Weird fiction is an incredibly rich and varied genre, running the gamut from supernatural horror to imaginary-world fantasy to psychological terror. This anthology seeks to exhibit the wide range of themes, motifs, and imagery that weird fiction allows, as embodied in the work of some of the leading contemporary writers in the field. The ghost or revenant is a venerable motif, and stories by John Shirley, Lynda E. Rucker, and Reggie Oliver ring fascinating changes on it. Allied to the ghost is the haunted house, and stories by Gemma Files and Jason V Brock present highly ingenious variants on the idea. The resurrection of the dead is treated in strikingly different ways by Clint Smith, Jonathan Thomas, Michael Aronovitz, and W. H. Pugmire. Weird fiction has always exploited topographically remote areas of the world as a potent setting for horror. Here, tales by Cody Goodfellow, Lynne Jamneck, and Stephen Woodworth take us to unfamiliar realms where the weird can manifest itself. From a very different perspective, Richard Gavin and Darrell Schweitzer infuse their tales with elements of fantasy that allow for the maximum play of the imagination. Science fiction has always been allied to the weird, and in this volume Nancy Kilpatrick and George Edwards Murray take us to a post-apocalyptic environment where the preservation of our very humanity is brought into question. Psychological horror, as represented here by the work of Steve Rasnic Tem and Michael Washburn, focuses on the dread that stems from mental aberration. The eighteen stories making up Apostles of the Weird demonstrate that weird fiction is a multifaceted genre whose emphasis on fear does not preclude pathos, poignancy, and a brooding rumination on our place in this fragile world.

Apostles of the Weird

H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), the pioneering writer of weird fiction, has himself become an icon in popular culture. Stories, novels, and other works featuring the gaunt, lantern-jawed gentleman from Providence, Rhode Island, have proliferated. These works have been triggered by the incredible amount of knowledge we have on the writer-his family, his friends, his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities-as found in his thousands of surviving letters. This anthology takes the figure of Lovecraft and enmeshes him in a series of bizarre and supernatural adventures. Darrell Schweitzer focuses on Lovecraft's childhood, when he was plagued with dreams of "night-gaunts" and was left bereft by the early death of his father. John Shirley depicts Lovecraft as a gawky teenager evolving his notions of "cosmicism, " while Scott Wiley emphasises Lovecraft's devotion to cats. Stephen Woodworth and Donald R. Burleson ring changes on the Lovecraftian theme of personality exchange. Lovecraft famously collaborated with Harry Houdini on a story. Donald Tyson and Jonathan Thomas write very different stories on the association of these two figures. Mark Samuels focuses on Lovecraft's creation of imaginary tomes of forbidden lore, while the stories by Richard Gavin, David Hambling, Jason V Brock, and S. T. Joshi supply broader ruminations on the origins of Lovecraft's revolutionary motifs. While eschewing Lovecraft himself as a character, the tales by W. H. Pugmire and Simon Strantzas exhibit figures who reveal strikingly Lovecraftian elements while probing the psyche of the man from Providence. H. P. Lovecraft's work has captured the imaginations of millions-and now he himself has become no less fascinating. In every sense of the word he was, as Vincent Starrett said of him, "his own most fantastic creation."

His Own Most Fantastic Creation

When 22-year-old Alison Mannering returns to her home in northeastern Pennsyl-vania after college, she finds a troubling situation. Her father, Guy Mannering, a longtime coal miner, has died recently under suspicious circumstances, and her mother refuses to provide any details of his passing. Alison feels she has no option but to investigate the matter herself, enlisting her high school sweetheart, Randy Kroeber, as well as Randy's twin sister, Andrea called Andy, to assist her. In the process, Alison and her cohorts become enmeshed in an inconceivable horror that goes back a century or more and is somehow involved with the coal mine, now controlled by the remote and enigmatic Conrad Brashear. Beyond the possibility of danger or death to herself and her friends, Alison comes to realise that what is lurking in and below the mine poses a mortal threat to the safety of the planet. In this compelling novella, veteran scholar of weird fiction S. T. Joshi has fashioned a novella of cosmic horror that draws upon the work of Lovecraft, Hodgson, and other classic writers, but that also etches the characters of his protagonists with clarity and sensitivity. The result is a distinctive fusion of weirdness and poignancy that will leave few readers unmoved.

Something From Below

PRIX IMAGINALES 2020 CATÉGORIE PRIX SPÉCIAL DU JURY GRAND PRIX DE L'IMAGINAIRE 2020 CATÉGORIE ESSAI.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) est un auteur qui fascine autant par son oeuvre que par sa personnalité. Ayant influencé avec ses récits fantastiques et horrifiques (comme L'Appel de Cthulhu) de nombreux écrivains comme Stephen King, ses fictions et sa vie ont été soumises à de nombreuses interprétations pas toujours exactes, véridiques et précises. Spécialiste des littératures de l'imaginaire et de Lovecraft en particulier, S.T. Joshi travaille sur sa biographie depuis plus de 20 ans. Par son érudition et son ampleur, elle est aujourd'hui considérée comme la référence au niveau mondial. Pour la première fois en France, sous la direction de Christophe Thill et avec le concours d'une équipe de dix traducteurs, cette biographie est proposée aux lecteurs.

Je suis Providence Tome 2

The six volumes in the Black Wings series, from which these "Best of" tales are selected,  stand as a monument to H. P. Lovecraft's incalculable and unassailable influence on contemporary weird fiction, and so the time seemed right for a retrospective volume that exhibits the choicest items from the series. The task of selection was not a simple or straightforward one, for every tale in the series had some claim to be chosen; let it then be said that this volume does not contain necessarily the "best" stories, but rather the most representative stories in the series. If this selection leads readers back to the many other tales featured in those volumes, then its purpose will have been adequately served.

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