From "The Manticore"

MANTICHOR by Robertson Davies

"...On a chain you held a lion, which was

E staring out of the picture. The lion had a

man's
"Any
face.
other
My face."
details?"
2, No 2 (WN 6) "The lion's tail ended in a kind of spike,
or barb."
(March 2007) "Ah, a
manticore!"
"A
what?"
"A
manticore
is a
fabulous
creature with a lion's body, a man's face,
and a sting in his tail."
"I never heard of it."
"No, they are not common, even in
myths...But why are you a
manticore?...What about the manticore?"
"Well, as he is an animal, I suppose he
is some baser aspect of me. But as he is
a lion, he can't be wholly base. And he
has a human face, my face, so he can't
be wholly animal...Very well; if I accept
that the lion represents my somewhat
undeveloped feeling, what about it?"
"Not a lion; a manticore. Do not forget
that stinging tail...The manticore can be
extremely dangerous. Sometimes he is
even described as hurling darts from his
tail, as people once thought the
porcupine did...Head of a man, brave and
dangerous as a lion, capable of wounding
with barbs? But not a whole man, or a
whole lion, or a merely barbed opponent.
A manticore. The Unconscious chooses its
A Contribution by symbolism with breath-taking artistic
Leigh Blackmore virtuosity."
for
Sword & Sorcery IN THIS ISSUE
& Weird Fiction Mantic
Terminus Notes………………………………2
amateur press Bryce J.
Stevens………………….Cover art
association.
Films seen………………………………,
…2
Leigh Blackmore, 78 Rowland Ave,
Books By My
Wollongong, NSW 2500. Australia.
Bedside…………………….4
Email: lvxnox@gmail.com
Interview with August Derleth
Official Website: The
(translated from the Dutch fanzine
Blackmausoleum –
Cthulhu)……………...5
http://members.optusnet.com.au/lvx
Two Acrostics on HP Lovecraft
nox/
by Bryce Stevens.
Human body images in this issue are from ………………………………....14
Images of the Human Body (c) 1999 Agile Four Poems by Danny
Rabbit Editions Lovecraft………….14
Four Poems by Phillip A.
Ellis……………15
Two Poems by Margi
Curtis………..16
Mantichorus: Mailing Notes …….. (which we celebrated in Feb) and uni
………..16 fees. Margi has started her
librarianship certificate at TAFE,
we’re co-facilitating MoonSkin (our
Mantic Notes ritual working group) again this year,
Graham is teaching school and
lecturing in anatomy and physiology,
Once again I and life is generally hectic. Also, as I
find myself write this, Margi’s mother Angela
preparing this (91) has just passed away and we are
issue in some in the throes of making the funeral
haste, and so I arrangements. It’s a difficult time,
am including although Angela passed peacefully.
somewhat Hopefully by next issue our lives will
more material be a little more stable.
by writers
other than
myself than I Films Seen
usually would. Desperately Seeking Susan: Had
Since never seen this and we got it out to
Christmas I see what we had missed back in the
have been eighties. Not much! A fairly lame
accepted into caper about mistaken identity, with
the new Bachelor of Journalism some Madonna songs on the
degree at the University of soundtrack. Way outdated and not
Wollongong. I’ll be doing this as a recommended.
Double degree alongside my existing Pink Panther (Steve Martin):
Bachelor of Creative Arts (Writing), Basically crap. A few laughs, but not
so it’s looking like a busy year ahead. the inspired lunacy of the original
I’ve also started work for a third Peter Sellers versions. Not
manuscript assessment agency recommended.
(Driftwood in South Australia) as Astronaut’s Wife: This wasn’t too
things have been extremely quiet bad, a sort of aliens-have-taken-over-
from my other two agencies, and in my-husband thriller that worked on
fact Jan Scherpenhuizen, owner of some levels. Overall, however, I
LYNK agency, has decided to sell his found it a bit predictable and it
agency in order to return to Europe. seemed to have been made for a
Would have loved to buy him out but, mainstream audience, so the alien
of course, have no money! I have bit wasn’t ramped up as much as it
also started several more Yahoo would have been in a genre movie.
discussion groups including ones Charlize Theron is always yummy but
devoted to writer William Hope she was a bit cold in this one.
Hodgson and artist Rosaleen Norton, Recommended though.
and have my own blog at Capote: A very good movie. Great
http://360.yahoo.com/leigh_blackmor period detail and production design.
e. (Check it out!) Regrettably, I’ve I never knew much about Capote and
not had time to add any more his approach to the writing of IN
publications to my lulu.com store, COLD BLOOD. The movie shows how
but hey, that will come. (I did manipulative he was of the killers, in
actually receive my first revenues order to get the story that would
from www.lulu.com make his career. An amazing
for sales of print copies and performance from Phillip Seymour
downloads of my three publications Hoffman (very different from his role
there – a massive amount of as the bad guy in MISSION
US$7.70! Wow! I feasted that week). IMPOSSIBLE 3). Highly
Most of my summer break from uni I recommended.
spent selling on Ebay, in a desperate Gangs of New York: I really liked
(and largely successful) attempt to this movie. Performances were
pay for things like Christmas, excellent, the historical period of
presents for Margi’s 50th birthday 1840’s New York was brilliantly
depicted, and even though Cameron
Diaz was a little unconvincing as a
pickpocket, she was tolerable, as was
Leonardo di Caprio. Best
performance was Daniel Day Lewis. A
bit like one of Scorcese’s gangster
movies such as GOODFELLAS, but in
an earlier time period, with some
brutal killings. My partner thought
there was too little character
redemption but it didn’t bother me
too much. Highly recommended.
The Beach: While watching this,
realised I’d seen it before. It had
made so little impact on me that I’d
forgotten it completely. It does have
a sort of Lord-of-the-Flies crossed
with Heart-of-Darkness via Brett
Easton Ellis theme, but overall – nup!
Not hardcore enough. Only
recommended if shark attacks are
going to freak you out, and you enjoy
Leonardo di Caprio – I find him OK
myself.
Rosemary’s Baby: Watched this
again recently. It still holds up as a
good thriller of evil witches. Some of
the dream sequences are great and
have that real oneiric quality of the
best early Polanski movies.
Recommended if you’ve never seen
it.
The Prestige: Another movie I
loved. Based on Christopher Priest’s
novel. Priest has written some of the
most amazing fantasy novels, which
often hinge on identity switches,
such as THE GLAMOUR and THE
AFFIRMATION. I am also a huge fan of
his ‘Dream Archipelago’ stories. The
movie was somewhat different from
the book but still fairly entrancing, I
thought. My brother Kent, who is a
real-life stage magician, enjoyed it
even though it’s not one hundred
percent accurate in regard to some
historical facts (e.g. Chung Ling Soo).
David Bowie was curious as Nikola
Tesla – not a bad performance.
Highly recommended – you have to
see it rather than hear about the
story.
The Haunted Palace: Strangely,
had never seen this Lovecraft
adaptation from the 1960’s, directed
by Roger Corman, until I recently
obtained it on DVD. Not bad – better
made than the Corman Poe versions,
and despite being allegedly titled
after a Poe poem, basically a
reworking of Lovecraft’s CASE OF
CHARLES DEXTER WARD. Some good
stuff about the Elder gods in a coupla
scenes, and there is a copy of the
Necronomicon about. Vincent Price
gives an excellent performance.
Though the script by fantasy/horror
great Charles Beaumont struggles
valiantly with the material, it
ultimately becomes a tale of Price’s
revenge upon the villagers of Arkham
for burning him at the stake – not
enough about the thing in the pit and
the “Essential Saltes” of Lovecraft’s
book are left out entirely. For a better
version of CDW, Dan O’Bannon’s THE
RESURRECTED is still the go. But the
ultimate version remains to be made.
Silent Hill. Quite enjoyed this, even
though it’s based on a game and I
usually don’t like game-based
movies. Very Clive Barkerish dark
imagery. Got confusing at the end,
but still maniacal horror
entertainment.
The Scarlet Letter. Well-acted,
straight version of the Nathaniel
Hawthorne story. Never cared much
for Demi Moore but she was OK in
this, as was Gary Oldman.
Considerably like The Crucible, which
I had seen not long before – hardly
surprising as they are both set in the
same New England era.
Lie With Me. An erotic drama which
promised quite a bit but was
ultimately somewhat uninvolving.
Hostel: Haven’t seen many of the
recent crop of horror movies such as
SAW etc. I thought I’d check this out
to see what I’ve been missing in the
graphic horror department. Apart
from the fact that the poster one
sees for it, with an image of an
electric drill in a man’s mouth, is not
actually anywhere in the movie, the
film is more or less what it promises
to be. Unfortunately 9as in so many
movies where odious American
teenagers are slaughtered), we don’t
care enough about the characters.
The violence is graphic enough, but
the ending more or less cops out – a
simple revenge ending. I was
encouraged to see this by a length
review which called it postmodernist
horror, but I think the reviewer was
having himself on.
The Tenant. An old favourite which
used to creep me out – the scene
where Polanski finds the tooth in the
wall especially, and those weird
scenes where he is being watched
from across the courtyard by the
people standing in the bathroom at
night. Still holds up well.
The Life and Death of Peter
Sellers. This was great fun. Geoffrey
Rush as Sellers, doing his most
famous roles, and showing what shit
he could be in real life.
Lady in the Water. Hmmm. M.
Night Shmyalan. I kind of enjoy his
movies without ever having been
blown away by them. This was
refreshingly different, at least, with
the water sprite legendry being
ingeniously used, and some offbeat
humour. Not altogether convincing,
but worth a look.
16 Blocks. Good drama with Bruce
Willis as a copy trying to get his Yozan Dirk W. Mosig. MOSIG AT
witness sixteen city blocks to testify LAST: A PSYCHOLOGIST LOOKS
in a trial. Nice to see Willis playing an AT H.P. LOVECRAFT.
old fart for once. Good action. Necronomicon Press, 1997. This book
Transporter 2. A flimsy storyline in was published nearly ten years ago
this sequel to The Transporter, and is still in print from the publisher.
something about a chemical or virus I only obtained it recently, after
that will infect everyone at a trying to catch up with many
conference once they breathe it. Lovecraftian publications I’ve missed
Some great action sequences, but in the last decade. It’s a volume well
not as good as the first movie. worth having, since it collects all
A Study in Terror. An old favourite Mosig’s best essays on Lovecraft.
in which Sherlock Holmes solves the Mosig virtually founded the field of
Jack the Ripper murders. Curious to Lovecraft studies, having been S.T.
see (now Dame) Judi Dench in an Joshi’s mentor before retiring from
early role. Atmospheric, with a good the field for many years. The volume
Holmes/Watson team in John Neville adds some more recent essays by
as Holmes and Donald Houston as Mosig, including “Lovecraft,
Watson. Buddhism and Quantum reality”
Murder by Decree. Seeing the last which includes perhaps the most
inspired me to rewatch this, yet cogent explanation of the tenets of
another old favourite, in which Buddhism I’ve ever read (Mosig is a
(again!) Sherlock Holmes solves the martial arts instructor and Zen
Jack the Ripper crimes. With Buddhist as well as devotee of the
Christopher Plummer as Holmes and Old Gent). Also a few tribute essays
James Mason as Watson, a poignant to Mosig by Lovecraftian big names
teaming indeed; a great script, and like Cannon, Joshi and Price, and one
all-star cast; this is a memorable by his daughter. Highly
movie. Based on the Stephen Knight recommended.
JACK THE RIPPER : THE FINAL
SOLUTION theories (as was the much Leo Vinci. GMICALZOMA: AN
later FROM HELL and Alan Moore ENOCHIAN DICTIONARY. London:
comic book which the movie was Neptune Press, 1992. This is an
taken). expanded edition of a work first
published in 1976. Vinci seems to
BOOKS BY MY BEDSIDE have been part of an occult group
called The School, and his wife
Madeleine knew Aleister Crowley and Seth. POST-MODERN MAGICK. A
was a member of the Hermetic Order fairly crap book on chaos magic that I
of the Golden Dawn. I wonder of this sold after I finished reading it, as it
was Madeleine de Montalban, a added little to my knowledge.
woman of whom mention is made in Anyway, it can be downloaded from
various works connected with the net.
Crowley? Vinci’s writing style and David Hughes. THE GREATEST
syntax is somewhat lacking – the SCI-FI MOVIES NEVER MADE.
book (despite being in second Chicago: Acapella Books, 2001. I
edition) – badly needs to be picked this up for $5 in a bargain
proofread and copy-edited, but there sale. It’s a good entertaining read
is (amidst the occasional off-topic about 20-odd movies that should
ramblings) some information to be have been made but hadn’t been at
had. The first half consists of the time this book was written. Some
biographical information about John have since come to the screen, such
Dee and Edward Kelley and their as the movies of Thunderbirds,
angelical workings which gave rise to HitchHiker’s Guide, and the latest
the magical system known as Superman. But will we ever see Silver
Enochian; though I’m sure this info is Surfer, I Am Legend (Ridley Scott) or
readily available elsewhere. There The Watchmen? A well-researched
follows a brief survey of the Enochian book with much behind the scenes
system – too brief to be really useful information about the wrangles
– a better guide is something like between scriptwriters and studio
Schueler’s ENOCHIAN FOR honchos. Recommended.
BEGINNERS. A section on
pronouncing Enochian comes to no
firm conclusions, since the language AUGUST DERLETH
of the angels is written down but its
pronunciation is not fully known; the
INTERVIEW
Golden Dawn had its system and
Vinci suggests some changes. The Note: This appeared in a Dutch
rest of the book consists of the Lovecraftian
Enochian-English and English- fanzine in the
Enochian dictionary, plus a early 1980’s,
reproduction of the Enochian calls or CTHULHU Nr O.
Keys and a list of the Aethyrs. All this (Issue Zero was
is readily available elsewhere as well a tryout issue
– Laycock’s COMPLETE ENOCHIAN for the
DICTIONARY is far more magazine). I
comprehensive – so I regretfully had it
conclude translated by a
that the Dutch friend in
Vinci 1983. It’s been
volume is awaiting English publication for over
suitable for 20 years. Now at last, here it is!
the Please excuse some of the clumsy
beginner English as the translation is more or
only, and is less the gist of the interview but
probably some of the English is a bit clunky.
dispensible
for anyone
who has
In every summer there is an evening
delved
(especially if it is un-Dutch warm) in
much into
which I think back with a certain
this
melancholy on a boiling hot day in
complex
July, by the way already a quarter of
system of
a century ago. To be exact: The 15th
magick.
of the seventh month in 1957. At the
time I was a guest of August W.
Derleth in his little 'middle class'
abode (which we however in our own
country would call a flourishing
country property) on the outskirts of
Sauk City, WI, USA.
August Derleth, author of fabulous
books like WALDEN WEST and
WISCONSIN COUNTRY, but that did
not mean a great deal to me at the
time. More, much more
message/meaning had I concerning
Derleth as a founder/owner of the
fantasy and horror specialised printer
ARKHAM HOUSE.
Short Intermezzo: In military service I
came for the first time in contact with
this type of literature (maybe lecture
if you like) and became so
spellbound by it that I decided to
become a collector. Although in the
fifties there was not a great deal of
fantasy and horror available for
collection. It was here in Nederland a
'hidden child' and the harvest was in
fact extremely meagre. But my
intensive tracking (a visit of at least
five bookshops in the country)
confronted me quickly with the
name Arkham House. And also with
the names of authors: Lovecraft,
Smith, Howard and Derleth. I had
made up my mind: I had to go there!
The opportunity came quicker than
expected. My employer at that time
thought it necessary that I should
absorb the atmosphere of a large
American daily for a month. And after
arriving, I took a few sheets of
letterheads of that paper and wrote
to Derleth a letter asking for an
interview. He replied straight away
that I was very welcome.
Once I was sitting down with Derleth,
his enthusiasm cooling considerably
when he understood I was not
working for the New York daily (only
detached) and I had no single
influence on the editorial staff. He hid
this disappointment bravely. And
when I told him I would do my utmost
to introduce Arkham House in the
Netherlands, Derleth became again
as friendly as before and the bourbon
even arrived on the table. But putting
this aside.
That afternoon and all of the evening
we talked. Or rather, Derleth talked
and I listened. Listened to a man who
looked quite different from what I
had imagined. He seemed with his
large, heavy-built frame, his hands
like coal shovels, his brown
conspicuous head and his grumbling,
certainly accented voice, more like a
midwestern farmer than a writer-
poet. His clear blue eyes, hardly
blinking, nailed you to your chair, but
at the same time I thought he was
not looking at you but through you,
at more interesting subjects behind
you. I also won't talk here about his
own literary work and its
connections. And what he told about
Arkham House and the authors was
total news to me at the time, but so
much is written later about Arkham
House, that most of what I listened to
on that warm evening, is now known.
Derleth belonged, together with
about ten more recent authors, to
the so-called LOVECRAFT CIRCLE,
every one of them young writers,
who were mesmerized by the stories
of Lovecraft, which were published in
WEIRD TALES.
They wrote admiring letters to
Lovecraft, which he always answered
in a friendly manner. And when they
sent him manuscripts of their own
stories, they often got them back
corrected or sometimes totally re-
written. But this always was done in
such a manner as not to frighten a
beginning author away. Every one
experienced the remarks and
corrections of Lovecraft as a building
critique and a help on the road to the
difficult art of writing. The same had
happened to Derleth, whom I quickly
was allowed to call August or 'Augie'.
When Lovecraft died in 1937, it was
felt by all members of the Circle as a
great and personal loss. Derleth and
Donald Wandrei (also a member of
the Lovecraft Circle) decided then, as
a posthumous homage to the man
who had always stood by them with
advice and actions,
to bind and print all the works of
Lovecraft themselves.
Thus the birth of Arkham House,
called after the non-existent town of
Arkham, in which a lot of the horrible
happenings in Lovecraft's stories
took place.
When the Second World War started,
Wandrei was called up and Derleth
had to cope on his own. And what he
achieved in between 1939-1957, and
also years more afterwards, is really
bordering on the unbelievable. He
wrote his own works, ran Arkham
House (did all correspondence with
authors, designed contracts, had
business talks, edited manuscripts,
made them ready for the press, had
contracts with compositors and
printers, corrected proofs, supervised
the archives of all books, noted
orders, wrapped the books and
delivered to post office) and also
tried to find time for his young
family. So he did not get more than
four hours' sleep per night.
The money Derleth earned from his
own books he put back in Arkham
House and because of that he could
later print work of other Lovecraft
Circle members like Robert Ervin
Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Frank
Belknap Long, Vincent Starrett and
others.
Derleth talked. I listened. It became
later and later, the second bottle of
bourbon was empty. 3/4 of the
whisky he had drunk himself, but not
a trace of drunkenness was noticed.
When he showed me my room at
about 2 am, he had a thick folder
under his arm. "If you don't feel like
sleeping yet, have a look at this.
They are full of letters of Lovecraft to
me. Wandrei and I are playing with
the thought to bind and print soon all
the letters he has written to the
members of the Circle."
The rest of the night I did not sleep
another wink. In that large, dead
silent house (also outside there was
not a single sound) I read spellbound
and sometimes also touched,
through the whole parcel. Often
letters of more than 10 pages,
written in a small spidery
handwriting, with recommendations
of books Derleth "absolutely had to
read." A lot of letters also exposed
Lovecraft's loneliness. A loneliness he
tried to expel by writing long letters,
always with the pressing request to
the addressee to answer soon.
We were to breakfast at 7am, and I
came down the stairs, dead tired,
with the complete folder of Lovecraft
letters. I stress complete, because I
had very much to resist temptation
to pinch "one" Lovecraft letter. Only
one...Derleth would after all not kiss
it? And would I then not be the only
European who possessed a real
Lovecraft letter? besides: Much later
it came to light that Derleth was very
much aware of how many letters he
had given me to read through that
night. But that is another story.
The parting was short. I thanked
Derleth for his hospitality, and invited
him in my turn for a visit to the
Netherlands. It never eventuated,
however, more's the pity. I also did
not have the occasion to meet him
later once more. From 1957 on,
Derleth and I kept up a regular
correspondence and in 1965 I could
at last tell him with great
enthusiasm, I had found a Dutch
publisher for several Arkham House
collections. Derleth was elated and
gave me all the help regarding it
being exclusive. At least...if he would
be paid, because he was enough of a
businessman. Thanks to Bruna's at
the time editor Erik Lankester (it was
I who introduced the name Arkham
House in the Netherlands, but his
support has, mildly - I I
Part thereof: [in English in magazine]
This stencil/letter is dated 'Year's
End, 1966'. From a letter of the 13
Feb 1976:
[in English].
Augie, so it appears, rises again
above bodily and mentally. Arkham
House flourishes as never before,
averaging seven to eight editions per
year and a sale of 500 copies per
week. He writes on the 25th March
1968:
"Yes...[in English].

At that time, Augie is already seven
years separated, and is solely
responsible for the upbringing of his
children. But early in 1969, he again
gets to know a woman: Caitlin. In
April of that year:
"Thus far..." [in English] Quick
consultation with Lankester. Will
Bruno publish those love/lust letters?
Erik joins straight away: "Let him
send them!" is his reaction. "If Bruno
does not want to, I will take them to
a printer friend. Straight away I will
write a letter to Sauk City. Augie
answers happily: He will send the
copies.
Arkham House. From correspondence
with Derleth it became clear that
Arkham House in the USA was also
on the rise. But like so often in life,
large success in the business, but not
so in personal ways. When I once
more read through the fat parcel of
Derleth's letters, I stumble suddenly
on a letter, of which the top one is a
sort of stencil.
They never arrived however. Has
Derleth sent them? Or did they
maybe get lost in the post? I don't
get an answer to my letters anymore
(there were five or more in the rest of
that year). At last...half December
news. On the 10th he writes:
"Back at last..."
He also mentioned the amount of
that 'tremendous debt' over $17,000
- not a word in that letter about
Caitlin and the love letters. I answer
immediately but don't receive an
answer anymore. Only the Arkham
House publications from that period
are sent, until the middle of '71. That
lengthy silence. I try to take up
contact with John Ramsey Campbell,
author of THE INHABITANT OF THE
LAKE with whom I now and again
exchanged letters. But he did not
react either. Suddenly I found myself
in a vacuum and I did not know what
to do anymore. August died in 1971.
Even today I still don't know when, or
how, he died. A (probably misplaced)
feeling of piety has always stopped
me asking information to Derleth's
daughter April Rose, whom I on that
July evening as a two-year-old had a
moment on my lap, because she
would not go to sleep.
No, the spirit had gone. August was
dead, and August was Arkham
House. In that period, Erik Lankester
also left Bruna. And Erik was Bruna.
Our favourite storyteller Kees van
den Broek also respected horror (and
rightly so, for his Spanish translation
in particular received the Martuinhus
Nyhof prize). The fun had gone for
me altogether. Farewell Arkham
House. But sometimes there are
those warm summer evenings.
HPL did not write science fiction
according to his own criteria. SF, a
tailend style in the twenties, a new
universe, which soon filled itself with
rockets with roaring, firespitting
engines, Martians, and other
princesses, space pirates, glorified
crazy professors obsessed by 'the
impulsion of knowledge of the
unknown', beautiful paper daughters
of those same professors, who
however were only there for the
benefit of the illustrators, flying
saucers, flying cigars, flying
soupbowls and a mile-long gathering
of malicious BEM'S (see note b1)
It is not surprising that HPL soon got
a thorough dislike for the whole style.
AMAZING, ASTOUNDING and
THRILLING WONDER STORIES ran
riot, and the bulk of the SF
production seem to exist of the
drainwater of the classic 'soap opera'
(traditionally renamed later 'space
opera') or masked westerns. This
immature pulp SF already meant
quickly a big disappointment for
Lovecraft, who probably had
expected the style would develop
itself in the more literary traits of HG
Wells and his contemporaries.
Lovecraft could hardly appreciate EE
Smith, Stanton A. Coblentz, and Co.
he never knew a FOUNDATION or a
future history, and Clarke, Asimov,
Van Vogt, Sturgeon and all the others
were still unknown in the SF world,
and perhaps they would not be either
to his liking. In any case would he
have abhorred the modern
'speculative fiction' like a pest, with
its twisted story structure and
useless language-experiments.
In his essay "Some Notes on
Interplanetary Fiction", Lovecraft
specifies his own opinions very
clearly and takes a stand to defend
what good SF (although he did not
use that word) should be. The
central theme of the story should
always be the great unknown self:
the realistic, almost crushing 'sense
of wonder' which an earthling
undoubtedly has to feel when he fully
realises he is really away from his
own planet and finds himself in space
or somewhere on a totally unknown
planet.
Lovecraft has some cutting remarks
about the routine, cardboard
personalities who terrorise the bulk
of the pulp Sf by their presence in
the typical 'Super-Science' stories of
his time. Moreover, did he express
his annoyance about stories that
pretended to take place in an utmost
distant future, which according to
Lovecraft usually led to the
grotesque and the totally
unbelievable fantastic. A science
fiction story always has to have its
foundation in reality, has to find its
strength in the description of the
spacecraft and the journey itself and
in the illustration (inventive but
fundamental logic) of unearthly
worlds and beings. So, indeed, by his
own yardstick, Lovecraft did not write
SF.
But: Is SF the Lovecraft understood it
to be? Whilst reading already the first
sentences, one noticed that
Lovecraft's "Guide to the Writing of a
Good SF story" is enormously dated;
logically, seeing he based himself on
the only type of SF he knew. SF has
changed enormously since that
prehistoric time of the pulps.
Thousands and thousands of pages
are filled with definitions on SF and
added commentary about it, without
one agreeing amongst one another,
or ever will. A real effective definition
would only be possible in the form of
a catalogue of themes, which says
specifically: this is, this is not SF, and
who is going to judge that? Because
at the basis of judging whether a
story is SF or not, lays still mostly the
theme of the story in question.
And about this, we will knuckle down
to the themes which Lovecraft
himself brought up in the stories of
his pseudoscientific Cthulhu Mythos,
more specifically in "At the
Mountains of Madness" [in English].
Following the first short summary of
some themes -
- Extraterrestrial beings of a distant
galaxy land on the primitive earth
and create there in an artificial way
the first protoplasmic life
- octopus-like beings, derived from a
totally different universe start an
eradication war against these beings
- unbelievable Cyclopean towns are
built underneath the earth's crust
and on the bottom of oceans.
- It is possible by the use of
mathematical formulae of unearthly
complexity, to travel through
hyperspace and to bridge in this
manner enormous distances.
- Beings can be invisible to us
because the electronics of their
bodies possess a different vibration
frequency from those in our universe.
- Enormous godlike beings slumber in
pseudo-sleep in their town on the
ocean bed, where they are
imprisoned by a superior intelligence.
- Machines which can exchange the
thinking 'id, the 'ego' of a being, with
the ego of another unearthly being
from the past or future.
- An enormous library, where a race
of superbeings note all knowledge
and science of the universe.
A carefully detailed history of extra-
terrestrial races, their original glory
period and downfall, with explicit
detail of their psychology, biological
outlook, their establishments, arts,
way of life, politics, economy, etc.
If all this is not pure SF, what is it
then? Already in one of his most
recent stories, BEYOND THE WALL OF
SLEEP (1919) Lovecraft leans on the
SF themes by a combination of
dreamworlds in parallel relativity via
a different dimension with a far-
removed part of the Milky Way, so
that the dream becomes an arch
towards the total space. The detailing
however is still predominantly on the
imaginary domain, so the SF parts
are only used in a pseudo-rational
explanation for the so-called
supernatural. In "From Beyond"
(1920), we meet a beloved
personality from the pulps: the 'mad
scientist' a learned man, who has
developed a machine whereby he
comes in contact with extraterrestrial
beings which live amongst us, but
exist in a different dimension not
noticeable by us.
Only six years later, Lovecraft gets
spellbound again with Sf with "The
Call of Cthulhu" (1926). Although the
story in itself develops in pure horror
style (in spite of the pseudo-rational
writing - and communication
technique Lovecraft applied here) the
same way as the two previous ones,
we do find that the theme (style): an
enormous octopuslike being which
possesses telepathic powers, and
uses then during his pseudo-sleep in
the sunken city of R'lyeh, this story
qualifies as pure SF.
In 1927, Lovecraft wrote his spooky
story about an elemental vampire
strength which crashed to earth in a
meteor, the inside of which has a
colour not of this earth - "The Colour
Out of Space".
Not only did this become the first
story in which the readers discovered
a specific actual SF theme (the
invasion of space) but it also meant
Lovecraft's first story in a real SF
magazine. In spite of the fact this
was one of Lovecraft's best stories,
with his detailed sinister illustration
about the lurid change which came
over the valley and its inhabitants
where the meteor came down. It got
rejected by Lovecraft's regular
market, the magazine WEIRD TALES.
Frank Belknap Long, one of
Lovecraft's best friends, sent a
sample to AMAZING STORIES without
knowledge of the author, in which it
was printed to Lovecraft's great
amazement and joy. Much closer to
the traditional SF, in particular in
their working-out (setting-out) is "The
Whisperer in Darkness" (1930) in
which beings of the planet Pluto, the
'Mi-Go', contact an earthling. They
travelled through ethereal spheres,
moving them selves with their
membranous wings and could take
the kept-alive brain of an earthling
with them in special cylinders. This
seems to us an absurdity now, but
the atmosphere in 1939 was yet a
big speculation. Lovecraft stuck
strictly to his own rules and
described the apparatus of the Mi-
Go, although he was wise enough not
to go into too much technical detail.
A remarkable fact is that precisely in
Lovecraft's SF none, or very little
place is for the 'sense of wonder' of
which he himself was such a fierce
advocate: in Lovecraft's universe
there is only room for the 'sense of
fear', a specific form of terror and
fright, which only can be called
'cosmic horror'. Because whereas in
the SF the earthling stood in
devastating amazement towards the
puzzling universe, Lovecraft placed
him at the mercy of a hostile cosmos,
in which humans became toys of
powers against which no defence
was possible, because they were too
unearthly and too superior.
Lovecraft's heroes tried to fight, but
they are doomed to lose before they
start. They are symbols of our
smallness, our transitory state
against the endlessness of the
universe. But Lovecraft's aliens also
seem to be misshapen images of the
negative points of humans: they are
predominantly evil itself, which either
live for destruction or overpowering,
or are otherwise just as unearthly in
thought and opinion, that we can
only interpret them as total
destructive powers. Even the
'positive' ones are so far above us
that they simply are not interested in
such primitive beings as the humans.
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is also a
curious hybrid, who is a sort of
contact between the supernatural
and the scientific Cthulhu Mythos.
Mind that Lovecraft himself had no
intention to work out this double, and
never made a specific index himself.
So the Mi-Go are fungus-like beings,
which worship several of the Old
Ones, as their gods, amongst which
is also Cthulhu himself. They hold
sabbaths (in the way of black
masses) and practice blood
sacrifices. This is ultimately to
strengthen the horror part of the
story, but is a bit anti- the
predominantly pseudo-scientific
trend of the story.
The next year Lovecraft finished one
of his most important works - AT THE
MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS (1931). A
short novel of more than 100 pages.
Here is for the first time in
Lovecraft's work the pure horror
(which only occurs in the first part
and then particularly in the last
pages which end in a typical HPL
climax). Put in the background in
respect of the pure speculative
execution and detail of Lovecraft's
'history of the earth'. In the remains
of an enormous underground city,
discovered by a polar expedition,
they find sculptures and murals from
which the complex history of the Old
Ones is put together; of how they
came to earth and created life there
to serve them and how this amoeba
life did reel and in the end developed
to the human being. Lovecraft had
deep doubts about the value of this
story and Crawford thought it too
long and chose "The Shadow Over
Innsmouth" instead. So it was not
until 1936 that "At the Mountains of
Madness" appeared in ASTOUNDING
STORIES and even then only in a
shortened version. (WE just note
here that all the dates are when a
story was written, not when it was
published).
For the first time, Lovecraft showed
some sympathy for his non-
Earthlings: The Old Ones are almost
symbolising the humans, and their
history is a cosmic tragedy, almost
parody with the Frankenstein legend.
Also the Old Ones created a form of
life in their pride, which they could no
longer subdue and which destroyed
them. Casual readers of Lovecraft’s
stories are again confronted with
amazement about one of the many
paradoxes, which occur in Lovecraft's
Mythos stories. For the Old Ones in
this story are not the nasty demon-
beings they are in most of the other
stories; in fact the Old Ones in this
story (the star-headed aliens)
compare with the good elders from
other stories and are fully
rationalized in the trend of the
pseudo-science version of the
Mythos. No more reference to the
black magic, demons and horror
dimensions, although the novel ends
on a sharp note of fright/terror (P.14)
The same mixture of SF and horror
we also find in "The Dreams in the
Witch House" (1932), which one
initially is meant to read as a variant
on the classical spook story, develops
quickly as disguised sf.
The Salem witch and her familiar
Brown Jenkin, a ratlike being with a
beardlike and sharp-toothed human
face and human hands, can travel
through a different dimension outside
space and time. The Witchhouse
itself is built with bizarre corners that
have a special mathematical
meaning, so that the house in itself
becomes an entrance gate to
Hyperspace. The storyteller who
sleeps in this house, enters this
maddening hyperspace in his
dreams. Lovecraft describes in detail
the essence of a world outside ours,
occupied by unreal things,
indescribable formed masses of
unearthly coloured substances,
threatening shadow beings,
anorganic clumps are octopuslike
and centipede like, which live
constantly in a storm of spectrum
sound and unrealistic colours. The
storyteller gets transported through
this hyperspace to the centre of the
universe, in which Azathoth reigns on
his throne as the nucleus of a general
chaos.
A different aspect comes to the
foreground in "The Shadow Out of
Time" (1934): the large race, beings
who live outside the borders of time.
They lived - live - in the prehuman
past and have a library in their
enormous stone towns, through
which the past and future of the
earth is laid down.
They 'fish' for ghosts through space
and time to complete their books. It
is the story of a present lecturer at
the university who gets snared by
their machine, and whose spirit gets
transferred into one of their own
beings, whilst one of the others takes
over his body.
Just like in his other longer stories,
the theme hits here also by its
greatness and tragic, and Lovecraft
succeeds to convey to a perhaps no
cosmic 'sense of wonder' but indeed
to a cosmic 'sense of awe'.
Lovecraft also wrote his part in a
round robin story, "The Challenge
from Beyond" (1935). This was a
story on which 5 authors collaborated
(A. Merrit, CL Moore, RE Howard, FB
Long and Lovecraft) and each wrote
several chapters. Although it was
meant as a horror story (at the same
time five other writers wrote for the
same publisher a sf round robin story
with the same title) it was Lovecraft
who saw to it in his own section for
the scientific rationalism of the
theme. Also in the same year he
wrote together with Kenneth Sterling
the bitterly sarcastic "In the Walls of
Eryx", in which an earthling becomes
imprisoned in an invisible Martian
labyrinth, from which he tries to
escape in vain. Lovecraft was in the
first place a writer of horror stories
and the bulk of his sf stories are set
in this trend.
Notwithstanding stories (like
mentioned in this article and his
creation of the pseudo-scientific
Cthulhu Mythos) assure him of his
rightful place amongst the other
early writers of modern sf.
Notes.
1. BEM's- Bug-eyed monsters with
protruding eyes. Nickname for just
about all 'aliens' who occupy the
early sf and were defined as bad,
dirty and lustful. Favoured subject for
front covers. On the average cover is
a rather naked but still pure girl
(often wearing a space helmet)
dragged away by a gourmet BEM
with eyes on stalks, octopus arms,
feelers, tails, scales and super-
weapons. The twosome get chased
by the hero, who is usually the
assistant of the mad Professor (which
is her father).
BEM's sometimes appear in nice
roles, but their popularity has
strongly declined since the sf
became more adult. The classical
BEM's are the leather-like jellyfish
Martians from Wells' "War of the
Worlds".
2. A summary of the in-Dutch
translated works of Lovecraft you'll
find elsewhere in this issue.
BOOK DISCUSSION p. 23
The subtitle already tells what it is all
about: A BIBL...
Arkham House, for anybody who
does not yet know, is the most
important, decent and best organized
publisher for horror stories (including
sf) that ever existed.
The publishing company was founded
by Lovecraft's friend Derleth (after
Lovecraft's death in 1937) with the
intention of issuing the best works of
Lovecraft in one book. For this
purpose Derleth sacrificed all his
money, took out mortgages and
published (after many delays) THE
OUTSIDER, the book that is still the
cornerstone of the library of every
Lovecraft fanatic. The contents of
that famous first book is already
several times reprinted in other
volumes, and just as well, because
the original printing is already a long
time priceless.
Derleth made pre-publicity for the
book $3.50, when it at last was
printed the price was $5 and it took
years before the first edition (only
1268 copies) were sold out, and that
for America. Whoever wants to get
hold of the book now, usually has to
search long in antique shops, will
have to form out from $450 to $650
dollars, depending on the state of the
book and the jacket (of Finlay). No,
this is no fable: such prices are
current on the collectors market for
nearly all the first editions of Arkham
House. I can verify that I bought in
about 1972 Hodgson's THE HOUSE publications sway between $12 and
ON THE BORDERLAND AND OTHER $14, normal for a hardcover in
NOVELS, without jacket, in a America.
reasonably good state (gold print on
back discoloured, pages slightly
yellowed) for $5 and three years
later I bought the cover separately
(from Hannes Bok) in a brand new
state for $2.50. Five years
afterwards, when I needed money, I
sold the book with cover for $45. I
am sorry now, because the dealer
further sold it for $110, and the
present value is close to $200. These
and other interesting items one can Here are
find in previous cited book, and still the photos
much more: fully bibliographic I promised
description of every book Arkham last time of
House ever published. short notes my
about the content (shamefully not a meeting in
full content) quite a lot of interesting
anecdotes about books, publishers
and writers (some of them are essays
within themselves) plus of course an
introduction to Arkham House itself, Wollongong late last year with poets
a list of those titles which never Danny Lovecraft and Phillip A. Ellis.
appeared or appeared under a
different title from the one
announced on the flaps of previous
books. (Did you know for instance
that Ramsey Campbell's THE
INHABITANT OF THE LAKE was
originally called THE BOX IN THE
PRIORY?) A listing of these books and
other publishers who were sponsored
by Arkham House (like THE BEST
Great guys. Phillip is the
SUPERNATURAL STORIES OF HP
bearded one. I’ve known
LOVECRAFT, and the several different
Danny for many years as a
anthologies put together by Derleth
fellow enthusiast of
for Rinehart etc) A listing of
Lovecraft, Poe, Bloch and other
suggested basic collection of Arkham
writers. I’ve known Phillip now for
House books for the starting
three or four years, have contributed
collector. Jaffery supplies with every
to his online Calenture, and hope to
book a price valuation of the book on
do more work with him in the future.
the present market.

A book that in other words is very

interesting for whoever is interested
in Lovecraft and the horror story in
general, but that also of course has a
bibliographical importance. For the
more general reader: Arkham House
keeps all Lovecraft's works
constantly in print, the stories as well
as the five volumes of SELECTED
LETTERS. Arkham House books are
bound in black leather with gold Two Acrostics
print, and with a cover by well-known
illustrators. The most recent on HP Lovecraft
by Bryce J. Stevens
I.
Harbinger of a new Dark Age
Power of his creation
Loathsome be the hybrids
Out of primitive imagination
Variant woods so dark at noon
Eros with staff of Hali
Crypts face silent oily waste
R’lyeh doth wait with fervent haste
Arkham rules oe’r night shafts
From Cold Waste heights so clam
The Boreal lights do charm.
II.
Hearken to ancestral call
Power to the book of lore
Liquid beings slough off kin
Out where time and space are torn.
Vultures wing o’er carnage waste
Ensuring food for hungry days
Ceres bathes with cold wan light
R’lyeh doth wait with fervent haste
A dread of unseen things, a
frightened child forlorn
Forested glens and fanlight panes
To Providence and fancied wonder
borne.
Four Poems
by Danny Lovecraft
Swing of Delight (Astral)
On an astral swing (of swooned
delight)
The boy and girl were swinging flight
Like a giant flashing arc of light
Transparent in the glimmering light
And silken set against the wilden
stars
Beyond earth’s door of isobars.
Dipping hugely past the Big Dipper
And so crazily near the radiant glass
slipper
It did not this time away dissolve
At the numinous near stroke of
twelve
They blazing swung on in carless
mode
Deep in the juniper abysses’ flashing
ode.
The boy he wore a reddish robe
The girl a diaphanous kobe
And the cords of the swing hung
down from the stars
Into nearly the earth’s early hours
On a wooden-like seat of grainy light
They purled on their purpureal swing
of delight.
Rocking creaking backwards and
forth
In the capture of joy’s deep head (to
north)
Flecking against all the astral stars
Midst all the gold and silvery cars
Happiest nodding like deep-flung
flowers
Ina forever garden of radiant hours.
They soared and were relentless
In their following of featherness
Like coronets in wind spinnachering
For to be in love is uplifting and
dizzying!
Thus were their sweet looks
magnetized
To each other’s dream eyes
synergized….
Mystical
Female sunrise
Like a cloud of cosmic jewelry
Climbed succinct
Out of the blue bath
Of morning horizon
And ascended
Like a cloud of soaring tiara
A crystal topography
Into the nude morning sky
Upon her ripe breast
Like a necklace of blazing glass
Vitreous nymphs danced
And dressed…like molten jewels
Enigma
Looking back on dream
And all that it might seem
Was yet grasped bull by the horn High on the wings
Like breast pricked on a thorn of phoenix I’m hurled,
That one of the Nightingale forgetting all things
That all for love did sorrowfully wail that are earthwards curled.
And like Memnon by the Nile
Who then sought to eternally smile. High on the wings
of spirits of steams,
I hear the winds sing
Grapey Bubbles hymns in their reams.
I…stumbled into a Fantasy Village
about dawn Far from life’s sties,
And that had nebulous cobblestone arenas and rings,
Under the foot for dreamy traipsing surely I fly
Like from one dream to another high on my wings.
capsizing
As if a bubble of perfect life
Were floating from some luminous
strife
My Witch-Mistress
That glistening in its shining world
Was amongst so many other bubbles I love my witch and mistress high,
hurled although she rules with darkened
That bulging bunched on each other heart,
were because before her height I lie
Like extraordinary kind of cellular a worm prostrated by love’s dart,
fare. a slave to love and loving art
because, I must confess and swear,
For a second then I saw two other my witch and mistress rules me fair:
billion I fall before her power rare.
Bubbles shining up from one in a
trillion… She makes my every word a lie
and every pulse both long and
smart,
she makes me long to love, then die
when used, fallen, I fall apart.
She makes my heart desist and
start,
she makes me fall to trap and snare,
Four my witch and mistress rules me fair:
I fall before her power rare.
Poems
by Phillip A. Ellis I’m weary till I cannot hie,
alike a passioned, fearful hart,
Flying I’m weary, weave a lonely sigh
feeling her cantrips bind and tart,
but know, beyond all creed and
Surely I fly
chart,
high on the wings
my heart my witch had caught,
of spirits of sky
ensnared;
far from life’s stings.
my witch and mistress rules me fair:
I fall before her power rare.
Surely I fly
forever unfurled,
soaring high
over the world. She shall not Leave me
while my Powers are Vast
Surely I fly
surpassing all dreams, My heart had vowed to leave my
all human lies, own,
all human dreams.
and so my puissant runes I cast.
She vowed to leave it all alone,
and so I cast my runes at last.
Because of seeds that others had
sown
I vowed to never give to grief.
Because of discord that had grown
I cast my runes against the thief
That sought to steal my love. Naïve
was that fool, whose happiness had
passed.
She vowed to leave me past belief,
and so my puissant runes I mastered.
Rune-Mastery
Both vast and measureless the days
defying mastery of runes,
defying mastery of cantrips
and ancient arts. And I may dream
of mystic scenes and of the drakes
and angels, phoenixes and ghosts.
Although I dream of these and
ghosts,
although I dream’ and in the days,
the call of phoenixes and drakes
reminds me strongly that my runes
are strong, nay, stronger than my
dreams,
are strong, nay, stronger than my
cantrips.
Although with casting of my cantrips
the swift dispersal of my ghosts
remains assured, it is a dream
to say that never shall the days
be fair and fulgent as my runes
or high and mighty as my drakes,
for as high and mighty as my drakes
are days and runes and all my
cantrips.
I mastered easily my runes,
I mastered easily my ghosts,
and feel as fulgent all my days.
But over everything, my dream
shall rise, consuming. For my dream
is mighty, powerful as drakes,
is grand and vaster than my days,
and outstrips any of my cantrips.
My dream can exorcise my ghosts,
defy, debilitate my runes.
As fair and fulgent as my runes
are, fully fairer than my dream,
they stand as whispers to my ghosts,
or stand as insects to my drakes,
and so, with casting of my cantrips,
I live, defying all the days.
The runes I cast in all my days,
my dreams defying all my ghosts,
are drakes defiant of my cantrips.
Two Poems by Margi
Curtis
Loss
I study the wood grain features
of my mother’s face
scratches oiled massaged
relaxed out of her skin.
She taps her knife-end
on the table
carves my share
and I agree with her because so far
in her dying she is stronger
than my accumulated living.
She says
this statue of Our Lady
needs a clean asks
who will want that when
she’s gone.
Miracles of Fatima
glow limpid sweet
in her eyes like me
my mother smiles.
Clay statues of virgins
dissolve as we wash
away the dust
but chiseled mothers
weather
durable as tables.
We sit
watching my father’s hands
shrink
turn to wood
skin rough as bark
mossed over with a gauze
of body hair
silver lichen green.

We feed him slivers
fruit or seed
it makes no difference
only a little sap
dribbles from his
dying core
He could have made a fine chair
at our table
rigid consistent
useful.
My mother and I
sit opposite
study the wood grain finish
the table is divided now
she says
our passage in or out
no longer blocked.
it occurs to me that
wood cut from the root
is beautiful but dead
fit only to be burned
or buried though
the space it leaves
remains
curiously untouched.
The arms of the
goddess are green
The arms of the goddess are green
she descends upon me
a butterfly fresh hatched
still wet from birthing herself
she grips me with the strength of
apes
hairy body stench
cave mother thighs flex about me
I stroke her as I would stroke the
silken body of a whale
I glide as an air bubble on her under
belly
we sing little songs together
hum and pierce the great womb
water
there is something further on for
you
air of air fire of fire
water bearer earth bound
you must leave me here
I surface
searing breath burns me
my throat is in my head
my vagina open as
my heart my stomach
heaves push
push
breathe push
You are holding me again
I cannot feel
Your skin
Only the heat of your hands
Splayed like roots clamped
Into my feet
Recalling me calling me
Back to ground
But still further off I see myself go
leaping
Your green sprite daughter with the
flowing fire hair
Fluid as water leaping
With the power of a mother ape in
her belly
together we mourn
the loss of yet another child
released from your arms
like seed into the cosmic winds
and then we sing
pentatonic vibrations
diminish to a groan
our embrace loosens
we face eye to eye
and know
we are partnered now to birth
rebirth and birth again
MANTICHORUS: NOTES ON
LAST SSFWT MAILING (#24 Dec
2006)
I apologise (as it seems I am usually
doing) for the brevity of the
comments, as I’m sure we all love to
hear what others have to say about
our contributions! I promise to be
more expansive next mailing.
Front page: Still haven’t read the
new Thomas Harris. Damn! I will get
to it…
SPEAK FRIEND & ENTER (Aaron):
Congrats on graduating. I’ll try and
check out your blog, which I haven’t
looked at as yet. Enjoyed your piece
on Peter Jackson even though (is this
heresy) I’m not a big LOTR (novels)
fan. (I loved the movies though).
Especially liked the article on the
rhymes; my ex-partner used to be
into this sort of stuff, and it’s a
fascinating area. Have you read the
books by the Zipes authors?
Excellent stuff. Also glad you enjoyed
my “A Myriad of Stars” story!
WHEN THE CHANGE-WINDS
BLOW (John): Thanks for the
checklist on Charles Grant. I have
many of his books in my collection,
but the pleasure of reading them still
awaits…
QUILL MIGHTIER THAN SWORD
(Ben): Congrats on finishing the
double degree! I guess I’m going to
learn what you’ve been through!
Don’t know if I ever told you that I
intended being a Bible translator
many years ago, and did much study
at Sydney University on Semitic
Studies etc. I reckon I could still hold
a fair old theological debate, though
my personal path has been (for over
20 years now) the Western esoteric
mysteries. I like Dead Can Dance,
too. Good interview with Dennis L.
Siluk – quite a character! I dunno
Ben, sometimes I feel like your
essays line up the two most opposed
possible subjects and try and make
connections between them – Dead
Can Dance and Brecht? It wouldn’t
have occurred to me – but you make
your argument well. Re: Dowling, I’m
sure it would be good to see an essay
on him by your hand. He has
received too little critical attention
thus far. BASIC BLACK has now been
nominated for the Bram Stoker
Award for Best Horror Collection for
2006.
DALRIADIC CHRONICLES (Scott):
Was interesting seeing the
development of your script. My friend
Chris Sequeira writes comics and
though it’s not my strong suit, I can
appreciate the particular skills
involved . Sorry M John Harrison
doesn’t attract you, but hey, different
strokes for different folks, right?
Sorry also you didn’t enjoy my story.
I guess my characters were meant to
be fairly mean, so that could create a
problem with reader identification.
Thanks for the comment.
VIEW FROM KOSHTRA BELOM
(Mike).
First – what on earth is Koshtra
Belom? (Forgive someone who came
in late). Good stuff on the Arkham
House meanderings. I’m a fanatical
Arkham collector and indeed, have a
complete collection of their titles.
The only upgrading I need to do is
seek signed copies of
some of the books I have
that are not in signed
copies. I also can’t
particularly be bothered
with all the Mycroft and
Morans by Derleth, though
I owned many of them in
years past: the general
Derleth stuff doesn’t
interest me like the weird
does. The AH books I really
want are the ones
commissioned a couple of
years back to be published
by Battered Tin Dispatch
Box – bloody hard to get in
Australia! Thanks for the nice
comments on my story!
OPHARION (Mark): I hope your
father has recovered from his lung
infection. Really interesting article
about books on the Holy grail. One of
my favourite books on the esoteric
significance of the Grail is The
Chalice of Ecstasy, by Charles
Stansfeld Jones, one of Aleister
Crowley’s disciples who went under
the magical name of Frater Achad
(Unity). A truly scintillating exposition
of the grail’s symbolism.
HYPERBOREAN EXHALATIONS
(Martin): That bibliography of the
Chaosium Cthulhu Cycle series was
good. To make it more complete, it
would be great if you could add
foreign editions (several of the books
have been published in European and
South American editions). Though I
must admit it seems that most of
these have been pirated – Chaosium
doesn’t know that much about them.
I had some interesting
correspondence with Bob Price about
that, since an Australian author
(Steven Paulsen) had a Cthulhu story
in my 1993 anthology Terror
Australis, subsequently reprinted in
one of the Chaosium books in the US.
It has subsequently seen print in at
least two foreign editions, but neither
Chaosium nor Price seem keen to
pursue royalties on behalf of the
author. Great to see the planned
future volumes in the series. Thanks
for your comments on my issues,
especially re my story, which I don’t
at all mind being called “pulpy”!

I make art sometimes – not as often

as I’d like to. Most of my work is in
collage form, done with old-fashioned
methods including scissors and glue,
coloured paint, and lost of pics cut
from catalogues, magazines,
textbooks and other sources. Left is
my latest, “Psychic Apocalypse”,
which I did in February. Sorry that
you’ll only get this in black and white
– it looks better in colour, but I’m
using it to fill up a bit of space on this
last page!