# Is "Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror" by Kirby McCauley (ed.) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror by Kirby McCauley (ed.) (The Viking Press, New York, 1980) is identified by: The first printing is the Viking Press octavo in cloth-covered boards, collating approximately xvi + 553 pp., with the copyright-page statement 'First published in 1980 by The Viking Press' and no later-printing notation added. The US Viking Press 1980 edition is the true first — the anthology is an American original anthology and Viking's issue precedes the British one.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing is the Viking Press octavo in cloth-covered boards, collating approximately xvi + 553 pp., with the copyright-page statement 'First published in 1980 by The Viking Press' and no later-printing notation added
- The pictorial dust jacket on a trade first is priced at the front flap — price present at the flap, unclipped — and the book carries the first appearances of Stephen King's novella 'The Mist' and Edward Gorey's 'The Stupid Joke' among the twenty-three original stories
- Dealer descriptions of the trade issue are not fully consistent on spine-lettering colour (both red and silver are reported), so treat cloth colour and lettering as secondary and rely on the copyright-page statement plus the priced jacket
- The anthology won the 1981 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, and Viking issued it in the US in 1980 ahead of the British edition
- Publisher imprint reads The Viking Press, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kirby McCauley (ed.) |
| Publisher | The Viking Press, New York |
| Year | 1980 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first printing is the Viking Press octavo in cloth-covered boards, collating approximately xvi + 553 pp., with the copyright-page… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The first printing is the Viking Press octavo in cloth-covered boards, collating approximately xvi + 553 pp., with the copyright-page statement 'First published in 1980 by The Viking Press' and no later-printing notation added. The pictorial dust jacket on a trade first is priced at the front flap — price present at the flap, unclipped — and the book carries the first appearances of Stephen King's novella 'The Mist' and Edward Gorey's 'The Stupid Joke' among the twenty-three original stories. Dealer descriptions of the trade issue are not fully consistent on spine-lettering colour (both red and silver are reported), so treat cloth colour and lettering as secondary and rely on the copyright-page statement plus the priced jacket. The anthology won the 1981 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, and Viking issued it in the US in 1980 ahead of the British edition.

## Is this the true first?
The US Viking Press 1980 edition is the true first — the anthology is an American original anthology and Viking's issue precedes the British one. The first British edition is Macdonald & Jane's (Macdonald Futura), London, 1980, published under the variant subtitle 'New Stories of Suspense and the Supernatural'; it is separately collected as the first UK appearance but does not compete for precedence. The Lonely Road Books 25th Anniversary Special Edition is a much later 'first thus' and is not a first edition of the text.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Book-club copies are documented bound in paper-covered boards with a black leatherette spine and red spine titling (versus the trade issue's cloth), and club jackets carry no price at the flap; a gutter code has also been reported on club copies. Club copies are commonly listed as 'Viking 1980' because the club used the publisher's year on the title page, so check the binding materials and the flap for a price rather than the date.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror* by Kirby McCauley (ed.) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/dark-forces-new-stories-of-suspense-and-supernatural-horror
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.