Dreamland Novel Completed!

 Above is a wee area on Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, adjacent to ye Shunn'd House. When I look at this photo, I am struck with how dreamlike my time spent in Lovecraft's hometown now seems. Indeed, I dream of Providence often. Lovecraft evoked his love for Providence in his work, but never more poignantly than in ye climax to his novella of 43,100 words, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. That work has been heavily on my mind this past year, as David Barker and I work'd on our full-length novel set in Lovecraft's dreamlands. I recently wrote my final chapter for our novel--and just a wee while ago I got an email from David announcing that he has finish'd ye final chapter!! Great Yuggoth--our novel is completed! It feels a bit unreal. 

I've been thinking of Lovecraft's novel of late, and dipping into it as I prepar'd to review ye edition of it in PS Publishing's illustrated edition, featuring amazing artwork by Pete Von Sholly. My review is now up at Amazon. Lovecraft destroy'd a lot of stories with which he was displeas'd, and I think we may have lost some really cool tales; so it feels extremely fortunate that, although he never polish'd "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" or prepar'd it for publication, he didn't destroy the manuscript for it--or for that other unpolish'd work, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. 

It's so compelling, Lovecraft's world as found in his complete fictional oeuvre. I return to it continually, sometimes just to read the stories and enjoy them simply as cool weird fiction; sometimes reading them slowly and studying Lovecraft's prose, his ideas, recurring motifs, &c &c. I never try to write "like" Lovecraft--but I think his narrative tone much have crept into my own prose style, because one of the "compliments" I get in reviews is that my stuff reads as if it were a lost Lovecraft manuscript. A rather dubious accolade, when one is trying to write in one's own personal style.

Writing a novel was hard work, my dears, and I much prefer working in ye short story format. Still, it feels like a wondrous accomplishment, to have work'd on an actual novel with my friend. Maybe someday I'll agree to do it again.