Weird Fiction discussion

Called a "prose poem" by Wikipedia, it's actually not. It's a very short story concerning a narrator who wanders through his garden one evening and, in the moonlight, witnesses many bizarre sights. He soon reaches a stream, crosses a bridge, and then realizes the garden has no end. The story details what the narrator encounters in this dreamscape garden, which I won't spoil.

"What the Moon Brings" was first published in the National Amateur in May 1923. Some say the story is essentially a fragment. Wht do you think? Full story or fragment? The work is based on one of Lovecraft's dreams, a common technique for Lovecraft.

I'm looking forward to digging into this one!

If you have completed this month's selection, "Hypnos," then you have my permission to start this work early.

Here is a website version if you need one: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...

And here's the first sentence in case you're still on the fence: "I hate the moon—I am afraid of it—for when it shines on certain scenes familiar and loved it sometimes makes them unfamiliar and hideous."

I had remarkably little opportunity to do the readings - still finishing up the Imrana cycle, which was what - May's read?

Zina wrote: "I had remarkably little opportunity to do the readings - still finishing up the Imrana cycle, which was what - May's read?"

It's okay, that's life sometimes. I do hope you can join some more readings soon, though :)

I'll get to this next Lovecraft reading eventually. Last one didn't impress me much, if I remember correctly, so didn't have very much to say about it.

Zina wrote: "I had remarkably little opportunity to do the readings - still finishing up the Imrana cycle, which was what - May's read?"

Simrana. Lin Carter. I liked the anthology/story collection so much that I have gone on to start reading Carter's (then Price's) Flashing Swords! #1 series. Volume 1 from 1973 starts with a monumentally good Fritz Leiber short story, a personification of death, and Death's problems gathering the last two souls in an allotted span of time. Leiber's style is sheer poetry. I read the story five times, each time discovering something new and incredible.

The second of the four stories is a Jack Vance Dying Earth story published originally for this Lin Carter edited volume. Vance throws twenty well-defined characters at the reader in a complicated situation I just didn't get. A little research revealed to me the short story was pages 701--741 of Tales of the Dying Earth, which collects all the parts of the series Vance wrote from 1950-1984 in one volume. So now I'm reading the earlier 700 pages of that in order to understand the last 42. It's great material, about these magicians at the end of time on Earth, playing for such high stakes in a cutthroat realistic way against one another for the dwindling resources. It's an amazing weird fiction read, frankly, even if it's seldom identified as such--fantasy, SF, and horror are all there in roughly equal amounts in an apocalyptic setting. Just goes to show how reading Simrana, and thus Lin Carter, can send one down such a lengthy rabbit hole!

But I digress. This thread is about this month's Lovecraft short story. It starts: "I hate the moon—I am afraid of it—for when it shines on certain scenes familiar and loved it sometimes makes them unfamiliar and hideous." Lovecraft can even make something as romantic as moonlight a trope for horror!

Aaah, we should have read "Tales of the Dying Earth" series together! I recently procured that volume. Heard so many great things about it :)

You have a point. Regarding Dying Earth as weird fiction, those who want to claim it for SF because it is set at a different time in an Apocalypse have to contend with the fact the lead characters are magicians practicing magic, an SF no-no. Fantasy people likewise have to deal with the fact this is Earth, not Narnia or Middle Earth, and these magicians have advanced science, particularly vats that use biological science and mathematics to create life forms, including human. Then there's the horror, derived from the very serious tone and how these guys go after and torture one another. The cross blending of genres, and lack of clear definition of starting parameters, clearly identifies this as weird.

I'll substitute it for one of my nominations this month.

Yes, I agree! Good! :)

I don't think anyone, including me, has taken the opportunity to read this Lovecraft short story yet. August has been so busy what with schools starting back up. I am extending this read for fifteen days to go through September 15. Let's get her done! I know it has a GR rating of 2.90, which is a clear indicator of suck. But don't you want to read it for yourself and find out if you agree with the general assessment?

I read it before and remember nothing about it, so I'll get around to reading it again.

Meh! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Some of the descriptions are pretty gross!