paul Dale Anderson, and Robert R. McCammon. "Scare me!" was editor Williamson's principal guideline. The books won critical, popular, and international success, with editions published in Spain, Germany, Italy, and France.

In 1992, Mort Castle and David Campiti, working with J.N. Williamson, produced two 48 page issues of J.N. Williamson's Masques, presenting Masques stories in "graphic album" format. The "deluxe comics" (perfect bound) were published by Innovation Books, a comic book publisher. Illustrators included Mark Evans, Ted Naifeh, Mike Okamoto, Tim Vigil, Jose Pimentel, and Matt Thompson.

But the "comic book boom" was going bust -- and the "graphic novel" still had to await Art Spiegelman's winning the Pulitzer for Maus and Alan Moore's Watchmen being named one of the top "100 Novels of the 20th Century" by Time Magazine to become legitimate. Few copies of J.N. Williamson's Masques were printed, far fewer comics stores were around to sell them, and within a year, the publisher Innovation itself was gone from the scene.

Now, J. N. Williamson's Illustrated Masques triumphantly returns in a 112 page beautifully produced collectible from Gauntlet Press.

- All original art digitally restored.

- New prose features from Mort Castle, David Campiti, and original Masques publisher John Maclay.

- A brand new, 16 page story: F. Paul Wilson's macabre masterpiece "Soft."

- A "continuity cover" by Clive Barker, "The Skull Tree," previously the cover image for the fifth and final edition of Masques

Here's what you'll find in this collection:

Paul Dale Anderson "Better Than One"
Illustrated by Jose Pimentel

Mort Castle "If You Take My Hand, My Son"
Illustrated by Mark Evans

Mort Castle "A Billion Monstrosities"
Illustrated by Tim Vigil

Stephen King "Popsy"
Illustrated by Matt Thompson

Robert R. McCammon "Nightcrawlers"
Illustrated by Ted Naifeh & Scott Rockwell

Wayne Allen Sallee "Rail Rider"
Illustrated by Mike Okamoto

Robert Weinberg "The Crushing Death"
Illustrated by Mark Evans

F. Paul Wilson "Soft"
Illustrated by The Artists of Glass House Graphics

Unsigned trade edition

Limited hardcover edition limited to 500 signed (by all authors except Stephen King and Clive Barker and most of the graphicc artists) and numbered copies with optional slipcase (bonded bound slipcase will be beveled with the Clive Barker cover art inset on one site)