Rediscovered: Get Yer Shiel Here

Aha. I’ve been waiting for this book — although technically I don’t really need it. You do. Beating the likes of Random House and Little Brown and their ilk to the punch, Hippocampus Press just gathered under one set of covers the three volumes of biography Harold Billings wrote covering the life of M. P. Shiel — pal of Arthur Machen, influence on H. P. Lovecraft, mystery, horror, science fiction and adventure writer, and when he was going for it one of the most baroque stylists you’re ever likely to run across. I got the original releases in their limited first editions and reviewed them, doing my part to nudge along the Shiel Cult. I was lured into it by my pals Steve Eng and John D. Squires, and keep a hand in to this day. The first two volumes — Early Years and Middle Years — covered Shiel’s origins and emerging literary life in great detail. And as I say in review, who would have thought that one of the most famous British science fiction writers of his era — alongside figures…