Ye Eldritch Queen has not been too busy in ye writing department of late, but I am hoping that will soon change. There are a number of books I want to write, I just can't find ye steam needed to really get to work. I'm getting restless about seeing my new books out and in ye hands of my anxious readers, who have been waiting so patiently. I may have a new book out next year, but am uncertain. I need to write around 40,000 or 50,000 words of new fiction for the book I am writing with my buddy, David Barker.
The publication of my two new limited edition hardcovers is imminent. I am very pleas'd with both books and think they will entertain my readers and perhaps bring me new readers. It feels good to have a new collection of Sesqua Valley stories out. The book came as a surprise. I was expecting
Encounters with Enoch Coffin to be publish'd late last year, & I was suddenly fill'd with a keen desire to write a book that wou'd be publish'd in 2013--because of
13 being part of that date. Thirteen is a special number to me. Larry Roberts had been wanting me to write a new collection for Arcane Wisdom Press, & it suddenly occurred to me to write a new collection that consisted entirely of new Sesqua Valley tales. I wrote the new stories in a matter of three months last summer, & then I added the novelette "The Strange Dark One" to the book because I wanted that story to see a hardcover publication, & it fits in extremely well with the theme of bohemian artists in the new book. But once my beloved readers have devour'd the two new books, they need not wait for a year or more for another generous slice of Sesqua Valley. Because Pierre Comtois, editor of
Fungi magazine, is preparing a new issue to appear in time for NecronimiCon Providence 2013 this August. And for this new issue, Pierre sent me a request: he wanted me to write him a new original Sesqua Valley novelette of 11,000 words; and he wanted each individual segment or chapter of the novelette to have its own title. This immediately made me think of the two works that were H. P. Lovecraft's first professional sales, to the journal Home Brew: "Herbert West--Reanimator" and "The Lurking Fear." I have a curious fondness for "The Lurking Fear," and the audacious fanboy idea came to me that I could write my own Sesqua Valley "version" of Lovecraft's tale. And I cou'd give each separate "chapter" of the work one of the titles that Lovecraft used for his segments in the things he penned for Home Brew. And so I got to work, inventing a "Tempest Hill" in the valley on which was situated ye dreaded and shunned Martense mansion. My sweets, never have I had more fun writing a weird tale. I became totally absorbed in a kind of sense of play that one can experience when writing a story that is Lovecraftian to its core, drenched in the oeuvre of ye Providence seer.
Thus came about "A Presence of the Past," dedicated to ye memory of our beloved Adam Niswander. Compos'd in five segments, each chapter has its own title, as was requested by mine editor/publisher. Thus:
I. "The Shadow on the Chimney"
II. "A Passer in the Storm."
III. "The Horror in the Eyes"
IV. "The Scream of the Dead"
V. "From the Dark"
And there is a character named Arthur Monroe, whom I have mention'd in other Sesqua tales as well and may use as a character in this new collaborative book I am doing with David.
I hope this finds ye well, my darlings. I am finally settling down and really getting used to this new life, here in the home where I grew up with my parents and sisters. Happily, I am not living alone. Besides the five cats that I have adopted (people know that I'm a softy & keep bringing me stray cats--but five is enough already...), I have a gnarly gay punk lad, Ghostboy, who haunts my basement and is a sweet companion--moft of ye time.
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