Something Breathing is a collection of poems by Stanley McNail

Stanley McNail

Stanley McNail was an American poet. Born in Southern Illinois, from 1950 he lived in San Francisco, where he edited and published Nightshade, an occasional broadside of fantasy and the macabre in poetry, and The Galley Sail Review, which the San Francisco Examiner described as "one of San...

. It was released in 1965

1965 in literature

The year 1965 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Lloyd Alexander - The Black Cauldron*J. G. Ballard - The Drought*Ray Bradbury - The Vintage Bradbury*John Brunner...

 by Arkham House

Arkham House

Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...

 in an edition of 500 copies. It was the author's only book to be published by Arkham House. The book was printed in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

by Villiers for Arkham House and is bound in green cloth rather than the distinctive gold printing on black binding of most Arkham House publications.

Contents

Something Breathing contains the following poems:

1. "What the Voice Said"
2. "Metamorphoses"
3. "Lines to an Unbeliever"
4. "Dark Counsel"
5. "The Sounds She Knew"
6. "The Feast"
7. "Night Things"
8. "Who Goes There?"
9. "After the Rites"
10. "Three Sisters"
11. "Lights Along the Road"
12. "The Broken Wall"
13. "Merlin's Robe"
14. "Lottie Mae"
15. "The Gray People"
16. "The Covered Bridge"
17. "Miss Pinnie's Clothes"
18. "The Tall, Spare Summer"
19. "Nobody Knows Where Mary Went"
20. "The Red Beard of Fascinus"
21. "Dialogue"
22. "Elsie's House"
23. "The Witch-Mark"
24. "Follow the Wind"
25. "The Secrets of Cisterns"
26. "These Antlers"
27. "Old Black Billygoat"
28. "The Witch"
29. "Watson's Landing"
30. "A Note from Mother"
31. "The House on Maple Hill"
32. "Uncle Charlie"

Reprints

Berkely: Embassy Hall Editions, 1987 (with added poems).
In July 1986, artist C.M. Chavez (1959- ) wrote to Arkham House Publishers, Inc. to inquire about the one-time reprint rights to a poem titled "Follow The Wind", published in the original 1965 Arkham House edition of SOMETHING BREATHING.

Arkham House replied that the rights to SOMETHING BREATHING were retained by the author, Stanley McNail and supplied the artist with Mr. McNail's mailing address.

Mr. McNail cordially relied to the query, giving the requested permission, which allowed the artist to create a four panel graphic sequence- accompanied by the full text of the poem- which debuted at the 1986 World Fantasy Convention in Providence, Rhode Island.

In 1987, Mr. McNail decided to expand and revise SOMETHING BREATHING, which was published by Embassy Hall Editions of Berkely, California, with the "Follow The Wind" sequence, plus one new drawing by the artist.

The new edition debuted in October 1987, in time for The World Fantasy Convention in Nashville, Tennessee and was debuted at a memorable Saturday night signing party hosted by the artist in the bar of the Hyatt Regency, attended by fantasy great William F. Nolan, noted editor/writer Stanley Wiater, 1984 World Fantasy Artist of the Year Stephen Gervais and many others.

There was a final collaboration between author and artist in 1991, AT TEA IN THE MORTUARY, also published by Embassy Hall Editions, with four new illustrations.