Register now for the 2024 Inklings Festival in Wichita. On Sunday afternoon, I will give a talk entitled The Violent and the Numinous. This lecture will focus on Arthur Machen’s “war mythos,” which concludes with THE TERROR.

Poet Linda Lobmeyer will read excerpts from her upcoming book, When I Forget the Words.

Joshua Alan Sturgill will explore the cosmology of Lewis and Tolkien.

NEW POETRY

Original Buoyancy by Sturgill

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Books for the Autumn: Why do tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people take pleasure in the reading of fiction which is both crude and false? I am not going to answer the question, partly because I have not quite made up my mind on the subject, but chiefly because I am sure the real reply would run into pages—or volumes. But when we are next tempted to boast of our civilisation let us remember that a truly civilised people would not have accepted Miss Corelli as their most popular author.

NEW POETRY

As A Hand Of Cloud by Joshua Alan Sturgill

NEW BOOKS from Darkly Bright

The number of available hardcover copies of THE TERROR: Critical Edition is dwindling. On November 1, When I Forget The Words by Linda Lobmeyer will be released. However, advance copies will be viable for purchase at the 2024 Inkling Festival. A limited number of softcover copies of THE TERROR will also be offered that weekend.

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

The Return of the Angels: Let me guard myself by saying that I by no means deny the truth of the story which Mrs. Woods has so beautifully elaborated. I know nothing about its truth or falsity; I simply suspend my judgement pending the production of first hand, testable evidence. I do not think that we should be called upon to accept the story of a specific miraculous occurrence on evidence which is not evidence, but merely rumour and gossip. 

As of this writing, it is still possible to pre-order copies of the Critical Edition of THE TERROR. This limited and numbered hardcover version will not be reprinted. A discount is being offered through October 6, 2024.

Hear THE TERROR: A classic radio drama.

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

The Great Terror, Chapters 1 & 2: This is the first installment of the serialization of Arthur Machen’s wartime fantasy from the pages of the Evening News.

Pre-orders for the limited and numbered hardcover edition of Arthur Machen’s THE TERROR are now being accepted: Buy Now.

Registration and schedule for the 2024 Inklings Festival in Wichita is now available. And, it promises to be one of the best yet. Scholars Jason Baxter, Terry Mattingly and Joshua Alan Sturgill will lecture on C. S. Lewis. Additionally, Linda Lobmeyer will read poetry from her upcoming Darkly Bright collection, When I Forget The Words. Finally, I will be on hand to discuss Machen’s place as “myth-maker.”

NEW POETRY

Diet by Joshua Alan Sturgill

New Interview with Jesse Keith Butler, the author of The Living Law.

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Absolutely My Last Word on the Subject: So, I really think that Mr. Taylor has used Mr. Begbie harshly. He should not take Mr. Begbie’s instances and Mr. Begbie’s methods, and then tell Mr. Begbie that he has wasted his time and energy.

Darkly Bright Press is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of When I Forget The Words, the first poetry collection by Linda Lobmeyer. The book will be released on November 1st. Advance copies will be available for purchase at the 2024 Inklings Festival. During the weekend event, Lobmeyer will give a poetry reading.

NEW POETRY

The Skeptic Contemplates A Landscape by Joshua Alan Sturgill

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Those Angels … I refrain from discussing certain, topics which he has elaborated in the course of his book. These are: My own failure to realise human suffering, my “rather sinister genius,” the judgement of the Christ on the “posturings and abasements of the Jewish temple” my “pitiable depths,” my paltriness, my pomposity, and the views of the author on God, Life, and Immortality. 

Machen Study No. 50 Update: Added audio and imagery. Thanks to David Llewellyn Dodds for pointing out this information.

NEW POETRY

That House by Joshua Alan Sturgill

MACHEN STUDY No. 50

Selling the Angels: Through primary sources, we explore how Bowmen and Angels were sold to a hopeful public. It pairs nicely with—

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Great Demand for “The Bowmen” Story: To be issued in book form.

NEW POETRY

Answering the Fool by Joshua Alan Sturgill

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

The Bowmen on the Battlefield: It was written as a tale. It was frank fiction. It did not pretend to be a narrative of anything that has occurred on the battlefield. There was no more reason for taking it to be descriptive of an actual experience than there is for regarding “The Great God Pan,” or any other of Mr. Machen’s famous stories as a string of plain facts that any lawyer would put into an affidavit.

NEW POETRY

Waiting by Joshua Alan Sturgill

THE WEEKLY MACHEN

Sixty Years of Photographs: I looked round the pictures on the walls and found that it was so. Here were photographs of “the best people,” and in many cases they stood, full-length, amidst “accessories”—the old tables and balustrades and pillars and curtains that I had thought of as vanished for ever.