Books, Beer and Friendship… Once again, the Eighth Day Institute presented a wonderful weekend for lovers of literature at the Inklings Octoberfest. This year, Dr. Geoffrey Reiter and Richard W. Rohlin provided insightful lectures on George MacDonald and the changing intellectual and spiritual landscape of his time. In addition to discussing this important author, the festival was an opportunity for friends to gather and enjoy community.

This type of experience cannot be recommended strenuously enough. It is a balm to weary souls in a noisy and chaotic world. Consider joining.

At this year’s event, Darkly Bright Press released three books.

Akboritha by Richard W. Rohlin: The second impression is now available.

Mist and Mystery: Recovered Stories and Essays by Arthur Machen

Now A Major Motion Picture, the second poetry collection by Joshua Alan Sturgill is already out of stock. A new production run will be printed in the coming weeks. Likewise, his first collection, As Far As I Can Tell, is also temporarily out of stock. Some copies of both collections may still be available from Eighth Day Books.

Additionally, both A Secret Language and Dreamt in Fire by Arthur Machen are now Out of Print. Again, the few remaining copies may still be found at Eighth Day Books.

This weekend, Darkly Bright Press will be present at the 2022 Inklings Festival in Wichita, Kansas. The Festival will see the release of a new impression of Richard W. Rohlin’s Akboritha, as well as the debut of Joshua Alan Sturgill’s Now A Major Motion Picture, his second poetry collection. Additionally, there will be copies of Mist and Mystery, recovered stories and essays by Arthur Machen.

On Sunday afternoon, I will be giving a short talk, “Publishing for the Moral Imagination,” which will hopefully shed light on why these books should be read.

All three books are scheduled to be available for purchase from the website during the following week. 

Now to the newest posts…

NEW POETRY

Prothesis by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 15 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Our Lost Paradise: The sweetness of the breath of the sea mingles with the sweetness of the breath of the wood; the little stream breaks from the fountain in the hill, and goes on shining and rejoicing on its way, and the rich note of the blackbird swells and thrills out of the green gloom of the thicket. I thought of these things, and then I remembered that it is only given to high masters and initiates to translate the wonder and mystery of the earth into common speech.

“And here, though we are initiated in the mysteries,
we are assuredly not in the mists.”

Mist and Mystery: Recovered Stories and Essays from Arthur Machen

We are ushered onto a new journey into unknown regions where wonders await, yet the path is narrow and fringed by veiled dangers. Fortunately for the reader, there are few guides as experienced or intriguing as Arthur Machen, a man of Gwent. In this new collection of rare tales and forgotten articles, Machen directs us through mist and mystery to “a secret path leading to an undiscovered country.”

In the tradition of classic collections such as Dog and Duck, Mist and Mystery is an open invitation to recover both enchantment and romance.

This new volume will be released at the upcoming Inklings Festival in Wichita, Kansas during October 21-23.

NEW POETRY

Eighteen Death Haiku by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 14 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

In Bed with “The Flu”: I crawled painfully out of bed and tottered. I lit a pipe, and a rending, tearing cough began to crash through me. I held on to a chest of drawers, and the cough laid hold of me and possessed me and shook me to and fro; the pipe was clearly out of the question. I tried a cup of tea, and discovered that the cup held an intensely offensive fluid, of an evil flavour that ten old-fashioned apothecaries, with the nastiest drugs in the pharmacopœia at their service, could never possibly have obtained, not if each one of them had lived ten lives of mortal men.

Today the Sun descends
to embrace the Moon.

Darkly Bright Press is pleased to present the second full-length poetry collection by Joshua Alan Sturgill. Now A Major Motion Picture is a voyage into the cosmic and intimate. His best work to date, Sturgill guides the reader across the thin boundaries between reality and illusion… mysticism and science… exile and home.

Now A Major Motion Picture will be released at the upcoming Inklings Festival in Wichita, Kansas during October 21-23. The poet will be present to sign copies.

From the new collection: Shatter (Read by Joshua Alan Sturgill)

NEW POETRY

Enclosed, Disguised by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 13 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

The Library Table: I wish I could tell the tale of how the Leprecauns—fairy cobblers—laid an information before the local constabulary, how the beasts talked together, and how the fairy host and all the old gods of Ireland were mustered to set free the Philosopher from the custody of the police-sergeant; but space fails me. I can only say that here is a book enchanting and delightful and wise: go and buy it.

FEATURE

This week, we present a book review on MacDonald’s theology by Dale Nelson. MacDonald will be the focus at the upcoming Inklings Festival.

NEW POETRY

Unless I Ache by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 12 by Phillip Neal Tippin

Untitled (Weary Wanderer) by Benjamin Rozonoyer

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Bank Holiday Ditties: Why are the old songs dead or dying? That is a question which might be properly answered in a volume, but not in a paragraph. It is one of many questions which are all one question. Why, when we want to build a church, are we compelled to copy a mode of architecture which has been dead for four hundred years?

Akboritha Update: The second impression of Richard W. Rohlin’s Akboritha will be released at the upcoming Inklings Festival in Wichita, Kansas during the weekend of October 21-23, 2022. As one of the lecturers at the event, Richard will be available to sign copies. The book will be listed for online purchase by the first of November.

Low Stock: We are down to the final two copies of A Secret Language by Arthur Machen.

NEW POETRY

Seven Images of Opposition by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 11 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Sir George Alexander: The circumstances were these. I had “gone on the stage” in middle life. 1 was painfully aware of my ignorances, awkwardnesses, incapacities in my new career, and of my age, in which all the joints both of mind and body are stiffened. With every gesture, every step, every word, I shuddered inwardly, learning that I was making a dreadful fool of myself. …

Register for 2022 Inklings Festival

NEW POETRY

Castles by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 10 by Phillip Neal Tippin

Jesse K. Butler has published a new poem.

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Old Ghosts: Why do such insignificances remain in the mind, as though they were graven in in marble? Perhaps the psychologists know all about it; to me it remains one of the many questions to which there is no clear answer.

NEW POETRY

Did I? by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 9 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Parents at School in Fairyland: King Arthur’s Table  was, we know, an image of the mighty world; and so parents and children are being instructed this week at Winchester that if they would understand the universe, they must first of all imagine Fairyland.

George MacDonald at the Inklings Festival: Registration is open for the upcoming Eighth Day Institute event scheduled for October 21-23, 2022. Geoffrey Reiter and Richard W. Rohlin will be the keynote lecturers. Darkly Bright Press will be there with new publications. Stay tuned for more information.

NEW POETRY

To You The Cursed by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 8 by Phillip Neal Tippin

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Fascination of Crime and Criminals: If you would appreciate the light, you must have some notion of dark, if you would make a child realise what is implied by the term a “straight line” draw one—with a crooked line beside it. … Those who would know to what heights men may rise must know also to what depths they are capable of descending. The saint is to be deduced from a careful observation of the sinner.

NEW POETRY

Observances by Joshua Alan Sturgill

The Pilgrimage, Book II: Part 7 by Phillip Neal Tippin

As The Day Had Just Begun by Benjamin Rozonoyer

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

The Romance of an Old Manuscript: Of course, this may be said: that there are such folks, which have deceived and deceive still. There was a scholar of the Renaissance who maintained that pretty well the whole of classic literature was forged in the middle ages by unscrupulous monks, but I don’t think that anybody believed him. Indeed, the fact is that the task is so difficult that scarcely anyone has even attempted it. …