Now that The R’lyeh Tribune has entered its third year of continuous publication, it seems a good time to step back and reflect on its further development. Though the focus remains on H.P. Lovecraft and his work, dozens of others from his time period as well as more contemporary authors of weird fiction have also been discussed here. Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith will continue to receive attention, but there are still several important writers from Lovecraft’s time that are yet to be investigated. For example, just the other day one helpful reader mentioned a writer named John Taine, whose Antarctica adventure story may have been an influence on Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness.
The
R’lyeh Tribune has
really only just begun to mine the deep vein of horror, science fiction and
fantasy published in 1920s and 1930s.
This fascinating body of literature was produced some time between the
“Radium Age” and the “Golden Age” of Science Fiction, before horror, fantasy
and science fiction became more clearly differentiated from each other.
Gadgets,
gizmos and pseudo-scientific theories appear in these stories, as do ghouls and
ghosts and the Unausprechlichen. Science and technology vie with
supernatural explanations of the unknown. Cosmicism and traditional religious
sentiment also wrestle each other over questions of ultimate meaning and
fate. The tensions between these various perspectives reflect a period of
great transition, and express the fears of a modern society going through many
rapid changes—not unlike our own.
Lately I have been
encouraged by the uptick in overall traffic to the site, and by the increasing
number of helpful comments visitors have made on individual posts. The R’lyeh Tribune
continues to have a fairly stable readership with a steady output of twice
weekly posts. August saw a total monthly
page view count of just under 3000—a record, for me at least. Requests
for book reviews have begun to increase, which is also exciting. I am especially grateful to those of you who
graciously added The R’lyeh Tribune to your blog roll over the past year.
For the
convenience of my visitors I have reorganized the Index, mainly by dividing up
many of the items under “General Topics” into more useful categories. These include book reviews, film, horror
theory, “personal notes”, and television.
Now that the blog has accumulated over 400 posts, this was necessary and
long overdue housecleaning. (My advice
to aspiring bloggers out there: begin to
index your “evergreen” content soon after you begin, both for your mental
health as well as that of your readers.)
Though
I have long used Google+ and to a lesser extent LinkedIn, I can now be found on
Twitter and Facebook. I am thinking of
exploring Goodreads next. I welcome your
advice and suggestions in this area. Social media is amazing, and our
interaction with these marvelous systems must surely be altering our minds in
subtle, and as yet undetectable ways. Certainly
it has already revolutionized how we communicate with each other, how we publish,
and even how we conceive of our society.
On a
nuts and bolts level, I am thinking of adding a bibliography tab so that I can
list resources—especially nonfiction books—that may be of interest to those who
would like to delve further into early twentieth century horror, fantasy and
science fiction. This would be a bit
more refined than the current “Of Interest” section. Family members have suggested that I produce
some audio files of selected posts, which may be fun.
With
respect to the scope of the blog, I am wondering about doing some further investigation
of the Gothic and “Radium Age” authors that preceded Lovecraft and his circle,
as well as the next generation of weird fictioneers that followed in the 1940s
and 1950s. Several contemporary writers,
for example, Thomas Ligotti, and those inspired by Lovecraft’s mythos stories,
are also of interest.
As
always I welcome and remain open to your comments and suggestions.
Thanks
for visiting.
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Thank you for your interest in The R'lyeh Tribune! Comments and suggestions are always welcome.