August Derleth
Today, February 24, marks the birth of August Derleth (1909-1971). He founded Arkham House publisher to keep the work of H. P. Lovecraft in print. For this we all owe him a great debt of gratitude. Derleth was something of a controversial figure in the field for the way he handled the literary estate of H. P. Lovecraft, especially his “posthumous collaborations” in which he completed some stories Lovecraft left unfinished at his death.
My purpose with this post is not to focus on Arkham House, but on an aspect of Derleth’s legacy that is sadly neglected today, and that’s his work as a writer of weird fiction.
It’s been over a decade since there was a collection of Derleth’s work published. I did a quick check online, and the starting price for a collection of his ghost stories was $200. Too rich for my blood.
I was going to review a couple of short pieces I have in anthologies, “Muggeridge’s Aunt” and “The Shuttered House”. Both were fairly standard ghost stories. While not rising to the level of a James or Wakefield, they were still well told and provided a pleasant way to while away a few spare minutes. The problem is the former isn’t readily available in either electronic or print format, and the latter is only in a facsimile of The Avon Fantasy Reader Number 1. For these birthday posts, I’m not going to review stories that aren’t readily available.
I would hope some ambitious publisher would take a chance and produce an inexpensive collection, or better yet a set, of Derleth’s weird fiction.
Often overlooked is his Sherlock Holmes pastiche character, Solar Pons–perhaps because he is pastiche, so no one gives those stories much thought. Or maybe they just don’t give them a chance. But they’re fun and Charles Rutledge considers them some of the best Holmesian pastiches ever done.
I meant to mention those but had some other things I needed to finish last. In my hurry, I overlooked them. Thanks for mentioning them.
Like his weird fiction, they languished in limbo and pricey used editions.
That all changed last year (or 2018) when Belanger Books reprinted all his originals. And they are available in ebooks, too.
(And Basil Copper’s follow-on body of Solar Pons works was reissued by PS Publishing a few years before that, also in ebook as well now.)
I was aware of the Basil Copper stories. PS sent me some by mistake when I ordered some collections of Copper’s non-Solar Pons work. And I think I have a pb copy of at least one of Derleth’s Solar Pons collections somewhere. Good to know all the stories are available again.
Bob Byrne over at Black Gate is a HUGE Solar Pons fan. He has a nice website devoted to ol’ Pons.
I consider Derleth’s tales of Solar Pons some of his best work.
I needed to read some of those.
“Both were fairly standard ghost stories. While not rising to the level of a James or Wakefield…”
Derleth corresponded with MR James, BTW. People forget that Derleth was FAR more highly-regarded during the ’40s and ’50s than Lovecraft. Derleth was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Anyone who wants a look at Derleth that doesn’t follow the Joshi party line should read Haefele’s A LOOK BEHIND THE DERLETH MYTHOS. It’s also one of the best books of LOVECRAFT scholarship ever written. As if Haefele wasn’t cool enough just from that, he is an REH fan and won a Cimmerian award back in the day.
I’ll have to look this book up. Thanks for the tip.
OH, and I didn’t realize Derleth had corresponded with James. That’s cool.
It appears you know little about Derleth. Your post shows you were in a hurry to put your words online. You seem to have little knowledge of your subject. Stop with wiki and read some books. Educate yourself.
Is some of the correspondence with MRJ surviving?