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Blood Will Have Its Season
The dark, forbidding alleys of our ruined cityscapes; the hopeless lives of brutalized whores, amoral hit-men, and vengeful victims of violence-these are the landscapes and characters that fill the stories, poems, and prose-poems of Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. in his first collection. And yet, there is a strange and intoxicating beauty to Pulver's creations, for they transport the reader out of the mundane and into the unearthly by the effortless stroke of a dazzling metaphor. Many of Pulver's stories are innovative riffs on the enigmatic mythology of The King in Yellow, pregnant with the demonic witchery of the original. With this collection, Pulver has placed himself in the forefront of contemporary fantasy and horror literature.
286 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 26, 2012
I had high hopes coming to this collection. Here is one of the exceptional prose writers that modern horror has to offer, so I was given to believe. Naturally I was very excited but that excitement began to slip away as, story after story, I began to realise this was very different from what I expected.
Joseph Pulver approaches the page as an impressionist painter approaches the canvas, painting words onto the page in broad strokes with lyrical flashes of imagery, subverting the rules of grammar to maximise the effect. His prose style reminds me of Ray Bradbury when he waxed most lyrical, but far more concerned with themes of urban and moral decay. I was also put in mind of Ramsey Campbell in short story form but far less concerned with plot.
Pulver is obviously a widely read and big fan of the genre and one theme that recurs in many of the stories here is the "King in Yellow" (Robert W. Chambers). I was even inspired to pick up The King in Yellow and re-read a few of the stories to freshen my recollection of them so I might better appreciate what Pulver was trying to do with the theme. It reminded me how much I enjoyed those stories and didn't help at all in my appreciation of Pulver's work.
There are a large number of stories, poems and vignettes contained herein, all very short and stylistically varied. Some of them I did quite enjoy but then others, I simply had no idea what it was about from start to finish. Generally, I found it very hard to engage and not an enjoyable experience. I accept that this more a personal reaction and not necessary an indictment of the authors abilities in any object sense.
I've put the book down with a few stories still unread but I just can't face any more right now. I doubt I'll read anything more by the author unless I can be convinced that it is substantially different from what I've read here.
Joseph Pulver approaches the page as an impressionist painter approaches the canvas, painting words onto the page in broad strokes with lyrical flashes of imagery, subverting the rules of grammar to maximise the effect. His prose style reminds me of Ray Bradbury when he waxed most lyrical, but far more concerned with themes of urban and moral decay. I was also put in mind of Ramsey Campbell in short story form but far less concerned with plot.
Pulver is obviously a widely read and big fan of the genre and one theme that recurs in many of the stories here is the "King in Yellow" (Robert W. Chambers). I was even inspired to pick up The King in Yellow and re-read a few of the stories to freshen my recollection of them so I might better appreciate what Pulver was trying to do with the theme. It reminded me how much I enjoyed those stories and didn't help at all in my appreciation of Pulver's work.
There are a large number of stories, poems and vignettes contained herein, all very short and stylistically varied. Some of them I did quite enjoy but then others, I simply had no idea what it was about from start to finish. Generally, I found it very hard to engage and not an enjoyable experience. I accept that this more a personal reaction and not necessary an indictment of the authors abilities in any object sense.
I've put the book down with a few stories still unread but I just can't face any more right now. I doubt I'll read anything more by the author unless I can be convinced that it is substantially different from what I've read here.
July 14, 2010
Mr. Pulver has a unique and original voice that is well suited to his sometimes experimental writing style - many instances of alternative capitalization and punctuation, even some layout and font variations. Lots of noir and tough-guy elements flavor these pitch-black horror tales, some of which are more poetry than prose. He also references Chambers' "The King In Yellow" stories frequently, expanding upon the weird cosmology and decadent themes of those old curiosities.
I found a couple of stories to be a little too gruesome for my tastes, but there is no denying the man's talent. If you like your horror brutal and bizarre, you will not be disappointed.
I found a couple of stories to be a little too gruesome for my tastes, but there is no denying the man's talent. If you like your horror brutal and bizarre, you will not be disappointed.
July 16, 2020
RAGEQUIT
The title story (sixth in this collection) features a drawn-out and very graphic depiction of the rape, torture, mutilation, and murder of a pubescent girl by her own father. Oh, and it's from his POV, so it's also eroticized. I've long felt that Pulver seems a little too into writing about sexual violence against women and girls, and this confirms it.
So sick to death of this shit from male horror writers. Really, the best way you can think to portray horror is through the rape, murder, and drooling sexualization of helpless female characters? Fucking unoriginal. There are plenty of excellent weird fiction and Lovecraftian authors who don't do this shit, including every female author (Kiernan, Bulkin, Kiste, Files, Smith, Moreno-Garcia) of the genre I've read.
And it's a shame too, because Pulver's prose really is beautiful.
The title story (sixth in this collection) features a drawn-out and very graphic depiction of the rape, torture, mutilation, and murder of a pubescent girl by her own father. Oh, and it's from his POV, so it's also eroticized. I've long felt that Pulver seems a little too into writing about sexual violence against women and girls, and this confirms it.
So sick to death of this shit from male horror writers. Really, the best way you can think to portray horror is through the rape, murder, and drooling sexualization of helpless female characters? Fucking unoriginal. There are plenty of excellent weird fiction and Lovecraftian authors who don't do this shit, including every female author (Kiernan, Bulkin, Kiste, Files, Smith, Moreno-Garcia) of the genre I've read.
And it's a shame too, because Pulver's prose really is beautiful.
Read
December 3, 2014Raoul Duke thought himself savage and unclassifiable, but I don't think he had ever met the bEast. Strangely, I met bEast before I read his work, though I had heard tell of him. I was contemplating embarking on a novel about dim Carcosa and the goings-on there when a friend I'll call Ol' Hoss clued me in.
Mr. Pulver didn't discourage my ruminations about Big Dumb Objects and worldbuilding and I went on to pen the thing, ending up with about 800k of useless rambling, fodder for other work.
Somewhere, sometime later, I acquired my first Kindle and immediately commenced a COLLECTION.
Several of the bEast's works were made available at attractive prices. I read the teasers and a coupla pages of each and took them on board, where they got into my endless queue of to-reads.
I read Nightmare's Disciple first, and then managed to lose my copy before adding my two cents. One of these days I'll rectify that.
We like some of the same kinds of music, and belong to some of the same groups, the extended Lovecraft family. Joe asked me to like his group Blood Will Have Its Season. I said sure, and the titular tome popped up on my device, no doubt summoned by that nameless Roi et Jaune and his consort.
It occurred to me that perhaps I should know what the group was all about. I began reading, one short story or section a day, my preferred method of dealing with a collection. The damned thing kept growing on me. Three days in, I was reading two-three sections before bed. Five days in, great swathes of curved muscle, blood, and bone fell before my fevered eyes. A week, and I was done. Not enough. I had already recognized the influences, Bloch and his Juliette, the noir et roux of the Black Mask school, and the King in Yellow, Chambers' magnum opus.
The book delights in that which Burriss learned in Thorns, what Miriam Allen de Ford's character craves, in all that is devilish in the human and unhuman condition. It is not unremmitingly dark. Oh no...there is light. Just enough to be dimmed suddenly by a wash of red or to illuminate the flash of silver as the blade descends or to swallow the burst from a gun muzzle as yet another creature is dispatched by the Constantine Op who lurks within some of the pages.
And there is pain, a veritable Grand Guignol, a buffet of despair and torment sumptuous enough to satisfy a connoisseur, and wanton carnality--a carnival of heaving breasts and bared buttocks and bEasts with two or three or seventeen backs, and still, and still, a sense of wonder, of incredulity, an admiration of the torture a man or woman can endure and yet still abide. And wisdom--there is wisdom, displayed in detective-story wisecracks and the language of a poet who has been into the laudanum again.
Yeah, I read it a second time, faster, and a third, in one sitting. Nothing's perfect--there are more than a few typos, and sometimes they break up the flow momentarily...but the blood keeps on flowing and covers that up quickly, and the masks upon masks upon masks stay securely on, and when it is done, you can pretend it didn't change you, the book, the experience, the WORDS, the WORDSssssssss.
But that's only make-believe. You should have the experience too, for 'tis the season.
Mr. Pulver didn't discourage my ruminations about Big Dumb Objects and worldbuilding and I went on to pen the thing, ending up with about 800k of useless rambling, fodder for other work.
Somewhere, sometime later, I acquired my first Kindle and immediately commenced a COLLECTION.
Several of the bEast's works were made available at attractive prices. I read the teasers and a coupla pages of each and took them on board, where they got into my endless queue of to-reads.
I read Nightmare's Disciple first, and then managed to lose my copy before adding my two cents. One of these days I'll rectify that.
We like some of the same kinds of music, and belong to some of the same groups, the extended Lovecraft family. Joe asked me to like his group Blood Will Have Its Season. I said sure, and the titular tome popped up on my device, no doubt summoned by that nameless Roi et Jaune and his consort.
It occurred to me that perhaps I should know what the group was all about. I began reading, one short story or section a day, my preferred method of dealing with a collection. The damned thing kept growing on me. Three days in, I was reading two-three sections before bed. Five days in, great swathes of curved muscle, blood, and bone fell before my fevered eyes. A week, and I was done. Not enough. I had already recognized the influences, Bloch and his Juliette, the noir et roux of the Black Mask school, and the King in Yellow, Chambers' magnum opus.
The book delights in that which Burriss learned in Thorns, what Miriam Allen de Ford's character craves, in all that is devilish in the human and unhuman condition. It is not unremmitingly dark. Oh no...there is light. Just enough to be dimmed suddenly by a wash of red or to illuminate the flash of silver as the blade descends or to swallow the burst from a gun muzzle as yet another creature is dispatched by the Constantine Op who lurks within some of the pages.
And there is pain, a veritable Grand Guignol, a buffet of despair and torment sumptuous enough to satisfy a connoisseur, and wanton carnality--a carnival of heaving breasts and bared buttocks and bEasts with two or three or seventeen backs, and still, and still, a sense of wonder, of incredulity, an admiration of the torture a man or woman can endure and yet still abide. And wisdom--there is wisdom, displayed in detective-story wisecracks and the language of a poet who has been into the laudanum again.
Yeah, I read it a second time, faster, and a third, in one sitting. Nothing's perfect--there are more than a few typos, and sometimes they break up the flow momentarily...but the blood keeps on flowing and covers that up quickly, and the masks upon masks upon masks stay securely on, and when it is done, you can pretend it didn't change you, the book, the experience, the WORDS, the WORDSssssssss.
But that's only make-believe. You should have the experience too, for 'tis the season.
September 9, 2010
Blood Will Have Its Season is a collection of 41 short stories and poetry by acclaimed author Joseph S. Pulver. The book begins with a forward from editor and Lovecraft Scholar S.T. Joshi. He informs us that Joe has finally found his voice in short story form… and I agree. I was impressed with what I heard and read of Mr. Pulver’s work prior to BWHIS — but now I am simply in awe.
Some short story collections read a little like a portfolio of the author’s work. Each story is different in style and often genre as well. This collection was cohesive and although each story was very different, I didn’t feel like I ever stepped outside of the universe Mr. Pulver created.
Joe incorporates the mythos of other strange tale authors – like Lovecraft or Chambers – into his universe, but you never feel as if he is rehashing the same tales. These are new and wholly different. Currently my favorite stories in the collection are “PITCH nothing…” - a cautionary tale about the power of books and “Lovecraft’s Sentence” – a story about a hack and his meeting with a certain specter. Both are examples of everything I love about the strange tale genre.
Pulver has a way of immediately drawing you into his world – and holding you prisoner as you go (willingly) into the dark abyss of his imagination. I was captivated by the haunting poetry of his prose. There are few who can write horror in such a way that you become enamored with the beauty – Lovecraft, Chambers, Poe… I will now be adding Pulver to this list. Thank you for the beautiful nightmares sir.
Final thoughts:
This is the best short story collection I have read in a very long time. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Strange Tales, Horror, Short Stories or Dark Poetry – it is a wonderful, spellbinding trip (that I have taken twice already) through the darkest reaches.
(For the full review with images and links please go to: http://sheneverslept.com/newsandrevie... )
Some short story collections read a little like a portfolio of the author’s work. Each story is different in style and often genre as well. This collection was cohesive and although each story was very different, I didn’t feel like I ever stepped outside of the universe Mr. Pulver created.
Joe incorporates the mythos of other strange tale authors – like Lovecraft or Chambers – into his universe, but you never feel as if he is rehashing the same tales. These are new and wholly different. Currently my favorite stories in the collection are “PITCH nothing…” - a cautionary tale about the power of books and “Lovecraft’s Sentence” – a story about a hack and his meeting with a certain specter. Both are examples of everything I love about the strange tale genre.
Pulver has a way of immediately drawing you into his world – and holding you prisoner as you go (willingly) into the dark abyss of his imagination. I was captivated by the haunting poetry of his prose. There are few who can write horror in such a way that you become enamored with the beauty – Lovecraft, Chambers, Poe… I will now be adding Pulver to this list. Thank you for the beautiful nightmares sir.
Final thoughts:
This is the best short story collection I have read in a very long time. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Strange Tales, Horror, Short Stories or Dark Poetry – it is a wonderful, spellbinding trip (that I have taken twice already) through the darkest reaches.
(For the full review with images and links please go to: http://sheneverslept.com/newsandrevie... )
September 5, 2011
Fuckin awesome book...
Joseph Pulver writes beautifully often in a very experimental style that drives home his nightmarish/brootal imagery with a force few writers I know of outside of Thomas Ligotti can muster.
A great amount of this collection of short stories and prose poems revolves around The King in Yellow, most of which were awesome with my favorites involving Dr Archer, Carl Lee and Susan.
His Lovecraftian tales were a highlight for me esp. 'Ochard Fruit' and 'Lovecrafts Sentence.'
By the end I was ready for something new and I think I would of got a lot more enjoyment out of this book if I'd read it in spurts. But... This is some of the best modern horror writing out there well worth your time if you like Weird Fiction of horror in general.
Joseph Pulver writes beautifully often in a very experimental style that drives home his nightmarish/brootal imagery with a force few writers I know of outside of Thomas Ligotti can muster.
A great amount of this collection of short stories and prose poems revolves around The King in Yellow, most of which were awesome with my favorites involving Dr Archer, Carl Lee and Susan.
His Lovecraftian tales were a highlight for me esp. 'Ochard Fruit' and 'Lovecrafts Sentence.'
By the end I was ready for something new and I think I would of got a lot more enjoyment out of this book if I'd read it in spurts. But... This is some of the best modern horror writing out there well worth your time if you like Weird Fiction of horror in general.
March 4, 2012
After reading the _The King in Yellow_ by Robert W. Chambers, I wondered if anyone was writing stories in a similar vein. Since _The King in Yellow_ is in the public domain, was anyone writing stories utilizing Carcosa, Camilla, the Phantom of Truth, and King in Yellow? The answer I discovered is "yes".
_Blood Will Have Its Season_ by Joseph Pulver is a collection of weird tales, a good number of which were inspired by Chambers' _The King in Yellow_. Other influences are Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, and hard boiled fiction.
Yet, as S.T. Joshi notes in his introduction to this book, these stories are anything but "mechanical homages." A good number of these stories are "experimental" in form and style, and even in typeface. These "experiments" work--they are conducive to the stories' content.
A good example of this is the story "PITCH nothing...". In this story, the narrator is in a bookstore and when he starts reading a book entitled _Religion, Witchcraft, and Science: Speculations on the Nature of the Night_, the narrator, is, literally, immersed in pitch blackness. The changing typeface is reflective of the experiences of the narrator.
"Yvrain's Black Dancers" is a development in the "Carcosa Mythos." In one of Chamber's stories, the lover of sculptor Boris Yvrain turned into a marble statue. In this story by Pulver, a demonic scuplture by Yvrain comes alive with deleterious effects on its observers.
Some stories are more traditional in form. "Choosing" is a story of the aftermath of the triumphant rise of the Great Old Ones.
Fine work is being done in weird fiction, and Joe Pulver is part of it.
_Blood Will Have Its Season_ by Joseph Pulver is a collection of weird tales, a good number of which were inspired by Chambers' _The King in Yellow_. Other influences are Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, and hard boiled fiction.
Yet, as S.T. Joshi notes in his introduction to this book, these stories are anything but "mechanical homages." A good number of these stories are "experimental" in form and style, and even in typeface. These "experiments" work--they are conducive to the stories' content.
A good example of this is the story "PITCH nothing...". In this story, the narrator is in a bookstore and when he starts reading a book entitled _Religion, Witchcraft, and Science: Speculations on the Nature of the Night_, the narrator, is, literally, immersed in pitch blackness. The changing typeface is reflective of the experiences of the narrator.
"Yvrain's Black Dancers" is a development in the "Carcosa Mythos." In one of Chamber's stories, the lover of sculptor Boris Yvrain turned into a marble statue. In this story by Pulver, a demonic scuplture by Yvrain comes alive with deleterious effects on its observers.
Some stories are more traditional in form. "Choosing" is a story of the aftermath of the triumphant rise of the Great Old Ones.
Fine work is being done in weird fiction, and Joe Pulver is part of it.
January 12, 2026
I kept starting this on and off for a long period of time, always finding myself oddly drawn to it despite finding the writing style fairly heavy going. In between my numerous attempts at getting into this I picked up 'The Orphan Palace' and read it feverishly over a couple of days. After that I came back to my copy of this and couldn't put it down. I've been working through his bibliography since and loving every second of it.
The writing style might initially take a bit of getting used to, but therein lies Joe Pulver's charm. Every story reads like an intensely poetic, deeply disturbing fever dream. I can't recommend this highly enough, there is very little else out there like it.
The writing style might initially take a bit of getting used to, but therein lies Joe Pulver's charm. Every story reads like an intensely poetic, deeply disturbing fever dream. I can't recommend this highly enough, there is very little else out there like it.
June 17, 2014
A noirish, blighted landscape of blood and desolation. Grim, dark vignettes spewed forth by the blasted acolytes of the Yellow King..or something like that.
This was my first Pulver collection, and my god, was it brilliant. For your money you get serial killer stories, cosmic horror, poetry, stream of consciousness cries to the old ones and more than you could possibly imagine. All with a Current 93 soundtrack.
Highly recommended!
This was my first Pulver collection, and my god, was it brilliant. For your money you get serial killer stories, cosmic horror, poetry, stream of consciousness cries to the old ones and more than you could possibly imagine. All with a Current 93 soundtrack.
Highly recommended!
August 22, 2015
Joe Pulver is a master of taking the vague and esoteric skeleton of a mythos that Robert Chambers created in his book the King in Yellow and fleshing out bizarre, whole literary homunculi out of them. This book contains many KIY stories, but is filled with other horror and even what could be considered noir stories as well. A definite excellent reflection of a brilliant writer.
August 6, 2014
Reader beware: The book is a brick to the face. It's very hard to read, and one of the stories in it actually ranks as the single most disgusting thing I've ever read in my life.
But there are some stories that are worth a look, and for the weird fiction fan, this book is a must.
Recommended, but in the hopes you have a strong stomach.
But there are some stories that are worth a look, and for the weird fiction fan, this book is a must.
Recommended, but in the hopes you have a strong stomach.
March 4, 2010
I'll probably amend this review later, but while the book was overall very good, some of the stories seemed pretty lame to me. It was good but it wasn't Chambers.
July 4, 2014
This book is a great read!
October 21, 2010
Short stories, some more strange that others. Pretty good descriptions on everything.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews