Revenge of the Respondent (for
Mailing 134, May Eve 2006)
Fred: Your mention of the Smith carving on the cover of The
Abominations of Yondo reminds me that Smith stonework also appeared on Beyond
the Wall of Sleep. I don’t know if his carvings appeared on the covers of
any other Arkham Houses.
Sean: It is curious that the publication of the Houellebecq work in the English
language has incurred so much comment, whereas I have no idea if there has
been any comparable flurry when the edition was published or re-published in
the Francophone world. It is as though the French edition doesn’t exist.
Ken: Concerning your issue on Wilson Shepherd and The Rebel Press, I’m
afraid I’m at least one reader who lost the thread of your argument in the
forest of details. Thanks for the reprint of The Rebel and its kin.
Ben: I have no way of knowing that Lin Carter was a “loudmouth,” but
based on your experience with him mis-quoting you and rather brushing you
aside, I might say he was ethically challenged and rude. *** Perhaps unlike
you, I feel that some Cthulhu stories by writers other than HPL could be very
good–for example, by Robert Bloch or, especially, Fritz Leiber. The idea is to
make the story your own. As both Bram Stoker and Richard Matheson could write
exceptionally on the same subject of vampires, so too could writers of Cthulhu.
But it would be fatal to imitate Lovecraft.*** The videotape pictured on your
cover was shown at the Lovecraft Centennial in Providence in 1990 (and I don’t mean that
particular tape, but a similar one).
Wilum: I note that you write about a place called Sesqua Valley.
Is their one-hundred year celebration a Sesqua Centennial (and is the 150th
a Sesqua Sesqui-Centennial)? And if man-like creatures are seen in the vicinity
are they Sesquatches? *** When I first visited Copenhagen and saw its roofs, I thought of
its antique quaintness and of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories. As a setting
for weirdness, there might be a hybridization between Andersen and HPL–say “The
Outsider” treated as the ugly duckling. *** You could have e-mail, if you
wished. There is no cost to open an account with such providers as Yahoo, and
you already go to the public library for internet access. Also, there is a
social life beyond local Lovecraftians. Where I live you could launch a guided
missile and not hit two.
Martin: In a recent mailing there was a history of Lovecraft publishing
in Denmark; and now your
account of that in Sweden.
Now if somebody would do Norway
the Scandinavian countries will have been taken care of (I don’t count Finland as
Scandinavian). *** A small press publisher may release “old, neglected horror
writers,” but Edgar Allan Poe is not neglected, unless this is a quirk of
Swedish taste.
John G.: Re your review of H.P. Lovecraft in Popular Culture: its
music section has probably been eclipsed by The Strange Sound of Cthulhu:
Music Inspired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft (2006) by Gary Hill.
Reflecting on your opinion, I’d say that the book appears an example of
marketing trumping quality. *** You compared The Lovecraft Lexicon with
The H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, but what about The H.P. Lovecraft
Companion, which has a section with similar entries?
Bruce: It is curious how relatively harmless phrases have taken on a
sociological significance, i.e., “Cthulhu Mythos,” concerning which you have
taken umbrage. CM can now suggest someone who is muddle-headed about HPL’s
fiction, and like the word “sci fi” implies ignorance, and possibly disrespect,
of its subject. On the other hand, as a matter of convenience I’m willing to
use the label “Cthulhu Mythos,” despite knowing its somewhat disreputable
(Derlethian) origin attributed to it by some aficionados. *** Curious that in
the comic strip you reprint, the name “Abdul Alhazred” is dubbed “the Mad Monk”
rather than “the mad Arab.” This could be an example of a politically correct
replacement.
John H.: You’re not the “unidentified fan” on the cover, are you? ***
You have too high a regard for “mea culpa.” None of us is that perfect
or bad in our fanzines. *** Were the Arkham ads (that you quote in your
register) located at the end of Weird Tales stories, in a classified
section, part of the Eyrie, or at some other place? *** Your evaluation
comments for your own bibliography should’ve been in a darker type face, for
its light gray has too little contrast, and makes it a challenge to
distinguish.
Henrik: That thumbnail of a traditional HPL portrait at the end of your
article is reproduced in such a way that it appears he is wearing sunglasses.
*** For the Knox competition that’s a funny riff (using cookery) on the “That
is not dead” lines.
Derrick: I envy your energy. You do all of Hippocampus Press activities,
plus hold down a job. Your title should be Lord of Everything Else, after The
Mikado character.
S.T.: What you consider “cosmicism” and what I consider it–or perhaps
more appropriately “cosmic horror”–have points of similarity and difference.
Whereas you might interpret the outlook as the insignificance of man and all
that mankind values, I see it as an awareness of earth as an island that is
only slightly more known than the surrounding unknown cosmos; and the concept
of unknowableness may have wonder mixed
into it.
Marebito
Shown at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, this film was an appropriate
choice, especially the first third, which I will briefly describe from the
rented DVD that I watched. The story concerns a film maker, interested in fear
and its causes, who goes into tunnels underneath Tokyo. Here he meets a cicerone who discusses
the hollow earth theory. Richard Shaver, the Shaver Mystery, and “deros”
(“detrimental robots”) are thrown into the discussion. Then the film maker
leaves this companion and comes out of a cave into a blue-litten world of
peaks–an excellent atmospheric special effect–which immediately reminded me of
the cover of The Annotated Lovecraft, where there is a bluish tinged
painting by Nicholas Roerich, the artist whose show influenced At the
Mountains of Madness. My impression was immediately confirmed by the
protagonist labeling what he viewed as “The Mountains of Madness.” The audience
is told that here are the ruins of a civilization built by older races. In a
alcove in the rocks he discovers a naked woman chained by the foot. The reason
for her appearance and being bound is never suitably explained.
After this the Lovecraft elements are in abeyance. With the next scene
the woman is in the man’s apartment, where she is kept as a kind of insane pet.
The plot becomes at times conventional, though there is a pleasing revelation.
At the risk of perpetrating a spoiler, I must observe this may be the
only movie I’ve seen that identifies with a madman’s perspective. Cleverly, at
times the physical medium of film itself is used, and one has a view as through
the artifacts and scratches that one finds on stock footage.
There are a number of fascinating ideas that get thrown out in Marebito,
but are not dramatically integrated. For examples, cause-and-effect are
reversed from the proposition that people saw something and so had great fear
into the stated premise that people had to be in great fear in order to see
something fearful. Also, it is claimed that our ancestors had senses modern
people lack, so once it was possible for them to see life from other
dimensions. But the suggestions are tantalizing throw-aways that lay on the
surface of the story, and their removal would not have changed the film.
Dracula
My re-reading of the Bram Stoker classic leads to these observations.
*** In the novel the town of Exeter
is alluded to. The prefix “Exe” is acknowledged in “The Rats in the Walls”
under Exham Priory, and Exeter,
R.I. is mentioned in “The Shunned
House” as the scene of what may be interpreted as vampire-killing. Since
citizens of Exeter apparently did burn the heart
of a suspected vampire, one wonders if Stoker opportunistically used the name
of Exeter. This
incident happened in 1892, while Dracula was published in 1897.
While the character of Van Helsing doesn’t have an equivalent in
Lovecraft, he appears a direct ancestor, by way of Sherlock Holmes, to Jules de
Grandin. Both are non-native English speakers who are occult savant/detectives.
Taking charge, they’re the ones who know how to deflect and defeat evil.
A curiosity of Dracula, not in adaptations, is that the title
character actually grows young, being rejuvenated by the blood he drinks.
Several of Lovecraft’s characters don’t grow younger, though they do prolong
life. A poetic theme on the subject is Fritz Leiber’s “The Man Who Never Grew
Young.” *** As a who-done-it, the novel fails in the same way as “The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” where from the get-go one knows the identity
of Mr. Hyde. Nor is there a mystery that the female vampire is Lucy Westenra,
however much Stoker strains for this end. The success of some works means that
spoilers are inevitable; or in examples like these the perpetration of
mystery-making is so unskillful that the reader is ahead of the author.
One of Dracula’s powers is his ability to control minds at a
distance–that of Renfield, say, who is bribed or intimidated to do what the
Count wishes. The sinister character of Asenath Waite is the most obvious
example of this, even if (s)he doesn’t exercise mind control so much as mind
swapping.
At the end of Dracula Mina Harker and Van Helsing are on the
hillside below Dracula’s castle in Transylvania.
Using his field glasses, Van Helsing watches in the distance the pursuit of
Dracula, and narrates to her what occurs. The glasses pass betwixt the two,
each relating what is happening as the good guys near the Count.
Correspondingly, in “The Dunwich Horror”the dispatch of the monstrosity is
described by several onlookers to a group as a result of watching events
through a telescope, passed among them. This business is longer and more
important than in Dracula. Wilbur Whateley was described objectively,
but the twin’s description comes to us at second-hand in the dialect of rustics
who are seeing events at a distance. In this way the description of the monster
and the drama is removed and blurred, which adds the verisimilitude of
uncertainty, allowing gaps for the reader’s imagination; and putting reality
closer to subjective perceptivity. What a third person sees and what a
character sees are a gulf apart.
******************************************************************************
Audio
Williamette Radio Workshop and Ollin Productions brought an adaptation (as an MP3 file)
of “The Outsider” with sound effects that appeared on a Portland, Oregon
radio station.
*** In 1987 an audio book featured the late Swedish actor Ernst-Hugo
Järegård reading "Den lurande skräcken" (“The Lurking Fear,” 1922),
"Den namnlösa staden" (“The Nameless City,” 1921), "Hunden"
(“The Hound,” 1922), "I gravkammaren" (“In the Vault,” 1925),
"Pickmans modell" (“Pickman's Model,” 1926), and "Råttorna i
muren" (“The Rats in the Walls,” 1923). *** “The Call of Cthulhu” is
available for download.
Years ago I bought this reading as a cassette (Landfall Productions, 1989).
Garrick Hagon gives a good rendition. *** Thanks to the H.P. Lovecraft
Historical Society and Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, At the Mountains of
Madness has received an audio adaptation. *** “The Whisperer in Darkness”
is available as a computer-generated audiobook that uses text-to-speech
human
voice synthesis, to paraphrase the website. This sounds as though it
would be
just right for the counterfeit Akeley’s conversation in the
story. From the same source, “The Beast in the Cave”
is part
of a “Ghost Story Collection, vol. 2,"
while “The Cats of Ulthar”and “The Music of Erich Zann” are in “Short Story
Collection, vol. 7." ***
Wildside Press has brought out four volumes, so far, of MP3 CD’s called The
Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft, which are read by Wayne June. I particularly
liked the covers of the first two volumes, available on the Amazon site.
Authorship
To encourage beginning authors, there’s a contest online (NaNoWriMo2006)
that requires participants to write a 50,000 word novel in a month’s time. One
of these, Lovecraft and James Investigate, appears to center on HPL and
MRJ.
Blogs
How is this for a blog name?: “The Blogonomicon.”
Books
In New and Used (a work concerning books and other media)
Jonathan Lethem apparently has recounted how he was stopped from exploring a
bookstore basement where there was supposedly an estate collection of
Lovecraft’s.
Bradbury
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury is dramatized (in Russian)
on YouTube.
Character Based on Lovecraft
“Gilgamesh in the Outback” by Robert Silverberg features HPL and Robert
E. Howard as some of the characters. It is available as an e-book download.
Comics
Boom! Studios is bringing out the series Fall of Cthulhu. Its
author, Michael Alan Nelson, is interviewed.
*** Here’s your chance to see “Sweet Ermengarde” illustrated. Graphic Classics
has added it to a 2nd ed. of H.P. Lovecraft.
Conferences
“Black Cats and Rats: A Comparison of Poe and Lovecraft” was presented
by John Darowski at the 2006 Popular Culture Association conference. The 2005
program had “Horrific Correspondence: Anachronic Eruptions of Human/Nonhuman
Hybridity in H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of Cthulhu’” by Niles Tomlinson, and
“What Screams Are Made Of: Representing Cosmic Fear in H.P. Lovecraft’s
‘Pickman’s Model’” by Carl Sederholm. *** At the 2007 Popular Culture
Association conference I will be presenting my paper on the influence of
Lovecraft on Bradbury. The conference will host 17 horror panels, with
typically four presentations on each panel. HPL is very much in presence,
perhaps because the venue is Boston.
One of the panels is entitled “H. P. Lovecraft and His Eldritch Influence,” but
I’m on the one entitled “The Vertigo of Influence in Horror Literature,” and
there is also another Lovecraft presentation on another panel, “Horror
Literature and Cinema,” which ties Poe and HPL with slavery.
Cth(u)lhu
See a photo of a license plate with the word “Cthlhu,” under which is
the phrase “kids first”; it is accompanied by the red handprints of children,
which leads to humorous speculations. (I once had a license plate spelled
“Cthulu,” since seven letters were the limit.)
Derleth
Sauk City
honors a favorite son with an August Derleth room in its public library and an August Derleth
Park.
Dirda
Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reviewer of the Washington
Post who appreciates HPL, Dunsany, and their ilk. When he gave a talk about
reading on C-Span national television I had hope that Lovecraft might be
mentioned, and was not disappointed. Dirda noted that one (teenage?) son, who
has a talent for mathematics, was currently reading both HPL and Sherlock
Holmes stories, which shows astute taste.
Games
To be released in three parts in 2007 and designed for the PC, the
Lovecraft-inspired “Penumbra” is a horror adventure game. *** “Sherlock Holmes:
The Awakened” is an adventure game whose premise is another case of putting SH
in the world of HPL. *** The live-action, role-playing game “Cthulhu Lives” is
the subject of an M.A. thesis, Cthulhu Lives!: A Descriptive Study of the
H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, by J. Michael Bestul; read all 174 pages
online.
Genealogy
Thanks to Ancestry.com I’ve found the following Lovecrafts. Sonia
Lovecraft was on a passenger list, stamped 27 August 1932. She sailed on the SS
Bremen from Cherbourg, France (on 22 August) to the port of New York.
Her age is given as 49, and under the column that has married or single is
“wd”—widowed. I dare say she could have declared herself “d”—for divorced.
Interesting that she kept the Lovecraft surname, but called herself widowed,
which must be a reference to her first husband. Her address is given as 25 West
57 Street, New York, N.Y., and her birth is given as about 1883.
*** Another passenger list has F.A. Lovecraft (age given as 36), who boarded at
Bermuda to go to New York,
arriving 21 Feb 1887. *** In 1850 Rochester,
N.Y. Aaron Lovecraft was a foreman; John F. Lovecraft was a joiner; William
Lovecraft was a cooper. *** Winfield S. Lovecraft is listed in the New York Emigrant
Savings Bank, 1850-1883.
In Life, Stories, and Poems of John Brougham (p. 140) presumably
the “Mr. Lovecraft” mentioned is F.A., who was a member of the Brougham Benefit
Committee (circa 1878) founded to aid the actor John Brougham. *** “Willelmus
Lovecraft” is listed in The Register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter,
1420-1455, Registrum Commune, vol. iv (Canterbury and York Society)
under the heading “Ordinations” for the range of years 27 April to 21 May 1433.
His is one of the names preceded by the Latin “Item secundo die Maii apud
Modbury” (p. 145). I will note that here is more evidence for Lovecraft
choosing “Exham Priory” as a name.
Hallowe’en
In Geneva, NY the theme for a haunted house (a
three-car garage) was “Herbert West—Reanimator,” in which zombies jumped out
from the dark.
Inventions
Technovelgy.com has a list of inventions by sf authors, a few of whom
are Ambrose Bierce, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Nictzin Dyalhis, David
H. Keller, Frank Belknap Long, “Lewis Padgett,” and Jack Vance.
Japan
Lairs of the Hidden Gods (Kurodahan Press Book, 2006?) was
published in Japanese in 2002 as Hishinkais, a 2 volume set with
original articles and stories concerning the Cthulhu Mythos. This title is a
translation with introductions by Robert Price.
Law
In Genentech Legal Counsel and Vice President, 1976-1988, and
Entrepreneur, by Thomas D. Kiley, the author states in the course of a law
case, “The whole exercise reminded me of the grim novella by H.P. Lovecraft, At
the Mountains of Madness” (p. 205).
Library of America
The not-free-from-typos Library of America is bringing out a collection
of Philip K. Dick novels. In part Dick was chosen because of the “positive
response” to the 2005 Lovecraft volume. According to publisher Max Rudin “There
were a lot of people who felt their reading tastes were validated by including
Lovecraft in the library¼We had been thinking for a long time about Philip K.
Dick and other genre writers, and because of the success of the Lovecraft book,
and because of ‘Blade Runner’ coming out, it seemed like a good time to go
ahead with this” (CNN, 29 Nov 06). Other prospective writers are Ray
Bradbury and the Howard-winning, HPL-hater, Ursula K. Le Guin.
Movies
James Gunn, director of Slither, reports that “Lovecraft was very
influential to me during the making of this film.” *** Pan’s Labyrinth, the fantasy directed by Guillermo del Toro, is
Mexico’s official candidate for Best Foreign Language Film category at the
Academy Awards (it lost), is a Golden Globe nominee in the same category (it again lost), and
is an Independent Spirit Award nominee for the best feature. There's a list of wins
and nominations. These nominations won’t hurt prospects for del Toro’s plan to film At the Mountains
of Madness. *** In the same vein, a blogger has a review of what he claims
is a draft screen treatment of ATMOM, by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. *** Winner of the Best Animated Horror Film (Dragon*Con Film Festival 2006) and
of the Brown Jenkin Award (H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival 2006), From Beyond
has an interesting trailer.
*** Federico Fellini talks about his “loves and enthusiasms: Poe, Dickens,
Lovecraft, the occult, the spectral, mythological adventures, science fiction”
(quoted from Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 85, p. 51). *** The
1974 Alain Resnais film Stavisky had Lovecraft’s work as one source of
inspiration, according to the film’s screenwriter Jorge Semprun. *** The
director Elias Ganster talks about his film LovecraCked! The Movie, an
anthology that includes shorts from other filmmakers.
*** According to New Hampshire Public Radio, Stephen Bisset is a
cartoonist, writer, and instructor at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and “is
highly regarded as an expert in Lovecraft film adaptations.” *** Lovecraft wrote a review of the movie he called The Image
Maker of Thebes (officially The Image Maker). In H.P. Lovecraft:
A Life (Necronomicon Press, 1996) S.T. states “no copy appears to survive”
(p. 149), but according to “Silent Era” the 1917 film exists today in a private
collection.*** The
2006 independent film festival It Came from Lake Michigan (Racine, Wisconsin)
had rooms named after Lovecraft, August Derleth, and Robert Bloch.
Music
Hear and see the Xmasy “The Carol of the Bells” as inspired by
Lovecraft. Very well done.
*** The Finnish group Dawn of Relic has the 2003 album Lovecraftian Dark.
Names
A Lovecraftian Name Generator creates names that purportedly resemble
gods or entities, not protagonists. *** Poetic lines from “Lucy” by Champion Bissell: “But plain to
him, who not excels/ In love-craft, you can have no part¼” (in The Panic, As
Seen from Parnassus (1860)). *** “Jamie
Lovecraft” is the name of the main character, an English soldier of World War
II, in Lawrence Osborne’s 1987 Ania Malina.
Patents
In Google’s patent search I used the term “lovecraft”.These are the
results, except I have omitted one patent by Joseph Lovecraft, since it was
mentioned in a previous ‘aster. Note that the year I have given with the
patent is the date of issue, not of filing.
Joseph is a witness for an 1859 patent that covers “chamfering
barrel-heads.”
Frederick A. Lovecraft has an 1892 patent for improving
“registry-stamps.” He writes “My invention has for its object to avoid the
trouble and loss connected with the ordinary method of registering letters.”
How apt for someone who is related to an outstanding epistolarian.
Frederick
is also a witness to an 1890 and 1894 patent.
An 1971 patent for a paddle wheel boat is by Dale E. Love, assignor to
Lovecraft Boat Company, Holland,
Mich.
One of the two founders of Google, Sergey Brin, has a 2004 patent about
information extraction, and titles by HPL are among those in a sample list of
books.
Politics
According to The New Yorker, Adam Gadahn—the first American to be
charged with treason in fifty years—has repeatedly read all of HPL’s work.
Publishing
In late 2003 The Modern Word interviewed Derrick about
Hippocampus Press, where he also worthily talks of the EOD, the origin of the
name “Hippocampus,” and other interesting things.
(The Modern Word also has a 2004 article about Lovecraft movies.)
Radio
BBC Radio 3 was scheduled to broadcast on Sunday (3 Dec 2006) “Weird
Tales - The Strange Life Of H P Lovecraft,” an approximately 45 minute
documentary. “Geoff Ward examines the strange life and terrifying world of the
man hailed as America's
greatest horror writer since Poe. During his life Lovecraft's work was confined
to lurid pulp magazines and he died in penury in 1937. Today, however, his
writings are considered modern classics and published in prestigious editions.
Among the writers considering his legacy are Neil Gaiman, S.T. Joshi, Kelly
Link, Peter Straub and China Mieville.”
I later listened to the program and was pleased to note comments from several
unlisted EODers. *** BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension re-broadcast a reading
of “The Tomb” in December.
Religion
“H.P. Lovecraft and the Occult” consists of four lectures by Dr. Justin
Woodman (University of London) that are to be given at Treadwell’s Bookshop,
London in
January and February, 2007.
“Sehnsucht”
According to Matt Cardin, an excerpt at his site is from his essay about
Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti that is to be published in Studies in Weird
Fiction. In the meantime you can read about beauty and “sehnsucht.”
“The Shadow Out of Time”
According to The Eagle-Tribune “Lovecraft borrowed the name of
Nathaneal Peaslee for his narrator in the short story ‘Dreams of the Witch
House’ [sic] after visiting the city [Haverhill, Mass.]
and the old Pentucket Burial Ground at the corner of Water and Mill streets, a
half-mile away from the house.” The house, at 89 Groveland Street, was purported to
have been used as a story setting, while the Peaslee name came from an
eighteenth-century gravestone in the cemetery.
Space
In May 2008 the spacecraft Phoenix
is to land on Mars. It contains a mini-dvd that includes 80 stories and
articles, including “The Martian Artifact” by August Derleth, “Mars on the
Ether” by Lord Dunsany, and “A Martian Odyssey” by Stanley G. Weinbaum. How
nice if an additional story had been Robert Bloch’s “One Way to Mars.”
Sports
According to an e-mail I received, a club named "Dimos, the
Hellenic Lovecraft's Society” has engaged in several activities. This
Greek group has a male beach handball team called “Cthulhu” (listed with the
European Handball Federation). They
noted, “We also have a huge Lovecraftian library, a large VHS and DVD
collection and we have just published our magazine.” They plan on setting
up a website, and their e-mail is hplovecrafthellas@yahoo.gr.
Television
Doctor Who appears to draw upon HPL in “The Impossible Planet”
scenario, according to a commentator at this website. *** The British television quiz program Mastermind (which has been youtubed) had a
graduate student as a contestant whose area of expertise was the fiction of H.P.
Lovecraft. Taking the quiz, I missed one question. *** According to a blogger, on his 1970’s talk show Dick Cavett
praised HPL.
Theatre
For Hallowe’en “An Evening of Weird Tales”
was produced by the Box Theatre of Fort Worth, Texas. It consisted of Poe’s
“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” a recitation of
“Nyarlathotep,” a play by Michael Johnson (founder of the theatre) entitled
“Possessions,” and Ray Bradbury’s “Pillar of Fire,” which was based by its
author on the story of the same name. *** 2006 is the fourth year of annual
Lovecraft stage adaptations by Open Circle Theater (mentioned last issue) ***
The full-text of Night Gaunts: An Entertainment Based on the Life and
Writings of H.P. Lovecraft (Grim Reaper Books, 2005) by Brett Rutherford was
available as a pdf, but the link no longer works.
Translations
Congratulations to EODer Massimo Berutti for his translation of the
Randolph Carter cycle, which he noted on his fitfully produced blog.
Weird Tales
From Jack Kerouac’s Dr. Sax (Grove Press, 1988; p. 207): “In
Blezan’s store ... some are scanning thru the Shadows and Operator
Fives and Masked Detectives and Weird Tales–(Weird Tales were
such a wig, there were moss invasions of the earth, lava rivers of moss were
coming to engulf us).” Could be this is a reference to Joseph Payne Brennan’s
“Slime,” which appeared in WT in 1952, the same year that Kerouac wrote Dr.
Sax.
Contemporaries
In November 2006 Clifford D. Simak received mention on National Public
Radio for his City series; the books under review featured dogs. ***
John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” is available online. *** With HPL having been in The
Wall Street Journal, can REH be far behind? Read about Conan the Barbarian
in “Opinion Journal, from The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page,” where
there is an article “From Pen to Sword” by John J. Miller, who also did a
review of Lovecraft’s Tales in 2005. *** There’s a reminiscence of the late Nelson S. Bond.
It includes his pleasing and perceptive poem "Nyarlathotep is Petohtalrayn
Spelled Backwards," which is quoted.
Influences
Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald” is a cross betwixt the worlds of
Arthur Conan Doyle and Lovecraft. It is available in a recent collection, Fragile
Things, and online as a free pdf file, where it appears in the format of an
old newspaper story. Likewise,
Gaiman’s 1986 “I, Cthulhu” is at the same site. His1987 follow-up letter at the end of the story
suggests he has evidence that HPL and P.G. Wodehouse corresponded and collaborated,
the novel from which Gaiman promises to publish. This literary charlatanry
anticipates Peter Cannon’s 1994 Scream for Jeeves, though apparently
Gaiman never published the result (somebody found a story in Gaiman’s Fragile
Things bringing the two writers together, but I can’t verify this). *** James
Buchanan writes gay romance novels as well as various types of genre fiction.
Lovecraft and Bradbury are among his inspirations. *** Call it a prior version of Lovecraft’s Book (Arkham
House, 1985), but under the title of Marblehead, the Richard A. Lupoff
work has been published by Ramble House, which also publishes Joel Townsley
Rogers and Anthony Boucher.
Thanks for reading the 51st
issue of The Criticaster (February 2007, mailing 137) by Mr. Walker. Eventually published on the Net
as
The Limbonaut (no 22).