THE DEEP ONES: "The Space Eaters" by Frank Belknap Long
KeskusteluThe Weird Tradition
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1semdetenebre
"The Space Eaters" by Frank Belknap Long
Discussion begins on February 28, 2018.
First published the July 1928 issue of Weird Tales.
ONLINE VERSIONS
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Space-Eaters
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?59512
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Tindalos Cycle
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
The Hounds of Tindalos
The Early Long
MISCELLANY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Belknap_Long
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/05/obituaries/frank-belknap-long-an-author-of-sci...
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/poetry/p473.aspx
https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/454441418619835234/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_PVMg3DPBA
http://tinyurl.com/ydbbfkmr
Discussion begins on February 28, 2018.
First published the July 1928 issue of Weird Tales.
ONLINE VERSIONS
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Space-Eaters
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?59512
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Tindalos Cycle
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
The Hounds of Tindalos
The Early Long
MISCELLANY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Belknap_Long
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/05/obituaries/frank-belknap-long-an-author-of-sci...
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/poetry/p473.aspx
https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/454441418619835234/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_PVMg3DPBA
http://tinyurl.com/ydbbfkmr
2semdetenebre
The Hounds of Tindalos (1978 Jove paperback) for me.
3paradoxosalpha
I'll be reading in my good old AH Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (which is a serious combining mess on LT, by the way).
7elenchus
I didn't recognise Potter by name or style. An interesting mix of books: Neurotica, Kochen fur Geeks ("Cooking for Geeks"), The New Flesh ... put them together and it raises eyebrows. Darkest arts, indeed!
(I suspect some author separation work is needed in that mix, but I'm not up to that level of LT editing.)
(I suspect some author separation work is needed in that mix, but I'm not up to that level of LT editing.)
8semdetenebre
I like Potter because his reputation-making work was generally achieved by good old-fashioned photographic techniques, along with an occasional bit of airbrushing. There was also a kind of loose philosophy behind it, something not too far removed from Cronenbergian body-horror.
9paradoxosalpha
>8 semdetenebre:
I never thought about Potter and Cronenberg in the same sentence before, but it's an apt comparison.
Edited to add: I now see that Potter's LT author page includes a work called The New Flesh!
I never thought about Potter and Cronenberg in the same sentence before, but it's an apt comparison.
Edited to add: I now see that Potter's LT author page includes a work called The New Flesh!
10semdetenebre
>9 paradoxosalpha:
The New Flesh seems to be a Scream/Press limited consisting of two 15-plate volumes. I checked to see if DC might have done an introduction for it, but it doesn't seem so. See also: http://jkpotter.com/ .
The New Flesh seems to be a Scream/Press limited consisting of two 15-plate volumes. I checked to see if DC might have done an introduction for it, but it doesn't seem so. See also: http://jkpotter.com/ .
11housefulofpaper
I'll be reading it from the second volume of these two charity-shop finds.
Together they make up a reprint of the Arkham House The Hounds of Tindalos - or rather, of the book's first UK publication (in 1950). This was from the grandly-named "The Museum Press Ltd". I don't know anything about the Museum Press, but I like to think that it had offices directly opposite the British Museum (as a couple of publishers still do to this day).
Together they make up a reprint of the Arkham House The Hounds of Tindalos - or rather, of the book's first UK publication (in 1950). This was from the grandly-named "The Museum Press Ltd". I don't know anything about the Museum Press, but I like to think that it had offices directly opposite the British Museum (as a couple of publishers still do to this day).
12semdetenebre
Well, I don't think HPL was anywhere near being the egotistical prima donna that his simulacrum is in this story. Especially regarding Poe. I think my favorite moment, however, was the description of the "long, white, and very thin arm" groping down from the tree. The image could very easily be describing a Lee Brown Coye illustration.
13elenchus
Given that Long and HPL were good friends, I presume the caricature was done in fun. If I have my dates correct, it was written before HPL's death, is there any evidence he read it?
The story's farrago of hysteria and at times ludicrous dialogue were oddly effective in conveying the horror of the situation. I'm thinking of passages in which the characters went from shrieking or bellowing at each other, to almost calm conversation, in the span of mere moments.
At first I'd laugh to myself, but I noticed the overall effect was to get my heartrate up.
The story's farrago of hysteria and at times ludicrous dialogue were oddly effective in conveying the horror of the situation. I'm thinking of passages in which the characters went from shrieking or bellowing at each other, to almost calm conversation, in the span of mere moments.
I was at that moment in deadly fear that I might become as mad as the man in the woods. I clutched Howard's arm.
"Let's go back," I shouted. "Let's go back at once. We were fools to come. There is nothing here but madness and suffering and perhaps death."
"That may be," said Howard, "but we're going on."
His face was ashen beneath his dripping hat, and his eyes were thin blue slits.
"Very well," I said grimly. "We'll go on."
Slowly we moved among the trees.
At first I'd laugh to myself, but I noticed the overall effect was to get my heartrate up.
14AndreasJ
>13 elenchus:
Lovecraft died in March 1937, nearly nine years after this was published. It would be strange indeed if he never read it, tho I'm not aware of any actual proof. There may be something in Lovecraft and Long's voluminous correspondence.
Agreed that the dialogue veered into the ludicrous at times. Can't say it did anything for my heartrate, though.
Something I thought interesting was that the sign of the cross was found effective, yet the characters draw no specifically Christian conclusions: instead the narrator thinks that the sign is "older than all religion". Also interestingly, the action throws some doubt on the opening quotation from Dee - Howard doesn't seem to be particularly "pure of heart", yet its protection extends to him.
(Note, BTW, that Dee is supposedly translating the work of a non-Christian.)
Lovecraft died in March 1937, nearly nine years after this was published. It would be strange indeed if he never read it, tho I'm not aware of any actual proof. There may be something in Lovecraft and Long's voluminous correspondence.
Agreed that the dialogue veered into the ludicrous at times. Can't say it did anything for my heartrate, though.
Something I thought interesting was that the sign of the cross was found effective, yet the characters draw no specifically Christian conclusions: instead the narrator thinks that the sign is "older than all religion". Also interestingly, the action throws some doubt on the opening quotation from Dee - Howard doesn't seem to be particularly "pure of heart", yet its protection extends to him.
(Note, BTW, that Dee is supposedly translating the work of a non-Christian.)
15elenchus
I also was struck that the cross was never mentioned in connection with Christianity. Of course it is a very old symbol and clearly predates Christianity's use (and peculiar version) of it.
I was left wondering if to contemporary readers, the reference was somewhat blasphemous in that it implied Christianity's cross would be effective despite its Christian associations. That suggests a layer of horror specially tailored to the mainstream reader.
I was left wondering if to contemporary readers, the reference was somewhat blasphemous in that it implied Christianity's cross would be effective despite its Christian associations. That suggests a layer of horror specially tailored to the mainstream reader.
16housefulofpaper
There's a passing reference to this story in the recent collection of HPL and CAS correspondence, Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill, a letter from HPL dated 10 July 1932. Discussing a proposed anthology he had suggested "The Space Eaters" alongside a couple of Henry S. Whitehead stories and "some other things as good material to include". So he knew of it and seems quite approving of it.
The story does read quite clumsily. Partly I suppose because Long was young when he wrote it. Stories from later in his career collected in The Hounds of Tindalos do read more smoothly and appear more, for want of a better word, more professional. However, they're not as entertaining.
Part of the apparent clumsiness might actually be an emulation of Fin de siècle literature's artificiality: I thought there was a strong element of Arthur Machen in "The Great God Pan" mode here, as much as it's an early example of an HPL-influenced work. Also, "Howard" and "Frank" flip between being tough pulp heroes and neurasthenic aesthetes in what strikes as bad character-building (but then, it's actually psychologically sound that thy could give each other strength and encouragement).
Does the use of the cross come from the HPL circle's search for magical formulae, actual grimoires, for inspiration? I'm aware that Christian imagery and ideas had been blended into the occult tradition since at least the Renaissance.
I'm also struck by the appearance of "visual effects" in WT stories of this time that I would have thought were not invented until decades later, when Hollywood could produce them on film. I'm thinking of the denouement which for all the world reads like a description of an '80s effects-heavy horror or fantasy film.
The story does read quite clumsily. Partly I suppose because Long was young when he wrote it. Stories from later in his career collected in The Hounds of Tindalos do read more smoothly and appear more, for want of a better word, more professional. However, they're not as entertaining.
Part of the apparent clumsiness might actually be an emulation of Fin de siècle literature's artificiality: I thought there was a strong element of Arthur Machen in "The Great God Pan" mode here, as much as it's an early example of an HPL-influenced work. Also, "Howard" and "Frank" flip between being tough pulp heroes and neurasthenic aesthetes in what strikes as bad character-building (but then, it's actually psychologically sound that thy could give each other strength and encouragement).
Does the use of the cross come from the HPL circle's search for magical formulae, actual grimoires, for inspiration? I'm aware that Christian imagery and ideas had been blended into the occult tradition since at least the Renaissance.
I'm also struck by the appearance of "visual effects" in WT stories of this time that I would have thought were not invented until decades later, when Hollywood could produce them on film. I'm thinking of the denouement which for all the world reads like a description of an '80s effects-heavy horror or fantasy film.
17paradoxosalpha
>16 housefulofpaper: Does the use of the cross come from the HPL circle's search for magical formulae, actual grimoires, for inspiration? I'm aware that Christian imagery and ideas had been blended into the occult tradition since at least the Renaissance.
It's remotely possible. Modern ceremonial magicians (since at least the late 19th century) have used the "Cabalistic Cross" and its variants as a part of banishing procedures. And in that case, the cross is not particularly Christian.
It's remotely possible. Modern ceremonial magicians (since at least the late 19th century) have used the "Cabalistic Cross" and its variants as a part of banishing procedures. And in that case, the cross is not particularly Christian.
18RandyStafford
Finally got around to revisiting this one.
S. T. Joshi notes, in H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, that this is the first fictional appearance of Lovecraft and, arguably, the first Cthulhu Mythos story.
Lovecraft's only instructions to Long is that he be depicted as "LEAN" (his emphasis) as he had put on a few pounds in his New York City exile and then lost it.
As to it being a Cthulhu Mythos story, I don't buy it. (And Joshi says it's an arguable point.) There are no blasphemous tomes, none of the Mythos "deities" or locales. (Though I read this out of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, Volume One which seems to be lacking an opening epigraph. Even the brain-eating aliens don't get a name.
I think this story has one big problem.
A classic Lovecraft opening, copied by some other authors, is a philosophical statement derived from the events of the story. The classic examples I can think of would be "The Call of Cthulhu" and "At the Mountains of Madness". Here Long gives us the ludicrous coincidence of having later events validating Howard's opening speculations on space eating aliens.
>12 semdetenebre: I do think Long was having fun with Howard be less than admiring of many of the authors Lovecraft praised in Supernatural Horror in Literature. Especially, as you noted, less than kind remarks about Lovecraft's idol Poe.
S. T. Joshi notes, in H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, that this is the first fictional appearance of Lovecraft and, arguably, the first Cthulhu Mythos story.
Lovecraft's only instructions to Long is that he be depicted as "LEAN" (his emphasis) as he had put on a few pounds in his New York City exile and then lost it.
As to it being a Cthulhu Mythos story, I don't buy it. (And Joshi says it's an arguable point.) There are no blasphemous tomes, none of the Mythos "deities" or locales. (Though I read this out of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, Volume One which seems to be lacking an opening epigraph. Even the brain-eating aliens don't get a name.
I think this story has one big problem.
A classic Lovecraft opening, copied by some other authors, is a philosophical statement derived from the events of the story. The classic examples I can think of would be "The Call of Cthulhu" and "At the Mountains of Madness". Here Long gives us the ludicrous coincidence of having later events validating Howard's opening speculations on space eating aliens.
>12 semdetenebre: I do think Long was having fun with Howard be less than admiring of many of the authors Lovecraft praised in Supernatural Horror in Literature. Especially, as you noted, less than kind remarks about Lovecraft's idol Poe.
19elenchus
>18 RandyStafford: ... less than admiring of many of the authors Lovecraft praised in Supernatural Horror in Literature.
An obvious point I nevertheless didn't notice! Pretty good, that, actually, a nice in-joke.
An obvious point I nevertheless didn't notice! Pretty good, that, actually, a nice in-joke.