List of fiction by Russell Kirk

This is a complete list of fictional works by Russell Kirk (1918–94). They comprise only a small portion of his otherwise nonfiction published works.

Novels

The first editions of Kirk's three novels, and the first editions of any revised versions of those novels, are listed here by sequence of publication, along with some bibliographic notes.

"Old House of Fear"
*New York, NY: Fleet Publishing Corporation, 1961:
**Pre-ISBN
**Hardback, 256 pp.
**Reprinted later in paperback by various other publishers:
***Remains as a reprint, the only book-length English-language edition of any of Kirk's fiction so remaining:
****Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007, ISBN 2006103519
*Revised edition, New York, NY: Fleet Publishing Corporation, 1965:
**Pre-ISBN
**Hardback, 256 pp.
**Never reprinted in the U.S. by any other publisher
**Two changes distinguish this from the first edition:
***A descriptive title is added to each numbered chapter heading
***The phrase “The End” is added at the close of the novel’s text "A Creature of the Twilight: His Memorials"
*New York, NY: Fleet Publishing Corporation, 1966:
**Pre-ISBN
**Hardback, 320 pp.
**Never reprinted in the U.S. by any other publisher"Lord of the Hollow Dark"
*New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1979:
**ISBN 0312498446
**Hardback, x + 336 pp.
**Never reprinted in the U.S. by any other publisher
*Revised edition, Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 1989:
**ISBN 0931888352
**Trade paperback, 384 pp.
**Never reprinted in the U.S. by any other publisher
**Two changes distinguish this from the first edition:
***Kirk’s 1967 short story “Balgrummo’s Hell” is added as a prologue (under the heading “Prolegomenon: Balgrummo’s Hell”) to the rest of the novel
***"Acknowledgements" regarding this revised edition are added following the novel's text

Individual short stories

Each of Kirk's 22 stories are listed below alphabetically, with first printings cited, along with variant titles and some bibliographic notes.

"Balgrummo's Hell"
*"The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", 7/1967
*Later added by Kirk as prologue to the 1989 revised edition of his novel "Lord of the Hollow Dark""Behind the Stumps"
*"The London Mystery Magazine" #4 (6/1950–7/1950)
*Kirk's first published work of fiction"The Cellar of Little Egypt"
*Kirk, Russell, "The Surly Sullen Bell", New York, NY: Fleet Publishing Corporation, 1962 (pre-ISBN) "An Encounter by Mortstone Pond"
*Kirk, Russell, "Watchers at the Strait Gate", Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1984, ISBN 087054098X"Ex Tenebris"
*"Queen’s Quarterly" #64 (Summer/1957)"Fate's Purse"
*"The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", 5/1979"The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost"
*Kirk, Russell, "Watchers at the Strait Gate", Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1984, ISBN 087054098X"The Last God's Dream"
*Kirk, Russell, "The Princess of All Lands", Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1979, ISBN 087054084X"Lex Talionis"
*Schiff, Stuart (editor), "Whispers II", Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979, ISBN 0385149670"Lost Lake"
*"Southwest Review" #42 (Autumn/1957)"Off the Sand Road"
*"World Review" #37 (3/1952)"Old Place of Sorworth"
*"The London Mystery Magazine" #14 (2/1952–3/1952)
*Called "Sorworth Place" in later reprints, including in Kirk's 1962 story collection "The Surly Sullen Bell" and 1979 story collection "The Princess of All Lands", both of whose editings he oversaw:
**The title might have been changed to undo its striking similarity to that of Kirk's 1961 novel "Old House of Fear""The Peculiar Demesne"
*McCauley, Kirby (editor), "Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror", New York, NY: Viking Press, 1980, ISBN 0670256536
*Called “The Peculiar Demesne of Archvicar Gerontion” in reprints, including in Kirk's 1984 story collection "Watchers at the Strait Gate", whose editing he oversaw”The Peculiar Demesne of Archvicar Gerontion”
*Reprint title of 1980 story “The Peculiar Demesne”, including in Kirk's 1984 story collection "Watchers at the Strait Gate", whose editing he oversaw"The Princess of All Lands"
*Kirk, Russell, "The Princess of All Lands", Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1979, ISBN 087054084X"The Reflex-Man in Whinnymuir Close"
*Kirk, Russell, "Watchers at the Strait Gate", Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1984, ISBN 087054098X"Saviourgate"
*"The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", Volume 51 #5 (11/1976)"Skyberia"
*"Queen’s Quarterly" #59 (Summer/1952)"Sorworth Place"
*Reprint title of 1952 story "Old Place of Sorworth":
**The title might have been changed to undo its striking similarity to that of Kirk's 1961 novel "Old House of Fear""The Surly Sullen Bell"
*"The London Mystery Magazine" #7 (12/1950–1/1951)"There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding"
*McCauley, Kirby (editor), "Frights: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Terror", New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1976, ISBN 0312306253
*Winner, 1977 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction
*Published under the slightly different title “There’s a Long, Long Trail a-Winding” in Kirk's 1979 story collection "The Princess of All Lands", its only appearance editorially overseen by Kirk himself:
**Kirk also names the story that way in his preface to that collection "There's a Long, Long Trail a-Winding"
*The slightly different reprint title of "There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding" in Kirk's 1979 story collection "The Princess of All Lands", its only appearance editorially overseen by Kirk himself:
**Kirk also names the story this way in his preface to that collection"Uncle Isaiah"
*"The London Mystery Magazine" #10 (8/1951–9/1951)"Watchers at the Strait Gate"
*Campbell, Ramsey (editor), "New Terrors", London: Pan Books, 1980, ISBN 0330261266"What Shadows We Pursue"
*"The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", 1/1953

hort story collections

Kirk's stories and been printed, and in many instances reprinted, in a wide variety of periodicals and of multi-author fiction anthologies.

Listed below, however, by sequence of publication are the six different books which feature his stories exclusively, with contents and some other information noted.

Author-overseen collections

These were published with Kirk's active involvement and together include all his stories, with six stories among them repeated.

"The Surly Sullen Bell"
*New York, NY: Fleet Publishing Corporation, 1962:
**Pre-ISBN
**Hardback, 240 pp.
**Reprinted later in paperback by other publishers
*Illustrated by the author (uncredited)
*Contents:
**Preface:
***“Foreword”
**Ten stories:
***“Uncle Isaiah”
***“Off the Sand Road”
***“Ex Tenebris”
***“The Surly Sullen Bell”
***“The Cellar of Little Egypt”
***“Skyberia”
***“Sorworth Place”
***“Behind the Stumps”
***“What Shadows We Pursue”
***“Lost Lake”
**Essay by the author:
***“A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale”:
****Reprinted from "The Critic", Volume 20 #5 (4/1962–5/1962)"The Princess of All Lands"
*Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1979:
**ISBN 087054084X
**Hardback, x + 238 pp.
**A single, limited edition
*Contents:
**Preface:
***“Prologue”
**Nine stories:
***“Sorworth Place”
***“Behind the Stumps”
***“The Princess of All Lands”
***“The Last God’s Dream”
***“The Cellar of Little Egypt”
***“Ex Tenebris”
***“Balgrummo’s Hell”
***“There’s a Long, Long Trail a-Winding”
***“Saviourgate”"Watchers at the Strait Gate"
*Sauk City, WI: Arkham House Publishers, 1984:
**ISBN 087054098X
**Hardback, xiv + 258 pp.
**A single, limited edition
*Illustrated by Andrew Smith
*Contents:
**Preface:
***"A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale":
****Specially written for this collection:
*****This is "not" the essay of the same name reprinted in Kirk’s earlier story collection "The Surly Sullen Bell"
**Ten stories:
***“The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost”
***“The Surly Sullen Bell”
***“The Peculiar Demesne of Archvicar Gerontion”
***“Uncle Isaiah”
***“The Reflex-Man in Whinnymuir Close”
***“What Shadows We Pursue”
***“Lex Talionis”
***“Fate’s Purse”
***“An Encounter by Mortstone Pond”
***“Watchers at the Strait Gate”

Posthumous collections

These last three collections were prepared, years after Kirk's death, by their respective editors and publishers.

The first two are uniform editions which systematically collect all his stories. The last, most recent book gathers all but three of his stories together.

""
*Ashcroft, BC: Ash-Tree Press, 2002:
**ISBN 1553100433
**Hardback, xviii + 206 pp.
**A single, limited edition
**Published in Canada, the texts have adopted here Canadian spelling and punctuation
*Illustrated by the author
*Edited by John Pelan
*Contents:
**Foreword by the editor:
***“Introduction: The Ghosts of Piety Hill”
**Eleven stories:
***“The Surly Sullen Bell”
***“Behind the Stumps”
***"Sorworth Place”
***“Balgrummo’s Hell”
***“There’s a Long, Long Trail A-Winding”
***“Saviourgate”
***“Off the Sand Road”
***“Fate’s Purse”:
****A passage of this story is omitted here due to production error:
*****That omission was later remedied in the subsequent companion volume by there reprinting the story in its entirety as an appendix
***“The Princess of All Lands”
***“An Encounter by Mortstone Pond”
***“Lex Talionis”
**Essay by the author:
***“A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale”:
****Reprinted from the preface with the same title in his 1984 story collection "Watchers at the Strait Gate":
*****This is "not" the essay of the same name reprinted in his 1962 story collection "The Surly Sullen Bell"""
*Ashcroft, BC: Ash-Tree Press, 2003:
**ISBN 1553100514
**Hardback, xiv + 254 pp.
**A single, limited edition
**Published in Canada, the texts have adopted here Canadian spelling and punctuation
*Illustrated by the author
*Edited by John Pelan
*Contents:
**Foreword by the editor:
***"Introduction: The Wizard of Mecosta"
**Twelve stories:
***"The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost"
***"What Shadows We Pursue"
***"The Peculiar Demesne of Archvicar Gerontion"
***"Uncle Isaiah"
***"The Reflex-Man in Whinnymuir Close"
***"The Cellar of Little Egypt"
***"Skyberia"
***“Lost Lake”
***“The Last God’s Dream”
***“Ex Tenebris”
***“Watchers at the Strait Gate”
***“Fate’s Purse”
****Corrected reprinting of the entire story from the earlier companion volume:
*****Placed here as an appendix"Ancestral Shadows: An Anthology of Ghostly Tales"
*Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004, ISBN 080283938X:
**Hardback, xviii + 406 pp.
**Despite its U.S. publisher, the texts here have adopted Canadian spelling and punctuation:
***These Canadian-English texts were adopted from Canadian publisher Ash-Tree Press's two-volume "Ghost Stories" by Kirk noted above
*Edited by Vigen Guroian
*Contents:
**Foreword by the editor:
***“Introduction”
**Nineteen stories:
***“Ex Tenebris”
***“Behind the Stumps”
***“Uncle Isaiah”
***“The Surly Sullen Bell”
***“Balgrummo’s Hell”
***“Lex Talionis”
***“What Shadows We Pursue”
***“The Cellar of Little Egypt”
***“Fate’s Purse”
***“The Princess of All Lands”
***“Sorworth Place”
***“Saviourgate”
***“The Last God’s Dream”
***“The Peculiar Demesne of Archvicar Gerontion”
***"There’s a Long, Long Trail A-Winding”
***“Watchers at the Strait Gate”
***“The Reflex-Man in Whinnymuir Close”
***“The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost”
***“An Encounter at Mortstone Pond”
**Essay by Russell Kirk:
***“A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale”:
****From the preface of the same title in his 1984 story collection "Watchers at the Strait Gate":
*****This is "not" the essay of the same name reprinted in his 1962 story collection "The Surly Sullen Bell"

Further references

Brown, Charles, "Russell Kirk: A Bibliography", Central Michigan University: Clarke Historical Library, 1981, no ISBN, pp. 34, 101–02.