The Weird of Hali: Dreamlands

[ecosophia]

...and the fourth volume of The Weird of Hali is now in print, in paperback and e-book editions. Three more to go! Here's the cover blurb for this volume: 

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To a Country of Dreams...

 

For five and a half years, since the mysterious disappearance of two of her graduate students, Professor Miriam Akeley of Miskatonic University has pursued her own covert researches into the forbidden lore underlying the seemingly fantastic tales of H.P. Lovecraft. The clues she has gathered all point to the shocking reality behind those tales, but it takes an unexpected encounter with a creature out of ancient legend and the discovery of a cryptic letter by Lovecraft’s cousin and fellow author Randolph Carter to lead her to the answers she hoped and feared to find—and thrust her out of the reality she knows into the impossible world that Lovecraft and Carter called the Dreamlands.

 

She is not the only one to pass through that forgotten portal, however.  The ancient war between the Great Old Ones and their enemies has spilled over into the lands of Dream, and an agent of the Radiance now seeks the Temple of the Singing Flame in the far west. Guided by the oracle of Nodens, Lord of the Great Deep, Miriam and Randolph Carter must stop him—for he carries the Blade of Uoht, one of the three sorcerous treasures of drowned Poseidonis, and if he reaches the Temple and extinguishes the Flame, the Dreamlands and all within them will cease to exist forever...

 

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Interested? Copies can be ordered direct from the publisher here. 

Comments

Map

[mesosylvania]

Reading now, and thoroughly enjoying my next initiation!

Do you recommend any online maps of the Dreamland to follow along?

Re: Map

[ecosophia]

None of the maps I've seen online are exactly the Dreamlands as I've imagined them -- for example, the Straits of Stethelos showed up somewhat unexpectedly, and I'm not at all sure the geography of the lands west of Sydathria in my story matches any other accounts of the Dreamlands. I have a sketch map around somewhere, and will see if I can clean it up and post it somewhere.

[(Anonymous)]

"Current Location: Ulthar, where no man may kill a cat"

What about dogs? ;)

[ecosophia]

Dogs, parrots, hedgehogs, etc. have to take care of themselves in Ulthar. Cats have the protection of a law, and there's good reason for that...

[(Anonymous)]

Having had a cat-collecting neighbor, I am not entirely without sympathy for the felicidal couple. I have pictures of my infected flea bites that would curl your hair. I did not hate or blame the cats, who suffered more than I did, but I did want to be rid of them. That was surprisingly hard to do. One day I found a kitten whose eyes were so infected they were dissolving. Took pictures and called the county animal control to come and take the poor critters away. “There are 400,000 stray cats in this county, get in line,” says Animal Control. The cats were sick and suffering—how about if I swear out a complaint? No dice. Same from the city. So-called animal “rescues” wanted nothing to do with a bunch of wild, desperately sick cats. It was awful. The landlord finally broke down and had them trapped when people began moving out because of the problem, and the poor frightened creatures were hauled away to be gassed. I could have ended each cat’s suffering instantly with a good clean shot—ah, but that’s cruelty!

We are ruled by mental midgets.

Why didn’t the landlord evict the cat collector? Because to do so he would have had to prove she owned every single one of those 42 sick, flea-ridden cats. Unless it’s a pedigree animal and you have sale paperwork, state law is silent on what constitutes “owning” a cat.

We are ruled by mental midgets. This will not end well.

I own the house I live in now, and my (dog-owning) neighbor is an exterminator who treats his and the surrounding yards so his dog won’t get fleas. If the mental midgets ever decide to seize this land to make it a strip mall, I’m taking my neighbor with me.

And we ain’t moving to Ulthar.

[(Anonymous)]

As a cat lover myself I'm very saddened to hear that.

Cats need to be treated well, also sterilized to put a cap on their population.

Now that I think of that, these rules should probably be applied to humans as well. :)

Also "mental midgets", that is a great insult, I'm saving that.

- Aspirant

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, it was very distressing; I’m fond of pets, including cats, myself, and it seemed like every day I’d notice another one blinded by the rampant eye infection. The cat collector was in the early stages of dementia and her husband couldn’t afford to put her in a good nursing home (those are very rare and very expensive, at least in the midwestern U.S).

What about women?

[(Anonymous)]

Goats and Roses

Can a woman kill a cat?

Re: What about women?

[ecosophia]

In Lovecraft's time, the word "man" included women. (You'll find the same usage in Tolkien, who was a contemporary.) Now we'd say "no human can kill a cat."

Re: What about women?

[(Anonymous)]

This word and its use was an important plot point in the Lord of the Rings, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNL9oljAFqM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNL9oljAFqM)

- Aspirant

Re: What about women?

[(Anonymous)]

Not in the county I lived in...😄

Speaking of initiations...

[jpc_w]

Without spoilers, one idea brought to the fore in this installment is the peak oil/no better future initiation.

In the broader background(*), does the time-line match up with your other fictional works, or does it unfold separately?

(*) The background as far as humanity-at-large is concerned

Re: Speaking of initiations...

[ecosophia]

It unfolds separately. The story line of The Weird of Hali unfolds over a twenty-year period; our decline and fall will take a good deal longer than that, as several important factors -- most of them with tentacles -- differentiate our world from the Haliverse.

But yeah, there are definitely echoes. It makes for a more interesting tale, at least to my mind.

[(Anonymous)]

Does anybody wonder where Lovecraft acquired his hatred of dogs? Maybe he fearrd rabies? That was a legitimate concern for the poor in 1930’s America. At a yard sale once I bought some very old issues of a magazine called Coronet. One had an article about two little boys being bitten by a rabid dog on the same day in the same town. One was rich; he got his shots and a story to tell his grandchildren. One was poor; he got a 2-week runaround from rudimentary agency to rudimentary agency, and the best funeral his family could manage a few weeks later, his shots having been started too late.

This problem is going to return as fewer and fewer Americans can afford to vaccinate their dogs, so if you are fortunate enough to have health “insurance,” do your best to keep it in force, and learn how to shoot as you may have to put down a rabid dog.

Cats also get rabies, but a sick cat will tend to hide so they’re not as dangerous as rabid dogs. If you google “cat rabies,” you’ll get a video of an orange cat with rabies. The offscreen person poking it with a long stick does finally manage to get it to bite the stick, but he has to work at it. Mostly it tries to find a hiding place. As animal control deteriorates to 3rd-world levels, the biggest threats will be skunks, raccoons, and dogs. And bats.

Many people do not know that until the late 1940’s the Experts were certain that only vampire bats could transmit rabies. See Berton Roueche’s “The Incurable Wound” for details (try one of the used-book services).

It’s interesting that Roueche’s well-written books have been allowed to go out of print. If I were the suspicious type I’d think that our owners fear we’d read the books and start asking awkward questions like “Hey, why can’t WE have public health services like our grandparents had?”

[ecosophia]

I doubt rabies had anything to do with Lovecraft's dislike for dogs -- his phobias were by and large not linked to anything that rational. (For example, the man had a lifelong fear of salads.) I think rather it's a reflection of the fact that there are dog people and cat people, as well as some who like both species. Tolkien, for example, was a dog person and loathed cats -- the original draft of Sauron in his earliest version of the legendarium, The Book of Lost Tales, was Tevildo the Lord of Cats -- and Lovecraft was a cat person and loathed dogs.

But you may well be right about the books.

[(Anonymous)]

You’re not paranoid if They really are out to get you! 😄

But you probably are paranoid if you fear salads. Although you never know, Lovecraft may have been attacked by a bowl of potatoes and mayo in his impressionable youth. I had known he was afraid of the sea and fish and the cold and on and on and on, but the salads are a new one. Well, now we know the source of his classic tale, “The Salad Out of Space.”

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, look what I found!

https://www.avclub.com/how-h-p-lovecraft-speaks-to-our-terrifying-political-t-1798249929

Donald Trump is H. P. Lovecraft’s fault!

Or maybe it’s the other way around. This stuff tends to run together after a while.

[(Anonymous)]

Re cat rabies:

It’s true cat rabies is not much of a threat to humans but the rest of this

https://www.alleycat.org/cats-are-no-rabies-threat/

Is a clowder of lies. Feral and semi-feral cats are a serious threat to the health of pet cats with whom they may come in contact—not so much rabies, but FIP, FLV, and a few other equally nasty ailments. Semi-ferals live longer than ferals but are unlikely to live as a long as a well-cared-for pet. Don’t fall for this. A cat was made to prowl at dusk and dawn, but if there are a lot of ferals or semi-ferals about, keep yours inside.

Well, unless you live in Ulthar.

[avalterra]

Still holding out for the hardback

[ecosophia]

I haven't been able to get an answer -- or even a response -- from the publisher on that. No clue what's up.

[jpc2]

I thought it was really good and fun read.

I'll vote for Dreamland logic!

Now why was Clark so afraid of a ring?:-0 Other than knowing who it came from.

Lovecraft seemed to think Dreamland was an excuse to double-down on 'blasphemous' and similar adjectives. I'd not read much of his witting until shortly before WoH Innsmouth came out. You had made a comment on one of the blogs that you thought he was actually humorous. That got me started.

Your descriptions of Dreamland gave me a fairly good mental map of the place.

The copy of 'Earth Divination, Earth Magic' came in today. You had a description of the differences between the two Geomancy books but haven't located it again.

Now waiting for the next WoH...

Coop Janitor - NJ0C

Woohoo!

[peter_van_erp]

Got the message that my copy has been shipped. Don't think I'll be sleeping Thursday night.

[amritarosa]

I got my copy today! Yay!

It arrived in an Amazon envelope, which confused me for a moment. Perhaps the publisher has a bunch of spare Amazon envelopes to use up? I know I didn't order it via Amazon... I utilize Amazon as little as possible, so it was kind of a surprise.

Hooray for excellent bedtime reading!
As always, thank you
Bonnie

[(Anonymous)]

Just received my copy, and i will start it this weekend! I really hope that you have any news regarding the hardbacks soon....