BRIAN LUMLEY: A Brief Biography
Brian Lumley was born on the north-east coast of England on 2nd December 1937. He began writing, relatively late in life, in 1967 in Berlin, while a career Sergeant, a “lifer,” in the British army’s Corps of Royal Military Police. He produced his early work very much under the influence of the best of the Weird Tales authors, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, and his first stories and books were published by the then “dean of macabre publishers,” August W. Derleth at the now legendary “Arkham House,” in Sauk City, Wisconsin.
Released by the Army back into civilian life (after serving at the RMP HQ as the Training Sgt. Major and Administrative Warrant Officer), Lumley began a full-time writing career and five years later completed his breakthrough novel, Necroscope(R), featuring Harry Keogh, a hero for the Great Majority (the teeming dead), with whom Harry, the Necroscope, was able to communicate as easily as with the living.
Necroscope(R) has now grown to 18 volumes, been published world-wide in many millions of copies, and will soon add Japan to the present list of 13 countries. This list covers most of Europe; along with the Czech Republic and Russia. Necroscope(R) is a Lumley trademark across Europe and the US, where a role-playing game, graphic novels, quality figurines and many E- and Audio-books have been created from the much-loved series. Moreover, the original story has long been optioned for movies, a project that is alive and kicking, with a massive ready-made audience holding its breath!
Along with the books of the Necroscope(R) series, Lumley is the author of more than 35 additional novel and/or collection titles; he is also the winner of a “British Fantasy Society” short story award for Fruiting Bodies, a “Fear Magazine’s Award” for Necroscope(R): The Source, a “Lovecraft Film Festival Association’s ‘Howie,’” for his Lovecraftian work, the World Horror Convention’s prestigious “Grand Master Award,” and “The Horror Writers’ Association’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’”... and also, most recently, another “Lifetime Achievement Award” from The World Fantasy Convention.
For seven years Lumley’s American wife, Barbara Ann, ran a small convention, a gathering of friends and fans in general, dedicated to her husband’s work. Alas that this friendly get-together had to come to an end when the venue, a beach-front hotel in Torquay, Devon, UK, was sold 10 years ago in 2007.
Although he is no longer (or seldom) found writing novels, Brian Lumley keeps busy with short stories and novellas. You can find info on Brian at brianlumley.net, brianlumley.com, Facebook and Twitter. Lastly, the Lumley’s do still attend the rare convention, especially if it’s close to home or easily accessible…
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