The SF Site: Mark V. Ziesing Books

A number of years ago, the Ziesing Brothers operated a large bookstore in the college town of Willimantic, Connecticut. It stocked a wide range of titles but with a particular emphasis on SF, fantasy, horror, and the like. Mark Ziesing had built up a large local clientele along with a substantial mail order arm. They had tried their hand at some non-SF small press publishing when, one day, Mark decided to do Gene Wolfe's The Castle of the Otter. Its success led to a second book, The Wolfe Archipelago, which had double the print run of the first. These were the only two SF items done under the Ziesing Brothers imprint. Subsequent books have appeared with the Mark V. Ziesing Books logo. In 1989, Mark Ziesing and family moved from Willimantic back to his native state, California. The Book of the Dead was the final book published in Connecticut. Setting up a mail order business, as publisher and bookseller, became the principal focus.

Ziesing books can be purchased from a variety of sources. Mark supplies books to specialty book dealers around the world, his titles are available through online suppliers like amazon.com and, of course, directly from him. Ziesing limited editions come only direct, many of which are sold out immediately.

Mark V. Ziesing

Mark V. Ziesing Books Website

Books can be purchased from:
Mark V. Ziesing
P. O. Box 76
Shingletown, CA 96088
They accept Visa and MasterCard.
Phone & Fax: (530) 474-1580
Email :ziesingbooks@frontiernet.net

Mark V. Ziesing Books
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Mark V. Ziesing

Savage Season (1990)
Joe R. Lansdale

Joe R. Lansdale is known for his work in the genres of horror and Westerns, this novel has both those elements but it is best characterized as a terror-suspense novel. It is the story of a hunt for buried treasure told in a style that is fittingly described by the dust jacket as one "that recalls both the skills of Minnesota Fats and the plain-talking charm of Stephen King. With delightfully nasty dialogue and hard-hitting action, Savage Season is more than just a spectacular shoot-'em-up, pedal-to-the-metal adventure. This is a book that takes both the high and low roads, and delivers the goods." Despite the hype, it does just that.

Cold in July (1990)
Joe R. Lansdale

Released simultaneously with Savage Season, this reprint novel tells the story of Richard Dane who killed a man in self-defense. He's trying to put it behind him and get on with raising his family and running his business. But the dead man's father Ben Russel, an ex-con, is out for vengeance and isn't about to let him. It soon becomes obvious that both men are being misled and manipulated resulting in an awkward alliance to discover the truth. Help appears in the form of Richard Dane's unexpectedly tough, capable wife and by Ben Russel's old pal Jim Bob (a Texas-style private detective). Then things get kinda strange. The dust jacket says "events soon draw them into a living nightmare of paranoia and psychopathic sex, violence, and corruption." This is only slightly far-fetched.

Cold Blood (1991)
edited by Richard T. Chizmar

Richard T. Chizmar, publisher of CD Publications, put together this anthology of 25 original more traditional horror stories without the gore and splatter present in so many anthologies of its time. It includes a play version of Joe R. Lansdale's "By Bizarre Hands." It collects the following stories:

Introduction by Douglas E. Winter

Home Repairs by F. Paul Wilson

The Best Part by Chet Williamson

Yea, Though I Drive by Ronald Kelly

By Bizarre Hands by Joe R. Lansdale

Jody and Annie on TV by John Shirley

Bumblebee by Bentley Little

Cancer Causes Rats by Brian Hodge

Ashes to Ashes by Barry Hoffman

Love Letters by Thomas F. Monteleone

The Creek, It Done Riz by Ardath Mayhar

Trigger Happy by Rex Miller

The Drifter by Roman A. Ranieri

Swap Meat by James Kisner

The Oldest Human Trick by J. N. Williamson

Faith and Henry Gustafson by Paul F. Olson

How It Was with the Kraits by Nancy A. Collins

Babe's Laughter by William F. Nolan

Hotel Hell by Rick Hautala

Dark Whispers by Ed Gorman

Saving Grace by Richard Laymon

The Phantom of the Freeway by William Relling, Jr.

Lynch Law by Andrew Vachss

Bleed Red, Bleed White by David B. Silva

The Count of Eleven by Ramsey Campbell

Colorado Gothic by Tom Elliott

Slow Dancing Through Time (1990)
Gardner R. Dozois

This collection of stories, the first co-production with Ursus, are written in collaboration with other writers. It collects the following stories:

Touring by Gardner R. Dozois, Jack M. Dann & Michael Swanwick

The Gods of Mars by Gardner R. Dozois, Jack M. Dann & Michael Swanwick

Slow Dancing With Jesus by Gardner R. Dozois & Jack M. Dann

It Doesn't Get Any Better by Michael Swanwick

Executive Clemency by Gardner R. Dozois & Jack C. Haldeman, II

Afternoon at Schrafft's by Gardner R. Dozois, Jack M. Dann & Michael Swanwick

A Change in the Weather by Gardner R. Dozois & Jack M. Dann

Time Bride by Gardner R. Dozois & Jack M. Dann

Guilford Gafia Revisited by Jack C. Haldeman, II

Snow Job by Gardner R. Dozois & Michael Swanwick

Send No Money by Susan Casper & Gardner R. Dozois

Playing the Game by Gardner R. Dozois & Jack M. Dann

New Kid on the Block by Susan Casper

The Stray by Susan Casper & Gardner R. Dozois

The Clowns by Gardner R. Dozois, Jack M. Dann & Susan Casper

Golden Apples of the Sun by Gardner R. Dozois, Jack M. Dann & Michael Swanwick

Running Wild by Jack M. Dann

Down Among the Dead Men by Gardner R. Dozois & Jack M. Dann

Forthcoming Titles

Books slated for future release include:

A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore edited by Mark V. Ziesing which features weird and dark stories about books and book collectors. Contributors include Thomas Ligotti, Brian Stableford, A.A. Attanasio, Patrick O'Leary, and several others.

A Handbook of American Prayer by Lucius Shepard is planned once the author finally turns in his manuscript.

Mark V. Ziesing

Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories (1991)
Howard Waldrop

The book, a collection of reprinted stories, was done as a co-production with Ursus, an imprint of Arnie Fenner, the designer of many Ziesing books. It collects the following stories:

Night of the Cooters

French Scenes

The Passing of the Western

The Adventure of the Grinder's Whistle

Thirty Minutes Over Broadway!

The Annotated Jetboy

Hoover's Men

Do Ya, Do Ya, Wanna Dance?

Wild, Wild Horses

Fin de Cyclé

The Hereafter Gang (1991)
Neal Barrett, Jr.

I love Neil Barrett, Jr.'s writing. I found Aldair series from DAW in the early 80s remarkable, his mysteries delightful and this book the most fun I've had in quite some time. I only wish his writing were more popular. I guess readers don't know what to make of him. In reading his book, they can't figure out where he's leading them next and it's exasperating. Here, Barrett tells the tale of Doug Hoover with whom Cindy Nance shares two great secrets of life. One he likes a lot. The other which has to do with growing up and working, has no appeal. After series of bad marriages and wasted jobs, Doug looks to nostalgia as his golden path. He meets Sue Jean, his all-time carhop queen, and things get quite quirky. We meet an assortment of odd characters like crime lords and proctologists, dog-fighting aviators and trout-fishing Huns.

Lot Lizards (1991)
Ray Garton

A lot lizard can best be described as a hooker who frequents the truck stops that dot the highways and who services the long-distance truckers. Bill Ketter learned a valuable lesson late one night when he invited one of them into the cab of his truck. He wanted this brief encounter to ease the pain of an empty life, to help him forget a broken marriage. She not only drained his troubles but also took his humanity. He wasn't pleased. This isn't one of those Transylvanian vampire sagas nor is it one of those knife-edged, rock-n-roll, gritty urban, rain-soaked streets, oh-so-cool vampires-as-lovers kind of stories, rather it follows normal everyday folks who suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death struggle.

Wetbones (1992)
John Shirley

The best description for this novel comes from the dust jacket: "Could H.P. Lovecraft have collaborated with William Burroughs? Could Tom Wolfe and Clark Ashton Smith "do lunch" and agree to work together? How about Elmore Leonard and Clive Barker? Would they be sympatico co-authors? Moot speculations..." An intriguing idea to blend the classic eldritch, ancient evil with the hard-edged decaying urban setting, Shirley has taken on two tough horror factions and makes it work. It may not change the face of horror, but Wetbones deserves a larger audience despite its focus on drugs that put holes in the human spirit. Suppose addiction can cause sadism, psycho-killers, Hollywod moguls -- how will it all end?

The Holy Terror (1992)
Wayne Allen Sallee

A first novel for this author and an first publication, this book reads like a police procedural mystery but with a horror angle. It is about a man who can drain the energy out of people. But he also can as heal them too. He takes on the mantle of God in the worst parts of urban Chicago. I haven't seen any other books by Sallee although he has published a bunch of shorter items in various anthologies and other periodicals.