Mantichore 7

MANTICHOR E

for the Lovecraft Centennial. I got this by visiting the paper’s offices while I was in Providence.

2, No 3 (WN 7) (June 2007)

IN THIS ISSUE

A Contribution by Leigh Blackmore for the Sword & Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus (26th mailing), & Esoteric Order of Dagon (139th mailing) amateur press associations.

Leigh Blackmore, 78 Rowland Ave, Wollongong, NSW 2500. Australia. Email: [email protected] Official Website: The Blackmausoleum – http://members.optusnet.com. au/lvxnox/

Above: Me holding the HPL tribute issue of the Providence Sunday Journal, issued in 1990

Mantic Notes………………………1 Films seen……………………. ……2 Books by My Bedside……………3 Review: Zos Speaks………………4 Lovecraft in the Auctions……..…6 Dinner with David and Kyla. …...8 Mantichorus: Mailing Comments …………….. ………………………..9

Mantic Notes As I write, wild storms have lashed NSW and seven people are dead in Newcastle where I went to high school. Since last issue I have been busy with my university Double Degree. I’m now doing second year Creative Writing and first year Journalism concurrently. Creative Writing this year has involved theory of modernism, with which I’m pretty familiar already, and also a course on Writing for Sound, which has resulted in two pieces for radio, “Calling Water” and “Water Runs Uphill” (the latter partly based on my short story of the same title) which may be produced by the ABC. (For US readers, the ABC is Australia’s government broadcaster). In Journalism we’ve had to keep a blog (mine is on terrorism), so this has improved my blogging skills somewhat. I haven’t been writing much fiction lately, though I have a couple of things out in submission. The only publication score I’ve had was the uni magazine Tertangala which commissioned a collage from

me for the front cover of their Surveillance-themed issue. May kept me frantic as in addition to uni work I had three novel manuscripts to read/report on, one from each of the three agencies I freelance for. Good pocket money but hard work! Familywise, Margi, Graham and I are still involved in the quest for legal settlement of the house we live in, which was owned by Margi’s mother who died in February. I’m hoping we won’t need to move. Wollongong is a much quieter place than Sydney, where I spent 40 or more years of my life, but I’m getting used to it. If I was a beach-goer I would appreciate it more; the beaches here are beautiful. Margi is as frantic in her TAFE librarianship course as I have been at uni, and Graham is as busy as ever teaching school and his night anatomy classes. MoonsKin, our ritual working group, continues its monthly meetings although membership has consolidated from a group of around 20 to approx 12 at present. We are doing a programme of working through the Wheel of the Year festivals, and also the chakra system, for the balance of this year. I’ve been selling books on Ebay for the last year, but the upshot seems to be about a breakeven – the fees do add up. So I’m giving that a rest for a while. I’ll celebrate my 48th birthday on June 30, with some friends who’ll come down from Sydney for dinner. I’m now on midyear break and about to embark on writing some articles on Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei for projects which may actually see publication! Now that this zine is being distributed in the EOD as well as the SSWFT, I’m shifting my focus to more Lovecraftian content but there will still be a variety of topics covered here, both fantasy and horror.

The Usual Suspects: Saw this for the third time as Margi hadn’t seen it. I still love the twist ending. The Postman: Another one Margi hadn’t seen. Although it’s a bit jingoistic in its approach, I like this as an underrated sf drama. Kevin Costner gets kudos for this one, even if Waterworld was crap. Minority Report: Saw this for the second time. Not too bad as Phil K Dick-based movie, could have been better. The Last Waltz: A famous rock film I’d never seen. Now I have. Enjoyed it, but I’m not really a fan of The Band. Enjoyed Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan more. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil: Decent drama with Kevin Spacey as the villain, with a bit of voodoo thrown in. Not as good as I’d hoped.

Films Seen

The Departed: Excellent Martin Scorsese gangster thriller, with a dynamite performance from Jack Nicholson. Loved it. Monster: Depressing interpretation of the life of the female serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Wanted to see how Charlize Theron handled the role –

Tristram Shandy: Like the book, great fun. Wacky, experimental, not entirely successful. Kiss Me Again: An erotic drama, fairly average. Sexy yet boring characters.

Above: Me holding Press ed of ‘The Innsmouth’, and Arkham House Bodine Drake’s ‘A Witches’.

my rare Futile Shadow Over the rarest book, Leah Hornbook for

she was brilliant. Still a downer of a film, but I admire the courage of its makers. Suburban Mayhem: Enjoyable Australian romp about murder and mayhem in the ‘burbs. Pan’s Labyrinth: Absolutely brilliant! Dark, fantastic, and yet another triumph by Guillermo del Torro, one of the few great auteurs of the fantastique working today. Vampires: The Turning: Hmmm. promised to be good – vampires in Thailand. Had John Carpenter’s name on it, but was directed by someone else. Ultimately disappointing, though a few good horror moments. The Ninth Configuration: A William Peter Blatty movie I’d never seen. A dark fable about a crazy killer. Difficult unconventional viewing. Liked it. My Little Eye: Horror movie that had been recommended to me by a friend who usually has impeccable taste in horror movies. Momentarily intriguing, but ultimately formulaic. Roger and Me. The first doco by Michael Moore. Excellent stuff, showing how General Motors impacted on the town of Flint Michigan in closing down their plant there. The scenes of families being evicted at Christmas while the GM chairman threw a party for his staff were very moving. World Trade Center: Hmmm. This got a good writeup in FilmInk magazine which prompted me to see it, and Oliver Stone can make a gripping movie, but despite powerful performances, it didn’t actually blow me away like I expected it to. Colour Me Kubrick: A witty, oddball movie about a guy that impersonated director Stanley Kubrick. Directed by a former assistant of Kubrick’s. Amusing eye-candy, worth checking out. Great performance from John Malkovich. Candy: Drama about a heroinaddicted couple, based on the Australian novel by Luke Davies. I enjoyed this. Davies is a brilliant poet – everyone should read his poetry books. Experimental Films by Maya Deren. I love surrealism, and this collection from Mystic Fire has some

great shorts made by this wonderful woman film-maker from the 40s/50s. Got this from the uni library. Brother’s Keeper: Excellent docudrama about a man of low intelligence accused of killing his brother. Everyone should see this. Great doco making, a challenging ethical case. From the uni library again – cost me nothing! The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Picked up a bargain DVD of this Dan Curtis production from 1968. Remembering Curtis as responsible for some high-quality made-for-TV horror from the 1970s, such as Kolchak and Dark Shadows, thought this would be good. And it was! Jack Palance as Jekyll/Hyde gives a very good performance without too much ham (not a “believe it or not!” in sight) and it even features a very young Billie Whitelaw and Denholm Elliott in supporting roles.

Books by My Bedside My reading time has been extremely limited in the last few months, apart from uni reading. But I managed to sneak a few in… Catherine Lupton. Chris Marker: Memories of the Future. London: Reaktion Books, 2005. Excellent volume on the maker of the classic La Jetee (which inspired Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys). Marker continues to make original and experimental films. David Conley & Stephen Lamble. The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism. Melbourne: OUP, 2006 (3rd ed). My journalism textbook. Actually a great read about journalistic principles and values. Colin Wilson. Religion and the Rebel. Had read this many years ago, re-read it recently. One his better early volumes after The Outsider. Murry Hope. Practical Egyptian Magic. This was a bit waffly in places but her exegesis of the Hermetica was quite informative. Some decent

stuff on running an Egyptian ritual temple as well. J.G. Ballard. Millenium People. Very enjoyable late novel by Ballard about the middle classes in England staging a revolution. Full of ideas, if stylistically unremarkable. M. John Harrison. Things That Never Happen. I’ve read most of the stories in this collection five or six times over the years. Harrison is the greatest living short story writer, in my opinion – despite the claims on the jacket of Gene Wolfe’s Starwater Strains (which I picked up recently in a bargain sale) that Wolfe qualifies for that role. Not to say that Wolfe isn’t brilliant – but Harrison is more brilliant!! The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies (Nov 2005). Got a sample issue of this by the simple expedient of ordering from their website. A top quality academic journal on paganism with papers from various scholars and disciplines in the esoteric. I hope to contribute to this myself. Connors, Scott (ed). A Century Less a Dream: Selected Criticism on HP Lovecraft. I read most of the articles collected here years ago, but this volume (which I only got around to reading in toto recently) does included revised versions of many of the original articles, and a wealth of good criticism. Most enjoyable. Waratah No 2. Contact with British occultist Clive Harper resulted in me finally obtaining a photocopy of this publication from Oceania Lodge, the OTO magical lodge in Sydney with which I used to work in the 1990’s. I had missed it on publication due to its extremely limited print run. It’s packed with articles and art of interest to Crowleyeans/Thelemite magicians. I have a brief review online of the excellent more recent issue No 3 ‘Star Building’ (issued last year) – see http://www.otoaustralia.org.au/house 418/reviews.htm.

REVIEW ZOS SPEAKS! ENCOUNTERS WITH AUSTIN OSMAN SPARE by Kenneth & Steffi Grant. UK: Fulgur Press, 1998. Available from: Fulgur Ltd, BCM Fulgur, London WC1N 3XX UK; or from Holmes Publishing Group, PO Box 623, Edmonds WA 98020 USA (email [email protected]). (This review was done for Leon Wild, priest of Australia’s Nan Madol Pylon of the Temple of Set, for one of his local publications such as Zothique or Ninth Night, but seems to have been unused. I print it here as part of a program of using up various unpublished pieces). Austin Osman Spare is one of the most important occultists of modern times, and the most accomplished draughtsman of his age, and prior to the last few years, almost entirely neglected. This neglect has been remedied in recent times (and we pass gently over the fashionable attention paid to his work in Chaos Magick circles, and some shoddily produced reprints of the seventies & eighties) with a small torrent of quality publications, which begin to thoroughly assess Spare's contributions to art & magick. Holmes Publishers have issued their massive three-volume series, (beginning with FROM THE INFERNO TO ZOS), which contains important work by Spare himself, together with critical material by other hands. Since many of Spare's unique books were published by him in extremely

limited print runs decades ago, they are now rare & expensive. The Holmes volumes, together with a series from Fulgur publishers, collect virtually all Spare's writings of a magical & philosophical nature. Fulgur have also published THE BOOK OF UGLY ECSTASY (an important sketchbook), TWO TRACTS ON CARTOMANCY (two works on divination) and two pamphlets on AOS a short biographical introduction by Sunny Shah, and a bibliographic checklist by Clive Harper. (I can't help suspecting that in the years ahead, only inconsequential remnants by Spare will be available to publish - such is the comprehensiveness of the job done by Holmes and Fulgur in their recent editions). The volume under review here is a tome comparable in size to the Holmes volumes, but far more attractively presented. It comes with fine paper and a sewn binding (rare these days!), full-colour dust jacket, a colour frontispiece, and a beautifully reproduced section of colour plates of Spare's unique art that is worth the price of admission on its own. Extensive black and white plates reproducing uncollected sketches, notes and postcards of Spare provide illumination as to his theories of sigillisation & the Alphabets of Desire, and the opportunity to sample his wide variety of drawing styles. A number of excellent photographs of Spare himself are included (presumably these are from the private collection of the Grants, as they are uncredited). The textual content supplements Grant's earlier and hard-to-find IMAGES & ORACLES OF AUSTIN OSMAN SPARE (1975) in that the later writings presented here have never before been published. Part Two of the book, (which is entitled THE BOOK OF ZOS VEL THANATOS) is made up of these writings. Within part two are included THE LOGOMACHY (around 1000 aphoristic sayings of AOS which amplify his philosophy); THE ZOETIC GRIMOIRE (a series of essays on magical

subjects) and THE LIVING WORD (a compilation of short pieces on various subjects in the manner of the earlier SERMON TO THE HYPOCRITES). Part One of the book consists of Correspondence & Diary extracts between Spare and Kenneth Grant between 1949 and 1956. This portion of the book is certainly intriguing, and throws light on the working of Spare's mind and his manner of working, not to mention his lifestyle, though the intensity of his actual painting and magick is perhaps overshadowed here by more mundane details of arranging various exhibitions, getting Grant to help him title his paintings etc. Sexual magick is discussed in guarded terms in this correspondence through allusions, as at the time anything of this nature was difficult to present openly. The correspondence makes clear the closeness of Spare to his friends Kenneth & Steffi, and the role they played in establishing (with Spare's tacit consent) the 'Zos Kia Cultus' which enshrines Spare's achievements. The personal nature of their relationship with Spare makes this book inevitably a personal view as well, with Grant the magician and Steffi the artist formulating their own magical path, but an admirable restraint is exercised by both Grants in not letting adulation take over their writing. Each Grant contributes an essay in appreciation of Spare's genius - Steffi's casts light on the milieu of the 50's in which they knew him, and Kenneth's more on the nature of the Zos Kia Cultus and why we should continue to value Spare's explorations. Part Two is by far the more important for the serious Spare devotee. While Spare's tendency to create neologisms makes his aphorisms difficult to understand at times, this play with language was integral to his techniques of 'Neither-Neither' and other ways of going beyond what he called 'the inferno of normalcy'. In these pages we enter the mind of a resolutely individual magician - Spare was a member of Crowley's magical

society (the A.A.) for a brief period, but preferred to carve his own path who was unremitting in his exploration of states of mind and being beyond our usual state of consciousness. The volume is expensive - around $200 Aust - but is sure to become a collector's item. It can definitely be recommended both for libraries who wish to have a serious resource on Spare's occultism, and for existing AOS devotees to whom the man's every utterance is inspirational. Those unfamiliar with Spare's work may wish to first acquaint themselves with it through Sunny Spare's chapbook AUSTIN SPARE: AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS (at around $25.00, more affordable for most; ISBN 1-55818398-1 from the same publisher).

The following info came straight from the internet. I don’t buy Lovecraftian comics these days, but am still interested to know about what’s coming out. YUGGOTH CREATURES - Available in July! YUGGOTH CREATURES #1 by Antony Johnston, Juan Jose Ryp, Jacen Burrows, Matt Martin & Various will be available in July from Avatar Press. First there was Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures, now Antony Johnston carries on the Lovecraftian spirit with Yuggoth Creatures! Read the incredible memoirs of Anders Ericsson, Professor of Anthropology at the notorious Miskatonic University in Arkham! Join the Professor as he starts an amazing journey through the Lovecraftian mythos, from the queer inhabitants of New Surrey to disaster on the ocean at the hands of unseen forces, and the mysterious Dagon... Can he stay sane in the face of the universe's secret history? Six all-new Lovecraft Mythos stories from the pen of Antony Johnston are illustrated by an awesome collection

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LOVECRAFT IN THE AUCTIONS I had missed hearing about the sale of Lovecraft’s autograph manuscript for “The Shunned House” until my friend Danny Lovecraft told me about it. It was sold back in January by Sothebys for US $45,000 (the estimate was 25,000-30,000). Also sold were fifty letters by HPL to Frank Belknap Long, which sold for $48,000 (against an estimate of 50,00075,000). What lucky buyer had the money to purchase these, and took them home? I hope it was, in fact an institution rather than a private collector. Sotheby’s Auction records online disclose only that it was an American dealer, but was he acting for an institution? Does anyone know? Henry Wessells, a bookdealer and sometime author of Lovecraftian fiction (see his “From This Swamp” in D.M. Mitchell, ed The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to HP Lovecraft, Creation Books, 1994) wrote about this in his blog at http://endlessbookshelf.net/archive01 07.html: “31 January 2007: Book Bloggers before the internet (second in an occasional series) Howard Phillips Lovecraft (18901937) was an American author who spent most of his life in Providence. A short biography by S. T. Joshi can be found here (the long version, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life is a thick 700-page book published by Necronomicon Press in 1996). Although he is sometimes viewed as "the recluse of Providence" he was perhaps not so reclusive as it seems. He was active enough in amateur journalism to qualify as a proto-blogger on that basis alone, but letter-writing was his preferred medium. Last month a

substantial collection of manuscripts of H. P. Lovecraft sold at auction in New York, including the autograph manuscript of The Shunned House and a 500-page collection of 50 letters, from H. P. Lovecraft to Frank Belknap Long, 1922-1931, each averaging 10 pages, with one letter 60 autograph pages in length.

(and in no way comparable to the half-dozen best fantastical tales he wrote). But what a blogger on architectural preservation the author of The Shunned House would be. I will happily publish (and comment upon) any reasonably phrased dissent this entry provokes.” _____________________________________

The reappearance of these letters to Long — occupying many pages in the five-volume Selected Letters — tends to confirm a position I took in a review of the H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei correspondence, Mysteries of Time and Spirit (Night Shade Books, 2002), where I wrote : Even if it is through his fiction that one first comes to Lovecraft, he was fundamentally a letter writer who, from time to time, would turn out a story or an essay or an account of his travels. [. . .] we all know how many words he could fit onto a penny post card. That any of Lovecraft's fiction saw publication during his lifetime seems to have been almost accidental. His letters are filled with deprecations and protestations of disinterest, to be interpreted as the reader sees fit, but one has to assign a certain degree of truthfulness to his statements. Having been able to examine the Long correspondence, I am thoroughly persuaded that Lovecraft lived for his letters; yet I find them for the most part only slightly above the level of the amateur journalism

A sale of important Lovecraft manuscript material, relating to his “Fungi from Yuggoth” sonnet sequence, took place at Bloomsbury Auctions London on 13 July 2006, but according to the auction records these manuscripts were unsold. Here’s the detail from the website: “This general sale covers a broad spectrum of interests and with extremely reasonable reserves on many lots is the perfect place to pick up works on all disciplines. Our Modern First Editions section contains a large section of works by H.P. Lovecraft, best known as a writer of fantasy, horror and sciencefiction. The highlight is series of 11 letters of original typescript by Lovecraft, with pencil corrections by Clark Ashton Smith from 1930. An extremely rare, early and important archive relating to the Cthulu Mythos, this poetic cycle is considered by many to be one of Lovecraft’s most impressive works for its use of imagery and themes that were to feature so effectively within his Cthulu stories. Other works by Lovecraft include Beyond the Wall of Sleep, Dreams and Fancies, and At the Mountains of Madness.” 144. Lovecraft (H.P.) Fungi from Yuggoth, 11½ pp. carbon copy of original typescript by Lovecraft, with 12 pencil corrections presumably in the hand of Clark Ashton Smith (changed accordingly in the published version), damage towards blank foot of last f., [1930]; with A.L. from Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith , 2pp., signed "Tomeron The Decayed" , light fold marks, otherwise very good condition, [Arkham House, "Selected Letters

vol.III", p.116-117], 10 Barnes St., Providence, R.I., Feby.2, 1930 (2 ) est. £3000 – £4000 An extremely rare, early and important item relating to the Cthulhu Mythos, this poetic cycle is considered by many to be one of Lovecraft's most impressive works for its use of imagery and the themes that were to feature so effectively within his (and indeed other authors') Cthulhu stories. Clark Ashton Smith's corrections are mostly short (case changes &c.) but one is for the insertion of a completely new line, in sonnet XXXII: "False, phantom trifles of some vaster plan", present in the published version. The final version of the poem consisted of thirty-six sonnets, whereas this initial version finishes on the thirty-third. According to the letter Lovecraft loaned this carbon copy to Clark Ashton Smith, who was a friend of Lovecraft, and whom shared a passion for a darker perspective on the universe which pervaded much of their work. The letter from Lovecraft (only used in brief form in the Selected Letters) begins thanking Smith for a dedication to him in The Epiphany of Death, goes on to discuss their shared delight in the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and mentions problems getting Farnsworth Wright to publish Smith's The Tale of Satampra Zeiros in Weird Tales, which according to Lovecraft "...left me too speechless even for cursing! Of all _____ _____ ____ s......... may Tsathoggua dissolve the ______ !!". Lovecraft briefly discusses the potential British market for their works, before bringing up the "Yuggothian Fungi" typescript, of which he says "Nothing notable about them - but they at least embody certain moods & images. Some of the themes are really more adapted to fiction - so I shall probably make stories of them whenever I get that constantly-deferred creative opportunity...These vague, elusive pseudo-memories have haunted me ever since I was an infant, & are quite a typical ingredient of my psychology & aesthetic attitude."

The letter is finished "I remain yrs in Tsathoggua's name, / Tomeron The Decayed", the former a reference to a Great Old One who first appeared in Smith's The Tale of Satampra Zeiros, first published in Weird Tales in 1931 (despite Wright's apparent initial qualms) and the latter the subject of the aforementioned The Epiphany of Death, also by Smith, seemingly first published in The Fantasy Fan, 1934. The two items here were both purchased from the California-based publisher/scholar Roy A. Squires in the '70s, and the lot comes with two letters from Squires explaining why he believes the carbon copy typescript to have been typed by Lovecraft. Unsold

Dinner with David and Kyla Some months ago Margi and I were invited to have dinner with David Carroll and Kyla Ward. I’ve know David and Kyla since the old days of our Sydney horror club The Gargoyle Club in the 1990’s, and they have been very active over the years, writing role-laying scenarios for various companies, running the www.tabula-rasa.info horror site (where you can find a couple of pieces by me) and recently publishing the horror novel Prismatic

under the pen-name of ‘Edwina Grey’. Special guests at the dinner were Christian Read (above), a local comics artist who produced a Lovecraftian comic mini-series called Dunwich; and Perry Grayson (below) and his girlfriend. You can read an interview with Christian at

http://www.tabularasa.info/AusComics/ChristianRead.ht ml. Perry is a US Lovecraftian, publisher of Tsathoggua Press and enthusiast of Frank Belknap long, as well as being a rock guitarist in various bands including Falcon. The couple recently moved to Sydney. It was a great night of fun conversation. Because I’m in Wollongong, and Perry was looking for a place to live, we haven’t caught up again as yet, but I’m looking forward to doing so before too long.

MANTICHORUS: Mailing Notes Now that this zine is going to two apas, twice the number of mailing comments, so I’ll be keeping ‘em brief. I’d like to write more, but the deadline is pressing, and this is already a many-paged contribution! EOD (138th mailing) Joshi: I’m excited to learn of the new HPL biblio for Uni of Tampa Press. I’ll be trying to help with at least some of the missing info and annotations. As always your level of professional activity fills me with ‘amaze’. Lovecraft (M): Enjoyed your article on HPL’s poetry, and also your poem written at Swan Point. Keep up the good work Margaret! Andersson: Well, an issue full of mailing comments – but what fascinating comments! I only wish I had time and space to do similar! Goodrich: I enjoyed your reflections on Borges (one of my favourite writers) and the review of Pugmire’s book. Good God! Pugmire was on of my earliest Lovecraftian correspondents, back in about 1974 when I was in high school! Who’da

thunk he’d still be alive and kicking and writing Lovecraftian fiction after all this time! Schultz: “I’m salivating just thinking about the project of Lovecraft’s letters to Barlow. I’m frustrated that as a poor student right now I can’t afford such gems as the new CAS volumes from Hippocampus. I hope that will change when I graduate and get a real paying job again The plan for Sterling’s complete poetry is also one I await with relish. I bow before you true scholars of the field ! And as for Lovecraft’s Collected Letters – bring it on! Drake: Always good to see info about Karl Edward Wagner. Ah, those letters written back in the golden age when typewriters were the thing! Livesey: A nice and very extensive detailing of arguments about Lovecraft’s possible sexual abuse as a child (a controversial theory to be sure), racism and so on. Everts: Enjoyed the Houdini research. For years I’ve meant to write up an article I started about Hodgson and Houdini which incorporated your much earlier info plus other stuff I dug up, but I’ve never gotten around to it. Anyway, I’ve been absent from the EOD for so long that maybe it’s been covered… Phillips: Enjoyed your contributions. I share your habit of ‘bibliomania’! Have you read the books on the subject by Nicholas A Basbanes (A Gentle Madness and others?). They are really superb for the bibliophile; I recommend them highly. Gullette: Nice to see the feel of oldfashioned fantasy in your story, and the Grecian influence in your poem. Connors: Kleffler’s review convinces me I need ‘The End of the Story’ by CAS. Aaargh – the expense! But perhaps I can hock some of the less needed things from my collection. I am increasingly concentrating on HPL, CAS and the Weird Tales school and less concerned about keeping up with ‘current’ horror writers. Curious article on the comparison between James and Sayers! Enjoyed the ‘Thurnley Abbey’ piece too.

Haefele: I seem to be just saying I enjoyed these contributions without commenting in detail. I did enjoy the Derleth/Mythos piece. Sorry to be picky about a small thing but in commenting on Burleson you say “illicit comment” when you mean “elicit comment”. Burleson: Congrats on your 25th wedding anniversary with Mollie. Good to see the reviews of “Looking Up”. I’m not an aficionado of UFO theory, but as a practicing occultist I often run afoul of uniformed opinion about supramundane matters. “There are more things in heaven and earth…” Walker: I like your multi-view take on Lovecraft; reminds me a little of Tim Maroney’s intelligent piece on Aleister Crowley (Intro to Crowley in Five Voices)(see Disinformation anthology, 2003 & http://tim.maroney.org/CrowleyIntro/i ndex.html. There are always multiple approaches/angles to a given writer. And oh so much reporting of HPL in popular culture! McLachlan: Hmm, Burleson has caused some stir with his comments about Islam. I will follow the debate with interest. Faig: Enjoyed all the content. Nice to see the review of Marblehead by Lupoff. Its cover artist Gavin O’Keefe is a good friend of mine, from the good ol’ days of Sydney’s Gargoyle Club horror society. Can I afford to buy a copy? To quote Borat, ‘N-O-T!” I need to win the lottery to buy all these great books! Indick: Sorry to hear of your losses and troubles. Enjoyed your news and reviews. Nice to see a recent pic of Peter Cannon, whom I met in NY back in 1990 enroute to the Lovecraft Centennial. On that topic, can ANYONE supply me with a copy (or photocopy) of Peter’s book Long Memories (about FB Long)? I am desperate to get one. Navroth: Very nicely produced zine. Greatly enjoyed the humour, the photos and the article. And the artwork!

Above: Yes, me again, holding the only published issue of W. Paul Cook’s The Recluse (1927), which contains the first printing of HPL’s Supernatural Horror in Literature. My HPL books and Arkham House books are in the shelf behind. You can’t see all the Arkhams because they’re in double rows on the shelves.

Apologies to the SSWFT: No mailing comments this time around due to lack of space. Hopefully I will catch up next time. Thanks to Margi for the photos of me in this issue, which despite the imprint dates on the photos were actually taken on June 10, 2007.