La Dagon Press inaugura una nuova collana intitolata i “Giganti del Weird”, serie di eleganti volumi antologici dedicati ai grandi autori della letteratura fantastica del Novecento, con un occhio di riguardo verso gli scrittori amici e contemporanei di Lovecraft. Il primo titolo in uscita è RIVELAZIONI IN NERO – RACCONTI SCELTI di Carl Richard Jacobi (1908-1997) che, a cura di Luigi Musolino, presenta il meglio dei racconti horror, neri e fantastici scritti da uno dei maestri del weird tale americano, from us unjustly unappreciated except by a handful of short stories published in anthologies of old Fanucci and Newton.
Carl Jacobi was one one of the most important writers of the glorious golden age of pulp-magazines and one of the pillars, along with Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner and at the same Lovecraft, the legendary Weird Tales magazine on which published most of his stories. This first volume dedicated to him (it is providing for a second, due out later this year) will retrieve many of these stories, almost all unpublished in Italy, released on Weird Tales and other legendary pulp, as Ghost Stories, Thrilling Mystery , Strange Stories, Avon Fantasy Reader, Planet Stories, and others. In all, sixteen pearls, arranged chronologically, ranging throughout the career of this great playmaker, who was a correspondent of Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, a friend of Robert Bloch, Clifford Simak, and the historical founder of Arkham House (the publisher who published his three anthologies) August Derleth, and the production of large and attractive covers more than half a century of fantastic fiction. His reputation still lies in the stories, many of which reach heights of horror, originality black and irony is difficult to beat. Some are real milestones in the short supernatural fiction, from "Revelations in Black" and was considered one of the best vampire stories ever written, to "South Matthew & Co., a major review of the theme of" double " , in "The Swamp Mive," which was appreciated by Lovecraft and is one of the best examples of force and suggestiveness of his narrative.
In this volume there are also Lovecraftian stories written by Jacobi as "The Tomb in the elsewhere," which appeared in 1933 on the pages of famous Wonder Stories, tells a frightening encounter with dimensional monster, whose existence defies all laws of space-time, and then "The Face in the Wind", where a terrifying mythological creature takes the form of an old witch, and "The Fish Carnaby, which houses various themes of the story 'horror of typical marine HPL and William Hope Hodgson, and so that revisits the original archetype of the siren.
Jacobi, bearing in mind the lessons of his mentor in Providence, he creates fascinating places and cursed (the infamous Rentharpian Hills, the melancholy hills are the backdrop for many of her stories and updating, with remarkable skill and imagination, the topic of Haunted Ireland). And in the best tradition weird, in his work is also a tome cursed, the legendary The Return of Richard Verstegan Lapsed Intelligence, and other grimoires imaginary (so-called "pseudobiblium") part of his imagination are abhorred Hydrophinnae of Gantley, The inhabitants of the Abyss Gaston Le Fe, Under Zee Culten [Religion Submarines], and I'm a Werewolf of Calumet, the latter in the story "The Spooky Gun," a charming story lycanthropy and sleepwalking.
As this anthology, which manifests itself as a flagship of Dagon Press, are also place the wonderful stories of weird scientific written by Jacobi ("The Random Number", "A survey in the Dark," "The Last of Sagasta Opera", "Moss Island") in which the themes of the supernatural merge with the most bizarre scientific theories, and even some examples of his fiction as "Tepondicon" (appeared in the 40s on Planet Stories ), a heroic journey to distant worlds in search of a mysterious stone from the formidable power, and "The road was not there," co-written by Clifford Simak and released in 1941 on Comet, in which a scientist assiste da testimone impotente allo sfaldarsi della realtà stessa.
Tutti questi racconti (insieme a quelli presenti nell’antologia che seguirà) costituiscono una formidabile opera di recupero di un autore ingiustamente dimenticato in Italia, ma che sicuramente è uno dei grandi classici riconosciuti della letteratura di genere, grazie soprattutto alla caratura della sua opera, che non si limita alle idee ma viene supportata da uno stile di scrittura che, con tocco quasi magico, conferisce un perfetto realismo alle storie.
La capacità dell’autore nel delineare paesaggi perturbanti e ambientazioni suggestive è una delle chiavi di volta dell’opera di Carl Jacobi. Come scrive Luigi Musolino, curatore della raccolta, exemplary in its presentation ... "The stories of Jacobi instill anxiety in the reader through the use of sophisticated words, the overlap of clues and veiled hints that contribute to the growing typical of his stories, gradual escalation of tension, almost surgery, which relies on atmosphere and psychological analysis of the protagonists, culminating in the final detectors and explosive atmosphere. "
remains to say that these tales, recorded one by one (with valuable introductory comments that frame in their proper historical and literary context stories, reconstructing grounds, genesis and background narrative), have been specially translated for this publication, which also boasts support and the introduction of R. Dixon Smith, a biographer of Jacobi and holder of the literary rights on the work of the writer. To enrich the whole, there are also illustrations, reproductions of vintage covers, original documents and so on.
There are also two special appendices in the book, with letters written by Jacobi RE Howard, CA Smith A. Derleth and others, and a photo album that gathers all the known images of the writer.
unmissable an appointment, then, for all fans and lovers of good literature weird quality, and that will surprise those unfamiliar with the work of the extraordinary master of fantastic narrative that responds the name of Carl Richard Jacobi.
The book will soon be printed (February 2010) in very limited number of copies to the collection, which can be ordered from the address book or e-mail from our editorial staff: studilovecraft@yahoo.it . Hurry to order yours or you risk running out!
Carl Jacobi was one one of the most important writers of the glorious golden age of pulp-magazines and one of the pillars, along with Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner and at the same Lovecraft, the legendary Weird Tales magazine on which published most of his stories. This first volume dedicated to him (it is providing for a second, due out later this year) will retrieve many of these stories, almost all unpublished in Italy, released on Weird Tales and other legendary pulp, as Ghost Stories, Thrilling Mystery , Strange Stories, Avon Fantasy Reader, Planet Stories, and others. In all, sixteen pearls, arranged chronologically, ranging throughout the career of this great playmaker, who was a correspondent of Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, a friend of Robert Bloch, Clifford Simak, and the historical founder of Arkham House (the publisher who published his three anthologies) August Derleth, and the production of large and attractive covers more than half a century of fantastic fiction. His reputation still lies in the stories, many of which reach heights of horror, originality black and irony is difficult to beat. Some are real milestones in the short supernatural fiction, from "Revelations in Black" and was considered one of the best vampire stories ever written, to "South Matthew & Co., a major review of the theme of" double " , in "The Swamp Mive," which was appreciated by Lovecraft and is one of the best examples of force and suggestiveness of his narrative.
In this volume there are also Lovecraftian stories written by Jacobi as "The Tomb in the elsewhere," which appeared in 1933 on the pages of famous Wonder Stories, tells a frightening encounter with dimensional monster, whose existence defies all laws of space-time, and then "The Face in the Wind", where a terrifying mythological creature takes the form of an old witch, and "The Fish Carnaby, which houses various themes of the story 'horror of typical marine HPL and William Hope Hodgson, and so that revisits the original archetype of the siren.
Jacobi, bearing in mind the lessons of his mentor in Providence, he creates fascinating places and cursed (the infamous Rentharpian Hills, the melancholy hills are the backdrop for many of her stories and updating, with remarkable skill and imagination, the topic of Haunted Ireland). And in the best tradition weird, in his work is also a tome cursed, the legendary The Return of Richard Verstegan Lapsed Intelligence, and other grimoires imaginary (so-called "pseudobiblium") part of his imagination are abhorred Hydrophinnae of Gantley, The inhabitants of the Abyss Gaston Le Fe, Under Zee Culten [Religion Submarines], and I'm a Werewolf of Calumet, the latter in the story "The Spooky Gun," a charming story lycanthropy and sleepwalking.
As this anthology, which manifests itself as a flagship of Dagon Press, are also place the wonderful stories of weird scientific written by Jacobi ("The Random Number", "A survey in the Dark," "The Last of Sagasta Opera", "Moss Island") in which the themes of the supernatural merge with the most bizarre scientific theories, and even some examples of his fiction as "Tepondicon" (appeared in the 40s on Planet Stories ), a heroic journey to distant worlds in search of a mysterious stone from the formidable power, and "The road was not there," co-written by Clifford Simak and released in 1941 on Comet, in which a scientist assiste da testimone impotente allo sfaldarsi della realtà stessa.
Tutti questi racconti (insieme a quelli presenti nell’antologia che seguirà) costituiscono una formidabile opera di recupero di un autore ingiustamente dimenticato in Italia, ma che sicuramente è uno dei grandi classici riconosciuti della letteratura di genere, grazie soprattutto alla caratura della sua opera, che non si limita alle idee ma viene supportata da uno stile di scrittura che, con tocco quasi magico, conferisce un perfetto realismo alle storie.
La capacità dell’autore nel delineare paesaggi perturbanti e ambientazioni suggestive è una delle chiavi di volta dell’opera di Carl Jacobi. Come scrive Luigi Musolino, curatore della raccolta, exemplary in its presentation ... "The stories of Jacobi instill anxiety in the reader through the use of sophisticated words, the overlap of clues and veiled hints that contribute to the growing typical of his stories, gradual escalation of tension, almost surgery, which relies on atmosphere and psychological analysis of the protagonists, culminating in the final detectors and explosive atmosphere. "
remains to say that these tales, recorded one by one (with valuable introductory comments that frame in their proper historical and literary context stories, reconstructing grounds, genesis and background narrative), have been specially translated for this publication, which also boasts support and the introduction of R. Dixon Smith, a biographer of Jacobi and holder of the literary rights on the work of the writer. To enrich the whole, there are also illustrations, reproductions of vintage covers, original documents and so on.
There are also two special appendices in the book, with letters written by Jacobi RE Howard, CA Smith A. Derleth and others, and a photo album that gathers all the known images of the writer.
unmissable an appointment, then, for all fans and lovers of good literature weird quality, and that will surprise those unfamiliar with the work of the extraordinary master of fantastic narrative that responds the name of Carl Richard Jacobi.
The book will soon be printed (February 2010) in very limited number of copies to the collection, which can be ordered from the address book or e-mail from our editorial staff: studilovecraft@yahoo.it . Hurry to order yours or you risk running out!
Carl Jacobi
REVELATIONS IN BLACK.
Selected Stories: VOL. I (1928-1947) By Luigi
Musolino
Ed Dagon Press, 2010
pp. 320, € 25.00
For information and inquiries:
studilovecraft@yahoo.it
