Leigh Brackett:

Picking up where 'Martian Quest’ left off, this volume collects 12 more tales of strange adventures on other worlds from the undisputed “Queen of Space Opera.”

Drawn from Planet Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories pulp magazines, this tome revels in the 1946 titular collaboration with Ray Bradbury–who also contributes an original poem about Leigh Brackett as well as an essay about meeting & working with Brackett.

Harry Turtledove, the modern master of “alternate history,” provides the introduction and the book is adorned with Frank Kelly Freas’ vintage illustrations from the 1953 reprint of “Lorelei of the Red Mist.”

Continuing on from 'Lorelei of the Red Mist', this volume collects the final 17 stories of strange adventures on other worlds from the undisputed “Queen of Space Opera.”

Drawn from the last years of pulp magazines such as Planet Stories, Startling Stories, and digests magazines like Venture Science Fiction, Shannach – The Last: Farewell to Mars sees Brackett at the peak of her talents. Oddly, it is at this point where she abandons the “planetary romance” sub-genre and embarks on a small string of stories tinged with social relevance.

This departure didn’t stop editors asking for some of “that old Brackett magic” and she offered up two latter day tales (“The Road to Sinharat” and “Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon”) before returning to chronicle further adventures of Eric John Stark in her final “Skaith” novels. Closing out the collection is a trio of tales written on commission from the “king of anthologies,” Roger Elwood.

Grand Master Anne McCaffrey is wrote the introduction.

The book proudly displays Frank Kelly Freas’ vintage cover art with endpapers by Ed Emshwiller from the original pulp magazines.

First edition hardcover

Martian Quest: The Early Brackett is a collection of the twenty earliest stories by the undisputed “Queen of Space-Opera.”

Special Contents: 

Limited to 100 copies, this special edition of Martian Quest: The Early Brackett is signed by the author of the introduction, Science Fiction Grand Master Michael Moorcock, on a Hannes Bok-illustrated limitation sheet and housed in a matching Black Arrestox cloth-covered slipcase.

On a Venus that never was, on a Mars that can never be (but should have been), Leigh Brackett’s early stories laid the foundation for her later classic adventures, The Sword of Rhiannon, The Nemesis from Terra, and the “Eric John Stark” series.

Other stories in this collection draw inspiration from such diverse sources as the lost-race novels of H. Rider Haggard, the lush fantasies of A. Merritt, and the planetary romances of Edgar Rice Burroughs. With an appreciation for Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, Brackett’s prose is a unique display of vigorous swashbuckling adventure tempered with a harsh, hard-boiled economy.

Martian Quest: The Early Brackett also features a revealing introduction by acclaimed author Michael Moorcock, recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The Haffner Press Editions:

First edition hardcover

Halo for Hire: The Paul Pine Mysteries by Howard Browne

“Of all of Raymond Chandler’s followers, the most Chandlerish of them all might have been Howard Browne. His private eye hero, PAUL PINE, is simply one of the great eyes, no matter how inspired by (or derivative of ) Chandler’s Philip Marlowe he might have been. All the Pine books are well worth reading, and A Taste of Ashes (1957) in particular is just a flat-out, stone-cold private eye classic.

Pine is a former investigator for the Illinois State attorney’s office in Chicago who works as a P.I. in Chicago. He’s got the obligatory cynicism, snappy similes and metaphors down pat, though he tends to be a bit more down to earth than Marlowe, and often mocks his own tendencies to moroseness and world-weariness. And let’s face it — Browne was a stronger plotter than Chandler.

In 1985, almost thirty years after Pine’s last appearance, Dennis McMillan published a book The Paper Gun. That volume collected the only previously-published Pine story, “So Dark For April,”

Haffner Press First edition hardcover.

The Fredric Brown Mystery Library

It took nearly four years to assemble the first two volumes of THE FREDRIC BROWN MYSTERY LIBRARY, the definitive collection of Fredric Brown sans his science fiction works. Assembled in chronological order of publication, this set will contain all the short fiction (of all genres: mystery, horror, noir, western, detection, etc.) and all of Brown’s novels (again, excepting his sf works).

You’ll be able to enjoy Fredric Brown at his longer lengths from The Fabulous Clipjoint and Night of the Jabberwock to The Lenient Beast and Mrs. Murphy’s Underpants.

Assisting with this effort have been Brown bibliographer Phil Stephensen-Payne and Brown biographer Jack Seabrook. This massive undertaking could not have been accomplished without their help

Haffner Press

The Complete Ivy Frost by Donald Wandrei

Cover Art by Raymond Swanland

A frequent contributor to the early pulps such as Weird Tales, Donald Wandrei was possibly best known for co-founding (with August Derleth) the publishing house Arkham House to keep his friend Lovecraft's legacy alive. It may come as a surprise to some that Donald Wandrei wrote more mysteries than all his horror, fantasy, and science fiction tales combined.

For the first time, here are the complete adventures of the remarkable Professor Ivy (I.V.) Frost and his beautiful assistant, Jean Moray. Introduced in the August 1934 issue of Clues Detective Stories, the tall and sardonic Frost is a scientist, an inventor, and a brilliant detective who takes on only the most outré cases. Over the course of eighteen instalments Donald Wandrei reliably chronicled the Professor's bizarre cases, always laden with high adventure and sly wit.

Part Sherlock Holmes, part Shadow, Frost stood apart from the gritty, trench-coated private eyes of the hard-boiled genre. At once looking back at the genteel ratiocinative detectives of the 19th century and forward to the gimmick-laden adventures of the James Bond generation, Frost was eccentric, and very, very lethal. A special notice should be made of his too-good-looking assistant, Jean Moray. Young, quick-witted, and fearless, with a pearl-handled .25 slipped into her thigh-holster, she was no helpless damsel in distress.

In 2000, D.H. Olson edited a volume published by Fedogan and Bremer collecting the first eight of Frost’s adventures. A second volume of the remaining 10 tales was promised but never materialized.

The Complete John Thunstone by Manly Wade Wellman

John Thunstone is the hero of a series of stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. Thunstone is a scholar and playboy who investigates mysterious supernatural events.

He is physically large and strong, intelligent, handsome, and wealthy. He is also well-read in occult matters and has access to several weapons that are especially potent against vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures.

Thunstone has a sword-cane with a silver blade said to have been forged by Saint Dunstan, patron saint of silversmiths and a noted opponent of the Devil. The blade is inscribed with a text from Judges chapter 5 in the Vulgate, "Sic pereant omnes inimici tui" — "thus perish all your enemies”.

In addition to the ghosts and other traditional supernatural beings, several of Thunstone's enemies are Wellman's unique creations. These include the shonokins, a race of human-like creatures who claim to have ruled North America before the coming of humans. Thunstone's most persistent foe is a sorcerer named Rowley Thorne, who appears in a number of the stories.

Thunstone originally appeared in short stories published in the pulp magazines. Wellman would later write two novels with Thunstone: What Dreams May Come and The School of Darkness. All his Thunstone short stories have been collected in this stunning Haffner Press edition 'The Complete John Thunstone’ .

Another ‘pulp era’ grand master of SF, Williamson apparently struggled where others found finance slightly easier. Famous for his 'Legion of Space’ series which led to greater success. He wrote a huge amount of short stories which are well worth the effort.

Haffner Press have done a stellar job of reprinting Williams works, but these are starting to get harder to find now.

Jack Williamson:

The Collected Stories:

First edition hardcover

First edition hardcover -signed