I own precisely one CAS prose poem--"The Mortuary," in "The Emperor of Dreams." Not the easiest part of the CAS canon to collect...

Incidentally, I think there are a couple of good Lovecraft prose poems that I don't have in print, either--I am thinking of "What the Moon Brings," and "Ex Oblivione" (if memory serves me)--I liked those quite a bit, wherever I read them. I may try my hand at one tomorrow while at jury duty (ugh!)--never have written one before. Really, it's an overlooked form, for reasons I well understand--but it is brimming with untapped potential! Good thing CAS churned out quite a few of them--along with 'quite a few' poems and fictions as well....

K_A_Opperman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure what prose poem volume is being
> alluded to, but there is a very affordable
> paperback volume (I don't know about complete) of
> CAS's prose poems: "A Phantasy and Other Prose
> Poems," from Dodo Press, available on Amazon.
>
> All I know is, if I buy it, "The Flower Devil" had
> better be in it, or someone will have to be
> sacrificed to the Voorqual....

After seeing what Dodo Press did to the Arabian Nights of Sir Richard Burton, I wouldn't touch their books with a ten-foot pole. The production value is abysmal.

Will keep that in mind, Martinus!--I was only casually mentioning them; I knew nothing about them. Now I know better.

K_A_Opperman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Incidentally, I think there are a couple of good
> Lovecraft prose poems that I don't have in print,
> either--I am thinking of "What the Moon Brings,"
> and "Ex Oblivione" (if memory serves me)--I liked
> those quite a bit, wherever I read them.

They were available in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy volume The Doom That Came to Sarnath, as well as in Miscellaneous Writings; they are also available in the B&N volume, if memory serves....

jdworth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> K_A_Opperman Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Incidentally, I think there are a couple of
> good
> > Lovecraft prose poems that I don't have in
> print,
> > either--I am thinking of "What the Moon
> Brings,"
> > and "Ex Oblivione" (if memory serves me)--I
> liked
> > those quite a bit, wherever I read them.
>
> They were available in the Ballantine Adult
> Fantasy volume The Doom That Came to Sarnath, as
> well as in Miscellaneous Writings; they are also
> available in the B&N volume, if memory serves....

They are indeed in the B&N edition. Here is S. T.'s introductory note for "What the Moon Brings": "The last of Lovecraft's four prose-poems,this work was written on June 5, 1922. A somewhat nebulous tale about the terror inspired by the moon, it appears to be largely inspired by a dream, or at any rate incorporates a considerable amount of dream-imagery. The story was first published in the National Amateur (May 1923), in the same issue that contained 'Hypnos.'"

It's interesting to group the tales that Grandpa wrote in 1921-1922. The dream-like narrative (whether or no these are "dream stories" is prevalent, and it appears that Lovecraft was in a sort of transitional phase as a writer. These were also the years wherein he was commissioned to pen his two serial tales for Home Brew, and in September of 1922 Lovecraft wrote "The Hound," which (despite the wise reflections of such Lovecraft scholars as S. T. Joshi and J. D. Worthington) I still refuse to believe was an instance of Lovecraft mocking his own work or style. He was finding himself as a writer, and experimenting with forms and narrative voice -- quite brilliantly, so he was.

"I'm a little girl."
--H. P. Lovecraft, Esq.

FWIW,

The copy I bought just this April or May includes the line,
"This 2010 edition published by Barnes & Noble, Inc."
If they consider a corrected text to be a new edtion than
you could possibly assume that *any* edition with a 2011
or later date must be the newer corrected one regardless of
whether they note the corrections or not.

It could be possible that this other line that appears on
the copyright page might give us a clue as to why so many
typos, "Printed and bound in China."

Perhaps some here have been to this site:

Engrish

Cathexis

cathexis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FWIW,
>
> The copy I bought just this April or May includes
> the line,
> "This 2010 edition published by Barnes & Noble,
> Inc."
> If they consider a corrected text to be a new
> edtion than
> you could possibly assume that *any* edition with
> a 2011
> or later date must be the newer corrected one
> regardless of
> whether they note the corrections or not.

True. However, I know for a fact that my name is mentioned on the copyright page, so that should be a safe way to distinguish it.

>
> It could be possible that this other line that
> appears on
> the copyright page might give us a clue as to why
> so many
> typos, "Printed and bound in China."
>

LOL! :D

Back to the original topic.. I was able to pick up the Centipede HPL for $295 plus postage a couple years back. If you trawl the Internet long enough you can find them for a bit less than full retail. The book is gorgeous, and the companion volume of photos is also quite nice. However, as some have speculated, the thing would be virtually impossible to read anywhere except a desk or lectern. It's approaches 10 pounds in weight, and is also quite bulky. It's a thing of beauty, but a somewhat smaller volume (or volumes) with identical production values (perhaps leather-bound) would've been more elegant and, more importantly, practical. I'm not in the market for the others in the "Masters of the Weird Tale" series, if that tells you anything..

Jerad seems to be offering newer titles in this series as either the bulky one-volume edition or as two smaller editions, as has been offer'd for the Karl Wagner edition. He sent me a gift copy of the Kuttner MotWT and it is much leaner than ye others. I have the Lovecraft, Blackwood and Hodgson volumes, and they are indeed beautiful. I prefer the large bulky books, which are easily read when sitting at a table. They have an overall effect for me, the book design, the wonderful art, the feel of the bindings, &c. Just got a copy of Laird Barron's THE LIGHT IS THE DARKNESS, an amazingly beautiful book, in its leather-bound edition, and holding that book is an extremely sensual experience. I'll have my own first leather-bound collection out next month. These printings are for collectors only, or people who are lucky enough to have $$$. There are some people who will not read the novels of Stephen King unless they can own them in super-expensive super-limited editions. I've never understood this mentality. It's like the collectors who have chided me for actually reading my old Arkham House books, which they feel should be kept under glass and never touched. I find this absurd--books are meant to be read.

"I'm a little girl."
--H. P. Lovecraft, Esq.

wilum pugmire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are some
> people who will not read the novels of Stephen
> King unless they can own them in super-expensive
> super-limited editions.

Some of us will not read the novels of Stephen King, period.

Quote:

wilum pugmire
It's like the collectors who have chided me for actually reading my old Arkham House books, which they feel should be kept under glass and never touched. I find this absurd--books are meant to be read.

I agree!

Quote:

Jojo Lapin X
Some of us will not read the novels of Stephen King, period.

One needs at least to give King a chance. No, his work does not match the aesthetic many weird fiction readers prefer--but he offers a different experience. It cannot be denied that he is an accomplished novel writer--in my (very limited) experience, he writes stories that can keep one interested until the end. And not all writers have the ability to sustain something for so long with such apparent ease.

However, there're bad things I could say, too--but these are probably anticipated by the anti-King crowd, which I imagine is strong here. All I'm saying is don't rule him out completely until you've read one (or two, or three) of his novels. "The Shining" is not bad.

Now, his pal Straub, however--I can't stand that guy's work.

But if we go back in time a bit, to the preceding generation of horror novelists, we encounter Matheson, which makes for a good read, in my opinion. "Hell House," anyone? "I Am Legend"?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 30 Sep 11 | 02:20PM by K_A_Opperman.