I don't think The Flower Phantoms was reprinted after its first appearance in 1926. Which is quite a problem. I am really curious as to what is going on in those flower encounters. Hopefully Tartarus Press or someone else will reprint it, de'sirously with a reproduction of the attractive original cover art.

I understand The Flying Draper is a satire? Does the flying or levitation have a genuine supernatural quality, or is it more of prosaic allegorical routine?

Oh, he flies - but you're right, it's not really a supernatural power as such... I think its fair to say that it functions very much as allegory for kind of spiritual awakening. When I started to read it I wondered if it could be a forerunner for the superhero genre, but (while I would say the novel is vaguely Nietzschean) apart from the power itself there's none of the other trappings of the superhero genre (irresistible urge to fight crime, silly clothes, secret identities...). Flower Phantoms is a vastly superior book tho. I'm surprised that Tartarus et al haven't seen fit to republish it. I was lucky to get a very mildewed copy, plus original dust jacket, at a reasonable-ish price, but in general it is too expensive at the moment to recommend. Some of his other novels tho are far more reasonably priced.

Just started A Voyage to Arcturus for my Christmas reading... So far I'm loving it - it reminding me of CS Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy in some ways already.

This line in particular really got its hooks into me: "I dream with open eyes," he answered, looking around at the door, "and others see my dreams. That is all."

The English Assassin Wrote:
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> Just started A Voyage to Arcturus for my Christmas
> reading... So far I'm loving it -

The only thing I missed in this book was a greater evolving overview of events. Instead it is structured as a chain of separate episodes, started and completed, with newly introduced characters left behind when moving on to the next episode. A vague red thread run through the book.

A Voyage to Arcturus is so packed with weird concepts and philosophy, that it's hard to be able to appreciate it all in one reading. It is a book I want to revisit in the future, and dip into at random.

I've not read it in years, but yes, I'd agree. Lindsay was a seriously flawed writer at times, as he did drift from episode to episode or concept to concept, and sometimes the writing itself could be almost pedestrian. At other times he could be quite brilliant. Yet overall a writer not to be missed. I'd love to read Devil's Tor, but I've never been able to get my hands on a decently-priced copy of that one. Whenever one shows up, I always seem to just miss it....

My own Christmas reading this year has consisted of some Lovecraft poetry: "Festival", "The Ancient Track", and part of "Old Christmas". I am happy to again go against all slanderers who claim that Lovecraft was a lousy poet, and say that when it comes to substance, he was the King of poets!

I have also read a bit of L. P. Hartley, this wonderful writer! If Scott Connor's "Mother Hen" syndrome is correct (like a newly hatched baby chick bonding with the first thing it sees, we are "imprinted" by the first story we come across by a new writer), I was lucky to read "The Travelling Grave" as my first story by this writer; made a substancial impression on me. I found an inexpensive copy of The Complete Short Stories of L. P. Hartley, containing nearly all of his macabre tales and a good amount of other enjoyable stories as well. I'm not sure I really liked this last story yesterday however, "In the Lift", it ended rather cruel, pointless, and unnecessary.

I just started Lindsays Voyage to Articus also several days ago. I just finished the first chapter The Seance. I am listening to the audofile and I have the. book downloaded. I really like to have several options, especially Lovecraft because I have a hard time with incantantions, and they flow much easier. With CAS I like to read the story and then sit back close my eyes and drift off into some weird dimension where fantasy holds know bounds. With Machen I often am able to understand his logic bettter in audio, I may know the words but when I can hear them I can follow his logic better, like the quest for truth or what is evil.

I must say that you guys are harsher critics than me when it comes to David Lindsay... I thought it was brilliant. I really liked the rambling repetitive episodic structure, it added to its unreality. The writing might have been a little uneven, but every page had a passage that blew my mind. I must admit that it is a confusing book at times and I really can't say that I took all of it in (or even half of it), but I fear the lion share of the criticism for that must lie at the reader, myself, than the novel. Simply one of the best fantasies I have ever read. Definitely one I will re-read in the future, although I could do with an annotated version next time so I could understand it better. There must be some critical work on the novel somewhere. I'm sure it would reward some further reading. I'd like to get a nice edition of this book at some point. I see that Savoy Press did a nice one ten years ago, but I've long since missed the boat on getting a copy of that one, alas.

I agree with the criticism of Lindsay's Arcturus, although I am only finished with the second chapter, Into the Streets. I reread it because I find it simply futuristic. This chapter revolves around a dense optical disc that a viewer can zoom into a star in the sky and see clearly that it is a binary system with a earth like blue planet and a strange sattelite that I man sure will be explained when a visit to the observatory is made for further observation.
So far I have been very impressed. Anybody else feel the same way, excited about learning about a new mythos writer brouht to my attention. I'm also interested in reading more Pugmire. I just finished "Immortal Remains" and maybe starting to start over again on Contemporary Mythos writers after many disappointmonts. K.O.
I read and listen to alot of other strange weird fiction everyday so it may take me awhile to finish one particular author like Lindsay.
I download digital recordings from this site andLibrovox and Youtube and I listen to these stories everynight. If I fall asleep during say The Mountains of Madness I begin where I left off the night before.
I have a pretty good collection of audio books and movies on my YouTube channel gesturestears@YouTube.com, in the playlist section, which is a under used forum of YouTube that I think I have perfected, at least it makes me happy.
Librovox has two excellent applicstionsapplications that make downloading and accessing easy. I think that this is one of the best uses of the internet, the access of knowledge as long as you don't believe everything. The 9/11, Holocaust and other conspiracies are sometimes a disgrace to the past.
Thanks for listening.

Lolly Willowes (1926), by Sylvia Townsend Warner. A mellow, lowkey novel, that sparkles with excellent observations and insights. Supernatural elements are restrained to the realistic ambiguous level at which such events may commonly be experienced by some people.

About an unmarried woman struggling to free herself from harnessing social family ties and the expected role of responsibilities in her brother's household, to become, unknowing of it, on a road of discovery, a witch. The unfolding of events are subtle, and gradual, but still sharp-witted and permeated with wisdom.

The surroundings and setting is somewhat similar to Dunsany's The Blessing of Pan. But written from a refreshing female perspective. It is less materialistic in effects (although there are some great imaginary visuals as well), and works its wonders on a more trancendental level.

This author must have spent much time alone in meadows and woods. Otherwise she could not have become aware of the things she sees.

It gives, I would think, a very good presentation of what it actually means to be a real witch. And the Devil is portraited in a sympathetic way. This book urges toward the natural and absolute necessity of becoming a witch (or in my case, a warlock).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 9 Jan 13 | 07:59AM by Knygatin.

You do realize that all that stuff about Pan and becoming a witch is just a metaphor for, ahem, "free love," right?

Jojo Lapin X Wrote:
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> You do realize that all that stuff about Pan and
> becoming a witch is just a metaphor for, ahem,
> "free love," right?

The "free love" may be a component part for some, but doesn't have to be. Or it may be all for the misguided. Pan is real and is the forces working through Nature, the forces that animate and charge everything, from moving clouds to trickling water, to rolling pebbles, to sprouting seeds, gamboling vertebrates, to colors and forms, spinning planets and galaxies, . . . Pan is not more remarkable than that, it is the natural force running through the manifested, that we experience every day (which is very remarkable, if we let it be, and even more so if we consciously tap into it).

The Devil, in this book, isn't quite the same thing as Pan however. Quite interesting, and non-intellectual, difficult to grasp because it's subtle. . . A state of mind, . . . not evil, . . . more than mere independence.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jojo Lapin X Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You do realize that all that stuff about Pan
> and
> > becoming a witch is just a metaphor for, ahem,
> > "free love," right?
>
> The "free love" may be a component part for some,
> but doesn't have to be. Or it may be all for the
> misguided. Pan is real and is the forces working
> through Nature, the forces that animate and charge
> everything, from moving clouds to trickling water,
> to rolling pebbles, to sprouting seeds, gamboling
> vertebrates, to colors and forms, spinning planets
> and galaxies, . . . Pan is not more remarkable
> than that, it is the natural force running through
> the manifested, that we experience every day
> (which is very remarkable, if we let it be, and
> even more so if we consciously tap into it).
>
> The Devil, in this book, isn't quite the same
> thing as Pan however. Quite interesting, and
> non-intellectual, difficult to grasp because it's
> subtle. . . A state of mind, . . . not evil, . . .
> more than mere independence.

That's not a bad thumbnail summation. Very much the mystical approach to the universe; the sort of thing Dunsany certainly appreciated, and Lovecraft himself had a strong tendency toward. It's a poetic way to look at things, which calls up a tremendous number of associations; some have called it "wundersucht", which comes very close in some ways, but is not, I think, exactly the same.

It's quite an experience. I'm glad I can tap into this at times, though not to the degree I once could. Were I to be in different circumstances, it would probably be easier to do so, but as it is.... Anyway, writers who can truly convey this elusive, subtle, and yet quite powerful state are rather uncommon, and not to be missed.

Jdworth - regarding Linday's Devils Tor, it was reprinted recently as a fairly cheap print on demand by someone called Resonance books. Not usually a fan of POD, but how else are we going to get these? And they are fairly well done for PODs. I picked up Devils Tor and Sphinx from them, not sure if they are still in print or not.. also, I havn't read them. Only the outstanding Voyage to Arcturus, and also the Haunted Woman which is also good, but not on the same level as Arcturus.

I'm reading Thomas Owen's The House of Oracles. Been wanting to read him for a few years, so I was prepared to flog some stuff to get this. So far, so good... Very weird and quite obscure little tales, with little explanation as to what has actually happened. The tales are nice and short too. I was a bit weary about reading this, as after much anticipation there's often a little disappointment, but so far I'm enjoying it. The prose seems very dense for some reason, require slow and careful reading, a style which I like - although not something to read when I sleep as I so often are during these long winter nights.

Just finished Fyodor Sologub's The Petty Demon, which was also excellent. I much prefer the Russian decadents than the French from the little I've read: much bleaker stuff. People have already mentioned him on this thread from what I remember, so I'll just say that I thought this novel way even better than his short work, which is some of the best short fiction I have read. Also, there's some interesting supplementary essays in the edition I have which add some fascinating insights. The one on the grotesque in the Petty Demon is particularly excellent and feeds into a brief discussion had on this forum on the grotesque found in Hanns Heinz Ewers work.