MANTICHOR

E
3,
No
2

Cartoon by the late William

(WN10) Rotsler

Hmmm…where have the

last three months gone?
University work has been
A Contribution by Leigh intense. I had five subjects this
Blackmore for the Sword & semester – two journalism, two
Sorcery & Weird Fiction creative writing, and one web
Terminus (June 1 mailing), &
design. Kept me pretty flat out.
Esoteric Order of Dagon (Aug
2 mailing) amateur press I’ve just knocked off for the
associations (2008) mid-semester break (but have
Leigh Blackmore, 78 Rowland two assignments still to
Ave, Wollongong, NSW 2500. complete this week). I only
Australia. had one manuscript to assess
Email: lvxnox@gmail.com from my agencies in the last
Official Website: quarter – had to knock back a
Blackmausoleum – couple through sheer lack of
http://members.optusnet.com.au/l time to do them, due to my
vxnox/ heavy university load.

The main thing that

Mantic Notes
(Pronunciation:'man-tik. Etymology:
Greek mantikos, from mantis : of or
relating to the faculty of divination
:prophetic).
occupied my ‘extracurricular’
time was that Danny Lovecraft
decided to assemble a
collection of my weird verse
which is to be called ‘Spores
from Sharnoth and other
Madnesses’. This involved a lot
of editorial work done by
Danny and his wife Margaret,
and I also needed to rewrite
and revise some less than
satisfactory poems from the
past – though I ended up
writing a couple of new ones
as well. The most exciting part
for me is that Danny has
secured an introduction to the
proposed collection by S.T.
Joshi – and blurbs from leading
lights such as Darrell
Schweitzer and Richard L.
Tierney, plus a cover illo by
Gavin L. O’Keefe. I am
immensely flattered by their
comments! I must also extend
thanks here to my partner
Margi who made some
valuable suggestions for some
of the poems. Spores from
Sharnoth will probably appear
in July or August this year
under the imprint of Danny
Lovecraft’s P’rea Press.
Family news…We finally
signed papers on our house
after the estate of Margi’s
mother was sorted out
between her and her sister,
and are now the proud payers
of a mortgage. Pictured below:
me, Margi and Graham at the
housewarming party
celebration we held in April.
My stepson Rohan has
been working in Sydney and
still hasn’t officially moved out
of our Wollongong house,
though there are signs he may
find a permanent place of
residence in Sydney shortly.
The big event for Margi since
last issue was that she has
graduated from her TAFE
Certificate III Library
Technician’s course. Graham
and I took time off from study
and work respectively to
attend her graduation
ceremony last week. And
recently we went to see a
production of the musical
Godspell directed by my
brother Kent for the
Normanhurst Musical Society.
It brought back good memories
for Margi and Graham as they
first met a production of the
same show about twenty years
ago. My parents celebrated
their 50th wedding Anniversary
in April, which involved us
travelling to Sydney a couple
of times to have dinner with
them and celebrating.
I’m thinking of
undertaking Honours in my
Creative Writing degree next
year, so consequently I’ll
probably defer the third year of
my Journalism degree. I am
angling for tutorial work on
campus as a way into
permanent work in an
academic capacity there, but
this won’t pan out until the
next two or three years go by. I
may return to Journalism in
2010.
A few literary things of
interest have happened
recently. Margi and I have
been invited to contribute a
column on occult matters to
the new magazine Black, to be
published as a newsstand-
distributed magazine
nationwide in Australia as from
July. It’s being published by
Angela Challis and Shayne
Jiraiya Cummings of Brimstone don’t make ‘em like that.
Press. Our column will be
called “Dark Cauldron’ and it
will replace the column we
contributed for a while to
Spellcraft magazine. Spellcraft
didn’t pay, Black do, so we’re a
little better off!

I’ve also been invited by

the Australian Horror Writers’
Association to guest-edit an Apart from that, the
issue of their new magazine usual – moderating too many
Midnight Echo, but it seems groups on Facebook, helping
that won’t happen for up to a co-facilitate MoonsKin with
year. And it looks as though Margi, and running Aurora
Henrik Harksen has accepted Australis Thelemic Temple.
my previously published
Lovecraftian tale “The Return Oh yeah, and
of Zoth-Ommog” in his occasionally I sleep.
forthcoming English-language
Cthulhu Mythos anthology (to
appear through lulu.com)
(Anthology as-yet-untitled).

I’ve seen endless cheesy

Books by My
70’s horror films, for which I
have an unending appetite, in Bedside.
the last three months. I love
the films with which I grew up My reading of late has
– the films starred in by been sporadic. I’ve gotten back
Vincent Price, Peter Cushing into reading hardboiled crime –
and Christopher Lee for finished two by Donald
instance – and the ‘’omnibus’ Westlake (361 and
movies produced by Amicus. The Mercenaries)
So I’ve redevoured stuff like which I really
Tales from the Crypt, From enjoyed, and Dan
Beyond the Grave, Dr Phibes Simmon’s Hard Case,
Rises Again, At the Earth’s which was
Core, and so on. They just awesome! I’ve
always been a big
fan of Simmons’ sf
and horror work,
but
hadn’t caught
up with his
crime until now.
If you like
hardboiled, these are a must Sexualis (an excellent scholarly
read. I’m now looking for the study of sex magic currents in
others in the Simmons series. the 19th and 20th centuries) and
a new edition limited (limited
In addition, I read Calvin to 500 copies) of The Legend
Beck’s Scream Queens: of Aleister Crowley, P. R.
Heroines of the Horrors, Stephenson’s famous defence
Katherine Neville’s The Eight of
(great historical thriller about Crowley’s
chess amongst other things). reputation.
This edition
I also got hold of Dorothy has a new
Litersky’s long intro
Derleth by Stephen
biography, J. King, my
Derleth: Hawk initiator
and Dove. (I and Lodge
didn’t realise Master in
this was the Ordo Templi Orientis; and
published reprints of several obscure
nearly ten newspaper columns by
years ago!) I Crowley. Well worth checking
agree with the out if you are interested in
mixed reviews I Crowley. Copies are available
have read of this; it’s far from from Weiser Antiquarian Books
scholarly (although it has at
footnotes, many of them are http://www.weiserantiquarian.c
incomplete) but at the same om
time has inside information
from sources not otherwise
easy to access, including
Litersky’s own memories of
Derleth. It’s a curious item – MANTICHORUS:
the only real biography of
MAILING NOTES
Derleth so far, but perhaps
somewhat comparable to de
Camp’s biography of Lovecraft
– in a word, largely
inadequate. It is to be hoped
that a better biography will be
undertaken some time.

On the occult front I have read

only three books - Anger: The Found this item of Lovecraftian
Unauthorised merchandise on a site that has
Lovecraftian stuff for sale. The ‘Elder
Biography of Sign thong’. Lovecraft would turn in
Kenneth Anger by his grave!
Bill Landis; Hugh
Urban’s Magia SSWFT Mailing #29
Quill (Ben Szumsky): How
did your mission trip to the
Phillipines go? I hope it was
successful. Good luck with
Bachelor of Theology. I’m sure
you’ll acquit yourself
remarkably, as you have with
all your other studies. I
enjoyed seeing your
bibliography (as you know I am
a biblio nut from way back)
and will have to track down a
few items in there. Do you
have material of Tierney’s from
that abandoned project
Candles by Typewriter? I hope
it can still appear somewhere,
sometime. Danny Lovecraft
apparently is preparing a
collection of previously
unpublished Tierney poetry.
Hey, I’ll try to stick a pic or two
of rarities from my library in
here to pique your interest.
[late note: didn’t happen].
Hyperborean (Martin
Andersson):
Ah, those books! Can never get
over how much you read! Of
the movies you mention, I
haven’t seen any yet. Iron Man
is the only movie we’ve been
out to see lately. How sad is
that? I want to see The Golden
Compass especially. There was
a good episode of a British
series called The Sally
Lockhart Mysteries recently,
written by Phillip Pullman, and
I like his take on Victoriana.
Yes, curious that Arkham
House published no new books
in 2007. But that’s OK – I am
two books behind on obtaining
their publications. Can’t afford
it, but don’t want to break my
record of having every AH
book published. I’ll definitely
get the last two before they go
out of print. Freya, enjoyed
your review of the Alien vs
Predator movie. I think that
franchise is pretty much
exhausted now. Martin, the
article about the possible
Dunsanian influence on
Lovecraft’s “Shadow Over
Innsmouth” was interesting,
though the evidence seems
relatively slight – the similarity
of the shepherd’s and Zadok
Allen’s fondness for whiskey
being the strongest link
between the two. Thanks for
the John Hay link – will have to
check out those Farnese
letters.
Change-Winds (John
Howard): Interesting look at
Gunter Eich, a writer of whom I
previously knew nothing.
Elegant Amusement (Phil
Ellis): Phillip, I enjoyed your
essay on Lovecraft’s poetry.
It’s important, especially as
little work has been done on
his verse. It’s also important,
as you do, to examine his
output with a critical eye,
giving praise where it’s due,
and questioning the poorer
output where it’s warranted.
Your knowledge of the
traditional poetic forms gives
you a decided ability to
comment.
Dalriadic (Scott Sheaffer).:
More on The Twilight Zone.
Cool! I know nothing about
football, so I can’t comment on
the rest!
Opharion VI (Mark
Valentine):. Funny, I was
reading about Denton Welch
recently – William Burroughs Monster/Monster15-61.html,
much admired him as a writer. revealing that your Blaisdell
I still haven’t gotten it together piece had appeared many
to rejoin friends of Arthur years ago in No-Eyed Monster
Machen – but I will. Congrats No 15, Spring 1969. Maybe you
on the intro to the Saki could have put a line under the
collection! I greatly enjoyed last line of the story to set it off
the piece on James Elroy from the factual material which
Flecker. You write about followed – or was it your way of
writers that are mainly confusing the truth of matters
unfamiliar to me, but this by leading us (like Lovecraft)
makes me want to check out through a pseudo-authentic
Flecker’s work. account in which some
invented ‘facts’ are given
Koshtra Belorn (Mike reality by the verifiable data
Barrett): I’m a big Mary around them? Hmmm….
Elizabeth Counselman fan.
Danny Lovecraft recently got
us both a copy of her poetry
collection The Face of fear and
Other Poems (1984). Nice
getting that 1st of Worm
Ourobouros!
A SEMIOTIC READING
Coin-Op (Michael Garrett): OF EDGAR ALLAN POE’S
Nice to have you in the apa, “THE PURLOINED
Mike. I’m intrigued to know
anyone can do a full-time
LETTER”.
master’s in graphic novels! I
[The following is a brief essay I
found the Steven Piziks
wrote for my 3rd-year class in
interview very interesting.
literary theory).
Sercon (Fred Phillips):
“The Purloined Letter” is open
Interesting stuff about the fan
to various interpretations via
groups you’ve been in. Enjoyed
semiotics. Let us examine
your poem too (would be nice
some structures and devices
if you could give it a title.) You
which make meaning possible
got me with your piece on “Dr
in this story.
John Blaisesdell” and the
Necronomicon. At first I
A fundamental assumption of
thought I was reading a story
semiotics is that “the word”
but on page 5 you seemed to
does not equal “the world”. An
be talking fact about stuff that
arbitrary connection exists
happened to you, which made
between signifier (the form of
me think maybe the Blaisdell
word or phrase uttered) and
stuff was for real. Eventually I
signified (the mental concept)
had the bright idea of Googling
in Saussure’s sense; we
Blaisedell, and found
ourselves select the meaning
http://www.fanac.org/fanzines/
we impose on things, since all
language and perception are
constructed systems. In other
words, “the map is not the
territory” (a dictum of Alfred
Korzybksi’s theory of General
Semantics). 1
Poe’s story centres on a letter -
an object in which meaning is
communicated from person to
person. In the story the letter’s
theft poses potentially dire
consequences to the Queen if
its contents are revealed. The
plot is almost entirely
concerned with “sign chains”
and inquiry.
We as readers are never given
privileged access of knowing
exactly what the letter says. In
this sense, the letter is a
cipher that we are unable to
decode or read. Thus our
ability to extract “meaning”
from it is problematized. The
letter is hidden or displaced – it
is a pure signifier.
One could posit that the letter
at the tale’s heart is Poe’s way
of embodying the problem of
signifier and signified. The
reader of any letter must be
aware of a set of social
conventions around such a
transmission of “meaning” –
the conventions of reading
English, of understanding the
social ‘code’ around
correspondence, and so on.
Because the letter’s exact
contents are unknown,
decoding its meaning demands
a non-referential approach
which takes semiotic theory
into account. The police’s
search for the literal letter
could be seen as a search for
the case’s “meaning”.
Concealment (the Queen’s
concealment of the truth, as
well as the literal concealment
of the letter) and revelation
can be seen to relate to
“meaning” just as much as
they relate in this story to plot
points. Meaning is “revealed”
or “concealed” in a literary
dance performed by Poe as the
work’s author.
Dupin must locate the missing
letter via a deductive process.
He does so by realising that
the Prefect’s police take for
granted that the thief will think
as they do – that is, that only
one “meaning” can be
extracted from the fact the
letter is missing (i.e. that the
thief has hidden it in his
rooms). But Dupin realises that
meanings are “constructed”;
he demonstrates this with his
musings on the schoolboy
game where a boy is able to
guess ‘odds’ or ‘evens’ and
thus win all the marbles; and
on the difference between
mathematics and poetry, and
his reasoning that the Minister
D--- (the thief) is both
mathematician and a poet.
By this process Dupin deduces
the letter must be ‘hidden’ in
plain sight. Dupin is able to
“read” D—‘s thinking, thus
demonstrating his superiority
over police methods.
Unhindered by their literal and
conventional thought, he is
able to conceive that “the map
is not the territory”.
Dupin replaces the real letter
by a facsimile. This is, in a
sense, an “absence of
meaning”. (It is also a
duplication, or multiplication,
of D—‘s action in substituting
an earlier facsimile onto the
Queen’s dressing table). A
‘facsimile’ is an exact copy or
likeness of something. It could
be said that Poe is suggesting
that since objects can be like
each other, so too “ideas” or
“signs” can be alike; or like to
an original referent, without
being identical to that referent.
Also, just as the letter is
hidden but disguised, Dupin’s
green spectacles disguise his
eyes as he searches D—‘s
room for the letter – another
facsimile or “double”. This
doubling is a species of
sequentiality in the story.
There is a multiplication of
absences in the story, for the
original letter is missing (until
Dupin locates it) and the police
search concentrates on their
idea that it must be concealed
within invisible or concealed
spaces such as in chair-legs,
books and hidden
compartments. Semiotic
theories of absence vs
presence abound and there is
fertile ground for a full
semiotic examination of
absence in the story.
In semiotic terms, Dupin
realises that reality itself is a
presentation, and is not
discouraged by the police’s
apparent failure. The reality,
the real meaning of where the
letter is hidden, is only
revealed to the mind capable
of comprehending the relation
between paradigm and
syntagm.
Dupin instinctively knows the
letter is not just a physical
object (a referent) but a
conceptual apparatus with
both denotative meaning (e.g.
an indiscression on the part of
the ‘exalted personage’) and
connotative meaning (a value
to the Minister D—who hopes
to exploit the letter for
personal gain). The
connotative value of the letter
is slippery in that it has
different meanings to the
Queen and to D- .
Such contextual differences in
meaning defeat the police but
Dupin, able to taking account
of both signifier and signified,
works backwards to determine
the hiding place – to reveal, in
fact, that what appeared to be
“hidden” or “absent” was in
plain sight. Dupin
demonstrates that the
meaning of things is not
merely in their superficial or
apparent aspects, but in what
qualities we choose to
attribute to them.
Footnotes
1. The expression "the map is not
the territory" first appeared in
print in a paper that Korzybski
gave at a meeting of the
American Mathematical Society in
New Orleans, Louisiana in 1931
Bibliography.
Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on The
Purloined Letter” at:
http://chaucer.library.emory.edu/c
arroll/lacn_pages/lacan_text.html.
(Accessed on 4 April 2008).
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined
Letter” in Poetry and Tales. NY:
Library of America, 1984.

Well since I’m doing this issue right

up to the line, and Ben has put out a
call, I’m going to curtail it here
although I had more in mind. I’d like
it to go out with the mailing instead
of me having to mail it to everyone
individually as I’ve had to do on a few
occasions. I’m sure you SSWFT
members won’t mind missing out on
emcees for the last EOD mailing.
Hopefully a more substantial issue
next time (the cry of the Blackmore!)