If you haven’t heard about the amazing Bobby Dee, he’s not just a literary scholar, author and academician of Lovecraftiania and R. E. Howard studies, but of the weird community at large in its various manifestations. He is also an amateur fiction writer and artist. I think what he’s written in his recent review (here) on his blog is generous and beautifully put. I am deeply honored and in awe.
Usually as artists, we tend to be our own worst enemies. It’s nice when an actual critic shuts up the one in your head. Mr. Derie has this wonderful talent of being objective and impersonal. His advice comes from a technical angle which can help a writer/artist constructively overcome many personal challenges. It came as somewhat a (birthday) surprise. He warned me a month in advance of his intentions.
Naturally I went into Chidi-mode.
Here’s an excerpt from the review:
“Orphne prefers to show rather than tell; there are mysteries for the reader to unravel, characters are not introduced, and their identities must be divined by what they say and do. We know little about the main character Victoria, but that little we do know is intriguing…she is, more than Mr. Angell, the central character and mystery of the story so far. What key will unlock those answers?” – Bobby Derie
“But always I shall guard against the mocking and insatiate Hypnos, lord of sleep, against the night sky, and against the mad ambitions of knowledge and philosophy.”
—H. P. Lovecraft, “Hypnos”
You can catch all of Bobby’s posts on Deep Cuts. If you are interested in things Lovecraftian or Howardian, you can grab a copy of his books on Amazon.