November 15, 2021

 Greetings Everyone!

My second book - Aliens, Robots & Virtual Reality Idols in the Science Fiction of H.P Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov and William Gibson - has just been reviewed in the prestigious DePauw University journal Science Fiction Studies by E. Mariah Spencer, Vol 48, No. 3 (November 2021), pp. 600-604.

Please use the link below & then log into the JSTOR digital database to access the review. 

Professor Spencer flatters me by referring to my “masterful storytelling ability” & recognizes that, in the final analysis, the readers of my book (and of the remarkable works of Lovecraft, Asimov & Gibson) must come up with their own interpretations of what an “alien” really is- and perhaps more importantly, decide how the genuinely alien entity differs from entities linked to specific “markers of otherness” – such as ethnicity, gender, race, disability & age- all of which are, in my view, merely human-centric associations.

Best wishes to all of you!

JLS

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5621/sciefictstud.48.3.0600?refreqid=excelsior%3A435b19a8aeabd74db8011c9048c6e653

November 3, 2021

Greetings Everyone!  

Autumn continues.  The skies orange and ash gray at twilight; the  leaves brown, yellow & red as they fall from the trees; all working their magic as the season declines & moves towards winter. 

This is the perfect time to check out my two books!  They are essential reading for everyone who is an autumn person & a fan of the great New England horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.

And, of course, for readers who like science fiction, horror & fantasy literature.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/178904510X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vamf_tkin_p1_i1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157863587X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vamf_tkin_p1_i0

October 31, 2021

 Happy Halloween Everyone!

October 30, 2021

Greetings!

This is my daughter Ligeia, all ready for Halloween night!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

JLS

October 23, 2021

Greetings Everyone!

Before ending my series of October postings, it is only fitting to cite Edgar Allan Poe, an autumn person to the roots of his heart & soul. 

In his greatest poem “Ulalume”, Poe describes the October dream-scape that his narrator is journeying through on his way to a mysterious destination.  It is clear that this nightmarish experience is taking place on Halloween night.

The skies they were ashen and sober;

The leaves they were crisped and sere-

The leaves they were withering and sere:

It was night, in the lonesome October

Of my most immemorial year:

          It was hard by the dim  lake of Auber,

In the misty mid region of Weir:-

It was down by the dark tarn of Auber,

In the ghoul-haunted woodland  of Weir.

The narrator encounters weird visions- including the “specter” of a planet- a ghost planet! – and ends up standing before the tomb of his beloved- the Lady Ulalume.

The narrator has been tricked by the woodland ghouls into a confrontation with Death.   And this is the ultimate Halloween trick or treat!

JLS

October 16, 2021

Greetings Everyone!

The third week of October!

Ray Bradbury describes October in his book The October Country  as: “that country where it is always turning late in the year.  “That country  where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay.  That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun.  That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts.  Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain....”

In another book, Bradbury warns us against the autumn people, who, he argues, are evil & seek to ensnare human souls.  In his gothic tales, Bradbury’s autumn people are indeed evil. 

But there are autumn people who have souls & are not evil; they love autumn & celebrate the death of the year & the renewal that always follows.

JLS

October 8, 2021

 

Greetings Everyone!

This is the second week of the month of October!  

H. P. Lovecraft, as much a patron-saint of autumn as Ray Bradbury, writes in his poem “October”:

Mellow-fac’d, with eyes of faery, wistful clad in tinted leaves,

See the brown October tarry by the golden rows of sheaves;

Oak and acorn in his garland, fruit and wineskin in his hands,

Mystic pilgrim from a far land down the road to farther lands.

 The “farther lands” referred to in the last line are what Halloween is all about- half-seen sights from the outer distance & half-heard sounds from the outer spheres.

 JLS