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WORK TITLE: Reanimatrix
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STATE: FL
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https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Rawlik/e/B00A2O752K
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in ND; married.
EDUCATION:Florida Institute of Technology, B.S., 1991.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Works for Florida state agency designing, implementing, and managing environmental monitoring programs. Has also worked as a phlebotomist in emergency rooms and surgeries, a microbiological laboratory technician, and night receptionist in a morgue. Former owner and operator of a rare bookstore for twenty years.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
American writer Pete Rawlik had an early exposure to the works of fabled horror writer H.P. Lovecraft when his father read that writer’s tales to him as bedtime stories. Since that early introduction, Rawlik has collected the works of Lovecraft and has also written several novels set in the Lovecraft world. “I’ve always written stories,” Rawlik commented in a Qwillery Web site interview. “I can remember working on a story as a child and misspelling ‘condemned’ as ‘condomed;’ I think my mother choked on her drink. In high school I wrote one novella and started another (both of which I still have), and published some poetry. Through college I dabbled and entertained friends, but didn’t really get serious until the midnineties, when I started writing for the regional fanzine. In 1997 I made my first professional sale, but then for some reason, barring some nonfiction and reviews, didn’t really try to write anything else until 2010.”
Rawlik operated a bookshop dealing in rare books for two decades. At book fairs young writers would approach him asking how to break into publishing simply because he sold books. Rawlik developed a standard line of advice about writing and publishing, and in 2010 his wife challenged him to put his own advice to work and write a novel. “After this, I began writing a novel with the working title ‘The League of Lovecraftian Gentlemen’, which was put aside while I wrote some stories to flesh out one of the characters,” Rawlik told Mike Davis in the online Lovecraft eZine. “Those fleshing out stories turned into Reanimators,” Rawlik’s debut novel.
Reanimators
In Reanimators Rawlik draws on a minor character, Dr. Stuart Hartwell, from the Lovecraft story “The Dunwich Horror.” Rawlik pits Hartwell against another Lovecraft character, Herbert West, known as the reanimator for his process of resurrecting the dead and leaving a trail of mayhem and monsters in his wake. Hartwell suffers at the hands of Doctor Herbert West and swears vengeance on him, resulting in a battle spanning the years between 1905 to 1930, and taking in historical events from the sinking of the Titanic to the First World War and Spanish influenza, and Lovecraftian settings from the coast of Dunwich to the halls of Miskatonic University.
A Publishers Weekly Online contributor was not impressed with this novel, noting that it is “lacking in the cosmic horror that distinguishes Lovecraft’s better fiction,” and that “readers won’t much care whether Hartwell succeeds in his quest or not.” A more mixed assessment was offered by a SFF World Web site writer who observed: “While not a bad read if you have patience, I think Reanimators would appeal most to [Lovecraft] fans who want Lovecraft-like incidents blended into a longer form.” Others found more to like. Reviewing Reanimators in the online Hellnotes, Russ Thompson called it an “entertaining homage to pulp-era fiction in general, and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular, written with evident affection.” Thompson added: “Reanimators is an engaging and entertaining romp through Lovecraft country, and a fitting tribute to the pulp classics. I think that fans of the Mythos will find a lot that they enjoy in the book. Readers unfamiliar with Lovecraft and his circle may find that this is a welcome place to discover that rich literary tradition.” Writing in the online Horror Talk, Steve Pattee also had praise, commenting: “One of the best things about Reanimators is how seamlessly Rawlik intertwines the Lovecraft mythos with his own. He creates his own world in the influential author’s universe, one that pays both homage and adds another level of enjoyment to Lovecraft’s work.” Online British Fantasy Society contributor David Brzeski likewise termed it an “absolutely fascinating novel,” and further commented: “[That Rawlik has] managed what amounts to a huge crossover novel without in any way sacrificing the story to the details is frankly astonishing–especially considering it’s his first novel.”
The Weird Company
The Weird Company: The Secret History of H.P. Lovecraft’s Twentieth Century continues the story of Dr. Stuart Hartwell, now accompanied by a mad scientist, a witch, a changeling, and a beast (with a poet trapped inside it). Once again, Rawlik mixes historical incidents and characters, including H.G. Wells, Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, and Rider Haggard into a story of science fiction and horror as Hartwell and company battle the Shoggoths.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that even continual references to “characters and settings of famed horror writer H.P. Lovecraft can’t save this muddled novel.” A more positive assessment came from Hellnotes Web site contributor David Goudsward, who noted: “As with the previous book, The Weird Company stands on its own merit as a novel but, the more familiar you are with the work of Lovecraft and his disciples, the more fun this novel becomes to read.”
Reanimatrix
Rawlik delivers a blend of classic pulp detective novel and Lovecraftian horror in his 2016 novel, Reanimatrix. Detective Robert Peaslee, working in Europe following the cessation of conflict in World War I, discovers doctors and scientists who are developing a serum to resurrect dead soldiers. Going back to Arkham, Massachusetts, Peaslee joins the local police force and becomes obsessed with the death of local heiress Megan Halsey, whose body has never been recovered. However, Peaslee does find an indication in Halsey’s papers that she may have had a connection somehow to the reanimators he came across in Europe. His subsequent investigations take Peaslee through Lovecraft country as he tries to unravel this puzzle.
“[T]his is a satisfying mystery told in a perfect 1920’s hard-boiled narrative voice and with just the right amount of Lovecraft-inspired chills,” noted Booklist contributor Becky Spratford of Reanimatrix. Similarly, a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted, “Lovecraft connoisseurs … will find much to love in this frequently gruesome and, at times, quite racy tale.” An online Speculative Herald writer was also impressed, observing: “Rawlik does a fine job subverting the genre while also paying loving homage with this novel of weird science, occult horror, and monstrous trappings, and if that sounds like something you would enjoy, then you’re definitely in for a special treat.” Hellnotes Web site writer Goudsward added further praise, noting that Reanimatrix is “Rawlik’s most mature work to date, alternately gory and salacious but still letting the story set the pace.” Goudsward added: “It is a Lovecraftian tale that is also a tribute to the private dicks who shot and pummeled their way through the pages of the pulps.” Likewise, a Qwillery Web site reviewer concluded: “Reanimatrix is a unique take on genre blending that worked out better than I could have hoped for. Rawlik brought a fresh perspective on some familiar tropes. I can say you’ll be glad you picked up this book.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 2016, Becky Spratford, review of Reanimatrix, p. 33.
Publishers Weekly, July 14, 2014, review of The Weird Company: The Secret History of H.P. Lovecraft’s Twentieth Century, p. 54; August 29, 2016, review of Reanimatrix, p. 71.
ONLINE
Arkham Horror Book Club, https://arkhamhorrorbookclub.tumblr.com/ (October 20, 2014), Frederic Norton, review of The Weird Company.
British Fantasy Society, http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/ (September 11, 2013), David Brzeski, review of Reanimators.
Hellnotes, http://hellnotes.com/ (October 8, 2013), Kenneth Heard, review of Reanimators; (October 13, 2014), David Goudsward, review of The Weird Company; (October 24, 2014), Gordon White, “Hellnotes Interview with Pete Rawlik, Author of The Weird Company;” (September 9, 2015), David Goudsward, review of The Lurking Chronology; (October 17, 2016), David Goudsward, review of Reanimatrix.
Horror Talk, https://www.horrortalk.com/ (August 21, 2013), Steve Pattee, review of Reanimators.
Lovecraft eZine, https://lovecraftzine.com/ (January 27, 2015), Mike Davis, “Lovecraftian / Weird Fiction Author of the Week: Pete Rawlik.”
Publishers Weekly Online, http://www.publishersweekly.com/ (May 12, 2017), review of Reanimators.
Qwillery, https://qwillery.blogspot.com/ (August 7, 2013), author interview; (October 17, 2016), review of Reanimatrix.
SFF World, http://www.sffworld.com/ (October 8, 2015), review of Reanimators.
Speculative Herald, http://www.speculativeherald.com/ (October 13, 2016), review of Reanimatrix.*
Peter Rawlik
Peter Rawlik
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Five years ago when my wife shamed me into picking up my pen again, one of the first things I started writing was a mash up novel of Lovecraftian characters, and I really wanted Herbert West to be part of that team. Unfortunately, I'm a stickler for established chronologies, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't tell the story I wanted to tell with West in it.
Enter Dr. Stuart Hartwell.
He was the perfect solution, he had all of West's skills, but his timeline was mine to play with. But, I didn't know who he was, or what motivated him. So I wrote a story about him, and another, and then another. Quickly the mash up novel was set aside and all my time was spent focused on Hartwell. Those stories became the novel Reanimators.
Now, just a year later that mash up novel I wanted to work on. The one that was called at various times The League of Lovecraftian Gentlemen, The Miskatonic Club, The Miskatonic Men's Aide Society, The Arkham Oddfellowes - well that became The Weird Company and that hits the streets in September.
Hartwell is back, but this time he's not alone, he and his cohort have been recruited by . . .
Well you'll just have to read the book now won't you.
This is the book I wanted to write from the start, and if you liked Reanimators, you will adore The Weird Company.
QUOTE:
After this, I began writing a novel with the working title The League of Lovecraftian Gentlemen, which was put aside while I wrote some stories to flesh out one of the characters. Those fleshing out stories turned into Reanimators
LOVECRAFTIAN / WEIRD FICTION AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: PETE RAWLIK
January 27, 2015 · by Mike Davis · in Lovecraft Fiction. ·
Welcome to the sixteenth installment of my “Author of the Week”! These articles focus on Weird Fiction and/or Lovecraftian authors that I think more readers should know about. If you have suggestions, please email me at lovecraftezine@gmail.com .
Pete Rawlik
Pete Rawlik
This week’s author is Pete Rawlik. Pete is the author of Reanimators, The Weird Company: The Secret History of H. P. Lovecraft’s Twentieth Century, and many short stories. I asked Pete five questions:
Please tell us about yourself—as much or as little as you’d like to say.
I was born at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota but grew up outside Philadelphia, with summers on Assawoman Bay in Maryland. I studied Marine Biology at Florida Tech. I’ve made pizzas and donuts, worked as a phlebotomist in Emergency Rooms and Surgeries. I’ve been a microbiological laboratory technician and the night receptionist in a morgue. While in college I worked with a number of bands while they toured in Florida including The Psychedelic Furs, Cyndi Lauper, Night Ranger, and Skinny Puppy. I now work for an agency of the state of Florida designing, implementing and managing environmental monitoring programs from Orlando to Key West. I’m unusually fond of musicals including My Fair Lady, Hair, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shock Treatment, The Phantom of the Paradise, Chess and Pitch Perfect. My favorite movie is the original Rear Window. I read voraciously and have a massive collection of Lovecraftiana, Charlie Chan, and Nero Wolfe books. I binge watch, mostly British series such as A Touch of Frost, George Gently, Midsomer Murders, Monarch of the Glen, and Doc Martin. My musical tastes include Depeche Mode, Concrete Blonde, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Madness, Oingo Boingo, Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, Meat Loaf, Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, K. D. Lang, Teja Bell, Shakespear’s Sister and Bauhaus. I think Laurie Anderson is a genius. My literary influences include H. P. Lovecraft, John Steinbeck, Larry Niven, Neil Gaiman, Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and early George R. R. Martin particularly the Tuf Haviland stories. I dread reading Neal Stephenson but always come away thrilled and glad that I took the time.
I’ve been to Japan, been struck by lightning, been bitten by an alligator, and hunkered down during Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina. I lost a small chunk of scalp in 1992 when my pony tail got caught in the prop of an airboat I was piloting. For twenty years I ran my own rare book store and bought my first house with the help of profits from a first edition set of The Lord of the Rings. I gave up bookselling (mostly) to write fiction.
How and why did you begin writing?
I can remember starting to write stories when I was about ten years old, in high school I wrote poetry and apparently a novella called A Pulpish Tale featuring Robert E. Howard’s Kathulos ( Written long hand on legal pads which I recently rediscovered). This would have been shortly after I read Skull-Face. In college I continued writing crappy vampire poetry (did I mention my Goth phase? Doesn’t work well in Florida), and a few stories mimicking Larry Niven. I spent a year world building an Alderson Disk called the Glom, complete with its own mythos which ended up being used in some epic roleplaying sessions. All of this stuff got trunked after I graduated and I focused on research and technical writing.
In the late Nineties I got involved in fandom and wrote some pieces for the SFSFS Shuttle and sold one piece, On the Far Side of the Apocalypse, to Talebones. This was my first professional sale, and it was immediately followed by a huge slump. Unable to find a market for my fiction I found inspiration in Joan Stanley’s Ex Libris Miskantonici and Peter Cannon’s The Chronology Out of Time. I used my vast Lovecraftian library and began working on a history of Miskatonic Valley, the first part of which was published in Crypt of Cthulhu in 2001. It was working on this project that I realized that several of Lovecraft’s characters including Asenath Waite, Randolph Carter, Walter Gilman, and the narrator from The Shadow Over Innsmouth should have all been around Arkham at the same time. I filed this little kernel away for later use.
As a bookseller at conventions and shows I was constantly bombarded with questions from aspiring writers about publishing strategies, not that I knew anything. It got so bad that I came up with a canned rebuttal about how I would do it. In 2010 my wife, tired of hearing me repeat the same old mantra challenged me to put my money where my mouth was and put my own plan to work. Following a year of writing book reviews I published six stories in 2010-2011. After this, I began writing a novel with the working title The League of Lovecraftian Gentlemen, which was put aside while I wrote some stories to flesh out one of the characters. Those fleshing out stories turned into Reanimators and gave me a grip on the character of Doctor Hartwell. Then The League of Lovecraftian Gentlemen became The Miskatonic Men’s Club, and then The Miskatonic Men’s Aide Society, and then finally The Weird Company.
What is it about Lovecraftian horror and Weird Fiction that appeals to you?
This was likely inevitable.
First of all, as an adult I’ve come to realize that there was abuse in my family, but it was mostly literary in nature. My father made a habit of reading me Lovecrfat’s The Rats in the Walls as a bed time story. So there’s that. Another issue may have been my reading and collecting habits. We made monthly runs to the Book Swap and I was always finding books by Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, August Derleth and Robert Bloch. Somewhere along the line I decided to begin collecting Cthulhu Mythos fiction, and this naturally expanded into the Weird. So one reason I write Weird and Lovecraftian is because that is what I read, it is what I know.
But as for the appeal, there is something subversive about Weird Fiction that sets it apart from supernatural horror. To me the supernatural is very limiting, very defined. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires and the like follow set rules, and are fundamentally part of a very anthropocentric world view. They also by their very existence validate some level of an established mythology. If ghosts, devils and angels exist then there must be an afterlife. If vampires fear the cross there must be a power behind it. If men can be cursed to become beasts, or transformed through rites into mummies, then magic is real. For all the horror that the supernatural might bring to the table, it also must bring the opposite, it must bring hope.
Weird fiction, particularly cosmic horror which is usually Lovecraftian or Cthulhu Mythos in flavor, isn’t bound by this notion. In this genre once you discover the truth, there is usually (but not always) no counterbalance. The universe is a terrifying place, you are small, and weak, and pathetic in comparison. You might be food, or worse. The best thing to happen might be to die first, or not even be born. The only saving grace might be to go mad and become a monster yourself. Chances are good that the crazier you are the more likely you’ll survive. Keep in mind though that after your particular revelation is completed you might not be fit for human society.
Somehow I find all this attractive to read and write about.
Sort of.
I actually don’t like stories that deal with the direct discovery of cosmic horror. I prefer what I like to call tangential stories, about people who know people who were touched by the cosmic. These are people that may not know the whole truth but they know enough, and have to deal with it. It is a kind of gnostic enlightenment (as opposed to faith), and I’m interested in how people react, how they live their lives, and how that impacts relationships. This is why I often focus on secondary characters in established stories. In Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time the main character Nathaniel Peaslee is possessed by an alien mind for years and his family falls apart. While he’s a fascinating character in his own right, I’m also interested in what happened to his wife and kids, how did they deal with this? How did they deal with knowing that there was something else out there? Too me this is more important than the actual event itself. Author James Morrow (who oddly went to the same high school as I did) covers this concept in his Godhead Trilogy in which humanity discovers that God has died and must then deal with that knowledge and the actual corpse, but the cause of death is relatively irrelevant. I’ve done something similar in my story Here Be Monsters in which an intrepid Deep One finally discovers Cthulhu’s tomb and the horror that waits inside is more terrifying than he and his faith had imagined.
The other thing I like to do, and am able to do in what is essentially an ever evolving artificial mythology, is to look at things from an entirely different perspective, to turn things long assumed sacrosanct on their heads: Monsters become heroes, madmen become reasonable and responsible pillars of society, the Deep Ones aren’t our enemy. I can do this because the rules aren’t that established and are ready, almost begging, to be broken and remade. Lovecraftian monsters have become so clichéd as ravenous and mindless amoebas or sex-craved space squids, that it is easy to breathe fresh air into them.
So I write a lot of Lovecraftian monsters, because it’s what I know and I’m good at it (I think).
I’ve tried writing other stuff, and I’ve sold other stuff. I have a werewolf fairy tale, and a monster story about a missing spouse, and a piece set in a graveyard during the Storm of the Century. Most of this is languishing in our version of development hell, with publication always just a few weeks away. By my count I have twenty stories pending for 2015, maybe we’ll see half of that actually come out.
Which of your books do you recommend that readers begin with?
Well that’s easy, start with the novel Reanimators which is the story of Doctor Stuart Hartwell who suffers at the hands of Doctor Herbert West and swear vengeance on him. Its twenty-five years of life and death in Lovecraft Country. Then move on to The Weird Company, which features Hartwell as a member of a team recruited for a mission to the remotest corner of the world. The Weird Company is the novel I wanted to write and serves to tie together At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Thing on the Doorstep, Through the Gates of the Silver Key, and John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? Astute readers might see links to other stories as well, some not even in our genre.
Would you mind listing your books for us?
Novels:
Reanimators
The Weird Company: The Secret History of H. P. Lovecraft’s Twentieth Century
My better short stories can be found in:
Crypt of Cthulhu #94
Tales of the Shadowmen #7, #8, #9, #10 and #11.
Dead But Dreaming 2
Future Lovecraft
Horror for the Holidays
Worlds of Cthulhu
Eldritch Chrome
Fungi #21
Techno-Goth Cthulhu
Undead and Unbound
Tales of Jack the Ripper
Fossil Lake
Kaiju Rising
Dark Rites of Cthulhu
Steampunk Cthulhu
World War Cthulhu
In the Court of the Yellow King
The Starry Wisdom Library
A big “thank you” to Pete for taking the time to answer my questions!
Hellnotes Interview with Pete Rawlik, Author of The Weird Company
by Gordon White | Oct 24, 2014 | Interviews | 0 comments
Interview conducted by Dave Goudsward
the-weird-companyPete Rawlik’s second novel, The Weird Company (reviewed here), is a follow-up to his Lovecraft-inspired noir Reanimators (also reviewed by Hellnotes). To mark the launch of the The Weird Company, Rawlik discusses the Lovecraftian canon, the power of allusion, and the difficulties and rewards of creating within a shared universe.
Hellnotes: The Weird Company is your second novel and is a continuation of the story in the first book Reanimators. In the first book, your focus was on Dr. Stuart Hartwell, introducing him as a rival to Lovecraft’s Herbert West. But your book is not just a retelling of the reanimator saga through Hartwell, Hartwell is witness to many other of the Lovecraft stories. Is it safe to say your concept is that the stories are contiguous, not just standalone stories?
Pete Rawlik: I think you don’t have much of a choice but to accept that these stories are contiguous. The stories are linked by the setting of what I think of as the Miskatonic Valley (Lovecraft Country), often by the presence of the Necronomicon, and by some crossover by characters from one story to another. In many ways Lovecraft’s Miskatonic Valley stories can be looked at as a history of the area, with the setting as the main character. I think Lovecraft was world-building, and was even trying to fit his earlier Dreamlands fantasy into his milieu. I took my cue from that concept and ran with it. The story of Dr. Stuart Hartwell, who I lifted from “The Dunwich Horror, “happens to parallel that of Herbert West for a very specific reason, and that happens to be The Weird Company. In developing The Weird Company I wanted to include Herbert West as a character, but his timeline (by Lovecraft and the multi-author sequel round robins) didn’t allow for it. So I decided to create a character with a similar history and skill set that I could use for my own purposes. Originally I just wrote some stories to get an idea of who he was, what his motivations were. Those stories just kept growing and eventually became the novel Reanimators.
HL: How did you establish the chronology used in the stories? Is Lovecraft that linear or is there tweaking involved?
PR: Thankfully most of the work for this was done by the very talented Peter Cannon in his book The Chronology Out of Time which lays out dates in most of Lovecraft’s stories. In a few places I had to expand on the details and fill in events between dates, but most of the heavy lifting was already done. Lovecraft is very detailed when it comes to the chronology of his stories and very linear. He occasionally does flashbacks, but these are usually well marked in the text and easy to spot. It really made building these details relatively easy.
HL: You don’t just reference Lovecraft’s stories. Is there such a things as canon writers/writings?
PR: I included references to a lot of stories from a lot of different writers, mostly stories that I like or seemed to be able to easily fit in without too much forcing. I’ve been reading and collecting weird fiction, and specifically Lovecraftian Horror, for more than forty years, and in that time I built up these weird linkages between stories, some of which made sense, and some that didn’t. There’s a concordance to Reanimators that I’ve written that helps remind me about who came from where. In this idea I am indebted to two masters of this: Alan Moore and Kim Newman; they really paved the way for this kind of work. As for canonical writers and writings that’s a tough question. There is no list that says these stories are part of the canon, and these aren’t, but there are some divisions that are apparent (at least to me). For example, most of August Derleth’s work isn’t set in the same universe as Lovecraft’s stories, there are parallels, but subtle clues that tell you these aren’t the same. Both universes contain an Innsmouth, but in Derleth’s version the influence of the Deep Ones is older than Lovecraft’s, and the timeline for the Federal invasion is different. Also, Derleth’s universe is more fantastic than Lovecraft’s, with wood carvings and clay masses coming to life or transforming their owners. Of course the biggest difference is that in Derleth’s version Lovecraft is a character who wrote fiction published by Arkham House which imparts important knowledge concerning the mythos. Brian Lumley’s stories are rooted in Derleth’s work, and while I enjoy both these authors, I tended to avoid these contributions, though there is an entire chapter inspired by Derleth’s “The Survivor.”
HL: Any authors whose work you wanted to allude to, but couldn’t make fit?
PR: Oh absolutely – tons of people I wanted to include but couldn’t because there was no easy way to fit their creations in. I’m a fan of Ramsey Campbell’s work, but really need to sit down and do a chronology of his stories before I try and work his stuff in. I have similar issues with Michael Shea and Wilum Pugmire. I need to see the entire body of work to see how it fits together and where connections might be logical. As both Campbell and Pugmire are actively contributing to the field it would be presumptuous of me to attempt that to any real depth, although I admit to wanting to have characters visit Sesqua Valley or Goatswood.
HL: The Weird Company continues the story from the first book, but Dr. Hartwell is no longer the narrator. Any particular reason for your choice as the voice of the second book?
PR: I wanted to take the emphasis off of Hartwell for The Weird Company, mostly because it didn’t make sense at certain points in the book, and because Hartwell simply knows too much, he’s jaded. I needed someone who was new to the mythos and could be told “Everything you know is wrong.” Robert Olmstead, the narrator from “The Shadow over Innsmouth” is perfect for this, his contact with the mythos is limited, and really open to interpretation, or re-interpretation. He’s not a mystic or a scholar or a veteran of twenty-five years of living in Arkham, he’s fresh meat and easy to pull in different and unexpected directions.
HL: The first book used “Herbert West—Reanimator” as a starting point. Which story do you consider the starting point for this adventure?
PR: The Weird Company functions as a direct sequel to both “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” It also serves as a prequel to “The Thing on the Doorstep” and has a weird relationship to “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.” Actually, there are three distinct sequels to “At the Mountains of Madness” in this book. It’s a story ripe for reexamination, spin-offs and sequels. There are so many characters, some that lived, some that died, they should all have stories to tell.
HL: You also write short fiction involving Lovecraftian-based protagonists. Are they part of your book universe or are they more apocryphal?
PR: Early on before I conceived of Reanimators or The Weird Company I wrote some stories that I might not be able to rectify with my later works. Additionally, some of my stories paint a very bleak and not too distant future. Here, I’m relying on the idea of possible futures as envisioned and mediated by the Great Race of Yith. Other than these, yes, I’m working hard to try and link up all my stories into one coherent universe, or at least multiverse. So Reanimators is linked to The Weird Company and to my Professor Peaslee short stories.
HL: You’re also a pulp aficionado and have been known to toss an occasional throwaway reference into the mix, such as cameos by Charlie Chan or passing references to Indiana Jones. Is there anyone in The Weird Company you’re particularly smug about sneaking into the mix?
PR: Actually I’m smug about sneaking a lot of characters from pulp fiction into Reanimators, but I didn’t have as much of an opportunity in The Weird Company. That said, I have to say that I’m really proud of building the bridge that links “At the Mountains of Madness” with John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” which I have always thought was a thematic sequel.
HL: Is there a third book forthcoming? Or any other Herbert West projects you’re reanimating?
PR: I’m working on a third novel, Reanimatrix, which will follow Detective Robert Peaslee’s investigation into the death of Megan Halsey. It’s a noir mystery set in 1928 Arkham and I hope to invoke some of the classics of the genre including Laura, Chinatown and The Big Sleep, but mixed with the Cthulhu Mythos. Also on the horizon, is a book I’ve edited with Brian M. Sammons, Legacy of the Reanimator, which will include Lovecraft’s original story and two long out-of-print round robins, “Herbert West-Reanimated” and “Herbert-West Reincarnated,” as well as other tales both old and new. This book should be out in time for the 30th Anniversary of the film Reanimator.
Pete RawlikPete Rawlik was first exposed to H.P. Lovecraft when his father read him “The Rats in the Walls” as a bedtime story. He has been collecting Lovecraftian fiction ever since. For more than two decades he has run Dead Ink, selling rare and unusual books. He resides in South Florida. The Weird Company is his second novel to traverse the Lovecraftian landscape.
QUOTE:
I’ve always written stories. I can remember working on a story as a child and misspelling “condemned” as “condomed”, I think my mother choked on her drink. In high school I wrote one novella and started another (both of which I still have), and published some poetry. Through college I dabbled and entertained friends, but didn’t really get serious until the mid Nineties, when I started writing for the regional fanzine. In 1997 I made my first professional sale, but then for some reason, barring some non-fiction and reviews, didn’t really try to write anything else until 2010.
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Interview with Peter Rawlik, author of Reanimators - August 7, 2013
Please welcome Peter Rawlik to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Reanimators will be published on September 3, 2013. The eBook was published on June 4, 2013.
TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery.
Peter: Thanks it is a true pleasure to be here, and I really do mean that. The internet and social media have been a significant boon to my budding career.
TQ: When and why did you start writing?
Peter: I’ve always written stories. I can remember working on a story as a child and misspelling “condemned” as “condomed”, I think my mother choked on her drink. In high school I wrote one novella and started another (both of which I still have), and published some poetry. Through college I dabbled and entertained friends, but didn’t really get serious until the mid Nineties, when I started writing for the regional fanzine. In 1997 I made my first professional sale, but then for some reason, barring some non-fiction and reviews, didn’t really try to write anything else until 2010. Of course since then I can’t seem to stop. As for why, I don’t know. People, often times the same people come into my head and start talking, they say and do the strangest things. It seems only natural to write it down. Thankfully, they don’t seem to mind me doing so.
TQ: What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
Peter: When I started writing in the Nineties, I did so at a wonderful little coffee bar in downtown West Palm Beach, surrounded by people talking, bands playing, wait staff working. Now I can’t seem to work without a significant amount of background noise. I tend to write while watching television, British mystery series mostly such as Midsomer Murders, A Touch of Frost, and The Last Detective.
TQ: Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Peter: Neither, both. I do timelines, incredibly detailed timelines of world events, character histories, fictional events, and even histories for other people’s characters. Once I have these done I tend to layout some ideas, pick some critical events that I want to incorporate and then write those particular chapters, often in such a manner that they can function as stand-alone stories. Once these are done I write the linking chapters. Then I rewrite, making sure that the whole thing hangs together.
TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?
Peter: Every so often I lose control of a character. In Reanimators one particular character was supposed to just walk on and then walk off, instead he took control and refused to leave for a significant portion of the book. He was such a powerful personality, and exerted such control over the other characters that both I and the protagonist decided that the only way to deal with him was to murder him. Since then I’ve written three more tales about this very difficult character, and will probably write several more.
TQ: Describe Reanimators in 140 characters or less.
Peter: The horrors attributed to Dr. Herbert West are well documented, but the true story, and his greatest rival, have remained secret, until now.
TQ: What inspired you to write Reanimators?
Peter: Reanimators is an accidental novel. I had set out to write a completely different novel, one that featured several characters borrowed from the works of H. P. Lovecraft. One of them, Dr. Hartwell, was a very minor character in The Dunwich Horror, but he has almost no character development. When I went to write him, I realized I knew nothing about him, his personality or his motivations. So I set out to write a few stories about him, to flesh him out. A hundred thousand words later Reanimators was finished and I knew exactly who Dr. Hartwell was.
TQ: What sort of research did you do for Reanimators?
Peter: The novel starts in 1905 and ends in 1930. It is a period rich in history and drama including the Great War, the loss of the Titanic, and the Spanish Flu, I’ve put all of these to good use, but I’ve also taken advantage of other events both real and imagined. An earthquake in Messalina, a World Series that ends in a tie, Charlie Chan’s honeymoon, the death of Christine Daae, all weave together in a strange sort of secret history. In order to pull this off I had to track the lives, loves and lies of dozens of people and characters. This meant not only studying early twentieth century medicine, but also rereading The Phantom of the Opera, the works of Jules Verne, Dashiell Hammett, John Marquand, and even Rex Stout. Numerous characters from Lovecraft and other writers of the Cthulhu mythos also appear, and I think I’ve given them all a fair representation.
TQ: Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?
Peter: Oddly, the answer to both questions is the same character, Pr.Nathaniel Peaslee. Through a strange turn of events this meek professor of economics undergoes a radical transformation into a ruthless, inhuman creature capable of nearly anything. This made him incredibly easy to write, because he could be used to do anything, and his motives need not be justified. However, this rather endearing ruthlessness, meant that nobody was safe, and all the characters that I needed to survive long enough to actual tell his tale had to be on their best behavior, or risk ending up liquidated.
TQ: Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) in Reanimators?
Peter: The one I never intended to write. My publisher provided some absolutely magnificent artwork for use on the cover, but the actual scene portrayed wasn’t in the original manuscript. But once I saw it, and realized who the characters in the scene were, and what they were doing, everything just sort of fell into place, and a scene that I had meant to be extremely anti-climactic suddenly became one of the most dramatic, and I think satisfying pieces of the novel.
TQ: What's next?
Peter: I have eighteen short stories accepted and awaiting publication, and I’m currently plugging away at the sequel to Reanimators tentatively entitled The Weird Company, which is the novel I had originally set out to write. Now that I know who Dr. Hartwell is, perhaps I can finally see his part in this little adventure, from the beginning, and to the end.
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Peter: Thanks for having me. It is a real honor to have been chosen, and honestly the whole thing has just been a thrill.
QUOTE:
characters and settings of famed horror writer H.P. Lovecraft can't save this muddled novel
The Weird Company: The Secret History of H.P. Lovecraft's Twentieth Century
Publishers Weekly. 261.28 (July 14, 2014): p54.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Full Text:
The Weird Company: The Secret History of H.P. Lovecraft's Twentieth Century
Pete Rawlik. Skyhorse/Night Shade, $15.99 trade paper <288p) ISBN 978-1-59780-545-2 Endless references to the characters and settings of famed horror writer H.P. Lovecraft can't save this muddled novel. Shoggoths are stirring in Antarctica, and the universe is endangered by the possible advent of demonic Yog-Sothoth. Robert Olmstead, who has betrayed his Innsmouth kin, joins the Weird Company in an attempt to save the world. This leads to startling encounters with rat people, a mysterious alien swami, and the dead Ephraim Waite brought back to life in the body of his daughter, Asenath. Once the company reaches Antarctica, sorting out friendly and unfriendly entities becomes ever more complicated. Readers who share Rawlik's devotion to Lovecraft may enjoy the abundant allusions to his novels, stories, and poetry; those with less comprehensive knowledge of the canon will find no thread to lead them through this maze of jarring elements. (Sept.) QUOTE: this is a satisfying mystery told in a perfect 1920's hard-boiled narrative voice and with just the right amount of Lovecraft-inspired chills Reanimatrix Becky Spratford Booklist. 113.2 (Sept. 15, 2016): p33. Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm Listen Full Text: Reanimatrix. By Pete Rawlik. Oct. 2016.364p. Night Shade, paper, $15.99 (9781597808804). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Working in Europe after WWI, detective Robert Peaslee came across a group of doctors who were creating a new weapon, a serum that could be used to reanimate dead soldiers. After returning home to Arkham, Massachusetts, in the late 1920s, Peaslee joins the local police force, working on the weird cases no one else has the experience to handle. The murder of local heiress Megan Halsey particularly haunts him. Not only is her body missing, but her papers seem to suggest a connection to the horrors he saw in Europe. Peaslee becomes obsessed, following Megan's trail through the notorious Lovecraft Country towns of Arkham, Dunwich, and Innsmouth and into the halls of Miskatonic University, uncovering more weird and terrifying secrets along the way Told through the diaries and letters of Peaslee and Megan, this is a satisfying mystery told in a perfect 1920's hard-boiled narrative voice and with just the right amount of Lovecraft-inspired chills to keep horror fans interested. Especially fun is how Rawlik seamlessly works famous doctors from horror fiction's past (Frankenstein, Moreau, and Jekyll) into the plot. Give this to fans of the current spate of Lovecraft-inspired novels--and it would not be a stretch to also suggest it to fans of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels.--Becky Spratford QUOTE: Lovecraft connoisseurs, on the other hand, will find much to love in this frequently gruesome and, at times, quite racy tale. Reanimatrix Publishers Weekly. 263.35 (Aug. 29, 2016): p71. Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/ Listen Full Text: Reanimatrix Pete Rawlik. Night Shade, $15.99 trade paper (364p) ISBN 978-1-59780-880-4 Rawlik (A Lonely and Curious Country), student of all things H.P. Lovecraft, takes readers on a kaleidoscopic terror ride through Arkham and Dunwich, layering the cosmic weirdness of Lovecraft's world over a compelling mystery and name-checking characters from the mythos with abandon. WWI was a house of horrors for Massachusetts State Policeman Robert Peaslee, and the nightmares have chased him well into the 1920s. When Megan Halsey-Griffith, a family friend whom he met as a young girl, is found dead, he fixates on her life and vows to find her killer. Through Megan's diary entries, Robert learns of the diabolical experiments Megan's mother, Elizabeth, was connected to before she disappeared; Megan's search for Elizabeth took her to a den of otherworldly erotic pleasures and led to the discovery of plans to raise an undead army. The format of letters and diary entries feels disjointed (many sections would work perfectly as short stories, and in fact some have appeared in anthologies) and the every thing-but-the' kitchen-sink approach may alienate readers who aren't familiar with Lovecraft's complex universe. Lovecraft connoisseurs, on the other hand, will find much to love in this frequently gruesome and, at times, quite racy tale. (Oct.)
QUOTE:
Rawlik does a fine job subverting the genre while also paying loving homage with this novel of weird science, occult horror, and monstrous trappings, and if that sounds like something you would enjoy, then you’re definitely in for a special treat..
Review: Reanimatrix by Pete Rawlik
OCTOBER 13, 2016
Review: Reanimatrix by Pete RawlikReanimatrix by Pete Rawlik
Published by Night Shade Books on October 18th 2016
Genres: Horror
Pages: 364
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Thanks to Night Shade Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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three-stars
Make no mistake, Lovecraft-inspired stories are a real hot thing right now and I am gobbling it all up. This year the types of Lovecraftian fiction I’ve already read have ranged from bloody gorefests to dark comedies, and there just seems to be a style for every persuasion. And if your tastes happen to run in the direction of weird fiction and pulp noir, then Reanimatrix is sure to make you very, very happy.
Unfolding through a series of diary entries and letters, this story follows the strange lives of two main characters, Robert Peaslee and Megan Halsey. It is the 1920s, and Robert was an officer in the Great War returning to his home town of Arkham to work on the police force, handling the sensitive cases that the other cops don’t want to touch. One fateful day he meets Megan, a young heiress with a troubled past, and immediately feels drawn to her. Years later, however, Robert is called to work a crime scene by the docks where a body of a woman has been discovered, and he is shocked and heartbroken to later learn that it is none other than Megan Halsey.
Before the investigation can move forward though, her body goes missing. Robert soon becomes consumed with the case of what happened to Megan, especially once he suspects that she might not really be dead. Determined to solve the case, Robert attempts to retrace Megan’s steps, going to places she visited and reading through her diary entries in the hopes of gleaning some clues, but what he finds is way more than he bargained for.
Written in a style reminiscent of the classic hardboiled detective pulp stories, Reanimatrix is a mystery narrative interspersed with tales of the occult and supernatural. This combined with the influence of Lovecraftian themes makes for an entertaining read, though admittedly I felt the pacing stumbled a little due to the book’s unique structure. Divided into multiple parts, the story alternates between Robert and Megan’s perspective and takes a while to get started, and the mystery behind Megan’s “death” does not even come into play until well into the novel. The prose is also very thick, almost like the author is channeling the works of the time, so coupled with the extended introduction I wouldn’t be surprised if some readers might find things rough going at first.
The epistolary format also feels disorganized at times, especially with the random journal entries that feel “inserted” and don’t necessarily have anything to do with the main story. In fact, afterwards I found out that some of them were actually short stories that have appeared in other anthologies. Personally, I had mixed feelings about this. In most cases, these sections added nothing to the overarching plot and I often had to fight the temptation to skim them so that we could get back on track. That said, hardcore Lovecraft fans might appreciate these little detours a lot more than I did, and to be fair, some of the chapters were genuinely interesting, especially when they delved into the gruesome, the macabre, and even the raunchy. This book definitely isn’t for the squeamish, not to mention the handful of over-the-top explicit sex scenes that are sure to raise a few eyebrows.
To be sure though, Reanimatrix is true to the pulp tradition, and as such, there’s a strong element of sensationalism at play here. For me, the pacing was a little inconsistent and the prose a bit hard on the eyes, but I loved the atmosphere and characterization of the two main leads. Robert and Megan’s twisted tale of love and un-death is guaranteed to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and the nod to the scary works and worlds of H.P. Lovecraft is also a clever touch. Pete Rawlik does a fine job subverting the genre while also paying loving homage with this novel of weird science, occult horror, and monstrous trappings, and if that sounds like something you would enjoy, then you’re definitely in for a special treat.
QUOTE:
Rawlik’s most mature work to date, alternately gory and salacious but still letting the story set the pace.
Reanimatrix by Pete Rawlik – Book Review
by David Goudsward | Oct 17, 2016 | Book Reviews, Hellnotes Reviews | 0 comments
9781597808804-frontcoverReanimatrix
Pete Rawlik
Night Shade Books
October 2016
Reviewed by David Goudsward
It is safe to say that at this point, Pete Rawlik knows the world of Lovecraft better than Lovecraft himself. Of course, Rawlik has the advantage of viewing the various stories from a distance, arranging them chronologically by the dates in the story, adding the works of Lovecraft’s devotees, and seeing the gaps in the timeline. It is in those gaps that Rawlik places his stories. His first book, Reanimators (2013), found a scientist paralleling Herbert West’s research through Arkham and environs, the plot intricately weaving his story within Lovecraft’s body of work. His second book, The Weird Company (2014), revisits the Mountains of Madness with a team of damaged, but extraordinary heroes battling a secret was against the shoggoths. The new book, Reanimatrix, takes Lovecraft and places him squarely in the world of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, where a gun was your most reliable ally against a gunsel with brass knuckles.
Robert Peaslee is a soldier in Paris after the Great War. His father, Nathaniel Peaslee, was notorious for the events as described in “The Shadows Out of Time.” Within the first two pages, Peaslee encounters one of Rawlik’s signature moves – the crossover with another author’s work. In this case, it is Locus Solus, a 1914 French novel by Raymond Roussel featuring Dr. Martial Canterel, who is essentially, a reanimator from the Herbert West school of mad science. This is an early warning to readers. Rawlik is an esoteric scholar of the pulp world, and a sly one. Like his previous two books, the text is jammed with clever little nods to events happening in other literary worlds, working on the assumption all stories take place in a shared world. Everything from The King in Yellow to the original reanimator, Victor Frankenstein make subtle (or not so subtle) appearances.
Robert Peaslee, because of his actions in France and his infamous family tree, or in spite of them, ends up in Arkham, his childhood hometown and the one place on the world he does not want to return. Only now, he’s the private gumshoe they call when the situation is too weird even for the Arkham cops. Such as the Halsey Case.
Megan Halsey had been one of Peaslee’s first cases as an Arkham detective (and another nod, this time to the Stuart Gordon films of Lovecraftian horror). She had been one of the wealthiest women in the Miskatonic Valley; she’s still wealthy, but a lot more dead. And then her the body goes missing. The scuttlebutt on the street is that her mother vanished a long tome ago, and Megan had spent a lot of money trying to bring her back, regardless of where she had ended up.
Peaslee becomes with obsessed with the murder. Retracing Megan Halsey’s steps, her trail leads from Arkham to Dunwich to Innsmouth. And as he follows the dead woman’s journey, he learns far more about her, Arkham itself, and his own family than he ever wanted. And all roads seem to keep leading back to one name – Dr. Herbert West, making Peaslee wonder if Halsey is alive (again).
It is Rawlik’s most mature work to date, alternately gory and salacious but still letting the story set the pace. It is a Lovecraftian tale that is also a tribute to the private dicks who shot and pummeled their way through the pages of the pulps. Only this time, getting killed barely slows down the bad guys, which in Arkham, is pretty much the status quo.
QUOTE:
Reanimatrix is a unique take on genre blending that worked out better than I could have hoped for. Rawlik brought a fresh perspective on some familiar tropes. I can say you'll be glad you picked up this book. There is violence and minor adult themes. I'd recommend it to teens and adults.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Review: Reanimatrix by Pete Rawlik
Reanimatrix
Author: Pete Rawlik
Publisher: Night Shade Books, October 18, 2016
Format: Trade Paperback and eBook, 364 pages
List Price: US$15.99 (print); US$11.99 (eBook)
ISBN: 9781597808804 (print); 9781597806015 (eBook)
An obsessed detective on the trail on a murdered young woman finds more than he bargained for in this tale of hard-boiled cosmic horror, an inventive mash-up of the pulp detective story and Lovecraftian terror.
Some say the war drove Robert Peaslee mad. Others suggest that given what happened to his father, madness was inevitable. He’s spent years trying to forget the monsters that haunt his dreams, but now has returned to witch-haunted Arkham to do the only job that he’s qualified for, handling the crimes other cops would prefer to never talk about. He’s the hero Arkham doesn’t even know it has.
Megan Halsey is dead, her body missing. She might have been one of the richest young women in Arkham, but all that money couldn’t make her happy. Word on the street is that her mother split a long time ago, and Megan had spent a lot of her money trying to find her.
Peaslee soon becomes obsessed with the murdered Megan. Retracing the steps of her own investigation, traveling from Arkham to Dunwich, and even to the outskirts of Innsmouth, he will learn more about Megan and Arkham than he should, and discover things about himself that he’d tried to bury.
It’s 1928, and in the Miskatonic River Valley, women give birth to monsters and gods walk the hills. Robert Peaslee will soon learn the hard way that some things are better left undead.
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Brannigan's Review
Reanimatrix is a genre-blending thrill ride. Pete Rawlik mixed Lovecraft with pulp fiction detective mystery with romance. It's post World War I and the two main characters are Robert Peaslee and Megan Halsey. They both grew up in Arkham, Mass. Robert was in the war, where he saw his first signs of otherworldly power. After the war he spent time as an agent traveling Europe. It's here he hears about Megan's murder and decides to make his way back home to solve her murder, only to find true madness and evil.
Rawlik does a wonderful job of grabbing you and immersing you into his world. It's a true pleasure to read. For those of you familiar with Lovecraft, you'll be rewarded as well as other literary characters that pop in and out of the storyline. I won't ruin the surprise of who makes appearances, but I'm confident even I missed some of them. One major aspect of the story revolves around the reanimated dead. I have to say I really like the way Rawlik handles this as it felt like a truly fresh take.
Rawlik chose to write his story in the format of letters written by Robert and Megan, giving the reader immediate understanding of the two main characters and their inner workings. The only downfall is you can't completely trust the representation of other characters as they are filtered through the eyes of Robert and Megan.
My only real complaint is the writing style and narrative choice. It's a lot harder for me to get truly sucked into First Person Narratives and then the added choice of Letters to convey the story slows things down for me.
Reanimatrix is a unique take on genre blending that worked out better than I could have hoped for. Rawlik brought a fresh perspective on some familiar tropes. I can say you'll be glad you picked up this book. There is violence and minor adult themes. I'd recommend it to teens and adults. There are so many different genres covered in this book with other fun literary easter eggs, anyone that likes to read will find something to enjoy.
QUOTE:
As with the previous book, The Weird Company stands on its own merit as a novel but, the more familiar you are with the work of Lovecraft and his disciples, the more fun this novel becomes to read.
The Weird Company: The Secret History of H. P. Lovecraft’s Twentieth Century – Book Review
by journalstone | Oct 13, 2014 | Book Reviews | 0 comments
the-weird-companyPete Rawlik
Night Shade Books
ISBN 978-1597805452
October 7, 2014 ; $11.99 PB
Reviewed by David Goudsward
The Weird Company begins in 1937. Dr. Wingate Peaslee is a dissenting voice about a secret military operation. He files a report as the minority opinion. The report is comprised mostly of eyewitness accounts of a series of relevant events, written by Robert Olmstead, the man whose account of a visit to a coastal town in Massachusetts triggered the military intervention in Innsmouth. But now Olmstead, having destroyed Innsmouth only to discover the ramifications of his actions, seeks penance in the company of monsters. To save the world, Olmstead must join forces with a motley band of characters familiar to Lovecraft readers. This Weird company must battle ancient beings inadvertently unleashed by Miskatonic University’s ill-fated Pabodie-Lake expedition to Antarctica upon an unsuspecting world.
Rawlik’s novels are based on the premise that Lovecraft’s stories are not stand-alone tales, but rather, that all of his works took place in a shared universe. This means that although Lovecraft suggests no relationship between “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” other than Arkham as a geographic reference, Rawlik weaves those events together, with a little “The Thing on the Doorstep” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key” added for good measure. With the return of Dr. Hartwell, the protagonist from his first book Reanimators, Rawlik created an underlying interconnectivity to all of the events created by Lovecraft. And then, Rawlik branches out; under his skilled pen, John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” suddenly becomes an obvious as a sequel to “At the Mountains of Madness.”
Pete Rawlik’s first novel Reanimators (2013) was the perfect example of how to write a book in a shared universe without descending into pastiche; The Weird Company is a how to expand your vision of that universe, and how to make it your own, without diminishing the source material.
As with the previous book, The Weird Company stands on its own merit as a novel but, the more familiar you are with the work of Lovecraft and his disciples, the more fun this novel becomes to read.
The Weird Company - Review
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“Shoggoths attack in this adrenaline-pumping novel set in the world of H. P. Lovecraft, where the horrors of the cosmos know no limits …"
The sequel to Reanimators (2013), author Pete Rawlik takes the underdeveloped characters of Lovecraft’s Yog Sothothery and gives us a fascinating new paradigm in The Weird Company. There are some people who feel that Lovecraftian writers are fan-fiction writers, but I would say that Rawlik goes far beyond that and take us into that seldom referenced style known as Tangential fiction. For those about to Google this term, you are unlikely to find it, as it was only used infrequently during the rise of the internet. Tangential Fiction is taking another writer’s characters and filling in the gaps between stories. Gregory Maguire has famously done this with the Wicked series, huge tracts of medieval fiction are written this way and indeed much of human myth. Part of the difference between fan-fiction and Tangential fiction is quality, but a second part is making the peripheral characters you develop into your own.
For those new to the genre I will attempt to breakdown the HPL Fan Fiction Formula:
1) The Main Character is a fiction suit. Writer’s fiction suit is a scholar/loner/artist or combination thereof.
2) Fiction suit discovers/creates a book/love interest/object d’art that fascinates him/her and offers new insights into the nature of reality.
3) These new insights are horrifying, revealing an overwhelming sense of nihilism that drives the author to death or madness.
4) The falling action typically deals with the fiction suit being hunted by, narrowly defeating or being killed by book/love interest/object d’art
5) Typically, they are penned in the first person.
By contrast, Rawlik’s Story:
1) Multiple character perspectives.
2,3) Most of these characters have been exposed to, broken down by, and tried to retain some semblance of humanity.
4) The falling action by contrast in this story is filled with fighting the greater monstrosity of what might come.
5) Occasional first person references but largely third person.
Where the book completely departs from most Lovecraftian fiction is in the fact that it’s not the same universe. Oh, the horrors are all there, but the incomprehensibility of the universe is the result of the mystically veiled references, not the nature of the universe. The science fiction aspect of the novel demonstrates a further evolution from HPL’s initial reaction to a great deal of the science of his day. Lovecraft came from a time period when so much of the science of the day was overthrowing the Newtonian physics and long held cosmologies. Indeed, most of the universe was shown to be completely inhospitable to comprehensible life, but as our understanding of life -both possible forms and the new forms discovered here on Earth - widened, the threshold of our understanding grew. It ceased being entirely incomprehensible, or at least we feel that it isn’t completely incomprehensible. We can put limits on the unknown and describe it, however vaguely, and at that point it ceases to be unknowable. The "Horror of the Gaps of Knowledge” diminishes. This may be why so much cosmic horror falls flat, because it tries to retain that feeling of unknowability in the face of what we have learned. To quote from one of my favorite sci-fi authors:
“Ah, but it makes a great deal of difference, you see. It is the difference between the unknown and the unknowable, between science and fantasy—it is a matter of essence. The four points of the compass be logic, knowledge, wisdom and the unknown. Some do bow in that final direction. Others advance upon it. To bow before the one is to lose sight of the three. I may submit to the unknown, but never to the unknowable.”
― Roger Zelazny “Lord of Light”
It’s the distinct nature of his take on the Q’Hrell, in particular. It is both very reminiscent of ”When the Green Star Waned" by Nictzin Dyalhis or Fred Chappell’s story “The Remnants” and wholly his own at the same time.
Atmosphere and theme are well founded, but what about the characters?
Rawlik adds insight (and perhaps a touch of empathy) into Ephraim Waite, who should be, at least from the point of view of Lovecraft’s original narrator, a loathsome individual. He also gives us a universe that we can see existing within in HPL’s.
The fascinating dream team - no pun intended - includes:
Asenath (Ephraim) Waite: A sorcerer who has been body jumping since Cromwell ruled England.
Robert Olmstead: A half human-half deep one responsible for the destruction of Innsmouth.
Dr. Stuart Hartwell: An experimenter who sought the cure for death and found it.
The once human characters deal with their loss of humanity and their hope that they are not just monsters in sometimes subtle but always complex ways. Combine this with a wonderful League-of-Extraordinary-Gentleman-like plotline and you have a great adventure tale worthy of being included among any fan’s library.
Review by AHBC member Frederic Norton
QUOTE:
entertaining homage to pulp-era fiction in general, and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular, written with evident affection
Reanimators is an engaging and entertaining romp through Lovecraft country, and a fitting tribute to the pulp classics. I think that fans of the Mythos will find a lot that they enjoy in the book. Readers unfamiliar with Lovecraft and his circle may find that this is a welcome place to discover that rich literary tradition.
Reanimators – Book Review
by Russ Thompson | Oct 8, 2013 | Book Reviews | 0 comments
reanimators
Reanimators
Pete Rawlik
Night Shade Books
ISBN: 978-1-59780-478-3
September, 2013; $14.99 PB
Reviewed by Kenneth Heard
Reanimators is an entertaining homage to pulp-era fiction in general, and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular, written with evident affection by author Pete Rawlik. Rawlik has taken characters and events from Mythos literature, Fortean Apocrypha, and real history, and tied them together around a minor character from The Dunwich Horror, Dr. Stuart Hartwell. As re-imagined by Rawlik, Hartwell is a contemporary of Herbert West and Daniel Cain, and among the victims of the experiments first described in Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator. Hartwell becomes obsessed with West’s research, and undertakes a parallel career of medical experimentation. The text is jammed with characters, locations, and events from many sources, and even nods to contemporary Lovecraftian writers. Readers who know the Mythos may enjoy the density of allusions. A pleasure of the book is identifying the intertextual elements throughout. Those less familiar will not pick up on everything, but that shouldn’t be a barrier to enjoying the work itself. I found myself pulled to look up elements of the book as I went, and revisiting stories I have not read in years. An annotated edition detailing the source material and reasoning behind the connections would be enjoyable.
Individual chapters are short, and many could stand alone without reference to the larger arc of the book. Each carries a satisfying twist or jolt by the end, in a manner reminiscent of early movie serials or serialized pulp magazine stories. Although some chapters could be read as retelling original Lovecraft stories from the perspective of a different character, I don’t think it would be fair to describe the work as a simple pastiche with little new added. Rawlik has worked to augment the material that is derived from other sources with his own original ideas. I do think that the desire to include so many elements from classic stories works against the overall structure of the book, which seems to wander. There is no particular reason for Dr. Hartwell to be a part of some of these events, except to allow them to be retold from his perspective. It feels a little forced at times, and by the end, there isn’t a clear sense of a larger overall plot. At times, Hartwell simply appears, Forest-Gump-like, at various points in Mythos history.
In terms of style, the author imitates an antiquarian voice. This can be hazardous, as it gives a writer a lot of room for error or anachronism, and it can be difficult to remain consistent. Some people don’t care for it, as it can feel a bit stilted and serve to distance the reader. In this case, I think it is a good choice. Rawlik is generally successful in maintaining the voice and it works well for the book. The tone evokes the era and inspirational sources effectively, but remains crisp and direct enough for the modern ear.
The cover copy suggests the book will focus on the ongoing relationship between the narrator and Herbert West. Although West is clearly important in the narrator’s background, there is little interaction, and it is not clear for most of the book that West has any awareness of the narrator’s interest in him or his work. As a result, any rivalry appears to exist only in the mind of the narrator. Lovecraft was fond of unreliable narrators, but it does set up certain expectations for the reader. The disconnect between the expectation created by the cover and the book as written does create a sense of a letdown once it is clear that the narrative is heading in a different direction. This is unfortunate, as the book is a fun read on its own merits. The title itself remains appropriate despite this in that most of the characters involved have some interest in research on life- extension and the animation of the dead. Many pursue the same quest as West, or know of him, but the narrator’s primary relationship is with his own work, and the people destroyed by it.
Reanimators is an engaging and entertaining romp through Lovecraft country, and a fitting tribute to the pulp classics. I think that fans of the Mythos will find a lot that they enjoy in the book. Readers unfamiliar with Lovecraft and his circle may find that this is a welcome place to discover that rich literary tradition.
QUOTE:
lacking in the cosmic horror that distinguishes Lovecraft's better fiction
readers won't much care whether Hartwell succeeds in his quest or not
Reanimators
Pete Rawlik. Night Shade/Skyhorse, $14.99 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-59780-478-3
MORE BY AND ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Taking off from H.P. Lovecraft's lurid tale of reviving the dead, "Herbert West—Reanimator," Rawlik's first novel may amuse Lovecraft fans, but they should be prepared for a supernatural adventure story lacking in the cosmic horror that distinguishes Lovecraft's better fiction. (The master of weird tales regarded "Herbert West" as "hackwork written down to the herd level.") The action spans more than 20 years of the life of Dr. Stuart Hartwell, beginning in 1905 with the brutal murder of his parents by a beast he identifies as the late Dr. Allan Halsey, the dean of medicine at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Mass. In the wake of this tragedy, Hartwell seeks revenge on Herbert West, the Miskatonic medical student who reanimated Halsey in the course of his infernal experiments. While Hartwell has some interesting encounters with such other Lovecraft characters as Nathaniel Peaslee ("The Shadow out of Time") and Wilbur Whateley ("The Dunwich Horror"), readers won't much care whether Hartwell succeeds in his quest or not. (Sept.)
QUOTE:
One of the best things about Reanimators is how seamlessly Rawlik intertwines the Lovecraft mythos with his own. He creates his own world in the influential author's universe, one that pays both homage and adds another level of enjoyment to Lovecraft's work.
Reanimators
Category: Book Reviews
Published: Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Written by Steve Pattee
"Reanimators" Book Review
Written by Steve Pattee
Published by Night Shade Books
Written by Pete Rawlik
2013, 280 pages, Fiction
Released on September 3rd, 2013
Review:
I have a confession to make: Up until relatively recently, I had never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft. I know, right? I both clearly know and appreciate Lovecraft's influence on the genre and it's not that I didn't try to delve into his work. It's just that every time I did, it didn't grab me. Maybe it was his style, maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset. Regardless, though, reading Pete Rawlik's Reanimators solved that problem.
Set in the same universe as Lovecraft's Herbert West: Reanimator, the book follows Dr. Stuart Hartwell and his attempts to ruin his rival Herbert West. Once both students at Miskatonic University, West's mad experiments with the raising the dead led to the death of Hartwell's parents, leading to his lifelong obsession with revenge.
When I cracked open the pages of Reanimators, I didn't know what to expect. My familiarity with Lovecraft was (and to some degree still is) limited to the movies Re-Animator and Dagon, and the mythical beast Cthulhu (as far as knowing what it looked like) and possibly countless other things I'm either forgetting or didn't realize they were Lovecraftian. So I delved into Rawlik's novel with a little trepidation and a bit of excitement. From the first page I was hooked.
One of the best things about Reanimators is how seamlessly Rawlik intertwines the Lovecraft mythos with his own. He creates his own world in the influential author's universe, one that pays both homage and adds another level of enjoyment to Lovecraft's work. So good, in fact, is Reanimators that before I even finished the novel, I picked up and read the short story that ties so closely to it to get the full experience (more on that in a minute).
But Rawlik doesn't just include West in his novel. The author has said that the main character Hartwell is from Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror. There's an appearance by someone from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera. And while I didn't see Cthulhu milling about, there were at least two other Lovecraft nods that I did notice, so I can only imagine what bigger fans of the author will unearth.
The beauty of this book is the Lovecraftian themes and acknowledgements never feel forced (at least from the Herbert West storyline). As I said, prior to starting Reanimators, I was a Lovecraft virgin – as far as his writing was concerned. However, after completing the first hundred or so pages, I took a quick break to read the short story written by the grandfather of horror that inspired this novel. Admittedly, I was a bit underwhelmed by the story (both the movie and Rawlik's book are far superior), but even with that I am very happy I read it as it really adds another layer to Reanimators and the two go hand-in-hand fantastically.
If there's one minor hiccup with an overwhelmingly entertaining novel, it's the introduction of a character that may or may not be a vampire. Turning up about halfway through the book, this storyline is a bit of a sidestep and slows the otherwise quickly-paced novel down a bit (albeit briefly). I cannot say if this is another homage to authors past or Rawlik's own creation, but it feels like the character belongs in a book of his own rather than Reanimators.
Yet, even with that, I still immensely enjoyed Reanimators as it's an incredibly impressive first novel from Rawlik. While at its core it's a tale of revenge (one of my favorite genres), it also delves into mystery, suspense, horror, and a little bit of self-discovery for our main character along the way that is neither forced nor contrived, but instead inevitable. Dare I say it, this is a great Lovecraft primer for those – like myself – who have either never read his work or find it difficult to get into his style (I've actually just started The Dunwich Horror because of this book). And for those fans of Lovecraft out there, I implore you to read it as well, if only for my selfish reasons to discuss it with someone in the comments below. Bonus: if you want to get just a taste of Rawlik's voice, be sure to check out The Issue of Dr. Jekyll, a short story found exclusively here at HorrorTalk.
Grades:
Overall: 4.5 Star Rating
QUOTE:
While not a bad read if you have patience, I think Reanimators would appeal most to HPL fans who want Lovecraft-like incidents blended into a longer form.
REANIMATORS by Pete Rawlik
Randy M
October 8, 2015
reanimationThe Countdown to Halloween continues. This time Randy M. looks at Reanimators by Pete Rawlik.
Join us in the Countdown to Halloween discussion thread
REANIMATORS by Pete Rawlik (Nightshade Books, 2013)
For the record, my name is Stuart Asa Hartwell. I reside and work at Number Twenty-Nine Crane Street. The expansive three-story house with its basement and sub-basement has served the Hartwell family as both home and storefront for generations, though not always in a medical capacity. My father, like my grandfather and his father before him, were butchers and it was through his hard work that I was able to attend nearby Miskatonic University from which I obtained a degree in medicine and became a doctor. Given the heinous acts of which I am accused, it is perhaps better that my parents were lost in the summer of 1905, victims of the madness and typhoid fever that had enveloped Arkham. Shortly before that dreaded year my sister married a man named Kramer and moved to Boston. I have not heard from her or her family in more than fifteen years. Once again, perhaps it is better this way.
—first paragraph
Once again, welcome back to those thrilling days of yesteryear when pulp-Frankensteins, scientific necromancers, raised hell – not to mention, the dead – about once a month!
Except this time, the writer is a current novelist, Pete Rawlik, using “Herbert West, Reanimator” as his entry into the New England of H. P. Lovecraft, weaving Dr. Hartwell through the events of several Lovecraft stories as well as real world events between 1905 and 1929 like the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, and the Spanish Influenza.
Dr. Hartwell witnesses the devastation caused by the recklessness of Dr. Herbert West and his associate, whom Rawlik names Dr. Daniel Crane, a recklessness that costs Hartwell his parents. He vows revenge.
Over the course of the novel Dr. Hartwell establishes his practice in his parent’s house, and builds a secret laboratory in his sub-basement, meanwhile tracking the progress of West and Crane, sabotaging them when possible, stealing their useful ideas, occasionally righting their mistakes and progressing faster at reanimation while leaving behind much the same trail of devastation. In the process, Hartwell intersects with Lovecraft’s “Cool Air”, “The Dunwich Horror”, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” and “The Shadow Out of Time,” among others, and meets such fictional characters as Nick Charles (from The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett) and Charlie Chan (from novels by Earl Derr Bigger).
Rawlik establishes an old fashioned narrative feel early on, mainly by eschewing dialog, while maintaining the voice of an educated man from the early years of the 20th century. For me, this narrative strategy produces a narrator who is too even-keeled, his vengefulness too rational. Hartwell is an intelligent man who doesn’t share Herbert West’s monomania and only occasionally does the desperation he should feel in his circumstances add drive to the story, for example when Rawlik builds toward a fine sequence set on the front in World War I, fully conveying the horror of war as well as the horror of what West and Hartwell are striving to achieve. For most of the novel, though, I find Hartwell a rather bland ghoul.
While not a bad read if you have patience, I think Reanimators would appeal most to HPL fans who want Lovecraft-like incidents blended into a longer form.
A sequel, The Weird Company was released in October 2014.
QUOTE
absolutely fascinating novel
managed what amounts to a huge crossover novel without in any way sacrificing the story to the details is frankly astonishing—especially considering it’s his first novel.
Reanimators by Pete Rawlik. Book review
Posted on September 11, 2013 by craiglockley in Reviews
reanimatorsREANIMATORS by Pete Rawlik, Night Shade, p/b, £9.99/Kindle, £5.99, Website
Reviewed by David Brzeski
This absolutely fascinating novel introduces us to Dr. Stuart Hartwell, a colleague and contemporary of Lovecraft’s Dr. Herbert West, who initially sets out to destroy West by uncovering the secrets of his terrible experiments, only to himself become that which he despised: a reanimator of the dead.
It’s a very complex book. Along the way, Hartwell’s ambitions constantly change as external events influence his life. Herbert West is by no means the only Lovecraft character to feature in the book. We also meet assorted Whateleys, Carters, Peaslees and many other names very familiar to devotees of Lovecraft’s work.
What Rawlik has done here is tie many of Lovecraft’s original stories into a coherent timeline, explaining how these events influence and/or were influenced by Dr. Hartwell. Along the way he details what happened to various of Lovecraft’s characters before and/or after the stories they were involved in, and just how the residents of Arkham managed to survive all the horror they were put through. In addition to all the Lovecraft (not to mention Derleth and Bloch) references, he also squeezes in crossovers with the work of Dashiell Hammett, Earl Derr Biggers, John P. Marquand, Mary Shelley and Rex Stout. He even manages to sneak in his own version of a zombie outbreak, without putting me off; a clever trick, as zombies are one of my personal pet hates in horror fiction. That he’s managed what amounts to a huge crossover novel without in any way sacrificing the story to the details is frankly astonishing—especially considering it’s his first novel.
I did find myself wishing that I was able to read the book from the standpoint of someone not familiar with most of the source works. I know I didn’t get all the references, but I’m familiar enough with Lovecraft’s work to have got most of them. It’s hard to judge exactly how well the book would read for someone who wasn’t at all familiar with Lovecraft’s work. I’d like to think it would not only work, but it would encourage those readers to check out some Lovecraft books. I’d personally very much like to see an annotated version at some point, just so I could track down any references that I may have missed.
There are, apparently, two more books to come in this series. I, for one, can’t wait.
The Lurking Chronology: A Timeline of the Derleth Mythos – Book Review
by David Goudsward | Sep 9, 2015 | Book Reviews, Hellnotes Reviews | 0 comments
chap-book-bThe Lurking Chronology: A Timeline of the Derleth Mythos
By Pete Rawlik
Lovecraft eZine Press
August 15, 2015
Reviewed by David Goudsward
For those unfamiliar with the work of Pete Rawlik, let it suffice to say he writes tales set in the Lovecraft mythos, with a twist. Rawlik’s characters interact with the mythos characters and events, both of Lovecraft and his devotees. And he does this interaction within the confines of a chronology of the stories, weaving his stories around this self-imposed canonical timeline, inspired in no small part on the work of Peter Cannon in his 1986 chapbook The Chronology out of Time. Rawlik’s short stories and novels are based on the premise that Lovecraft’s stories are not stand-alone tales, but rather that all of his works take place in a shared universe.
The problem with this approach, as with so many other things Lovecraftian, is August Derleth. Derleth’s stories are based on Lovecraft’s work literarily and figuratively; a number of them are posthumous collaborations. But they often contradict the established events, change the dates, and just muddy the waters.
Rawlik’s solution to these Derleth tales, instead of ignoring or glossing over them, is the The Lurking Chronology, creating a separate timeline of the Derleth version of the Mythos. In other words, Derleth’s mythos is an alternative universe to Lovecraft’s fictional world, separate but equal.
For the casual reader, this is not an issue, but to fans of the Mythos, it is a helpful tool in keep track of events in lesser read tales. And to a Call of Cthulhu role-player building a game, it offers twists to confuse the doomed adventurers before their inevitable slide into madness and death.
It’s a small book, a chapbook really, with 40 pages of text and reasonably priced. But for a little book, it’s a valuable reference tool, and a fun reminder that Derleth’s much maligned pastiches still have entertainment value.