The Fungal Stain and Other Dreams by W.H. Pugmire

The Fungal Stain and Other Dreams Reviews

• 
  G.R. Yeates

  A collection that follows on from Sesqua Valley and Other Haunts which is as thoroughly enjoyable as the former tome. This volume contains some of W.H. Pugmire's longest and most complex tales in An Eidolon of Nothing, The Fungal Stain and Your Metamorphic Moan. We also have some beautiful meditations on lost love in Jigsaw Boy, religious faith in His Splintered Kiss and a loose series of poetry, vignettes and commentary in the Saprophytic Fungi. As with his other tales, intimacy, tenderness and sexuality blend here with the cosmic concepts of Lovecraft to create unique and emotionally-charged weird fiction, a field that is often reserved, cerebral and intellectual in its concerns. Great stuff to savoured with a sugared glass of the very best absinthe.
• 
  G (galen)

  this is dark moist stuff!!
• 
  Simon

  This had been on my list of books to read for a long time now and I had high expectations because many people who's opinions I respect have rated this author highly. On the other hand, I was concerned that it would be too myopically concerned with Lovecraft and the mythos. Willum makes no bones about it; he's unabashedly writing stories for "Lovecraftians", whoever they are. I have tended to avoid stories written too consciously with the mythos in mind as I was concerned they might be too derivative.
  
  What I found here is that structurally and stylistically the stories are not really like Lovecraft at all although they are very much concerned thematically with aspects of the mythos. And Willum is also clearly influenced by other authors (such as Clark Ashton Smith and Robert Chambers). But for me, most of the stories I a have read here are woefully ineffective as weird tales. There is no graduated build up of unease and strangeness, the Lovecraftian mythos is taken as a given and the stories quickly cut to the chase with wizardry and demonic summoning being almost normal events for the characters in his stories. And the characters of his stories are nearly all bohemian poets and dabbling occultists, the settings invariably squalid urban back streets.
  
  There were exceptions though. I really liked "Some Darker Star" that presented a curious exploration of the legacy of the Whately family (in Lovecraft's "Dunwhich Horror") but also showed influences from Chamber's "The King in Yellow". But far too many of the stories just don't work for me and are, quite frankly, boring.
  
  I haven't quite finished the book. I think I'll take a short break and maybe skim through the remaining stories to see if there are any more gems. But I doubt if I'll seek out anything else by this author. Maybe I'm not just not Lovecraftian enough to fully appreciate his work?
• 
  Anthony Burdge

  I always look forward to reading anything Wilum H Pugmire writes, his tales of Sesqua Valley are brilliantly absorbing, transporting the reader to a locale drenched in esoteric lore and occult knowledge. Wilum has a high command of language, and well wrought Lovecraftian, weird fiction stories. I never wish his books to end as I can stay within their pages 24/7. The Fungal Stain and Other Dreams should be, if it is not already, a classic of weird fiction.
• 
  Darren Mitton

  Such beautiful lyricism in the prose & fiction of Mr. Pugmire... He is one of the authors keeping the Mythos fresh.
• 
  Otto Hahaa

  Mukava kokoelma WHP:n novelleja. Mukana muutama pidempikin tarina. Hieman harmi, että Pugmire ei jaksanut kirjoitella niitä enemmänkin. Kun olen nyt lukenut melkein kaikki helposti saatavat WHP:n novellikokoelmat, niin alan huomata kuinka hän versioi tiettyjä tarinoita uudestaan kokoelmasta toiseen. Välillä tarinoilla on sama nimi, mutta sisältö voi olla melkein kokonaan uusi. Välillä uusi parempi, välillä vain erilaisempi.