"The Thing in the Moonlight"

[w h pugmire esq]

"The Thing in the Moonlight" remains one of my favourite Lovecraft tales not written by H. P. Lovecraft. I recently purchased an inexpensive ex-library edition of the Arkham House book, Dagon, as I want to collect Lovecraft collections that include the tale, before S. T. Joshi decided to eliminate it from the Lovecraft editions he edits. I actually wondered, for one brief mad moment, if S. T. might include "The Thing in the Moonlight" in his two-volume set of Lovecraft's revisions & collaborations -- but of course those books will include only those tales that HPL worked on while he lived. I wish that the current editors of Arkham House would include the wee tale in any new editions of Lovecraft's fiction forthcoming. I almost want to make this my crusade -- for the best portions of "The Thing in the Moonlight," the portions that have so inspir'd other writers and thrilled so many readers, is indeed the work on H. P. Lovecraft.

One of the critiques used to justify the exclusion of the tale from editions of Lovecraft's fiction is that it was never meant to be published as a story but is in fact an account of one of Lovecraft's dreams. Well, here is S. T.'s note in the corrected text edition of Dagon concerning a tale that does appear in that volume: "'The Evil Clergyman' is not a story but an account of a dream as recorded by Lovecraft in a letter to Bernard Austin Dwyer, circa October 1933. This letter is not available for consultation, and the text is based upon the first appearance in Weird Tales, April 1939." My feeling is that if a recounting of a dream from a letter that is no longer extant can be published among Lovecraft's tales, so too can "The Thing in the Moonlight." Those portions that were added to Lovecraft's text may be removed -- the opening line can be, "My dream began in a dank, reed-chocked marsh...."

The tale has become important, I feel, because of its influence on genre writers. It has inspired one magnificent novel and some stories, Brian Lumley "completed" it, and I continue to draw inspiration from it for my own weird fiction.

Perhaps Robert M. Price will include it in his five-volume set of Lovecraft's fiction, to be publish'd some strange aeon by (I think) Mythos Books. And perhaps it will be included in the forthcoming electric edition of Lovecraft that hath been announced by Arkham House. I hope so.

 

[J Riff]

Reading it side by each with the letter to Donald Wandrei... it IS Lovecraft, or Marcus Welby, and should be included, what a great little SS it is.
H.P. Lovecraft's "The Thing in the Moonlight"

 

[Tinsel]

This Psalm might have lead to the beginning of the making of another short story, but I can't relate it to anything, although my understanding of the lore is goatish.

 

[Ningauble]

I actually wondered, for one brief mad moment, if S. T. might include "The Thing in the Moonlight" in his two-volume set of Lovecraft's revisions & collaborations -- but of course those books will include only those tales that HPL worked on while he lived.

It seems that an early embryo of that edition did include "The Thing in the Moonlight", because I've seen a list of corrections of typos in which it is included. But I suppose it had to go for space reasons. Same thing with "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" and "The Lord of Illusion", which would have made a nice appendix.

One of the critiques used to justify the exclusion of the tale from editions of Lovecraft's fiction is that it was never meant to be published as a story but is in fact an account of one of Lovecraft's dreams. Well, here is S. T.'s note in the corrected text edition of Dagon concerning a tale that does appear in that volume: "'The Evil Clergyman' is not a story but an account of a dream as recorded by Lovecraft in a letter to Bernard Austin Dwyer, circa October 1933. This letter is not available for consultation, and the text is based upon the first appearance in Weird Tales, April 1939." My feeling is that if a recounting of a dream from a letter that is no longer extant can be published among Lovecraft's tales, so too can "The Thing in the Moonlight." Those portions that were added to Lovecraft's text may be removed -- the opening line can be, "My dream began in a dank, reed-chocked marsh...."

Yes, of course one of the problems with "Thing" is that it is a "posthumous collaboration".

 

[J Riff]

Oh, stick it in there. The ending is fine, trapped in the dream with tentacle-face.... it works for me. Would you change a word of it, WHP?
It's a better story than it is a letter?

 

[w h pugmire esq]

Oh, stick it in there. The ending is fine, trapped in the dream with tentacle-face.... it works for me. Would you change a word of it, WHP?
It's a better story than it is a letter?

I went to the H. P. Lovecraft Archive and printed out the page that shews Lovecraft's original letter in one column next to the text of "The Thing in the Moonlight," and I was surprised to discover that the large paragraph near the end was not Lovecraft's work. It's a wonderful ending to the tale, and so yes, I would keep it. The tale will be included in the five volume set of Lovecraft's fiction that Robert M. Price has edited for Centipede Press. There is a very enthusiastic chat about the tale on the H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast.