Sadly neglected today, Frank Baker (1908-1983) was an intriguing and highly original author of fantasy and horror fiction, best known for his post-apocalyptic novel of an avian attack, The Birds (1936), which may have been an influence on Hitchcock’s film, and Miss Hargreaves(1940), a classic in which two young men invent a story about an unusual old woman only to discover that they have actually brought her to life. First published in 1983 and long unavailable, Stories of the Strange and Sinister collects ten of Baker’s short stories and displays the versatility of his work. Included are wonderfully macabre tales like ‘The Chocolate Box’, in which a discarded box found on a Cornish moor contains a gruesome surprise, and ‘In the Steam Room’, where a man enjoying a sauna believes he glimpses a horrible event through the steam, as well as more subtle tales of the fantastic like ‘My Lady Sweet, Arise’, in which a woman’s compulsion to sing ends with strange consequences, and ‘Quintin Claribel’, the story of a rude young man who must – quite literally – eat his words. This first-ever republication includes a new introduction by R. B. Russell. Frank Baker’s The Birds is also available from Valancourt.

In 1980, Lady Caroline Blackwood was commissioned by The Sunday Times to write an article on the aging Duchess of Windsor, who was said to be convalescing in her French mansion in the Bois de Boulogne. Yet what began as a curiosity was to become for Blackwood one of the most challenging experiences of her writing career, launching her into a battle of wits with the Duchess's formidable lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum. Maître Blum refused to let Blackwood near the Duchess, spinning elaborate excuses as to why she was unavailable and threatening anyone who dared suggest that she was in anything other than the best of health. Still, while Blum's machinations restricted Blackwood's ability to publish a frank interview, it only served to pique her interest in the bizarre relationship between the infamous Duchess—a woman who once inspired a king to abdicate his crown—and her eccentric, domineering gatekeeper. Sixteen years later, Blackwood turned her experiences into this riveting and excoriating modern classic about the frailties of old age, the foibles of society, and the dual-edged nature of celebrity.

Leland Hall (1883-1957) was the author of "Sinister House" and "They Seldom Speak."

Mary Jekyll and the Athena Club foil a plot to unseat the Queen and race to save one of their own in this electrifying conclusion to the Locus Award winning trilogy that began with The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. Life’s always an adventure for the Athena Club...especially when one of their own has been kidnapped! After their thrilling European escapades rescuing Lucina van Helsing, Mary Jekyll, and her friends return home to discover that their friend and kitchen maid Alice has vanished—and so has their friend and employer Sherlock Holmes! As they race to find Alice and bring her home safely, they discover that Alice and Sherlock’s kidnapping are only one small part of a plot that threatens Queen Victoria, and the very future of the British Empire. Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, Catherine, and Justine save their friends—and the Empire? In the final volume of the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a tour de force of reclaiming the narrative, executed with impressive wit and insight” in a starred review, the women of the Athena Club will embrace their monstrous pasts to create their own destinies.