Earlier today, Hippocampus Press made available for pre-order, three exciting new weird publications due out in May. The first is the next title in the Collected Letters series featuring correspondence between H. P. Lovecraft and a young Robert Bloch. Below is the description from Hippocampus’ site.
H. P. Lovecraft’s generous tutelage of younger literary colleagues earned him their lifelong devotion and admiration. Few profited more by his assistance than Robert Bloch, who went on to become the celebrated author of Psychoand other classic works of horror and suspense. Establishing a correspondence with Lovecraft when he was sixteen, Bloch learned so much about the craft of writing—and about other matters—that he later stated: “Lovecraft was my university.”
This volume brings together Lovecraft’s complete extant correspondence with Bloch as well as with such other young writers, editors, and fans of the 1930s as Kenneth Sterling (who collaborated with Lovecraft on “In the Walls of Eryx”), Donald A. Wollheim (editor of the Phantagraph and a leading figure in science fiction in the decades that followed), Willis Conover (whose Lovecraft at Last is one of the most poignant books ever written about the Providence writer), and others.
As in all previous volumes in the Collected Letters series, these letters have been meticulously edited by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, two of the leading authorities on Lovecraft. Also included are many rare and pertinent writings by the various correspondents, which shed light on their relationship to Lovecraft. An exhaustive bibliography and a comprehensive index conclude the volume.
I particularly like the Psycho style lettering effect on the cover. I’m also excited because I recently acquired the Underwood-Miler three volume Selected Stories of Robert Bloch, so this will make an excellent supplement.
The second title is a reprint of a 2009 anthology of tales entitled The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers, edited by William F. Nolan and Jason V. Brock. Originally published by Cycatrix Press, I have to admit of never having heard of this one. Based on the description below from the website, it sounds like a must have.
This acclaimed volume features one of the most distinguished lineups of any original anthology published in recent years—ranging from legends such as Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner, Jr., and Dan O’Bannon to such leading contemporary figures as Nancy Kilpatrick, John Shirley, Joe R. Lansdale, and Steve Rasnic Tem. While basically hewing to the genre of weird fiction, The Bleeding Edge runs the gamut of subject-matter, from the ghost story to Lovecraftian horror to fantasy. There is something for everyone in this wondrously diverse book—the only point of consistency is the exemplary quality of the material.
The final title is a new collection by author Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. Much to my chagrin, I’ve never read anything by Pulver. I imagine this should be a good place to start and, once again, Hippocampus’ description is very enticing.
Over the past decade, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. has attracted a worldwide audience for his stories, vignettes, and prose-poems—works that expand the boundaries of prose expression and evoke scintillating images of wonder, fear, terror, and heartbreak. In this fourth collection of tales, following Blood Will Have Its Season (2009), SIN & ashes (2010), and Portraits of Ruin (2012), we find imaginative riffs on Edgar Allan Poe, Robert W. Chambers, H. P. Lovecraft, and others—but more than that, we find the evocative melding of horror and plangency that makes Pulver the most distinctive voice in modern weird fiction.
All three of these titles are available for pre-order now from Hippocampus Press. The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers is currently being offered at discount.
Searchers After Horror 