Gore Hill Cemetery, Sydney.
16 What thing is that which rears itself out of the very grave???
A Contribution by Leigh Blackmore for the Sword
& Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus (Feb 2, 2010/
36th mailing), & Esoteric Order of Dagon (Feb 2,
2010/ 149th mailing) amateur press associations.
Leigh Blackmore, 78 Rowland Ave, Wollongong,
NSW 2500. Australia.
Mantichore 5, No 1 (WN 16)
Email: lvxnox@gmail.com
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Blackmore
Official Website: Blackmausoleum –
http://members.optusnet.com.au/lvxnox/
Latest SSWFT news at: http://sswftapa.blogspot.com/
My library (catalogued) can be accessed at:
http://www.librarything.com/profile/666777
Me with my 2-vol bound copy of Pearson's magazine from
1899, containing the series 'Real Ghost Stories', an early
exemplar of the occult detective genre, written by Hesketh
V.Pritchard & his mother Kate under the pseudonym E.
& H. Heron.
Mantic Notes
(Pronunciation:'man-tik. Etymology: Greek
mantikos, from mantis : of, relating to the faculty of
divination; prophetic).
Once again I’m assembling this
issue close to deadline. Right now we are
sweltering in the heat of Australian high
summer & bushfire season is upon us. I
have plenty of usable material, but length
& cost have become such an issue that this
issue I’m only going to include personal
notes, & a piece on EOD members (which I
hope SSWFT members will also find of
some interest). Unfortunately I will have
to skip emcees this time for reasons of
space. I hope to catch up later.
The last portion of 2009 was
enjoyably varied. I relaxed for a while
after finishing my Honours thesis, though
I sweated on getting my mark for many
weeks. The external examiner did not
deliver my result by the due date to the
university; consequently I was unable to
attend a graduation ceremony in
December. Nevertheless, I passed both
components of the degree with
Distinctions, & should be able to have a
ceremony next June, so I’m pleased with
the result despite the tardiness of marking.
Meanwhile I have been enrolled with an
‘Employment Path’ job agency which in
the New Year will help retrain me for the
workplace, hopefully in publishing or
editing.
Our band, Third Road, played its
first gig in early November, in front of
mainly Wollongong friends (though
Figure 1 Third Road L-R: Graham (keys,
vox), Margi (gtr, vox); LDB (bass, vox)
Danny & Margaret Lovecraft made the
trip down for it, even bringing Margaret’s
aged parents!) to a good reception. We
continued to rehearse & played our first
‘real’ live gig, a wedding for a friend of
Margi’s, in early December, for which we
got paid – actual money! Currently we are
recording tracks for a demo CD which we
will take to band agencies in the New
Year. More photos of the wedding gig
(like that above) can be seen at:
http://s760.photobucket.com/albums/xx24
9/Leigh_Blackmore/
Margi & I attended a vampire
party held by our writer friend Kyla Ward
in November. Various other local
luminaries including Bill & Michelle
Congreve, Richard & Aileen Harland, Cat
Sparks & Rob Hood, etc were also present.
A fun night.
In family news, both Graham &
Rohan celebrated their birthdays in
November. It was Rohan’s 21st & we had a
good night out in Sydney’s Newtown with
dinner at Rosalina’s restaurant followed
by drinks at Kuleto’s Cocktail Bar. Our
house is still being painted gradually by
our friend Adam. Margi had her
exhibition at TAFE, in conjunction with
her final assessment, & it seems she is
likely to get a good mark. She will be
returning to TAFE next year to undertake
another art subject. She has also sold some
of her framed originals done during 2009.
In December I had a chance to
visit Sydney, & stayed overnight with
Danny & Margaret Lovecraft. We had an
enjoyable time as usual discussing horror
writing, poetry & so on. Danny took me to
two cemeteries – firstly, Gore Cemetery in
St Leonards, which is actually next to the
hospital (Royal North Shore) where I was
born long ago in 1959. It’s a great,
crumbling, overgrown place, full of
atmosphere. We took numerous photos
which I hope to put up on Flickr or
Photobucket. (This issue’s cover pic of me
bursting out of the grass near a headstone
was taken in that session). On the same
day, we managed to get to Macquarie Park
Crematorium & Cemetery at North Ryde,
to seek the grave of Australian poet
Christopher Brennan. Danny had been
there before (with Phillip Ellis) & we
found it easily. It is not well-maintained, &
it made me
feel like
writing to the
Brennan-
Mallarme
Society to ask
them what
they intend
doing to keep
it in better
Danny Lovecraft at the grave of poet
Christopher Brennan
shape! That night we went to the Factory
Theatre in Newtown to see my favourite
band, The Church, who had just returned
from a tour of the US. They were
awesome! Danny & Margaret provided
great hospitality, as usual, & it all blew
away some tertiary studies cobwebs.
I also took over my ex-wife
Glayne’s book collection. Margi was kind
enough to drive me out to where Glayne’s
mother lives to get the books. The
collection will be sold to help defray the
costs of Glayne’s memorial plaque at
Sydney’s Pinegrove Cemetery. I also did
several more novel manuscript
assessments for one my agencies – always
something to keep me out of mischief!
 I was able to do little writing
recently as we have been working on the
house so much & devising arrangements
for the band. However, I have just
completed an essay, titled “Marvels &
Horrors: Terry Dowling’s Clowns at
Midnight” for Danel Olsen’s forthcoming
two-volume set of critical essays 21st
Century Gothic (Scarecrow Press). My main
priority in the New Year (apart from job-
searching) will be to start assembling the
Selected Letters of Robert Bloch, though I also
have some other projects up my sleeve.
Danny Lovecraft talks of an illustrated
edition of my
poetry volume
Spores from
Sharnoth & Other
Madnesses. We
shall see. I have
just received my
copy of Gaslight
Grotesque:
Nightmare Tales of
Sherlock Holmes
(Edge Publishing,
Canada), in which I have a story. It was
launched at World Fantasy Con in
October, but contributor copies were sent
seamail & mine was slow to turn up. I
have now arranged to submit (& hopefully
have printed) a new Holmes story for the
third volume of the series, Gaslight
Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes
– but this will not appear until 2011.
I won’t have time to write much
other fiction in 2010, but I do plan to write
some new horror poems which may (with
luck) see print. & I’ve committed to doing
some reviews for the next Dead Reckonings
(now edited by ST Joshi & Anthony J.
Fonseca). Oh, & the Australian Horror
Writers Association has invited me to
guest-edit their next issue of their official
magazine, Midnight Echo – so that will take
a bit of time.
I became mildly obsessed with
Robert H. Barlow in late 2009, after
reading Ken Faig’s extremely informative
chapters in The Unknown Lovecraft. Ken
kindly sent me a photocopy of the Everts
reprint of Barlow’s A View from a Hill
poetry collection. Ken also put me in touch
with Marcos Legaria, a fellow who
appears to be researching for a full
biography on Barlow. Legaria was not in
touch with STJ, so I put him in touch, &
Legaria now informs me that ST told him
that Massimo Berrutti is writing a book of
literary criticism on Barlow’s fiction &
poetry – which was (welcome) news to
me. Legaria also sent me some
photocopies of rarish Barlow-related
materials. I may write an article on a
marginally-related subject – Barlow’s
tutoring of famed underground author
William S. Burroughs, of whom I am a
great fan. WSB & RHB were both in
Mexico in the 1950’s & Barlow was
teaching a class on Mayan language which
Burroughs took. But that article is no more
than an idea at present….Another piece
developing in my fevered brain is on
Australian linguist Donald Laycock, who
did a dictionary of the Enochian language
(the occult language of the ‘angels’
contacted by John Dee & Edward Kelly).
Laycock died in 1988 but I hope to contact
surviving relatives of his in Canberra &
access his archives, as he was reputed to
be working on a sequel to the dictionary at
the time of his death. Of course, this is of
more interest to fellow occultists than
horror fans! My brother, stage magician
Kent Blackmore, has invaluably provided
me with some Laycock’s writings from The
Australian Skeptic & elsewhere…I have
become enamoured of Scribd.com, an
online file-sharing site, & have posted
some old articles on Lovecraft & others, &
also previous issues of Mantichore at:
http://www.scribd.com/lvxnox8594 &
http://www.scribd.com/LVXNOX.
Christmas was spent in
Wollongong & Sydney with family. I
received a number of welcome presents &
will be kept busy for hours listening to
Dylan’s new album Together Through Life,
watching Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes
episodes, etc.
 visited the Joshis in Moravia, NY, & was
HOW MUCH DO invited to join the EOD. Unlike Lovecraft,
YOU KNOW ABOUT he is a friend of sushi but allergic to cats
(which does not prevent him from liking
YOUR FELLOW them).
EOD MEMBERS?
Compiled by Leigh Blackmore with Leigh D. Blackmore
the assistance of the members of the (1959 – ) of
Esoteric Order of Dagon APA. Wollongong, Australia,
holds a Bachelor of
Creative Arts (Writing,
Douglas Allen Hons). Devotedly
Anderson (born 1959) Lovecraftian since 1972,
is an author & editor aged 13, he was an
on fantasy & medieval EOD (& Necronomicon
literature, specializing APA) member in the mid-1980s while
in textual analysis of helping edit The Australian Horror &
the works of J. R. R. Fantasy Magazine. He flew 13, 000 miles to
Tolkien. His first published book was The attend the Lovecraft Centennial
Annotated Hobbit (1988), which won the Conference, Providence, 1990 but did not
Mythopoeic Award for scholarship. A rejoin EOD until 2003. 25 years a Sydney
revised edition was published in 2002. bookstore manager, Leigh edited Terror
Anderson's textual studies of The Lord of Australis magazine & its successor
the Rings are the core of the Houghton anthology (1993), & has dabbled in fiction,
Mifflin revised American edition of 1987, poetry & criticism, with his novella
incorporating various changes made to “Uncharted” a Ditmar nominee for Best
British editions at Tolkien's direction. With Novella, 2003. His weird verse collection
Verlyn Flieger & Michael D.C. Trout he is Spores from Sharnoth & Other Madnesses
co-editor of Tolkien Studies: An Annual (P’rea Press, Sydney, 2008) has sold out its
Scholarly Review, (2004-2009). Anderson first printing. Nightmare Logic, his first
has also edited modern editions of works short fiction collection, is in compilation.
by other fantasists including Leonard Leigh is O.E. of SSWFT (the Sword &
Cline, Kenneth Morris & William Hope Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus apa), a
Hodgson. For more info see Master Magician of the O.T.O., coedits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A._ Studies in Australian Weird Fiction, & lives
&erson with his two partners, his stepson Rohan,
three cats, & his collection of 10, 000
Martin Andersson (b. horror & occult books (including a
March 19, 1976), complete run of Arkham House titles.)
teacher of Swedish & More info can be found at
English, grew up in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Black
village of Ugglarp on more.
the west coast of
Sweden. He Scott David Briggs (1968- ) (joined
encountered the works E.O.D. 1984-2004;
of H. P. Lovecraft at rejoined 2008-
the age of 11 upon finding “The Colour Present) Port
Out of Space” in his father’s library. It Washington, Long
frightened him silly, but eventually caused Island, N.Y., U.S.A.
him to seek out more works by Lovecraft. Scott first joined
In 2006, on his first trip to the US, he E.O.D. in 1984 at a
tender age, producing The Arkham http://www.blackmesapress.com/page3.ht
Advertiser, having discovered Lovecraft m
around 1980-81. Soon after he connected
with Robert M. Price & wrote for Crypt of Mollie L. Burleson
Cthulhu, thus being put in touch with has been a member of
Mollie Burleson, O.E. at the time, who the EOD since 1979 &
encouraged him to get involved in was Official Editor for
amateur journalism. He retired from the about five years. Her
E.O.D. for several years, but recently original 'zine was
rejoined with his new ‘zine Dark Entries. Night Gaunts, & when
He has long fancied himself a generalist she & Don Burleson
weird fiction fanatic as much as a married they jointly
Lovecraft scholar. The E.O.D. helped published first Gaunt
prepare him for more recent professional Bugs & later the Morgan & Rice Gazette.
writing, including entries for the Mollie's short stories have appeared in
encyclopedia Supernatural Literature of the many Barnes & Nobles anthologies among
World (2005), essays for three McFarland others, & her articles of literary criticism
volumes on weird fiction authors, his have been published in the journals
forthcoming critical book on rock group Lovecraft Studies, Studies in Weird Fiction, &
The Velvet Underground (McFarland), Crypt of Cthulhu.
regular film reviews for Film-Forward.com,
& work for S.T. Joshi’s Encyclopedia of the Laurence Bush teaches English
Vampire (2010). His interests include composition at
attending concerts, acoustic/electric California State
guitars & messing about with PC University, Long
recording technology, film, art/avant Beach. He has
garde, music, & being a serious music, written horror-
book & film collector. related articles, film
reviews, & book
reviews for The
Donald R. Burleson, Romantist, Nyctalops, Necrofile, Grimoire &
M.S., M.A., Ph.D., has The Scream Factory. He also wrote a book,
been an EOD member The Asian Horror Encyclopedia, which
since 1980 (recruited by contains some of the few English language
then-OE Mollie) & a references to the vast Japanese Cthulhu
student of the works of Mythos. He is currently writing his
H. P. Lovecraft since masters degree thesis on genre & gender
first reading him in 1955 in the short fiction of decadent horror
at the age of 13. He has writer, Robert Murray Gilchrist (1867-
published two major 1917). An Antient One, he often mumbles
studies, H. P. Lovecraft: incomprehensible phrases to his students
A Critical Study (1983) & Lovecraft: & stares off into the impossible angles of
Disturbing the Universe (1990) as well as the room.
numerous articles. He has also published
three novels & over a hundred short Scott Connors has
stories; partly collected in at least four been twice
volumes. He is a professional nominated for the
mathematician retired from full-time International
university teaching. He met his wife Horror Guild
Mollie in 1979 at a World Fantasy Award for his
Convention. For more info see: scholarly & critical
writings. Along with Ron Hilger, he is
editing the definitive edition of Smith's
fantastic tales for Night Shade Books. A
contributing editor to Weird Tales, his
reviews & essays have appeared in
Publisher’s Weekly, Lovecraft Studies, Studies
in Weird Fiction, Nyctalops, Ghosts &
Scholars Newsletter, All Hallows, Wormwood,
& the Explicator, as well as such books as
Don Herron's The Barbaric Triumph,
Darrell Schweitzer's The Robert E. Howard
Reader, Icons of Supernatural Horror, A
Warning to the Curious, & Supernatural
Literature of the World, the last three edited
by S. T. Joshi. He has also edited, with
David E. Schultz, the Selected Letters of
Clark Ashton Smith for Arkham House, &
The Freedom of Fantastic Things: Selected
Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith. He was the
first scholar to identify Lovecraft's role in
the revision of Duane W. Rimel's story
"The Tree on the Hill." Forthcoming are a
revised & corrected edition of A Century
Less a Dream: Critical Essays on H.P.
Lovecraft & an edition of the legendary
Lovecraftian fanzine The Acolyte. He works
as a psychiatric nurse near Clark Ashton
Smith's home in Placer County, California.
David Drake was born September 24,
1945, in Dubuque,
Iowa. He
encountered The
Colour Out of Space
in a Groff Conklin
anthology at age 13
or so, & read Cry
Horror! not long
after. He began
buying Arkham House books at age 16 &
thus had a grounding in Weird Tales &
similar fiction even before Mr Derleth
began reprinting all HPL. He got his BA in
History (with Honors) & Latin at Iowa, &
his JD at Duke. He was drafted out of law
school & served in Viet Nam & Cambodia
with an armored cavalry regiment, which
screwed his head up royally. He sold his
first story (to Mr Derleth) in 1966. After
practicing law for eight years, he became a
full-time writer in 1981. He has been very
successful in the SF & fantasy fields since
then. www.david-drake.com
Kenneth W. Faig Jr has been a Lovecraft
fan since discovering his work in Great
Tales of Terror & the Supernatural when he
was in high school. He was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio in 1948, received an
undergraduate degree from Northwestern
University in 1970, & spent two years as a
math grad student at Brown University
(1970-72). He has worked as an actuary
(FSA, 1978) since 1973 & has worked for
his present employer (a software firm)
since 1989. He married Carol Gaber in
1979 & they have two children, Edith &
Walter. His first writing on HPL was
published in George Record's Dark
Brotherhood Journal ca. 1970. He joined the
EOD at its foundation in 1973 although he
was out for a brief while so has not been a
member continuously since the
foundation. He attended the Lovecraft
Centenary Symposium at Brown in 1990 &
also several NecronomiCons, & is looking
forward to attending MythosCon in
Phoenix in early 2011.
John Goodrich An
insidious menace to
sanity & most forms of
decency, John Goodrich
lives in beautiful &
secluded Vermont. He
has published several
stories of Lovecraftian
pastiche, as well as
stories of madness & necromancy. With a
BA from the University of New
Hampshire, & a Masters from New
Mexico State University, his critical
analysis has at least the veneer of
scholarship. When not reading or writing,
he divides his time between hepatomancy
& fencing.
John D. Haefele: Born December 21, 1949;
BA University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(1973); Married in 1979; raised two girls,
now grown; living with wife Sandy & her
son Alex. Career with Target Corp.
(formerly Dayton-Hudson Corp.) spanned Lovecraftian interests & projects he works
thirty-five years; retired mid-2005. Earliest as Assistant Professor at the University of
genre interests: Southern Denmark, having classes in
Famous Monsters of Theory of Science, & as a Quality
Filmland, The Fantastic Controller/Supervisor in one of the larges
Four, & E. R. survey companies in Scandinavia.
Burroughs. [Henrik’s h.p. Lovecraft page online is at
Discovered Lovecraft http://www.lovecraft.dk/ and his
in 1959, in the pages publications via lulu.com can be found at:
of The Macabre Reader http://hplmythos.com/).
& Cry Horror! On a
winter day in 1963, withdrew a fresh copy Derrick Hussey: Born in 1967 in northern
of The Horror from the Hills from a new New Jersey, first
public library while searching for more discovered Lovecraft
Lovecraft. From the jacket learned about around 1979 in a
Arkham House, & early in 1964 Derleth’s Beagle paperback,
shiny black anniversary catalog arrived, then graduated to
the first of many packets, packages, & Arkham House
much mail-waiting. Returned to fandom books. He moved to
after returning to Milwaukee in 1981; Manhattan in 1989,
joined the EOD (finally) in mid-1990s, & where he met S. T
was influenced heavily by members: Joshi, Joshi & began assisting with various
Faig, Jr., Schultz & others. The one projects. Getting to know the other
discordant note has to do with August Lovecraftians in the area, including Scott
Derleth’s literary reputation, which does Briggs & Ben Indick, it was inevitable he
not square with my own experiences & would hear of the mysterious organization
knowledge; upon retiring mid-2005, I set known as EOD. He eventually joined, & a
out to remedy this, first by initiating my few years later at the urging of ST, was
own slow evolution from “fan” to “semi- fortunate to start up Hippocampus Press.
pro” to (hopefully one day) to “pro.” Two In addition to Lovecraftian publishing, he
bibliographies were compiled & my first also pursues a career in substance abuse
book written (August Derleth Redux: The counseling. See Hippocampus Press at
Weird Tale 1930-1971) [Henrik Harksen http://www.hippocampuspress.com/
Productions/lulu.com]—all published—&
separate essays have appeared in The S.T. Joshi is a widely published critic &
Cimmerian, Lovecraft Annual, & elsewhere. editor. He has edited
Numerous projects are underway. the standard
Favorite publisher is still Arkham House, corrected edition of
having compiled a complete & notable H.P. Lovecraft’s
collection of the books along with a wealth collected fiction,
of the publisher’s printed ephemera. revisions, &
miscellaneous
Henrik Sandbeck Harksen was born writings as well as
January 19, 1971, in The Ancient Track:
Denmark where he Complete Poetical Works & Collected Essays.
still lives. He is He has prepared three annotated editions
married to the love of of Lovecraft’s tales for Penguin Classics &
his life, Hanne, with is the author of the award-winning
whom he has the biography, H.P. Lovecraft: A Life. He has
beautiful daughter, been the Official Editor of the EOD APA
My. Besides his since 1987. For more info see
http://www.stjoshi.net/ & has been kicking up the Dunwich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._T._Joshi.
Margaret Lovecraft: Studies: B.A., Grad.
Dip. Lib., Post-Grad Cert. Editing. Career:
librarian for 35 years in jobs that involved
travel throughout Australia; returned to
university in 2006 to become an editor.
Highlights: rode a Suzuki 380 motor bike
from Perth to Sydney across the Nullarbor
Desert, Australia in 1973; found a constant
loyal companion in the late ginger-furred
Pussy Barnes from Christmas 1989; visited
Finland, Sweden & Arctic Circle in 1993;
married Charles Lovecraft in 1999; visited
the Grand
Canyon &
the east
coast of
USA in
2005.
Values:
enlightenment, & kindness.
Danny (Charles) Lovecraft: One of the
greatest moments & days in my life was
when the first words of HP’s “Dagon” &
“Polaris” & then every other word HP has
ever written first trickled into my fading
brains, yes, even the racist ones. As with
Voltaire, I respect the right of anyone else
to etc though I might not agree with it. But
THE greatest moment & day in all my life,
Poe’s “The happiest day, the happiest
hour” was my wedding day when I got
married to Margaret (& I even quoted
Edgar in my speech to say so). The
greatest continues. & now the bio. Oh,
words have run out. Sorree. [Danny co-
edits Studies in Australian Weird Fiction, is
secretary of the Futurian Society Sydney &
proprietor of P’rea Press, contactable at:
DannyL58@hotmail.com ]
John M. Navroth first stumbled across
Lovecraft’s
literary
blasted
heath as a
young lad
in 1969 &
whippoorwills ever since. Born in
Torrance, CA, he grew up as a Famous
Monsters of Filmland & “Monsterkid”.
Years later, he worked in Hollywood in
the animation industry & lived for a time
in the bohemian city of Venice, CA. His
days of debauchery behind him, he has
since settled into a career in occupational
health & safety, first in the aerospace &
defense industry, & currently with county
government. John writes for various trade
journals & his most recent Lovecraftian
appearance has been in Hippocampus
Press’ Lovecraft Annual 3. He enjoys
listening to & playing music & has an
interest in metaphysics & the paranormal.
He currently resides in Kirkland, WA.
Fred Phillips first
encountered Lovecraft
when his 'mad' cousin,
Mike Rothman, in 1962
handed him the Avon
paperback edition of
The Lurking Fear A
decade of intense
activities in the New York branch of the
late Marion Zimmer Bradley's Medievalist
reenactment club, the Society for Creative
Anachronism, plus 44 years of activity in
SF fandom, have left him more a
Medievalist & a fan than an outright
Lovecraftian. Only a few of his poems can
with any justice be described as outrightly
'Lovecraftian'; the others are Medievalist,
personal, & philosophical. The Arkham
House section of his 12,000 book collection
runs to forty titles, but he cannot consider
himself a legitimate Lovecraftian until he
finishes all 57 stories in the 2001 Penguin
3-volume set of his weird stories. Fred
joined the EOD in 2002, not long after
retirement from twenty-six years with the
Department of Labour, State of New
York.Two of his poems have appeared in a
chapbook, The Cimmerian, & at least one in
Studies in the Fantastic edited by S.T. Joshi.
A volume of his poetry is forthcoming
from Hippocampus Press.
Graeme Phillips is a 40+ Scot who enjoys
playing cricket,
reading
horror/SF/Fantasy
books & zines,
listening to indie rock,
watching TV, doing
puzzles & avoiding
work. In the mid 80’s (after reading The
Lord of the Rings, Dune and various other
SF/Fantasy series) he was looking around
for something to read and stumbled
across the Grafton Lovecraft/Cthulhu
Mythos PBs. He has been collecting
HPL/CM related material ever since. In
2006 he contacted ST Joshi thinking he
might have some old EOD mailings for
sale and was informed that he needed to
join the EOD first since ST wasn’t
allowed to sell them to non-members. So
after a year or so of twiddling his thumbs
he eventually cobbled together a zine
and joined the EOD in time for mailing
142 (May Eve 2008). He’s been nagging
ST about the old mailings ever since!
Wilum Hopfrog
Pugmire hopes to have
two new books
completed by the end of
October 2010. In that
glorious year he will
have work in three S.T.
Joshi-edited books:
Black Wings; Spawn of the
Green Abyss; & a sonnet in an anthology of
Supernatural Verse. He will also have
published a definitive hardcover omnibus
of his weird fiction, illustrated, from
Centipede Press. Extreme ill health has
kept him inactive here at the EOD &
elsewhere -- but he hopes to make a full
recovery. [Wilum’s frequent video blogs
can be found at www.youtube.com]
Juha-Matti Rajala
(1982- ). Of Finnish
nationality, Juha-
Matti was originally
drawn to the literary
world of fantasy &
horror around his ninth year after
encountering Tolkien via Ralph Bakshi’s
adaption of The Lord of the Rings, & then
reading that book as well Silmarillion &
Unfinished Tales in quick succession. At age
13 he felt compelled to pick up
translations of H. P. Lovecraft’s works, an
event which probably remains the most
powerful influence he has experienced.
Quickly after that, the unavailability of
several Lovecraft stories in translation &
the procurability of The History of Middle-
earth only in the original language
prompted him to seek out real English
texts, leading to vital expansions of
horizons. Aware of EOD’s existence for
years, he had been too diffident &
awestruck to do anything about it, until
Gavin Smith extended an invitation in July
or August 2006. He joined with the
Halloween issue, first contributing a zine
of his own to the Lammas 2007 mailing ;
contributions have been about as sparse
since then. No notable literary
achievements can yet be attributed to his
name, although he entertains plans for
several future projects. His other interests
include ancient history & music (1960-70’s
in particular), as well learning Anglo-
Saxon & Latin. He currently works in IT,
for the international consulting company
Capgemini.
David E. Schultz has edited a critical
edition of H.P. Lovecraft’s Commonplace
Book & compiled, with S.T. Joshi, An H.P.
Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Schultz & Joshi have
edited numerous other works of H.P.
Lovecraft, including Lord of a Visible World:
An Autobiography in Letters, The Shadow
Out of Time (annotated edition) & Letters
from New York. He is a technical editor for
an environmental engineering firm in
Milwaukee.
Steve Walker :
Born: 1948,
Marshall,
Missouri, USA.
Began reading
science fiction circa 1963. Around same
time began reading Famous Monsters of
Filmland & later Magazine of Horror. Began
reading Lovecraft. Several years later,
Tolkien's turn. Went to college, &
university; & got several degrees. Circa
1973 ceased to read much science fiction,
continued with interest in HPL, including
thesis on him. Got librarian job in 1979 at
university & still at it. At World Fantasy
Con 1983 saw flyer for EOD; became
waitlister; first published fanzine 1986.
Normally doesn't write in incomplete
sentences. [Steve’s online version of his
zine, The Limbonaut, can be accessed at:
http://library.ucmo.edu/faculty/walker/]
Notes: Some people gave me more than
the requested 100-word-bio, some less –
what are you gonna do? Light editing has
been performed on longer entries.
(Non-participants by choice: Mike
Ashley; Gavin Smith). I’m sure Mike won’t
mind me mentioning he is a prolific
fantasy & sf editor; & that Gavin won’t
mind me plugging his bookselling
business, findable at:
http://www.gavinicussbooks.com/
Mystery men & women (Non-
participants by non-response: R(andall)
Alain Everts; T.R. Livesey; Sean
McLachlan; Linda Navroth; Kennett Neily.
Many of us recollect Randy Everts’
valuable research ventures & publications
of The Strange Company from the past.
Unfortunately, I was unable to
include Jim Dapkus as Jim does not have
email & despite our exchange of snail mail
letters I neglected to request his info in
time.
I have taken the liberty of using an
edited version of the Wikipedia entry for
Douglas A. Anderson as no email address
was accessible. The info on S.T. Joshi &
David E. Schultz (taken from the jacket of
O Fortunate Floridian) appears without
their explicit permission & does scant
justice to their work in the field but I hope
they do not mind their inclusion; in any
case most of us know all about them!
Thanks to all who participated & I
hope everyone enjoys putting faces to
names & learning a bit more about each
other!
Books By My Bedside
Only room for the
mention of one book this
time. I picked up a novel
called Seahorse by
Graham Petrie at a book
fair recently. Published
by Constable in 1980, it is
one of the strangest, most
oneiric pieces of writing I have read,
outside of Ligotti & Robbe-Grillet, & also
is reminiscent of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow
Over Innsmouth” if it had been written by
a Surrealist. The narrator finds himself in a
village dominated by the evil Institute, a
factory for manufacturing nightmares
which are tested on the villagers as they
sleep. The villagers play a mysterious
Tarot-like game called Seahorse whose
images seem to foretell events. Souls are
caught in the fishing nets hanging up on
the beaches, & the game’s rules (like the
events through which the narrator
stumbles) are in constant flux. Full of
brooding menace & inexplicably beautiful
strangeness, Seahorse is a neglected weird
gem. The author has also written books
on Hungarian cinema and the films of
Andrei Tarkovsky.
REQUEST FOR COPIES OF
ROBERT BLOCH LETTERS
As previously mentioned, I have initiated
a project of compiling the Selected Letters of
Robert Bloch, & the Bloch Estate has given
me permission to pursue this, under the
auspices of Bloch’s living daughter. I have
already obtained copies of some Bloch
letters from various library holdings in the
US, but would be grateful for leads from
EOD members, especially if anyone has
copies of letters from Bloch they may be
willing to share. Please contact me if you
can help in any way.
 BLACKWOOD
CIGARETTE CARD
I recently purchased a curious Algernon
Blackwood related
item – a cigarette card
with his colour
portrait. Blackwood,
“author & traveller,”
is No 5 in a series of
50 in the “In Town
Tonight” series
produced by
Churchmans
Cigarettes. The cards
must have been
published c.1935,
since the back of the
card refers to
Blackwood’s most recent books as The
Fruit-Stoners (1934) & Shocks (1935).
Albums in which to collect the cards were
sold at” one penny each.”

BLACKMORE STORIES
AVAILABLE FOR SALE
I have for sale one copy only of two Agog!
Press anthologies in which stories by me
appeared. These are now out of print &
reasonably collectable. Both anthos
contain many excellent stories by
Australian sf & fantasy writers.

Agog! Terrific Tales contains my Ditmar-

nominated novella “Uncharted”. $30 Aust
including airmail postage overseas; or $25
including post within Australia.
Agog! Fantastic Fiction contains my story a
la Thomas Ligotti, “Dr Nadurnian’s
Golem” which has received praise at
Thomas Ligotti online. $30 Aust including
airmail postage overseas; or $25 including
post within Australia. Email me at;
lvxnox@gmail.com to reserve. First in, first
served!

I also have one copy of Tide, a magzine

featuring an uncollected non-fantasy story
by me, ‘Leaving Town”. $10 post included
to the first taker. Can sign on request.