Robert M. Price (ed.) – The Dunwich Cycle

[andydecker]

Robert M. Price (ed.) – The Dunwich Cycle (Chaosium, 1995, 252 p.)

As a back text there is mostly a quote of Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror.

Content:
What Roodmas Horror - Introduction by Robert M. Price
The Great God Pan (1894) - Arthur Machen
The White People (1904) - Arthur Machen
The Dunwich Horror (1929) - H. P. Lovecraft
The Shuttered Room (1959)- August Derleth and H. P. Lovecraft
The Round Tower (Being the Narrative of Armitage Harper) (1990) - Robert M. Price
The Devil's Hop Yard (1978) - Richard A. Lupoff
The Road to Dunwich (1984) - Ben P. Indick
The Tree-House (1995) - Robert M. Price and W. H. Pugmire
You Can't Take It with You (1987) - C. J. Henderson
Wilbur Whateley Waiting (1987) - Robert M. Price

In his introduction series editor Price tries to establish a connection between Machen's story and Lovecraft. How much it (maybe) inspired HPL. Also he stresses how much Derleth's dumbed down and sanitized interpretion of Lovecraft has its fundament in The Dunwich Horror with the heroic protagonists from the university, who more or less excorcise the monster with spells. In this he is of course right. Still compared to HPLs other Mythos work it remains an anomaly. But Price is right, of course, it is much fodder for discussion.

If this anthology has any merit, No. 9 in the Chaosium series, it is that the readers are introduced to Machen and Lovecraft's original story. The rest ranges from dreary pastiches to okay but not brilliant stories.

The best is surely W.H. Pugmire with The Tree-House. Price's contribution to the story remains unexplained. Here yet another new descendant of the Whateleys explores the past for selfish reasons and finds more than he expects. This synopsis is truly lame, I know, but it don't want to spoil it. It is not a long-forgotten masterpiece, but at least it is much more original in its conclusion than the rest. Pugmire takes the narrative to his own creation Sesqua Valley. He wrote enough stories about the place to merit a collection, and as a writer of the weird tale he grows on me. And he had a fascinating if difficult life.

The most unnecessary is again one of Price's own contribution, The Round Tower. As Price thought the third part of August Derleth's novel The Lurker at the Treshold terribly lame and the ending rushed – which it is -, he wrote his own version of how the tale should have ended. Other protagonist, same dull plot and and even more anticlimatic endling. At least Price is honest enough to confess in his lenghty introduction that here is "unprecedented hubris" at work.

The majority of the book shows clearly how little the writers could do with the concept of The Dunwich Horror. Again Alan Moore's version in Providence comes to mind, where his take on the Whateley's is much more chilling and unflinching. Compared to that the included pastiches with said exception are dull and timid.

[Dr Strange]

Interestingly, there is a review of this book on the US Am*z*n site that (apparently) was posted by Pugmire himself. Here he says "My own tale, The Tree-House, is a very early Sesqua Valley story, and one that was not a success. Happily, Bob Price revised the story and hugely improved it." Not much to go on really, but (given also that Price gets first billing for the story) it would suggest he had a considerable input in the rewrite.

[helrunar]

Thanks for that interesting find, Dr Strange. Pugmire is such an intriguing figure in fannish culture, active from the late Sixties up till his death--I own some zines from the 1969-73 period that have letters of comment printed from him, and his offbeat personality is already on the deck at that early period.

I haven't read any of his stories but perhaps one of these days...

cheers, Helrunar

[helrunar]

Andreas, I'm really enjoying your reviews of these books. Thus far, while each one seems to include at least a couple of genuinely good tales, none of them seems remotely worth the ridiculous prices one sees these "blasphemous tomes" listed for via online vendors. (Those prices could simply be a case of "bookjacking," however--and thus are not "real world prices.")

Although I have enjoyed Lovecraft's fiction since I was around 11 years old, I have never been at all involved in the fandom, not even through reading message boards or forums. So I looked up Robert M. Price and found this somewhat hagiographical write-up on him:

dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2019/7/7/a-shout-out-to-robert-m-price

I wonder what our friend Richard would have to say about Mr. Price's "contributions" to Robert E. Howard scholarship.

I was amused to see that the phrase "staid and turgid academic journal" links to the ISFD page about Lovecraft studies--edited by S. T. Joshi. Seems as if HPL fandom is just as catty as other fandoms I've had occasion to visit.

I also had to laugh when it was revealed that Price is Lin Carter's literary executor, and that Price has written Thongor books that are "just as good as Lin's." Hoo boy. The cover for Price's anthology The Mighty Warriors would be right at home on our "Phwoar!" page.

Best, Steve

[helrunar]

This same blogger's discussion of Derleth provides further hints regarding his dislike of Joshi. Some cool cover scans. I'd never seen the word "Lovecraftianity" used before. 

dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2019/2/24/regarding-august-derleth

H.

[cauldronbrewer]

Interesting; I hadn't known that S. T. Joshi wrote his own Lovecraftian novel. As fate would have it, W. H. Pugmire apparently wrote a review of that, too, in full Lovecraftian style.

Opinion about The Assaults of Chaos seems--well, polarized would be putting it politely.

[helrunar]

Would love to read Pugmire's review of that Joshi novel! I'm laughing just thinking about it. 

Cauldron, have you ever looked at any of the y.t. videos of the annual Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast meetings held at the "Necromicon" gathering in Providence for Lovecraft fans? It's sort of like "the Monty Python skit from Yuggoth."

cheers, Helrunar

[Jojo Lapin X]

Jun 29, 2020 15:29:01 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

As fate would have it, W. H. Pugmire apparently wrote a review of that, too, in full Lovecraftian style.

I am astonish'd to note that he gives it only four stars. He was always going on about how kind Joshi was, what a great friend he was, &c. Then this betrayal!

[helrunar]

JoJo, thanks for making me smile today.

cheers, Hel

[andydecker]

Jun 29, 2020 14:10:47 GMT helrunar said:

Thanks for that interesting find, Dr Strange. Pugmire is such an intriguing figure in fannish culture, active from the late Sixties up till his death--I own some zines from the 1969-73 period that have letters of comment printed from him, and his offbeat personality is already on the deck at that early period.

I haven't read any of his stories but perhaps one of these days...

Recently I read a Pugmire story in the first Black Wings of Cthulhu and quite liked it. It had nothing to do with the Mythos, but it was different and strangely compelling. I am thinking of buying one of his collections.

Jun 29, 2020 12:52:48 GMT Dr Strange said:

Interestingly, there is a review of this book on the US Am*z*n site that (apparently) was posted by Pugmire himself. Here he says "My own tale, The Tree-House, is a very early Sesqua Valley story, and one that was not a success. Happily, Bob Price revised the story and hugely improved it." Not much to go on really, but (given also that Price gets first billing for the story) it would suggest he had a considerable input in the rewrite.

Interesting find. Frankly it doesn't read like anything of Price I know. But as he knows his stuff it can surely be.

Jun 29, 2020 14:32:56 GMT helrunar said:

Andreas, I'm really enjoying your reviews of these books. Thus far, while each one seems to include at least a couple of genuinely good tales, none of them seems remotely worth the ridiculous prices one sees these "blasphemous tomes" listed for via online vendors. (Those prices could simply be a case of "bookjacking," however--and thus are not "real world prices.")

I also had to laugh when it was revealed that Price is Lin Carter's literary executor, and that Price has written Thongor books that are "just as good as Lin's." Hoo boy. The cover for Price's anthology The Mighty Warriors would be right at home on our "Phwoar!" page.

Thanks, Steve. Those collector prices are nuts. I bought the Chaosium books back when they were published, at the time my comic-shop ordered them. But I never read them thoroughly, mostly just browsed. Now is the chance to evaluate them again. In the moment I think that maybe the concept of them is better than most of the content. I bought a lot of Ebook Mythos anthologies, and most are disappointing. After reading too many of the stories in the last weeks for the first time it just makes my appreciation of "new" anthologies like Ramsey Campbell's New Tales, the Berglund book or even the later massive Turner volumes bigger.

Price seems to be a man with an astounding knowledge and a genuine love for the material, but after 8 volumes I have the impression that his ego must be even bigger than Joshi's. If an editor uses his work continously as a showcase of his own work, he loses respectability in my eyes. 

I discovered Price's Thongor stories, but they are too expensive for just having a laugh.

[Dr Strange]

Jun 29, 2020 16:26:42 GMT helrunar said:

Would love to read Pugmire's review of that Joshi novel! I'm laughing just thinking about it. 

That review is here - link

The cover for the book looks like it came from a cereal box.

[helrunar]

I enjoyed the person on a popular retail site who reviewed the Joshi novel and said that reading it was like chewing tinfoil. Evocative metaphor.

H.

[helrunar]

Andreas, when Willum Pugmire died, I read a couple of obits--one may have been posted here--that said that his real interest eventually settled into re-working Lovecraft's non-Mythos material. An unusual approach, and I'm not even sure just which material that would have involved--as I said before, I enjoy HPL but I'm not one of the "fanatic fans." 

Sesqua Valley sounds like Susquehanna Valley which is where I grew up--where it flows into the Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland. Interesting.

I bet a Thongor novel composed by Robert M. Price would be pretty funny, but only funny if one found it on a crowded shelf in a dimly little bookshop priced at around 50 cents. (or 1 Euro, I guess, in your case)

All the best, Steve

[David A. Riley]

After reading all this I was tempted to order the Joshi novel off amazon to see what it was like, but shipping is $24.95 from California. A bit too much for a $13.96 book!

[David A. Riley]

I found a copy of The Assault of Chaos on Abebooks from a reliable bookseller, so have ordered it. I am interested in seeing just how good or bad this is. Joshi is so contentious a critic that it could well be that the one bad review on amazon was written out of maliciousness - something far from unknown there. When I have finished reading it I'll write a review of my own which I'll send to Trevor Kennedy at Phantasmagoria magazine.