The Green Book 22

I thought this moment might never come. Perhaps on some levels I was even avoiding it due to an oversaturation of the blood-stained, opera-cloaked market. But at long last, we seem to have a Bram Stoker issue of The Green Book in our hands! Some of the keen-eyed might have realised this from the cover, which features as the background Pamela Colman Smith’s illustration for The Lair of the White Worm (1911), while the inset image is a detail from the printed boards of The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903). (It dawns on me as I write this that, while there is plenty of White Worm action herein, there’s nothing about Jewel—however, a scarab does make an appearance . . . )The first piece in this issue is an appreciation of “The Judge’s House” (1891), and an accompanying illustration, by Mike Mignola, a writer and artist whose memorable creation Hellboy boasts direct lineage from the works of Stoker. This short essay first appeared as the introduction to the Swan River booklet The Definitive Judge’s House (2011), now long out of print. I thought it might be nice to give it another outing.