James D. Jenkins is the publisher and general editor for Valancourt Books. He holds degrees in literature from the University of Kansas and the University of Chicago and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. He has published on the Gothic in peer-reviewed journals and spoken on Gothic literature at numerous academic conferences and also lectured on scholarly editing at universities in the United States and Canada. A devoted fan and collector of the types of lost Gothic and popular fiction published by Valancourt, he has edited several of Valancourt's publications and regularly travels with the press to academic conferences to display Valancourt's books and speak with prospective editors. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jay first became interested in Gothic and other lost popular literature as an undergraduate after stumbling upon a small, strange, old black book called The Castle of Otranto in the library stacks. Enthralled by this odd book, which was so much different than all the other old books they make you read in English class, he quickly devoured the few other Gothic novels available in print before discovering that the overwhelming majority of these wonderful books were long out of print and impossible to get. But not any more, thanks to the efforts of Valancourt Books.
Ryan Cagle works as general support for Valancourt Books. He is responsible for rediscovering some of Valancourt's most successful and popular titles, including The Demon of Sicily, The Witch of Ravensworth, The Castle of Berry Pomeroy and The Forest of Valancourt. He also maintains the website, social media coordination, advertising, and book acquisition. He focuses primarly on texts to include in the Gothic Classics series.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Ryan's first introduction to the Gothic literary genre was merely by coincidience; stumbling upon Skoob Books' edition of The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest at a local bookstore in his early teens, he had no idea what he had found was but was fascinated by the title, cover and description and insantly begged his mother to purchase it (yes, he was one of those kids).
And finally, Valancourt, our namesake. Valancourt was rescued from a very gothic imprisonment in Seattle in November 2005. He "assists" in picking out which books we publish by laying on top of them or trying to eat them.