Items from the Wish List: October Airs

 

The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature: Revised and Enlarged by H. P. Lovecraft, S. T. Joshi

H. P. Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature," first published in 1927, is widely recognized as the finest historical survey of horror literature ever written. The product of both a keen critical analyst and a working practitioner in the field, the essay affords unique insights into the nature, development, and history of the weird tale. Beginning with instances of weirdness in ancient literature, Lovecraft proceeds to discuss horror writing in the Renaissance, the first Gothic novels of the late 18th century, the revolutionary importance of Edgar Allan Poe, the work of such leading figures as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ambrose Bierce, and William Hope Hodgson, and the four "modern masters"-Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood and M. R. James. In this annotated edition of Lovecraft's seminal work, acclaimed Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi has supplied detailed commentary on many points. In addition, Joshi has supplied a comprehensive bibliography of all the authors and works discussed in the essay, with references to modern editions and critical studies. For this new edition, Joshi has exhaustively revised and updated the bibliography and also revamped the notes to bring the book in line with the most up-to-date scholarship on Lovecraft and weird fiction. The entire volume has also been redesigned for ease of reading and reference. This latest edition will be invaluable both to devotees of Lovecraft and to enthusiasts of the weird tale. – Amazon.

The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter

by Lin Carter, R. M. Price

The late Lin Carter was a prolific writer and anthologist of horror and fantasy with over eighty titles to his credit. His tales of Mythos horror are loving tributes to H. P. Lovecraft's 'revision' tales and to August Derleth's stories of Hastur and the R'lyeh Text. This is the first collection of Carter's Mythos tales; it includes his intended novel, The Terror Out of Time. Most of the stories in this collection have been unavailable for some time. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price. – Amazon.

The Horror on the Links: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume One

by Seabury Quinn

The Devil's Rosary: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Two

by Seabury Quinn

The Dark Angel: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Three

by Seabury Quinn

A Rival from the Grave: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Four

by Seabury Quinn

Black Moon: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Five 

by Seabury Quinn

From The Dust Returned - A Family Remembrance by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury, America's most beloved storyteller, has spent a lifetime carrying readers to exhilarating and dangerous places, from dark street comers in unfamiliar cities and towns to the edge of the universe. Now, in an extraordinary flight of the imagination a half-century in the making, he takes us to a most wondrous destination: into the heart of an Eternal Family. - Amazon

The Supernatural Stories of Monsignor Robert H. Benson: The Light Invisible, a Mirror of Shalott

by Robert Hugh Benson

This collections brings together the supernatural stories in Robert H. Benson's The Light Invisible and A Mirror of Shalott. Benson brings light fantasy and supernatural horror together, from the perspective of a Catholic priest. It is a fascinating twist on a popular genre by a very talented author. Fans of the ghost stories by M. R. James and E. G. Swain will find this a welcome addition to their library. – Amazon.

Lord of The World

by Robert Hugh Benson

Briefly, he said, there are three forces—Catholicism, Humanitarianism, and the Eastern religions. About the third I cannot prophesy, though I think the Sufis will be victorious. Anything may happen; Esotericism is making enormous strides—and that means Pantheism; and the blending of the Chinese and Japanese dynasties throws out all our calculations. But in Europe and America, there is no doubt that the struggle lies between the other two. We can neglect everything else. And, I think, if you wish me to say what I think, that, humanly speaking, Catholicism will decrease rapidly now. It is perfectly true that Protestantism is dead. Men do recognise at last that a supernatural Religion involves an absolute authority, and that Private Judgment in matters of faith is nothing else than the beginning of disintegration. And it is also true that since the Catholic Church is the only institution that even claims supernatural authority, with all its merciless logic, she has again the allegiance of practically all Christians who have any supernatural belief left. There are a few faddists left, especially in America and here; but they are negligible. That is all very well; but, on the other hand, you must remember that Humanitarianism, contrary to all persons' expectations, is becoming an actual religion itself, though anti-supernatural. It is Pantheism; it is developing a ritual under Freemasonry; it has a creed, 'God is Man,' and the rest. It has therefore a real food of a sort to offer to religious cravings; it idealises, and yet it makes no demand upon the spiritual faculties. Then, they have the use of all the churches except ours, and all the Cathedrals; and they are beginning at last to encourage sentiment. Then, they may display their symbols and we may not: I think that they will be established legally in another ten years at the latest.

- Taken from "Lord Of The World" written by Robert Hugh Benson (1907). The most plausible story of an Antichrist arising ever written.

Biographical Inventory of Books for August 4, 2020

The Adventures of Jules de Grandin; The Hellfire Files of Jules de Grandin; The Skeleton Closet of Jules de Grandin, by Seabury Quinn. Quinn was a writer for ‘Weird Tales’ during the great era of the pulps, where he created the investigator of the unusual, Jules de Grandin and his sidekick Dr. Trowbridge. “He fought ghosts, werewolves, and satanists in over ninety stories, and one novel, between 1925 and 1951, assisted by Dr. Trowbridge (serving the same narrative purpose as Dr. Watson). Jules de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge lived in Harrisonville, New Jersey. De Grandin was a French physician and expert on the occult and a former member of the French Sûreté who resembled a more physically dynamic blond, blue-eyed Hercule Poirot. Often, the supernatural entities in the mysteries are revealed not to be supernatural at all but the actions of insane, evil and depraved human beings.” – Wikipedia. These are three from a series of reprints from the 70’s; I lack three others, “The Casebook of Jules de Grandin”, “The Horror Chambers of Jules de Grandin”, and “The Devil’s Bride”. The books include a map of ‘Harrisonville’ and portraits of the two protagonists. I must admit that I’ve read little of these books, but their position in the genre seems to hold out promise of at least an ‘entertainment’. Ranking: Dispensable. File Code: Anthology. Mystery. Paperback. Weird.

The Fantastic Imagination and The Fantastic Imagination II, Edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski. These two anthologies contain a gathering from the fantasy idols that were popular in the 70’s, largely due, I imagine, to Lin Carter’s efforts with Ballantine in their Adult Fantasy series. These are Avon books. Good browsers with some tales from my favorite authors not available elsewhere in my library. Ranking: Keepers. File Code: Anthology. Fantasy. Paperbacks.

The Siege and Fall of Troy, Retold by Robert Graves. In this little book (from the mid-60’s) Graves gathers all the old tales of the Trojan War (and there are many, not just Homer’s) and puts them in a simple and straightforward narrative, “from the egg to the apples”, as the old saying goes. Another old second-hand copy, which from the markings seems to have been from a classroom. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Legend. Paperback.

The Legendary Adventures of Alexander the Great, Translated by Richard Stoneman. A new little book, from Penguin Epics, no less. The Greek Alexander Romance grew up from the death of Alexander to about 300 A.D. Full of wonder tales and legends, the influence of these stories for centuries (for a long time in the credulous ages they were considered to be history and science fact). A nice little epitome. I … must confess I haven’t read it all, but it’s nice to have it handy. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Legend. Paperback.

The Hazlitt Sampler: Selections from the Familiar, Literary, and Critical Essays, Edited by Herschel M. Sikes, Ph.D. Why do I like Hazlitt? Because of insights like this: “The description of persons who have the fewest ideas of all others are mere authors and readers. It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else. A lounger who is ordinarily seen with a book in his hand is (we may be almost sure) equally without the power or inclination to attend either to what passes around him or in his own mind. Such a one may be said to carry his understanding about with him in his pocket, or to leave it at home on his library shelves. He is afraid of venturing on any train of reasoning, or of striking out any observation that is not mechanically suggested to him by passing his eyes over certain legible characters; shrinks from the fatigue of thought, which, for want of practice, becomes insupportable to him; and sits down contented with an endless, wearisome succession of words and half-formed images, which fill the void of the mind, and continually efface one another.” Another elderly, crumbly copy. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Essays. Paperback.

The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens. Dickens first real book, humorous, rambling, humane, and of infinite impact; he put everything he had into this grab-bag. I was influenced by Dickens years before I followed the trail upstream and found the original sources. The character of Samuel Weller is just superb. And the story of the automated sausage maker? Immortal! A big, thick brick of a book that really repays the attention you give it. “Let us leave our old friend in one of those moments of unmixed happiness, of which, if we seek them, there are ever some, to cheer our transitory existence here. There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast. Some men, like bats or owls, have better eyes for the darkness than for the light. We, who have no such optical powers, are better pleased to take our last parting look at the visionary companions of many solitary hours, when the brief sunshine of the world is blazing full upon them.” Ranking: Essential. File Code: Novel. Classic. Paperback.

Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbot. An imaginative classic. Abbot uses his “romance of many dimensions” to get across a metaphysical message about the limitations of human perception and a comment on Victorian hierarchy. The two-dimensional citizens of Flatland cannot imagine what is happening when a three-dimensional figure enters their world and tries to make them understand what that means. Ranking: Keeper. File Code: Fantasy. Satire. Paperback.

Peer Gynt, by Henrick Ibsen. Translated by Michael Meyer. “I selected Peer Gynt to illustrate today's list because I couldn't resist the chance to show Leo McKern's beautiful mug, lit up by that delightfully impish mood. McKern was a great--I was about to say character actor, and while he was that, he was a great actor, period. I've never seen anything that he was in that he didn't elevate, and that includes Help! and The Omen. Demonic energy, wry humor, keen intelligence, rough tenderness...all these make him the perfect actor to interpret Peer among the trolls. This book was published in 1963, which makes it and me exact contemporaries.” What I’ve read of it I found interesting. Ranking: Dispensable. File Code: Drama. Paperback.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This copy was originally Mike’s. One day while I was stuck in the back seat of his Impala with nothing else to do (for hours it seemed – not an unusual situation for high school) I started to read it and was hooked. Magical realism! Another toehold in serious literature for fantasy. Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Cannot stress enough the glory and wonder of this family chronicle. Probably time to get another, less worn copy. [I do, in the drawers. I’d forgot. So, 2 copies.] Ranking: ESSENTIAL. File Code: Magical Realism. Novel. Paperback.