A Howardian Announcement for All!
Changes to the Substack and a Howardian Horror Deepcut
Hark! Esteemed Bizarbarians from the dark reaches of ancient earth!
‘Tis I, your pulp daddy, Big Dave. And I hath come to quench thy thirst for weirdness.
A deep cut of short horror from the great Robert E. Howard. But first..
A few quick announcements.
We’re trying to revitalize after having to go into partial stasis. We were maligned with bewitchings of misfortune, rotten economy and pestilent hoodoo of a quality which shant be uttered. No doubt the slithersome workings of envious daemons.
“They are gay and we are based.” Thus spake the pulplords of yore, etched upon their sarcophagi that slumber within obscure chthonic halls.
We survived. But not unscathed. We want to get back to printing books again but our coffers run dry.
So, we’re going to put more energy into this substack which has been a tremendous tool up to this point. Here are the coming changes;
Most posts are going to become paid. We tried to lower the price but minimum sub cost is $5. So instead we’re going to increase content for those who pay.
More originals stories, more paranormal transmissions, more articles and art/culture/entertainment spotlighting.
And we’re going to add some choice deep cuts from our favorite authors of yesteryear. Help bring some forgotten tales and writers back to be enjoyed once again.
Substack has added a voiceover feature. So, if you have the substack app, you can click play at the top right corner and listen to weird and wonder tales in your car or at work.
Another issue we have had is fielding submissions. We received far more stories than we had the time or manpower to process. Too many good writers just got lost in the shuffle of yet another overwhelmed indie publisher.
We’re going to begin publishing many submissions here before they make it into our printed compilations. If you want to submit a story, copy and paste it into our DM inbox here on substack. Or send a link to an unlocked google docs file. 1k word minimum.
Same for Paranormal Transmissions. If you have a personal eyewitness account of the strange or paranormal, type it up and submit it to our inbox. 400 words minimum. (Try to give it a good narrative).
MAKE SURE TO CLICK LIKE on the stories you enjoyed. We’re going to be less discerning and let more authors have a chance on stage. The number of likes and comments will tell us which ones you think deserve to be immortalized in print. Feel free to give the authors feedback in the comments so they can continue to hone their craft.
We’ve built a thriving, living community dedicated to the celebration of art, literature and imagination in a sterile, soulless age. We trust you, our esteemed audience, with helping cultivate the next generation of storytellers. Nobody knows what you like better than you.
And… We’re going to try to bring back the Bizarcast (no promises)
Our goal is to use The Obelisk as a monument to the powers of high weirdness. A pilgrimage for pulpkvltists, to come and nourish the eldritch effigy with their libations so it may pulse outward, filling every mind-chalice with our imaginal nectar. It will be as a grim symphony, the wet cracks of countless skulls splitting in twain. From their supple pink matter, gossamer vines shall sprout into infinite, ever-reaching helices, canvasing the world with viridescent canopies of primordial overgrowth. In these groves we will swear druidic oaths of Manowar lyrics and ponder impossibilities over orbs that play The Sopranos from start to finish forevermore. But with a final season of our own creation where Chrissy gets better from drugs and Janice gets whacked instead of Bobby Bacala. Poor Bobby.
Anyway… For all of our paid subscribers helping us RETVRN to strength. Here is a deep cut from a very old issue of Weird Tales magazine. One of Robert E. Howard’s lesser known HORROR yarns. One that evokes not monstrous forms with too many teeth. But a cerebral weirdness of dream-like madness.
The Dream Snake
by Robert E. Howard