We thought we'd give you a little background for both the company and its two principals: Pete Atkins and Peter Schneider.
Our company name is, of course, an homage to Shirley Jackson's brilliant novel, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE.
Hill House, Publishers was started in 1983. Peter Schneider, a publicist for Doubleday Publishers at the time, made the decision
that life wasn't quite insane enough for him, and so he decided to become a small press publisher while keeping his day job. He
purchased from Putnam the limited edition rights to Peter Straub's classic GHOST STORY, signed on Stephen Gervais to do
a dozen truly amazing interior illustrations and a stunning full-cover jacket, and published the signed limited edition, fully
expecting to be besieged with orders and be hailed as the new Alfred Knopf. Instead, he lost thousands of dollars and gained
a few gray hairs.
Five years later, having been promoted to Marketing Director at Doubleday, Schneider believed that he now knew enough about
publishing to try once more. He arranged with author Raymond E. Feist to do a limited edition of Feist's upcoming dark
fantasy novel, FAERIE TALE, which Doubleday was heavily promoting to the trade. The resulting limited, issued
in both a numbered and a lettered edition, was a beautiful example of the bookbinder's art. Once more, however, orders
dribbled in at a glacial pace, and so Schneider made up his mind to concentrate on his career.
During the years that followed, Schneider used his knowledge of limited editions within trade publishing. At Doubleday,
he directed the creation and marketing of the limited edition of Stephen
King's THE STAND: The Complete and Uncut Edition. Later on, while Marketing Director at Dutton, he directed the
limited edition of Richard Bachman's THE REGULATORS—with the help of Charnel House's Joe Stefko.
In 1999 Hill House joined in a one-time co-publishing venture with Cemetery Dance's Rich Chizmar. Together they published
the limited edition of Al Sarrantonio's horror anthology 999. Schneider directed the design team; Rich Chizmar
handled marketing and sales.
In 2002 Schneider once more got the irresistible urge to re-establish Hill House and develop a coherent publishing
program. He joined forces with Peter Atkins, who became, and still is, a full partner in Hill House.
Peter Atkins, a native of Liverpool, England, is a well-known author and screenwriter. His
novels MORNINGSTAR and BIG THUNDER and his story collection, WISHMASTER, received stellar reviews
and praise from writers such as Ramsey Campbell and Clive Barker. He is the creator of the WISHMASTER movie
series and was the screenwriter for the first (and without doubt, best) film of the series. He was also the screenwriter
for the second, third, and fourth HELLRAISER movies.
An Afterthought. . .
Several friends have expressed churlish dismay at the light-hearted tone of this page. "You're not presenting yourselves
as serious publishers!" and "Most people don't share your peculiar senses of self-loathing humor." We do
want to assure you that both Peters are truly dedicated to the art and business of fine book publishing and we are
most certainly serious about our books, our authors, and our customers.
