UNCOMMON PLACES (2012) by W. H. Pugmire

[GRWelsh]

In April 2018 I was listening to the Lovecraft eZine podcast and their guest was the author Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire. I became interested enough to buy one of his books later that fall, and I think I finished it around the time of his death on March 26, 2019. A flamboyant figure, Pugmire was well-loved and respected by the Lovecraftian community and the guys on the Lovecraft eZine podcast were quite broken up over his passing. I haven't reviewed the book yet anywhere, as I wanted some time to digest it. The most common criticism of Pugmire is that he writes with an affectation, as if he is trying to ape the styles of writers from the 19th century like Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde and Henry James. That may be true, but it was also true of HPL who at times aped the style of Poe, Dunsany and even moreso 18th century writers and poets he identified with. A stronger criticism is that it is often difficult to summarize what happens in Pugmire's stories, as they are scarce on plot or characterization. They're like prose impressions with a lots of dreamlike and nightmarish imagery, and on that level they succeed.

[GRWelsh]

I was re-reading my W. H. Pugmire books over the weekend. His writing style is definitely an acquired taste and I could see why some people would be put off by it. But I like the dream-like atmosphere he often evokes, and I also like that he writes truly short stories and doesn't drag an idea out longer than it deserves. I have SESQUA VALLEY & OTHER HAUNTS (2008) by Mythos Books, UNCOMMON PLACES (2012) by Hippocampus Press, and AN ECSTACY OF FEAR (2019) by Centipede Press, the last a beautifully illustrated hardback with a red ribbon. There is some overlap as Pugmire had the odd habit of touching up and republishing certain old stories. So, there are a few variations of the same story in different editions. Sesqua Valley is a fictional location, Pugmire's own version of Lovecraft Country, set in the Pacific Northwest at the same actual location for the TV Series TWIN PEAKS (1990), a region he was very familiar with. Stories work best when set in places known well. Some of the writing seems like it could have been autobiographical. Here's a passage from the short story "The Zanies of Sorrow" as it appears in SESQUA VALLEY & OTHER HAUNTS:

It was music that brought me into a twilit world of music and mystery. I had lived in my quarters for a few days, delighting in my escape from my wretched former existence. I had savings enough that I could live in frugal comfort for six months. Gladly, I left my dreary job, my boring friends, and my unsympathetic family and found an apartment in a forgotten and nigh desolate section of the city. My escape was complete. I had kept only my books, my typewriter, and my cat. No one had a clue as to my departure or destination. I had deliciously disappeared. For one half year I would live a fantasy life of reading and writing in complete solitude. Discovering a wonderful Asian restaurant, it became my habitual mid-day haunt. Other than that, and infrequent shopping, I stayed inside my spacious and inexpensive rooms.

Before moving in, I had told my landlord -- Mr. Bullon -- that I was an author working on a new book and thus needed a room that was very quiet, not one with windows facing the street. True, there was not much traffic noise, the building existing in such a deserted and unpopulated part of town; but the slightest screech of modernity was to me an abhorrent torment, and thus I procured rooms facing the back courtyard. All was very silent indeed. Until, one evening with pen in hand and cat on lap, that there came from directly across the hall a faint sound of someone at their pianoforte.

I was at first annoyed at this intrusion of sound, subdued as it was; yet the longer I listened the more beguiling I found the music. It contained a quality of sorrow which I had never experienced from song. As I continued to strain with listening, tears welled within my eyes. And when, abruptly, the music ceased, I found myself longing for its continuation.

I can identify with wanting to quit a dreary job and live on savings in frugal comfort for six months doing nothing but artistic stuff.