Two tips which might be helpfulf to TC readers. Necronomicon Press is back open for business and is offering a fifteen percent discount on all titles bought on their site. Courtesy of Bill Thom and Coming Attractions, I learned that Wildside Press has a thirty percent off sale going on for orders of three or more books.
Way too many cool authors were born in January. In fact, there are so many it’s hard to keep track at times (my abject apologies to the shade of Jack London). I would advise any prospective parents wanting to produce an author-child of exceptional talents to strive mightily in the months of April and May.
Luckily for The Cimmerian, James Maliszewski reminded us all that today is the birthday of Abraham Merritt. Using his Grognardia blog as a bully pulpit, Maliszewski once again preached the gospel of A. Merritt.
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m not capable of writing an essay half as interesting as the one penned last year by the late Steve Tompkins for the bicentennial of Poe’s birth, so I will let other more competent (and prestigious) voices express their appreciation of America’s master of mystery and the macabre.
There are some authors who can tell a new story, and yet make it feel as if it’s been told for eons. Something about the inherent truth within the work, combined with the sincere approach, has the tale feel like it was first told, albeit in an altered style, in Mesopotamian city-states, or Germanic campfires, or wattle huts in Africa. Neither allegorical, nor inextricably reflective of a period, the plot is essentially timeless. The details might change, but the story would remain. An example of this sort of story, for me, is Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Empire of the Necromancers.”
Halcyon Press is a Texan publisher based in Houston. Under the series name of ”Halcyon Classics,” it is publishing a line of Kindle eBooks. Kindle is Amazon’s digital wireless reading device. Several books by TC’s favorite Texan author are now available.
UK fans are in for a treat–Mike Chivers, moderator of the Official Robert E. Howard forum, has alerted us to a new troika of books by the Weird Tales Trinity coming soon from PS Publishing:
Of course, it’s now less than six months to the World Horror Convention, to be held this year in the delightful southern England coastal town of Brighton (for which, I’m sure, you have already booked, yes?!). Well, as usual, we’re going to be launching some great new books there and we’ll pass along progress updates as soon as we have them.
But the big news is that we’re aiming to add a poetry imprint to the PS stable, and we’ll be doing a second launch event specifically for those. The flagship book will be Jo Fletcher’s as yet untitled anthology, a baker’s dozen celebrating the dark side of the seaside.
This will be supported by a triptych of volumes compiled and edited by Steve Jones and containing the complete Weird Tales poetry of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith… and all of them priced at just £9.99 each. Watch this space!
Exciting news: the prose of Howard, Smith and Lovecraft is well represented in the UK, but I always felt the poetry could use a little more exposure. There’s certainly no dearth of material, in fact, I can only guess how many poems they could fit in to three books! The fact that Steve Jones is editing is just the icing on the cake, and I’ve no doubt he’ll do a fine job.
H. Harksen productions has just released a book on August Derleth by Cimmerian award-winning scholar, John D. Haefele. Don Herron provides the foreword.
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Here’s the blurb:
AUGUST DERLETH REDUX: THE WEIRD TALE 1930-1971
This monograph, published during the centennial year of August Derleth’s birth, contains comprehensive, cutting-edge scholarship that will revitalize scholarship in Derleth, the man and his work. With rare clarity, Haefele demonstrates the essential role Derleth played in the “tale” of the literary Weird Tale genre, while carefully examining the events which led to millions of books by H. P. Lovecraft and others circulating worldwide. Here we find Derleth firmly re- established alongside S. T. Joshi as the eminent champion of Lovecraft he was.
Foreword by Don Herron, cover artwork by Natalie Sorrentino. Limited Edition. 150 copies only.
Nothing rings in the holiday season like cosmic horror. So, without further ado, let’s look at upcoming publications featuring either the works of the Man From Providence or those of his acolytes, all of which bear some connection (sometimes tenuous) to Our Reason For Being here at The Cimmerian.
Courtesy of Coming Attractions, we find that Girasol Collectables, publishers of several fine facsimile editions of the pulp appearances of Robert E. Howard, is gearing up to present two volumes collecting all the stories of Lovecraft which appeared in Weird Tales. Here’s the blurb:
All of Lovecraft’s fiction from the original run of WEIRD TALES, in facsimile form right off the original pulp pages!
Girasol Collectables is pleased to announce their upcoming hardcover project, which will be the Weird Writings of HP Lovecraft.
It’ll be similar in format to their REH books; facsimile scans right from the original pages, with no edits or reset text, containing all of HPL’s material from the original run of WEIRD TALES.
A 2 volume set, with one oversized volume to cover the bedsheet issues from 1923 and 1924, and a smaller 7×10 sized volume for the standard sized issues.
Limited Edition of 200 copies.
Pre-release price of $150 + $10 s&h
until Jan. 15, 2010 (Save $25)
(within North America)
After 1/15/2010: $175
We’ll do our best to match existing numbers for REH buyers, but can’t guarantee it; get in early for the best chance at that.
Due out Spring of 2010.
They say foul beings of Old Times still lurk
In dark forgotten corners of the world,
And Gates still gape to loose, on certain nights,
Shape pent in Hell.Justin Geoffrey, “The Black Stone”
(On the evening of October 31st 1939, Glenn Shuyler Hoffman was found dead in his mansion, his body torn to shreds, inside a locked and barred room with no sign or possibility of forced entry. Police are baffled as to the cause, with no suspects, motive or evidence, save one article. The following letter was discovered next to his remains, and has been provided to The Cimmerian for reasons of historical interest. Reader discretion is advised, for the letter contains detail of a disturbing nature)
The choice news on this week’s Coming Attractions was not limited to a word-up concerning Dark Agnes and Other Historical Adventures. There are plenty more upcoming projects that fans of Robert E. Howard and pulp fiction should get excited about. (Continue reading this post)
