Harrumble! It’s the Top Ten Features from two years of greydogtales, as part of our anniversary. So check out some cool features, including Fritz Leiber, H P Lovecraft, Robert E Howard and William Hope Hodgson, plus some folk who are neither dead nor white. Read the astounding plaudits of actually-alive authors Joshua M Reynolds, Brandon Barrows and Anita Stewart. See unusual weird fantasy from the past, lots more art – and the sheer excitement of trying to make sense of theosophy. It’s all here.

No one does it like us, though there’s probably a reason for that. And a Top Ten of features may be counter-intuitive, because you may have read them already. What the heck, we’ve done it now. Plus, you still have a chance to win a free copy of A Persistence of Geraniums, the new collection from greydog himself. And for puzzled dog enthusiasts, a celebration of lurcherness comes in September, the second anniversary of our series Lurchers for Beginners.

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Joshua M Reynolds

First we have a delightful offering from Joshua M Reynolds, the Master of the Black Library and all things Warhammer-ish, as well as the author of those cunning Royal Occultist adventures.

“It’s hard to describe greydogtales. It is a place for tales of madness and intrigue. The lair of the Deptford Assassin. A mouldering record of strange, spindle-legged quadrupeds, stagger-dancing down remote country-lanes beneath the light of a leprous moon. What words can describe these things to the satisfaction of the idle eye? It is as it is, always has been and must be. Indescribable. Undeniable. And utterly inescapable. Visit, and be lost. But be warned, dear reader – there are lurchers in the angles, and they are lean and a-thirst!”

— Josh Reynolds, author of Fabius Bile: Primogenitor, and The Jade Suit of Death. You can find out more about Josh if you visit his Patreon page.

https://www.patreon.com/joshuamreynolds

We also had an excellent interview with him here http://greydogtales.com/blog/joshua-reynolds-royal-occultist-with-a-warhammer/

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Brandon Barrows

Another of our occasional guests, who we’ll be interviewing in depth later this year, is author Brandon Barrows. We sent wasps, snakes and other little friends to get this out of him:

“Greydogtales has a unique place on the web in that it seeks to spotlight weird fiction specifically, recognizing it as its own genre, rather than just lumping it in with horror as many sites do. By putting that spotlight on works that might otherwise fly under the radar or get lost amidst the ranks of horror or fantasy reviews on other websites, John is doing the community, its authors and fans, a huge service. Congrats on the anniversary and here’s to many more!”

— Brandon Barrows, author of The Castle-Town Tragedy and (with artist Hugo Petrus) the illustrated Mythos graphic stories.

http://amzn.eu/7sjNAT3

Brandon has also has a gripping new novel out soon, This Rough Old World, for which you might want to keep your eyes open.

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Those Top Ten Hits

Before we polish our own trumpet too much, or pull more moss from our rolling glass houses, let’s see that darned Top Ten.

1) Cthulhu May Not Live Here Anymore

A celebration of Paula Guran’s Mammoth Book of Cthulhu anthology, Bobby Derie’s book on Sex and the Mythos, and sundry other Lovecraftian comments.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/cthulhu-may-not-live-here-any-more/

2) The Secrets of Skelos Unveiled

Where we spoke to Jeffrey Shanks, one of the founders of the new Skelos Magazine, and we added some Robert E Howard trivia as well.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-secrets-of-skelos-unveiled/

3) Carcosa and Beyond

Some sidetracking into the historical origins of Carcosa the city, Ambrose Bierce, even a little poetry, and an interview with German artist Michael Hutter.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/michael-hutter-interviewed-carcosa-and-beyond/

4) Five Weird Books Not on Fantasy Lists

A surprise hit, veering from Orlando Furioso in 1532 to Flann O’Brien’s 1967 masterpiece, The Third Policeman.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/five-weird-fantasy-books-not-on-fantasy-lists/

5) Axioms and Other Beasts

Less surprising in its popularity, the detailed interview with ace artist John Coulthart, mentioned last time.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/john-coulthart-axioms-other-dark-beasts/

6) The Pale Brown Thing – A Dose of De Quincey

A shocking mixture of literary history, Fritz Leiber trivia, and notice of Swan River Press’s release of The Pale Brown Thing, the antecedent to Leiber’s Our Lady of Darkness.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-pale-brown-thing-a-dose-of-de-quincey/

7) Black is the New Black

In which we celebrated the work of Milton Davis and Charles R Saunders, and the rise of Sword and Soul, fantasy by ace black creators.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/black-is-the-new-black-milton-davis-on-the-rise-of-sword-soul/

8) The Woman Who Drew William Hope Hodgson

The most unexpected hit, really. A detailed and illustrated feature on the Edwardian artist Florence Briscoe, by James Bojaciuk of 18thWall Productions.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/the-woman-who-drew-william-hope-hodgson/

9) H P Lovecraft & The Lords of Venus

A greydogtales special on Lovecraft’s influences – or not – plus the Book of Dzan, and Helena Blavatsky. Were E Hoffman Price and Talbot Mundy the reincarnations of Atlantean mystics? We so love these murky trails…

http://greydogtales.com/blog/h-p-lovecraft-lords-venus/

10) On Corpse Roads Bound

A return to folk horror and the ancient corpse roads of Europe, where bodies were taken on their final journey, with extracts from the FHR book Corpse Roads.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/on-corpse-roads-bound/

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We’ll add two more long articles for very different reasons. ‘An Appropriate Conscience – Writing Black Characters’ was probably our most serious piece, and not easy to write:

http://greydogtales.com/blog/appropriate-conscience-writing-black-characters/

Whilst the feature which we most enjoyed writing, as it wanders between parody, history and some serious points, was probably ‘The History of Women in Horror: A Man Explains’, for the 2017 Women in Horror Month.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/history-women-horror-1-man-explains/

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To end with, another anniversary comment. Because we can.

Anita Stewart

Anita Stewart (A F Stewart) is a writer and poet, and also active in promoting other writers. She was with us, alongside Clarissa Johal, for our first Scary Women feature, where we asked about gender, genre and writing.

http://greydogtales.com/blog/scary-women-clarissa-johal-and-anita-stewart/

She had this to say of our little endeavour.

“Happy Two Year Anniversary to greydogtales, home to all kinds of delightful monsters and strange sorts, and a haven for lurchers. As an erstwhile guest and frequent reader, I can say with all sincerity this small spot on the internet is a treasure, a wondrous trove of the weird, the occult, and agreeable peculiarity. Yes, in an ever conforming world, greydogtales is a bastion of delightful madness, strange horrors and man’s best friend (that would be the dogs, not Cthulhu).”

We’ve mentioned Anita’s Horror Haiku and Other Poems here before. Until 30^th September, you can also download a free copy of her Killers and Demons two book set:

https://www.instafreebie.com/free/2d0zU

 

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COMPETITION

Our modest extra offer – We have 3 advance pdf copies of John Linwood Grant’s A Persistence of Geraniums on offer for free. The book will be coming out soon, in print format only initially, from Electric Pentacle Press, written and designed by JLG and illustrated by Paul Boswell.

To win one, simply email the NAME of JLG’s novella, which entangles a famous fictional detective with his series Tales of the Last Edwardian, to carfanel@greydogtales.com by 1^st September 2017. The winners will be picked out of a dog bowl by Django.

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We thank you for your kind attention, dear listener, and assure you that our anniversary messing about is almost done. Our top ten madness is over, bar a few closing comments. A whole new programme of features on weird books, pictures and pups starts up in September…