The Starry Wisdom (anthology)

The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H. P. Lovecraft is an anthology of Lovecraftian writing edited by D. M. Mitchell and published by Creation Books in 1995. In 2012, Elektron Books released The Starry Wisdom: Fiction Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, which combined much of the contents of the 1995 volume with additional material.
In an introduction, Mitchell said he aimed to "bypass the superficial and access the subterranean channels of archetype and inspiration with which Lovecraft was connected." Mitchell presents Lovecraft--and the writers in his anthology--as part of a tradition not only of horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, and Arthur Machen, but also of avant-garde writers like Comte de LautréamontWikipedia, "Comte de Lautréamont". and Antonin ArtaudPoetry Foundation, "Antonin Artaud (1896-1948)"., and occultists like Aleister Crowley and Helena Blavatsky.
Far from writing "escapist fantasies," Mitchell said, Lovecraft "crafted morbid and disturbing allegories of social and biological upheaval" that were "cryptically prophetic and spiritually exploratory":A large part of Lovecraft’s driving force came from the frisson he experienced between the patriarchal vision of order, logic and reason to which he adhered, and the intruding chaotic, female forces from "outside" –- forces both disruptive and ultimately redeeming.Lovecraft's "occasional misogyny and ill-considered racism both sprang from this gulf between these antagonistic sides of his personality," Mitchell asserts.
In 2009, Mitchell edited Songs of the Black Würm Gism: Hymns to H. P. Lovecraft, a collection of original Lovecraftian fiction published by Creation Oneiros as a sequel to Starry Wisdom. The 2012 version of Starry Wisdom fused the majority of the 1995 original with the bulk of the 2009 volume.
== Contents ==
=== 1995 Edition ===
* "Introduction" (essay) by Ramsey Campbell (1994)
* "Foreword" (essay) by D. M. Mitchell (1994)
* "Lovecraft in Heaven" by Grant Morrison (1994)
* "Third Eye Butterfly" by James Havoc and Mike Philbin (1994)
* "A Thousand Young" by Robert M. Price (1989)
* "The Night Sea-Maid Went Down" by Brian Lumley  (1971)
* "From This Swamp" by Henry Wessells  (1994)
* "Prisoner of the Coral Deep" by J. G. Ballard (1964)
* "Black Static" by David Conway (1994)
* "Red Mass" by Dan Kellett (1994)
* "Wind Die You Die We Die" by William S. Burroughs (1968)
* "The Call of Cthulhu" (graphic adaptation) by John Coulthart and H. P. Lovecraft (1994)
* "Potential" by Ramsey Campbell (1973)
* "Walpurgisnachtmusik" by Simon Whitechapel (1994)
* "Meltdown" by D. F. Lewis (1994)
* "Beyond Reflection" by John Beal (1990)
* "This Exquisite Corpse" by C. G. Brandrick and D. M. Mitchell (1994)
* "Extracted from the Mouth of the Consumer, Rotting Pig" by Michael Gira (1994)
* "Hypothetical Materfamilias" by Adele Olivia Gladwell (1994)
* "The Sound of a Door Opening" by Don Webb (1993)
* "The Courtyard" by Alan Moore (1994)
* "Pills for Miss Betsy" by Rick Grimes  (1994)
* "The Dreamers in Darkness" by Peter Smith (1993)
* "Sex-Invocation of the Great Old Ones (23 Nails)" (poem) by Stephen Sennitt (1994)
* "Ward 23" by D. M. Mitchell (1994)
=== 2012 Edition ===
* "Introduction" by D. M. Mitchell
* "Recognition" by Alan Moore (1995)
* "Lovecraft in Heaven" by Grant Morrison (1994)
* "A Thousand Young" by Robert M. Price  (1989)
* "Black Static" by David Conway (1994)
* "This Exquisite Corpse" by C. G. Brandrick and D. M. Mitchell (1994)
* "The Courtyard" by Alan Moore (1994)
* "From This Swamp" by Henry Wessells (1994)
* "Red Mass" by Dan Kellett (1994)
* "Meltdown" by D. F. Lewis (1994)
* "The Sound of a Door Opening" by Don Webb (1993)
* "Beyond Reflection" by John Beal (1990)
* "The Dreamers in Darkness" by Peter Smith (1993)
* "Zaman’s Hill" by Alan Moore (1995)
* "Ward 23" by D. M. Mitchell (1994)
* "Luvkraft Vs Kutulu" by Grant Morrison (2009)
* "Black Tide" by Aishling Morgan (2009)
* "Skull of She-Head" by James Havoc (2009)
* "The Splattersplooch" by David Britton and Mike Butterworth (2009)
* "Domain of the Valve Cardinals" by Jacques Dingue (2009)
* "Battleships" by Herzan Chimera and James Havoc (2009)
* "The Sons of Mormurus" by John Beal (2009)
* "In the Black Sun Hotel" by D. M. Mitchell (2009)
* "Jelly" by Hank Kirton (2009)
* "Sign of a Poisonous Insect" by Jacques Bertrand Houpinière (2009)
* "The Interview" by Alexandria D. Douros (2009)
* "Manta Red" by David Conway (2009)
* "804: An Erotic Rendezvous" by Rev. Paul Stevens (2009)
* "Devoured" by Claudia Belloq (2009)
* "God’s Inferno" by Joshua Hayes (2009)
== References ==
Category:D. M. Mitchell works
Category:Anthologies