Hope you feel better soon. Take care!

I like this take on Wilbur Whateley 👍 And the artist captured the town dogs' reaction very accurately!

The cover of The House of Cthulhu (1991), the first in a series of three volumes that includes all stories from the Primal Land setting. Cover art by Bob Eggleton for the 2007 reprint shows Cthulhu crouching atop cliffs.

"Now it happened aforetime that Zar-thule the Conqueror, who is called Reaver of Reavers, Seeker of Treasures and Sacker of Cities, swam out of the East with his dragonships; aye, even beneath the snapping sails of his dragonships. The wind was but lately turned favorable, and now the weary rowers nodded over their shipped oars while sleepy steersmen held the course. And there Zar-thule descried him in the sea the island Arlyeh, whereon loomed tall towers builded of black stone whose tortuous twinings were of angles unknown and utterly beyond the ken of men; and this island was redly lit by the sun sinking down over its awesome black crags and burning behind the aeries and spires carved therefrom by other than human hands..."

#BookWormSat
Places of note, real or imagined

The House of Cthulhu (1973) by Brian Lumley. One of his Primal Land stories, blending his own ancient sword-and-sorcery setting with the weird fiction mythos of other authors. Title story in this 1991 collection.

Art credit in alt text.

A black-and-white drawing from a Stephen Fabian art collection book. It was originally used as an interior illustration for The End of Days (1976/77) by David C. Smith. A man's arm holding a sword is in the foreground. A robed figure with a cowl, empty except for glowing eyes, is in the background.

Six lines of poetry from Shadows from Yesterday by Robert E. Howard. It was an untitled draft unpublished in his lifetime. The source of the title is unknown. Poem text: From: Shadows from Yesterday Down through the years strange phantom fears haunted my restless soul, Strange whisperings like the far off sweep of the sea upon a shoal. For the dim ghost came when the sun had set and shadows dusked the lea; I heard the tread of the vengeful dead and his eyes would gaze on me. And grim they blazed when the stars were hazed by the fogs of the silent night, And dim they gazed when the dawning raised, in the silver lifting light.

#PhantomsFriday

Art and poem credits in alt text.

Hope you feel better soon!

The Shadow Over Innsmouth Illustrated by Baranger - Free League Publishing Fascinated by New England’s haunted past, a young man journeys through its ancient towns on his way to Arkham. Offered a detour through Innsmouth – an isolated coastal settlement dreaded by its neighb...

François Baranger's illustrated version of The Shadow Over Innsmouth is now expected out in English in Q4 from Free League Publishing. I don't know if other shops will be selling it as well.

freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/the-cal...

The company name plus a spooky alias would make for a very cool business card! 👻

INVISIBLE AGENCY
Richter Mortis - Occult Detective
<string of eldritch runes go here>

Great choice, excellent story! I'm a big fan of CAS too.

SYDNEY THOMPSON DOBELL (1824-1874) KEITH OF RAVELSTON The murmur of the mourning ghost That keeps the shadowy kine; 'Oh, Keith of Ravelston, The sorrows of thy line!' Ravelston, Ravelston, The merry path that leads Down the golden morning hill And through the silver meads; Ravelston, Ravelston, The stile beneath the tree, The maid that kept her mother's kine, The song that sang she! She sang her song, she kept her kine, She sat beneath the thorn, When Andrew Keith of Ravelston Rode thro' the Monday morn. His henchmen sing, his hawk-bells ring, His belted jewels shine! Oh, Keith of Ravelston, The sorrows of thy line!

Year after year, where Andrew came, Comes evening down the glade, And still there sits a moonshine ghost Where sat the sunshine maid. Her misty hair is faint and fair She keeps the shadowy kine; Oh, Keith of Ravelston, The sorrows of thy line! I lay my hand upon the stile, The stile is lone and cold; The burnie that goes babbling by Says nought that can be told. Yet, stranger! here, from year to year, She keeps her shadowy kine; Oh, Keith of Ravelston, The sorrows of thy line! Step out three steps, where Andrew stood— Why blanch thy cheeks for fear? The ancient stile is not alone, 'Tis not the burn I hear! She makes her immemorial moan, She keeps her shadowy kine; Oh, Keith of Ravelston, The sorrows of thy line!

#PhantomsFriday

Keith of Ravelston by Sydney Thompson Dobell. I don't know when this poem was first published nor if it's based on folklore. The only historical references that I found had no hint of the supernatural. This text is from the 1969 reprint of Dark of the Moon (1947).

Despite the pleasant description, Cugel's stay at Flutic was a difficult one. But that's to be expected. "Cugel the Clever" is an unrepentant scoundrel, and so is almost everyone he meets 😄

Cugel's Saga (1983) by Jack Vance. A drawing by Stephen Fabian of Flutic, the manse of Master Twango. Originally used as interior art for the 1984 Underwood-Miller reprint of Cugel's Saga. This image is from an art book that collects Fabian's work.

#BookologyThursday

"...a large and elaborate manse of archaic design, shrouded behind the trees of an untidy garden. The lower windows glowed with amber light: a cheerful sight for the benighted wanderer..."

Book/art credit in alt text.

Newspaper clipping. Title "Skataplane Thrills Hollywood" Black-and-white photo of a woman on rollerskates holding on to what looks like a motorized unicycle. With handlebars.

Doing some newspaper research and ran across this magnificent contraption. I think this should make a comeback. 24 Feb 1934, Beaumont (Texas) Journal, page 1.

That was a nicely done review, thanks for the link. I much enjoyed this book as well. I like that it includes his letters to many people, rather than just one. The tradeoff is that it only has the outgoing letters. A few times, I was curious what he had been responding to.

After I read the synopsis, I dimly remembered seeing this crazy movie in the early 90s 😄

The Viking's Stone (1977) by Brian Lumley. A man who looted an ancient gravesite encounters a dragonship full of angry ghost warriors on his train ride home. Drawing by Stephen Fabian used as interior art for this story in The Compleat Crow (1987). The image is from a book that collects his artwork. A dragonship of ghost warriors crests the waves, with their axe-wielding chieftain standing in the bow.

#PhantomsFriday

"For outside, riding the mist in ghostly majesty, a great Viking dragonship lay parallel with our compartment, its sides adorned with moisture-dripping shields. And behind those shields, spears raised in hideous salutation, ranks of armored skeletons..."

Book/art credit in alt text

'The animals we once used began killing most of our eggs after implantation long before your ancestors arrived,' she said softly. 'You know these things, Gan. Because your people arrived, we are relearning what it means to be a healthy, thriving people. And your ancestors, fleeing from their homeworld, from their own kind who would have killed or enslaved them - they survived because of us...'

#WyrdWednesday

Bloodchild (1984) by Octavia Butler. A young human living on a planet of aliens learns the horrifying life cycle details of the insect-like being that he has been raised with and must make a decision. This story has many fascinating issues to ponder and debate.

I'm sorry you're going through these difficulties and wish all the best outcomes for you!

Just picked up a copy (e-book). All these stories will be new to me 👍

He's a contemporary weird poet, along with Wade German, Ann K. Schwader, and many others. Hippocampus Press publishes the weird poetry journal Spectral Realms twice yearly if you want to sample the work of several folks and see what's to your liking. They also publish poetry collections 👍

Opperman's full poem was published in Spectral Realms 1 (Summer 2014) and can also be found in The Crimson Tome (Hippocampus Press, 2015). Four lines of poetry: What secrets have you wrested from the crypt— What wisdom have you pried from cold lips of the dead? What purple poisons from gold goblets sipped— And whither, drunken with such draughts, durst you to tread? The Fabian drawing is from one of his art collection books and is titled The Wizard in His Tower Library. A robed sorcerer consults a large book.

#BookologyThursday

A few lines from Nocturnal Poet (2014) by K. A. Opperman combined with a 1976 drawing by Stephen Fabian.

More information in alt text.

Coming next week in paperback and eBook: THE MAGTONE SAGA.

I vote for the Grasshopper too.

That was a fun listen and great analysis.

THE RETURN OF THE YEAR Again the warm bare earth, the noon That hangs upon her healing scars, The midnight round, the great red moon, The mother with her brood of stars, The mist-rack and the wakening rain Blown soft in many a forest way, The yellowing elm-trees, and again The blood-root in its sheath of gray. The vesper-sparrow's song, the stress Of yearning notes that gush and stream, The lyric joy, the tenderness, And once again the dream! the dream! A touch of far-off joy and power, A something it is life to learn, Comes back to earth, and one short hour The glamours of the gods return.

This life's old mood and cult of care Falls smitten by an older truth, And the gray world wins back to her The rapture of her vanished youth. Dead thoughts revive, and he that heeds Shall hear, as by a spirit led, A song among the golden reeds: "The gods are vanished but not dead!" For one short hour, unseen yet near, They haunt us, a forgotten mood, A glory upon mead and mere, A magic in the leafless wood. At morning we shall catch the glow Of Dian's quiver on the hill, And somewhere in the glades I know That Pan is at his piping still.

#BookWormSat
#WorldPoetryDay

The restorative power of forests and nature in The Return of the Year (1895), another poem by Archibald Lampman.

IN THE PINE GROVES I Here is a quiet place where one may dream The hours away and be content. It shines With many a shadow spot and golden gleam Under the murmur of these priestly pines. About the level russet-matted floor, Each like a star in his appointed station, The sole-flowered scented pyrolas by the score Stand with heads drooped in fragrant meditation. The pensive thrush, the hermit of the wood, Dreams far within, and piping at his leisure, Tells to the hills the forest's inmost mood Of memory and its solitary pleasure. Earth only and sun are here, and shadow and trees And thoughts that are eternal even as these.

#BookWormSat
#WorldPoetryDay

In the Pine Groves I (1900) by Archibald Lampman.

Text from Inception (1987) by Brian Lumley. A man is pursued by the ghost of an ancient sorcerer-priest from whom he has stolen a powerful item, in this short story about Titus Crow's origin. Drawing by Stephen Fabian used as interior art for this story in The Compleat Crow (1987). This image is from a book that collects his artwork. The giant face and outstretched talons of a ghost loom over a fleeing man.

#PhantomsFriday

"Except for the figure of a man, flying, his coat flapping like broken wings, nothing stirred. Just him...and his pursuer: a second male figure, tall, utterly silent, flowing like a fog-spawned wraith not one hundred yards behind..."

Story and art credit in alt text.

A painting titled Qoll, Voice of the God Hand adorns the cover with the upper body of a magnificent white dragon. This painting was originally used for Dragon Shield art sleeves for trading card games. The dragon has black horns and a ridge of black spikes that runs down its neck and back. The areas between the spikes and in its wings are red.

#BookologyThursday
Dragons

Elsewhere: The Fantasy Art of Jesper Ejsing (2019) features a large collection of his work, much of it from tabletop games like D&D, Magic: The Gathering, and Hearthstone. One section is devoted to dragons.

I really hope a publisher like Hippocampus Press puts together a complete collection of her work someday. Copies of Time Grows Thin (2009) seem to have disappeared.

Yes, posts seem to disappear from feeds after a short time. Clicking on "See posts" then Latest only shows a small subset of posters. Even clicking "See post by user" is empty. It seems to be happening in multiple feeds that I checked.

Very nice! If I'm reading the REHFP Collected Poetry entry correctly, he also published this in a poetry journal called Poet's Scroll. Can you tell from the letter if he sent it to TCS before or after sending to the poetry journal?