The Weird of Hali: Kingsport released
Jun. 2nd, 2017 01:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophiaAnother new book of mine, and one I'm particularly pleased to see in print!
The Weird of Hali: Kingsport is the second novel in my epic-fantasy-with-tentacles heptalogy, The Weird of Hali, which takes H.P. Lovecraft's fiction and stands it on its head. Those tentacled horrors and sinister multiracial cultists? Yeah, they were the good guys all along: the old gods of nature and their worshippers, slapped with the usual blood libels by the cultural mainstream.
Each volume is written as a standalone novel and can be read independently of the others. The viewpoint character in this one is Jenny Parrish, whom readers of the first novel, The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth, will remember as one of Owen Merrill's housemates. She's finishing up a postgraduate year at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, prior to beginning grad school there. A letter invites her to spend the winter holidays with her relatives in Kingsport, ten miles away on the coast, whom she's never met; there's a certain ancient festival held there once each century, this is the year, and Jenny's invited...
Lovecraft fans will already know that his story The Festival provided a chunk of the raw material, and may suspect -- accurately, as it happens -- that the Terrible Old Man puts in an appearance. (He'll be a major character in the sixth book, The Weird of Hali: Hyperborea.) Robert Chambers' The King in Yellow and Arthur Machen's The White People also contribute their quota, as do the stories of Clark Ashton Smith. That said, it's not just a pastiche; this is my own quirky vision decked out in borrowed finery, and I hope my readers will have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
BTW, this is the fine edition; the ultra-super-duper-fine edition, traycased and bound in shantak hide, will be out a bit later, and the ordinary trade paper edition is at least six months out, maybe more. The trade paper edition of The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth is now in preparation and I hope to be able to announce it shortly.
The Weird of Hali: Kingsport is the second novel in my epic-fantasy-with-tentacles heptalogy, The Weird of Hali, which takes H.P. Lovecraft's fiction and stands it on its head. Those tentacled horrors and sinister multiracial cultists? Yeah, they were the good guys all along: the old gods of nature and their worshippers, slapped with the usual blood libels by the cultural mainstream.
Each volume is written as a standalone novel and can be read independently of the others. The viewpoint character in this one is Jenny Parrish, whom readers of the first novel, The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth, will remember as one of Owen Merrill's housemates. She's finishing up a postgraduate year at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, prior to beginning grad school there. A letter invites her to spend the winter holidays with her relatives in Kingsport, ten miles away on the coast, whom she's never met; there's a certain ancient festival held there once each century, this is the year, and Jenny's invited...
Lovecraft fans will already know that his story The Festival provided a chunk of the raw material, and may suspect -- accurately, as it happens -- that the Terrible Old Man puts in an appearance. (He'll be a major character in the sixth book, The Weird of Hali: Hyperborea.) Robert Chambers' The King in Yellow and Arthur Machen's The White People also contribute their quota, as do the stories of Clark Ashton Smith. That said, it's not just a pastiche; this is my own quirky vision decked out in borrowed finery, and I hope my readers will have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
BTW, this is the fine edition; the ultra-super-duper-fine edition, traycased and bound in shantak hide, will be out a bit later, and the ordinary trade paper edition is at least six months out, maybe more. The trade paper edition of The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth is now in preparation and I hope to be able to announce it shortly.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-03 04:57 am (UTC)Just finished it!
Date: 2017-06-05 01:04 am (UTC)As a long time Lovecraft fan I picked up Weird of Hali: innsmouth when it came out in hard cover. It was very different from other lovecraft inspired tales but I like it enough to get "Kingsport" in hard back as well.
I *loved* Kingsport! I ripped through it in a week - while working full time, attending a conference and dealing with my son who may have torn his Achilles tendon.
It was so much better than Innsmouth. I loved the claustrophobic feel of the mansion, I loved the odd characters, I loved the interesting tid bits like the poetry, the books, the authors all of which begged for a quick google search.
It was some of my favorite stuff all blended together - Lovecraft, The Adams Family, Downton Abbey, Gothic Romances etc. Terrific, please keep the series going!
One question - was the Mao Games inspired by anything real world?
AV
Re: Just finished it!
Date: 2017-06-05 05:50 pm (UTC)The series is chugging ahead -- I've actually finished the next two volumes (Chorazin and Dreamlands), the fifth volume (Providence) is in the hands of one of my readers before final edits, the sixth volume (Hyperborea) is about 90% finished in draft, and the final volume -- Arkham -- is in outline form.
As for the Mao games, unfortunately not -- I borrowed them from Arthur Machen's story "The White People," along with most of the other family lore of the Chaudronniers, and put my own spin on them. I wish they did exist!
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-05 11:55 pm (UTC)Kyle
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-06 04:29 am (UTC)When I have the spare time again -- ha! -- I plan on writing more short stories involving Owen Merrill, Jenny Chaudronnier*, et al., like "The Phantom of the Dust," which was published in the first issue of Mythic Magazine. That should fill in some of the blanks and also help keep fans of the series from pining too much.
*Yes, she changes her name back to her birth name between books 2 and 3.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-14 06:30 pm (UTC)Woot!
AV
(no subject)
Date: 2017-06-15 05:23 pm (UTC)