Copper, Basil

Entry updated 2 June 2026. Tagged: Author.

(1924-2013) UK journalist, newspaper editor, film collector and author who began to publish work of genre interest with "The Curse" (1938) at age 14, his first professional appearance being "The Spider" in The Fifth Pan Book of Horror Stories (anth 1964) edited by Herbert van Thal. His works of Fantastika were chiefly supernatural Horror, in which subgenre he commands considerable respect; a first collection in this vein, Not After Nightfall: Stories of the Strange and Terrible (coll 1967), was followed by several more [see Checklist below], the second being From Evil's Pillow (1973), which began his connection with Arkham House. One early tale collected in Not After Nightfall, "Camera Obscura" from The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories (anth 1965) edited by Herbert van Thal, was adapted as a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1970-1972) directed by John Badham.

Copper's novel The Great White Space (1974) shows the influence of both Edgar Allan Poe and H P Lovecraft, in particular At the Mountains of Madness (cut February 1936 Astounding; restored in The Outsider and Others coll 1939; 1990 chap). A scientific exploration which to misdirect intrusive pressmen is termed "The Great Northern Expedition" has as its real goal an Underground Lost World in central Asia. The party is led by one Clark Ashton Scarsdale, homaging Clark Ashton Smith though in appearance and forceful personality reminiscent of Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger. After traversing weird landscapes underground, including a lake and a lost City, the team members reach the titular portal to an equivalent of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones (see Cthulhu Mythos); only the narrator returns to tell his tale. Further novels include the Gothic Necropolis (1980) and The Black Death (1991), the Werewolf-themed The House of the Wolf (1983) and – with a Lovecraftian flavour echoing The Great White Space – Into the Silence (1983).

Among Copper's other work is a lengthy novel sequence [not listed below] about the hard-boiled Los Angeles private detective Mike Faraday, beginning with The Dark Mirror (1966); and two Ties contributed to the Avon Books sequence about Lee Falk's character The Phantom: The Story of the Phantom: The Slave Market of Mucar (1972) and The Story of the Phantom: The Scorpia Menace (1972), both as by Lee Falk. Copper also continued the saga of August Derleth's Sherlock Holmes-like detective Solar Pons, publishing several further collections of his cases beginning with The Dossier of Solar Pons (coll 1979). His contributions to this canon were ultimately assembled as the very substantial The Complete Adventures of Solar Pons (omni 2017 2vols).

In 1979, the Mark Twain Society of America elected Copper a Knight of Mark Twain for his outstanding "contribution to modern fiction"; in 2010 he received the first Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the World Horror Convention. [DRL]

Basil Frederick Albert Copper

born London: 5 February 1924

died UK: 3 April 2013

works

series

The Phantom

The Story of the Phantom: The Slave Market of Mucar (New York: Avon Books, 1972) as by Lee Falk [tie: #2: The Phantom: pb/George Wilson]
The Story of the Phantom: The Scorpia Menace (New York: Avon Books, 1972) as by Lee Falk [tie: #3: The Phantom: pb/]

Solar Pons

The Dossier of Solar Pons (New York: Pinnacle Books, 1979) [coll: Solar Pons: pb/Ben Stahl]
The Further Adventures of Solar Pons (New York: Pinnacle Books, 1979) [coll: Solar Pons: pb/Ben Stahl]
The Secret Files of Solar Pons (New York: Pinnacle Books, 1979) [coll: Solar Pons: pb/Ben Stahl]
The Uncollected Cases of Solar Pons (New York: Pinnacle Books, 1980) [coll: Solar Pons: pb/Ben Stahl]
- Some Uncollected Cases of Solar Pons (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: Drugstore Indian Press, 2017) [coll: vt of the above: Solar Pons: pb/]
The Exploits of Solar Pons (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fedogan and Bremer, 1993) [coll: Solar Pons: hb/Stefanie Hawks]
The Recollections of Solar Pons (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fedogan and Bremer, 1995) [coll: Solar Pons: hb/Stefanie K Hawks]
- The Adventure of the Singular Sandwich (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fedogan and Bremer, 1995) [novelette: chap: promotional pamphlet for the above: Solar Pons: pb/Stefanie K Hawks]
Solar Pons: The Final Cases (Mountain Ash, Wales: Sarob Press, 2005) [coll: author's preferred text of 1970s tales first published "in much altered form": Solar Pons: hb/Les Edwards]
The Solar Pons Companion (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: Drugstore Indian Press, 2017) with Stephen Jones [nonfiction: coll: vt of the above: Solar Pons: pb/Mark Maddox]
- The Complete Adventures of Solar Pons (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2017) [omni of all the above excluding overlaps and non-preferred versions: published in two volumes: in the publisher's Stephen Jones's Masters of Horror series: Solar Pons: hb/Tom Gianni]

individual titles

The Great White Space (London: Robert Hale, 1974) [hb/Colin Andrews]
The Curse of the Fleers (Lewes, Sussex: Harwood-Smart Publishing Company, 1976) [hb/Dave Austin]
Necropolis (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1980) [hb/Stephen E Fabian]
The House of the Wolf (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1983) [hb/Stephen E Fabian]
Into the Silence (London: Sphere, 1983) [pb/Les Edwards]
The Black Death (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fedogan and Bremer, 1991) [hb/Stefanie Hawks]

collections

Not After Nightfall: Stories of the Strange and Terrible (London: Four Square, 1967) [coll: pb/Michael Busselle]
From Evil's Pillow (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1973) [coll: hb/Frank Utpatel]
When Footsteps Echo (London: Robert Hale, 1975) [coll: hb/]
And Afterward, the Dark (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1973) [coll: hb/Stephen E Fabian]
Here Be Daemons: Tales of Horror and the Uneasy (London: Robert Hale, 1978) [coll: hb/Colin Andrews]
Voices of Doom (London: Robert Hale, 1980) [coll: hb/Colin Andrews]
Whispers in the Night: Stories of the Mysterious and Macabre (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fedogan and Bremer, 1999) [coll: hb/Stephen E Fabian]
Cold Hand on My Shoulder: Tales of Terror & Suspense (Mountain Ash, Wales: Sarob Press, 2002) [coll: hb/Randy Broeker]
A Knife in the Back: Tales of Twilight and Torment (place not given: Cauchemar, 2005) [coll: chap: limited edition of 150 copies: hb/nonpictorial]
Darkness, Mist and Shadow: Volume 1 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2010) [coll: in the publisher's Stephen Jones's Masters of Horror series: hb/Stephen E Fabian]
Darkness, Mist and Shadow: Volume 2 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2010) [coll: in the publisher's Stephen Jones's Masters of Horror series: hb/Stephen E Fabian]
- Darkness, Mist & Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2010) [omni of the above two: hb/Stephen E Fabian]

nonfiction