Yesterday, February 24, was the birthday of Augusts Derleth (1909-1971). I was on the road all day, mostly with work, and didn’t have a chance to post anything.

Entire books could be written about Derleth, and have been. I’m not going to try to get that detailed,  I’ll let other writers talk about Derleth and Lovecraft and whether Derleth harmed or helped Lovecraft with his “posthumous collaborations”.

Derleth wrote more than just Lovecraftian fiction. He wrote a number of novels and stories set in his native Wisconsin at a location named Sac Prairie. He also wrote a number of Solar Pons stories. Those works are outside the scope of this blog.

What some people forget, and many don’t know, is that Derleth also wrote a number of fantasy and horror stories that aren’t Lovecraftian. He also wrote poetry, but I’m not familiar with any of his poetic works.

Derleth founded Arkham House to keep Lovecraft’s work in print, and for that we all owe him a debt of gratitude. But I sometimes wonder how well Derleth would ber remembered today, if at all, if he hadn’t founded Arkham House or written stories based on Lovecraft’s notes. Instead if he had written more original weird fiction, what would hsi reputation be like today?

Derleth’s work is hard to find, at least if you’r elooking for his fantasy. There are ebook editions of the Solar Pons stories and some of the Sac Prairie books. I ordered a couple of print collections online last summer (or maybe early fall), but I had to pack them before I had time to read them. I’m not sure where they are at the moment.

What few stories I have read, I enjoyed. It’s been so long since I read one, that my memory isn’t reliable enough for me to want to talk abou it. (I’m finding that true about any number of  things these days, but let’s not go there. My impending geezerdom is a topic for another post.)

Which of Derleth’s stories, weird fantasy that isn’t Lovecraftian, would you folks recommend?