Title: Charnel House Artist: Uncredited Publisher: TOR Year: 1988 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: This is a great cover. I know I often used to wonder, when browsing over paperbacks, if the artist had actually read the book. Sometimes it seemed as if the paintings or illustrations were a loose interpretation of the contents, as if the artist had opened the book to a random page and sketched out something based on a paragraph or two. This artist definitely read the novel, here we see the Indian demon smashing through the glass of the operating theater in all his malevolence. The detail and colors are very appealing and the font would make any metal band proud.
Title: Charnel House Artist: Chris Andrews Publisher: Pinnacle Year: 1978 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: This cover screams 1970s. Now when I think of the seventies when I was a child, and I think about people's bookcases, I always think of the ubiquitous self help manual "I'm OK, You're OK". Maybe this one should be called "I'm OK, You have a house that breathes and an ancient Indian demon on your arse". Cool edition though and I'm very proud to have it. Charnel House seems to have been reprinted several times. GM has said it was actually a rewrite of the Manitou. Great book.
Title: Charnel House Artist: Publisher: Year: Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: I believe this is the cover that I heard one collector complain about. It's a, uh, study in minimalism. Enough said. This one was also contributed by Kent Songer.
Title: Charnel House Artist: Publisher: Sphere Year: 1978 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: I should start calling this the "Mariano Baino" collection. Mariano sent along this great cover for Charnel House. Impressive illustration. Now here's one that's actually frightening.
Title: Charnel House Artist: Publisher: Warner BooksYear: 1993 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: This is another contrbution from Mariano Baino. Mariano says of this cover: Once again this cover shows a disturbing predilection for wood paneling backgrounds. Was that really the fashion at the time?I'm afraid that in horror paperbacks, as in basements all over the world, the wood panelling motif reigns supreme. A decent cover. Coyote returns!
Title: LA MAISON DE CHAIR (CHARNEL HOUSE) Artist: Publisher: FantastiqueYear: 1978 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: Ron Sutton weighs in with this great french paperback edition of Charnel House from his extensive collection. You can see the great illustration of the house breathing. It almost has a childrens book kind of look to it, doesn't it. Classy cover, and hey, it's french!
Title: Charnel House Artist: Publisher: SphereYear: 1978 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: Mag Read sends us this 1978 paperback edition of Charnel House on the sphere imprint. Now the most interesting thing about this cover is not really the cover itself, but the fact that Mag sent along four other paperbacks, released by Sphere over a 3-4 year period, that look as if they are all part of a set. Check out the similar looking editions of The Heirloom, Devils of D-Day, Revenge of the Manitou and The Wells of Hell. All these covers seem to have a face theme going on, in this case, the face of a wolf or coyote. Thanks Mag!
Title: Charnel House Artist: Publisher: SphereYear: Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: This is a very interesting edition of 'Charnel House' sent to us by John Mason. Sphere seemed to go through a few cycles of releasing Graham's works with similar covers. This one is similar to the "Devils of D-Day" Sphere edition (among others) which has a similar looking creature and a painting that is most definitely by the same artist. I like the way GM's name cuts into the top of the page. A truly horrible creature, made more horrible by the fact that he is puking up some undigested frog.
Title: Demonen (Charnel House) Artist: Publisher: B. Wahlströms Bokindustri Year: 1978 Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: Lars-Ove Karlsson sends us this Swedish edition of Charnel House. It's part of a series of horror novels called 'Kalla Kårar' (this one is number 50 in the series). As far as I can tell, the covers, beyond being scary in theme, don't have much to do with the books themselves. The vampire and the snake don't have anything to do with Charnel House as I remember. They have a real kind of fifties paperback look. All of the names seem to have been changed as well. Here Charnel House becomes "Demonen".
I love seeing these translated editions. Thanks Lars-Ove!
Title: Le maison de chair (Charnel House) Artist: Publisher: Year: Synopsis: See Graham Masterton Official Website Comments: Another international edition of Charnel House from Pocket's series of GM's books. I love all of the set of french paperbacks and would love to own them even though I don't speak french. Actually, my wife speaks French fluently, but on our honeymoon in Europe she was too shy to speak so she made me talk to all the concierges, waiters and waitresses, rental car people, etc. Needless to say they all hated me.
