Ramble House Books
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ramblehouse.bsky.social
Ramble House Books
@ramblehouse.bsky.social
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Ramble House is a tiny two-person publishing outfit, selling books from ramblehouse.com. We specialize in pulp, weird and out-of-print work. We helped popularize Harry Stephen Keeler. Please take a look at our books! (Many NSFW)
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Aah we're back! Ramble House is back for 2026 with the website finally updated for HTTPS, and a new book, a reprint of Robert Chamber's classic (or at least halfway so) work of weird horror THE KING IN YELLOW! You can get it here: ramblehouse.com/thekinginyel...
The cover to the Ramble House "Forbidden Inversion" edition of The King in Yellow. The cover image, by our own Gavin O'Keefe, is of a yellow recreation of a playing card King of Hearts, with the title and author's name over it, the upside-down King is more or less normal, the rightside-up version though the king has a skull, and it looks like his sword is thrust into it!
February 10, 2026 at 9:35 PM
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The other new book from Ramble House is also by Francis Nevins, Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film. www.ramblehouse.com/Judges.htm
The cover to Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film, by Francis M. Nevins.
July 18, 2025 at 5:51 AM
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Ramble House has two new books out! The first is Ellery Queen: The Art of Detection, compiled by Francis Nevins, two-time winner of The Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award. www.ramblehouse.com/EQ.htm
The cover to Ellery Queen: The Art of Detection by Francis M. Nevins. More text reads "The story of how two fractious cousins reshaped the modern detective novel." The cousins are pictured: Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee.
July 18, 2025 at 5:38 AM
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The Anthologist's Folly is a collection of eldritch horror stories curated by award-winning editor Johnny Mains. It collects stories from Bram Stoker, Algernon Blackwood, Oswell Blakeston, A.J. Alan, and other horror authors. Its page on Ramble House's website: www.ramblehouse.com/Anthologists...
The cover of the book The Anthologist's Folly, edited by Johnny Mains. It shows an illustration of a stone tower in the woods being struck by lightning.
June 8, 2025 at 5:57 PM
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A new book from Ramble House, His Beautiful hands: The Short Fiction of Oscar Cook, collected and edited, with great effort, by Johnny Mains! www.ramblehouse.com/HisBeautiful...
A sepia-tone photograph of British author Oscar Cook, on the cover of the Ramble House book His Beautiful Hands: The Short Fiction of Oscar Cook, Edited & Introduced by Johnny Mains
March 29, 2025 at 7:39 PM
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Ramble House founder Fender Tucker wrote an introduction that lays out the history of Marblehead here: www.ramblehouse.com/marbleheadin...
"[...]there is a sort of car chase from Providence to Salem in a classic 320-horsepower SJ Duesenberg at the nerve-wracking speed of 35 mph!"
A map with the legend "Locale of Political Intrigue: 'MARBLEHEAD'" Th emap shows locations in the town of Marblehead, and an inset depicts part of New England, with the sites of Marblehead, Salem, Providence and Boston pointed out, as well as (some ways to the south) New York City.
March 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
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Arkham House published mystery and horror writer Richard Lupoff's (RIP 2020) Lovecraft's Book in 1985, but it was a heavily cut down version of a much larger version called Marblehead. Marblehead was lost until 2012 when Ramble House published the complete novel: www.ramblehouse.com/marblehead.htm
The cover to Marblehead: A Novel of H.P. Lovecraft, by Richard A. Lupoff. Three faces look forth from the cover. The face in back wears a swastika pin, and a copy of Mein Kampf is in the upper-left. Yikes!
March 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
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John Dickson #Carr was a master of what's called the "locked room mystery," in which a detective solves an apparently impossible case. For aficionados of Carr, and those who would like to be, Ramble House publishes James Keirans' The Carr Companion: www.ramblehouse.com/jdccompanion...
The cover of The John Dickson Carr Companion, a brown background bearing an image of a door, with a large ornate key overlaid on it. The author is James E. Keirans.
February 23, 2025 at 1:04 AM
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Notorious filmmaker Ed Wood, director of some consider the worst movies ever made, was also a writer, and his written works are of a piece with his movies. Muddled Mind by David Hayes is a celebration of his writing, and contains a few of his short stories. www.ramblehouse.com/muddledmind....
The cover, title depicted in dripping blood, of the book Muddled Mind, by David C. Hayes and Hayden Davis, PhD.
February 9, 2025 at 3:33 AM
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Harry Stephen Keeler is best known for his strange and idiosyncratic mysteries, but for 21 years he edited a magazine called 10-Story Book, "A Magazine for Iconoclasts." In this book published by Ramble House, Chris Mikul collects 35 of its best stories. www.ramblehouse.com/bestof10stor...
The cover to the Ramble House collection "The Best of 10 Story Book, Harry Stephen Keeler's Spicy Magazine 1919-1940 Edited by Chris Mikul" It has a hand-drawn illustration of a topless redhead woman holding a gun and leaning against a skull. The back cover text reads: "A Magazine for Iconoclasts. 'The mind of the editor of an average American magazine is a ludicrous wilderness of taboos. He edits his magazine with a craven blue pencil. He lives in horror of printing something that will offend one of his advertisers. His nights are tortured with dreams of letters in the business office of his publication, raising hell with them for having an author pull God's whiskers or remark disparagingly upon this mess of a democracy of ours. 'After years of readactorship with a blue pencil the average American editor has come to the point where he will buy only half a dozen stories. Safe stories he calls them. Take any magazine but 10-Story Book and see how all of the stories fall monotonously into half a dozen well known formulas and threadbare situations. '10-Story Book has never published formula stories.' 'Harry Stephen Keeler, Editor, 10-Story Book'" There are quotes from fans too but they're a little too small to transcribe here.
February 4, 2025 at 6:02 AM
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R.R. Ryan wrote (according to Karl Wagner of Twilight Zone magazine) three of the greatest horror novels of all time, but is nearly entirely unknown today. Ryan was also, secretly, a woman named Denice Bradley-Ryan writing under her father's name. The story: www.ramblehouse.com/subjugatedbe... 1/4
The Cover to the Ramble House edition of R.R. Ryan (Denice Jeanette-Ryan)'s horror novel The Subjugated Beast. The image is black-and-white with red outlining around the title. The illustration is a drawing of a horrified young woman holding a cat. Behiind her stand two stern-faced adults. Cover illustration by Gavin L. O'Keefe.
January 25, 2025 at 7:51 PM
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But there's more! A sequel! I like to imagine he was half asleep when he decided to call it The Crimson Clown Again. "Remember that guy? Well, he's back." Contains four more stories of what amounts to an early superhero. Author Johnston McCulley created Zorro! www.ramblehouse.com/crimsonclown...
The cover to The Crimson Clown Again, with similar illustration to the first, except now there's text on the back cover (too small to read in the image unfortunately) and the Clown is holding a gun.
January 19, 2025 at 12:01 AM
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Delton Prouse is a semi-Robin-Hood: he steals from the rich and gives to charity, but he keeps half for himself. His weapons are pepper spray and a syringe of knock-out drug that he'll use against enemies or friends alike. Read about it in The Crimson Clown: www.ramblehouse.com/crimsonclown...
The back and front cover to The Crimson Clown, by Johnston McCulley. The front cover has the title and author's name on it, and an illustration of the head of a red-cloaked figure wearing a white eye mask. The back has a similar illustration, depiction the cover of the 1931 edition.
January 19, 2025 at 12:01 AM
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"Harry Keeler wrote over 70 novels [...] but thanks to a conspiracy among publishers and Freshman Composition 101 teachers worldwide, he has been totally forgotten by the masses." A To Izzard is a celebration of his work. More info and purchase links: www.ramblehouse.com/atoizzard.htm
The cover and spine to the Ramble House book A to Izzard: A Harry Stephen Keeler Companion. At the bottom it says Edited by Fender Tucker. It shows an illustration of a blonde man, flanked by a variety of things, not all of which I can make out, but including a skull with goggles, a cat with a fishbone in its mouth, and the King of Clubs from a deck of cards. The spine says the same things, but with a couple of hands framing the subtitle, another skull, and the letters RH at the bottom.
January 7, 2025 at 11:30 PM
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It is possibly the first novel of its kind ever written. This new picture-cover edition is the first new edition of this classic novel in over 40 years. Its cover is by Gavin L. O'Keefe and has many of Knees Calhoon's doodles throughout the text.
The jacket of our printing Wright's Gadsby. The right (the front) has the letter E repeated hundreds of times in a kind of squared-off spiral. On the left (the back cover), a pull quote reads: "...an individual born with that sort of brain which, knowing that his town is backward, longs to start things toward improving it; not only its living conditions, but adding an institution or two, such as any city, big or small, maintains, gratis, for its inhabitants." The book's description reads: "Mr. Wright has told, in this amazing and singular grammatical work, a story of John Gadsby, of Branton Hills. Gadsby, in his disillusion at a lack of motivation amongst his young townsfolk, insists on doing his bit to bring about a bright futuristic outlook for such promising kids. "This book is a good bibliophilic mountain to climb for folks who long for a comforting matrix of magical words and nimbly-wrought syntax." Notice that the quote, and the description too, are both missing the letter E. I have not adhered to that in this description. I have had a busy day.
January 1, 2025 at 12:09 AM
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It was through Ramble House that many people first found out about Harry Stephen Keeler, certainly the most original (in good and bad senses) mystery writer of all. It can be ordered from Amazon or Lulu, but contact us for a good price: www.ramblehouse.com/Daniel%20Eus...
The cover to the Ramble House edition of Daniel Euston, with a business card that --I think-- reads Daniel Euston, Locator of Business Leaks. There's also an illustration that I can't quite describe, like a side-view of a bridge that's up, over a sunset. Hey, I tried.
December 23, 2024 at 10:29 PM
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The Anthony Boucher Chronicles, edited by Francis M. Nevins, contains every review that Boucher wrote as fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle, from 1942 to 1947. It includes an index to every author of the hundreds he reviewed and has explanatory annotations. #AnthonyBoucher
The front and back covers, as well as the spine, to Ramble House's edition of The Anthony Boucher Chronicles: Reviews and Commentary 1942-1947. edited by Francis M. Nevins. The front cover has an artist's illustration in ink of Boucher's head, facing down, B&W with a red bow tie. The back cover has a face-forward illustation in a similar style, with red hair and bow tie, and this text: During the years 1942 to 1947 Anthony Boucher was the popular fiction reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle. In this book mystery scholar / author Francis M. Nevins has collected dozens of Boucher's reviews from this Golden Era for your enjoyment. Nevins also provides an informative introduction about the man to whom American literature owes so much. Ramble House is proud to be the publisher of this work."
December 19, 2024 at 10:09 PM
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There's a new issue of the Ramble House newsletter, The Rambler out! Information on a compilation of Fender's own writing, a book sale, and more! gem.godaddy.com/p/7b798b1
A banner image with the tastefully-scrawed Ramble House logo.
December 19, 2024 at 9:58 PM
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A particularly popular title of ours is Researching American-Made Toy Soldiers, by Richard O'Brien. He became an expert in the field and had numerous articles on the subject published, that are very hard to find now in 270 pages. More info: www.ramblehouse.com/researching....
The cover to the book Researching American-Made Toy Soldiers: 32 Years of Articles, by Richard O'Brien. The title is set in a typical military stencil font. The focus is on an inset photograph of various small toy soldiers setting on a polished countertop, surrounded by a camouflage pattern.
December 9, 2024 at 8:08 AM
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Helmon Hobersteed, Chief of Homicide, gets a call about the death of a woman in a steam cabinet. He finds her head sticking out the top of a steam cabinet and her toes below—but nothing in between. It’s a novel only Harry Stephen Keeler could have written! Lulu link: www.lulu.com/shop/harry-s...
An image of a book jacket. On the left, the back cover with a spanish version of the cover: the author (Harry Stephen Keeler) and title (El Caso deja Mujer Transparente) and the legend A Ramble House Book. On the right the English version: Harry Stephen Keeler and The Case of the Transparent Nude, with an illustration of a lady with her head sticking out of a box with her (naked) body shown inside it.
December 4, 2024 at 8:08 PM
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First published in 1894, BARON VERDIGRIS is often referenced due to its having had a frontispiece illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. But this singular novella, a curious amalgam of parodies based on a time-travelling theme, deserves a reappraisal in the 21st century. ramblehouse.com/Baron%20Verd...
A book cover for Baron Verdigris: A Romance of the Reversed Direction, by Halliwell Sutcliffe writing as Jocelyn Qulip. The cover is a flat yellowis-gray with a white clock face in the middle of it. The hands of the clock are a sword and what might either be a ball-and-chain or a rose, it's unclear. The numbers on the clock are Roman numerals, and are weird: while 9-12 o'clock are normal, the others are not usual, counting from 13 as 1 o'clock and ascending to 20 where 8 should be. From 1 o'clock around clockwise, they are: XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, IX, X, XI, XII.
December 3, 2024 at 7:08 PM
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Sex Life of a Cop:
Sergeant Jim Thorn and his partner Hal Dempsey serve the Dobbsville Police Force with a lot of energy and enthusiasm…as long as it involves engaging in sexual relations with as many women as possible! (NSFW)

On Lulu, $22: www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-p...
A drawing of a silver police badge on a dark purple background. The badge bears the words POLICE DEPT. DOBBSVILLE and the number "6969," har har. If you look very closely at it, there are a couple of naked figures on the badge, and, much larger than them, a pair of handcuffs and a revolver. Outside of the badge are the title, "Sex Life of a Cop," and the author Oscar Peck.
December 3, 2024 at 4:01 PM