Richard Gavin's Blog

Wandler-Verlag, my German-language publisher, is now offering two new publications: 

Uraltes Holz und andere Geshichten (Primeval Wood and Other Stories) is once again back in stock in a new second edition. Heartfelt thanks to all my German readers who made the first edition of this collection so successful. The second edition includes an exclusive new interview with me in German. Copies of this book can be ordered here.

Die Sohne Noahs (The Sons of Noah) is an anthology of stories by an astonishing roster of authors. The book borrows its title from Jack Cady's short story, translated and published therein, along with tales by William Hjortsberg, John Crowley, and many others. Die Sohne Noahs features the German translation of my story "Notes on the Aztec Death Whistle." Copies of this book may be ordered here.

It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and mankind. It was the Yuletide..." -- H.P. Lovecraft, 'The Festival'

Image: 'Sunset in a Winter Forest' by Julius von Klever, 1889
 

 

Saturnalia tidings of misrule, friends. 

 

Kier-La Janisse, author of the brilliant House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror & Exploitation Films, and director of the definitive documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, has recently added to her already astonishing repertoire by directing a fabulous adaptation of Algernon Blackwood's 1909 story "The Occupant of the Room." Those who know me are aware of my lifelong resonance with Blackwood. I was delighted by this film. 

Janisse successfully remains true to the source material while creating a vision that is unique to her. She delves into the story's themes, which are connected to her own areas of interest. She translates the interior elements of Minturn's character to the screen with great skill. This short film realizes both the timeless essence of Blackwood's tale and showcases Kier-La Janisse's skills as a narrative filmmaker. The Occupant of the Room is perfect viewing for December, truly the Haunted Season. 

I was recently honoured by Prof. Alexander Dickow's presentation "Interstitial Aesthetics: Richard Gavin's 'Neithernor'", which can now be viewed via YouTube. It was an absolute pleasure discussing my story with Alex and his esteemed colleagues at Virginia Tech. 

 

Autumnal tidings!
Nightmare Abbey 9 is now available. This issue features an absolutely fabulous array of authors. It also includes a new story by me, "Gabriel's Horn." 
The magazine can be ordered here. 

 I am very pleased to report that "Gabriel's Horn," my latest short story, will soon be appearing in the creepy, cobwebbed pages of the excellent Nightmare Abbey magazine. A link to purchase will be added once the specific issue is announced. 

There will be more publication news to share in the coming months. Thank you for reading!

 

 

Far be it from me to question any writer’s motivations,but few notions are as alien to me as “posterity.” I have never resonated with aspirationsof “leaving a legacy,” or “being read and remembered.” For me writing is anactive engagement with the depths, the latent, the hidden. My work is bestrealized when I effectively disappear and just allow the images to flow. Whilewriting, I am in an imaginal dialogue, and I publish work in the hope that itwill spark that same sense of the numinous in readers, allowing them to engagewith the perennial Mystery of being, here and now, in their own way. Writingand reading are living, dynamic processes to me. They are not static sanctuariesbecause death is not our enemy.

In the black vastness of eternity, no one and nothing willbe remembered. Not you, not me, not our books. We are here in a particularconfiguration for but a moment, and then we are dissembled into something else.I write to embrace this process, not to evade it. I am not striving to beOzymandias. I write in favour of those shadows that eclipse our mirages ofpermanence...

Michael Kelly of the preeminent Undertow Publications has announced a new annual anthology, The Best Weird Fiction of the Year. The debut volume will appear this autumn and I am delighted to announce that my story "Banquets of Embertide," which was originally published in Northern Nights, has been chosen by Michael for this year's anthology. 
The full Table of Contents can be seen above. Pre-order information will be posted here in due course. Congratulations to all the other authors!
 

 

Last year, Akhlys afforded me the distinct honour of writing lyrics for one of the tracks on their magnificent album House of the Black Geminus (available here). My contribution was the song "Through the Abyssal Door." The official video has now been released and may be viewed above.  

Through the Abyssal Door

The seismic storm rages
The chasm is sheer
This descent reveals

The abyssal door is a mirror

A shriek of swinging hinges
The groan of an opening door
Beckons me to the unsettled fringes
Of the dream with dread at its core

Stairs, like a ladder of blades
Lead me to the labyrinth below
Where a massing of shades
Reaps what the sleeper shall sow

I dream of a burning cord
That binds my heart to this maze
Of discard & pain & discord
Let me feel the Astеrion’s gaze

Aberrant whispers, tеrrors untold
I bow to the ever abhorred
Whose form darkens the threshold
Of the abyssal door

The seismic churn of a portal
Yawning deep in the Earth
Eternity chanced by a mortal
This night of daemonic rebirth

Reveal
Conceal
Reveal

Reveal
Conceal
Reveal

I reach with a vein of fire
& sear the heart of my kin
I seed the unseen with crooked desire
I pass through the abyssal door
I pass through the abyssal door

Lyrics by Richard Gavin 

(copyright 2024)