Weird Fiction discussion

Most folks will be familiar with Hazel Heald as a revision client of H. P. Lovecraft, the nominal author of "The Man of Stone," "The Horror in the Museum," "Winged Death," "Out of the Aeons," and "The Horror in the Burying-Ground" - stories which have been reprinted in many anthologies and collections of Lovecraft's revisions and ghostwriting.

Far fewer people have read Heald's sixth published story, "An Heir of the Mesozoic" - this was published in an obscure fanzine at Lovecraft's suggestion, and has remained out of print to this day. However, the First Fandom Experience provided a scan, so I've transcribed the text of the story for a new generation of weird fiction fans to read here:

https://deepcuts.blog/2021/03/31/an-h...

What a well-researched and interesting article! Thanks for sharing.

The first sentence is somewhat confusing for me. It states, "Hazel Drake Heald was arguably H. P. Lovecraft’s most successful and prolific revision client." I know what revision is and what a client is. However, I have no idea what a "revision client" is, what is being referred to with that term.

Lovecraft had a service where he revised stories for his clients. Hence, revision client.

I agree with your final assessment that the story shows little to no Lovecraft revisionism. As a former editor myself, I have so so thoroughly edited authors' works that another term for what I did could have been revision. Virtually no sentence would be left untouched. (Commonwealth authors in particular typically have a strong predilection for passive voice that has to be converted.) In the case of "An Heir of the Mesozoic," so many decisions reflecting poor judgement are left standing in the text that Lovecraft, had he edited or revised it, would have removed, it's impossible to believe his hand ever touched it.

Still, however flawed the story, it has positive features. Lovers' triangles seldom fail to generate narrative tension. I'm not quite sure I've made any sense (to myself) of Part II, or how a glandular extract could be the climax, though I appreciate your placing that in historical context. In any event, I'm glad you found and resuscitated the strange story for our reading pleasure. Thanks!