THE WISDOM OF SILENUS (DUNHAMS MANOR PRESS)

M

Mr. Veech

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Jordan Krall (through Dunhams Manor Press) was gracious enough to publish THE WISDOM OF SILENUS, a short story I wrote as a sort of prelude to an upcoming collection of mine. The story itself will soon be available in the form of a chapbook found on their website. Here's a link for those interested:

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Without giving away too much, I will say that I was consciously inspired by Ligotti's "The Last Feast of Harlequin," Clark Ashton Smith's "The Devotee of Evil," and Mark Samuels' "The White Hands." If the story is even remotely as good as the aforementioned three, then I will be completely satisfied. I feel the titled story does a good job of preparing the reader for what subsequent stories will be like. Again, I'm excited as well as thankful for Dunhams' willingness to take a chance on an unknown author. I've done my very best to write as if TLO (you guys) were my primary audience. I'll keep everyone updated in the future concerning the entire collection itself.

EDIT: It's important to give credit when it's due. I'd like to thank Ibrahim Ineke for providing me with valuable feedback during the creative process. There are, of course, others who helped me along the way. I'll disclose their names once the entire book is released.
 
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Congrats Mr. Veech! Care to give us a little hint on what said short story is about? Maybe a little info on the upcoming collection?
 
luciferfell said:
Congrats Mr. Veech! Care to give us a little hint on what said short story is about? Maybe a little info on the upcoming collection?
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Thank you! I've modified the original post so that it now contains more information concerning the contents of the story as well as the entire collection.
 
Did you also turn towards the stories behind the stories you mention as inspiration? i. e. there seems to be a fair amount of Great God Pan & Ligeia in the White Hands, and signs of Lovecraft's The Festival in the Feast of the Harlequin?

One of the reasons i appreciate weird fiction ( and other areas of ostensible 'pulp' culture ) is that the best practitioners seem to have a sense of lineage, and respect and acknowledge that, in contrast to the literary genre and contemporary art, where claims of absolute originality are regularly and ridiculously being made.
The recent trend in weird fiction of 'denouncing' our predecessors i find lamentable for this reason. Mark Samuels has labeled ours 'the Weird Continuum' over on his blog, i believe. Congratulations in any case on your commitment to it.
 
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Thank you for elaborating on the first post.
Ligotti's "The Last Feast of Harlequin" was the one that really caught my eye back when.
I will try to remember this thread when the book is published.
 
Ibrahim said:
Did you also turn towards the stories behind the stories you mention as inspiration? i. e. there seems to be a fair amount of Great God Pan & Ligeia in the White Hands, and signs of Lovecraft's The Festival in the Feast of the Harlequin?

One of the reason i appreciate weird fiction ( and other areas of ostensible 'pulp' culture ) is that the best practitioners seem to have a sense of lineage, and respect and acknowledge that, in contrast to the literary genre and contemporary art, where claims of absolute originality are regularly and ridiculously being made.
The recent trend in weird fiction of 'denouncing' our predecessors i find lamentable for this reason. Mark Samuels has labeled ours 'the Weird Continuum' over on his blog, i believe. Congratulations in any case on your commitment to it.
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Although the influence was inadvertent, Machen and Poe are certainly there. I firmly believe that a text (a piece of fiction in this case) necessarily occupies a "world" populated by other texts. There's a sort of ongoing dialogue between various voices. I don't possess a competitive spirit, so I'd like to believe that authors working within a specific genre share more similarities than they do differences. It's important, in my humble opinion, to show respect for the tradition in question, but also provide one's own voice. You don't get to choose the song in question, but you can certainly bring your own voice to the chorus.

Samuels was a pretty big influence. It actually saddens me a bit to know that he would certainly disapprove of the philosophical premises from which I'm working with. Such is life ...

EDIT: "The Convalescent," another story, is a sort of appropriation of Poe's "The Raven" from a Ligottian point of view. Kafka, Borges, and Kleist are present throughout the collection as well.
 
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Mr. Veech said:
Samuels was a pretty big influence. It actually saddens me a bit to know that he would certainly disapprove of the philosophical premises from which I'm working with. Such is life ...
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I think it would merely sadden him if the stories don't dare reach beyond the author's own philosophies, which is something i believe he thinks literature capable of ( & rightly so ).
 
10 copies (of 33) of the chapbook have already been preordered! Jordan and I have officially sold my first piece of writing.
 
Yep, mine arrived a couple of days ago. Excited to read it. When will its companion collection be going on sale?
 
Mr. Veech said:
The Plutonian was generous enough to conduct an interview with me. I took the liberty of mentioning three TLO (one former) members. There's also a really good interview with Matthew Bartlett as well.


The Plutonian: New Interview: Lewis Richmond
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I'm a little confused: I thought that "The Wisdom of Silenus" was a "prelude" to your upcoming collection. This interview suggests it is a story in the collection... and also the name of the collection.
 
Ucasuni said:
Mr. Veech said:
The Plutonian was generous enough to conduct an interview with me. I took the liberty of mentioning three TLO (one former) members. There's also a really good interview with Matthew Bartlett as well.


The Plutonian: New Interview: Lewis Richmond
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused: I thought that "The Wisdom of Silenus" was a "prelude" to your upcoming collection. This interview suggests it is a story in the collection... and also the name of the collection.
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You have every right to be confused. I sincerely apologize. The problem is a result of my not anticipating the release of a chapbook before the actual collection. I should've changed the original title to fit the former's release.

I've contacted the powers that be to help me remedy this problem. I'm actually quite embarrassed.
 
Horribly embarrassed, I hope. Unbearably, even.

So, is the collection going to also include a version of Silenus?
 
Lewis, while I’ve vowed to curb my chapbook purchases, I imagine I’ll be buying your collection when it’s released.

This part from the interview intrigued me:

“The first thing that struck me after finishing the collection, was how classical the structure of the stories were. In terms of style they really could have been written in 1918. They remind me of maybe Le Fanu stories or E. F. Benson works. The Wisdom of Silenus is full of stories of strange night time visitors, bizarre transformations, and somnambulist descents into darkness. But the collection does not share the more moralistic trappings of classic weird horror. I would say that it follows a more post-Ligottian depressive or abysmal viewpoint”
 
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