Rad Friends & Good Times

This delightful Cthulhu face mask (perfect for holding up banks in Arkham) was one of many splendid gifts from Charles Schneider, a magnificent fellow.  This has been one of ye gnarliest week-ends of my life, the people I live with have behaved so badly, shockingly so, and I ached for that time when I lived alone in my own wee apartment.  But the week-end was saved by short and pleasant visits from other Lovecraftians.  It was great fun to sing, along with such serious weird scholars as Scott Connors and S. T. Joshi, "Happy Birthday" to Larry Roberts of Arcane Wisdom Press.  And to be able to share that experience online, at YouTube, is simply joyous.  Larry Roberts has inform'd me that ye trade paperback edition of Some Unknown Gulf of Night will be releas'd on October 31st.

I never intended to go online.  I had no interest in email or YouTube, and I knew nothing about forums except for Thomas Ligotti Online, whut I discovered while using a computer at the public library.  It was S. T. who insisted that I go online.  My first book for which he was editor, The Fungal Stain and other Dreams (Hippocampus Press) is a book I typed entirely on me electric typewriter.  I then made xerox copies of the entire book and sent all of that to S. T., who then had to scan the entire book.  "We're not doing this again, Wilum," S. T. told me sternly; & when Jerad Walters said he wanted to publish an omnibus of my work through Centipede Press, I had my friend Greg Lowney help me hook up.  It hath changed my life.  Being able to write using a keyboard panel hooked to my laptop feels like I'm still at ye typewriter, something I need psychologically.  But I am writing far more quickly these days, since I do my roughs on the laptop and then print yem out and polish.  Indeed, S. T. and I were recently discussing that it is now impossible to pen rough drafts in longhand, as was our usual practice.

So I am very thankful for the Internet.  It has expanded my life enormously.  It has made it so much easier for my readers, all around the world, to buy my books.  And it makes the writing of those books far easier too.  I've not been able to write much of late, because of my bewildering, depressing and exhausting homelife.  Happily, my elder sister, Linda, arrived to Seattle this morning, to spend a week.  Tomorrow is our mom's birthday and the birthday of Linda's daughter, Brandee, and so we are having a big celebration here.  But I now get a  very needed break from having to care for our mother, which has so exhausted me of late that writing has been impossible, because sleep has been impossible.  I have spent most of today sleeping.  Tomorrow, I plan on returning to writing!!!  Hooray!!!  I have a nice wee autumnal piece in mind for ye Lovecraft eZine.

Many thanks, my darlings, for reading my blog and watching my vlogs.  You enrich my life.