01 Fungi from Yuggoth - The Book - H. P. Lovecraft read by William Hart ...



Will Hart has had a long love affair with H. P. Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth -- & now he has
releas'd his ultimate treatment of and tribute to HPL's poetry. It is an audio cd disc on which Will reads ye entire sonnet sequence, plus a number of other fine Lovecraft poems such as "In a Sequester'd Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walked" and "Nemesis". All the spoken word is accompanied by an amazing musical score by Graham Plowman.  This new recording has been releas'd in a lovely package by Fedogan & Bremer.  http://www.fedoganandbremer.com 
Included is a 12-page booklet that includes a fantastic photograph of modern St. John's Churchyard in colour, with HPL's black&white spectre walking its pathway; and a nice wee photograph of Will. The booklet also features a lengthy (six full pages) Introduction by S. T. Joshi. 

Will's new readings are superb, at times featuring a voice that almoft threatens to quiver with emotion, where some words are strangely whispered and others solidly proclaim'd. These excellent readings bring new life to Lovecraft's powerful and eerie poetry. 

Graham Plowman's music is magnificent. It has, at time, what I want to call a cinematic majesty of sound, waves of powerful music that carry ye listener away with the wonder of Lovecraft's imagination. It's extremely cool the way the music emphasizes points of narrative vibrancy in Will's reading, and yet can also underscore the quiet, dream-like portions of vocal display. 

Will "dedicates these readings to Editor, David E. Schultz, for his annotated version of H. P. Lovecraft 'Fungi from Yuggoth'; and to Artist Jason C. Eckhardt, for his forty illustrations for the book." This annotated edition of ye Fungi will be publish'd in a handsome hardcover edition by Hippocampus Press. Ye publication has been delay'd a bit, but nigh a definitive release date of May 2016 seems assured. I have seen an early arc of this annotated edition, and it is a work of wonder.

Ye Fungi is of great importance to me because of its continual influence on my work. Will's earlier readings of ye sonnets, which were posted on YouTube and may still be heard there, was the event that inspir'd me to finally write the book I consider my finest--Some Unknown Gulf of Night --a book that I dedicated to Will Hart. 

I have a strange feeling . . .that this new recording of Will reading ye Fungi--a recording that so haunts me, will inspire yet another book from mine antient pen..



Comments

  1. Poetry is older than writing: even today, all but the most puritanically contemplative odes are enriched by being read aloud. Prose is sometimes at an advantage when one can determine ones own reading pace: poetry is to be declaimed.

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