A blogspot dedicated to my existence as a full-time writer in the tradition of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch and Clark Ashton Smith, and celebrating the world of weird fiction and poetry.
Writers of quality always choose from the vocabulary of their own life and influences... there is a literary chain of words, a Heritage... Lovecraft included many influences in his work - Poe, Lord Dunsany, and even further back Keats, Coleridge, and on, all the way back to the Greeks and Romans... You too are part of this lineage and received all this literary heritage - this then does in-fluence your own work, along with other, more decadent words from the likes of Oscar Wilde. Shakespeare of course is common to most writers since... More importantly, I think, is that you juxtapose these streams of conscious and sub-conscious essences with the ideas and word-pictures that are uniquely your own. HPL complained of not knowing which were his "Lovecraft" stories but truly they all are, as a synthesis of all his life, reading and experiences. Mr Pugmire, your words too are wondrous evocations, delicious creations wherein not only the ghosts of the past, but the worms of your own mind cavort and gambol in strange dream-worlds. Sorry for the waffling, but I too am looking forward to reading the 'new' writings of HPL - such wonders. I agree with you, HPL's choice of words were deliberate and very much towards painting their own weird landscapes, which they do brilliantly, as do yours. Your enthusiasm is so infectious - a joy. Thank ye for this - your entry cheered and excited me today! Hope you are well. G ;-)=
Many thanx for your wonderful comment. My own experience is that I have very little "say" in the kind of fiction I write--I write that which is inside me, and thus am compell'd to writing Lovecraftian weird fiction. The need to do so does not lessen with age, but grows more acute, perhaps because I feel I haven't yet " quite got it "right". My world is Lovecraftian, in that it is the mental and emotional sphere in which I dwell, constantly. Being retired and living on social security, in my mother's house, I have all the time I need to read & write, and do little else. It suits me, this easy Literary life, because my heart disease results in my having very little physical energy. (That's one reason I want to stop attending conventions, I get so tired; but I have decided to attend CthulhuCon in Portland on April 25-26--the convention lasts but one and one-half days, so that shouldn't exhaust me; and my new book, IN THE GULFS OF DREAM AND OTHER LOVECRAFTIAN TALES, will probably have its debut at the convention.) Reading these Variorum editions aloud strengthens my conviction that Lovecraft's prose was carefully selected, and Lovecraft's writing is, in its own wondrous way, a kind of music.
You are very welcome, sir. I look forward to your new tome. The imaginative mind is a vast space wherein are many Edens and many Hels should one choose to explore there. Emily Bronte again - in her poem "To Imagination" -
"When weary with the long day's care, And earthly change from pain to pain, And lost, and ready to despair, Thy kind voice calls me back again: Oh, my true friend! I am not lone, While thou canst speak with such a tone!
So hopeless is the world without; The world within I doubly prize; Thy world, where guile, and hate, and doubt, And cold suspicion never rise; Where thou, and I, and Liberty, Have undisputed sovereignty."
Your words are well-chosen jewels set in a coronet of delicate horror. They chill and cheer equally.
I was introduced to the Old Gent with the Thing on the Doorstep - so in spite of Mr Joshi - it remains a favorite of mine. I came across it in a 1946 anthology edit by Boris Karloff called An Darkness Falls. Each story in the collection of introduced by the King of Horror films.
"The Silver Key" is definitely not a "minor" Lovecraft story. In fact, the more I read and study Lovecraft, the less willing I am to label any of his stories "minor."
Writers of quality always choose from the vocabulary of their own life and influences... there is a literary chain of words, a Heritage... Lovecraft included many influences in his work - Poe, Lord Dunsany, and even further back Keats, Coleridge, and on, all the way back to the Greeks and Romans... You too are part of this lineage and received all this literary heritage - this then does in-fluence your own work, along with other, more decadent words from the likes of Oscar Wilde. Shakespeare of course is common to most writers since... More importantly, I think, is that you juxtapose these streams of conscious and sub-conscious essences with the ideas and word-pictures that are uniquely your own. HPL complained of not knowing which were his "Lovecraft" stories but truly they all are, as a synthesis of all his life, reading and experiences. Mr Pugmire, your words too are wondrous evocations, delicious creations wherein not only the ghosts of the past, but the worms of your own mind cavort and gambol in strange dream-worlds. Sorry for the waffling, but I too am looking forward to reading the 'new' writings of HPL - such wonders. I agree with you, HPL's choice of words were deliberate and very much towards painting their own weird landscapes, which they do brilliantly, as do yours. Your enthusiasm is so infectious - a joy. Thank ye for this - your entry cheered and excited me today! Hope you are well. G ;-)=
ReplyDeleteMany thanx for your wonderful comment. My own experience is that I have very little "say" in the kind of fiction I write--I write that which is inside me, and thus am compell'd to writing Lovecraftian weird fiction. The need to do so does not lessen with age, but grows more acute, perhaps because I feel I haven't yet " quite got it "right". My world is Lovecraftian, in that it is the mental and emotional sphere in which I dwell, constantly. Being retired and living on social security, in my mother's house, I have all the time I need to read & write, and do little else. It suits me, this easy Literary life, because my heart disease results in my having very little physical energy. (That's one reason I want to stop attending conventions, I get so tired; but I have decided to attend CthulhuCon in Portland on April 25-26--the convention lasts but one and one-half days, so that shouldn't exhaust me; and my new book, IN THE GULFS OF DREAM AND OTHER LOVECRAFTIAN TALES, will probably have its debut at the convention.) Reading these Variorum editions aloud strengthens my conviction that Lovecraft's prose was carefully selected, and Lovecraft's writing is, in its own wondrous way, a kind of music.
DeleteYou are very welcome, sir. I look forward to your new tome. The imaginative mind is a vast space wherein are many Edens and many Hels should one choose to explore there. Emily Bronte again - in her poem "To Imagination" -
Delete"When weary with the long day's care,
And earthly change from pain to pain,
And lost, and ready to despair,
Thy kind voice calls me back again:
Oh, my true friend! I am not lone,
While thou canst speak with such a tone!
So hopeless is the world without;
The world within I doubly prize;
Thy world, where guile, and hate, and doubt,
And cold suspicion never rise;
Where thou, and I, and Liberty,
Have undisputed sovereignty."
Your words are well-chosen jewels set in a coronet of delicate horror. They chill and cheer equally.
Keep well and rest in Lovecraftian Dreams. G ;-)=
I was introduced to the Old Gent with the Thing on the Doorstep - so in spite of Mr Joshi - it remains a favorite of mine. I came across it in a 1946 anthology edit by Boris Karloff called An Darkness Falls. Each story in the collection of introduced by the King of Horror films.
ReplyDelete"The Silver Key" is definitely not a "minor" Lovecraft story. In fact, the more I read and study Lovecraft, the less willing I am to label any of his stories "minor."
ReplyDeleteI did find the word "nameless" in my re-reading of "The Silver Key".....
ReplyDelete