Powers' wonderful vampyre novel quite sets itself apart from other works in the same genre. This is no cliched story of fanged ghouls and Transylvanian castles. Instead we have, in my opinion at least, the best example of this authors talent for taking historical fact and magical fiction and joining them together in such a seamless way as to give his readers a version of events so plausible in it's strangeness that we could almost believe that this was what really happened.
In The Stress Of Her Regard, Powers takes yet another trip to the early 19th century (cf The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides). This time though, we are in the company of Byron (again), Shelley and Keats and the story concerns their encounters with "la belle dame sans merci" - the poets muse. This mythical and magical being "as beautiful as she is evil" is Vampyre, Succubus, Medusa, and Lamia among others and we can only marvel at the depth of Powers research and imagination as he weaves this supernatural entity into the lives of the romantic poets.
In The Stress Of Her Regard it is she that is responsible for Shelley's drowning on his voyage from Leghorn to Le Spezia and for Keats' death in Rome of tuberculosis and in the midst of this magical maelstrom, Powers drops his protagonist, Michael Crawford. As with other Powers' central characters, Crawford is drawn into this world through events and actions beyond his control. An "innocent" at the beginning of the story, Crawford is buffeted along, battered and maimed, yet somehow mananges to emerge in tact, a better man.
The Stress Of Her Regard was first published simultaneously by both Charnel House and Ace in August 1989.
Charnel House - now a highly respected manufacturer of beautifully made limited editions - have gained an excellent reputation amongst collectors since they debuted in 1989 with this Powers novel. The Stress of Her Regard was released by them in two limited states. 26 lettered copies were produced. They were hand bound in full Morocco leather, each copy being issued in a different colour binding and featuring on the cover an illustration of a puppeteer at work stamped in silver foil. The book carried the ISBN 0-927389-00-2 and the original price of this edition was $400. Thanks to John Bierer for this image of an edition bound in light grey leather and to Chris Trent for the copy in black.
Chris, who is the current custodian of the black copy "V" pictured above has kindly also provided the Powers web site with the two images below.They show the lettered copies of the Charnel House edition laid out in all their rainbow glory prior to dispatch. Cheers Chris!
There were also a further 500 signed and numbered copies issued bound in denim that was streaked by hand in a bathtub by Charnel House's Joe Stefko. These copies were issued in a denim slipcase. They carried the ISBN 0-927389-01-0 and were priced at $125. Thanks again to John Bierer for the above image of this edition.
All the Charnel House editions feature an introduction by Dean R Koontz and an afterword by James P Blaylock both of whom are great friends of the author. They are signed by all the contributors.
If you've not already done so - check out the Charnel House article written exclusively for this web site by Joe Stefko - the man behind these extraordinary limited editions. In it he details how his association with Powers came about and how it led to these much sought after and collectable books.
The Ace edition appeared in hardcover. With wonderful panoramic cover art by Jim Gurney this edition carries the ISBN 0-441-79055-0 and cost $17.95. This artwork was used in again in a sadly reduced form for the Ace mass market paperback which followed in 1991. ISBN 0-441-79097-6. It was priced at $4.95
As mentioned above, Powers provided illustrations and artwork for the Charnel House editions of The Stress Of Her Regard. For the leatherbound editions actual original Powers drawings were laid into tissue paper covers and presented with twelve of the 26 copies. Two of these drawings can be seen below - the only place you can see them, unless of course you own the books!!
Here are a couple of interesting images once again courtesy of John Bierer. Both are Powers drawings from the proof of the Charnel House editions. On the left is a scribbled drawing of a boat on stormy waters with the caption "Shelley Dying". On the right is a Powers drawing captioned "Byron Evaluating the Wine"!! The round "potatohead" figure and ajoining handwritten dedication are by Jim Blaylock.
In the UK, The Stress Of Her Regard was published in October 1991 by HarperCollins. Released both as a hardcover, (ISBN 0-246-13153-5, cost £13.99) and a trade paperback (ISBN 0-246-13425-9, cost £8.99). The stunning cover art was by Mark Salwowski. My thanks to Martin Wolf for providing this image.
There was a further UK reprint in July 1993. This time the publisher was Grafton (who by this time were part of HarperCollins.) ISBN 0-586-07283-7, it cost £5.99.
There has not been a reprint of this wonderful novel in English for seven years. Strange considering this is one of Powers' most popular works. As the popularity of the author continues to grow and copies of this book become increasingly harder to get hold of, perhaps the publishers will consider a reissue soon.
Copies of the Denim Charnel House and Ace HC are regularly offered to the collectors market. Try Bookfinder.com or the Advanced Book Exchange. The Ace paperback can also be found in varying conditions. All the UK editions are much harder to find.
Page created 26th May 1998 - Last Updated:
© John Berlyne