Weekend Lounge ~ The House That Arkham Built

Welcome to the weekend!

It's time to travel back to the past and dive into an interesting bit of history in the world of books. Let us head back to when OldPub was not only viable, but the only game in town, and when authors themselves had to get involved in the system.

We're going back to that seminal year in 1939. This was back when Fandom were holding conventions and looking towards the glorious utopic future. Meanwhile, a set of writers were more concentrated on preserving a past in danger of being forgotten.

This is the story of Arkham House!

There is a lot to say about the state of stories in the modern age, from its detachment and complete disinterest in the increasing distress and despair felt by normal folks, to its unwillingness to find ways to help said people escape or work past it. More and more it looks as if writers want to write stories to elevate themselves above said people more than they wish to connect with anything else.

Unfortunately, that attitude has split the already small reading market into tiny factions. These segments battle between those looking to the past for inspiration and those who want to completely abandon it for dead trends that are the "future" but actually expired years ago. This disconnect has only succeeded in walling everyone off from each other even more.

As a result, the lack of unified front in the industry has left everybody twisting in the wind and most potential readers moving to other mediums like video games and manga. At the same time, older readers decide to stick with tried and true classics instead. For newer writers, though it isn't a problem exclusive to them, the race to be seen as relevant and to check the right boxes is more important than the wonder of it all. The ambition has been replaced with pandering.

But back in the day there was a publisher that sought to bottle that wonder almost lost by the early death of a titan of creativity. They wanted to bring it to a wider audience and created a whole independent publishing house to do just that. 

For those unaware, Weird Tales is the most important magazine the United States ever produced and HP Lovecraft is one of the most important writers of the 20th century. They would go on to influence countless writers and creators in just about every medium under the sun. 

But we didn't always know that.

The Arkham House logo

Enter Arkham House!

This is where things get interesting in the world of publishing. While the magazines had first rights to print new stories (as they still have to this day), there wasn't much left for the stories after they were bought and initially printed in the magazine. Because the pulps were seen as completely disposable, no one thought there was a market for the stories beyond that initial run. So what were writers who wanted to write beyond the pulps to do? Were their stories truly just throwaway, or was there something else here?

Publisher Arkham House, founded by the ever resilient August Derleth and with much aid by Donald Wandrei, was created to take what readers of the pulps already knew was true (that these stories had value) and bring them to wider audiences. This small publisher not only helped bring HP Lovecraft to the world and inspired an entire era of storytelling, but it also brought others into circulation, including publishing the first book by one Ray Bradbury. It might be the most important publishing house of all time, and the above video goes into just why that might be.

Look into it yourself and learn about one of the greats that almost wasn't. The publishing industry is a mess, and probably always had, but there was a time when ambition and passion could be enough to help carve out a place for yourself among the mechanized trends of OldPub. It was one of the first influential indie publishers for a good reason.

Arkham House might be gone today in every way that matters, but it's influence lingers on and probably will for a very long time. It's good to remember why that is.

In other news, since we started the Star Wanderers campaign, support has been unexpectedly strong out of the gate. We have just under $1k left to go to reach funding and we are at almost 70 backers! Can we reach the goal in record time? There is usually a lull in the middle of any such campaign but maybe we can blow past it. Who is to say?

Check out the campaign and see for yourself to catch a glimpse of 8 stories of swords, bullets, sorcery, and The Unknown. I'm more than pleased that reception has been so positive and supportive this early on. Here's hoping we can keep this streak going!

As an aside, I personally recommend the pocket paperback edition, as that's the sort of book this was always designed to be like, being one to carry around and pull out when you want to read the next exciting story. Though of course one should look into whatever format you want. The options exist for a reason, after all. We've all got our preferences.

That's all for this week and the month of April! I'll see you in May and hopefully with more stable weather. I know I'm ready for some real warmth in these chilly times.

Star Wanderers has just passed $1500 with just under $1000 left in funding! Hop in today for 8 tales of intrigue and action!