Carnacki and Me

Carnacki resonated with me immediately on my first reading many years ago. Several of the stories have a Lovecraftian viewpoint, with cosmic entities that have no regard for the doings of mankind. The background Hodgson proposes fits with some of my own viewpoint on the ways the Universe might function, and the slightly formal Edwardian language seems to be a "voice" I fall into naturally. I write them because of love, pure and simple.

The stories appear in three main collections. HEAVEN AND HELL and THE WATCHER AT THE GATE come from Dark Regions Press. Both volumes are in limited edition hardcovers, trade paperbacks and ebooks all fully illustrated by the great Wayne Miller. A third volume, THE EDINBURGH TOWNHOUSE, appears in the Lovecraft Ezine's fiction imprint in paperback and ebook.

I love exploring the Occult Detective sub-genre, in the Midnight Eye Files stories, in my Carnacki stories, and with Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger. I intend to write a lot more of it, and that will definitely mean more Carnacki to come.

THE DARK ISLAND novella in the Heaven and Hell collection is a focal point for Carnacki -- in it he has learned that the bounds of his research are much, much wider than he had previously thought. That's going to give me plenty of scope for further stories and explorations.

You may notice while reading that Carnacki likes a drink and a smoke, and a hearty meal with his friends gathered round.

This dovetails perfectly with my own idea of a good time. And although I no longer smoke, writing about characters who do allows me a small vicarious reminder of my own younger days.

I wish I had Carnacki's library, his toys, but most of all, I envy him his regular visits from his tight group of friends, all more than willing to listen to his tales of adventure into the weird places of the world while drinking his Scotch and smoking his cigarettes.