S. T. Joshi’s Blog

October 25, 2024 — A Trip to Mexico

I have at last found the time and energy to write of my trip to Mexico, which began more than a month ago. I’ve been overwhelmed with all manner of work—and have also battled some mild illnesses, perhaps as a result of a simultaneous flu shot and Covid shot I received about two weeks ago. Anyway, let us begin.

On Friday, September 20, Mary and I caught an early plane to Mexico City. Arriving there by mid-afternoon, we were greeted by Claudia Ortiz, who had arranged most of the events in which I was to participate, along with her partner Marco. She presented us with a large box of nuts and sweets (mostly dried fruit) that was so scrumptious that we nibbled on them throughout our week-long stay. They took us to the boutique hotel in the Coyoacan district of Mexico City. It was a delightfully old-fashioned place (the boards squeaked as we walked upon them) but quite comfortable.

For dinner we met the other folks who would be accompanying us: Qais Pasha (the Canadian filmmaker of Pakistani origin who made the film Exegesis: Lovecraft, in which I play a key role) along with his crew, Ben Wong, and Amanda Wong (no relation). We had a nice dinner at a café nearby.

On Saturday the 21st we had arranged to tour the castle of Chapultepec. The castle, set in a park larger than Central Park, was built during the time when Spain controlled Mexico as a colony. Its construction began in the later eighteenth century, and it was well worth a visit. Not only were the architecture and furnishings exquisite (Lovecraft would have appreciated them as examples of late Georgian design), but, because the castle is situated on a lofty hill, the view it affords of the city is unparalleled. Here is a picture that someone took of us on one of the upper levels:

At dinner that evening I (and others) sampled fried grasshopper—considered a great delicacy in Mexico. In all honesty, the item was (mercifully) in small pieces that bore no resemblance to an actual grasshopper, and it was on the whole rather salty and otherwise not terribly appealing. But I can say that I have tried grasshopper!

On Sunday the 22nd we toured the historic district of Mexico City. This included the spectacular Metropolitan Cathedral, begun in the sixteenth century:

But very close by were the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. The city was built between 1325 and the early sixteenth century, when Spain defeated the Aztecs. It was a haunting set of ruins that would have made Lovecraft cry out (as does one of the characters in “The Mound”): “Old! Old! Old!”

Later on the tour we saw any number of other fine structures, including the Opera House, the Post Office, and others.

Monday the 23rd was our momentous visit to the pyramids (and other buildings) of ancient Teotihuacan, somewhat outside of Mexico City. These structures began to be constructed as early as 600 C.E. The loftiest of them is the Pyramid of the Sun, a truly awe-inspiring site:

The other pyramid is a slightly smaller structure called the Pyramid of the Moon:

Finally, there is a temple to Quetzalcoatl that is quite a distance from these pyramids, but we nonetheless trekked out there, even as a few sprinkles began to descend upon us:

I clambered all the way to the top of this structure—and paid for it the next day, as my legs ached atrociously. (One is no longer permitted to climb onto the two pyramids—although Jason Eckhardt wrote to Mary that he had ascended the Puyramid of the Sun numerous times in the past.) What I had forgotten, or not fully realised, is that Qais and his crew were filming this and other events during our trip as part of a new documentary! He does not have a name for it yet, but I am urging him to call it: S. T. Joshi and Wife in Mexico.

On Tuesday the 24th we walked (it was a very short walk) to the Frida Kahlo “blue house.” She lived there, with Diego Rivera, for decades. I am not entirely taken with Kahlo’s work, but her courage as an artist (in the face of both physical ailments and political and other difficulties) is admirable. The house is beautiful both inside and out. Here is a brief glimpse of the gardens:

Later that day we went to the impressive anthropological museum, which had spectacular displays of Aztec, Mayan, Spanish, and other relics. Take a gander at this:

Wednesday the 25th was a long and rather tedious trip (made the worse by torrential rain) to the Universidad de las Américas at Puebla—the successor to Mexico City College, where R. H. Barlow worked as an anthropologist. The university library has an immense R. H. Barlow Archive. We saw only a bit of it, but were able to ascertain the two addresses where Barlow lived in the 1940s when he was teaching at the college. Later, Claudia determined that the houses located at these addresses are in all likelihood the very ones Barlow lived in. One of them is Santander 27 in the Azcapotzalco district: https://maps.app.goo.gl/m6GPWMDobVLFG1qw8. The other is Comonfort 15 in the Lagunilla district: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MLt4PQ1CL8jg88R66. We did not get a chance to visit these sites, but it is interesting to think of Barlow occupying these residences.

Thursday the 26th was the day of my “master class,” to be held at the Museum del Chopo at the University of Mexico. Before my lecture I gave an interview for a newspaper. I am not sure that this interview has appeared yet; if it has, I received no internet link to it. But an interview I gave earlier (on Tuesday) at a radio station, conducted by Omar González, has appeared: https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2024/10/18/cultura/si-lovecraft-no-invento-el-horror-cosmico-si-lo-revoluciono-st-joshi-5115. Anyway, my lecture (chiefly devoted to how I conducted my Lovecraft research over the course of the past half-century) seemed to be well received. I can remember my peroration:

“Lovecraft did not believe in an afterlife. As an atheist, he did not believe in the survival of consciousness after death. It is we who keep him alive by reading him, by studying him, by interpreting him, by internalising his words and his message. I am convinced that this process will continue for many generations. And that, my friends, is true immortality.”

Afterwards, I felt like a celebrity, as a long line of fans wanted me to sign books (other other items—including someone’s arm) and have photos taken of me with them. Mary snapped this photo of this part of the event:

I cannot refrain from adding a photo of the “gang,” who all treated us with such lavish courtesy and consideration:

From left to right: Ben, Amanda, Qais, Claudia, myself. [Marco not present.]

All in all, it was a wonderful trip—and one that I hope to repeat sometime in the future.

On to a few other matters:

I have been in touch with John Shepherd, the son of Lovecraft’s colleague and correspondent Wilson Shepherd. John has now written a fine book on his father’s relations with Lovecraft, entitled H. P. Lovecraft, A Fine Friend: Wilson Shepherd Remembered, 1932–1938. The book is available from Archway Publishing (https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/855988-h-p-lovecraft-a-fine-friend)."

My story “In His Own Handwriting,” featuring Lovecraft as a character, has been recorded as an audio file by HorrorBabble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9saXgtsPBN4. I am rather partial to this story, so I hope people take the time to listen to this fine reading.

Steven J. Mariconda, who for decades has been one of the leading scholars on Lovecraft, has contributed an article—“To Thrill and Agitate: Complex Figuration in Lovecraft and Emerson”—for an academic volume on Emerson, Father of the American Mind, edited by Emile Alexandrov and Steve Stakland. The book will be published next year by Routledge. One of the editors approached me about such an essay. I felt I had nothing to say on the subject, but Steve has found a remarkable number of parallels (and contrasts) between these two authors.

Finally, I am in receipt of an Italian book, H. P. Lovecraft’s Atlante delle terre del sogno (Atlantis in the world of dream), with text by Carlo Baja Guarienti and many illustrations by Alberto Ponticelli (https://www.oscarmondadori.it/libri/atlante-delle-terre-del-sogno-di-lovecraft-howard-phillips-lovecraft/). The book is published by Italy’s leading publisher, Mondadori. I wrote a brief preface to it. I have a few copies for sale, which I can offer at the bargain price of $10.

October 8, 2024 — Some Recent Books

I am not quite prepared to record the crowded events that occurred during my recent trip to Mexico (September 20–27), so in the meantime I figured I would write a brief blog post telling of some books of mine that have appeared lately.

I have managed to reprint my editions of Everil Worrell and Carl Jacobi, which were inexplicably withdrawn by Weird House. The Worrell book is now titled The Hollow Moon and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DGQQ54XH). The Jacobi book—published in two volumes as Mive and Others and Witches in the Cornfield and Others—now appears in one volume as Studies in Darkness (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJD8Y9BL). As you can see, both feature superlative cover art by Allen Koszowski.

Several August Derleth books have appeared through the August Derleth Society, and can be secured from Amazon. They are:

The Lost Heart and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DGGB87T8)

Poems of Sac Prairie, Volume 1 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DF2LDLKJ)

Wind over Wisconsin (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8M468TW)

The Lost Heart is a collection of four lengthy novellas, two of which (“Design in Circles” and “The Lost Heart”) are previously unpublished. Poems of Sac Prairie, Volume 1 contains the complete contents of Hawk on the Wind (1938) and Man Track Here (1939). The volume was compiled by David E. Schultz, who has added an extensive bibliography of first publications of the poems in the book. Wind over Wisconsin is a 1938 historical novel set in the 1830s, involving the final struggle of Black Hawk and the Sauk tribe against the encroachment of European settlers on land they had formerly occupied. Derleth extends considerable sympathy to Black Hawk as a valiant warrior defending his way of life. The print edition of this book has been “blocked” because of silly copyright concerns on Amazon’s part, but we are making efforts to resolve the issue.

I am also happy to announce the appearance of Shunned Houses, a second anthology that I have assembled with Katherine Kerestman (following The Weird Cat), and published by WordCrafts Press (https://www.wordcrafts.net/?s=shunned+houses). The publisher’s page does not give much information on the book. The Amazon entry (https://www.amazon.com/Shunned-Houses-Anthology-Weird-Essays-ebook/dp/B0DB6J4VM4) allows you to peek inside at the table of contents. We have both reprinted material from a wide array of writers (S. T. Coleridge, Algernon Blackwood, G. P. R. James, Ambrose Bierce, Ramsey Campbell, etc.), and original material (poems, stories, and essays) by Michael Potts, Jonathan Thomas, John Shirley, Anna Taborska, and plenty of others. I have a few spare copies to sell, and will be happy to let them go at $20 per copy.

And, just as a teaser—the first volume of my history of atheism is out! At least, the copies have been printed, and I will be getting some in the near future. The list price of the book (https://www.ipgbook.com/the-downfall-of-god-products-9781634312585.php) is $50, but I will be happy to part with my spare copies for $40. I will probably only have four spares, so you are welcome to notify me if you wish me to reserve a copy for you.

September 10, 2024 — History of Atheism Finished!

I am delighted (and relieved) to announce the completion of volume 2 of The Downfall of God: A History of Atheism in the West. Here is the breakdown of the final chapter of the book:

1. X. The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries
1. A. Politics and Religion in Europe: 1901–1945
2. B. Politics and Religion in the United States: 1901–1945
3. C. Science and Religion
4. D. The Challenge of Psychology
5. E. Philosophy and Religion
6. F. Battle Royal: Orthodoxy vs. Freethought
7. G. Secularism in Literature: 1901–1945
8. H. Politics and Religion in Europe: 1946–2024
9. I. Politics and Religion in the United States: 1946–2024
10. J. Continuing Battles Between Science and Religion
11. K. Existentialists, Humanists, and Others
12. L. Religion Fights Back
13. M. The New Atheists
14. N. Atheism in Literature and Popular Culture: 1946–2024
2. Epilogue
3. Bibliography

The total word-count came to 223,069 words. The bibliography alone (listing books that I consulted for the work) comes to 42 pages. As each page of the bibliography lists about 12 books, this means I consulted more than 500 books. (Articles, websites, and other sources are cited in footnotes.) And, bless her heart, Mary read the entire book before I sent it to the publisher, and she caught all manner of typos, infelicities, and other slips. I am hugely grateful to her for this meticulous work. I have finished proofreading and indexing volume 1, and it is scheduled to appear in November.

Another publication of mine is an article, “‘Cities Are Somehow Wrong’: The Urban/Rural Divide in Lord Dunsany,” just published in Weird-Fictional Narratives in Art, Architecture, and the Urban Domain, edited by Andrew Gipe-Lazarou and Konstantinos Moraitis (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024). Here is the publisher’s web page for the book: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-0364-0776-6.

Cadabra Records continues its fine array of spoken-word LPs of weird tales. Just out is a rendition of Robert W. Chambers’s mesmerising story “The Repairer of Reputations,” read by Anthony D. P. Mann (https://shop.raptor.de/produkt/vsp0112024/). This contains an interview of me, translated into German. I confess that I do not even recall conducting this interview, but the periodical as a whole is a lavish, extensively illustrated item full of interest to the Lovecraftian.

I am indebted to my colleague Jonathan Schabbi for providing what seems to be an extraordinarily comprehensive bibliography of Lovecraft in Hebrew. Up to now, I was aware of only one or two such items, but I now see there are seven books and several appearances of stories or essays in periodicals or magazines. I can do no better than to print Jonathan’s own list:

Jonathan notes that he has not seen that 2024 anthology cited above. In response to a further request on my part for information on Arabic translations, Jonathan supplied the following:

No doubt Abdul Alhazred would be proud!

To conclude this blog post on a more whimsical note, I present the following photograph. I usually disdain the idea of people taking photos of their meals, but Mary and I were so moved by a Vancouver (BC) restaurant’s gift of a dessert when we showed up there (with my sister Nalini) on our tenth anniversary (July 27) that I cannot resist presenting it here:

Yes, the words “Happy Anniversary” are spelled out in cocoa powder!

August 26, 2024 — A Mountain of New Hippocampus Books

I was thrilled to receive a large number of new books from Hippocampus Press—books that were designed to be sold at NecronomiCon, where I trust they did well. Here is what has come in. I affix the prices (slightly reduced from the retail price) that I am offering to interested customers:

• Jason C. Eckhardt, The Legions of the Sun ($20)
• Alan Dean Foster, The Moaning Words ($10)
• Katherine Kerestman, Haunted House and Other Strange Tales ($10)
• Lovecraft Annual No. 18 (2024) ($10)
• Lovecraftian Proceedings No. 5 (2024) ($15)
• Heather Miller, Ripples from Carcosa ($10)
• Michael Shea, Momma Durtt ($15)
• Clark Ashton Smith, In the Shadow of Boulder Ridge ($15)
• Jonathan Thomas, The Color over Occam ($15)

It is difficult to describe these titles in any detail. Eckhardt’s historical novel about Ambrose Bierce is one of the most scintillating works of supernatural fiction that I’ve read in recent years, with compelling portraits of Bierce and numerous other figures associated with him as he goes down to Mexico on a perilous mission. Foster’s novella is Lovecraftian to the core, using Abdul Alhazred’s “unexplainable couplet” (“That is not dead …”) as the basis of a wide-ranging tale of cosmic horror. Kerestman’s collection exhibits her mastery of the short-short story, ranging in subject matter from haunted houses to vampires to Lovecraftian narratives and much else besides. Lovecraft Annual and Lovecraftian Proceedings (the latter containing select papers delivered at the 2022 NecronomiCon) contain cutting-edge Lovecraft scholarship. Heather Miller’s monograph is a searching examination of the first season of True Detective and the influence of Lovecraft, Ligotti, and Chambers upon it. Shea’s previously unpublished novel is a vast expansion of a novella of the same title, recounting ecological horrors in California. The Smith volume features his tales set in California, although many of them proceed far afield into realms of fantasy and terror. And Jonathan Thomas’s novel (a reprint of a very limited edition of 2012) is to my mind one of the most scintillating and powerful Lovecraftian narratives ever produced by someone whose name is not H. P. Lovecraft.

Those customers who have purchased any of the above titles can secure the following at the discounted price of $5 each:

• Dead Reckonings No. 35 (Spring 2024)
• Spectral Realms No. 21 (Summer 2024)

I also understand that the hardcover edition of Lovecraft’s Collected Fiction, Volume 4: A Variorum Edition is finally out (https://www.hippocampuspress.com/h.-p.-lovecraft/fiction/collected-fiction-volume-4-revisions-and-collaborations-a-variorum-edition-limited-hc). I will be getting some spare copies and am prepared to take advance orders from those who might wish a copy. I offer it for $75 (I will cover media mail postage in the US).

As for me, I have been working vigorously on numerous projects, including Letters to R. H. Barlow, Clark Ashton Smith’s Miscellaneous Letters, and much else. But I will speak of these at a later time—and will also recount two brief but eventful vacations I have taken.

A new Sarnath Press book is one that I suspect none of my readers will want, but it is a project I have wished to prepare for decades. Back in the 1980s or thereabouts, I stumbled upon some stories by the French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) that had never been collected or otherwise reprinted. They appeared in McCall’s in issues of 1920 and 1921. I subsequently discovered that Bernhardt wrote other works of fiction—including two novels and other tales (one of which, “A Christmas Story,” is actually a weird tale). I have gathered up these works in a volume, Heart of the Rose (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDLB6BR1). At a minimum, these tales are engaging and entertaining.

August 3, 2024 — Another Fire Sale!

In a desperate attempt to rid this house of excess books, I have decided to hold an unprecedented fire sale. In short, I am offering the following books for only $5.00 each. Please be aware that in several instances I only have one copy available for purchase.

• Gary William Crawford et al., ed., Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu
• H. B. Drake, The Shadowy Thing
• Ken Faig, Jr., Lovecraftian People and Places
• S. T. Joshi, Something from Below (Hippocampus Press paperback)
• Josh Kent, The Witch at Sparrow Creek
• Tony LaMalfa, Forbidden Knowledge
• H. P. Lovecraft, A Little Silver Book of Supernatural Stories
• Lovecraft Annual 2011, 2018, 2022
• Lovecraftian Proceedings 4
• Adam Niswander, The Nemesis of Night
• Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Sin & Ashes
• Carl E. Reed, Dark Matter
• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Penguin Horror [hardcover])
• Donald Sidney-Fryer, Astral Debris
• Spectral Realms 2, 6, 8, 10, 15, 18, 19, 20
• Simon Strantzas, Only the Living Are Lost
• Studies in Weird Fiction 25 (Summer 2001)

I still have numerous copies of the following title, which I am happy to offer for $10.00:

• Lynne Jamneck and S. T. Joshi, ed., Gothic Lovecraft (Cycatrix Press; signed/limited edition)

And I can offer the following items for free if you order one or more of the above titles:

• Dead Reckonings 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 34
• D. L. Myers, Oracles from the Black Pool
• Fred Phillips, From the Cauldron
• Ann K. Schwader, Dark Energies

Given the low cost of the above items, I’ll ask for $5 postage on one or two items and $10 postage on three or more items. These postal costs are course only for US customers; postal costs for overseas customers will have to be negotiated.

And, for those who might wish to indulge in some more choice items, I offer these:

• Astounding Stories, February, March, and April 1936 (serialisation of HPL’s At the Mountains of Madness) ($400)
• David Barker and W. H. Pugmire, In the Gulfs of Dream (Dark Renaissance [slipcased hardcover]) ($200)
• Robert E. Howard, The Ultimate Triumph (Wandering Star [slipcased hardcover; copy 47 of 1500-copy limited edition]) ($200)
• Clark Ashton Smith, The Averoigne Chronicles (Centipede Press) ($500)

I am prepared to negotiate prices for these four items if there is any interest in them.

On another note: I observe that one JD [sic] Vance has chosen to criticise the “childless cat ladies” in our midst. Well, he’s certainly lost the cat vote! I hope, indeed, that he loses the votes of all sane and decent persons in this country. A more despicable pair of scumbags than Trump and Vance would be difficult to find—or even imagine.

July 23, 2024 — The Theory of the Weird Tale

I am happy to announce the publication of a book I have long thought of compiling: The Theory of the Weird Tale, the newest title from Sarnath Press (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9YM9KPQ). This is a volume I conceived literally decades ago, and I am pleased that I finally buckled down and finished it off. It consists of writings—from as early as 1764 to as late as the 1950s—by weird writers discussing both the theory and practice of weird fiction. As you can see if you peek into the “sample” that the Amazon page provides, contributors include Horace Walpole, Sir Walter Scott, Edgar Allan Poe, Walter de la Mare, H. P. Lovecraft (multiple selections), M. R. James (ditto), Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, L. P. Hartley, and many others. I have thoroughly annotated all the items and written a brief introduction. If there are any who wish to order copies directly from me (for $15—no postage for US customers), please let me know and I will order a batch of copies at my publisher’s discount and send them on.

There was apparently some difficulty regarding the Amazon listing for my edition of Dorothy Quick’s The Witch’s Mark and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4ZHZ9MD). For a time the book was listed as “Out of print—limited availability.” But the problem has now been rectified, so you are free to order the volume. You won’t be disappointed!

I have laboriously finished proofreading and indexing The Downfall of God, volume 1. On top of that, Mary read the entire volume (she had not read it before) and caught a goodly number of typographical and other errors. I guess it pays to have a smart wife with keen eyesight! I have now forwarded the corrections and index to the publisher. Meanwhile, I am bearing down on the completion of volume 2, which I fear has already become larger than volume 1 (current word count: 217,740 words). The bibliography alone (listing books I consulted for the volume) comes to almost 40 double-spaced pages. Once I finish the book, I will send it to the publisher in two versions: the full version and a somewhat abridged version that will be only slightly longer than volume 1. Let’s hope the publisher decides to go with the full version! But in the event that the publisher decides to use the abridged version, I will keep an electronic text of the full version on my computer. Maybe it can be published posthumously.

Lately I have been working hard in annotating Letters to R. H. Barlow, a fascinating compendium of letters Barlow received from all manner of friends and colleagues: E. Hoffmann Price, Ernest A. Edkins, C. L. Moore, and heaps of others. There is plenty of discussion of Barlow’s ongoing attempts to tend to Lovecraft’s literary estate after HPL’s death, but also much information about Barlow’s work as an anthropologist in Mexico. We hope to have this volume ready for publication by Hippocampus Press early next year.

I am sorry to announce that, for a variety of reasons, I will not be able to attend NecronomiCon this year. I was looking forward to going and regret my inability to attend.

July 1, 2024 — A Multiplicity of Developments

Much has happened in the past few weeks, so I’ll get right down to it. Chief among them is the arrival of proofs (in the form of a 500-page pdf) of the first volume of my history of atheism, The Downfall of God. I am now tasked with proofreading and indexing this mammoth tome; Mary is helping me in the former function. Here is the austere but effective title page of the book:

The indexing will take at least three weeks, but so far it is progressing smoothly enough.

Bryan Moore, the artist and filmmaker, has presented me with a splendid sculpture of Cthulhu, in exchange for some trifle from my collection. I cannot resist presenting an image of it, although this photograph cannot convey the nightmarish intensity of the sculpture:

I have been interviewed recently by two individuals, and they have just published these interviews. The most recent was by Alex S. Johnson, who has been doing a series of interviews of leading figures in the weird fiction field. Here is the link to the interview of me: https://baileyg.substack.com/p/in-search-of-lovecrafts-legacy-an

Somewhat earlier, Trevor Kennedy interviewed me for his magazine Phantasmagoria (issue 24, Summer 2024). The interview is titled “Joshi on Joshi (and Lovecraft)” and appears on pp. 87–93. It does not appear that Phantasmagoria is available online, so readers are urged to seek it out. There is an abundance of excellent material in the issue.

The second issue (Summer 2024) of Nightlands (edited by Quentin S. Crisp and published by Jonathan Dennison) is now out, and it is entirely devoted to the late Mark Samuels. I wrote an article for it: “Mark Samuels’s Lovecraftian Quartet,” assessing the stories that Samuels wrote for my various Lovecraftian anthologies. I have a few spare copies of this splendid issue that I would be happy to part with for $10 each.

Dennison, the proprietor of Cadabra Records, has recently initiated a publishing division, Chiroptera Press. Along with Nightlands, he has just issued Samuels’s Charnel Glamour, in a superb hardcover edition (https://chiropterapress.com/products/charnel-glamour-by-mark-samuels). Next year Hippocampus Press will issue a trade paperback of this volume, with the addition of a story (“Dedicated to the Weird,” an extensive revision of a tale that Samuels wrote early in his career).

I myself, through my imprint Sarnath Press, have issued Ken Faig Jr.’s The Selenite Invaders (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D77R24RT). This engaging novel features a character (Herbert Hereward) clearly based on Lovecraft, and other elements of this science fiction tale echo events in the life of Lovecraft or his relatives. The novel spans much of the twentieth century, showing Hereward (unlike Lovecraft) repurchasing his birthplace at 454 Angell Street and living to a ripe old age (with a wife and children to boot), all while battling wormlike creatures from the moon. A thoroughly entertaining read—go buy it! A second volume by Faig, featuring shorter tales using Lovecraft as a character, will soon appear under the title The Skull of Roger Williams.

I am in receipt of Don Swaim’s new novel Jitterbuggin’ with the Renaissance (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1957010444), a thoroughly entertaining novel set in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s and featuring a wealth of celebrated figures from that era. I was particularly taken with the portrayal of H. L. Mencken, but Swaim also exhibits F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others in his book. Don runs the leading Ambrose Bierce website; his novel The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce was published by Hippocampus Press in 2015.

Justin Jacobson, a member of a rock band called Garden Tigers, tells me that he has released an album, Fade in Chaos (https://gardentigers.bandcamp.com/album/fade-in-chaos), which he describes as “cosmic country music.” Certainly a distinctive amalgam! I confess that I have not listened to the track that Justin has forwarded to me, but I’m sure other musically inclined Lovecraftians will get a kick out of this innovative take on the dreamer from Providence.

Last but by no means least, Terence McVicker has done me the honour of passing on a compilation by Jeff Willmot: H. P. Lovecraft in Paperback Books: The First 50 Years. So far as I can tell, this book has not appeared on McVicker’s website for Bats Over Books, but I imagine it will appear there presently. Here is a link to a British website that is offering the book: https://www.coldtonnage.com/product/598838/H-P-Lovecraft-In-Paperback-Books-The-First-Fifty-Years-50-numbered-copies. The compilation looks extraordinarily thorough, featuring colour reproductions of the covers of the paperbacks (both US and UK) covered in the book. I myself have given up the task of keeping track of Lovecraft publications (although I may at some point issue an updated bibliography of Lovecraft criticism), so work lke Willmot’s is important and welcome.

June 20, 2024 — More Sarnath and Hippocampus Books Out!

This will be a brief blog post, but I do wish to make the momentous announcent of two new Sarnath Press books. The first is the very first collection of the fiction and poetry of Dorothy Quick, titled The Witch’s Mark and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4ZHZ9MD). I was somehow under the impression that Quick was predominantly a poet; and while she did indeed publish a good many poems in Weird Tales (as well as several poetry collections overall, mostly of non-weird poetry), she also wrote a dozen or more stories. Many of these tales have an historical bent, being set in the Renaissance or even farther back in history. For some reason, no one has thought to assemble her weird tales and poems, so I have filled the breach.

The other book is Robert Barbour Johnson’s The Silver Coffin and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5BQZJHG). This is, in all frankness, a reprint of my recent Weird House compilation of Johnson’s work, Far Below and Other Weird Stories (2021); but for some mysterious reason, Weird House has pulled all four of my compilations (this one along with two volumes of Carl Jacobi’s tales and a volume of Everil Worrell’s tales) from its website, and they seem to be essentially unavailable. I did not feel that my efforts in regard to these worthy pulp authors should be so summarily terminated, so I have reprinted the Johnson volume and will see if I can reprint the others in due course of time.

And I have received two new publications from Hippocampus Press. The first, momentously, is Carl E. Reed’s first short story collection, Dark Matter (https://www.hippocampuspress.com/other-authors/fiction/dark-matter-by-carl-e.-reed). Readers should be familiar with Reed from appearances of his fiction in Penumbra and of his poetry in Spectral Realms. Dark Matter contains both stories and poems, and to my mind it is one of the most scintillating first collections of any weird writer in recent decades. Readers are welcome to purchase spare copies from me for a discounted price of $15.

The other volume is the fifth edition of Lovecraft’s Library: A Catalogue (https://www.hippocampuspress.com/lovecrafts-library/lovecrafts-library-a-catalogue-2024-edition). It is hard to believe that the first edition of 1980 appeared some forty-four years ago, when I was a callow undergraduate at Brown University. That edition contained fewer than 1000 titles, whereas the current edition contains a whopping 1129. It is the definitive compilation of the books in Lovecraft’s library. Readers are welcome to purchase this book for $10.

Another volume that has emerged is a new compilation of August Derleth’s work, Evenings in Wisconsin: Portraits of Sac Prairie People (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D69W4749). This volume came about somewhat serendipitously. As I was examining Derleth’s uncollected and unpublished work, I noticed a number of sensitive character sketches (including an early piece, “Old Ladies” [1932]), which Lovecraft had specifically praised). It turns out that these sketches are in accord with the pieces included in Walden West (1961) and Return to Walden West (1970). It appears that Derleth was in the process of compiling a third volume, Annals of Walden West, but death intervened. I do not claim that the volume I have assembled is in any way a duplication of what Derleth intended for Annals of Walden West (a partial manuscript of which is in any case extant), but Evenings in Wisconsin is very much in line with the two published volumes and constitutes some of Derleth’s most sensitive writing. It includes a major unpublished document, “A Town Is Built” (a series of historical sketches of the people who settled Sac Prairie in the nineteenth century), and another document, “Evenings in Wisconsin,” portions of which were carved up for use in Walden West and Return to Walden West but which has never appeared in its original form. There is plenty of good reading here for those who appreciate sensitive character sketches and regional writing.

May 23, 2024 — Work on Various Fronts

I am obliged to begin this blog post on a sad note. The great Lovecraft scholar Robert H. Waugh died on April 13. Here is an obituary from the funeral home handling Waugh’s funeral: https://www.copelandhammerl.com/obituaries/Robert-H-Waugh?obId=31194353. I had been acquainted with Waugh since at least the late 1980s, when he started submitting long, ruminative articles to Lovecraft Studies. A few years thereafter he began hosting an annual H. P. Lovecraft Forum at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he was a professor of English. It was at one of these gatherings—I believe in the early 1990s—that I met John Langan, who was then a graduate student who apparently had no thought of writing weird fiction. I continued to attend Waugh’s forums as often as I could. I then arranged for the publication of his first volume of critical essays on Lovecraft, The Monster in the Mirror (Hippocampus Press, 2006). Two further volumes appeared over the years. I was tickled when W. H. Pugmire noted that Waugh had become his favourite Lovecraft critic; I was demoted to second place. I did not mind: Waugh’s work is certainly vibrant and suggestive, even if at times the train of thought is a bit hard to follow.

Also in the necrology is Roger Corman (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/12/movies/roger-corman-dead.html), who (I suppose) deserves to be commemorated by the Lovecraft community for his directing the first film adapting a Lovecraft story, The Haunted Palace (1963), a very loose adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, with a screenplay by Charles Beaumont. I met Corman once when he came to Seattle to commemorate an expansion of the Science Fiction Museum (now called the Museum of Pop Culture or MOPOP). I doubt that he remembered me (I was in the company of Jason Brock) for more than five seconds.

I have written the first new short story within memory. It is called “The Kittens,” and it was inspired by Lovecraft’s letter to James F. Morton (late Dec. 1936) about his visit to Neutakankanut Hill, where he encountered two kittens. (A similar letter, written to August Derleth, led Derleth to write “The Lamp of Alhazred.”) I rather like this story. It will appear in the Lammas 2024 issue of Lovecraftiana.

Otherwise I continue working on numerous fronts. In my history of atheism (volume 2) I am well into the twentieth century. My chapter will be divided into at least two main parts (with further subdivisions within them), one part covering the century up to World War II, the second part covering the period from then to the present day. That’s the current plan, at any rate. I have already covered scientific, philosophical, and other developments of the period 1901–1945, and I am now tackling the literary figures of the period, both religious (Evelyn Waugh, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene) and secular (James Joyce, W. Somerset Maugham). Lovecraft will come in for some discussion here. I read Sinclair Lewis’s scathing attack on evangelical religion, Elmer Gantry (1927), then saw the 1960 film starring Burt Lancaster—a hoot!

Another Derleth reprint that I have prepared for the August Derleth Society is the novel
Sweet Genevieve (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3RLRC1Z), a poignant novel first published in 1942. There now remain only two Sac Prairie novels remaining to be reprinted: Restless Is the River (1939) and Shadow of Night (1943), although there are five novels of what he called the Wisconsin saga that have not been reprinted. All in good time! Right now I am assembling a volume (still in a somewhat nebulous state) of Derleth’s character sketches and autobiographical writings.

I am hopeful that new Hippocampus Press publications will emerge soon. On the agenda for the near future are:

• Jason E. Eckhardt, The Legions of the Sun (a supernatural novel about Ambrose Bierce)
• Katherine Kerestman, Haunted House and Other Strange Tales (a volume of short-short stories)
• Jonathan Thomas, The Color over Occam (a reprint of one of the best neo-Lovecraftian novels ever written)
• Heather Miller, Ripples from Carcosa (a monograph about the TV show True Detective and the influence of Lovecraft, Ligotti, and others on it)
• Lovecraftian Proceedings No. 5 (selection of papers delivered at the Armitage Symposium at the NecronomiCon in 2022)
• Spectral Realms No. 21 (Summer 2024)
• Lovecraft Annual No. 18 (2024)
• Penumbra No. 5 (2024)

All but the last should be out for the NecronomiCon (August 15–18), if not earlier.

May 9, 2024 — A Trip to the United Kingdom

Before I plunge into the main subject of this blog post, I want to take note of the announcement of my first book for Conversation Tree Press, a specialty press located in Canada. It is William Hope Hodgson’s The House on the Borderland & Others (https://conversationtreepress.com/collections/all/products/weird-house-borderland-hodgson-joshi-mckean-collectors). The book, as you can see, will be available in three states. I am confident that it will be a beautiful job of book production, rivalling or even exceeding Centipede Press in that regard. Better place your orders without delay!

Now to our trip. I had long wished to venture to the United Kingdom—not so much London (which now fatigues me) but the north of England and Scotland. We had initially thought to include Oxford and Cambridge into the mix (the former chiefly because of my passion for the TV series Endeavour, which is set there; I actually believe Cambridge is intrinsically more beautiful—both the city and, especially, the university), but we found that covering those sites would be logistically difficult. So we opted for three main locales: Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Liverpool in England.

Our trip did not begin auspiciously, as Mary forgot her cell phone, then tried to go home to fetch it, got caught in a hideous traffic jam in I-5 and had to rush back to the airport, where we barely caught the flight to Glasgow. After a change of planes in Reykjavik (we flew on Icelandair, an airline we like), we arrived at the Glasgow airport on the morning of April 22. But we did not stay there long: a bus took us to the city centre, and then we boarded a train to Dumfries, where we were met by my old friend Margaret (Miggy) Hall, whom I have known off and on for more than thirty years. She lives in a charming house in the small town of Creetown, and we spent two nights with her. On the 23rd we toured the Bladnoch Distillery, and I satisfied both my interest in the whole process of making Scotch whiskey and my fondness for the golden-hued elixir itself. (Mary, not having a taste for the beverage, let me consume most of the samples we were given.)

On the 24th we took a train to Edinburgh. We immediately engaged in a tour of the main attractions. It is a city full of literary associations, and we were struck by the pseudo-Gothic monument to Scotland’s most illustrious novelist, Sir Walter Scott:

I was delighted to see a fine statue of the philosopher David Hume, who was about as close to being an atheist as one can get without actually being one (or, more specifically, without coming out and stating so):

This statue is only a stone’s throw away from St. Giles’ Cathedral, an edifice that dates (in part) to the early Middle Ages. We explored that site also, but the photos I took on my rotten phone didn’t turn out so well.

The next day we continued our canvassing of Edinburgh. We had hoped to tour Edinburgh Castle (which also dates to the Middle Ages)—but, absurdly, one is required to purchase tickets ahead of time, and only online. But we did explore a curious attraction near the castle, called Camera Obscura—a place where all manner of illusions and other curious phenomena derived from science are exhibited, including an unnerving hall of mirrors. The place actually did have a camera obscura—which made me think of Basil Copper’s story of that title as well as the splendid Night Gallery dramatisation of it.

At the other end of the so-called “Royal Mile” in Edinburgh lies another impressive structure, the Palace of Holyrood House. This edifice—some of which also dates to the mediaeval era—we did manage to explore thoroughly. Here is a photo of me in front of one of the more ancient parts of the place:

On the 26th we took a train to Liverpool, where we had a wonderful dinner with Ramsey Campbell and his wife Jenny. We repeated the experience the next night, when we went to a superb Nepalese restaurant not far from their home in Wallasey:

I was also privileged to take a peek at Ramsey’s third-floor workspace—the place where such masterworks as The House on Nazareth Hill and the Daoloth Trilogy were composed.

But of course my other chief purpose in visiting Liverpool was to take in sites associated with The Beatles—the musical group that has captivated me since I was six years old and continues to do so. Mary signed us up for a “Magical Mystery Tour” that took us to many of the key landmarks associated with The Beatles in the Liverpool area. Here, for example, is the boyhood home of George Harrison:

Here is Paul McCartney’s home:

Here is a sign depicting the actual street that The Beatles wrote about in the song “Penny Lane”:

We are interested to learn (from the excellent and voluble tour guide) that many of the specific sites mentioned in the song (the barbershop, the roundabout, etc.) are still extant. And of course we had to go by Strawberry Fields:

All in all, this Beatles tour was an extraordinarily moving experience for me—one not soon forgotten.

On Sunday the 28th we had to catch a combination of a train and two buses to get back to Glasgow. We saw relatively little of the city on that day and the morning of the next day, but vowed we would come back someday for a more thorough examination.

As early as next year we are going back to England to focus on Oxford and Cambridge. There is so much to see in those two cities that they are worth detailed study on their own.

April 19, 2024 — Shunned Houses Accepted for Publication

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the anthology Shunned Houses, which I edited in collaboration with Katherine Kerestman, has been accepted by Wordcrafts Press. I can now present the complete table of Contents:

You can gauge the wide range of the book—both in terms of genre (fiction, poetry, essays) and in terms of chronological range (from Pliny the Younger [1st century C.E.] to contemporary writers) from this list. The publisher promises to bring the book out by the NecronomiCon, or mid-August. I believe at least a handful of contributors will be there, so we may have a publication party if that can be arranged.

I have now published the second volume of my edition of John Martin Leahy’s weird tales, this one entitled The Living Death and Drome (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1NY9RRJ). These are two novels. The former appeared in Hugo Gernsback’s Science and Invention (October 1924–June 1925) and involves an expedition to the Antarctic. It’s unclear whether Lovecraft read it or was influenced by it for At the Mountains of Madness; I rather doubt it. The second, Drome (serialised in Weird Tales, January–May 1927), is curiously set under Mt. Rainier, where two explorers discover an entire civilisation there. It is not terribly plausible, but is an entertaining read. Lovecraft presumably read this novel, but I am not aware of any comments he made about it. I will not be offering copies for sale myself, so please order directly from Amazon.

A final offering is my edition of Lovecraft’s A Little Silver Book of Supernatural Stories, just out from Borderlands Press (https://www.borderlandspress.com/shop/books/hardcover/a-little-silver-book-of-supernatural-stories-by-h-p-lovecraft-limited-edition-signed-by-the-editor/). This is part of a long series of “little books” that the publisher has issued; and I am informed that this Lovecraft volume is already nearly out of print. I am happy to offer copies of this volume for the bargain price of $20 each.

Another book that has come out is the newest volume in the August Derleth Society’s reprints of Derleth’s work, this one titled Moira and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D15FXMKS). It contains two previously published novellas (“Any Day Now” [1938] and “A House Above Cuzco” [1969]) and two previously unpublished novellas (“Moira” and “Dacey Stevens”). All four—but particularly the last three—deal with the problematical issue of an older man becoming intimate with a younger (and, in fact, teenage) female. “Dacey Stevens” is pretty hot stuff, I can tell you! But Derleth’s writing remains sensitive to the emotional complexities of the situations involved.

Stark House has just released the latest of its line of reprints of Robert Hichens’s work, The Folly of Eustace and Other Satires and Stories (https://starkhousepress.com/hichens.php). All four of its Hichens titles have introductions by me. The publisher plans at least one more book (partly suggested by me, as there are still some superb weird tales by Hichens that have not appeared in the current four books), for which I have already been asked to write an introduction. Someday I hope to persuade Jerad Walters to issue a large volume of Hichens’s collected weird tales with Centipede Press.

Speaking of Centipede, I have been informed that my edition of Guy de Maupassant’s weird stories has been delayed until late May. A paperback edition will probably appear next year with Hippocampus Press.

I have been alerted to the appearance of Perry Grayson’s long-awaited edition of Frank Belknap Long’s collected poetry, When Chaugnar Wakes (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYXVYSJW). As of this writing, only the Kindle edition is out; but I imagine a print edition will be forthcoming in due course of time.

I have been doing quite a bit of work on the writings of the late Mark Samuels, who died unexpectedly last December. I have just completed going over a book, Charnel Glamour, which the author submitted to Hippocampus Press some months before his passing. He had expressed the wish to include a story, “Dedicated to the Weird,” that had appeared early in his career (in the anthology The Derelict of Death and Other Stories, edited by John B. Ford and Steve Lines [Rainfall Books, 2003]), but which he said he had extensively revised. It took some effort for the parties concerned (specifically, Mark’s brother Justin, who has possession of his computer, and Quentin Crisp, who is working with Justin on various matters) to find the story; but find it they did. The book is relatively slender, about 200 pages, and probably won’t come out until next year.

I was asked by Crisp to write an article on Samuels for Nightlands, a periodical published by Jonathan Dennison of Cadabra Records. Jonathan is venturing into publication of books and magazines—a welcome development. I wrote an article on the four Lovecraftian tales that Samuels wrote for my various publications: “A Gentleman from Mexico” (in A Mountain Walked, 2014), “The Crimson Fog” (in The Red Brain, 2017), “Death in All Its Ripeness” (in His Own Most Fantastic Creation, 2020), and “An Elemental Infestation” (in Black Wings VII, 2023).

April 12, 2024 — Some Books to Offer

I am happy to provide further information on that facsimile of the handwritten manuscript of At the Mountains of Madness that I briefly referred to in my last blog post. The edition was published by a French publisher, Editions des Saints Pères, and it is certainly a beautiful thing to see (https://www.lessaintsperes.fr/155-at-the-mountains-of-madness-9791095457152.html). It is an oversize volume (about 10″ x 13″), enclosed in a slipcase, the whole being a lovely shade of green (perhaps indicative of the green ichor-like blood of the Old Ones?). In the US, the edition sells for $220, but I am happy to offer my spare copies (I have two) for the bargain price of $150. I wrote the introduction to the book.

I am also informed that, at long last, Hippocampus Press has released the first two volumes of my edition of Algernon Blackwood’s Collected Short Fiction. Here is the publisher’s page for the firt volume: https://www.hippocampuspress.com/other-authors/fiction/the-willows-and-others-collected-short-fiction-of-algernon-blackwood-volume-1?zenid=n261be857iq6920p84vva6eop1. I do not have copies yet, but I will be getting them soon, and can take orders for the books ($25.00 each) now and will send them on when they arrive. I will also be receiving copies of the latest Dead Reckonings (issue no. 34, Fall 2023), which contains my review of Ramsey Campbell’s new novel, The Lonely Lands, along with much other interesting material. Also out is the new issue (no. 20) of Spectral Realms, which contains a full index to issues 11–20. I am happy to offer these two items at $5.00 each, or free to anyone who orders either of the Blackwood volumes.

One final item to offer is Nate Pedersen’s The Dagon Collection, just out from PS Publishing (https://pspublishing.co.uk/the-dagon-collection-hardcover-nate-pedersen-6205-p.asp), a most amusing volume that purports to be “An Auction Catalogue of Items Recovered in the Federal Raid on Innsmouth, Mass.” The book contains contributions by all manner of leading Lovecraftians (Daniel Harms, Donald Tyson, F. Paul Wilson, Gemma Files, Lisa Morton, John Langan, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Michael Cisco, Ramsey Campbell, etc. etc.). I wrote the introduction to the book. I have exactly one copy for sale, which I can offer for $20.

Also in is Leigh Blackmore’s Nightmare Logic (IFWG, 2024) (https://ifwgpublishing.com/title-nightmare-logic-tales-of-the-macabre-fantastic-and-cthulhuesque/), which I believe is Leigh’s first full-length volume of weird tales. The author is justly celebrated for his weird poetry, but I am confident that his weird fiction is just as riveting. Here’s hoping the volume is readily available to US customers!

C. P. Webster passes on to me his novel The Horror Beneath (https://www.amazon.com/Horror-Beneath-C-P-Webster/dp/B0BW3BDFW3), which I gather has some delectable Lovecraftian elements and promises to be an entertaining read.

As for me, I have completed the compilation (with Katherine Kerestman, my co-editor) of Shunned Houses, an anthology of stories, poems, and essays on weird houses. (We don’t wish to refer to this as a “haunted house” anthology, for the scope of the book is wider than that.) We have dug up some fascinating stories from the past (by John Greenleaf Whittier, A. E. W. Mason, M. A. Manhood, W. W. Jacobs, and others); poetry by such classic poets as S. T. Coleridge (“Kubla Khan”), Edgar Allan Poe (“The Haunted Palace”), H. P. Lovecraft (“The House”), Robert Frost (“The Ghost House”), and many others; and original tales and poems by Stephen Mark Rainey, Ann K. Schwader, Jonathan Thomas, Michael Aronovitz, Maxwell I. Gold, and others. We will offer it to Wordcrafts Press, which published our previous anthology, The Weird Cat. We are already working on numerous other anthologies for the future.

I continue to work (with David E. Schultz) on Letters to R. H. Barlow, which is proving to be a fascinating volume. Recently I discovered some letters from Kenneth Sterling to Barlow. Both writers at the time (late 1930s) were fervent communists, but Sterling also discusses Lovecraft, Derleth, and other topics of interest. Barlow also received numerous letters from one George Tupper, about whom I know nothing, but his correspondence seems of unusual interest.

We are now contemplating a volume of Letters to H. P. Lovecraft. Our multi-volume edition of Lovecraft’s own letters is now approaching completion with the publication (later this year, one hopes) of A Sense of Proportion: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long. This volume does include Long’s side of the correspondence, and previous volumes have included letters by C. L. Moore, August Derleth, and others to Lovecraft. But there are a great many other letters to Lovecraft that for one reason or another we didn’t include—Ernest A. Edkins, E. Hoffmann Price, James F. Morton, Maurice W. Moe, etc. etc. A volume of such letters would shed much light on Lovecraft’s relations with these individuals.

Upcoming issues of the Lovecraft Annual and Penumbra are approaching completion, as are other volumes that Hippocampus Press will publish for the NecronomiCon this summer, ranging from Heather Miller’s treatise on Lovecraft and True Detective; Jason C. Eckhardt’s scintillating supernatural novel about Ambrose Bierce, The Legions of the Sun; a reprint of Jonathan Thomas’s The Color over Occam, one of the finest Lovecraftian novels ever written; Ken Faig Jr.’s More Lovecraftian People and Places; and much else besides. Let’s hope we can get all these titles (and still others I can’t even remember right now) out in time!

March 17, 2024 — A Podcast on Atheism

I was pleased to have participated in a podcast on my atheism book—and on the general subject of atheism and related subjects—with David Rigsbey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8jqNDvmlAE), with whom I’ve done several engaging podcasts in the past. This one is relatively short, but I believe I hit upon the highlights of volume 1 of The Downfall of God as well as the broader issue of the decline of religion as a factor in Western culture over the centuries. Do give it a listen!

My 420th book has appeared: the first of two volumes of the weird tales of John Martin Leahy, Draconda and Others (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXY5WSP3), graced by superb cover art by Allen Koszowski. Leahy’s work appeared almost exclusively in Weird Tales with the exception of a novel (to appear in volume 2) that was serialised in Hugo Gernsback’s Science and Invention. The current volume contains an introduction, for which I was the recipient of much interesting background information on Leahy unearthed by Sunni K Brock. It turns out that Leahy lived in the Seattle area for much of his life—and, indeed, many of his tales reflect this locale. This volume includes the memorable tale “In Amundsen’s Tent” (Weird Tales, January 1928), which almost certainly influenced At the Mountains of Madness to some degree. I have no spare copies to sell, so please order the book directly from Amazon.

Quite some time ago I received what looks like a splendid volume, Monsters in the Bush, a collection of “Lovecraftian Military Tales” written by David Rose and published by Screaming Banshee Press (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP6LNDGN). I have not read this book, but the author is a reliable producer of sound work, so the volume is likely to prove rewarding to the devoted Lovecraftian.

A much more recent arrival is Arithmophobia: An Anthology of Mathematical Horror, edited by Robert Lewis and published by Polymath Press (https://polymathpress.com/products/arithmophobia-an-anthology-of-mathematical-horror-edited-by-robert-lewis). My colleague Miguel Fliguer has a story (written in collaboration with Mike Slater) in the book, entitled “Splinters.” Miguel tells me this tale was originally titled “Splinters of Azathoth,” so its Lovecraftian undercurrent should be evident.

The newest reprint of August Derleth’s work undertaken by the August Derleth Society is the novel Still Is the Summer Night (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXQ5F6NS). This book appeared in January 1937, and Derleth sent a copy to Lovecraft at that time. Whether Lovecraft read it is unclear; I tend to doubt it, given the state of Lovecraft’s health. But it is a touching historical novel, set in the Wisconsin of the 1880s, and dealing with the domestic tribulations of a farming family. Many more works by Derleth are being planned for reprinting or for publication for the first time.

The ever diligent Katherine Kerestman has written a lengthy review (far lengthier than the subject matter warrants) of the paperback edition of my memoirs, What Is Anything?, as well as the three volumes of my Journals. This has now appeared in the online journal Dissections, issued by Flame Tree Publishing in England (https://dissections.co.uk/Dissections%202024/dissections_page_18.html). I may note that an extensive anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays about witches and witchcraft coedited by Katherine and myself will appear next year from Hippocampus Press.

I am enduring enforced bachelordom at the moment, as Mary has gone off to Arizona to visit select members of her family. But, as the photo below attests, she is spending her time in entertaining pursuits. Here she is (along with her sister Katie and Katie’s husband Arnie) at a winery called Javelina Leap, named after a rather hideous swine-like creature. Well, to each his own!

March 6, 2024 — History of Atheism Announced

I am thrilled to see that the first volume of The Downfall of God: A History of Atheism in the West has now been announced by Pitchstone Publishing (a member of Independent Publishers Group): https://www.ipgbook.com/the-downfall-of-god-products-9781634312585.php. I am not entirely sure why the announcement gives the page-count of the book at a whopping 800 pages. I have not seen proofs of the book yet, but my double-spaced typescript was only (!) 650 pages, so you would think that would come down to about 500 book pages. Well, no matter.

I have made substantial headway on volume 2, which I hope to finish well before the end of the year. In fact, I am so close to completing the long chapter on the nineteenth century that I can provide a breakdown of its numerous sections:

1. IX. The Nineteenth Century
   1. A. Europe and America in the Early Nineteenth Century
   2. B. The Romantic Movement
   3. C. Religion and Philosophy in the Early Nineteenth Century
   4. D. Biblical Criticism
   5. E. Darwin’s Revolution
   6. F. Socialism and Slavery
   7. G. Politics and Religion in the Later Nineteenth Century
   8. H. Women and Atheism
   9. I. Philosophy in the Later Nineteenth Century
   10. J. The Emergence of Secular Organisations
   11. K. The Rise of Anthropology and Scientific History
   12. L. Anglo-American Literature in the Post-Romantic Era
   13. M. European Literature in the Later Nineteenth Century
   14. N. Art, Architecture, and Music

Once this is done, there will only be the (very long) chapter on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to go. The book is already close to 170,000 words.

A brief follow-up to my previous blog post, where I made note of the French documentary on Lovecraft. Gilles Menegaldo reminds me that there is a trailer for it with English subtitles: https://vimeo.com/904227430. I’m sure the documentary is well worth watching, although I myself have not seen it yet.

Hippocampus Press is straining to bring out some overdue books—chief among them being the first two volumes of my collected edition of Algernon Blackwood’s short stories. I have heard that the first volume is actually in print; the second volume isn’t, but it soon will be. Other volumes that should appear in the coming months are: a collected edition of George Sterling’s essays; a volume of the joint correspondence of Sterling and Ambrose Bierce; Michael Shea’s unpublished novel Momma Durtt (a novella version appeared decades ago, but not the novel version); Alan Dean Foster’s original Lovecraftian novella The Moaning Words; Jason Eckhardt’s scintillating historical/supernatural novel about Ambrose Bierce, The Legions of the Sun; etc. etc. So many books to bring out, so little time to get them ready!

I understand that my edition of Guy de Maupassant’s weird tales should appear from Centipede Press by the end of this month. I may have exactly one spare copy to offer.

A facsimile of Lovecraft’s manuscript of At the Mountains of Madness has just appeared from a French publisher, but the publisher does not seem to have a web page for it yet, so I will not provide any further details until that page is up. I have several copies available for sale.

I am delighted to see that an audio version of my story “The Recurring Doom” has now been released by HorrorBabble as a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mpX_ZEd7yI. The audio takes up a full hour! When Ian Gordon, the head of HorrorBabble, initially made the offer to tape my story, I surprised him by telling him that I had written the first draft when I was seventeen—and that the story is, even after several revisions, largely what I wrote at that tender age. I haven’t heard this recording myself, but I trust it is entertaining—insofar as a story of this sort can be.

February 25, 2024 — Work, Work, and More Work

It has been more than three weeks since I’ve written a blog post. I’ve been extremely busy, but don’t seem to have a great deal to show for it. One item that has appeared is another August Derleth volume, The Dark House and Cassandra: Two Badger Prairie Novellas (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW63S4JT). This volume presents two previously unpublished novellas that are in the August Derleth Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society. They are set in Badger Prairie, the location of two other novellas that were published in the 1940s (“Gina Blaye” and “The Wife with the Mona Lisa Smile”), and which I included in my recent compilation of uncollected Sac Prairie stories, Gently in the Autumn Night. (Badger Prairie is a fictitious town near Sac Prairie.) David E. Schultz did the initial transcription of the two unpublished novellas and probably should have received editorial credit; but I decided to hog it for myself.

David, for his part, is diligently assembling all the stories that Derleth wrote about an eccentric character named Gus Elker. Curiously, he never made an attempt to gather the 44 stories into a book. Peter Ruber attempted to do so in the volume Country Matters (1996), but he omitted nine unpublished stories in the August Derleth Papers. This volume will bear David’s name as sole editor.

As for myself, I am struggling to finish the proofreading of the first two volumes of my Algernon Blackwood edition, which has been unconscionably delayed, but which should now be appearing from Hippocampus Press in the coming weeks.

Another project on which I have been devoting much time is a volume of Letters to R. H. Barlow. Barlow was in correspondence with a fascinating array of individuals, both in and out of the weird/fantasy/science fiction field, including H. G. Wells, A. Merritt, George Allan England, C. L. Moore, Ernest A. Edkins, August Derleth, and many others. But, aside from his letters to Derleth and to Donald and Howard Wandrei, not many of his own letters survive. The letters he received—many of which are found on a set of three microfilm reels made after his death by his literary executor, George T. Smisor—are full of interesting matter, especially relating to events following Lovecraft’s death in 1937. The volume may not be completed until next year, but it will be well worth the effort.

I am in receipt of Azathoth and Other Horrors (https://ifwgpublishing.com/title-azathoth-and-other-horrors-the-collected-nightmare-lyrics-by-edward-pickman-derby/), a volume of poetry that purports to be the book that Edward Pickman Derby wrote, as cited in “The Thing on the Doorstep.” The volume is in fact written by Leigh Blackmore, and an accomplished collection it is. I supplied a blurb for the back cover. Blackmore is one of the very finest weird poets of our time, and anything he writes—and this volume in particular—is worth securing.

My colleague Gilles Menegaldo has assisted in the making of a splendid new documentary on Lovecraft. The documentary was prepared by Marc Charley under the title Le Monde de Lovecraft (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27803167/). Gilles writes: “The documentary (two one-hour parts) was screened in several French festivals and public reception has been quite positive. We also had two screenings in Paris so far and attendance has been good too.” That’s all to the good! Here is the superb poster for the French version:

Marc and Gilles are in the process of preparing a version with English subtitles, to be titled The World of H. P. Lovecraft.

February 1, 2024 — Mortality in the Weird Ranks

I am sorry to report on a number of deaths that have struck the weird field of late. First on the agenda is David A. Drake, who died as far back as December 10, 2023, but of whose passing I only recently heard. Back in the 1980s I was in fairly frequent contact with him; he was a member of the Esoteric Order of Dagon amateur press association, and he was kind enough to look over a number of the essays on Lovecraft that I was writing at that time. I did not care for the general tenor of his literary work, but I did find his story “Than Curse the Darkness” (in Ramsey Campbell’s New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos) grimly effective. He was one of the last members of a distinctive cadre of North Carolina weird writers that included Manly Wade Wellman, Karl Edward Wagner, and others.

The New York Times has reported the passing of Fred Chappell, a mostly mainstream writer and poet who dabbled in the weird, including the striking Lovecraftian novel Dagon (1956) and a collection of weird tales, More Shapes Than One (1991). I first met him at the H. P. Lovecraft Centennial Conference, where he was on a panel on “The Craft of the Horror Fiction Writer.” He delivered a brief lecture on the writing of Dagon; I subsequently transcribed this lecture for The H. P. Lovecraft Centennial Conference: Proceedings (1991). Decades later I worked closely with Chappell in compiling a large volume of his weird work for the Centipede Press Library of Weird Fiction (2014); he was also kind enough to supply a brilliant and lengthy story, “Artifact,” for Black Wings IV (2015).

Also among the recently deceased is the scholar David J. Skal, who died on New Year’s Day after being involved in a car accident. I met Skal only once, some decades ago at a convention, during which he asked me about the peculiar story of Edith Miniter being asked to revise a draft of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I told him I knew nothing of the matter aside from what Lovecraft wrote in various letters, in which he kept telling the same story—that the manuscript was a mess and that Miniter declined to work on the revision. It does seem odd that Miniter (1867–1934)—who would have been only in her twenties in the early 1890s, when Stoker or his agent made this offer (presumably well prior to the novel’s publication in 1897)—would have been asked to perform this revisory task. Her only commercially published novel, Our Natupski Neighbors (1916), was issued decades later.

On to other matters:

My work on August Derleth continues, and I have now edited a volume of his uncollected stories about the Sac Prairie region, Gently in the Autumn Night (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTCQPZMT/). This is the first Derleth volume that bears my name as editor, since the earlier books—reprints of Place of Hawks (1935), Evening in Spring (1941), and The Shield of the Valiant (1945)—are straight reissues of the original editions without any editorial content. I am now working on a reprint of Still Is the Summer Night (1937); a pair of novellas set in the nearby region of Badger Prairie, Cassandra and The Dark House; and a second volume of uncollected Sac Prairie stories.

My friend and colleague Katherine Kerestman has made an interesting observation regarding the Hammer film Horror Hotel (1960; titled The City of the Dead in the UK). She believes it to be an uncredited adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Festival”! Consider the overall plot, as Kerestman relayed it to me: “The woman [Venetia Stevenson, playing the character Nan Barlow] is studying history and she tells her prof (Christopher Lee) that wants to do her senior paper on the Massachusetts witch trials, goes to a small town there, which is not on the maps and is covered in mists (of course), which is made up of 17th-century buildings, and which is full of Satanic witches who have gathered for the Feast Day. She finds the witches (occasioning her demise as a Candlemas Feast sacrifice) by lifting a trap door in her room at the inn and descending into a subterraneous tunnel. Before she makes the descent, she is reading an antient volume on Satanism in New England, which she has borrowed from the bookstore owner.”

This is “The Festival,” indeed! I myself saw Horror Hotel ages ago, but in my blindness never noticed the Lovecraftian overtones.

An interview that Katherine conducted of me has just appeared in (and is announced on the front cover of) the Candlemas 2024 issue of Lovecraftiana: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTM9RL5V/.

And, to end this blog on a happy note, I present a recent picture of our ageless and adorable cat Mimi, who wears her sixteen years (the equivalent of eighty human years) well:

January 13, 2024 — More Choice Books for Sale

Once again, in an attempt to get some books out of here, I offer a selection of some of the choicer books from my library, which I find I can easily spare. Most of these titles were listed earlier (in my blog post of October 10, 2023), but the prices have now been reduced; and two Robert E. Howard books have been added to the list:

• Harlan Ellison, The Essential Ellison (Morpheus International, 1991) [hc] ($150)
• Peter Enfantino, Robert Morrish, and John Scoleri, ed., The Best of Scream Factory (Cemetery Dance, 2018) [special numbered edition, signed by the editors] ($25)
• Robert E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane (Wandering Star, 1998) ($150) [slipcased edition]
• Robert E. Howard, The Ultimate Triumph (Wandering Star, 1999) ($500) [slipcased edition]
• Alan Moore, Voice of the Fire (Subterranean Press, 2015) [signed by Moore] ($150)
• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (SP Books) ($200) [slipcased hardcover; facsimile of the original handwritten ms.]
• Clark Ashton Smith, The Averoigne Chronicles (Centipede Press, 2016) ($500)
• [Jerad Walters, ed.], A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P.L. (Centipede Press, 2008) ($500)

Prices on the more expensive of these items are negotiable.

Meanwhile, I am proceeding full speed ahead on the reprinting of August Derleth’s Sac Prairie saga. Derleth’s first mainstream book, Place of Hawks (1935), is finally available in both a print edition and a Kindle edition, after some annoying delays (https://www.amazon.com/Place-Hawks-August-Derleth/dp/B0CPW12N7M/). The mammoth novel The Shield of the Valiant (945), is also available: https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0CRQNCQGP/. This is a sprawling account (more than 200,000 words) of the intertwined lives of several residents of Sac Prairie, including an older Stephen Grendon (a stand-in for Derleth). As such, it is something of a sequel to Evening Spring (1941), which we have already reprinted. I have now completed work on a volume of previously uncollected Sac Prairie stories, Gently in the Autumn Night, which includes the 46,000-word short novel The Wife with the Mona Lisa Smile. This work appeard in Redbook in 1943, and although it is somewhat along the lines of the “women’s fiction” of that era, it remains a significant and richly textured work. And there will be much more to follow!

↓ Entries from 2023…