R. B. Russell

This article is about the English publisher. For the Canadian labour organizer, see Robert B. Russell.

Ray B. Russell is an English publisher,^[1] editor, author,^[2] illustrator,^[3] songwriter,^[4] and film maker.^[5]

Russell in 2011

Biography

Russell runs the award-winning Tartarus Press with Rosalie Parker, and for many years compiled the Guide to First Edition Prices.^[6] As an author he has had four collections of short stories, three novellas and four novels published. His story "Loup-garou" was chosen for Ellen Datlow’s The Best Horror of the Year. "In Hiding" was nominated for the 2010 World Fantasy Award,^[7] and "The Beautiful Room" for the 2011 British Fantasy Award.^[8] Michael Dirda has described Russell as "...among the leading practitioners of classic supernatural fiction".^[9]

His novella, Bloody Baudelaire, has been filmed by 3:1 Cinema with the new title Backgammon and was released 2016.^[10]

Russell has written full-length biographies of Robert Aickman and T. Lobsang Rampa.

He contributes artwork to Tartarus Press titles, and a selection of his art was on display at the Link Gallery, Dean Clough, Halifax, 2010/11.

Russell is also a songwriter, having previously composed songs released by The Bollweevils.^[11] His first solo CD, Ghosts,^[12] was released by Klanggalerie in February 2012. The accompanying video presentation was premiered in Vienna in March 2012,^[13] and was subsequently shown at Dean Clough Galleries October 2012.^[14] Dean Clough Galleries presented The Romance of Shortwave Radio Numbers Stations as a video installation in 2018.^[15]

Russell was the co-creator of C.W. Blubberhouse with Mark Valentine.

Writing

Guide to First Edition Prices

• Eight editions, Tartarus Press, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 & 2010.

Short stories

• Putting the Pieces in Place, Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania), 2009.^[16]
• Literary Remains, PS Publishing (Hornsea, East Yorkshire), 2010.^[17]
• Leave Your Sleep, PS Publishing (Hornsea, East Yorkshire), 2012.
• Death Makes Strangers of Us All, Swan River Press (Dublin, Ireland), 2018.

Novellas

• Bloody Baudelaire, Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania), 2009.^[18]
• The Dark Return of Time, Swan River Press (Dublin, Ireland), 2014.
• The Stones are Singing, PS Publishing (Hornsea, East Yorkshire), 2016.

Novels

• She Sleeps, PS Publishing (Hornsea, East Yorkshire), 2017.
• Waiting for the End of the World, PS Publishing (Hornsea, East Yorkshire), 2020.
• Heaven's Hill, Zagava (Germany), 2021.
• The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2024.

Collected Edition

• Ghosts, Swan River Press (Dublin, Ireland), 2012. (Contains Putting the Pieces in Place and Bloody Baudelaire. Available with Ghosts CD in a limited edition.)

Non-fiction

• Occult Territory: An Arthur Machen Gazetteer, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2019.^[19]
• Past Lives of Old Books and Other Essays, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2020.
• Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Bibliography, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2020.
• Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2022.
• Fifty Forgotten Books, And Other Stories (Sheffield), 2022.
• Fifty Forgotten Records, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2025.
• T. Lobsang Rampa And Other Characters of Questionable Faith, Tartarus Press (Yorkshire), 2025.

Translation

• Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier, Tartarus Press (Horam, Sussex), 1999.^[20]

Music

• Ghosts, Klanggalerie (Austria), 2012.
• Bloody Baudelaire: A Soundtrack, Klanggalerie (Austria), 2014.^[21]
• The Romance of Shortwave Radio Numbers Stations, Persepolis, 2016.^[22]
• Copsford, (self released) 2020.^[23] Reissued Bladud Flies! 2021^[24] Reissued Warm Noise 2022^[25]
• Phantom Cities by The Sodality of the Shadows, Persepolis, 2020.^[26]
• Heaven's Hill, 7" single, Zagava, 2012.

Film/video

• Backgammon, 2016 (co-scriptwriter)^{[27][circular reference]}
• Coverdale: A Year in the Life, 2016 (co-director/producer)^[28][29]
• Robert Aickman: Author of Strange Tales, 2015 (co-director/producer)^[30]
• Current 93: Live at Halifax Minster, 2014 (co-director/producer)^[31]
• Collecting Vinyl Records: A Personal History, 2012 (director/producer)^[32]
• A Mild Case of Bibliomania, 2011 (director/producer)^[33]

Further reading

• "An Interview with R. B. Russell", by John Kenny, Swan River Press Interviews May 2012.
• "An Interview with R. B. Russell", by Jason Rolfe, Bibliomancy Tuesday, 7 February 2012.
• "An Interview with Ray Russell", by Everett Bleiler, Fantasy Commentator, Winter 2001–2002, pps.97-100.
• "Uncollected Characters of the Book World: 5", by Victoria Hyde-Greene, Antiquarian Book Monthly, May 1999, pps8-9.