Read Duncan Long’s Masque of the Red Death for free

By John Freeman on 16 December 2010

Duncan Long has released his Christmas gift for his fans – a newly illustrated version of Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death (in PDF format).

“A Poe story may seem an odd choice for Christmas,” he notes, “but in fact it’s in keeping with English tradition of telling ghost stories around the fireplace on Christmas (yes, an arguably odd tradition – as are most).

British readers will confirm this – the BBC has recently revived A Ghost Story for Christmas, screenings of ghost stories, most by MR James, an idea the broadcaster first came up with in the 1970s. (There’s a fan site about them here: www.ghoststoryforchristmas.co.uk)

If you missed them, Duncan has previously released illustrated versions of Poe’s Eleonora and The Raven.

When not creating his own editions of Poe’s stories and poems, Duncan works as a freelance magazine and book illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, ISFiC Press, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors.

• Check out his book illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.