Author Archives: Keith West

Lovecraft Letter to Publisher of Weird Tales

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H._P._Lovecraft,_June_1934For those of you who have an interest in H. P. Lovecraft, I came across this today via The Passive Voice.  It’s an 8 page single spaced letter housed in the Harry Ransom Collection at the University of Texas, where much Robert E. Howard material is stored.

James Machin was researching Arthur Machen when he decided to check on any H. P. Lovecraft material that might be in the archives.  There was one letter dated February 2, 1924, from Lovecraft to J. C. Hennenberger, the publisher of Weird Tales.  As you might imagine, it’s a long letter that touches on many things, including two unwritten novels by Lovecraft.  I’m not sure if this is an unknown letter or not.  I’m not an expert on Lovecraft, and certainly not Lovecraft correspondence, by any means.

The entire letter as well as Machin’s comments about it can be read here.

Larry Niven Named SFWA Grand Master

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And about time, too.  Niven is one of the most influential authors of science fiction and fantasy of the last century.  He’s written or cowritten such classics as Ringworld and The Mote in God’s Eye.  My most recent reviews of his books are The Goliath Stone with Matthew Joseph Harrington (review here) and Bowl of Heaven with Gregory Benford (review here; really need to read Shipstar).

Niven will be presented with the Award at the Nebula Awards Banquet this Junes.  For more details, the SFWA press release is here.

Adventures Fantastic would like to offer Mr. Niven congratulations on being named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master.  Well done, sir.  Well done.

Dark Screams Volume 2 is a Solid Horror Anthology

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Dark Screams Volume 2Dark Screams Volume 2
Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar, ed.
Hydra
ebook only, $2.99
release date March 3, 2015

I’d like to thank Brian James Freeman for providing the review copy of Dark Screams Volume 2. He and Richard Chizmar set themselves a high standard with the first volume, and it’s good to see that they have maintained that level of excellence.

The Dark Screams series is an ebook-only horror anthology series in which each volume contains five stories by five of the best practitioners of horror fiction working today. I’d only read one author, Richard Christian Matheson, prior to reading this book, although I was familiar with the names of all but one contributor.  Here’s what you get in the second volume. Continue reading →

A Review of “The Blood Month” by Paul Finch

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medievil12Medi-Evil Book 1
Paul Finch
Brentwood Press
ebook $2.99 Kindle
B&N doesn’t show a listing of the book, even though I bought my copy through them.

So yesterday Paul McNamee posted about a short story by Paul Finch, “Damned Ranker.”   I’ve got the anthology it appeared in (somewhere) but haven’t read it.  I intended to, but ended up reading something else by Finch.  In the conversation Paul and I had in his comments, he mentioned he’d like to see more historical fiction by him.

Which brought me to Darker Ages.  It’s a small hardcover collection of two historical fantasy novellas, published in 2004 by Sarob Press.  It’s long out of print.  I don’t recall where I picked my copy up, but I know it was an intentional purchase.  I’d read After Shocks, Finch’s first collection of ghost stories from Ash-Tree Press.  (I reviewed a story from his second collection.)

Darker Ages looked especially intriguing, and I’m not sure why I didn’t read it when I bought it, but for some reason I didn’t.  The book ended up on a shelf out of the way.  I decided to read the first story, “The Blood Month”, which has since been reprinted in Medi-Evil Book 1.

This is a viking story with a surprising depth to it.  It opens with King Olaf Haraldsson’s defeat at the Battle of Stiklestad.  Finch does a great job describing the battle.  His descriptions of combat reminded me a little of Robert E. Howard’s. Continue reading →

Howard and Lovecraft Letters A Means to Freedom Out of Print Tomorrow

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A Means to FreedomHippocampus Press sent out an email yesterday saying that the last day to purchase A Means to Freedom, the collected correspondence of H. P. Lovercraft and Robert E. Howard will be tomorrow.  After that, licensing agreements expire, and the book will be out of print and available only on the secondary market.  Where it will be much more expensive.  Here’s what they said.

Due to low stock and the end of our license term, the last day to purchase A MEANS TO FREEDOM: THE LETTERS OF H. P. LOVECRAFT AND ROBERT E. HOWARD will be Saturday, February 28th. After that date, this work will only be available on the secondary market, and not from Hippocampus Press. It’s been a good run and we have probably reached the intended audience, so a future reprint is unlikely.

So if you were planning on buying a copy, act fast.  Or be prepared to shell out the bucks later.

The “Reading Only X Writers for a Year” Challenge…

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…or Just When You Thought the Stooopid Couldn’t Burn Any Worse Than it Already Does.

I wasn’t going to post anything after today’s Trigger Warning.  I’ve got three reviews to write, plus a ton of reading to get caught up on, not to mention the second set of exams that I haven’t started grading.  So what did I do tonight?

finger-shaking-scoldI got sidetracked by a number of things, with the highlight being the latest fisking (read it, it’s brilliant) by Larry Correia of K. Tempest Bradford’s challenge to only read approved writers for a year.  Approved being defined as what she thinks you should read, of course.

Or rather in this case, what she thinks you shouldn’t.  That would be books by straight, white, cisgendered males.  Finger lady there doesn’t think you should read books by authors who fall into this demographic.  Because badthink or something.  You’ll notice that the book she’s holding up is by Neil Gaiman, while the T-shirt she’s wearing is Dr. Who, some episodes of which were written by Neil Gaiman.  (What is it with these people and Gaiman lately, anyway?)

Bite my ass, lady.  Who are you to tell me what to read or not read?  I’ll read what I damn well like and make no apologies to anyone.  Certainly not to the likes of you.

Here’s my challenge.  It’s twofold.  First, I’m challenging myself to read interesting, exciting, entertaining books by writers who gender, race, religion, etc., I don’t give a rat’s red ass about.  Second, I’m going to challenge myself not to read any books by outspoken SJWs who want to indoctrinate me in goodthink more than they want to entertain me.  That would include authors like…what was her name again?…the finger lady up there.

And don’t raise your scolding finger to me, Bradford.  I might raise my middle ones in response.