9 Quick Q&A With Mythos Writer Wilum Pugmire

 

What was the first story that got you hooked on Lovecraft fiction?

“The Haunter of the Dark.”  I bought a collection by that title while working in Ireland as a Mormon missionary.  I was corresponding with Robert Bloch, and it thrilled me that the book’s title story was dedicated to him.

 

You have been writing in the genre for decades, how many books have you published and what do you have coming out in the future?

When I began writing, I just wanted to be a famous Mythos writer like my heroes August Derleth and Brian Lumley.  I didn’t begin seriously writing until around 1985.  I just wanted to write stories for the small press journals, I had no idea about having my own books published.  Of my own books, the one of which I am most proud is SOME UNKNOWN GULF OF NIGHT–I consider it my finest book, and I love that it came to me as a surprise and that I wrote it in six weeks.  Forthcoming in 2012 are UNCOMMON PLACES (Hippocampus Press), THE STRANGE DARK ONE–TALES OF NYARLATHOTEP (Miskatonic River Press), and ENCOUNTERS WITH ENOCH COFFIN (Dark Regions Press).

 

If you had the opportunity to ask Lovecraft one question what would it be?

 Where are the manuscripts for your discarded stories?

 

Who do you believe are the top five lovecraftian writers publishing today?

S. T. Joshi (his novel featuring young Lovecraft is superb), Laird Barron, Caitlin Kiernan, Jeffrey Thomas, Thomas Ligotti.

How do you believe digital editions have affected today’s book collector market and what do you think the future holds for both digital and physical genre books.

I think digital books are the way of the future, which is fine.  I want my works read.  But I am intensely in love with physical books, and the small press will remain with us, publishing handsome tomes.

 

If you could only meet one of the following people below for a one-hour chat, who would it be and why:

 

1. Barbara Streisand
2. Boy George
3. Oscar Wilde
4. Clark Ashton Smith
5. Joseph Smith

I would tell dear Oscar that I loved him and that I cherish his work, and he would stun with me his wit and charm; and he had, I think, superb taste is cuisine.  

 

If you could take someone with you to this meeting who would it be and why.

I would take Jesus Christ–he could probably use a good laugh.

 

How many books are in your “to be read pile” right now and what are their titles.

Oh gawd!!!  I just got Ligotti’s new Centipede Press book and am slowly devouring it.  I probably have 100 books awaiting to be read.  Too many to list.  I am focusing on reading all of the Charles Todd murder mystery novels that I have yet to read.  I have a number of books on Symbolism and Modernism that I want to study, and I just got the Centipede Press edition of THE GOLEM that I am really looking forward to devouring.

 

Last question….favorite lipstick Revlon or Chanel?

Chanel.  Revlon has great colors but it doesn’t taste that great.  Most lipsticks are rather greasy, but Chanel can often be as smooth as velvet, and I love the casings.

 

Thanks so much for putting out such great fiction and your dedication to the genre.

Wilum Pugmire’s facebook page can be found here. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1242252279

Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire (born May 3, 1951) is a writer of horror fiction based in Seattle, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire has been writing Lovecraftian weird fiction since the early 1970s. His books include THE TANGLED MUSE, SOME UNKNOWN GULF OF NIGHT, UNCOMMON PLACES, THE STRANGE DARK ONE, and (with Jeffrey Thomas) ENCOUNTERS WITH ENOCH COFFIN. He is at work on his second volume for Arcane Wisdom Press, MIDNIGHT DIN AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES. Although he poses as a practicing Mormon, he is fully aware that Barbra Streisand is God.