When Footsteps Echo: Tales Of Terror And The Unknown

by Basil Copper

Book by Copper, Basil

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Basil Copper was an English writer and former journalist and newspaper editor. He has written over 50 books and scripts. In addition to fantasy and horror, Copper is known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created by August Derleth.

Copper edited a 1982 two-volume omnibus collection of Derleth's stories of the 'Pontine' canon, published by Arkham House, a publishing firm founded by Derleth himself and chiefly publishing weird fiction (such as Cthulhu Mythos tales); in that edition, Copper "edited" most of the tales in ways that many Pontine aficionados found objectionable[citation needed]. A later omnibus, The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition, was issued in 2000 under the imprint of Mycroft & Moran (a name which is itself a Holmesian jest).

He also wrote the long-running hard-boiled detective stories of "Mike Faraday" (58 novels from 1966 to 1988).

Copper has received many honours in recent years. In 1979, the Mark Twain Society of America elected him a Knight of Mark Twain for his outstanding "contribution to modern fiction", while the Praed Street Irregulars have twice honoured him for his work on the Solar Pons series. He has been a member of the Crime Writer's Association for over thirty years, serving as chairman in 1981/82 and on its committee for a total of seven years.

In early 2008, a bio-bibliography was published on him: Basil Copper: A Life in Books, compiled and edited by Stephen Jones.

In March 2010, Darkness, Mist and Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper was launched at the Brighton World Horror Convention as a two-volume set by PS Publishing.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read 'The Amber Print' in one of the old Pan or Fontana horror anthologies back in the late 70's and the story was so well written I wanted to find more works by Basil Copper. Thanks to the eventual arrival of the internet 20 years later (!) the search was on. I was lucky to come across a fine copy of this book on line a few years ago. The cover itself is a classic mid-70's photo montage, they were quite popular for horror novels etc. There were a number of Copper anthologies published back then, and a few of his stories were repeated in more than one of those books, so duplication was hard to avoid. But this book includes three of the best he wrote, IMHO.
'Camera Obscura' is terrific, a unique story full of atmosphere, concerning a heartless landlord who gets his comeuppance. This story was filmed as an episode of Rod Serling's 'Night Gallery' TV series and it was an excellent production, depicting the scenes almost as I had imagined them.
'The Janissaries of Emilion' is another classic, with a relentless plot line and no escape from the inevitable conclusion. I'm glad I've never had recurring dreams like those !
My other top story is 'The Amber Print' - this cries for an adaptation by Guillermo del Toro in his Cabinet of Curiosities. It concerns a very unusual print of one of the classic German horror films of the silent era. Not a movie I would care to watch more than once ! The rest of the stories are okay. 'The Recompensing of Albano Pizar' and 'Archives of the Dead' stand out, the balance being somewhat cliched. Bearing in mind these were all written in the 1960's, maybe they were fresh plotlines back then ? A nostalgic favorite for me.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Camera obscura --3
The Janissaries of Emilion --3
*Amber print
A message from the stars
*Doctor Porthos
*Cry wolf
*The Academy of Pain
The recompensing of Albano Pizar
*Out of the fog
Archives of the dead
***
The candle in the skull
The grey house
The house by the tarn
The knocker at the portico
The madonna of the four-ale bar
The second passenger --3
The spider