14

Contents this issue

Mantic Notes………………………………..……….…1

A Contribution by Leigh Blackmore for the Sword ‘‘Siren Songs: An Interview with Michael Fantina
& Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus (Aug 2, 2009/ ………………………….………………………………..4
34th mailing), & Esoteric Order of Dagon (Aug 2,
2009/ 147th mailing) amateur press associations.
Four Poems by Michael Fantina…………………….8
Leigh Blackmore, 78 Rowland Ave, Wollongong,
NSW 2500. Australia.
Mantichore 4, No 2 (WN 14) Profile of Rob Hood…………………………….…..…9
Email: lvxnox@gmail.com
Wikipedia entry: Books By My Bedside………………………………..11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Blackmore
Official Website: Blackmausoleum –
Mantichorus: Mailing Notes………………………..12
http://members.optusnet.com.au/lvxnox/

IN MEMORIAM
GLAYNE-LOUISE BLACKMORE
10 Dec 1971-22 June 2009
Mantic Notes
& J.G. BALLARD
(Pronunciation:'man-tik. Etymology: Greek mantikos,
(15.11.1930 – 19.4.2009).
from mantis : of, relating to the faculty of divination;
The Atrocity Exhibition will continue!
prophetic).

Process: Receiving the latest mailing of EOD or

Giant Toltec figure SSWFT... fumbling with palsied fingers at the outer
packaging, excitedly tearing off the envelope to
at Tula, behold the Lovecraftian, fantastic and outre contents
Mexico within. If it’s the EOD, I always read Nuclear Chaos
first, to see what’s included in the current mailing
and what S.T. has said. Next, What is Anything, S.T.’s
own zine; reading it fascinatedly for any hints about
the personal life of this fellow who strides the world
of Lovecraft studies like a colossus; and all too often
gaping slack-jawed at the prodigious number of
projects he has on the go. Next, whether EOD or
SSWFT, I turn to mailing comments in each zine. Did
anyone respond to me? (Egotistical? Hell, yeah!)
Lapping up the ones that did, grumping about the
ones that didn’t. Only then do I settle myself
somewhere and begin to read each zine from cover to
cover, a process that may take anywhere up to a
week. My own contribution for next mailing of each
APA is always being put together in advance (at least
it is these days – I hope the days of throwing a zine
together in the last week or so before a deadline are
now past) but I still leave mailing comments until the
end of the process. After I have completed all my
own content for my zine, I re-read each and every
zine of the last mailing (but skimming this time, to
remind myself of the parts I want to comment on)
and do my mailing comments onto the computer in
© Margi Curtis 2009 order to polish off the current Mantichore issue. And
that, as of mid-2009, is my way.
 Life has been up and down. In March the Forces of Darkness”; I believe the book,
(just after the last Mantichore) I was Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare
hospitalised for the third time in 18 months, Tales of Sherlock Holmes, will
this time with a horrific bout of food poisoning appear around November
due to salmonella, with which Margi was also (Edge Publishing). Thanks to
stricken (but not hospitalised). Near renal Margi for valuable critiquing
failure due to loss of fluid was averted in my and editing help on this story.
case via a week’s stay while I was rehydrated On May 24 Graham,
intravenously. I managed to read several books Margi and I travelled to
while in hospital including a gripping thriller Sydney to attend the launch of the beautifully
by Glenn Meade, The Devil’s Disciple, and two designed and packaged volume Trunk Books 1:
books on Lizzie Siddall, the Pre-Raphaelite Hair, in which I have
poet and model who will form the basis of my
university creative project. I hope the hat-trick
of illnesses is now completed and I can remain
healthy for some time to come!
During May I proofread for pay the
typescript of Meredith Jones’ new anthology
Cosmetic Surgery: A Feminist Primer, to be an article on “Hair in
published by Ashgate UK. I also did Magick and Occultism.”
corrections for the appearance of my essay on
John Harrison in Studies in the Fantastic No 2, See
and wish to express my gratitude to S.T. Joshi
for suggesting to Richard Matthews at
University of Tampa Press that they take this
piece. (Meantime I’ve learned from S.T. that,
sadly, this journal has ceased with No 2, and
that he hopes to convince Hippocampus Press
to issue a new journal to replace it.) S.T. has
also accepted my essay on Lovecraft’s “The
Transition of Juan Romero” which ran in
Mantichore 13 for the next issue of Lovecraft http://emmacollison.com/hair-a-procative-new-
Annual, a very pleasing development. book-sydney-writers-festival-launch/. This
I continued working on my critical launch was part of the Sydney Writers Festival
thesis on Terry Dowling for university, and and took place in the Bangarra Theatre at The
also on “Ghosts in the House of Life”, the Wharf in Sydney’s Rocks area.
creative writing part of my Honours year
project. I had a recent short story, “The
Roomer” accepted by a local Wollongong
magazine, The Stack, and that should appear
shortly. I hope to write a story later in the year
for an anthology David Wynn at Mythos Books
is putting together, and I will also be
contributing an essay to 21st Century Gothic, a
critical anthology being edited by Danel Olsen. See the call for
On May 23 Chris Sequeira joined me papers for the next
in Wollongong for a day of volume (Book 2 will be on ‘Blood’) at:
brainstorming plots for http://trunkbook.com/blood.html.
our Sherlock Holmes On May 27
stories for a Canadian (coincidentally, the birthday
anthology. This was a of horror film actor Vincent
successful day and it was Price), we travelled again to
good to catch up with Sydney. As special guest for
Chris. As a good omen, the the night (go figure!) I did a
day we had chosen turned reading from Spores from
out to be the 150th anniversary of Conan Sharnoth and Other
Doyle’s birth! My story is titled “Exalted Are Madnesses as special guest at
the Live Poets Society, who meet at Don Bank
Museum in North Sydney. Joining me on the
night were my partner Margi Curtis, (Graham
was teaching that night) and Wollongong
writer Andrea Gawthorne (both of whom read
poems). Danny Lovecraft was interviewed in
forum with me briefly before I read, and also
present was Perry Grayson (who read one of
his own poems, one by Frank Belknap Long,
and two dirty limericks by Raymond
Chandler!). Kyla Ward, co-author of horror
novel Prismatic, also read some dark verse, so
the night was dominated by fantastical poetry
before the rest of the members went on to read
poems about cows and flower arranging. A
pleasant night; thanks to Danny Lovecraft for
organising this. I even got paid, and had some
pre-publicity in a North Shore newspaper!
No 3 of our journal Studies in
Australian Weird Fiction
appeared in May,
somewhat later than
initially scheduled.
This has pushed
back the release date of
Issue 4 which would have
been due in June, to around
October this year. Ben
Szumskyj did a fine job with his final issue, to
which I contributed two interviews
(uncredited); now it’s over to new chief editor
Phillip A. Ellis.
http://www.australianhorror.com/SiAWF/
Sales are fairly low so far but it’s a quality
product (100 pages-odd per issue) and I
encourage all who are interested in the field to
purchase copies from:
http://www.equilibriumbooks.com/siawf3.htm
Currently there is a special deal if you buy the
first three issues together, so go for it!
I have joined my partners’ band
following the departure of their guitarist earlier
this year. Currently our trio is rehearsing
covers, mainly melodic material we like
personally, with the aim of going out to play
live later in 2009. The set is gradually coming
together. I’m
singing backing
vocals and
probably will
play bass later.
Margi does lead
vocals and
guitar, with
Graham playing keyboards, MIDI controllers
for the rhythm section, etc. Fitting in two or
more band practices a week with other
commitments is a challenge, but it’s going well
so far.
On June 19, I travelled to Sydney
again, this time to appear on the ABC
television programme ‘Jennifer Byrne
Presents’. Byrne is a well-known Australian TV
presenter who has a regular programme called
‘First Tuesday Night Book Club’ and the
‘Presents’ programmes are spinoff specials
from FTNBC. This special was titled “Monsters
and Bloodsuckers”: guests apart from myself
included novelist & model Tara Moss, novelist
Will Elliott and children’s novelist Catherine
Jinks. The show mainly focussed on the iconic
horror novels Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde, and The Werewolf of Paris (by Guy
Endore). It was fun to be featured on this; the
program will probably air in Australia around
August, with an unedited version at the ABC
website as a vodcast. I’ll keep you posted when
it’s up so that interested members can check it
out online.
I have had some satisfying personal
contacts with members of the EOD lately. Ken
Faig reprinted an old article of mine from the
1980s, “Leon Stone: Pioneer Lovecraft
Collector” in The Fossil and also traded me a
copy of his wonderful new essay collection The
Unknown Lovecraft (Hippocampus Press). Don
Burleson was kind enough to obtain for me a
copy of his collection Beyond the Lamplight. Both
these gentlemen kindly supplied signed labels
for me to stick in my copies of their books, as
did Richard L. Tierney, who gifted me with a
copy of his new novel Drums of Chaos. And I
have made contact with writer Joe S. Pulver
and artist Dave Carson, both of whom have
assented to interviews for future editions of
Mantichore. Not only that, but John Haefele of
EOD kindly supplied me with an out of print
issue of Firsts magazine with a very useful
article about Arkham House ephemera.
 With Margi I’ve been catching up on
Battlestar Galactica (the TV series). I resisted it
for a long time but I had heard too many good
things about it; and indeed, Season 1 is
excellent. We will probably watch the other
seasons and mini-movies as we seem to have
been hooked. Horror is my first love, but I
sometimes really enjoy a good rollicking space
opera, and this one is well worth checking out.
(Forget the cheesy original movie; the TV series
is a whole new ballgame, with tight plotting,
great acting, and fantastic special effects).
I’ve been gradually transferring over
all our VHS tapes to DVD. A very time-
consuming process, and sometimes the source
tapes are not in good condition. I hope to
complete this process sometime around 2020
the way it’s going.
In family news, we have continued to
work on the house, building woodpiles to store
our supplies of wood for the winter and fixing
various other things. I helped Graham install
fibreglass ceiling bats in our roof the other day,
which was very strenuous but ultimately
worthwhile. Stepson Rohan continues his
TAFE studies in network engineering, Margi is
still doing art at TAFE, Graham is teaching
away at school.
I received the sad news in late June
that my ex-wife Glayne Louise-Blackmore had
passed away. With Glayne I ran the specialist sf
store at Dymocks Sydney between 1995 and
2000. I had not seen her for some years (since
2004) when I received the news. That night was
the night before my
major Oral Presentation
for my Critical thesis at
uni in front of the head
of school and academic
staff; don’t know how I
got through it, but I did.
Glayne’s death was very
saddening; however, I
gave a short eulogy at the funeral which took
place in Sydney on June 30 (my 50th birthday).
May she rest in peace.
On July 4th I celebrated my birthday
with a gathering at my house followed by a
dinner at a local restaurant, Nickelangelo’s. The
age of 50 is an age for pondering. I certainly
thought when younger that I would have
accomplished more by now. However, I
confess myself fairly satisfied with the way
things are progressing. The birthday party was
excellent. I received some wonderful gifts
including books like O Fortunate Floridian:
Lovecraft’s Letters to R.H. Barlow (yay! At last!),
Cannon’s The Lovecraft Papers, a DVD of Behind
the Fridge by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
and a long-wanted book, The Mystical and
Magical System of the A.A.; Poe: A Life Cut Short
(Peter Ackroyd); Watercolours by Norman
Lindsay; two James Ellroy crime books; and
CD’s including music by Joni Mitchell,
Madness, George Harrison, Woody Guthrie,
The Stranglers, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, and
our own Perry Grayson; and even a bass amp
and bass, so that I can play as well as sing in
the band; but the best thing was being able to
spend time with friends and family. The party
day’s enjoyment was somewhat mitigated by
having to have our oldest cat, Isis, euthanased;
she had been sick for some time, wasn’t eating,
had lost weight and was so weak she could
barely move anymore. So in the midst of party
preparations we took her to the vet to be put to
sleep. We buried her in the backyard next day.
I received my complimentary copies
of Studies in the Fantastic No 2 with my essay on
M. John Harrison; very pleased with this. I’ve
sent a copy off to M. John Harrison himself
after exchanging a few emails (like speaking to
God for me!) and have my tentacles crossed
that he likes the piece.
Now it’s down to a hard half-year of
grinding out my thesis; there are various
problems associated with it, but I’m sure I’ll
overcome them one way or another.
SIREN SONGS:
AN INTERVIEW WITH
MICHAEL FANTINA
By Leigh Blackmore
LB: Michael, you have
been publishing in
the fantasy scene for a
long time now. I
recall reading a piece
of yours about
Donald Sidney-
Fryer’s work, “Upon
Reading Songs and
Sonnets Atlantean”, in
Harry O. Morris’s
wonderful Nyctalops
magazine, back in 1976 (that’s 33 years ago!).
How old were you when that piece appeared?
Can you tell us what led to its publication?
 MF: Well, I’d discovered Lovecraft
about 1972 and was thrilled to see someone
had written a type of poetry that I really loved.
So I began reading him and many of the pulp
writers and only became aware of fandom
gradually. At the time I thought I wanted to
become a fictioneer--a writer of horror and
supernatural tales. I began subscribing to a few
magazines like Nyctalops, which was one of the
best. When I got a hold of Sidney-Fryer’s Song
and Sonnets Atlantean I fell in love with them.
So I wrote that tribute, which by the way I have
not seen in years. I decided to send it off to
Nyctalops. I was about 30 years old when that
was published.
LB: Your Lovecraftian sonnets, under
the title Night Terrors, were first printed in book
form as long ago as 1974. What was the story
behind that edition? The book now seems to be
rare and collectable – abebooks lists a copy at
$100 US!.
MF: Wow, $100, for an old copy of my
Night Terrors! I was determined, back then, to
see it in print as a whole and not published
piece meal. So I checked with some printers
and had a local printer in Plainfield, NJ, do the
job. I think it cost me about $130 to have 110
copies printed. I sold them for one dollar each.
Also, it is riddled with errors, most of them
mine…
LB: Fantasy verse appears to have
been your main literary love but I can think of
at least one early short story by you –
“Headsman”, from Eldritch Tales No 5 back in
1979. Have you written other fiction? There is
something called “The Ring of Azathoth” that
has appeared in an anthology called Cthulhu’s
Creatures. (2007). Who published that
anthology and is your contribution a story?
Can we expect more Mythos stories from you
in the future?
MF: Yes, I have long been addicted to
the writing of fantasy verse. I believe I have
about 3,000 poems and 98% are
fantasy/supernatural. Yes, when I wrote
“Headsman”--which was actually based upon
one of my sonnets from
Night Terrors (now of
course renamed “Flowers
of Nithon”)--I sent it off to
Eldritch Tales, but never
heard a word back from
Crispin. It was only several
years later that I appreciated as a poet) and others.
discovered that he had
published it! I gave up
fiction writing about 1979 as I felt that my
prose abilities were extremely lacking. Then
about 2003, when I found myself with a great
deal of time on my hands I began writing
again, and much to my surprise I found some
people liked what I was writing and some were
even willing to pay me for it, at least on
occasion. “The Ring of Azathoth” is a Mythos
tale, about ten thousand words in length, that
was published by Steve Lines of Rainfall Books,
both in an issue of his magazine, Lovecraft’s
Disciples #8, and also, in the collection of
Mythos tales called Cthulhu’s Creatures,
published in conjunction
with Rainfall Books and Jeff
n’ Joy’s Books. This story
contains my recurring
character “Brother
Eusebius” a cloistered monk
at St. Volusian’s Monastery
near Hexam Massachusetts,
who has the power of bi-
location, among other things, and is one of
three Mythos tales I’ve written. There may be
more. I’ve also written about 20 other assorted
fantasy and supernatural tales.
LB: When did you first discover your
talent for poetry? And how did authors like
Clark Ashton Smith and HP Lovecraft
influence you? What other authors formed
your early influences in your own work?
MF: I grew up with my mother
reciting poetry around the house, so I thought
it was the most natural thing in the world to
love poetry--it was a large surprise for me to
learn that most of the outside world loathed
poetry. I was 14 when I wrote my first poem.
Over the next ten years that I wrote poetry,
however, I wrote nothing you could even
remotely call “good” until I was 24. Shortly
after that I discovered HPL, I was a Johnny-
comely-lately to Lovecraft. But I owe him a
large debt as I discovered CAS through him. I
cannot tell you how I felt when I first read
Smith. I was absolutely transported! Lovecraft
and Poe were certainly early influences on my
poetry. My sonnets were, and still are
influenced by HPL and also by the sonnets of
Edwin Arlington Robinson, who directly
influenced the Italian sonnets which make up
Fungi From Yuggoth. Other influences on my
poetry would certainly be Oscar Wilde,
Algernon Charles Swinburne, Arthur Symons,
Robert E. Howard (who is much under
LB: Going back a bit further, can you
tell us about where you were born and grew
up? You were educated at schools in New
Jersey and Kentucky, right? What led you to
take psychology at University College Rutgers
in New Jersey?
MF: I was born in Indiana, but grew
up in Bernardsville, NJ where I went to
grammar and high school. I spent three years
at Bellarmine University in Louisville,
Kentucky, did not graduate, but left and was
drafted into the US Army at the height of the
Viet Nam war. In fact I was drafted in the
largest draft call since World War II. I spent 2
years in military intelligence at Ft. George G.
Meade in Maryland, where I was an
interrogator who never interrogated anyone.
After the military I bounced around at a
number of jobs, everything from truck driver to
jelly cook, to cold roll mill operator. I became
enamoured with the work of Swiss
psychologist, Carl Gustave Jung, and I
returned to college at Rutgers University in
New Jersey and received a BA in psychology in
1984. I worked at Rutgers in various capacities
until 1990 when I moved to Miami, Florida for
two years. There I worked as registration
supervisor at Florida International University.
Chased out of the state after Hurricane Andrew
in 1992 I returned to New Jersey and Rutgers
where I worked in the Labour Studies Program
until 1998… the last 7 years I have worked as a
security officer just a few miles from the town
where I grew up.
LB: I understand many of your
Lovecraftian sonnets were written at a young
age – why was that? Did your later time in
military intelligence hinder or help your
literary pursuits?
MF: A young age--well 24 to me is a
young age! And that is when I wrote them.
Actually I’ve probably already answered this
question, but I was so struck by what Lovecraft
had done, and I knew I wanted to write, or try
to write like that. That is an interesting
question about whether or not my time in the
military was a help or a hindrance. At the time
I thought it was a terrible hindrance, however,
the years have softened my view of those days,
and now I think it was no hindrance--a help?
Ah, who can say?
LB: Has writing been a continual
passion for you, or it something you have done
sporadically over the years?
MF: Another interesting question! I
wrote off and on from about 1966 until 1996
and then something happened, and I have
written almost constantly these past 13 years.
Poetry is a true compulsion with me. Then, of
course, I do now write the occasional short
story, although that seems something like a
chore.
LB: You’ve had many poems
published over a period of thirty years or more.
For instance, work of yours appeared in an
anthology Visions of Khroyd’hon (edited by
Wilum Pugmire back in 1985) and more
recently in The Red Candle Treasury, ed. M.L.
McCarthy (The Red Candle Press, Britain:
1998). You’ve had poems in many print
magazines such as Aoife’s Kiss, Fantasy Macabre,
Tales of Lovecraftian Horror and Midnight
Shambler, The Lyric, Candelabrum. And there’s
Nightscapes whose online version has published
a number of your wonderful Lovecraftian
sonnets under the Night Terrors title:
(http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightsc
apes/NS14/ns14po3.htm). And then there are
your many online appearances for instance at.
Poetry Sonnet Scroll, The New Formalist, Ironwood
Journal, The Writer's Hood, Dark Moon Rising,
Shadow Keep, Fable and also at Aphelion
(http://www.aphelion-
webzine.com/authors/FantinaMichael.html) , at
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Michael%20Fan
tina%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.html,
at Vagabondage Press
(http://www.vagabondagepress.com/81001/V1I
5PT4.html), at Twilight Times
(http://www.twilighttimes.com/apr02/m_Fanti
nap16.html) and so on. That’s a considerable
body of work. Do you feel you should be better
known in the fantasy community at this stage?
MF: Well, I am smiling at the
question. Yes, I do feel I should be better
known, however, for the most part, poetry, of
whatever kind, always gets very little notice.
LB: Your Lovecraftian sonnets, in
expanded form, have now been published by
the UK’s Rainfall Books
as Flowers from Nithon
(2008). They have also
collected many of your
poems in Sirens and
Silver (2006), correct?
You’ve also had work in
various of Rainfall’s
magazines such as
Thrilling Tales, Beyond
the Borderlands and Weird Worlds. Can you give
us an overview of your career in submitting
poetry to zines, and how did your relationship
with Rainfall Books develop?
MF: An overview? Well, back in the 60s and
70s apart from submitting to fanzines, I did try,
occasionally, to get into print in more mainline
poetry publications, but I knew in advance that
it would be difficult as almost none of them
would consider verse that was rhymed and/or
metered. But eventually, after years of trial and
error, I began to see what sorts of publications
might print my poetry, and I started having
some successes. My relationship with Rainfall
developed in an exchange of emails with Steve
Lines. I probably sent him some poetry for
submission. Eventually he asked me if I had
enough fantasy poetry for a book length
collection (I actually have 3 unpublished
collections, each of 200 pages). I sent him an ms
of 200 pages Argosy of Dreams. However, that
collection is now on permanent hold, in the
interim Sirens & Silver was published – 40
pages and lavishly illustrated by Steve. I also
told him that I had some fiction on hand and
asked to send it along and I think he has
published 7 or 8 of my fantasy and horror tales
with more slated for the future.
LB: Robert M. Price included several
of your poems in his volume The Book of Eibon
(Chaosium, 2002). What was it like working
with the Reverend Price, and did this book
publication of some of your work bring you
much more exposure than previously?
MF: Bob Price is just a wonderful and
cordial person and a pleasure to be around.
When he lived in NJ I visited him on two
occasions for several hours. He is a fount of
knowledge on so many
different subjects, an
affable and exuberant
host. Well, it is hard for
me to say if my
appearance in The Book of
Eibon brought me more
exposure, although I’m
sure that it must have.
(Bob also bought and
published my fantasy tale
“Return of the Spider Witch” for issue number
8 of Strange Tales.)
LB: You have appeared in print quite
a number of times alongside poet Richard L.
Tierney, whose rather misanthropic viewpoint
in his work is well-known. Do you share that
misanthropic viewpoint? As an admirer of
Nietzsche, what do you think of the human
species and how does this affect your attitudes
in your poetry?
MF: Dick Tierney is, I believe, the
greatest living fantasy/horror poet, and he is a
superb writer of fiction. He has been a great
source of encouragement to me over the years,
and not only to me but to many others as well.
No, I do not share Dick’s “misanthropic” views
of mankind. Eleven years ago I returned to the
religion of my childhood, Catholicism, and I
share that world view. Well, as you know
there are two distinct views on Nietzsche, one
is rather hard core, and the other a softer sort,
which is the one I see. The interesting thing
about Nietzsche, unlike many philosophers, is
that you seem to be able to pick and choose the
ideas you like!
LB: How do you feel in general about
the life of the poet, especially the weird poet? Is
formalist verse a dying art? And what do you
see as the future of weird verse?
MF: Well, it seems that to speak of the
life of the poet is to fill up space with a boat
load of clichés so I will refrain from doing that.
Whatever else the poet does, he needs to forego
feeling sorry for himself as that is the bill of
fare in nearly every age. I think that formalism
is making a slow but steady come back. Thirty
years ago there was almost no place accepting
formalist verse, but that has changed. In the
UK you have Candelabrum Poetry Magazine,
which has been publishing a great deal of
formalist verse for over 25 years now. Weird
or fantasy poetry will always be with us. Just
look at the poetry from different periods of
history, it is chock full of fantasy poetry of
nearly every stripe. The poets, moderns and
post-moderns, who live within their academic
ivory towers are not only oblivious to fantasy,
but run screaming from it. No one but other
academics reads their poetry--however, Leigh,
I must exclude you! You are a superb formalist
poet and an academic! [Here the interviewer
pauses to blush]
LB: Your work is, I understand
frequently referred to in Supernatural Horror in
Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide
ed. M.Tymn [Bowker & Bowker: 1989]. Does
Tymn’s book give any sort of an assessment of
your work? And what is the best review, notice
or comment you have had upon your poetry
from any source?
MF: It’s been a while since I’ve looked
at Supernatural Horror in Literature, which I
believed was published in 1989? It might be
interesting to note that since that date I have
tripled my output of poetry. The best review
I’ve received from any source was probably
from a 19 year old girl, a college student, who
read one of my poems. She told me that she
had had no interest in poetry whatsoever, but
she enjoyed my poetry so much that it sparked
a new interest for her and she began to read the
verse of others.
 LB: How do your other interests,
which include the American Civil War and the
Second World War, fit with your poetry
writing?
MF: Interesting, I don’t know if this
question has an answer. Off the top of my head
I can think of only one poem I’ve written about
WW II--a sonnet on the P-51 Mustang, and I’ve
written, I think, 2 or 3 short poems about the
American Civil War. Whenever I think of war
and poetry however I always think of World
War I, The Great War, which took the lives of
so many young poets. At one time I began
compiling a list of poets who died in that
conflict, and it was an incomplete and long
one.
LB: Lastly, can you describe how you
normally write? Is it a daily routine for you, or
do you write only when inspiration strikes?
Picture for us your study or work area where
you write your poems. Do you write longhand
or use a computer?
MF: Believe it or not for the past 8
years I’ve written 99% of my poetry at work,
which I can as I work security. Most of the day
I sit in front of a PC and answer the phone and
direct visitors who enter the building, or in the
evening I sit at another desk in a remote area of
the building. And, yes, I write every day, or at
least 5 days a week. From here I have written
nearly 2,000 poems and 130,000 words of
fiction during this period. I need almost no
inspiration for poetry. I jokingly say that when
I have no inspiration I can always write
sonnets! But what often inspires me is the
work of other poets, or, as always, a beautiful
girl, or anything beautiful.
LB: Michael, thank you so much for
your time.
FOUR POEMS
BY MICHAEL FANTINA
The Haunted March
Through the brick and mortar wall
I float when darkness claims the bog.
My bones rest in a hollowed log
Near the haunted manor hall.
When evening falls I find the trail
That snakes through swamp and marshy grass.
Here once I walked with some pert lass
Who is a ghost now cold and pale.
So many years beneath these hills
I’ve slept in sadness in the dirt,
Dreaming how the young girls flirt
To banish all my earthly ills.
For some dark sin I haunt the march
And frighten lovers near the yews
Until the dawn when morning dews
Drip from the shattered Gothic arch.
But then the dark comes on once more,
The werewolf’s howl rebounds and grows
To echo in the Winter snows,
In Summer round the blasted tor.
In Spring the nights are deadly still,
The screech owl sounds his plaintive cry,
And over the dark and Moonless sky
Is answered by the whippoorwill.
Up from the putrid, dripping slime
I rise when night jars call my name,
And every night it is the same,
From now until the end of Time!
Beyond The Cairn
Beyond the cairn, beyond the fallen wall
The star winds send my spirit on its way,
To lands where sorceress and mage hold sway,
Where magics rule from realms sidereal.
Here on pellucid lakes where never squall
Or ripples break the mirrored surface day
Or night, she stands, and lifts her hands to
pray,
This regal girl so pale and proudly tall.
And I have come to seek from her a boon,
A promise that will heal me, make me whole,
I pray that she will hear me soon, now soon,
That I may live and shrive my weary soul.
I have no coin to pay her heavy toll,
My heart becomes as barren as the Moon!
Winter
I watch the grey ponds harden
When Winter stalks the day.
And watch the gales blow whitely,
Both daily and then nightly,
Dead flowers in my garden,
With winds blown from the bay.
I watch the grey ponds harden
When Winter stalks the day.
Now stark and all asunder,
My roses lie in death
Until the warm Sun gleaming
Once more its life is streaming
And will the Winter sunder,
And give us breath for breath.
Now stark and all asunder,
My roses lie in death.
Though now the
king of cold is
Harsh liege of all this land,
And haply lords it over
The flowers, grasses, clover,
Until the Sun’s pure gold is
New liege above the strand,
Though now the king of cold is
Harsh liege of all this land.
Here right beside this willow,
Within this haunted night,
Half waking and half dreaming,
I hear the snow storm screaming,
As wan as any billow,
And deathly, deathly white,
Here right
outside my window,
Within this haunted night!
Then out upon the headland
I hear the breakers roll
Where titan waves are crashing
Ghost ships yet listing, thrashing
Across this icy dead land
I hear the bronze bell toll.
Then out upon the headland
I hear the breakers roll.
And then at freezing midnight
I see the ghost of Spring
That comes the Winter after
With love and lovers laughter
And where all the world seems light
Here joyous bells will ring
And then at freezing midnight
I see the ghost of Spring.
This storm so like a river
That rages to the sea,
That howls like grey wolves stalking,
Like goblins laughing, talking
Until I quiver, shiver,
In my extremity.
This storm so like a river
That rages to the sea,
I spy the storm winds veering
Across the Channel Isles.
There where the dead are sleeping,
Their secrets guarding, keeping,
As out there in the clearing,
The ruined peristyles.
I spy the storm winds veering
Across the Channel Isles.
I watch the grey ponds harden
When Winter stalks the day.
And watch the gales blow whitely,
Both daily and then nightly,
Dead flowers in my garden,
With winds blown from the bay.
I watch the grey ponds harden
When Winter stalks the day.
When Darkness Comes
I see the pinions flap when red dawns
rise
Above the parapets hard by this sea,
Here on these mighty cliffs where
white gulls flee
High into clouds that throng these
dawning skies.
Across this bay the castle’s shadow
lies,
Opposing cliffs sprout from the tide
lapped scree
Below those soaring walls of
porphyry,
Where ghosts convene until the
starlight dies.
The morning fog the sea wind’s blown
away,
Where that rough headland casts its
stony arm,
The thunder of the tide yet falls like
drums
Throughout the night and all across
the day,
And gives this place a glad and subtle
charm,
Until the ghosts convene when
darkness comes.
PROFILE OF ROBERT HOOD
by Leigh Blackmore

[Note: This brief profile was written as part of my
Journalism Features Writing classes last year. There
is (somewhere) a much longer, 5000 word version of
this interview but I seem to have mislaid it. If I find
the fuller version I’ll print it later.]
When Rob Hood writes horror, his
mood is not always
doom and gloom.
Despite the dark
subject matter, he often
has fun with it, as
when he co-wrote the
Creepers books with
Bill Condon. “One of
us would write the
first chapter,
subsequently faxing it
to the other, who would continue with the next
chapter, ending each chapter with some sort of
crisis/cliffhanger. It got very competitive and
escalated through each book. “Let’s see you get
‘em out of that one!”“ Oh, yeah! Well, take
that!” It made the books rather breathless!”
The fun aspect doesn’t mean he’s
taken less seriously as a writer. Ben Szumskjy,
critic and editor of the journal Australian Studies
in Weird Fiction, says of him, “Illawarra’s most
prolific author Robert Hood is among the finest
authors of Australian weird fiction. An author
to inspire, influence and set the benchmark for
all newcomers, he is Australia’s answer to
Ramsey Campbell.” (British writer Campbell
has won more awards for his horror fiction
than any other living writer).
The balding, bespectacled Hood
comes across as genially intellectual, readily
justifying his preference for horror as a literary
form. “Horror stories are about change--” says
Hood “-– physical, metaphysical,
philosophical, perceptual – and are given
metaphorical shape in terms of mortality. My
concentration on it derives from an acute
awareness of the fragility of human life.”
Born in Parramatta in 1951, he moved
with his family aged nine to Collaroy Plateau,
on Sydney’s northern beaches. “My strongest
memories of Primary School involve winning
an art contest with a drawing of a cartoon ape;
reading Captain W.E. Johns' Mars books; and
trying to trick my parents into letting me stay
up to watch late-night horror movies on telly.”
A natural writer, Hood started writing
stories in primary school, continuing
throughout high school. “I started writing
because I loved reading and wanted to write
the books that others didn't.” His first novel
was written in exercise books during Maths
lessons: “it involved an eccentric professor, his
beautiful daughter, alien invaders, flying
saucers and man-eating vines,” he recalls.
In high school, he read H.G. Wells’
War of the Worlds, and credits it with getting
him obsessed about reading SF. After that he
read “everything I could find, from pulp SF
magazines to War and Peace.” He also wrote
long English compositions, which were
“always fantastical, despite attempts by
teachers to make me produce something more
naturalistic.”
He remembers organising a school
play which he directed and in which he played
Frankenstein's monster; and aged 12, having a
short story rejected by the American IF
Magazine. He loved both the fiction classics
(Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
and ‘modern’ stuff, - “mainly short stories in
the form of Weird Tales magazine, Alfred
Hitchcock anthologies and the Pan Book of
Horror Stories series.”
A Wollongong resident for over
twenty years, Hood has edited anthologies
including Crosstown Traffic and three volumes
of Daikaiju! “The best part of editing is finding
stories you like, bringing them together. For
example, with the Daikaiju books, I wanted to
read giant monster stories. There were very
few around, so I encouraged people to write
some. But anthologies are exhausting. The
three Daikaiju anthologies I did with Robin Pen
took me away from my own writing for nearly
two years.”
His published work also includes two
collections of short fiction - Daydreaming on
Company Time and Immaterial, and the very
successful young adult horror novel series,
Shades.
Hood’s life was struck by tragedy
about ten years ago when his stepson Luke was
killed in an accident on railway tracks. His
novel Backstreets was written as a personal
response to the event, and he was featured in
an episode of ABC’s ‘Australian Story’. While
the incident still affects him deeply, he has
moved on, and prefers not to dwell on that part
of his life now.
He chooses instead to discuss an
incident perhaps even more bizarre than
Luke’s death. “I’d written something for a
crime anthology that fictionally “solved”
unsolved Australian crimes. It was one of my
most disturbing stories, about the Wanda
beach murders, in which my main character
witnesses the crime (child abuse, sexual assault
– post-mortem as well as pre-mortem -- and
murder). When the book came out I received a
letter that only had my suburb as an address.
(It got to me because the local PO knew who I
was and held it for me.) The letters said the
writer was convinced that my main character
was a real person and that the story had really
happened. He asked me to pass on a card he’d
included to the detective character (Crowe).
Crowe’s card indicated that the writer
recognised the crime’s (fictional) perpetrator
and believed that he knew who the real killer
was. It was hinted that he had suffered abuse at
this person’s hands as a child.”
Disturbed by this, Hood took the
letter to the police. “They were, of course,
indifferent (in a TV show it would have led
somewhere!). They were quite clear though
that I should let them know if this person
contacted me again. I feel rather pleased that
my depiction of the killer and his actions was
so psychologically convincing. But it left me
unnerved for some time and made me think
about how fiction can intersect with reality in a
way that blurs the distinction.” He shakes his
head, musing on the strange incident.
Unsurprisingly, the themes of his
work partly reflect these dark incidents in his
life. But also, Hood says, “some things crop up
whenever I think about what I'm doing : the
vagaries of perception; the power of the human
mind to mould its own realities; the thin line
between the objective and the subjective
worlds. And the importance of empathy.”
He still reads avidly. “But these days
it takes me a long time to get through a book.
Cinema has been feeding my passion for
storytelling, with its visual and auditory
immediacy.” Right now, he’s reading Max
Brooks' pseudo oral history of the zombie
plague, World War Z. “It's a rather fractured
vision -- the only characters are hordes of
faceless undead -- but when it sparks, the vista
is amazing, and it builds its bigger picture
relentlessly.”
His favourite form is the short story.
They are, he says, “like a burst of flame in an
otherwise smouldering fireplace, and as such
they can focus and entrance, while novels are
bush fires and too often rage out of control, and
end up a dark ruin.”
Always busy, he talks eagerly of his
raft of current projects. “I'm trying to finish a
horror novel. I have several commissioned
short stories (mainly horror) to write for
anthologies. I'm writing a YA supernatural
romance novel, a book on giant monster
movies, and a fantasy novel.” His new short
story collection, due out from Altair Australia
in October, is titled Creeping in Reptile Flesh (its
title derived from William Blake). It will
include “mainly stories that have been
published but mostly in obscure places, the
titular novella and one or two new stories.”
He has two basic rules for submitting.
“One – keep stories out there, because good
editors all see the same problems. Then revise
again or put it aside for later, more objective
consideration. Two – keep your ear to the
ground for potential markets, particularly
anthologies.”
What else would he advise young
writers to do? He doesn’t want to ‘pontificate’,
but does offer: “You have to find your own
way. But you do need to listen and evaluate; be
critical, but also enjoy. Try not to think too
much about writing as a career; expecting too
much can stifle you. Just write. Lots. Send the
stuff out when you're happy with it.” But that’s
not all. “Avoid selling to easy markets just
because they're easy,” he says. “It's no use
whatsoever having a CV full of publications in
magazines that will publish anything that
wasn't written in crayon. If you wrote the story
over breakfast and haven't revised assiduously,
then it's probably crap.”
Books By My Bedside
Due to time limitations I have to
restrict this section to some brief notes
instead of full reviews as I’d hoped.
John Haefele has issued Lest We
Forget via George Vanderburgh’s Battered
Tin Dispatch Box. Lest We Forget is a
highly detailed chronological listing of
every piece of writing August Derleth
composed about writer H. P. Lovecraft
(each with a brief quote
to provide context and
essence) supplemented
by little known letters
selected from Derleth's
personal papers. Lest We
Forget is a reminder to
everyone about the
important role August Derleth had in
fostering the literary reputation of H.P.
Lovecraft until Lovecraft was well on the
way to becoming the canonical American
author he is in 2008. Specifically, it is
directed to the generation of Lovecraft
aficionados and critics who upon the heels
of Derleth benefited from his nearly half-
century of devotion to a friend. Where what
Derleth wrote might now seem commonplace,
it is nevertheless interesting to note just when
he wrote. Available from:
http://www.batteredbox.com/ArkhamHouse
/Lest%20We%20Forget.htm
Donald R. Burleson’s Beyond the
Lamplight is a must-have
collection of horror stories
that was published by Jack o’
Lantern Press back in 1996.
It’s now worth quite a lot of
money, if you can find it.
Burleson is a superb writer
and although I’ve not yet
finished reading this, the
quality shines through in
every line of the first few stories. Worth
hunting down.
The Dark
Grimoire Tarot is
something I wasn’t
aware of until one of
Margi’s Tarot students
here in Wollongong
brought it along to
show me. I immediately
recognised the imagery
throughout the deck as
being based on
Lovecraft’s stories. The
pic shows the front of
the box, with Abdul
Alhazred writing the
Necronomicon, and the
back of each card has a
portrait of HPL. You
can see more images
from the deck at:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/dark-
grimoire/. It’s available to buy from
Amazon, Llewellyn online, etc. Or from
the Italian publisher, Lo Scarabeo at:
http://www.loscarabeo.com/catalogo2004/
home.htm
That makes three Lovecraft Tarot
packs that I know of. Lovecraft’s
penetration into popular culture and
indeed into the worlds of magic seems to
know no bounds!
Here’s something that isn’t a
book, but comes from a book I own. My
copy of F B Long’ s memoir of HPL,
Dreamer on the Nightside, contains the
following inscribed bookplate by Long.
His handwriting was pretty shaky even
back in 1976 when the book was
published. I didn’t
meet Long until
1990, in New York,
but it’s great to
have this signed
label dating from
around fifteen years
earlier.
MANTICHORUS: MAILING NOTES
EOD mailing #146 (Apr 30, 2009)
Joshi: What is Anything?: Sorry to hear of
the loss of your cat Lily. I look forward to
Black Wings. Great about the Mencken
titles, although I’m most looking forward
to Classics & Contemporaries. 2 vol
unabridged HPL bio- wow!!! Put me down
for one! Perilous Press sounds promising.
Nice essay on Lytton et al.
Livesey: Redux: Enjoyed your piece on
Hugh Elliott, though much of the science
is beyond me. And thanks for your
comments on Spores and my Harrison
essay.
Walker: Criticaster: I always find lots in
your notations to chase up – not that
there’s ever time to find all these things!
RYCTM, “By Their Fruits…” was titled
after a phrase from the Bible, though the
reference escapes me as I write.
Goodrich: Raw New Things: Congrats on
”The Patriot”. I hope to get the antho
sometime. Sad about Keith Herber’s
passing. The Houdini/HPL stuff interested
me. I published a long article many years
ago (in the Australian mag EOD) about the
connection between the two.
Dapkus: Sidereal: Fabulous verses by Fred
Phillips. Someone should publish a
collection by Fred. Derrick Hussey? Danny
Lovecraft? I commend him! Nice news
item on Derleth.
Andersson: Aurora Borealis: You’re doing
good work! Always fascinating to hear of
Lovecraftiana published in languages
other than English. The B&N errata list is
very useful. Thanks for your extensive
emcees – I wish I had space/time to match
them. My best find recently as a member
of the AHODR (Drowned Rat for short)
was a nice copy of Fergus Hume’s Mystery
of a Hansom Cab. Sorry you found the
Viriconium stories hard going; hope you
have a second go. Good on you for having
those two O’Keefe covers; he is
underappreciated as an artist.
Phillips: Kommati: Glorious Raven on the
front of the Jan 29 issue! I enjoyed the
piece about alchemy, as this is one of my
occult interests. I have given the odd
workshop about it. Jung, of course, was a
great explicator of the alchemical function
as a method of psychological integration;
as was Israel Regardie, one of Crowley’s
students. The piece on the Devil’s Chord
was good, too. Reminds me of Genesis P.
Orridge and Psychic TV, who have often
explored the use of sound to deliberately
activate certain parts of the psyche.
Enjoyed the museum notes and poem in
the later issue, too.
Indick: Ibid: Vastly enjoyed your book
reviews. Thanks for the good wishes on
my writing!
Drake: Potpourri: Nice piece on the Golden
Age which expanded my knowledge of
pulps.
Briggs: Dark Entries: I really enjoy your
zine, Scott, it’s a great mix of heartfelt
opinion, reviews etc. Nice long review of
ST’s Rise and Fall. The Bauhaus stuff
fascinated me as I haven’t heard anything
of theirs since the heyday (I have a
CASSETTE tape of classics in my
collection, and once had a picture disc--
remember them? – of “Bela Lugosi’s
Dead”). I just got a copy of Die Wontcha
from Perry, so will re-read your review
when I’ve listened to the CD. Those
Midnight Oil albums are classic, all right.
If you can’t afford to buy Spores let me
know – I can probably send you one. If
you want to read M. John Harrison, his
short story collections Travel Arrangements
and Things That Never Happen are
indispensable. Funny, I recently started
reading The Einstein Intersection by Delany
but got distracted; will get back to it.
Delany is awesome; I’ve read most of his
stuff – funnily, with the exception of
Dhalgren (which I will get to).
Rajala: Nonconformist: Nice zine. Thanks
for the postcard transcriptions.
Harksen: Philosopher: Congrats on the birth
of My! And sorry to hear of your mother
passing away. You have my sincere
sympathies. Sorry I haven’t been able to
review Eldritch Horrors yet; just too busy!
Nice to hear of the forthcoming
publications including Phillip Ellis’ poetry
volume. Keep up the good work with
fiction! Enjoyed the notes on horror and
the reviews.
Everts: Laney: A curious figure in the world
of Lovecraft fandom. I’d like to get a copy
of Ah! Sweet Idiocy but I guess it’s rare.
Burlesons: Morgan & Rice Gazette: Congrats
on success of the UFO/Oppenheimer book.
Excited to learn of a new collection of your
fiction – keep us posted, won’t you?
Thanks for the HPL postcard.
Haefele: Hesperia: Greatly enjoyed “The
Ackermonster and the Aug”; well-
researched and balanced piece.
Faig: EOD Letter: The O-Wash-Ta-Nong
stuff was much appreciated. And indeed, I
enjoyed all your book (and stage) reviews.
As to “wandering bishops”, there is quite
a tradition of this connected with the EGC
(Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica) (of which I
am an ordained Deacon) and the OTO
(Aleister Crowley’s magical order). I’d be
happy to chat further on this subject.
Thanks for ordering Spores – glad to know
Gavin Smith can supply it! Caitlin Kiernan
is a curious writer, not least because of her
transgendered sexuality!
Anderson: Nodens’ Notebook: I love your
reviews of old scarce fantastic works. I’ve
been reading some of your others in some
issues of Wormwood that Mark Valentine
sent me. As usual, makes me despair of
ever having an encyclopedic knowledge of
the weird; but having critics like you
willing to wade through and discuss some
of the obscurities definitely helps!
Phillips: Cyaegha: Such a well-produced
attractive zine! Enjoyed all the contents. I
used to correspond with Eddy Bertin
many years ago. I bought a copy of the
original Eyurid portfolio from Space Age
Books in Melbourne in the late 1970s,
though I no longer have it.
SWWFT Mailing #33 (March 2009)
Garrett: Coin-Op: Enjoyed your poem.
Good luck with the degree.
Howard: Change-Winds: Some of my old
faves in the Derleth pbks in your cover
pic. Things like the Four Square Sleeping
and the Dead turned me onto horror, along
with When Evil Wakes and others. A slim
issue, John, though I enjoyed the emcees.
Hope to see more material from you in
future issues.
Phillips: Sercon: Enjoyed your various
tidbits and comments, and emcees. Best
part was your verse. Great to see. I believe
there’s a missing syllable in the last line of
that beginning “The ruby splendour of the
setting sun…”; maybe something to fix?
Barrett: Koshtra Belorn: Nice essay on
Clifford Ball. Confess I’ve not read his
short stories; another to follow up!
Congrats on the Dark Horizons appearance,
and other in-print work.
Valentine: Opharion: I like your eclectic
reading. One day I’ll obtain the Ex
Occidente Press volumes; the usual
difficulties with money while I’m a poor
student. Thanks for the Seer of Trieste,
which I enjoyed. Just saw the movie In
Bruges, which you might appreciate for its
Belgian background. Oh God, I keep
meaning to renew my FOAM
membership…Good luck with the
sarcoidosis; we all have our health
problems at times, it seems. So glad you
enjoyed MJH’s Course of the Heart. I
recommend his Signs of Life as well –
heart-rending stuff in places. Frank Baker
article very informative. All for Deans that
read their students ghost stories! We don’t
get that tradition in Australia. I see Baker
has a website:
http://www.frankbaker.co.uk/ Hadn’t
realised he was a friend of Machen. Mary
Butts was also a Crowley acquaintance. I
must get The Tregerthen Horror – one of the
recent books about Crowley that has not
yet found its way into my collection.
Ellis: Elegant Amusement: Beautiful poem. I
was not familiar with the form of the
pantoum; now I am. And the word
“fleam” was new to me – what a great
word (an instrument of bloodletting). Nice
essay in brief on Eleusinia by Machen. I’ve
not read much of his poetry (if any).
‘Twould be curious to give a closer
examination to how the Grecian/mystery
rites theme of his poem plays out; perhaps
a subject for another article (which I’d like
to write, for I’m interested in the
Eleusinian rites). I think I have read this
essay on Lovecraft’s poetry before –
perhaps you sent it to me; good to see.
Andersson: Hyperborean: Good heavens,
you’ve only read Cold Print by Ramsey
Campbell! You must read at least Alone
with the Horrors, a large collection of his
best short horror fiction; and The Face That
Must Die, if not many others of his horror
novels. Many book acquisitions and books
read, as usual! I am desperate for Joshi’s
updated Lovecraft biblio – don’t know
why it’s taking so long to appear. Didn’t
know about the annotated Dexter Ward –
yay! Hope you enjoyed your Tolkien
jaunt! Schultz’s projects promise to keep
us in Lovecraftian letters and other good
stuff for years to come….Who is
publishing Smith’s Tales of India and
Irony??? Thanks for the HPL reprint
article.
Shaeffer: Dalriadic Chronicles: Enjoyed
“Shadow over Comic Con”. I enjoyed how
your essay highlighted the changes Serling
made to Matheson’s story. Gonna come
back to you about “Corporate Ethics” -
didn’t get time to read it (sorry). Glad you
like Sabbath.