Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Merritt's Creep, Shadow Creep??? Is it worthwhile?
> Good? Weird elements?
>
> (Jdworth, I promise I'm eventually getting back
> about The Metal Monster.)


Creep, Shadow! (or, in its book form, Creep, Shadow, Creep, to match the previously published Burn, Witch, Burn, I believe) is one of those things one has to have a taste for. It isn't really a horror tale per se, though it definitely has its weirder elements, but more a supernatural suspense tale with strong elements of what we today would call high fantasy. It is a sequel, of sorts, to Burn, Witch, Burn, and I'd suggest reading that before tackling Creep, Shadow. But yes, I think if you enjoy Merritt's style, you'd have a good chance of enjoying this one... though with the caveats stated above.....

Is it about dolls, or miniaturized people? I have an extremely vague memory of something like that by Merritt.

Jojo Lapin X Wrote:
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> Is it about dolls, or miniaturized people? I have
> an extremely vague memory of something like that
> by Merritt.


That would be Burn, Witch, Burn -- hence the title of the film version, Devil Doll.

Maybe you should just try Dwellers in the Mirage ?

jdworth Wrote:
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> That would be Burn, Witch, Burn -- hence the title
> of the film version, Devil Doll.

Yes, of course.

The Metal Monster was just fantastic! Perhaps the best book I have ever read. Sure, Merritt may be a bit of a diamond in the rough, and his language is not always clear, and at times he becomes for very long preoccupied with repetitive descriptions of the nature of different elements. But he is so innocently unabashed in his imagination! And has a genuine sense for the wonderful, and also for the weird and the bizarre.

I have kind of ceased being a critic, so I think I'll just leave it at that.

I also got used to the Hippocampus book design. Looks somewhat like an old pulp magazine. Very appropriate. I like it. Hippocampus makes quality paperbacks. Good paper and very firm spines.

Next Merritt book I'll try will be The Ship of Ishtar. Started reading it several years ago, but gave up on it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 24 Nov 09 | 02:27PM by Knygatin.

I'm encouraged to hear that you enjoyed "The Metal Monster." I haven't read it myself, but I've always wondered about the "Lovecraft Library" books such as the Merritt novel, and the others you find at Hippocampus Press. When "puffing" these older and obscure books, they always use a part of Lovecraft's review, where he says something like "It was the most perfect description of the alien and non-human in all of literature (I'm paraphrasing), but invariably leave out the part where he says, "but the characterization was hopelessly puerile and two dimensional." So, in a word, I'm always left uncertain as to whether or not it is worth devoting a few months of my remaining forty or so years to read such a book. I'm on the fence with a number of them, such as "The House on the Borderland" "Cold Harbor," The House of Sounds," etc., so if you have any further thoughts along those lines I'd love to hear them.

My overall impression is that a lot of these "Lovecraft Library" books would be good, yet ultimately something of a letdown. (Your enthusiasm for "The Metal Monster" is more than I would have expected, which whets my curiosity a bit.) The question is whether or not there is enough substance to the bulk of these works, to warrant the time and energy necessary for reading them.

Actually, the books in the series are well worth looking into. The Shiel collection, for example, contains all of that writer's short fiction essays into the weird genre, and his work is very worthwhile. "The House of Sounds" itself remained one of Lovecraft's favorite works (deservely so), while "Xelucha" is a haunting, nightmarish mood piece to which he referred in Supernatural Horror in Literature. (As an added bonus, this collection contains both versions of "The House of Sounds", which are quite different, each of them being worthy of preservtion.)

The Blackwood (Incredible Adventures) received this description in SHiL:

Quote:

In the volume titled Incredible Adventures occur some of the finest tales which the author has yet produced, leading the fancy to wild rites on nocturnal hills, to secret and terrible aspects lurking behind stolic scenes, and to unimaginable vaults of mystery below the sands and pyramids of Egypt; all with a serious finesse and delicacy that convince where a cruder or lighter treatment would merely amuse. Some of these accounts are hardly stories at all, but rather studies in elusive impressions and half-remembered snatches of dream. Plot is everywhere negligible, and atmosphere reigns untrammelled.

The Elixir of Life, while not as strong and certainly having its flaws, is nonetheless quite a good little book, with some very powerful passages to it; it is also a book that, until Hippocampus reprinted it, was the very devil to find these days -- U.S. libraries only having five copies, according to WorldCat -- as it had not been reprinted, I believe, since its original 1916 publication. It well deserves to be back in print. Cold Harbour may seem a trifle naive by today's standards, but builds an atmosphere of eeriness and terror that stays with the reader long after the book is done. Sinister House is not quite as strong, but it also is a minor classic in the field -- I still recall reading it with considerable pleasure even after more than a quarter century (enough so that I hunted out a copy of the original publication some years ago; I was not disappointed).

To be honest, The Metal Monster is actually the weakest of the books they have published in the set so far; which should give an indication of what you have to look forward to. These are by no means barrel-scrapings, but works which are fine examples of the field; some of them have seen more than one reprinting, while for others this is their first in a very long time; but they are all worthy additions to any collection of weird fiction....

Jdworth,

Thanks so much for the suggestions--that is quite helpful.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Metal Monster was just fantastic! Perhaps the
> best book I have ever read. Sure, Merritt may be a
> bit of a diamond in the rough, and his language is
> not always clear, and at times he becomes for very
> long preoccupied with repetitive descriptions of
> the nature of different elements. But he is so
> innocently unabashed in his imagination! And has a
> genuine sense for the wonderful, and also for the
> weird and the bizarre.
>
Yes, Knygatin, I couldn't agree more--your assessment of both Merritt's faults and virtues seems spot-on to me. Since he kept tinkering with the book until the end of his life, he probably had the familiar frustrating sensation that it still wasn't quite what he wanted it to be.

I've always thought that The Metal Monster could make a wonderful lost-race/adventure movie. Using CGI you could put all of Merritt's spectacular imagery on the screen! Peter Jackson captured something of the same flavor in King Kong.

jdworth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, the books in the series are well worth
> looking into. The Shiel collection, for example,
> contains all of that writer's short fiction essays
> into the weird genre, and his work is very
> worthwhile. "The House of Sounds" itself remained
> one of Lovecraft's favorite works (deservely so),
> while "Xelucha" is a haunting, nightmarish mood
> piece to which he referred in Supernatural Horror
> in Literature. (As an added bonus, this collection
> contains both versions of "The House of Sounds",
> which are quite different, each of them being
> worthy of preservtion.)
>

I agree with this assessment of Shiel, and Joshi's selection is a good one, but this book does not contain all of Shiel's weird fiction. There are several other stories in SHAPES IN THE FIRE, THE PALE APE, HERE COMES THE LADY, INVISIBLE VOICES, etc. The Supernatural Data Base website (great place!) lists the supernatural contents for most of these collections, and a few others are only available in the original periodicals and the reproductions of same published by A. Reynolds Morse a few decades ago.

Jim

Jim

I stand corrected; somehow I had got it into my head that all the shorter pieces were there. Thanks for the feedback -- glad to hear from someone else who has read Shiel....

THE PURPLE CLOUD is one of my favorite novels of all time.

Dexterward Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm encouraged to hear that you enjoyed "The Metal
> Monster." I haven't read it myself, but I've
> always wondered about the "Lovecraft Library"
> books such as the Merritt novel, and the others
> you find at Hippocampus Press...So, in a word, I'm always left
> uncertain as to whether or not it is worth
> devoting a few months of my remaining forty or so
> years to read such a book. I'm on the fence with a
> number of them, such as "The House on the
> Borderland" "Cold Harbor," The House of Sounds,"
> etc., so if you have any further thoughts along
> those lines I'd love to hear them.
>
> My overall impression is that a lot of these
> "Lovecraft Library" books would be good, yet
> ultimately something of a letdown. (Your
> enthusiasm for "The Metal Monster" is more than I
> would have expected, which whets my curiosity a
> bit.) The question is whether or not there is
> enough substance to the bulk of these works, to
> warrant the time and energy necessary for reading
> them.


Dear Dexterward, here's one enthusiastic 'yes' vote for William Hope Hodgson's The House on The Borderland. I first read it over 30 years ago in an old Dover Press edition, and its potent blend of naturalistic detail and cosmological visions, spiked with episodes of visceral terror made an indelible impression on my teenaged mind. Reading this novel was like experiencing a stranger's dream (or nightmare)--you aren't exactly sure what certain events mean, but they are expressed so sincerely and convincingly that you don't doubt that they are meaningful. A very strange, haunting tale. After all these years it's still my favorite of all his stories.

Thanks Ken,

That sounds promising--I will make sure to put "The House" on my list. (I wonder how many of these books Hippocampus will publish?--they are certainly intriguing.)

And just by the way, I was wondering if anyone has an opinion of Robert E. Howard's "Collected Horror Stories." This volume qppears to have a number of good reviews. However, is there much in the way of literary value to his work; and perahaps more importantly--are the stories any good?

I know Lovecraft had a good opinion of Howard. Did CAS view him in the same light?