Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Who are the manliest writers involved in the scene of 'weird horror' or 'weird fiction'? Manliest here being defined in traditional heteronormative terms and basically reducing to:

1. Upper body strength and ability to succeed at fisticuffs

2. Consumption of alcohol

3. Raw tenacity

4. Procreative success (passing on genes by rejecting antinatalism and the pull-out method)

5. Not wearing dresses or frocks

I'd nominate:

William Hope Hodgson. Lifted weights pretty consistently and died fighting a World War.

Algernon Blackwood. His face looks like a bracken and he spent a lot of time in actual nature rather than in cat cafes or at an Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) event.

Robert E. Howard believed barbarism to be preferable to civilization and went around shadow boxing in public. Unfortunately he wasn't able to knock up Renee Zellweger in the movie made about him, and he killed himself because his Mom wasn't around anymore. If he'd killed himself because someone served him a disappointing sandwich, he probably would have been in the #1 position.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I agree on William Hope Hodgson. One of my goodreads friends--a woman--says "He's hot!"

I also nominate Clark Ashton Smith. I heard he had a way with women.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Hodgson wins hands down. He saved a life at sea and got a medal for it. He took photographs of hurricanes from the decks of ships. He gave Harry Houdini one of the worst experiences of his professional life (it's a pity Lovecraft never knew!) He also towed around a wagon with a giant model of the Glenn Carig on it and sold his books from the wagon. I could go on, but, jeeeze, isn't this enough?
Oh, yeah, he died in the final days of the War on a suicide mission. Norman Mailer, you were such a wimp.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

That's pretty difficult to match. Any word on his alcohol consumption and/or procreation?

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Robert F. Jones - Wikipedia
This guy is a contender.

CASmith might have been a ladies man but I don't think he was a tough guy.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

My favorite sentence from Wikipedia's entry on Clark Ashton Smith:

"Smith now reluctantly did gardening for other residents at Pacific Grove, and grew a goatee."

It's such a bizarre, random observation. I wonder what was going through the mind of the person who wrote that. "Let's see, at this late stage in his life CAS decided to grow a goatee. Yeah, I definitely should put that in there."

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Bearded Arthur Machen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pscbhkbq6y.png

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Manly Wade Wellman

If his name alone isn't enough (and why wouldn't Manly Wade Wellman be enough?), he

(all according to Wikipedia)

- was born in Africa and "became an adopted son of a powerful chief"

- after his family returned to the U.S., he played football (no, not soccer, football)

- toured the Arkansas Ozarks, "learning folk traditions and meeting the secluded people of the American back country"

- was a "professional Southerner full of regional anecdotes" who "came on strong for the Confederate cause"

- During World War II, he served as a first lieutenant (okay, he served in New Jersey, but still)

- "built a vacation cabin on what he called Yandro Mountain in the Smokies, next to his friend Obray Ramsey's place, where they would invite friends for a taste of mountain music, food, fun and a good lick of blockade whiskey"

- had a friend named Obray Ramsey

- "His jobs included working on farms, in cotton gins, and working as a bouncer in a dance hall."

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I may be completely wrong, but I always sense manliness in Laird Barron's aura as a writer.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

You're very good at deadpan, Mr. Lewis.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Justin, I don't think any writer can beat Hodgson in macho spirit but we shouldn't forget Karl Edward Wagner. I don't know how he did with the ladies but I'm sure he had some memorable nights at the conventions. And, man, he could hold his liquor admirably.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Poe.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Rumor has it that Mark Samuels once pistol-whipped a Scotsman.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

You can't top Wrath James White.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....5L._UX250_.jpg

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I don't know who Wrath James White is, but considering the picture, the name alone wins, hands down.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

He's an extreme horror writer. He wrote a story (might have been one of his collaborations) about a man who tries to do such vile acts at home that God will come down to stop him, with the hope he can trap God and torture him.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Though I second WHH, what about Ambrose Bierce?

At the outset of the American Civil War, Bierce enlisted in the Union Army's 9th Indiana Infantry. He participated in the Operations in Western Virginia campaign (1861), was present at the "first battle" at Philippi and received newspaper attention for his daring rescue, under fire, of a gravely wounded comrade at the Battle of Rich Mountain. In February 1862 he was commissioned a first lieutenant, and served on the staff of General William Babcock Hazen as a topographical engineer, making maps of likely battlefields.

Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862), a terrifying experience that became a source for several later short stories and the memoir "What I Saw of Shiloh". In June 1864, he sustained a serious head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and spent the rest of the summer on furlough, returning to active duty in September. He was discharged from the army in January 1865.

His military career resumed, however, when in mid-1866 he rejoined General Hazen as part of the latter's expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains. The expedition proceeded by horseback and wagon from Omaha, Nebraska, arriving toward year's end in San Francisco, California.

Bierce wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "A Horseman in the Sky", "One of the Missing", and "Chickamauga". His grimly realistic cycle of 25 war stories has been called "the greatest anti-war document in American literature".

According to Milton Subotsky, Bierce helped pioneer the psychological horror story. In addition to his ghost and war stories, he also published several volumes of poetry. His Fantastic Fables anticipated the ironic style of grotesquerie that became a more common genre in the 20th century.

In 1913, Bierce traveled to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution. He was rumored to be traveling with rebel troops, and was not seen again.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I just like to imagine that his reluctance extended to his facial hair, as if the goatee were grown under duress.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

At first blush Poe seems to be the opposite of what this thread is looking for. But: I know he was short, died young, was an extreme alcoholic, and suffered greatly at the hands of his abusive (step?) father. Oh, and pioneered a genre in his spare time.

Perhaps, after all, he's the most "manly" of the bunch.

Oh, and thanks for the reminder re: Bierce. I read his 'Shiloh' eyewitness account, and can't imagine wanting to read any others. The perfect combination of elegant 19th century prose and the raised brow of skepticism.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

In the first picture I ever saw of Karl Edward Wagner, many years ago, he was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the words KILL 'EM ALL. Combined with his biker-like appearance, this made an impression on me. I wasn't a Metallica fan, so it was several years before I realized, Oh, that was probably just a concert t-shirt.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Mr. Isis you're a jewel for this forum...

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Horacio Quiroga put the rugged in rugged individualism. He made a homestead in the middle of the ####ing jungle and saw the crazy #### in his stories on the reg.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pu...son-1_4540.jpg

Oh and this guy.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

We shouldn't forget Charles Beaumont. He was a pretty good race car driver, something I greatly admire. He turned the gas back on after the Company turned it off. Why? Because his young son was sick and needed the heat. He and his buddy Harlan bedded many a fine young thing in the sixties.

Best of all, his photos look like stills from a film noir.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I'm throwing my hat in the ring for Laird Barron and Karl Edward Wagner. If I was in a bar fight, I'd want Laird and KEW backing me up.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

A point related to this discussion: I fail to see why consumption of alcohol is a sign of manliness. Its an act thats not difficult to do, and, if done beyond moderation, can have bad consequences.

Compare the consumption of alcohol to (1) body building (2) fighting in a resistance movement (3) defending a woman from a criminal. The consumption of alcohol is too dissimilar to the latter three.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

It's a macho thing, Mr.Dwyer. Personally I prefer narcotics--they don't wreck you as badly--but, hey, alcohol works to a degree.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I've always liked Harlan but I've never bought that image of him as a tough guy. I believe about one-tenth of his stories...
but, damn, they are entertaining!
He really talks too much to be macho. Most of the really tough guys I've known were quiet and sullen.

Outside of Hodgson and maybe Howard horror writers aren't made from that mold.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/comp...58i/381095.jpg

China Mieville
Would not want to see him in a back alley.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...io_Quiroga.jpg
Horacio Quiroga
As Nirvana In Karma said, Quiroga was no joke. From the wiki,

"He even went as far as to leave them [his children] alone one night in the jungle, or another time made them sit on the edge of a cliff with their legs dangling in the void"

Even killed himself with cyanide...

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Aleister Crowley:

http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/wp-c...er-Crowley.png

Pros:
- The ladies had a thing for him
- Avid mountain climber
- Possible spy
- Alpha Male leader type of a skill Jack Donovan and his acolytes could only dream of
- Could hold his liquour
- Got gonnorhea from prostitutes
- Somewhat racist
- Bald

Cons:
- Wrote poetry
- Bisexual
- Occasionally wore non-masculine headgear
- Wore robes

On the fence:
- Took copious amounts of drugs

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Some kids piss their name in the snow. Mark Samuels can piss his name into concrete.

When Mark Samuels goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.

Mark Samuels once challenged Lance Armstrong in a "Who has more testicles?" contest. Mark Samuels won by 5.

Superman owns a pair of Mark Samuels pajamas.

Mark Samuels doesn't actually write books, the words assemble themselves out of fear.

Mark Samuels once heard that nothing can kill him, so he tracked down nothing and killed it.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I have it on good authority that John Mundy once bitch-slapped a grizzly bear. The bear apologized with a hug, and that's where the term "bear hug" originated.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Ramonoski, my friend, I am 100% against violence to grizzly bears.

But that sob had it coming.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

The toughest, bravest and most manly writers of the 20th Century were:

(1) Ernst Jünger

(2) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I shouldn't need to outline why they were the toughest, bravest and most manly. Their careers and entire lives speak for the fact.

From more olden times I would also nominate:

(3) Francisco de Quevedo

...who killed a man for insulting a lady in a duel.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

In what way did the man insult the lady in a duel?

Just curious.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

I was wondering that as well...:)

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

So was I, but didn't dare to be the first to ask.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

He probably said something like, "Oh gosh, you didn't polish that rapier very well, did you dear?"

I have been thinking about this thread and I want to add some other names to the three I offered above:

André Malraux
Gabriele D'Annunzio
Edward Abbey
Yukio Mishima

All of them did amazingly tough things! But if we are talking about pure physical strength and stamina, then I doubt anyone could face the formidable pair of Joanot Martorell and Martí Joan de Galba, 15th Century knights and authors of Tirant Lo Blanc, who believed that writing itself was a bit pansy unless you were also splitting heads on the battlefield in your spare time.

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

In a letter to F. Lee Baldwin H.P. Lovecraft wrote:

Re: Manliest Writers of 'Weird' or 'Horror' Literature
 

Stretching the 'weird' description somewhat, though not much, as it is arguable that the symbolists and decadents were proto-weird in many ways- i'd say Rimbaud.

Abandoning poetry at age 21 (having completed what would become some of the century's most influential bodies of work) to explore Europe on foot, serve in and desert the army in indonesia, run a notoriously difficult trading post in Africa, try and amass a fortune selling guns to the king of Ethiopia, then return to France quietly, unheralded, only to die, still young , a convert (by some accounts) to Islam.