{"product_id":"inhabitants-of-wraithwood-best-stories-by-w-h-pugmire","title":"Inhabitants of Wraithwood: Best Stories by W. H. Pugmire","description":"\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePREORDER TOMORROW: October, 20th!  ETA: Two weeks!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Signed and lettered deluxe hardcover edition with slipcase is signed by S. T. Joshi and Jeffrey Thomas!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eThe Best Stories From a Modern Master of the Weird.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eIn 2019 the mortal world lost author W. H. Pugmire, but his legacy lives on in this generous collection of his best weird fiction stories, selected by renowned Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, who also provides an introduction.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eThese stories include many of those Pugmire wrote about his fictitious Sesqua Valley, where the veils between this and other realms are especially thin. Other stories relate directly to the inventions of H. P. Lovecraft, but are made wholly original through Pugmire’s unique voice and imagination. Also, herein you will find all of the stories Pugmire wrote about the mysterious artist and seeker of terrible beauty, Enoch Coffin.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eCelebrate the eerie, poetic fiction that could have been written by no other author but Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, Esq.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is the first book in the new Weird House Classics Silver Series!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0781\/0534\/6357\/files\/silver.jpg?v=1792430297\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the introduction by S. T. Joshi\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\"W. H. Pugmire, whether working alone or with sympathetic collaborators, fashioned a literary legacy that is unashamedly dependent upon his literary idols, chiefly Lovecraft, Poe, Wilde, and Shakespeare. He was happy to work in what might seem to be a vein of pure derivativeness; but his native talent enlivened and revivified nearly every trope he took from previous literature, and he himself was a literary figure of substantial standing in his own right. His work has now been translated into several European languages, and more and more of his unpublished and uncollected work will be issued in the coming years. But even now we can see that his literary legacy is a substantial one, with each story or poem or essay illuminating some aspect of his unique personality.\"\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Livory-Regular; mso-bidi-font-family: Livory-Regular;\"\u003eFrom the Afterword by Jeffrey Thomas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Livory-Regular; mso-bidi-font-family: Livory-Regular;\"\u003e\"For Wilum's stories don't seek to horrify or repulse us. Don't get me wrong; they are dark, atmospheric, uncanny. Though he wrote of Lovecraft's various settings, such as Arkham and Dunwich, he also created his own memoragle milieu in the obscure town of Sesqua, situated in the Pacific Northwest but adjacent to a kind of otherwhere. Sesqua is a creepy, often unsettling location, to be sure. Wilum put to ample use a wild and often grotesque imagination. And yet, his stories and the prose which he wrought them were unmistakably beautiful; frequently moving, and always richly lyrical.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Livory-Regular; mso-bidi-font-family: Livory-Regular;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Livory-Regular; mso-bidi-font-family: Livory-Regular;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn His Own Words:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e“Lovecraftian horror is my obsession. When nothing else can cure bordeom, I need only turn to one of countless books or magazines, and suddenly my gloom is gone. And when I’m feeling very bold, I try my hand at writing my own. […] And yet, when I decided to finally try to edit a magazine of Lovecraftian fiction, I discovered that I was a bit uncertain as to just what I was looking for as an editor. I found that I was unable to describe what I meant by “Lovecraftian horror.” I knew that I did not want trendy Cthulhu Mythos fiction. I am not anti-Mythos; but I hate the way it has usurped other forms of Lovecraftian horror.”\u003cbr\u003e—W. H. Pugmire, “Lovecraftian Horror” in Tales of Lovecraftian Horror #1\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003ePRAISE FOR W. H. PUGMIRE\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e“The prose-poet of the horror\/fantasy field; he may be the best prose-poet we have...perhaps the leading Lovecraftian author.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e— S. T. Joshi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e“An important figure in the fields of modern horror and the weird.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e— Laird Barron\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e“Stylistically he owes as much to Oscar Wilde and Henry James as to HPL and Poe, creating a truly unholy fusion that defies academic boundaries between ‘mainstream’ and ‘genre’ fiction.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e— Editor and scholar Scott Connors\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“An aura of dissolution and decay suffuses the 22 stories in this collection of fantastic fiction from Pugmire (The Tangled Muse), the self-billed “Queen of Eldritch Horror.” “Inhabitants of Wraithwood,” a coda to H.P. Lovecraft’s horror classic “Pickman’s Model,” swirls images from expressionist art together with drug-fueled nightmares to convey a world where “the barrier betwixt art and nature, reality and dream” has been blurred. Lovecraft’s influence is notable throughout, particularly in the title work, a lengthy sequence of prose poems that infuses Lovecraftian set pieces with eroticism and morbid romance. There are also tribute tales that evoke the work of Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, the latter in “The Host of Haunted Air,” a modern reworking of his gothic fever dream “The Masque of the Red Death.” Mood, rather than plot, is the main concern of most of these short, poetic pieces. Readers with an appetite for the weird and the decadent will find Pugmire’s work a rich confection.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— \u003c\/span\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Revenant of Rebecca Pascal\u003c\/em\u003e, in my opinion is a masterpiece of modern literature, that ranks right there with some of the best books I have ever read!”\u003cbr\u003e— Peter Schwotzer, \u003cem\u003eLiterary Mayhem\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, I found the answer to my question: can some writers, such as W.H. Pugmire, stay with mythos writing and create something new and powerful? I would say yes; the Sesqua Valley stories are dark, disturbing, and enjoyable. I’m sure I’ll be looking up more of Pugmire’s work in the future.”\u003cbr\u003e— Skulls in the Stars\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Some authors acknowledge their debt to Lovecraft with a simple \"Cthulhu\" or a \"Yog-Sothoth\" and merrily ignore Lovecraft's major themes. Wilum Pugmire, shows a deeper, more studied appreciation of Lovecraft, incorporating certain of his literary idol's themes and mixing them in with his own writer's voice. It's a combination that works; these stories are truly unique. Pugmire's prose rewards careful reading, and his stories stayed with this reader. Although he states that he wishes to always remain in Lovecraft's titanic literary shadow, Wilum Pugmire is clearly original and skilled enough that he casts his own.”\u003cbr\u003e— John Goodrich, SF Reader\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eAn Imp of Aether\u003c\/em\u003e includes 26 stories, many of which are difficult to locate. All 26 demonstrate why Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire will remain the apex of languorous prose and lush language in dreamily supernatural short stories.” ”\u003cbr\u003e— Davie Goundsward, HELLNOTES\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e","brand":"Weird House Press, LLC","offers":[{"title":"Signed and Lettered Deluxe Hardcover w\/slipcase | $100","offer_id":67858202820917,"sku":null,"price":100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0781\/0534\/6357\/files\/wraithwoodCover.jpg?v=1792429824","url":"https:\/\/weirdhousepress.com\/products\/inhabitants-of-wraithwood-best-stories-by-w-h-pugmire","provider":"Weird House Press, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}