hen most people think of Lovecraftian fiction, they might assume that the writer, like Lovecraft himself, pens his tales in hermitlike isolation. But such is not the case with Brian Lumley, who has never been the reclusive sort. He is a former army man who has traveled widely, and who enjoys meeting his many fans at conventions.
His earliest books were mythos story collections published by Arkham House, and since then many of his books in that vein have been released by mass-market publishers.
He retired from military service in 1980, and in 1986, his highly popular horror novel Necroscope was published. In time he broke out of the small press and into mass-market popularity. Besides the 14-volume Necroscope series, he has also written other series, including Titus Crow, Dreamland and The Psychomech Trilogy. He won a British Fantasy Award in 1989, and at the 1998 World Horror Convention in Phoenix, Ariz., Lumley received the Grand Master Award in recognition of his work.
Over the years, Lumley has visited or lived in America, France, Italy, Cyprus, Germany, Malta and at least a dozen Greek islands. He has spent time hang gliding in Scotland and octopus hunting in the Greek islands. He lives with his wife, Barbara Ann ("Silky"), in Devon, England.
To find out more about Brian Lumley, visit www.BrianLumley.com.
What was it like working with August Derleth of Arkham House?
Lumley: When I first wrote to Derleth to buy some H.P. Lovecraft volumes, I had no notion that he was the then-dean of macabre publishers. I had taken his name and address from an introduction in one of his Arkham paperback reprints that I picked up at a British Service Club in the city—that's the city of Berlin, because it was 1967 and I was a sergeant in the British Royal Military Police. August Derleth and me: Where could you find two more disparate people? Our single similarity lay in our love of weird fiction—but when I ordered those Lovecraft books it was the start of a friendship that lasted until he died four years later. Maybe I could say we were both writers, but at the time I wasn't; I merely aspired.
In addition to ordering books I had sent Derleth a bunch of "excerpts" from the Necronomicon and other esoteric volumes. He commented that maybe I could write a mythos tale for a book he would soon edit, called Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Of course I got to work on it right away. Hey, I mean, this should happen to every aspiring writer!
Derleth could be bitchy at times; I think it was mainly because he wasn't at all well; his health was steadily declining, and he knew it. He told me on one or two occasions that he intended to do this or that, "if he was still functioning ..."
The one thing that stands out in my mind: I told him about my intention to murder Titus Crow off in a short story. He said not to do it, reminded me of Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls ... or wherever. It's been a very long time since I read Conan Doyle. And of course Derleth was right. If I had killed Crow off I can think of least six novels I would never have written, 400,000 words' worth of very necessary experience.
Augie Derleth was a one-off—and there won't be any more like him.
You've written a lot of stories based in the Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. What is it about Lovecraft's work that intrigues you?
Lumley: I should think just about every young writer—which I was at the time—would be influenced by HPL. As an American writer of weird fiction, he was at the top of the class. HPL had no truck with commonplace "monsters"—his "children of the night" were all unique in him, absolutely original. He wrote of open-ended, fascinating themes that were literally mind-expanding, but his method and his concepts were fairly easy to copy for anyone who loved and had a way with words. I felt his influence for a long time and probably still do; but while I did more than a few so-called "pastiches," I later preferred to work within his themes and against his mythos backdrop but in my own style.
Tell us about your Dreamland series of books, forthcoming from Delirium books.
Lumley: Delirium Books will publish my Dreamland series, five lighthearted books set in Lovecraft's Dreamlands but once again written in my own style, with heroes that HPL wouldn't have approved of. I am letting them be done because they're very limited editions of just a few dozen; also because they're leather-bound and beautifully produced. The first book, Hero of Dreams, is no longer available. Ship of Dreams will be ready any time soon, if not sooner.
Your Necroscope character Harry Keogh can talk to the dead. If you had that ability, to whom would you talk?
Lumley: If, like Harry Keogh, I could talk to the dead—God, there are an awful lot of people I would like to speak to! Not least my father. Being in the army for 22 years, I didn't see enough of him, and I know there are a great many things I could have learned from him. After 25 years I still miss him.
But I think I would like to talk to [Albert] Einstein, Ray Charles and my big brother that died young. The great storytellers, to pick their brains, the great religious people, to find out if they're in heaven and which one of our many religions really works—if any.
Khai of Khem brings together time travel and ancient Egypt. What inspired this innovative pairing?
Lumley: Simple. Khai of Khem—originally Khai of Ancient Khem—was written when Egypt was all the rage, oh, 26 or 27 years ago. It was one of only a handful of novels that I ever wrote to order. An editor at Berkley Books asked for an SF/fantasy/horror novel about a really ancient ancient Egypt, when the Sahara was mainly green, and I was to include everything but the kitchen sink—so I gave them that, too! Time travel—or, more properly, reverse reincarnation—an alien pharaoh, pyramid spaceships—20 years before Stargate—high adventure, sex and supernatural horror, you name it.
Inspiration? I was asked to do it, and they would pay me for it. In its original printing it was ruined by one of the worst jackets that ever cursed one of my books!
Fill us in on the details of the forthcoming Necroscope Convention this year in England.
Lumley: "KeoghCon" isn't so much a convention as a get-together of a big bunch of people who enjoy my work, especially my Necroscope series. It's named after Harry Keogh, the eponymous Necroscope. We gather at a hotel, which we fill for a long weekend of chat, panels, readings, schmoozing, boozing, book signings, interviews with attending artists, publishers, personalities and so forth. In fact, with only three dozen or so attendees, it's more a mini-con, and the hotel for Kcon5 is already booked solid.
The 14-book Necroscope series has a long history and a multitude of characters. Was it hard to keep all those facts straight and not contradict yourself at any point?
Lumley: It was the very devil of a job—especially The Lost Years and Lost Years 2: Resurgence! Because I had to ensure that the extensive wanderings of the Wamphyri during historic times didn't cross any earlier tracks I'd already laid down; or if they did, that I reintroduced the earlier character to let old and new meet up. The timelines were like a gigantic maze that nearly drove me crazy. But I think I got it right. ...
You've written a number of vampire books. Who are some of your favorite authors, past or present, who have also written about vampires?
Lumley: I enjoyed [Bram] Stoker's Dracula when I was a kid—had to read in the library because my folks didn't want me reading it at home—or at all! I believe I understood most of it. I was maybe 8 at the time, maybe 9.
One other book that I thought was/is marvelous is Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. With such an amazing economy of words and style, Matheson tells a truly wonderful story.
But other vampire stories? Well, no, I really haven't read too many, and I can't say I'm crazy about romantic vampires anyway—to me the vampire is simply an evil monster. I did enjoy the film version of [Stephen] King's Salem's Lot, and I loved Christopher Lee in Hammer's "original" Dracula picture [Dracula, 1958].
I also remember, fondly, those EC comics, which almost invariably featured vampire strips.
You've done a lot of world traveling. Are horror fans much different around the world? You've traveled often to Greece. What do you like best about that country?
Lumley: I have friends who read my books in Greek. They're very studious, and on several islands they're rather superstitious, too. The vampire is abhorred—not at all unnaturally; they call him "Vrykoulakas." German readers are much like Brits or Americans: They read for the thrill of it, the occasional shudder down the spine, knowing it's not real—but looking over their shoulders anyway, just in case.
What I like about Greece? The light, the people, the Mediterranean. I hunt octopus and spear-fish when I'm out there. But I only kill things that I or others can eat, and I'm not nearly as cruel or thoughtless or wasteful as the fishermen.
Last question: Of all your books, which would you like to see made into a movie, and why?
Lumley: Necroscope should be a movie. It's been optioned (see Necroscopethemovie.com), and my fingers are crossed—but not to keep away the vampires!
Several of my shorter works would make good pictures, too. Stories like "Fruiting Bodies," or "The Sun, The Sea, and the Silent Scream."
But I've found that to talk too much about movies is the kiss of death. If it happens then it happens, is all.
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