MIRAGE PRESS

   US SMALL PRESS publishing primarily fantasy-related material and taking its name from Mirage, a successful 1960s FANZINE published by Jack L. CHALKER. Chalker began issuing books under the Mirage logo in 1961,beginning with his own The New H.P. Lovecraft Bibliography (1961 chap) and including A Figment of a Dream (1962 chap) by David H. KELLER. The Mirage Press took on a more formal existence in 1967, with new financing; laterpublications include The Conan Reader (coll 1968), a collection of essays by L. Sprague DE CAMP drawn from the fanzine AMRA (the dustjacket artwork was Berni Wrightson's first professional sale). De Camp and George SCITHERS subsequently edited 2 further vols of Conan-relatedSWORD-AND-SORCERY material (Robert E. HOWARD) for Mirage: The Conan Swordbook (anth 1969) and The Conan Grimoire (anth 1972). Other Mirage books include Dragons and Nightmares (coll 1969) by Robert BLOCH, poetry by De Camp, A Guide to Middle Earth (1971) by Robert Foster, H.G. Wells: Critic of Progress (1973) by Jack WILLIAMSON, and a variety of sf/fantasyreference books. There were around 20 Mirage books by 1975, at which point the business slowed to a near halt because its financial backer fell ill. Chalker's career as a novelist began at about this point, and MP has sincebeen relatively inactive, though long-held projects - including an edition of The Harlan Ellison Hornbook (coll 1990) slipcased with Harlan Ellison's Movie (1990), both by Harlan ELLISON, and Chalker's and Mark OWING's TheScience-Fantasy Publishers (vastly exp 3rd edn 1991) - eventually appeared.

   MJE/JC/PN