for the SSWFT (Aug 2, 2010/38th mailing), & Esoteric Order of Dagon (Aug 2, 2010/ 151st mailing) Amateur Press Associations. 78 Rowland Ave, Wollongong, NSW 2500. Australia. Below: Ghouls of Sydney’s Waverley Cemetery: L-R: Fred Phillips, Danny Lovecraft and Perry Grayson during Fred and Dee’s Australian sojourn, May 2010. Right: “Nevermore!” tales). And I have a medical diagnosis at last for my MANTICHORE 18 chronic neck pain – osteoarthritis. So I only have to Leigh Blackmore look for part-time work at least for the time being, and Contact lvxnox@gmail.com my manuscript assessing may satisfy the government Official Website: Blackmausoleum – on that score. In May occurred the much-anticipated http://members.optusnet.com.au/lvxnox/ visit of raconteur, bon vivant and all-round nice guy as Latest SSWFT news at: http://sswftapa.blogspot.com/ well as talented poet, historian, film buff, bibliophile, LB at Australian Horror Writers Association: heraldic expert, long-term fan (or ‘apahacker’ as Fred http://www.australianhorror.com/member_pages.php?pa refers to it), occult student and god-knows-what-else, ge=86 Fred Phillips, and his charming wife Dee, to these LB’s library (catalogued) can be accessed at: Antipodean shores. Unfortunately my involvement http://www.librarything.com/profile/666777 with their week-long sojourn was cut short due my mother, Beth, being taken to hospital with an Contents This Issue emergency (see details later). It was a worrying time, of course, and overshadowed to some extent the joy of Mantic Notes…………….……….…………..2 meeting Fred, though the time I got to spend with him A US Lovecraftian Down Under – and Dee was wonderful (See the longer report below). Fred and Dee Phillips in Oz…………………5 So I’m going to abandon my idea of catching up past mailings with comments. This is damned annoying as I had many responses I wanted to make, especially to Scott Briggs’ lengthy issues. Maybe I can get back to it in a future issue. Anyway, I won’t even feature my Mantic Notes regular columns such as “Books By My Bedside” this (Pronunciation:'man-tik. Etymology: Greek mantikos, from mantis: of, time, or the new one on “Women Writers of Horror”. relating to the faculty of divination; prophetic). Instead, this issue features a piece on the visit of Fred Of all my various ideas for this issue, most have not and Dee Phillips to Australia, and little else. I do hope I been accomplished. I had the idealistic notion of having can resume emcees in the issue following this one. I an all-Mailing-Comments issue, catching up with the haven’t even kept a record this quarter of books I’ve issues from the past two mailings of SSWFT and EOD, read, though I enjoyed quite a few.//Studies in but time precludes it, and I’ll tell you (as my Australian Weird Fiction No 4 is being put together grandfather used to say) “for why.” Most of my spare (finally) as I write, and we hope to get the issue out by time in the last quarter has been involved with reading October or November – though it will unfortunately be reams of stories (well upwards of a hundred tales so too late to take to Aussiecon, the World Science Fiction far) submitted for Midnight Echo issue 5. I am proud to Convention in Melbourne, which is on in early have been invited to guest edit this issue of the official September.//Richard L. Tierney, who had been journal of the Australian Horror Writers Association. I nominated for the Grandmaster Award of the Science am also fortunate that by the time my issue gets into Fiction Poetry Association, lost out to fellow writer Jane print (probably Oct or Nov this year), the deal with Yolen. This was a pity, especially in view of RLT’s both the British Fantasy Society and the Horror Writers massive new collection Savage Menace and Other Poems of America whereby members of those organisations of Horror, which I believe consolidates his reputation as get free copies of Midnight Echo will mean that stories one of weird verse’s finest. Don’t forget you can order and poems I select for ME5 will be seen on three Savage Menace, along with other P’rea Press publicaions continents. There’s a good chance that the issue will such as ST Joshi’s valuable Emperors of Dreams: Some include stories by several well-known members of EOD Notes on Weird Poetry, by contacting Danny Lovecraft at – though for the present, that’s all I can reveal. Issue #4 DannyL58@hotmail.com. //I am collaborating with RLT of ME, edited by Lee Battersby, has just been released on at least one poem, and may do similarly with Ann and can be obtained from AHWA at: K. Schwader, Fred Phillips, Margi Curtis and perhaps http://australianhorror.com/index.php?view=115. more with Danny Lovecraft.//Not only am I digitising But in addition to editing that issue (which I all my paper files, but I am finally digitising my old am still in the throes of doing – there are many LPs. This excites me because I can rescue from budding horror writers out there, that’s for sure!) I unplayable oblivion (Ex Oblivione!) some of the have been assessing novel manuscripts as usual, and excellent spoken word recordings I have by Bloch, it’s left me little time for Mantichore. (I’ve also been Ellison, Lieber, FB Long and others. I’ve also been busy with things like providing Graeme Phillips with exploring the wonderful world of audio downloads source material for his planned special issue of Cyaegha from the internet and have captured many worthwhile on Australian writer Vol Molesworth’s Lovecraftian Lovecraft recordings. I can highly recommend looking up the link below at Digital Meltdown, which provides Testamur at the further links to many scarce recordings of HPL tales, 44: 28 timing including RM Price’s recording of “The Dunwich mark. // In June, I Horror”, and such rarities as readings by David finished and McCallum, Roddy McDowell, Erik Bauersfeld and even submitted my some early radio dramatisations. See Sherlock Holmes http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/search/label/H.P. horror story “The %20Lovecraft. (Scott, you may want to also check Arcana of Death” http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/search/label/Auss for the third ie%20Rock, which has some downloads of scarce Edge Publishing Aussie rock underground classics). Holmes horror In May, Margi won First prize in the Karuna anthology, Gaslight Portrait competition at Arcanum. I haven’t yet TAFE for her portrait of heard whether it has been Leonard Cohen. I accepted, but I have my reproduce a detail of tentacles crossed. My the winning work here. friend and fellow writer We were all mighty Chris Sequeira may have a proud of her! Margi has tale in the same volume. //I of late been re-reading also turned 51 in June, me the draft of her celebrating with a joint fantasy novel Seed of the dinner at our place with Whitherborn, which I my friends Scott (and his have been enjoying wife Kara) and Adam (and greatly. She plans to his wife Jude). Adam and Scott are also Cancerians like write a final section and then I hope she will soon myself, so we were celebrating their birthdays as well. submit the manuscript to potential publishers. Scott gifted me with a superb handcrafted version of I John Dee’s Sigillum dei Amaeth, a central artefact of started a Enochian magick, and I was bowled over by the time blog and effort he had spent on it. It now reposes proudly discussing on my magical altar awaiting use in a special working. horror //Around the same time I managed to link up in films at Sydney with fellow horror writer and former Terror the Australis co-editor, Bryce Stevens, in Sydney. Check out following Bryce’s latest published story “Trust Me”, available as a link: free download from: http://www.legumeman.com/free%20junk.html. We had a great time yakking and hunting for secondhand books, and we found some fabulous things http://www.orble.com/screen-shadows-horror-films- at an amazing sale at Galaxy Bookstore. They had classic-and-contemporary-with-leigh-blackmore/. I got paperbacks marked down to $1 and hardcovers to $5 – as far as three entries on different movies and have not some of the latter were limited editions or academic hcs had time to write more as yet, but will add to this blog worth $100+! Amongst my scores were – well, Scores, a when I am less occupied. //I finally had my graduation collection of John Clute’s reviews (retail price $90 – sale ceremony yesterday, July 23, at the University of price $1!); Wollongong. (I had been unable to graduate in a critical December when I finished my course due to some late work on results). Margi and Graham were there to support me, Stephen as was my brother Kent, whom I was very honoured to Donaldson have make the trip down from Sydney to fly the family from a uni flag. Now it’s all signed, sealed and delivered and at 51 press I am finally a man of letters! (See a few pics here). And which I for those Blackmore fanatics who may want to witness bought for a streaming video of the presentation (lol☺) , see: Margi http://www.uow.edu.au/student/graduation/video/five (retail $65 /index.html where you’ll find me receiving my – sale price $5); a Poppy Z Brite Subterranean Press limited ed of essays, Guilty But Insane (retail $120; sale price $5), and many others which were superb value. My best score was a copy of the Tartarus press Lost Poems of William Hope Hodgson, in pristine condition – a Left: Danny $100 book for $5 bucks! All up, I spent about $30 and Lovecraft with the must have gotten around $500 worth of books. It was four books he has incredible – one my proudest moments in recent years published so far as a bookhunter – and capped my recent installation by under the imprint Fred Phillips as Arch-Provost for NSW of the Antient of P’rea Press, and Honourable Order of the Drowned Rat! //Sadly, we including the new discovered that our cat Hades, who had been ailing for weird verse some time, has cat AIDs and we don’t know how long collection Savage he has to live. We’ll look after him as best we can.// Menace & Other Rohan has a new job in IT at North Sydney, which is Poems of Horror great. Margi is enjoying yoga, life drawing classes and by Richard L. reading Tarot for Lotus (as usual), and is adjusting to Tierney. the changes under the new owner at the shop. Graham had school holidays during July and we managed to get our kitchen renovations further advanced as well as doing many other improvements to the house including repairing guttering. //We had a special trip to Sydney in the last couple of days to meet a Reclaiming- tradition witch from Bay Area San Francisco. Margi and Graham are working towards holding local Witch Camps with Melbourne-based Reclaiming people, and it was great to meet this woman, who had been a lawyer defending death-row prisoners for many years. We had a nice meal at a Newtown café, and also linked up with Rohan, before adjourning to another café to introduce our US friend to the delights of the Aussie dessert Pavlova. //I found out that my favourite musician of ALL TIME, Todd Rundgren, will be playing in Australia for the first time ever in October. He will play two dates in NZ, then play the Southern Blues Festival in NSW (held in Narooma, not a long drive from where I live in Wollongong) and possibly some Sydney dates before going on to Japan. I cannot express the overwhelming excitement I feel as I look forward to beholding this masterful musician, producer and songwriter live after 30 years of following his every recorded note on LP and CD!!! Todd is Godd!!!//Graeme Phillips (to whom, much thanks) has lent me much assistance in helping complete my runs of Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction, though I still need a number of issues of the latter. If anyone can help me with copies of SinWF Above: Certificate from Brown University Library #8, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, and 21, I would be happy to cross acknowledging my donation of sixty volumes of their palms with silver and supply my eternal Lovecraft in foreign translation, in 1990. The works gratitude. And surely EOD is the right place to be were mainly in French, Italian, German and Japanese. asking about this? Many of you must have runs or spares? Any assistance appreciated!! I really want original copies of the issues, though if anyone has these numbers and would be prepared to scan them and make me a PDF, the aforementioned eternal gratitude would also be forthcoming… A US Lovecraftian in OZ – We were given a fascinating tour of the place, and Fred waxed rhapsodic, drawing on his heraldic Fred & Dee Phillips Down Under knowledge to confound the otherwise-experienced tour guide re: coats of arms of the previous Governors It was the end of May and the long-anticipated General of NSW. I was struggling with my bad throat visit of Fred Phillips and his wife to Australia was and had a dreadful coughing fit in the elaborate dining nearing. What room; thought I was going to cough up a lung, but should happen but managed to recover, eyes watering, and more that the week embarrassed than anything else. After viewing the before I came down ballroom and the unique grand piano, we took some with a sore throat photos of our group in a couple of locations outside. which steadily We walked up past Sydney’s Conservatorium became worse as of Music and Danny pointed out various architectural their visit features to be found on some of Sydney’s old sandstone approached. By the buildings. He’s a veritable HPL when it comes to day before, my appreciating architecture! We found a suitable place for throat was lunch, a Japanese restaurant which served great food at ulcerated and reasonable prices, and Fred regaled us with extremely painful. I impressions of great film stars of the 40s, some of felt like death. Was which were very funny. His memory for the actual I going to allow this condition to intervene and stop me lines from particular movies is extraordinary. I think it from meeting the poet from afar and his wife? Like hell was over lunch that Fred formally appointed myself, it was!! I made my way to Sydney by train, laden with Danny and Perry to positions in his legendary Antient various books that I planned to give Fred, plus a bunch and Honourable Order of the Drowned Rat, as fellow of books and videos that I’d been saving up for Danny bibliophiles. I was appointed Arch-Provost for the Lovecraft. At Town Hall Station, I met up with Perry region of NSW and Environs (or something along those Grayson and chatted about the unfortunate demise of lines). Next stop on our whirlwind tour of various his latest band, Moonshine. It wasn’t long before we Sydney locations was Waverley Cemetery. When I first spotted Danny Lovecraft heading towards us, and the knew Danny immediately recognisable figures of Fred Phillips back in the (wearing an Esoteric order of Dagon hoodie) and his 1980s, he companion Dee. Fred arrived talking and I quickly lived with learned that the man is an inexhaustible fount of witty his parents at observation, learned commentary mixed witty remarks, Bondi, and and generally akin to Harlan Ellison on speed! After a Waverley quick viewing was one of of the QVB his nearby building and stomping the Victoria grounds. The Shopping cemetery is Arcade, an amazing place, being located on the very edge of the during which coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. While it lacks the time I chatted overgrown splendour of such Sydney cemeteries as to Dee about Rookwood her work, and and Gore observed that Hill, the she was adept at taking in the sights of the city around sheer her, we piled into Danny’s car and embarked for NSW breathtaking Government House, situated within Sydney’s scenery of sprawling ‘Domain’ park in the inner city. Strangely, I the blue had never been into this residence of the NSW ocean, the Governor General. (Having been, most of my adult life, atmosphere an anarchist, I had sedulously avoided visiting seats of created by government). the various birds (including massive glossy ravens) who perch atop various stone monuments and columns, and the way one must climb and clamber up precipitous and containing stories by myself (God knows if he’ll ever winding paths amidst the gravestones makes Waverley get time to read them…). Fred and Dee presented us one of the great must-visit spots in Sydney for the with some fine shoulder bags they had brought for us horror aficionado or ghoul. (‘Searchers after horror as gifts from New York’s Strand Bookstore. Margaret haunt strange, far places”). The great Australian writer welcomed us into home with her usual panache despite Henry Lawson is buried the descending hordes of Lovecraft fanatics. Fred was there, although there carrying some of his poetry with him, and treated us to was so much to see that an impromptu recital of a couple of his pieces. It was we didn’t pause to great to him actually reading his own verse, after being examine his grave. Fred, an admirer of his written work for so long. Hurry on of course, kept up a non- the publication of From the Cauldron, his forthcoming stop stream of enjoyable volume of verse from Hippocampus Press! (I see from banter regarding Hippocampus Press’ website that this volume may fandom, the US appear as soon as December). Lovecraftians, and all After coffees and recuperation, it was time to manner of things. With ferry two carloads of people to the restaurant where we my sore throat it was would dine, a feat which Danny accomplished with difficult to respond in commendable aplomb. The restaurant was one I hadn’t kind, but we were dined at before, but its location was magnificent – right having a great time. It was a rare privilege to be near the Harbour Bridge with its sparkling lights, spending time with American visitors who shared a overlooking the Harbour, and about 100 yards from love for Lovecraft, weird verse and suchlike. Sydney’s marvellous Luna Park funfair (a site of many There had been storm warnings for that childhood memories for me – I first rode on its ghost- afternoon indicating that Sydney may be hit by gale- train at the age of about 9, and while at university I force winds, and I was somewhat concerned that our wrote an undeveloped screenplay thriller based there). outdoors excursion may be cut short, but even when Dinner, of course, was a comfortable venue for more we left Waverley to drive to Bronte Beach, the weather banter. Fred and I discussed the Egyptian Book of the didn’t seem to get quite that violent. The breakers at Dead and so many more matters with which we are Bronte surged madly, and the wind whipped around both fascinated. The food was excellent and I believe us as we stood at the safety railing above the surf, but Danny, Margaret, Perry and Dee all enjoyed the repast. the choppy water had not prevented many surfers from Fred was now more like Harlan Ellison without the being out in the swells. Rather them than me! speed, but still kept up an almost continuous stream of Following Bronte, we drove by Bondi Beach and then observations on everything under the sun; the man is to the Gap, which overlooks Sydney Harbour’s two quite remarkably well-informed on his special subjects! spectacular heads (North Head and South Head) and After dinner Perry headed for the train to get the wider ocean. We continued our madly leaping back to his place, Danny drove Dee and Fred back to discussions, as though trying to cram in all possible their hotel in the Sydney, and I returned to Lane Cove information during Fred and Dee’s brief stay, as sunset with Danny & Margaret to stay overnight. It had been a glowed above the horizon. full-on day of sightseeing and babbling of shared Cramming back into the car, we then returned wonders, and it was with great relief I finally sank into to Danny and Margaret Lovecraft’s place at Lane Cove bed for an exhausted sleep. on Sydney’s The plan had been that some time in the next North Shore. day or two, I would have Fred (if not Dee as well) With great down to Wollongong to meet Margi and Graham, and relief I to spend some hours chewing the fat while we trolled unburdened through my extensive book collection, which I was sure myself of the Fred would appreciate (though in numerical terms, his many home library far exceeds mine). Unfortunately, the next treasures I morning I was still feeling so ill that I had to bow out was carrying, and return to Wollongong alone. My throat was in a still coughing shocking state. I had still not ruled out having Fred fit to bust. I visit down south, but the very next day my mother was handed over all the stuff I had for Danny, and also admitted to hospital with a serious emergency. It presented Fred with copies of various Australian seemed that she may have had a duodenal ulcer which horror anthologies including a copy of my old ‘Terror had hemorrhaged, although we later discovered it was Australis’ anthology, and two ‘Agog’ anthologies a slightly different though equally dangerous condition. However, this threw a major spanner in the works of me either getting back up to Sydney, or having our US visitors at home in Wollongong. I was very worried about my mother – she actually came close to death due to blood loss – but the operation proved successful and over the next few days it transpired that she would recover. Meanwhile, Fred and Dee did actually travel to Wollongong (unbeknownst to me), later sending me the photo of themselves at the local train station as proof they’d made it that far. It was a great pity I didn’t know, because I would still have invited them to the house if I was aware, even though Margi & Graham, were also down with the flu. Anyhow, in the end I had to content myself with having seen them for the one day in Sydney. I knew that they would be having good experiences with Danny, Margaret, Phillip Ellis and others of our Australian contingent, and I believe they did. Fred and Dee had invited us all to a dinner in Sydney’s Chinatown on the Friday night before they left, but even at that stage, the ramifications of my mother being so ill in hospital meant that I couldn’t rejoin the crew for the dinner. But I heard that a good time was had by all before Fred and Dee flew back out for New York. I can only hope that I will someday catch up again with my US friends of the EOD/SSWFT, perhaps by travelling back to the States. Above: “The Thing on the Doorstep” by Gavin L. O’Keefe, from The Australian HP Lovecraft Centenary Calendar (1990).
Above: Danny Lovecraft and Leigh
Above: From my collection - copy of Robert Blackmore parody the famous shot of Frank Belknap Aickman’s Night Voices signed to me by the Long and H.P. Lovecraft playfully punching each introducer, Barry Humphries. No, I didn’t meet him other in the noggin. in person. The book was sent to Humphries’ home in LA by a bookseller friend, signed, and returned to me ***Thanks again to Graham Wykes for some in Australia. Who would have guessed the man who formatting help with this issue*** plays Dame Edna Everage is a weird fiction Ia!! Yog-Sothoth!! enthusiast?