Seagrams 100 Pipers
 | Bob on Phil Smith – The Saxonbu… |
 | Simon Jensko on Guy N. Smith – Thir… |
 | mondozilla on David Gurney – The … |
 | demonik on Attention Bruce Pennington… |
 | Andy on Attention Bruce Pennington… |
 | Gordon Salt on Phil Smith – The Saxonbu… |
 | John on Joan Paisnel – The Beast… |
 | Kate on Joan Paisnel – The Beast… |
 | Sara on Eric Ericson – The … |
 | Fred on G. C. Clewett – Blood… |
| demonik on Justin Marriott – A Visu… |
 | Trevor Jones on Justin Marriott – A Visu… |
 | Nick Cato on David Gurney – The … |
Here’s a place for you to post your thoughts on favourite New English Library authors and their books if you wanna. Please do not post telling me about your own, non-NEL book which has just been nominated for fifty British Fantasy Society awards as i am afraid your words will be deleted with extreme prejudice! This is a NEL-Four Square specific blog, not an advertising hoarding!
Your Daily NEL: New English Library 
Alastair Ross said
I used to work in sales for NEL. It was a fairly laid – back company and the sales director and UK sales manager (Joe O’Leary and Ray Hellen) were an amusing double act. I didn’t meet Mr Moffat but did encounter quite a few other NEL authors (Robbins, Harknett,King and the immensely likeable Jim Herbert). I was also a great admirer of Debbie Miles, assistant to the Art Director, Cecil Smith.
demonik said
Well made up! i landed a copy of Baldwin Hills’ ‘Simon, King Of The Witches’ (NEL, 1972) this morning and at last someone has got this extraordinarily popular guest book rolling – how fitting that it should be an ex-NEL employee. Thank you very much Alastair!
Miguedro said
Loved your website.
Quake and The Cellar are a few of my favorites.
Gordon Salt said
Great site! Browsing the various entries on books here has enabled me to get a nice collection going, especially books from the 1970s, my formative years.
Peter Williams said
I have just come across this incredible site. I have fond memories of working for NEL for 13 years. It is great to see the covers again of the books I used to sell. I see I’m not the first ex NEL employee to respond. Trust Alastair to be first!
demonik said
Hi Peter, great to hear from you. Any fond memories you care to share from your NEL years, please don’t hold back!
dem
Peter Williams said
Hi,
Firstly, do we know each other? Where you working at Nel? I have some incredible memories to share when time allows. I’m surprised that the message board isn’t full of comments from ex employees. I’m still in touch with Ray Hellen. I should ask him if he knows about your website.
Kindest regards
peter
demonik said
Thanks for the swift reply, Peter.
No, I never worked for NEL, and you’d not have heard of me – i’m just your common or garden horror fan with a perverse love of NEL’s extraordinary output. The guy you really need to talk to is Justin, editor of the mighty Paperback Fanatic – we’re talking a proper NEL historian, and I’m sure he’d love to hear from you! And don’t forget to visit the Vault forum – that’s where a crew of us review the books featured on this site.
Dan Bergeson said
I’m looking for a book I read in the second grade, in 1973, out of my grammar school library, here in the U.S. I thought I’d tracked it down in Kurt Singer’s “Tales of the Macabre”–I’m sure that was the anthology’s title, but I just got a (hard-to-locate, but finally found one on ebay) copy of Singer’s NEL publication, and it can’t be the one…the one I read had Keller’s story “The Thing in the Cellar” in it (as well as a really scary one near the beginning about nuns being hammered paper-thin by demons for three nights in a row.)
Is it possible that a more extensive version of Singer’s anthology was published in the U.S., with additional stories? Any familiarity with the “Tales of the Macabre” collection I’m talking about? It also had a juicy story near the end about a man who insensitively dashes a kitten’s brains out–then stupidly sits in an antique torture chair that succinctly removes ones eyes from their sockets. Momma Cat happens along at that moment and…
Sorry to be so graphic, but I can’t remember any names or titles associated with this impressive collection besides “Tales of the Macabre,” and that “The Thing in the Cellar” was included. I didn’t even have Keller’s name until a few moments ago. This is becoming a lifelong search, and any help would be appreciated!
demonik said
Hi Dan
I’m afraid it doesn’t ring any bells with me, but sounds very much my type of thing so have taken the liberty of coping your request across to our forum in the hope of somebody being able to identify it! To best of my knowledge, there was only one edition of Singer’s ‘Tales of the Macabre’ and that’s the one featured on here. We’ve a Kurt Singer-specific thread you might like to check:
http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/4685
Dan Bergeson said
Thanks so much! You know, shortly after posting my request, I found a book called “Monster Festival: Classic Tales of the Macabre” (ed. Eric Protter) that is a Random House children’s division publication–and it has “The Thing in the Cellar” in it. I believe that may be the one–the cover seemed familiar. Edward Gorey illustrated, no less! Sometimes, I guess it just takes asking the right question…thanks for your help! Wonderful site.
Pete said
Hello All. Who was the art director at NEL in 1987 and how can I contact them? I am trying to figure out who the cover illustrator was on a couple of specific books from then and I presume the art director could tell me. Thanks.
peter Williams said
the art director was Cecil Smith and the person in charge of book covers was Mike Brett. Sadly, I don’t have contact numbers for either of them.
Peter
demonik said
Wow, that was quick! Thanks for that, Peter.
Peter Williams said
My pleasure.