The Strange Dark One
The Strange Dark One: Tales of Nyarlathotep.
With The Strange Dark One, W. H. Pugmire collects all of his best weird fiction concerning H. P. Lovecraft’s dark god, Nyarlathotep.
This avatar of the Great Old Ones is Lovecraft’s most enigmatic creation, a being of many masks and multitudinous personae. Often called The Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep heralds the end of mortal time, and serves as avatar of Azathoth, the Idiot Chaos who will blew earth’s dust away. Many writers have been enchanted by this dark being, in particular Robert Bloch, the man who, through correspondence, inspired Wilum Pugmire to try his hand at Lovecraftian fiction. This new book is a testimonial of Nyarlathotep’s hold on Pugmire’s withered brain, and these tales serve as aspects of a haunted mind.
Along with stories that have not been reprinted since their initial magazine appearances, The Strange Dark One includes "To See Beyond," a sequel-of-sorts to Robert Bloch’s groovy tale, "The Cheaters;" and the book’s title story is a 14,000 word novelette set in Pugmire’s Sesqua Valley.
The Strange Dark One is a collection of Lovecraftian fiction by W. H. Pugmire. Each tale is beautifully illustrated by the remarkable Jeffrey Thomas, who is himself one of today’s finest horror authors.
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W. H. Pugmire
Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire (1951-2019) was a writer of horror fiction based in Seattle, Washington. His works typically are published as W. H. Pugmire (his adopted middle name derives from the story of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe) and his fiction often pays homage to Lovecraftian lore. Lovecraft scholar and biographer S. T. Joshi has described Pugmire as "the prose-poet of the horror/fantasy field; he may be the best prose-poet we have," and "perhaps the leading Lovecraftian author writing today."
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