S. T. Joshi’s Blog
February 25, 2026 — Downfall of God Wins an Award!
I was pleased to learn that volume 2 of The Downfall of God has received the 2025 Morris D. Frokosch Award for the best book published in 2025 relating to humanism. In a notice about the award that will appear in the April/May issue of Free Inquiry, it is stated that “Joshi’s magisterial, highly readable account of the rise of atheism in the West should become the standard reference on this topic.” Most flattering! I still have one or two copies of the book available for purchase (at $40), so I hope at least a few of my “enthusiasts”—who, of course, are predominantly interested in my work in weird fiction—might find this book of interest. To my mind it is the most notable intellectual achievement of my career.
Descending from the sublime to the (not entirely) ridiculous, I have just released another Sarnath Press book: an edition of the uncollected stories and essays of the detective writer S. S. Van Dine, The Scarlet Nemesis and Other Mystery Stories (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GNMGZ88L). Van Dine was the pseudonym of the literary and art critic Willard Huntington Wright, whose turbulent life is chronicled in a biography by John Loughery, Alias S. S. Van Dine (1992). Van Dine’s twelve detective novels (1926–39), featuring the detective Philo Vance (whose rather irritating mannerisms led Ogden Nash to write a memorable couplet: “Philo Vance / Needs a kick in the pance”), are engaging in their way; but the material I gather in this book is actually more distinctive. Eight stories date all the way back to 1916, long before Wright created Philo Vance; while other items in the book include true crime stories he wrote in 1929–30 as well as an array of essays on the detective story. Sarnath Press will increasingly turn toward the crime/mystery/detective story, especially as work by John Dickson Carr, Philip Macdonald, and other writers goes into the public domain.
My book The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Cthulhu Mythos has now appeared in a Russian translation. My contact, Bojan Ji, tells me that the book has already been well received; he has passed on a link to some initial (and favourable) readers’ reviews of the work: https://www.chitai-gorod.ru/product/mify-ktulhu-voshod-zakat-i-novyj-rassvet-3136236. I don’t imagine many of my readers can read Russian (I can’t either), but their response is certainly encouraging—and another sign of Lovecraft’s worldwide influence.
One form of entertainment that Mary and I are particularly fond of is crime films and television shows. Lately, Netflix has been offering a splendid array of such works, and we find them quite addictive. One of them, The Following (2013–15), is a show that ran for three seasons. The entire first season focused on the battle between a troubled FBI agent, Ryan Hardy (played by Kevin Bacon), and a serial killer, Joe Carroll (played by James Purefoy), who as a professor of English was obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe and used Poe’s work as some sort of motivation for committing his crimes. (Please be aware that the following discussion contains spoilers.) That was entertaining enough; but Episode 10 of Season 3 had a surprising twist. Here, another serial killer who is following in Carroll’s footsteps is trying to crack a document in cipher written by Carroll’s mentor, a psychiatrist named Dr. Arthur Strauss (played by Gregg Henry). What did these two have in common, aside from a mutual love of Poe? The killer determines that these gentlemen had another author they were fond of: “Lovecraft.” That’s all he says; not “H. P. Lovecraft,” just “Lovecraft.” And what is the passage from Lovecraft that will solve the cipher? “That is not dead which can eternal lie, / And with strange aeons even death may die.” The character utters these words with due solemnity. I nearly fell off my couch as I heard this! The moment passes quickly, and Lovecraft is not mentioned in the remaining episodes; but it is one more indication that Lovecraft and his work are now common currency in popular culture!
I was recently regaled by the arrival of two different guests to this fair city. The first was Steven J. Mariconda, whom I have known for a total of forty-three years (since 1983). Over several days we had nonstop yakking sessions, and I showed him my personal library (including the books in my shed in the back yard) while Mary cooked a toothsome chicken dinner for us. (She wanted to make a salmon dish, but Steve informed us of his Lovecraftian aversion to seafood.) On one day I took Steve on a miniature tour of the city—the University of Washington campus (including the Suzzallo-Allen Library, where I do so much of my research these days), the three houses I’ve lived in prior to this one (actually I’ve lived in four previous houses, the fourth being my former mother-in-law’s house; but I didn’t take Steve to that edifice), and other points of interest from a Joshian perspective. Here is a photograph of the two ageing scholars:
A few days later a new colleague, Russell Williams, came to dinner. Russell is from Wales but is currently living in Paris (lucky devil!). He was here for a conference but wished to look me up because he is writing a book on French weird fiction. More power to him! It is a subject that needs a thorough investigation. Russell has actually had dinner with Michael Houellebecq, who will no doubt figure in his book. On the occasion of his visit Mary did make her patented salmon dinner, since Russell expressed a fondness for that comestible. I told him of my minimal efforts in studying and editing French weird fiction (my editions of Gautier, Maupassant, and others), my translation of Maurice Lévy’s book on Lovecraft, and other matters of interest. Mary took a nice picture of the two of us:
Since I don’t travel to conventions very often these days, it appears that those who wish to meet me in person are obliged to beard me in my own den. I’m beginning to feel like Clark Ashton Smith, many of whose colleagues made the arduous trek to Auburn to meet him. But I hope Seattle isn’t quite as out-of-the-way as Auburn!
February 2, 2026 — Downfall of God Has Arrived
I am happy to report that several copies of The Downfall of God, volume 2, have reached me, and I can offer them to interested customers for $40, a slight discount from the retail price. The book is a whopping 605 pages and deals with all manner of issues relating to atheism, freethought, secularism, and other issues (including a section on religious or anti-religious elements in the work of Lovecraft, Dunsany, and other weird writers). I regard this two-volume work as the pinnacle of my work as a scholar and public intellectual.
Another book I am tremendously pleased to announce—one that I myself have published through my Sarnath Press imprint—is Pierre Déléage’s Transmigrations: Lovecraft, Barlow, Burroughs (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKXWNBDV). This slender but substantial monograph is one of the most penetrating studies of R. H. Barlow ever written, examining not only his weird fiction but also his anthropological work in Mexico to paint a much fuller portrait of Barlow than has been available elsewhere. Along the way, Déléage examines Barlow’s relations with both his mentor, H. P. Lovecraft, as well as William S. Burroughs, who briefly studied with him in Mexico.
On the Derleth front, the August Derleth Society is proud to have reissued Walden West (1961), one of his best and most beloved books (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GHT54B7G). Our edition presents the full text of the original work—a luminous autobiographical account of the individuals and locales that shaped his character and writings during his early years (including a section on Lovecraft)—along with additional texts. Some of the sections of the book were originally serialised in various magazines, but Derleth did not reprint all these sections in the book; we (i.e., David E. Schultz, who should have received editorial credit for his work but declined it) have included these missing portions, to augment the overall effect of the book.
I am putting the finishing touches on the Clark Ashton Smith biography, reading the work from beginning to end and making numerous revisions and additions. In addition, we have finalised a fine set of photographs that will be scattered here and there throughout the book; some of these have rarely if ever been seen by the general public. The book is on schedule to be published in hardcover this summer.
Speaking of Smith, I see that videos of the first two panels of the Clark Ashton Smith conference on January 10 have now been posted online. The page for the conference on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@TheCASmithCircleConference) provides links to the two panels, along with links to other videos of interest. I trust the remaining three panels will be uploaded soon.
January 20, 2026 — The Clark Ashton Smith Circle
I was delighted to participate in the one-day conference on Clark Ashton Smith, entitled “The Clark Ashton Smith Circle,” held at the Carnegie Library in Auburn, California—the very building that Smith haunted as a child, where (in the opinion of some scholars) he read every book that the library owned at the time. The conference, on January 10, featured five substantial panels. I was on two of them. The first, “Smith’s Poetry,” was a lively discussion of the entirety of Smith’s verse, from early to late. One panelist, John R. Fultz, was ill, so the conference’s organiser, Nils Hedglin, ably filled his role as moderator. Here is a photo of the panel, featuring (from left to right) Nils, myself, and Ron Hilger:
After lunch, I was on a panel on “Smith’s Science Fiction.” I had told Nils that, in the course of rereading Smith’s tales for my biography, I had gained a renewed appreciation for these stories. Cody Goodfellow and Ron Hilger joined me on this panel.
Other panels were also lively. However, another no-show (because of illness) was Charles Schneider, who was to have made a “special presentation” at the end of the day. Instead, Dwayne Olson and Todd Warren recounted their quest for rare and obscure items of Smithiana.
The conference featured a dealer’s room as well as a display room where examples of Smith’s books, magazine appearances, and artwork were presented. I supplied a small number of items from my collection, including the “Unexpurgated Clark Ashton Smith” pamphlets issued by Necronomicon Press. And, of course, I had in hand a provisional copy of my biography (The Star-Treader: A Life of Clark Ashton Smith), which attracted some attention.
All in all, the conference was a rousing success. The panels were videotaped, and I imagine they will be uploaded onto YouTube or some other such platform in due course of time. We hope to reprise the event—and make it span two days rather than just one—in two years’ time.
Outside of the conference, Mary and I enjoyed several wonderful meals. We spent January 11–12 in Sacramento, where one evening we had dinner with my sister Nalini (who flew up from Carmel Valley) and Dwayne Olson at a place called Crawdad:
At this place, and also at a restaurant called Virgin Sturgeon, I silently begged HPL’s apology for devouring seafood!
I have been busy otherwise. As soon after January 1 as possible, I uploaded my reprint of John Dickson Carr’s first novel, It Walks by Night (1930), as a Sarnath Press publication (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDQ6WTB3). It is a scintillating work—an expansion of the novella “Grand Guignol,” which appeared in the Haverfordian (the student-run literary magazine of Haverford College), which I reprinted (along with other works from this periodical) in a previous volume. I shall now set about reprinting Carr’s novels one by one as they go into the public domain. By the mid-1930s he was publishing four books a year—which will keep me hopping!
Another book from Sarnath Press is the fiftieth—yes, fiftieth—volume of my edition of H. L. Mencken’s Collected Essays and Journalism, this one titled Magazine and Newspaper Work, 1930 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GH7DMHWH). The material is, as always, engaging reading, as Mencken’s wit and humour remain vibrant and lively.
I forgot to mention previously that one of the most distinctive gifts I received for Christmas was Olivia Luna Eldritch’s book Recipes from the World of H. P. Lovecraft (Thunder Bay Press, 2023) (https://www.thunderbaybooks.com/books/recipes-from-the-world-of-h-p-lovecraft-9781667202327/). How could this book have escaped my attention until now? No one had brought it to my notice. It looks like a delightful book, and is printed in a sturdy hardcover edition with lavish colour images in the interior. In spite of the whimsical titles of some recipes (e.g., “Silver Key Chili Con Carne”), it does appear as if the recipes are actually meant to be prepared by the adventurous chef; and indeed, many of them look most toothsome.
Work on other fronts proceeds apace. One of the largest projects I have (almost inadvertently) become enmeshed in is a complete edition of the short stories of W. C. Morrow (1854–1923), the friend and colleague of Ambrose Bierce, who wrote one of the most piquantly titled books ever published: The Ape, the Idiot and Other People (1897). But this volume is only the tip of the iceberg of his contributions to short fiction, relatively little of which is weird. Indeed, a substantial number of tales are in the crime or mystery genre, and Morrow could well be regarded as something of a pioneer in this genre, given that most of these stories were published in the later nineteenth century. It is likely that my edition will fill a solid three volumes, the first of which I hope to publish in a few months.
But numerous other Sarnath Press publications are also in the offing, and I plan to issue one book every two weeks! Stay tuned.