Abstract

Thanks for the book on Beddoes from Lovecraft's library; on the typing of Lovecraft's manuscripts (by Barlow) and excerpts from his letters (by Smith, for August Derleth and Donald Wandrei); on the George Sterling letters (which include a criticism of Lovecraft's "Dagon"); a lament on the death of Lovecraft and artists in America (citing Ambrose Bierce and Lafcadio Hearn) and his own ambition to decamp the country; on politics (Republicanism, Communism, Capitalism, Fascism, anarchism, the futility of revolutions, etc.), using Russia and Emma Goldman as particular examples; Annie Gamwell mailed a copy of The Californian to Smith (as Lovecraft had addressed it to him), which contained Barlow's "The Night Ocean"; looking forward to Leaves (with Weiss' "Flowers of War") and recommending "The Smell" in Strange Tales and "The Dancer in the Crystal" in Weird Tales, seguing into Smith's latest stories ("Red World of Polaris" and "Metamorphosis of the World") with "Mother of Toads" rejected by Spicy Mystery Stories and trying it on Esquire (which had printed Donald Wandrei's "The Painted Mirror" and Arthur Davidson Ficke's "Mrs. Morton Buys a Fish"; with a reference to Ernest Hemingway), and "The Death of Ilalotha" sold to Weird Tales; the difficulty of writing for Smith, due to isolation and his father's condition. Postscript: Apologies for being pessimistic, and on subjects he and Robert E. Howard might have had a good time discussing.

Cited By

TBD

Included In

• Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith (unabridged)