Dreams from R'lyeh

Dreams from R'lyeh is a collection of poems by Lin Carter. The book was released in hardcover by Arkham House in 1975[1] in an edition of 3,152 copies. It was Carter's only book published by Arkham House.[2][3][4][5] The title sequence of sonnet, "Dreams from R'lyeh", has also been reprinted in Robert M. Price's The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter (Chaosium, 1997).

Dreams from R'lyeh

Jacket illustration of first edition
Author	Lin Carter
Cover artist	Tim Kirk
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	poetry
Publisher	Arkham House
Publication date	1975
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	xv, 72
ISBN	0-87054-067-X
OCLC	1323872
Dewey Decimal	811/.5/4
LC Class	PS3553.A7823 D7

Summary

The Sonnet Cycle, "Dreams from R'lyeh", that comprises the first two-thirds of the book, consists of poems inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. Unlike Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth, the sonnets of which do not tell a continuous story, Dreams from R'lyeh from start to finish clearly narrates the story of Wilbur Nathaniel Hoag, from his childhood to just before his disappearance in late 1944. Mental (and perhaps physical) degeneration are apparent near the last sonnet.

The remainder of the verses are on various topics, celebrating other fantasy authors or reflecting on fantastic themes. "Diombar's Song of the Last Battle" is a heroic poem set in the prehistory of Carter's "Thongor" novels, and "Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian" an end-of-life summation of Robert E. Howard's barbarian hero Conan, written from the perspective of the character himself.

Contents

"Merlin on the Queens Express", by L. Sprague de Camp Dreams from R'lyeh: A Sonnet Cycle I. "Remembrances" II. "Arkham" III. "The Festival" IV. "The Old Wood" V. "The Locked Attic" VI. "The Shunned Church" VII. "The Last Ritual" VIII. "The Library" IX. "Black Thirst" X. "The Elder Age" XI. "Lost R'lyeh" XII. "Unknown Kadath" XIII. "Abdul Alhazred" XIV. "Hyperborea" XV. "The Book of Eibon" XVI. "Tsathoggua" XVII. "Black Zimbabwe" XVIII. "The Return" XIX. "The Sabbat" XX. "Black Lotus" XXI. "The Unspeakable" XXII. "Carcosa" XXIII. "The Candidate" XXIV. "The Dream-Daemon" XXV. "Dark Yuggoth" XXVI. "The Silver Key" XXVII. "The Peaks Beyond Throk" XXVIII. "Spawn of the Black Goat" XXIX. "Beyond" XXX. "The Accursed" XXXI. "The Million favored Ones" Other Poems "Lunae Custodiens" "Merlin, Enchanted" "To Clark Ashton Smith" "Once in Fabled Grandeur" "The Night Kings" "All Hallow's Eve" "Shard" "The Wind in the Rigging" "Diombar's Song of the Last Battle" "The Elf-King's Castle" "To Lord Dunsany" "The Forgotten" "Golden Age" "Lines Written to a Painting by Hannes Bok" "Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian" "Author's Note"

Reception

The collection was reviewed by W. N. MacPherson in The Science Fiction Review, May 1975, Daniel Bailey in Myrddin, August 1975, Stuart David Schiff in Whispers #6/7, June 1975, and #8, December 1975, Fritz Leiber in Fantastic, May 1976, and C. D. Whateley in Crypt of Cthulhu #13, Roodmas 1983.[1]

Notes

1. Dreams from R'lyeh title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
2. Jaffery, Sheldon (1989). The Arkham House Companion. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. pp. 112–113. ISBN 1-55742-005-X.
3. Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. pp. 135–136.
4. Joshi, S.T. (1999). Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. pp. 125–127. ISBN 0-87054-176-5.
5. Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 120–121. ISBN 0-7864-1785-4.