a certain Mr. Hopfrog, Esq. has [on alt.horror.cthulhu] come to the defense of my novel,
Nightmare's Disciple. Mighty nice of him! !! Let's hope he soon posts a review of ND on Amazon, or does a vblog for it!!! If you have not seen any of his delightful Mr. Wilum's vblogs, you NEED too! !! [look for Mr. Wilum on YouTube]
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrWilum#p/u/24/SP2dh9RK3WY
"I have read NIGHTMARE'S DISCIPLE three times, & with each reading I enjoy it
more and more. It has some structural problems (it's too long, needs
editing; and the raves about modern culture can at times distract from
the core of the novel), but for a first novel it is quite good, so
well written that it is no surprise that Joe sold it to a professional
publisher. I have a dislike for extreme violence in horror fiction,
yet Joe's book is such from from a Mythos point of view that it kept
me reading -- and then rereading. It's the first thing that Joe ever
wrote, and he wrote it extremely well. I felt that S. T. Joshi's
comments on the book were tainted a lot by his (then) keen dislike of
and disinterest in the Cthulhu Mythos as a subgenre; yet even in what
was not a favorable review, S. T. could not help but praise portions
of the book: "And yet, Pulver is a good writer. When not riding his
Mythos hobby-horse, he can produce such passages of quiet eloquence as
this, describing his ageing police detective: 'Thirty-two somehow
became forty-three as he watched the years pass--some in the bottle,
all in pain--leaving few dreams and no illusions. Now the files and
photos spread across the desk in his den were fast removing what
little remained of his battered belief in human decency.' With more
prose like this, and with a little less piling on of the Mythos,
Pulver could do highly creditable work." And yet it is the mentions
of the Mythos in the book that keeps me returning to it, I find them
fun and fascinating. And the book's nasty villain is a powerful
evocation of what a lunatic murderer corrupted by cosmic evil would
be -- he is perfectly portrayed. I've been meaning to write a review
of this book at Amazon, where it has received twenty-five or so
"reviews" thus far, some of which call the book a loser, most of which
are favorable (one calls it the best book they ever read!). The great
news is that Joe is now working on a new novel. of which I know no
details but I somehow doubt that it will be tied to the Mythos; & a
second collection of weird tales is forthcoming from Hippocampus!
Yeehaw!"
THANKS, Hopfrog!!You ROCK!
All my bEastly best,
Joe
