Free Download Memories of Yuggoth

Six months ago. I published my first book, Memories of Yuggoth, on Amazon. To celebrate I am providing the eBook as a free download for the next five days, from June 2 to June 6, inclusive.

The Whisperer in Darkness introduced what I think are one of Lovecraft’s most iconic alien races, the Mi-Go. For me Mi-Go are an extraordinary cosmic horror device. First, their physiology and morphology are such that we cannot really find an earthly analog. It is difficult to understand their morphology making it even more difficult to understand their motives. Whisperer also introduced the Mi-Go brain cylinder. Now a disembodied brain could travel through space and see things a normal human could never hope for. I think it was implicit in Whisperer that the trip to the brain cylinder was one way—there’s no going back to the body. Why the Mi-Go would want to share the universe with human brains is one of those mysteries known only to the Mi-Go. On my first reading of the story there was some part of me that wanted Akeley to accept the brain cylinder and explore space with the Mi-Go.

I think Whisperer profited from the technologies of its epoch. That is, exciting new emerging technologies against a backdrop of isolated, forgotten backwaters. Casting many of the Mi-Go’s abilities into the modern world is more complex. How do they survive the vacuum of space to fly to other planets? Could we photograph a Mi-Go with a digital camera? Can we build a believable alien when it has such a strange form? I think these challenges have meant the Mi-Go have been largely ignored by stores set in the modern era.

I do think the Mi-Go are an excellent foe because of their alienness, their advanced technologies and their inscrutable motives. In addition, they are formidable, but it is entirely plausible that a heroic human could survive an encounter with the Mi-Go (which cannot be said about a lot of Lovecraftian beings, where death and madness come far too easily).

In my new book “Memories of Yuggoth” I have tried to present a story that brings the Mi-Go and their human allies into the modern world. In the story I have tried to use a classic interpretation of the Mi-Go as race (with all its complexities) without ignoring modern scientific advancements.

A Chemical Induced Dream

In my new book, Memories of Yuggoth there is a sequence when the hero breathes in a toxic gas and has a strange dream. The details of the location of a dream is from one of my own childhood memories and I had the opportunity to visit the location a few years ago.

When I was very young we lived in the appartement on the top floor. It has changed since, but very little. Before there was a green picket fence around the building, where we now see the grass. A green wooden staircase led up to the small veranda and we could access the appartement via that door. There was a guard rail of some kind around the veranda. Of course there was that ladder going up to the roof that I mention in the book.

The third window from the front was the window to the our bedroom. I would look out of that window at the hotel across the alley. We can still see the electrical powerline and I suppose there is still a purple insulator where it connects to the wall. In my memory, the line came from a pole at the front of the build (not from the back) - who knows?

I may have climbed the ladder but I was definitely never on the roof.   

Memories of Yuggoth Available on Amazon

My new book, Memories of Yuggoth is now available on Amazon. I am really interested in any feedback you can provide so please don't hesitate to put a review here or directly at Amazon.

When I started writing this book I wanted to do something very Lovecraftian.  I was heavily influenced by The Case of Charles Dexter Ward as I see it is a story told in first person that captured the time and place it was written.  Obviously, this also has influences from The Whisperer in the Darkness as that is the place (for me) that Lovecraft really introduced the Mi-Go.  

There is a problem with the Mi-Go and Yuggoth in that it was written at a time before we had a good understanding of interplanetary travel and science.  Today, the idea of creatures flying through outer space seems ridiculous, but that is difficult to ignore this and maintain the spirit of the Lovecraftian alien beings.  I hope that I have resolved this issue while maintaining a strict observance of the universe created by HPL.

I wanted to have a story involving the Mi-Go because, while they are a formidable opponent, they are not so powerful that the hero can only survive by some crazy twist of fate (there are still crazy twists of fate necessary with the Mi-Go but they are less crazy than if we were going up against Cthulhu or Yog Sothoth).

I think I can say all this without giving away too much because Yuggoth is intimately associated with the Mi-Go and as the book is written in first person, the hero must survive at least long enough to write about his adventures.

So check the book and let me know what you think. 😁 

We Have Proof

I received the proofs of the paperback version of Memories of Yuggoth today.  I'm very excited.  This has been a long time coming.  To actually see the physical result is amazing.  The cover is a bit darker than I expected (but that's okay... it gets the message across).

Of course the moment you open a book in pre-print you start seeing errors.  I knew there were errors the minute after I requested the proofs, but I will correct and deliver a new version before the release date.

January 1, 2026

That's the release date.  Right now, everything is in order.  I will be flipping through the proof to make sure everything is at least "about" okay.  I have requested the Kindle version is available for pre-purchase and will give the link when everything is set up.

I still have some work to do. 😀

How Much is Enough

I've been revising the last few weeks.  This is work and not fun.  I find it hard.  I've had some good advice and that is driving much of this revision.  The book was reasonably coherent before, but I think it is more coherent now.  How much revision is enough?  When should I stop?

My idea was to have a good review from someone who clearly knows more about what make a good book than I do, then I would update.  After this major update I would do one more tour and it would be over.  But I think and think and think and it seems that aftere every tour, the book could still be bettter.  So why stop?

The problem is that this is my first book.  The more you write the better you get.  Also I get advice, I read books on the subject, I consider pod casts from authors and teachers.  When you are filling the barrel with knowledge, you do get better (and quickly), but yesterday's work soon seems to be dull and amateurish.  

But eventually I have to stop, so I ask when is it enough?

I set an arbitrary deadline for finishing the book as before Christmas 2025.  Not because I think that at that time it will be as good as I can make it, but because I have other writing projects that I have put on hold and life is short.

So will the book be as good as I can make it?  Not likely, but it is a lot better today than it was two months ago.  The Tick Tock man controls me (as always).

The Only Joy is the Joy of Duty

After an excellent review of my up coming novel, Memories of Yuggoth, that Lee Freitag graciously provided, I have been very busy trying to improve the book.  His comments have inspired some new ideas and twists and I am hopefull my revised version will align with his expectations.  The book itself, after working on it for more than two years, is a much bigger job than I ever thought it would be.  But I assure you, it is a labor of love and I am anxious to get working on my next one.  Even though it is only of medium length a major review and update the the text is a significant task.  I am working very hard to ensure that is will be ready before Christman (dare I say 2025).

I'm not sure how others work, but I have reread, revised and corrected the entire book at least eight times (and it might still suck).  I consider this the final revision.  Once it is done I plan to do one more reading and it will good to go (or not).

I'm also starting to play around with some cover art (and I am in no way an artist). I am using an AI image generator and a bit of hacking with an image editor to try and get something that is not too awful.  Here is my latest try (but the final version might be totally different).  Keep tuned.

So, as the red lectroids say, The only joy is the joy of duty. Work... work... work... Keep your nose to the grindstone.  So I will keep working... until next time.
 

Welcome to Spirits of Yuggoth

You might be wondering about the purpose of Spirits of Yuggoth and how it came to be.  First, for me, the true spirit of Yuggoth is that feeling of wonder that I had when I read H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time for the first time. The world that Lovecraft builds is a coherent and universal view of the past, present and future of our world, the universe and other nether regions adjacent to our own.  As such, it provides us with a vast playground for speculation where we might find both the wonderful and the horrific.

When my oldest son challenged me to write a horror novel while we were discussing some of the things I did with role playing games in my youth and what I would be doing once I started to wind down my work and retire, the conversation inspired me to start thinking about writing.  I had done a lot of technical writing during my long years as a software developer, but it had been years since I wrote anything vaguely resembling fiction.  After some reflection, I decided, as an exercise, that I would write a horror novel.

You're probably thinking that this was crazy and perhaps presumptuous. After all, writing a novel is work.  It is very hard work that requires rigor and perseverance.  It also requires inspiration and imagination.  After years of technical work, rigor and perseverance are something that I have learned, but inspiration and imagination is another story.  I am less convinced about that aspect, but now it's too late.

I hope to release my first book, Memories of Yuggoth before Christmas 2025.  I will be talking about that book here, but also of the other projects that I am working on.  The first book was an interesting learning experience.  I am not an author and I am not literary, but I am something of a storyteller and I hope that will be enough to ensure this is not a disaster.

So spirits of Yuggoth are those Lovecraftian notions that spiral around our heads, traversing the nether regions and haunting us like ghosts.

More to come.