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I think the theme of #23 is the most
intriguing one of all. Naturally I was especially interested in your analysis of
De Vermis Mysteriis, but in reading it I found --- much to my surprise
and dismay --- that a great deal of what you quoted seemed totally unfamiliar to
me. Worse still, in the absence of recollection, I seemed to be reading about
another writer's work rather than my own. Of course I haven't looked at some of
those stories for over forty-five years. But the other examinations you made
fascinated me without a flutter, and I compliment you on your formidable
abilities as a researcher!
--- Robert Bloch
Los Angeles, CA
Pray allow me to correct an egregiously
stupid error in my letter to you of May 21, published in Crypt #23, p.
50: The Adirondack sawmill town whose name was changed to "Thendara"
was Fulton Chain. Old Forge, two miles away, still retains its original name.
--- L. Sprague deCamp
Villanova, PA
May I say how much I enjoy Crypt of
Cthulhu. It's head and shoulders above other publications of a similar
nature and probably the best in the field since Fran Laney's Acolyte in
the 1940s. Even when I strongly disagree with a given article such as Will
Murray's "Prehuman Language in Lovecraft" in the'current issue, I
still find the article of interest. Keep up the good work.
--- Roger G. Knuth
Philadelphia, PA
This current Crypt [#23] ---
goshl I haven't seen a lineup of big names in a fanzine like this since old
friend Charlie Hornig's Fantasy Fan ran original stuff by HPL, C. A.
Smith, Derleth, Howard, etc.
--- Richard A. Frank
Williamsport, PA
Crypt is a publication I read
with unalloyed delight not only for the articles about HPL and his associates
but for insights into the works of other fantasists --- and of course the
inimitable humour. "Screwtape's Letter to Cthulhu" [Crypt #13]
could have had unfortunate consequences for me since it made me laugh out loud
on the top deck of a London bus; not usually the scene of much merriment. Other
passengers could not have been much more perturbed had I sprouted tentacles and
slithered away down the stairs.
--- Miss R. M. Calverley
London, England
The praise of Eileen McNamara's
"analysis" of Lovecraft (Crypt #22) sadly reflects the fact
that many myths about him are still widely believed. The books which the author
chose as her sources, by Carter and DeCamp, are not "excellent" but
rather riddled with errors of fact and interpretation; Miss McNamara has simply
distorted these errors even further in her article. She implies, for example,
that Lovecraft habitually avoided the company of friends; he did so only for a brief
period at the end of his "New York Exile" --- at the emotional
low-point of his life. Lovecraft's diary of
1925, in manuscript at the John Hay Library, shows him engaged in a very busy
round of social activities with his circle of friends, and is all the evidence
required to quell Miss McNamara's speculation regarding Lovecraft's
"schizoid" personality. There are many other errors of this type here,
though of more minor aspect, that Lovecraft biographers R. Alain Everts and
Kenneth W. Faig could point out better than I. For example, Miss McNamara's
assertion that Lovecraft's mother kept him in dresses until age six is
obviously mistaken. Likewise, Susan Lovecraft did not "insist throughout
her life" that Lovecraft was "hideously ugly" --- nor, it would
seem, did she ever make such a statement to Howard. Articles such as this do
nothing but perpetuate the tired old cliches which current Lovecraft
biographical scholarship has done so much to dispel.
--- Steve Mariconda
Pompton Lakes, NJ
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