RIP-Avalon Brantley/New Zagava book from Avalon Brantley

[Gnosticangel]

I received this notice today, and as a fan of both this author and of WHH's novel, ordered it immediately:

"The House of Silence"

We proudly present Avalon Brantley’s fascinating full length novel, an homage to William Hope Hodgson’s “The House on the Borderland:"

288 pages with illustrations, colored endpapers and silk bookmark, head and tail bands, hardcover binding, available in two limited editions:

a numbered edition of 170 copies in a silvery moonlight-shining cover, plus 26 lettered black edged exemplars, signed by the author, bound in dark green cloth and mulberry tree bark, housed in a cloth-covered clamshell box. To be shipped in March.

Pre-orders at: - Zagava

[Gnosticangel]

Here's an excerpt from a Zagava interview with this author, which may be of interest to TLO members:

Q: Which other writers do you admire in your favorite genres and what especially fascinates you in their works?

A: There are SO many. The sacred books of many religions are a constant preoccupation for me, as are mythology, folklore, alchemy and esoterica. Poetry is an especially indispensable influence on both composition and thought, from ancient poets like Homer, Aneirin and the Gawain poet, to Malory and Milton, to Romantics like Blake, Shelley and Yeats, to Modernists like Pound and Eliot. I should also acknowledge such visionaries as James Thomson, Robert Duncan, Walt Whitman and especially Poe, who was Virgil to my Dante when I first encountered both poetry and fantastic literature, when at the age of six or seven my father began reading him to me.

Dylan Thomas and James Joyce were highly influential in expanding my perception of possibility in language, lending me an ear and eye for hidden gems behind and inside of words. Other favourite authors include Hawthorne, Turgenev, George Eliot, Sir Walter Scott, Borges and Schulz.

In terms of mystical literature, I should mention Jakob Boehme, Thomas Taylor, Crowley, Waite, Kenneth Grant and Jung, and Blake again. Robert Graves, J.G. Frazer, the Grimms, Hoffmann, Lady Gregory and William Morris also helped broaden my horizons by bringing new blood to old tales. I am also enamoured of old Sagas and transcriptions of oral poetry such as the Finnish Kalevala, Ukrainian minstrelsy, and the bardic poetry and ballads of various places and times.

In the realm of weird fiction, M.R. James, Blackwood, Hodgson, Thomas Owen, De La Mare, Dunsany and Chambers are important past masters to me. More recent ones include Wellman, Bradbury, Clark Ashton Smith and Seabury Quinn (his non-De Grandin stories), as well as contemporary magisters such as Ramsey Campbell, Mark Valentine, Reggie Oliver and D.P. Watt.

Q: You contributed to Hieroglyphic's acclaimed tribute to Arthur Machen. How important are his books for you?

A: I feel a profound affinity for Machen. I think he was a very gentle soul, sorely misunderstood in his time. Machen falls into an old mystical tradition of letters, more fitting I think in the company of Blake and Yeats than with Lovecraft or Ligotti. “The White people”, “The Great Return”, “The Hill of Dreams” and “The Secret Glory” are indispensably beautiful to me. I also found his early years and largely forgotten “Chronicle of Clemendy” endearing for what it was....

More at:
Authors - Zagava

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

According to her blog she finished this book in 2013.

There's two cheap anthologies called Legendary and Dark Light 3. Haven't heard of the authors in either apart from her.

[Sagapharmakis]

Hello! Thank you so much for your posts about The House of Silence. It's a very glad day for me... novels are not so easily published anymore, and I am very fortunate to have a story I put so much heart into released by a press with so much integrity and heart of its own.

I am also excited to mention that a forthcoming issue of Zagava's Infra Noir magazine will feature an expository treatise exploring much that lies beneath the surface in The House of Silence....

As to those two little anthologies, Dark Light 3 was an early place I landed work as a brand new writer looking for any port at which to dock. The piece in there, "Hognissaga", was substantially revised for inclusion in Descended Suns Resuscitate, released a couple years ago when Zagava and Ex Occidente were still partners. As to the Legendary anthology, the same reasons apply to that story's placement. I will probably revise and republish that tale (a dark Irish mysthical piece called "The Morrigu") somewhere a little more familiar in the near future.

Again, thank you for supporting this book. I dearly hope you enjoy it and would love to hear from you when you've read it if you feel at all inclined.

Avy

[Gnosticangel]

Sagapharmakis wrote, "I am also excited to mention that a forthcoming issue of Zagava's Infra Noir magazine will feature an expository treatise exploring much that lies beneath the surface in The House of Silence...."

That sounds fascinating! However I cannot find any reference to the magazine on Zagava's web site. Is there a link available?

[Sagapharmakis]

No, no link yet. And I feel it is not really my place
to say much. All I know is that the first issue is being worked on presently. The exposition is complete and in their hands, where it was favourably received. There will be other contributions by indispensable writers in our field as well, so regardless it will be a very desirable release. :-)

[Zagava]

Thank you for your most kind words!

Infra Noir is a literary gazette still in it´s early planning stages. The wonderful Jonathan Wood and Alcebiades Diniz kindly agreed to be the editors and publication is planned for summer.
More details will follow soon.

All my best wishes,
Jonas
- Zagava

[In A Dark Light]

'R.I.P Avalon Brantley

Dear Friends,
It is with deep sadness and regret that I inform you of Avalon’s passing. Avy’s light went out on March 5, 2017 and with her went her limitless talent and the possibilities of future works that I believe would have continued to illuminate the literary world. She was hopeful and excited about her forthcoming piece, The House of Silence. She hoped you would enjoy it. It was her pleasure to bring it to life.

Rest in peace.
1981 – 2017'


Copied from post on Avalon Brantley's blog.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

That's awful. Wonder what happened.

[Gnosticangel]

That is terrible news! I don't have words.....

We've lost a wonderful writer and (as Sagapharmakis) a TLO member.

RIP Avalon.

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE