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Joshi Blog 2015
Joshi Blog 2015
Joshi Blog 2015
Joshi's Blog
May 22, 2015 Variorum Lovecraft Done!
I am delighted to say that work on Lovecrafts Collected Fiction: A Variorum
Edition is now all but complete. Derrick Hussey, the publisher of
Hippocampus Press, has been incredibly diligent and meticulous in going over
all the texts (as well as my own textual notes) and has saved me from
countless errors. It appears that my own records of textual variants were not at
all as accurate or coherent as they should have been (but remember that I
started doing this work as a callow eighteen-year-old freshman in 1976!). But
now the work is done, and all that remains is to look over the final proofs
before sending them to the printer. Derrick vows that this will be done on or
before June 1, which means that the three-volume edition should be ready by
mid-July. I am a bit mortified that we first announced the edition as appearing
in late 2014but the long delay is well worth it, trust me!
I have recently been told that my edition of Edward Lucas Whites weird tales
(first published asThe Stuff of Dreams by Arcane Wisdom in 2013) will be
reprinted in paperback by Dover. Glad to hear it! I continue to work on my
anthology of weird tales by women writers, tentatively titledThe Cold
Embrace (after a story by Mary Elizabeth Braddon), for Dover. Even though
the deadline is not until October, I hope to finish it before Mary and I go on
our cruise down the Danube (June 1222).
Speaking of Mary, she gave me a fright a while back by contracting
pneumoniaon her birthday (May 9)! We had to rush her to the emergency
room at the University of Washington Medical Center, where they kept her for
seven hours before decreeing that she needed to stay overnight. In fact, she
ended up staying in the hospital for four days, chiefly because her oxygen
intake was quite low. But she is now out and recovering well. Nevertheless,
during the past two weeks I have (as Lovecraft once said when his aunt, Annie
Gamwell, had to go to the hospital for a mastectomy) been a sort of
combined nurse, secretary, market-man, butler, & errand-boy. But, as HPL
also added, it was no doubt far worse on the patient than on me!
I am in receipt of an interesting publication, Windy City Pulp Stories #15,
edited by Tom Roberts. Evidently this is a booklet (actually, a full-size book
of some 204 pages) containing all manner of essays and other matter
pertaining to Weird Tales and also designed to commemorating the 125th
anniversary of H. P. Lovecrafts birth. It contains my article Lovecraft
and Weird Taleswhich is nothing less than a revised version of my
somewhat
combative
introduction
to H.
P.
Lovecraft
in
The
Eyrie (Necronomicon Press, 1979). But Joshi collectors need not seek out
this item, as the essay is already in my Lovecraft and a World in
Transition (2014).
Press
under
the
title The
Strangers
and
Other
UK
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Necronomicon-Gothic-Dreams-S-T-
early October. It will also feature a substantial number of panels and other
events beyond the films it will be showing. I'll keep open the possibility of my
attendance.
Work continues on many frontsmy edition of Robert Aickman for
Centipede Press; a new volume of W. H. Pugmires stories (mostly reprint but
some original) for Centipede; final work on the Variorum Lovecraft (which
should be out around late June or July); reading proofs for the Dennis
Etchison volume (Masters of the Weird Tale) for Centipede; and so on and so
forth. Never a dull moment!
artwork, and other elements. We intend to title the book Below the Wide,
Carnivorous Sky: A Tribute to Caitln R. Kiernan.
I am also happy to have received, at last, some copies of Black Wings IV: New
Tales of Lovecraftian Horror (PS Publishing). I believe it is one of the most
successful of the books in this series, with outstanding tales by Fred Chappell
(Artifact), Richard Gavin (The Rasping Absence), Ann K. Schwader
(Night of the Piper), Jonathan Thomas (We Are Made of Stars), John
Pelan & Stephen Mark Rainey (Contact), and much else besides.
Regrettably, I only have 2 spare copies to offer to my customers. The list price
in the UK is 25 (about $40), so I will be happy to let these 2 copies go for
$35 on the usual terms.
I am also wrapping up Black Wings V, which has plenty of interesting material
in it also. I am undecided what to do next: whether to go ahead and compile
a Black Wings VI or to compile a general anthology of weird fiction
(tentatively titled Apostles of the Weird). I will ask my publisher, Pete
Crowther of PS Publishing, what he prefers.
I continue to do more work for Dover Publications, which has now signed me
up to assemble a volume of weird tales by women writers. There have been
several such volumes in the past, but I hope that my research into the history
of supernatural writing (embodied in Unutterable Horror) has given me some
insights into lesser-known tales and authors. The compilation begins with
Mary Shelley (there is nothing short by the queen of the Gothics, Ann
Radcliffe) and ends with Virginia Woolf (A Haunted House, 1921)for of
course all the material has to be in the public domain.
Dover has generated a cover for the edition of Maurice Levels Thirty Hours
with a Corpse: here it is!
I was saddened to hear of the death last week of Sherry Austin, the
outstanding author of subtle and superbly written weird tales such as Mariah
of the Spirits and Other Southern Ghost Stories(2002) and Where the
Woodbine Twines (2006). Hippocampus Press was planning an omnibus of her
weird work, and we hope to proceed with this volume, which will include the
material in the two books just mentioned along with several uncollected tales.
a cumulative power as it goes along. But given that this may be the only story
by Matheson that unequivocally shows an influence from Lovecraft, it
remains noteworthy. Congratulations to Stephen Spector for the discovery!
I see that three more volumes of the Illustrated Lovecraft have come out from
PS Publishing: Volume 4 (The Shadow out of Time), Volume 5 (The Shadow
over Innsmouth), and Volume 6 (At the Mountains of Madness). All the
volumes, aside from containing spectacular illustrations by Pete Von Sholly,
contain interesting ancillary matter that makes them well worth securing.
Volume 4 has essays by Paul Montelone, Pete Von Sholly, and W. H. Pugmire.
Volume 5 reprints two key stories that influenced HPLs tale (The HarborMaster by Robert W. Chambers and Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb), along
with original essays by Pete Von Sholly and Robert M. Price. Volume 6
reprints the hard-to-find story In Amundsens Tent by John Martin Leahy
(from Weird Tales, January 1928) that clearly influenced HPLs novella, along
with original articles by Pete Von Sholly, Robert M. Price, and myself (a brief
discussion of the Leahy story). I regret that I have no spare copies of these
books to sell to customers.
For no accountable reason, I have received from Greenwood Press two copies
of the Hippocampus Press paperback reprint of An H. P. Lovecraft
Encyclopedia (2001), which I wrote in collaboration with David E. Schultz.
As I believe that this is a pretty useful resource for Lovecraftians, I would be
happy to part with these copies for $15 each on the usual terms. Come and get
em!
I have completed the assembly of my next collection of essays, Varieties of
the Weird Tale, due out next year from Hippocampus Press. The great majority
of the contents come from essays or introductions that have appeared in a
wide range of books and magazines. Some of the earlier pieces have been
revised to some extent, but most are pretty much identical to their original
appearances. To some degree the volume can be considered a pendant
to Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction (2012), since I go
into much greater detail on certain authors and works that I could only treat
relatively briefly in that treatise. Here is the final table of contents:
Preface
II. Jorkens
Acknowledgments
***
Maybe I should hold a contest to see if readers can identify where all these
items originally appeared!
after the contributors received theirsthe editor is always the last to know! I
have several spare copies available for sale, and would be happy to dispose of
them to interested customers for $15 each.
Speaking of books, I find that sales of the Hippocampus Press books I offered
last time have not exactly been robust. So I am forced to hold a kind of fire
sale even at this early date, just to get the books out of here. In other words, I
am happy to offer the books at a price of two for $25 (or, if you wish one book
and one copy of the second issue of Spectral Realms, you can have them for a
total of $20). I can assure you that you will not be disappointed by any of the
items in question!
I am also in receipt of a copy of That Is Not Dead, a new anthology of
Lovecraftian fiction edited by Darrell Schweitzer and issued by PS Publishing
(http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/that-is-not-dead-hardcover-edited-by-darrellschweitzer-2671-p.asp). This volume contains my story Incident at Ferney,
in which Voltaire encounters Nyarlathotep! The story isnt quite as silly as this
description makes it sound; in fact, I think it rather good. I believe it is the
first publication of a work of fiction by me in quite some timemaybe since
the appearance of my novel The Assaults of Chaos (Hippocampus Press,
2013). I have now been invited to write stories for two other Lovecraftian
anthologies, although I am not certain of my ability to write anything suitable
for one or even both of these. Also, I am contemplating the writing of some
novel-length works, both detection and horror. Well see if they come to
anything.
I have now begun in earnest the editing of the collected weird tales of Robert
Aickman for Centipede Presss Masters of the Weird Tale series. This project
is proving to be most entertaining, and I believe it will be the first time that
Aickmans tales will be presented in chronological order by date of original
publication. The Tartarus Press edition of Aickmans Collected Strange
Stories(1990) attempted a chronological arrangement, but didnt get it quite
right.
I am also working on a large volume of Thophile Gautiers weird and
fantastic tales for Dark Renaissance Books. This volume should be done soon,
although I have no idea when itor the previous books I have assembled for
this publisher (the weird tales of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, E. Nesbit, and [in
one volume] Irvin S. Cobb and Gouverneur Morris)will appear.
I have fashioned the rough contents of a new collection of essays on weird
fiction, to be entitledVarieties of the Weird Tale. This will include essays I
have written over the past decade or more on all manner of authors (Bierce,
Dunsany, Leiber, etc.), as well as some introductions to my editions of various
authors. The book should appear sometime next year from Hippocampus
Press.
The collections by Smith and Hughes are full of interesting matter; Hughes in
particular has one of the most idiosyncratic imaginations of any writer Ive
ever encountered, and his stories are unfailingly piquant and memorable. The
Tyson book is a pair of Lovecraftian novellas, both exceptional. Aronovitzs
short novel and Kents full-length novel (set entirely in rural Appalachia) are
also works that you are not likely to forget. So feel free to snap these up on the
usual terms!
I received my copies of Spectral Realms only yesterday. It is an exceptional
issue, with poems by such notable writers as John Shirley (2 poems!), Gemma
Files, William F. Nolan, Jason V Brock, John C. Tibbetts, W. H. Pugmire,
Mike Allen, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Adam Bolivar, Michael Fantina, and
several others, along with the first part of Leigh Blackmores exhaustive essay
on the poetry of Leah Bodine Drake.
Hippocampus is gearing up to publish a number of interesting books for the
NecronomiCon II convention (Providence, R.I., August 2023), among them
Antonis Antoniadess novel The Necronomicon, my revised Rise, Fall, and
Rise of the Cthulhu Mythos, story collections by Ann K. Schwader (Dark
Equinox and Other Tales of Lovecraftian Horror), Jonathan Thomas (Dreams
of Ys and Other Invisible Worlds), and other volumes.
One of these is Lois H. Greshs Cult of the Dead and Other Weird and
Lovecraftian Tales, which I have just finished going over; I also wrote an
will
remain
available
from
Amazon
which some contributors have apparently already received, and (b) the
hardcover of Black Wings IV from PS, which should appear any day now.
Naturally, I will let readers know at once when these volumes reach me, as I
should have at least a few copies to sell.
abyss, or else the world would by now be screaming with fright and frenzy.
Who knows the end? What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise.
Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the
tottering cities of men. A time will comebut I must not and cannot think!
Let me pray that, if I do not survive this manuscript, my executors may put
caution before audacity and see that it meets no other eye.
In regard to which, Mr. Dunbar writes plaintively: Does that passage truly
inspire anyone to read more? Anyone who hasnt sustained a cranial injury?
Well, as a matter of fact, my own judgment (derived from reading a fair
amount of the great literature in English, Latin, Greek, French, German, and
other languages) is that this is not merely good prose; it is superb prose. I am
getting to the point of thinking that anyone who doesnt think Lovecraft a fine
prose writer is simply an ignoramussomeone who simply doesnt know
anything about prose. It is as if youve put a dunce cap on your head and said
to the world, I dont know the first thing about good writing.
What is more, I would be willing to bet any amount of money that such
writers as Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell,
Caitln R. Kiernan, Laird Barron, and dozens of other contemporary writers in
the weird fiction field have also found this passage powerful and effective.
These and many other writers have all been significantly influenced by
Lovecraft and are happy to admit it. Straub, indeed, edited the 2005 Library of
article
out
of
tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1512314.ece.
our
mouths: http://www.the-
from
Maconald)
by
Centipede
1990s; and I scanned the text for the publisher, since the author did not have
an electronic file available. The next step is to ensure that the book is picked
up in paperback, since the limited Centipede Press edition will no doubt go
out of print in short order.
I was amused to see the publication of The Starry Wisdom Library (PS
Publishing), an amusing fake book catalogue featuring descriptions of many
of the forbidden books invented by Lovecraft and others, assembled by Nate
Pederson. The catalogue contains contributions by a remarkable number of
prestigious writers, including Ann K. Schwader, Darrell Schweitzer, Donald
Tyson, Don Webb, F. Paul Wilson, Gemma Files, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., John
Langan, Matt Cardin, Michael Cisco, Nick Mamatas, Ramsey Campbell
(on The Revelations of Glaaki, of course), Richard Gavin, Robert M. Price,
Simon Strantzas, and W. H. Pugmire. I wrote the foreword. A most engaging
compilation! Again, I received only one copy, so I hope readers will hasten to
purchase it from the publisher (http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/the-starrywisdom-library-jhc-edited-by-nate-pedersen-2564-p.asp).
Speaking of PS, I see that Darrell Schweitzers anthology That Is Not Dead is
announced as forthcoming (http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/that-is-not-deadhardcover-edited-by-darrell-schweitzer-2671-p.asp).
This
contains
my
tales-of-lovecraftian-horror-hardcover-edited-by-st-joshi-2625-p.asp) is also
listed as forthcoming and should be available at any time. I have also heard
that the paperback (from Titan) of Black Wings III (retitledBlack Wings of
Cthilhu 3) is available; indeed, I saw Wilum Pugmires copy the other day.
But I have not received any copies myself as yet.
I was delighted to have done a light copyedit of Nicole Cushings story
collection The Mirrors, which should appear from Cycatrix Press in time for
the World Horror Convention in Atlanta in early May. It is a splendid volume
with some remarkable tales in it. I was pleased and humbled to have written
the foreword. Dont hesitate to pick it up when it comes out!
Apparently a number of new titles from Hippocampus Press have appeared,
but I have not received any copies; the moment I do, I will make them
available for purchase to interested customers. We are planning a number of
provocative titles to appear for the NecronomiCon II convention in
Providence, R.I., in August, among which will be a revised version of my Rise
and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos (2008), now retitled The Rise, Fall, and Rise
of the Cthulhu Mythos. I have just finished preparing the index, although I do
not know whether cover art has been completed, or even begun.
Another hugely important title to appear later this year from Hippocampus
will be nothing less significant than David E. Schultzs long-awaited
annotated edition of Lovecrafts Fungi from Yuggoth. Aside from the fact that
every poem in this 36-sonnet cycle will be illustrated (I believe there are six
different illustrators, each tackling six sonnets), Schultzs commentary may
cover some 200 pages and illuminate both the literary sources of each poem
but their influence on subsequent works by Lovecraft. This is a project that
has been more than thirty years in the making. I remember seeing a draft of it
when I first met Schultz in 1986, at Steve Maricondas wedding; and the
project had been in progress before then. It will no doubt be the last word on
this sonnet cycle!
to
raise
funds
for
the
project
which John perfectly mimics the style and manner of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
while also producing a splendidly chilling Lovecraftian weird tale. Also, we
have decided to go with Caitln R. Kiernans As Red as Red (2010) over her
story Andromeda among the Stones (2002). The latter, while a fine story,
did not seem to us quite to reflect the fusion of Gothic and Lovecraftian
themes we wished, and in any case it has been reprinted a number of times;
but the former story is a brilliant evocation of HPLs The Shunned House
and its allusions to vampire activity in Rhode Island in the 1890s.
My article on Lovecraftian elements in the films of Guillermo del Toro is now
definitely scheduled for publication in the volume The Supernatural Cinema
of Guillermo del Toro, which will be appearing this spring or summer from
McFarland
(http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-
9595-5). Another essay of mine, on Shirley Jacksons The Sundial, has been
sent back to me for some minor revisions. I cant remember when the book
containing it will appear, but I imagine I will know soon enough.
I have now read proofs of the PS edition of Black Wings IV (due out this
month, perhaps) as well as the proofs of the paperback edition of Black Wings
III (also due out this month from Titan Booksunder the altered title Black
Wings of Cthulhu III). My compilation of Black Wings Vproceeds apace. But
after that, I may take a break from Lovecraftian anthologies (although I am
still negotiating with Titan for Cthulhu Noir) and compile a general weird
anthology. My tentative title for such a book is Apostles of the Weird. The idea
Meanwhile, I am mortified and dismayed that there has been so little interest
in the Weird Fiction Review, whose bumper-crop fifth issue I announced last
time. I have received very few offers to take my spare copies of the issue off
my hands. So at great personal sacrifice I am offering the issue for a bargain
price of $20. Come one, come all! And, when the issue goes out of print and
begins commanding high prices (as it inevitably will), dont say I didnt give
you a chance!
I am in the process of preparing the index and reading the proofs of my
revised Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythoswhich is now retitled The Rise,
Fall, and Rise of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hippocampus Press hopes to have this
book ready for NecronomiCon II this August, if not earlier. It has now been
significantly expanded in size and may check in at more than 400 pages.
Proofs of Black Wings IV have arrived from the publisher (PS Publishing), and
on the whole they look pretty good. PS had announced the book as being
available in February, and lets hope it is able to keep that promise. The
signature sheets of the signed/limited edition are also beginning to circulate,
so that edition may not be quite as delayed as the one for Black Wings III was.
(As a matter of fact, I never even got a copy of the signed/limited edition, nor
did any of the contributors.) I believe the paperback of Black Wings II will
also come out pretty soon, maybe February or March.
German and his charming wife, and we had much lively discussion on various
subjects as well as a nice tour of an anthropological museum. On our own
Mary and I walked around Stanley Park and had a splendid lunch at the Fish
House there. (Pardon us, HPL!)
I cannot leave my readers without commenting on the miraculous conclusion
of the NFC championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the
Seattle Seahawks. The game was going so badly for my Seahawks that I was
going to give up watchingbut Mary said she would watch to the bitter end,
so I decided to stick to it. And Im glad I did. I dont recall a more remarkable
conclusion to a game in all my fifty years of watching football. All I say,
however, is that the Seahawks had better not make so many mistakes if they
expect to win the Super Bowl in two weeks.
poetry by Wade German, Ann K. Schwader, and others; and columns by John
Pelan and Danel Olson. The publisher, Centipede Press, states that the list
price is $35 but is currently offering it for $25. I will follow suit and offer my
spare copies for $25, which includes shipping for US customers.
Well, my threater, promiseto dig out my violin and play it at the
Northwest Chorales play-along/sing-along of Handels Messiah on December
30 turned into a reality, and it was an enthralling experience. I was
substantially assisted by three other violinists (one first violinist and two
second violinists) who covered up my numerous mistakes and bad intonation.
But I know the work so well (from a choral perspective) that I was able to
lead the orchestra quite effectively. I was hoping that my wife, Mary, would
take some pictures of the event, but she was ill and stayed home; however,
some pictures taken by others have been forwarded to me, and I am hoping
that my webmaster can make one of them visible here. I will, however, not
repeat this undertaking or take up the violin on a regular basis: no time and no
real interest!
volume of the collected weird poetry of Leah Bodine Drake. Leigh has just
written a long article on Drakes poetry (which will appear in two parts in the
next two issues of Spectral Realms)an article that notes that, aside from the
fabulously rare Arkham House book A Hornbook for Witches (1950), Drake
also published a second poetry volume, The Tilting Dust (1956), which has
some weird specimens. In addition, there is a third, unpublished poetry
manuscript, Multiple Clay, among her papers at the University of Kentucky. I
have just asked the library there for a copy or scan of this text. So I hope that a
volume of Drakes poetry, under Leighs editorship, can appear in the next
year or two.
I am just now wrapping up my edition of the weird tales of Irvin S. Cobb and
Gouverneur Morris for Dark Renaissance Books. It will be called Back There
in the Grass, from the title of Morriss most famous story. This is really a very
interesting compilation, and the weird work of these two author is quite
creditable. I think I will then proceed with an assemblage of the weird tales of
Thomas Burke, a writer I have always admired. Jessica Amanda Salmonson
seems to have assembled a pretty comprehensive volume of Burkes weird
tales (The Golden Gong and Other Night-Pieces [Ash-Tree Press, 2001]), but
this book is long out of print and no doubt quite expensive. I may include the
complete contents of Burkes classic collection Night-Pieces (1935), even
though not all the stories are weird; and there are other weird stories scattered
in other collections that I will also include. After I assemble the Burke