Ye Zanies of Sorrow

Ye above illustration for "The Zanies of Sorrow" is by Gwabryel, and appear'd in my first book from Centipede Press, The Tangled Muse (2011). Ye original version of ye story was 4,980 words. I have just completely rewritten the tale, changing it dramatically, and this new version comes to 4,900 words. It's been an important story to me because the original version was in no way Lovecraftian--being a product of, to my mind, pure Pugmire originality; so perhaps it was a slight mistake, in this new version, to include a sentence such as:

"We had ancient scroll that teach the summoning of Iog-Sotot, the Outer One who, through dreaming, instructs in raising of dead matter"

a slight wink to this same practice in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The wee reference fits, so what ye hell? The first half of the new version is pretty similar to ye original; but the second half of the revision is absolutely alter'd--and to my mind, improv'd. 

There are some who will read this and sigh in annoyance. "There he goes again, revising his old work." It has been my habit, more in ye olde days than nigh, to continually revise my short stories. I think there may be five different versions of "The Hungry Place". I rarely revise the stories that I've written in ye past decade because I'm satisfied with how they read. But those early yarns--gawd!! I once thought that SESQUA VALLEY AND OTHER HAUNTS was a good book--but the last few times I've try'd to read it, honey, I have cringed. When I originally wrote those stories, I suffer'd from Lovecraftian-affectation-up-ye-arse, and I wou'd use in my fiction some of the grammatical eccentricities Lovecraft used in his correspondence. I thought I was being so rad--when, in fact, I was being stupidly unprofessional. That's why, when many of those early tales were reprinted in The Tangled Muse, I revised/rewrote them, so that the book wou'd have a smooth narrative tone throughout, and as an attempt to "fix" some of the poor writing in the original versions of those tales.

I really like whut I've done with "The Zanies of Sorrow"; I feel it is now much improv'd, and I look forward to including this new version in some future collection.

a wonderful painting by Gwabryel--it was poorly reproduced in black & white in my book UNCOMMON PLACES.

Goodbye YouTube

I went to record a new YouTube vlog last night--I try'd three times but none of the videos wou'd process. Above the video image was a message from YouTube saying that after January 16th they wou'd no longer upload videos recorded directly on YouTube with webcams. You have to record the video in some other fashion and then upload it. I tried twice to record videos on the computer and then upload them at both YouTube and Facebook, & they would not. Now, when something because drearily complicated, I quit, my interest in trying fades to zero. It was so easy just to go on YouTube and click "Record" and make a video there, and such fun to do so when I had guests such as S. T. Joshi. Now that YouTube has made the entire thing so difficult--difficult, at least, for computer-clueless yobs like me--I ain't gonna try. It has been great fun, and I have recorded over 680 vlogs on YouTube--very few of which I have deleted. I want to thank the many of you who have visited my YouTube channel and watch'd my lunacy there. The channel will stay up, of course, but there will be no new videos hereafter.

S. T.'s blog

S. T. has just pofted a new blog.
www.stjoshi.org/news.html

UNCLE FORRY

In Memory of a Pal

Jeff Buckley - Ulalume (Edgar Allan Poe) - HD

"Ulalume, by Dante Gabriel Rosetti

Sixteen Candles - I Ran (So Far Away)

A MOUNTAIN WALKED trade paperback edition

Lovecraft Part 2: 'The New Annotated HP Lovecraft' by Leslie S Klinger R...

To-day's Lovecraftian Haul

makeup addiction

When I was a kid I got a job at the Jones Fantastic Show museum when it was on ye 3rd floor of ye Food Circus building. My job was to wear a cape that had the name of the museum on the back and walk around the Seattle Center advertising ye joint. Because I was so obsessed with drama in school and wanted to be an actor, when I was in my wampyr costume I would work hard at staying in character--and he was a real character, because once I had put on the wig and hat, the cloak and fangs, my persona completely alter'd, and I became this creature that I had named Count Pugsly. I had to be careful not to purposely frighten little kids. I would stand and observe the wee crowds of kids who were watching me or jeering at me, and then I would reach out my hand, offering to shake theirs. Timidly, with nervous giggles, they would approach and shake my hand, and once the first kid did so then most of the others followed. They'd go away telling their parents, "He's a nice vampire."

Sometimes I would get bored with being a wampyr, so I would experiment with other beasties. Somehow it occur'd to me that I could do a mummy makeup by soaking toilet paper in a solution of water and flour. When it dried, it would form a kind of papier-mache mask. I was just thinking about it because my chum Jessica Salmonson wrote about it on Facebook, about how the mask would dry and thus seal out air from mouth and nose so that, in my first attempts, I couldn't breathe. I seem to remember we had toilet paper back then (in the 1960s) that was different shades, and I would get yellow or pale green tp so as to add a bit of tint to the makeup. It worked quite well and was effective in public; but my boss complained that the process of putting the mask on and waiting for it to dry took too long, and he wasn't paying me for that but to be out in public advertising the museum. So the mummy makeup was a thing I usually did on those days when Doc Jones was absent from ye museum. To record new "looks", I would go into those instant photo booths, where (back in the day) you put a quarter or fifty cents into the slot and get a strip of four small photos. Thus I was able to capture my most adventurous toilet paper creation:

But ye mask was so heavy and uncomfortable that it was an experiment I did not repeat. The toilet paper method came in handy, however, when I wanted to try doing something inspir'd by Robert Bloch's idea (he wrote an article about it for Famous Monsters of Filmland) about a Clown at Midnight. So I would do a half-mask thing, and then the other half of my face was a kind of corpse makeup. It was fun, because from far away the kids would see the bright motley clown costume and think I was a regular clown, and then they would rush up to me and see the makeup and completely freak out, utterly baffled and discomposed. I'd still get some brave kids to come shake ye dead clown's hand. Then my friends Brian and Steve and I found an old abandoned warehouse, and we broke in to make a wee silent home movie featuring the clown with Brian's movie camera. I've lost contact with both Brian and Steve, and that's sad cos I would really love to see that film again and maybe get it onto a dvd or video tape so that I could have my own copy.

Dressing up as a kid paved the way, I think, for the punk drag makeup I would begin to do in ye 1980's. I still love dressing up, but now I do it moftly on YouTube only.

Quentin Crisp as Garbo

ye S. T. Joshi 1987/1988 Calendar

H. P. LOVECRAFT's Annotated Fungi from Yuggoth

This is a forthcoming book from Hippocampus Press, and is not yet available for pre-order. It was, perhaps, imprudent to shew this arc and get y'all key'd-up about when ye book will be publish'd, &c--but I couldn't help meself, the book has me so excited! Each of the sonnets will have its own wee illustration, and the prose fragment that Lovecraft left unfinish'd, in which he seem'd to try and write out the sonnets in short story form, is included in ye book. Here is an audio reading of that story fragment whut I found on YouTube:

I suppose it was predictable & inevitable--but to-night's reading of ye ARC for The Annotated Fungi from Yuggoth has inspir'd me to begin a new commonplace book in which to scribble a renew'd attempt at my own new cycle of Lovecraftian sonnets.

S. T.'s response to World Fantasy

S. T. Joshi has pofted a new blog in which he addresses the matter of World Fantasy's decision to retire the wonderful Gahan Wilson trophy that has been ye World Fantasy Award. His blog may be read at www.stjoshi.org/news.html. I am entirely with him on this--World Fantasy no longer exists for me. I don't feel anger as much as I feel an intense sadness over this situation. As a Lovecraftian artist, I feel personally slighted by the Lovecraft-haters and their misguided gloating in thinking they have won some kind of victory and are helping to banish H. P. Lovecraft and his influence. I am, more than ever now, dedicated to my task of paying homage to H. P. Lovecraft and his art with any and every book that I will henceforth compose.

I Boycott World Fantasy

I just read this on a thread at Thomas Ligotti Online http://www.ligotti.net :
"...David Hartwell, who was handing out the awards with Gordon Van Gelder, announced that this is the final year the venerable bust of Lovecraft that has always served as the World Fantasy Award trophy will be used. It is now officially retired, and a new design for the statue will be announced sometime next year."

Many of you are aware of the controversy surrounding the Howie award, and the grumblings of people who did not want a grotesque racist like H. P. Lovecraft thus dignified by being ye trophy icon. Another reason for replacing the Lovecraft bust is, some insist, because Lovecraft was such a bad writer. This is a monstrous insult to Lovecraft and Lovecraftians, and thus I here declare my personal boycott of World Fantasy Convention and its award. As a person of Jewish and Native American heritage, I abhor Lovecraft's racism to ye core of my being; yet I idolize E'ch-Pi-El as one of ye greatest artists of ye fantasy/horror/sf genres, and I insist that he is one of American's great Literary Artists in regard to prose style, originality of ideas, and literary influence. It is Lovecraft's great Literary qualities that I insist on emphasizing, while so many others (many of whom have never read much of his fiction and are clueless about that which constitutes good writing) whine about what a horrible freak Lovecraft was, and how bad his writing is. S. T. Joshi, on several of his past blogs, has pointed out his reasons for finding Lovecraft a great writer--but there are those who dismiss these reflections from S. T. and myself because we are, in some way, self-blinded fan-boys. (Never mind ye fact that S. T. is the author/editor of over 200 books, and I have written twenty books of weird fiction. We don't know jack cos we adore Lovecraft.)

My personal boycott means that I will never attend another World Fantasy Convention--and this is a real tragedy for me, because I consider WFC the finest genre convention in existence. And, if ever ye impossible happens and one of my books is listed for ye award, I will insist that my name and book be removed from ye ballot.

And I will continue to write book after book in homage to ye magnificent Art of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Esq. I will be dedicating my new book from Centipede Press to Lovecraft's memory.
Selah.

"Cesare", by W. H. Pugmire, Esq.

H. P. LOVECRAFT'S "THE MOON-BOG"

Lady Gaga - Gypsy (Live at "Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular"

Inspir'd by Art

Inspiration comes from a variety of places--but one of my great joys as a writer is when I am inspir'd by art. This has just happen'd, with ye illustration above by Dave Felton. Whut is novel about this case of inspiration is that ye art is an illustration from--my own writing. Dave's remarkable illustration, which incorporates a Beardsley "feel" (highly appropriate!), depicts segment two from Some Unknown Gulf of Night. Ye narrator of ye segment looks into a store window and sees a queer mannequin, its head covered by a piece of yellow silk, surrounded by other store mannequins. Dave has depicted ye mannequins in an eerie way, as they resemble a clutch of provocatively posed mummies. When I saw this wonderful piece of art, I knew an immediate inspiration for a new wee thing inspir'd by it. I am going to write it with whut will be, for me, an unusual setting: for it will be one of ye new stories in my forthcoming collection of stories inspir'd by the weird fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, and I will be setting ye tale in my CASian locality, Khroyd'hon. And there will be evocative mummies.

I am writing this new book in collaboration with another huge Smith fan, Henry J. Vester III--we will each be writing our own separate stories (and hopefully poems) in ye Clark Ashton Smith tradition. I have actually started writing one of ye stories for ye book, a tale call'd "Lady Agatha Passes By". Unfortunately, I am an extremely undisciplined writer, and often have to wait for the "mood" of creativity to fall upon me. At the moment I'm feeling a dearth of inspiration and artistic energy. Gawd, I hate this--I want to write--now!! I don't want to have to wait until my mind clears up and I am suddenly "in the mood".

It helps, however, to have finally finish'd and sold some new things. It feels very good to have completed my next book for Centipede Press, and to have sold a story to a major forthcoming Lovecraftian anthology to be publish'd by PS Publishing. But I am hoping to become very active for ye remainder of ye year, if possible, so that I can then look back on 2015 as a year of intense creativity and productivity. 

new illustrated biography of H. P. Lovecraft

S. T. JOSHI reads from THE DARK EIDOLON AND OTHER FANTASIES

Now that I have completed work on my 2nd volume of weird fiction for Centipede Press, I am suddenly in ye mood to begin work immediately on one long-delay'd project--a book of prose & poetry all of which is inspir'd by ye Works of Clark Ashton Smith. Instead of writing the book entirely by myself, I will be writing 40,000/50,000 words of it, and ye remainder will be the work of my sweet chum, Henry J. Vester III. I now have ye crazy idea that I want to spend the rest of this year writing my portion of the book--surely I can write 50,000 words of fiction in three months' time. One beautiful aspect of this project is that, to help me along with inspiration, I get to now drown myself in ye rereading of Smith's fiction. I am beginning this by reading CAS in his Arkham House editions. 

new Centipede Press book completed

It took me forever, but I have finally finish'd writing the final new story for my forthcoming book from Centipede Press. The story is call'd "Pickman's Lazarus", and comes to 4,660 words. Yes, I did hesitate before writing yet another story inspir'd by "Pickman's Model"; but I know that when an idea becomes so firmly planted inside my skull, it is useless to resist, & ye idea will plague me mentally until I exorcise it from my brain by writing it in fictional form. The story is in two parts: the first is set in ye past, and is told in third-person; ye second part is set in modern time, and told in first-person narrative. I sent it to the book's editor, S. T. Joshi, this morning, and he called it an "excellent story", so that pleases me and makes me feel that I ain't tediously draining my Pickmanesque inspiration.

I have no idea when Jerad will bring ye book out, but I suspect it will be some time in 2018. Here is ye entire Contents:

AN ECSTASY OF FEAR AND OTHERS
by W. H. Pugmire ~~ Centipede Press
"Underneath an Arkham Moon" (in collaboration with Jessica Amanda Salmonson)
"These Black Winged Ones"
"Gathered Dust"
"An Ecstasy of Fear"
"Let Us Wash This Thing"
"Artifice"
"Letters from an Old Gent"
"The Imps of Innsmouth"
"Smooth Artifact of Bone"
"Some Unknown Gulf of Night"
"An Identity in Dream"
"Hempen Rope"
"Chamber of Dreams"
"Unhallowed Places"
"House of Legend"
"A Shadow of Your Own Design"
"Cesare"
"To See Beyond"
"A Quest of Dream"
"Pickman's Lazarus"

I am also hoping to persuade S. T. to write some kind of introduction, perhaps entitled "Some Words from ye Editor" or some such. 

Midnight Fantasies

Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant (Live 1989)

not going after all

Ghostboy will be journeying to California on ye week-end of the HPL film festival, and so I will need to stay home and take care of our six kitties and one doggie. But that's okay; indeed, I really wasn't in the mood to go to Portland, but felt I shou'd. Now that I know I won't be going, I feel a kind of relief. I'm just not in ye social mood of late.

The one social "need" I feel is to hang out with other queens, to check out the Seattle drag culture; but going to bars really bores me, as I don't drink or drug; and I have a feeling our local scene, at least on ye hill, is pervaded by crack. No thanx. So I get my drag fix by watching videos on YouTube. Here's my new favourite.

slow progress

Progress has been slow on finishing ye new story, "Pickman's Lazarus", because of ye new addition to ye household, pictur'd above. My elder sister came to stay for four days and brought with her two five-week old kittens, male and female, of which I was to pick one to adopt. I couldn't decide and so I have adopted both. Ysobel (with grey ears) and her wee brother Basil are quite delightful; but they insist of being around me, & when I come to my work table to begin work on writing ye new story, these wee kittens insist on climbing allover me, & then they discover how nice and warm ye laptop keyboard is, so they camp out on it, and the pressure of their little paws on ye laptop keyboard creates textual havoc to my story. I cou'd move my laptop to ye bedroom and lock ye door, but this afternoon the cats were sleeping in a spot of sunlight, and I took advantage of their nap to do some real work on the first portion of my story (set in ye past, in Boston around 1925) whut is now, at almoft 2,000 words, near completion. Part II will be set in ye present. I am writing this new story as ye final tale for my already-compiled next book for Centipede Press, An Ecstasy of Fear and Others--although if S. T. really likes it he may want to snap it up for use in Black Wings VI...maybe...

Clark Ashton Smith

NIGHT SHADE BOOKS has announced that they will be reprinting THE COLLECTED FANTASIES OF CLARK ASHTON SMITH in trade paperback editions beginning this year. Ye publication schudule is:

Vol. I:  The End of the Story -- September 2015
Vol. II: The Door to Saturn -- January 2016
Vol. III: A Vintage from Atlantis -- May 2016
Vol. IV: The Maze of the Enchanter -- September 2016
Vol. V:  The Last Hieroglyph -- January 2017
The Miscellaneous Writings of Clark Ashton Smith -- May 2017

www.nightshadebooks.com

New from Necronomicon Press!!

my new babies

a Lovecraftian parcel

say hullo to Basil

Ask Lovecraft - Happy Birthday

Ye H. P. Lovecraft Variorum Edition

if I was an eldritch

YE SPIRIT OF REVISION

One new title that I am especially looking forward to is THE SPIRIT OF REVISION: H. P. LOVECRAFT'S LETTERS TO ZELIA BISHOP, whut will soon be available from ye H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society www.cthulhulives.org. Part of my excitement concerning this book is that it is a product of ye HPLHS--because their products are so amazingly fun and inventive. Here is their description of this new book:

"In 2014 a collection of letters from H. P. Lovecraft to Zelia Brown Reed Bishop was discovered in an old trunk in a basement. Mrs. Bishop was an aspiring young writer who became a client of Lovecraft, making use of his service of revising and improving other author's stories to help them get published. In this collection of never before seen letters, we see how Lovecraft ran his business and how he mentored an aspiring writer. Lovecraft and Mrs. Bishop went on to collaborate on the stories 'The Curse of Yig', 'The Mound' and 'Medusa's Coil'.
"The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society has carefully scanned and transcribed the original manuscripts which date from 1927 to 1936. The thirty-six new letters to Mrs. Bishop are presented in sequence with eighteen previously known letters to create the most thorough picture of the correspondence between Lovecraft and Bishop possible. The collection is extensively annotated by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman and includes pictures of reference documents which Lovecraft recommended to his clients, newspaper clippings about topics he describes, facsimiles of some letters, a cartoon by Lovecraft and much more. THE SPIRIT OF REVISION features an introduction by pre-eminent Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, and offers a fascinating glimpse of Lovecraft as teacher, correspondent and collaborator."

At this time in my life, I have this really strange connection with E'ch-Pi-El--a kind of fantasy in my brain that makes me feel like I am one of Lovecraft's posthumous "clients". I have been reading his fiction and publish'd letters since ye early 1970's--non-stop. I feel a kind of intimate connection with Lovecraft, one that is cemented with my work as writer. So much of that work is rooted in returning to Lovecraft's texts, to examining his life through his correspondence and modern biographies. Lovecraft is an element in my core being, and his aura is very like the air I breathe in order to exist. 

This new publication of letters, indeed, has inspir'd a new story idea that I am working with, of a cache of letters from Richard Upton Pickman that have been discover'd in an old trunk in the attic of an elderly woman who, when young, was one of Pickman's models. These are ye wheels that turn my imagination--always, always....

have fun in Providence, my sweets

Been reading a bit in Ross's new anthology, so I have, and quite enjoy ye tales that I have thus far perus'd. Read over me own story, and it pleases me except for some bits near ye end; so if I ever include it in one of me own collections, I'll have to revise that ending. My story was inspir'd by my adventures in Providence during NecronomiCon Providence 2013, & reading it again brought back fond memories of my time there. I'm a bit sad, knowing I am going to miss so much eldritch fun at this month's convention in Providence; but I also know that, due to my lousy health & lack of energy, that I wou'd be quite worn-out if I attended. I am unable to walk for long stretches; something is wrong with my left ankle (I've asked doctors about it and none have any answers; I assume the pain might be connected to blood circulation and my heart disease, but I cannot say for certain), and if I walk on it for longer than ten minutes I am in horrible pain. This was moft evident when last I visited Providence and wander'd around one beloved burying ground. 

What doesn't shew in the above video is that I am in intense pain when walking. It is moftly because of this ailment that I will not be in Providence this month. For me, part of the joy of being in Providence or Boston is to be able to walk the streets where Lovecraft, Poe, and Henry James walked. The last time I was in Boston I couldn't resist haunting Beacon Hill, despite the cruel physical pain thus suffer'd. Too, this month's convention in Providence is scatter'd, ye dealer's room, for example, being in a separate building from ye Biltmore; thus it wou'd require walking from one point of activity to another. No can do, my ducks.

Yet still, to-day, I am feeling my absence from this future event, because I just printed out ye "All Additional Programming" listing, and I see that Ramsey Campbell will be delivering an address at ye opening ceremony whut will take place at ye First Baptist Church. Oh, my dears--my happiest moments in Providence in 2013 were sitting in that magnificent church and listening to S. T.'s delightful opening speech. 

In some of the high shots in the video you can see me, with my stupid "punk rock" hair, sitting next to Mary, S. T.'s wife. It was listening to that speech as I sat within that Lovecraftian-sacred space that inspir'd ye story I wrote for Ross and Cthulhu Fhtagn!. So I will be thinking of y'all who will be in Providence for ye convention. S. T. and Mary leave to-morrow, for an extended holiday on ye East Coast, ye climax of which will be attending NecronomiCon. S. T. got his copies of H. P. Lovecraft's Collected Fiction: A Variorum Edition--but with so much on his mind, he quite forgot that I wanted to purchase a copy from him; so I went ahead and order'd ye set from Derrick, & hope to see it in my paws within ye fortnight. Derrick will be selling copies at his dealer's table at NecronomiCon--along with copies of my newest book:

Lovecraftian Mail Day!

You know that H. P. Lovecraft has rather "taken over" your life when all four pieces of ye day's mail are Lovecraftian in nature. I am especially happy to see my cont. copy of Cthulhu Fhtagn!, ye new all-original anthology edited by Ross E. Lockhart. My story therein is set in Providence, R. I., and was inspir'd by my last visit to that city in 2013, when I attended NecronomiCon. 

To-day's poft brought two new titles from PS Publishing. H. P. Lovecraft: Weird Poems--The Complete Poems from Weird Tales, edited by Stephen Jones, with illustrations by Pete Von Sholly. It's a wee item, aye (71 pages), but it collects all of ye poems by E'ch-Pi-El that I admire, including many of ye Fungi from Yuggoth sonnets, with which I am obsess'd. There is, however, one grotesque note in editor Stephen's Introduction. He writes:
"...Rejecting the old-fashioned monsters of Gothic horror, he [Lovecraft]made his ancient gods sentient creatures from distant worlds, other dimensions or divergent planes of existence.
"As he explained: 'All my stories, unconnected as they may be, are based on the fundamental lore or legend that this world was inhabited at one time by another race who, in practising Black Magic, lost their foothold and were expelled, yet live outside, ever ready to take possession of this earth again.'"
The is known as the "Black Magic quote", and it has been determined that it is not by Lovecraft at all, that he never wrote such a thing and that it is probably a mis-remembering of an actual quote from one of HPL's letters. That a modern editor of H. P. Lovecraft should use this fake quotation as if it has any authenticity at this time is utterly absurd.

  Ye other book is a new collection by David Hambling, The Dulwich Horror & Others, with a Foreword by S. T. Joshi. I don't bother reading much new Mythos fiction, unless it's in an anthology for which I have also penned a wee tale; but I am looking forward to reading this book, as I've heard good things about ye author's work. And I always enjoy Lovecraftian fiction set in Great Britain.

I also got, in to-day's mail, the newest mailing of Ye Esoteric Order of Dagon Amateur Press Association. Ye E.O.D. is an apa made up of Lovecraftians. Our Official Editor is S. T. Joshi, who mails us four parcels a year. As members, we pay a wee membership fee, and then must sent a printed contribute amounting to six pages every six months. Some contributions are actual fanzines of several pages; some are wee things of but one or two pages. I didn't contribute anything to this mailing, but am working on a bigger-than-usual offering for next time, of which I already have four pages printed.

Okay, I need to return to work on the dreamlands novel that I am writing with David Barker, a novel to be publish'd next year by Dark Renaissance Books. Shalom, my ducks.

INNSMOUTH NIGHTMARES

Culture Club at Greek Theater 2015 US Tour-Victims/Time (Clock Of The He...

shewing my new book

available on Amazon

I wonder why the images, particularly the lettering, of these pictures of books &c that I download are usually so blurry. Monstrous Aftermath has been publish'd, & is already available from various persons on Amazon. I just wrote a wee Amazon review that said the book is a work of genius, but of course one is not allow;d to review one's own book there, so ye review will be cancelled. I really like the back cover blurb, written for ye book by its editor, S. T. Joshi. The book is, in large part, my celebration of Lovecraft's weird poetry. The title of the book's first story, for example, references the lines from "Night-Gaunts":

And down the nether pits to that foul lake

Where the puffed shoggoths splash in doubtful sleep.

And there is, in "The Thing on the Doorstep," the eldritch cry concerning a pit of shoggoths. Lovecraft's poetry continues to inspire me, to ye point where I am trying to compose a new sonnet sequence entitled Sonnets of an Eldritch Bent for my next book from Centipede Press. Of course, new editions of Lovecraft's poems are something I cannot resist, & thus I have used the last of my PayPal funds for

available soon from PS Publishing, and featuring interior illustrations by Pete Von Sholly!

cover completed and S. T.'s revised CTHULHU MYTHOS

One of ye really exciting aspects of being an author is to see how one's new book is going to appear. Front covers are especially important, as they can help allure ye innocent potential-reader. I must say that I am very happy with this completed cover for my next book, whut shou'd be releas'd within ye next few weeks. The image is from the new revised/expanded version of Some Unknown Gulf of Night, in which I have depicted a meeting between my recurring character, Marceline Dubois (who may be a semi-mortal half-sister to Nyarlathotep) and Richard Upton Pickman in his dreamland ghoul-state. I am particularly pleas'd with the red lettering, both hue and style, of the book title. I asked Derrick to place the sub-title, "Stories in the Lovecraftian Tradition," on ye cover as well. I consider this ye finest collection of my work thus far--moftly because it is all relatively new writing--no wanky old stuff, being a collection of things written from 2011 to ye present. The book will make its debut at NecronomiCon Providence 2015; and although I won't be attending that convention, the book's illustration, Matthew Jaffe, will be there and thus able to sign your copies. Indeed, Derrick's Hippocampus Press table in ye dealer's room will probably be spectacular, as he has so many magnificent titles coming forth this summer.

Work on new fiction goes very slowly; but the hot summer weather, which rather drains me of energy, has cooled deliciously, and I have been working on the final two new original tales for my forthcoming collection from Centipede Press, An Ecstasy of Fear and Others. After those two tales are completed, I begin work on the new stories for my books with Jeffrey Thomas (of Enoch Coffin tales) and Henry J. Vester III (an entire book of works inspir'd by Clark Ashton Smith). To ensure total concentration of the completion of these new books, I am refusing all incoming invitations to submit new tales to anthologies. I need to keep my mind uncluttered and focus on the creation of my new books.

I find that I am utterly obsess'd with the new attention given to Pluto.

Also to be publish'd by Hippocampus Press next month is ye revised/expanded edition of S. T.'s examination of modern Mythos fiction, now with an updated title that points to Joshi's realization that ye Mythos is not dead & still dreaming. 

"In this new edition, extensively revised and expanded, Joshi continues to explore the myriad ways in which writers of all different sorts have elaborated upon the themes, conceptions, and imagery found in Lovecraft's writing. This edition includes several new chapters on Mythos novels and tales written over the past two decades. Caitlin R. Kiernan has emerged as a leading author of Lovecraftian fiction, fusing her own distinctive idiom with Lovecraft's central motifs to produce work of scintillating vibrancy. Jonathan Thomas, in stories like 'Tempting Providence' and the novel The Color over Occam (2011), has also done outstanding work, as have such diverse writers as Donald Tyson, Ann K. Schwader, Cody Goodfellow, W. H. Pugmire, and many others. Anthologists such as Paula Guran, Stephen Jones, and Joshi himself have enticed some of the best writers of contemporary weird fiction to write original tales employing the Lovecraft idiom, with spectacular results."

CONTENTS:
Introduction
I. Anticipations
II. The Lovecraft Mythos: Emergence
III. The Lovecraft Mythos: Expansion
IV. Contemporaries: Peers
V. Contemporaries: Scions
VI. The Derleth Mythos
VII. Interregnum
VIII. The Scholarly Revolution
IX. Recrudescence
X. Resurgence
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

357 pages, with cover art by Jason C. Eckhardt.

S. T.'s new blog

stjoshi.org/news.html

Above is ye link for S. T.'s blog, ye newest entry of which he had pofted to-day. Lots of news, and the ever-humble scholar has words of praise for some of his earlier books, moving him to wonder, "...whether I was a better critic in the late 1980s and 1990s than I am now". I cannot say--I know only that his books from those decades are books that I return to constantly, for edification and entertainment. Those who wou'd enjoy visiting with S. T. will be able to meet him in Providence next month, at the NecronomiCon Providence 2015 convention (where Hippocampus Press will debut S. T.'s Variorum edition of Lovecraft's Complete Fiction, and ye new revised/expanded edition of The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Cthulhu Mythos (note ye book's updated title). S. T. will also be attending this year's World Fantasy Award in Saratoga Springs, New York, November 5-8.

Lovecraft Fungi de Yuggoth

I have absolutely no clue why ye audio on my current videos is so low. It's best to use headphones when watching. I'll try to figure the problem out on YouTube, but will probably make things worse.....

Contents of ye fabulous second audio disc:
music by Harold Farnese:
Mirage (1932), piano
Mirage (1932), piano and soprano Maria Jette
The Elder Pharos (1932), piano
The Elder Pharos (1932), piano and soprano Maria Jette
Elegy for H. P. Lovecraft (1937), piano
music by Alfred Galpin:
Lament for H. P. Lovecraft (1937), piano
music by Jonathan Adams:
The Ancient Track (2010), choral
Sunset (2010), piano and choral
music by Paul Dice:
The Festival (1987), piano
The Will of Erich Zann (1988), instrumental and vocal
music by Del Merritt:
a Celtic band rendition of ye "Drinking Song" from H. P. Lovecraft's "The Tomb"

S. T. Joshi's Lovecraft text &c

Echoes From Beneath 3: Djinn And Miskatonic (Live)

Queer Love, Baby

I am delighted that gay marriage is now legal in all American cities. Hopefully, this triumph will lead to more victories in cases of employment and housing discrimination aim'd at my queer sisters & brothers. The timing of this decision by ye Supreme Court is delicious, as this is Gay Pride Week-end, and I suspect that Sunday's pride parade is going to be one big-ass party of celebration & self-esteem. I no longer attend pride celebrations because of my diseased heart condition and inability to walk for any great length of time; but I must confess that I feel a real urge to be at the march this Sunday, just to soak up the positive vibes of love and joy.

However, as a queer Mormon, I feel that my place Sunday will be at church, because the church is very very anti-gay marriage. I once went to church and found, on a table in ye foyer, wee leaflets that proclaimed "Protect traditional marriage". My constant mental response to this is: "Protect traditional marriage from what?" How cou'd my marriage, if it ever occur'd, effect any heterosexual marriage. If I got marry'd, how cou'd it have any effect on my buddy S. T. Joshi's marriage to his charming and lovely wife, Mary? This bizarre and sick idea that gay marriage will affect straight marriage needs to be quashed.So, I suspect to hear some anti-gay marriage sentiments when I attend church this Sunday, and that makes me feel, more than ever, that I need to be at church so that my brothers and sisters there can see an extremely joyous and proud gay Mormon who is indeed celebrating the fact that queer marriage is now the law of the land. I need to be there to counter the sad frowns of discouraged bigotry, to smile and exude pure joy.

Cristien and I have the gay pride flag flying over our front porch. We are happy to declare that this household is a queer household. I am one happy queen to-day!

pre-order MONSTROUS AFTERMATH

My next book, Monstrous Aftermath, is now up for pre-order at Hippocampus Press. It is scheduled to be publish'd in August and will sell for $20. Cover art and interior illustrations are by ye magnificent Matthew Jaffe (to ye left is his rendering of my favourite Lovecraftian beastie, ye night-gaunt, one of several interior illos for my book). Here is ye back cover copy that S. T. wrote for ye book:

"For decades, W. H. Pugmire has been one of the foremost exponents of Lovecraftian fiction. In an array of works ranging from exquisitely crafted sonnets to delicately perfumed prose-poems to richly-textured novellas, Pugmire has channeled the work of H. P. Lovecraft with a sensitivity and penetration that few have equaled. This new collection displays Pugmire's many strengths as a writer. Here we have stories inspired not only by Lovecraft but by Oscar Wilde and Robert W. Chambers. Many of them are set in the Sesqua Valley, that magical realm in the Pacific Northwest that Pugmire has devised as a parallel to the constellation of New England towns--Arkham, Innsmouth, Dunwich, and others--that Lovecraft fashioned in his tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.

"The capstone to the collection is a substantially revised version of Pugmire's classic prose rendering of Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth sonnet cycle. This work, Some Unknown Gulf of Night, exhibits the full range of Pugmire's imagination--an imagination triggered by literature and infused with the quintessence of his own aesthetic sensibility. As a bonus, Lovecraft's poem is included so that readers can appreciate Pugmire's wondrous transmutation of verse into prose that is scarcely less poetic than the original.

"W. H. Pugmire is a self-confessed 'Lovecraft fan-boy' whose books include The Fungal Stain (Hippocampus Press, 2006), The Tangled Muse (2011), Uncommon Places (Hippocampus Press, 2012) and Bohemians of Sesqua Valley (2013). He lives in Seattle with a house full of cats from Ulthar."

Contents:
"Within Your Unholy Pit of Shoggoths" (1,750 words)
"Your Weighing of My Heart (1,325 words)
"The Tomb of Oscar Wilde" (1,600 words)
"These Harpies of Carcosa" (1,380 words)
"An Ecstasy of Fear" (11,600 words)
"Darkness Dancing in Your Eyes" (1,681 words)
"Beyond the Wakeful Senses" (1,800 words)
"Ye Unkempt Thing" (4,130 words)
"Half Lost in Shadow" (2,670 words)
"Circular Bones" (363 words; sequence of three sonnets)
"Jester of Yellow Day" (1,130 words)
"This Splendor of the Goat" (10,900 words)
"An Element of Nightmare" (3,630 words)
"Some Unknown Gulf of Night" (40,000 words)
Fungi from Yuggoth, by H. P. Lovecraft, Esq.

www.hippocampuspress.com

Clark Ashton Smith Project with Darin Coelho

UPDATING MY PUNK ROCK JACKETS

MIGHTY REAL: A FABULOUS SYLVESTER CONCERT (PROMO/The Making Of...)

SCISSOR SISTERS - Let's Have A Kiki (Custom Videodrome Discothèque Video...

New Book Now Available

Ye new book is available for ordering from www.darkrenaissance.com. Ye deluxe edition has already sold out, but ye trade hardcover is quite handsome. The book includes stories written in collaboration with David and myself, and tales that we wrote individually. The title story is entirely set in Lovecraft's dreamlands and is a novella of 25,000 words. Another new collaboration, "The Stairway in the Crypt," is a lengthy novelette with overtures of Poe. "A Presence of the Past" is my 11,600 word "version" of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Lurking Fear," set in Sesqua Valley. 

CONTENTS
"The Stairway in the Crypt" (David & Wilum)
"Your Ivory Hollow" (Wilum)
"Among the Ghouls" (David)
"A Thousand Smokes" (Wilum)
"The Temple of the Worm" (David)
"An Eidolon of Filth" (Wilum)
"The Urns" (David)
"Through Sunset's Gate" (Wilum)
"The Recluse" (David)
"An Unearthly Awakening" (Wilum)
"The Stone of Ubbo-Sathla" (David)
"Within One Ruined Realm" (Wilum)
"In the Gulfs of Dream" (David & Wilum)
"A Dweller in Martian Darkness" (David)
"O Lad of Memory and Shadow" (Wilum)
"Mural" (David)
"Midnight Mushrumps" (Wilum)
"The Ghoul God's Bride" (David)
"Elder Instincts" (Wilum)
"The One Dark Thought of Nib-Z'gat" (David)
"Decent into Shadow and Light" (Wilum)
"The Dead City" (David)
"The Quickening of Ursula Sphinx" (Wilum)
"The Horror in the Library" (David)
"A Presence of the Past" (Wilum)
"The Grasses of Mahspe" (David)

Ye book is handsome indeed, as are all titles from Dark Renaissance Books, with solid binding, good paper and printing, and superb art by Erin Wells. 

Ye one damper is that I shall have yet another new book publish'd next month or in August, and I dislike having books publish'd too closely together. Ah well. The two books are quite different from each other, and ye next book, Monstrous Aftermath, to be publish'd by Hippocampus Press, is entirely my own writing and includes ye new revised & expanded 40,000 word version of "Some Unknown Gulf of Night". It has been illustrated by ye remarkable Matthew Jaffe, and here is a wee peek at ye front cover image. The next book's title is taken from H. P. Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth, and as an added bonus, Lovecraft's entire sonnet sequence is included as a kind of appendix. "Some Unknown Gulf of Night," of course, is a series of prose poems and vignettes that are my personal prose responses to each and every sonnet in Lovecraft's sequence. As soon as Monstrous Aftermath is available to order or pre-order, I will add a wee comment saying so to this blog.