Brian Lumley

Brian Lumley (2 December 1937 – 2 January 2024) was an English author of horror fiction. He came to prominence in the 1970s writing in the Cthulhu Mythos created by American writer H. P. Lovecraft but featuring the new character Titus Crow, and went on to greater fame in the 1980s with the best-selling '' Necroscope'' series, initially centered on character Harry Keogh, who can communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Biography

Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.

In the 1970s he added to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos cycle of stories, including several tales and a novel featuring the character Titus Crow. Several of his early books were published by Arkham House. Other stories pastiched Lovecraft's Dream Cycle but featured Lumley's original characters David Hero and Eldin the Wanderer. Lumley once explained the difference between his Cthulhu Mythos characters and Lovecraft's: "My guys fight back. Also, they like to have a laugh along the way."

Later works included the '' Necroscope'' series of novels, which produced spin-off series such as the ''Vampire World Trilogy'', ''The Lost Years'' parts 1 and 2, and the ''E-Branch'' trilogy. The central protagonist of the earlier ''Necroscope'' novels appears in the anthology ''Harry Keogh and Other Weird Heroes''. The last entry in the ''Necroscope'' saga is ''The Mobius Murders''.

Lumley served as president of the Horror Writers Association from 1996 to 1997. On 28 March 2010 Lumley was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association. He also received a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010.

Lumley died on 2 January 2024, at the age of 86.

Inspiration

Lumley's list of his favourite horror stories – "not complete by any means and by no means in order of preference" – included M. R. James' " Count Magnus", Robert E. Howard's " The Black Stone", Robert W. Chambers' "The Yellow Sign" from '' The King in Yellow'', William Hope Hodgson's " The Voice in the Night", and H. P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark" and " The Colour Out of Space"."An Interview with Brian Lumley", Robert M. Price, ''Nightscapes'' No. 5.

Bibliography

This is a list of Lumley's more notable novels and short story collections. This list of novels and short stories is not exhaustive. Lumley had many pieces published in periodicals and other publications, sometimes as works in progress or partial works, under his own name and jointly with other writers.

;The Subterranean Press edition
*''Necroscope'' (novel)
*''Brian Lumley's Freaks''
**''Introduction''
**''In the Glow Zone''
**''Mother Love''
**''Problem Child''
**''The Ugly Act''
**''Somebody Calling''
*''A Coven of Vampires'' (1998)
**''What Dark God?''
**''Back Row''
**''The Strange Years''
**''The Kiss of the Lamia''
**''Recognition''
**''The Thief Immortal''
**''Necros''
**''The Thing from the Blasted Heath''
**''Uzzi''
**''Haggopian''
**''The Picknickers''
**''Zack Phalanx is Vlad the Impaler''
**''The House of the Temple''
*''Screaming Science Fiction: Horrors from Out of Space''
**"Snarker's Son"
**"The Man Who Felt Pain"
**"The Strange Years"
**"No Way Home"
**"The Man Who Saw No Spiders"
**"Deja Viewer"
**"Feasibility Study"
**"Gaddy's Gloves"
**"The Big 'C'"
*''The Taint and other novellas: Best Mythos Tales, Volume One'' (2007)
**"Introduction"
**''The Horror at Oakdeene''
**''Born of the Winds''
**''The Fairground Horror''
**''The Taint''
**''Rising with Surtsey''
**'' Lord of the Worms''
**''The House of the Temple''
*''Haggopian and other stories'' (2008)
**''Introduction''
**''The Caller of the Black''
**''Haggopian''
**''Cement Surroundings''
**''The House of Cthulhu''
**''The Night Sea-Maid Went Down''
**''Name and Number''
**''Recognition''
**''Curse of the Golden Guardians''
**''Aunt Hester''
**''The Kiss of Bugg-Shash''
**''De Marigny's Clock''
**''Mylakhrion the Immortal''
**''The Sister City''
**''What Dark God?''
**''The Statement of Henry Worthy''
**''Dagon's Bell''
**''The Thing from the Blasted Heath''
**''Dylath Leen''
**''The Mirror of Nitocris''
**''The Second Wish''
**''The Hymn''
**''Synchronicity or Something''
**''The Black Recalled''
**''The Sorcerer's Dream''
*''The Nonesuch and Others'' (2009)
**Introduction
**"The Thin People"
**"Stilts"
**''The Nonesuch''
*''The Fly-by-Nights'' (2011)

References

Further reading

* Leigh Blackmore. ''Brian Lumley: A New Bibliography''. Sydney: Dark Press, 1994. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1987.
*Brian Lumley and Stanley Wiater (eds). ''The Brian Lumley Companion''. NY: Books, 2002.

External links

* (.com—newer) (.net—older)

"An Interview with Brian Lumley"
by Robert M. Price, ''Nightscapes'' No. 5
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumley, Brian
1937 births
2024 deaths
Military personnel from County Durham
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century English novelists
21st-century English novelists
Cthulhu Mythos writers
English fantasy writers
English horror writers
English male novelists
People from County Durham
Royal Military Police soldiers
World Fantasy Award–winning writers