W. H. Pugmire
Encyclopedia
Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire is a writer of horror fiction
based in Seattle, Washington
. His works typically are published as W. H. Pugmire. His adopted middle name derives from the story of the same title
by Edgar Allan Poe
. Lovecraft scholar and biographer S. T. Joshi
has described Pugmire as "the prose-poet of the horror/fantasy field; he may be the best prose-poet we have," and "perhaps the leading Lovecraftian author writing today".
Strongly influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft
, many of Pugmire's stories directly reference "Lovecraftian" elements (such as Yog-Sothoth
of the Cthulhu Mythos
). Pugmire's major original contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos is the Sesqua Valley, a fictional location in the Pacific Northwest
of the United States that serves as the primary locale for much of his fiction. According to his official biography, his "goal as an author is to dwell forevermore within Lovecraft's titan shadow."
Pugmire is a self-proclaimed eccentric recluse, "the Queen of Eldritch Horror, " as well as a self-identified "punk rock queen and street transvestite".
"Pugmire began to write fiction while serving as a Mormon missionary in Omagh
, Northern Ireland, under the inspiration of his friend and correspondent, Robert Bloch
. When, upon returning to the States, he discovered Arkham House
and the fiction and Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft, he became an obsessed Lovecraftian determined to join the ranks of modern Mythos writers, and to that end he has devoted himself as an author. After a brief stint as a male whore, he discovered punk rock, which saved his soul and gave him a new fictive voice."
His stories have appeared in major horror anthologies, and collections of his fiction and poetry have appeared under small press imprints such as Necropolitan Press
, Mythos Books, Delirium Books
, and Hippocampus Press
. His most recent stories were "The House of Idiot Children" (with Maryanne Snyder) in the January/February 2008 issue of Weird Tales
magazine and "The Pornography of Puppets" (with Chad Hensley) in Allen Koszowski's Inhuman #4. In October 2010 a major retrospective of his work was published by Centipede Press.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. His works typically are published as W. H. Pugmire. His adopted middle name derives from the story of the same title
Hop-Frog
"Hop-Frog" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The title character, a dwarf taken from his homeland, becomes the jester of a king particularly fond of practical jokes...
by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. Lovecraft scholar and biographer S. T. Joshi
S. T. Joshi
Sunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction...
has described Pugmire as "the prose-poet of the horror/fantasy field; he may be the best prose-poet we have," and "perhaps the leading Lovecraftian author writing today".
Strongly influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, many of Pugmire's stories directly reference "Lovecraftian" elements (such as Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth is a cosmic entity of the fictional Cthulhu Mythos and the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. Yog-Sothoth's name was first mentioned in his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward...
of the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
). Pugmire's major original contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos is the Sesqua Valley, a fictional location in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
of the United States that serves as the primary locale for much of his fiction. According to his official biography, his "goal as an author is to dwell forevermore within Lovecraft's titan shadow."
Pugmire is a self-proclaimed eccentric recluse, "the Queen of Eldritch Horror, " as well as a self-identified "punk rock queen and street transvestite".
"Pugmire began to write fiction while serving as a Mormon missionary in Omagh
Omagh
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
, Northern Ireland, under the inspiration of his friend and correspondent, Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
. When, upon returning to the States, he discovered Arkham House
Arkham House
Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...
and the fiction and Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft, he became an obsessed Lovecraftian determined to join the ranks of modern Mythos writers, and to that end he has devoted himself as an author. After a brief stint as a male whore, he discovered punk rock, which saved his soul and gave him a new fictive voice."
His stories have appeared in major horror anthologies, and collections of his fiction and poetry have appeared under small press imprints such as Necropolitan Press
Necropolitan Press
Necropolitan Press, founded in 1993 by editor and author Jeffrey Thomas, is an independent publisher in the genres of horror, science-fiction, dark fantasy, and "the Unclassifiable." Necropolitan Press ceased producing new releases in 2001....
, Mythos Books, Delirium Books
Delirium Books
Delirium Books, launched in the Summer of 1999 by Shane Ryan Staley, is currently recognized as one of the premiere horror publishers in the collector's market, producing low print run limited editions intended for both collectors and readers alike...
, and Hippocampus Press
Hippocampus Press
Hippocampus Press is an American publisher of fantasy, horror and science fiction, and specializes in reprints or first editions of work by authors such as H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. One of its major projects is the 5-volume set of Lovecraft's Collected Essays...
. His most recent stories were "The House of Idiot Children" (with Maryanne Snyder) in the January/February 2008 issue of Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
magazine and "The Pornography of Puppets" (with Chad Hensley) in Allen Koszowski's Inhuman #4. In October 2010 a major retrospective of his work was published by Centipede Press.
Anthology appearances
- "Pale Trembling Youth" (with Jessica Amanda SalmonsonJessica Amanda SalmonsonJessica Amanda Salmonson, born January 6, 1950, is an author, editor and writer of fantasy and horror fiction.-Author:Salmonson is the author of the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, a fantasy version of the tale of the historical female samurai Tomoe Gozen...
), Cutting Edge (Doubleday 1986); reprinted in Year's Best Horror Stories XV (DAW BooksDAW BooksDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
, 1987) and Horrrorstory Vol. V (Underwood-MillerUnderwood-MillerUnderwood-Miller Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1976. It was founded by Tim Underwood, a San Francisco book and art dealer, and Chuck Miller, a Pennsylvania used book dealer, after the two had met at a convention.For their first book,...
, 1989); - "O, Christmas Tree" (with Jessica Amanda SalmonsonJessica Amanda SalmonsonJessica Amanda Salmonson, born January 6, 1950, is an author, editor and writer of fantasy and horror fiction.-Author:Salmonson is the author of the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, a fantasy version of the tale of the historical female samurai Tomoe Gozen...
), Tales by Moonlight II (Tor BooksTor BooksTor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
, 1989) - "The Boy with the Bloodstained Mouth," Year's Best Horror Stories XVIII (DAW BooksDAW BooksDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
, 1990) - "Delicious Antique Whore," Love in Vein (HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 1994; Eos, 2000) - "The Night City" (with Chad Hensley), The Darker Side (Roc BooksRoc BooksRoc Books is a fantasy imprint of Penguin Group, as part of their New American Library. The imprint was launched in April 1990 after Penguin Chairman, Peter Mayer, asked John Silbersack, the editor in chief of New American Library's science fiction program, to launch a new imprint that would draw...
, 2002) - "The Serenade of Starlight," The Children of Cthulhu (Del Rey BooksDel Rey BooksDel Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
, 2002) - "Cool Mist," Deathrealms: Selected Tales From The Land Where Horror Dwells (Delerium Books, 2004)
- "Recompense of Sorrow," Eldritch Horrors: Dark Tales (H. Harksen Productions, 2008)
- "Inhabitants of Wraithwood," Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror (PS PublishingPS PublishingPS Publishing is a Hornsea based publisher founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther. They specialise in novella length fiction from the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. It has quickly become established as one of Britain's premier small presses...
, 2010) - "Some Buried Memory," The Book of Cthulhu (Night Shade BooksNight Shade BooksNight Shade Books is an independent publishing company based in San Francisco, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding...
, 2011) - "Recompense of Sorrow" (revised), Monsters and Mormons (Peculiar Pages, 2011)
- "The Fungal Stain," New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird (Prime BooksPrime BooksEdited by two-time Hugo-nominee and 2006 World Fantasy-winner Sean Wallace, Prime Books is an award-winning independent publishing house, specializing in a mix of literary/commercial anthologies, collections, novels, and two magazines: Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed Magazine. Some of its...
, 2011) - "The Hidden Realm" (with Maryanne K. Snyder), The Devil's Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier (Cycatrix Press Books, 2011)
Collections
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