"A Psalm for Didymus Whateley"

More and more, I receive invitations to write for Mythos anthologies. It is as much a source of frustration as it is a compliment, as it keeps me from working full-time on the books I need to write. To-day I am working on a story that links to "The Tree-House," an old Sesqua Valley story that Robert M. Price re-wrote and publish'd in his Chaosium anthology, The Dunwich Cycle. There are aspects in Bob's story that I no longer care for and won't incorporate into my own tales of Sesqua Valley; but he had a character in ye tale that intrigued me, one Didymus Whateley, and I've decided to write a story in which this youngster is recall'd from ye Audient Void and return'd to mortality by a modern member of ye Dunwich clan. The story will be in two parts--the first section set in Dunwich, ye second set in Sesqua. I'm hoping to make it 2,000-3,000 words.

Found an old picture of me at work as Jonesy the Clown, at the Jones' Fantastic Museum. I'm very young in this photo, probably in my early twenties. I didn't do ye clown makeup too often as it was far more fun being my vampire character, Count Pugsly. I'm holding my rubber chicken, with whom I had a curious relationship. It was certainly a very cool first job for a young monster movie freak, being paid to dress up as monsters and prowl the Seattle Center advertising the museum. It was a summer job that I began when I was around 14 years of age, and I worked it until I left for my mission to Ireland for the Moron church in September of 1971. After years of wearing my vampire cloak, it became like a part of my being, and I learned how to move it gracefully and with sinister effect. Ah, how I loved that job. I still have my vampire cloak, and wear it on windy days.

Makeup has long been an essential part of my identity, either from working at the museum, from acting in high school and college plays, or in my secret childhood escapes into drag. It is no wonder that the way I identify as a gay man is through wearing makeup.