Joseph S. Pulver

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Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (born 1955 Schenectady, New York) is an author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror fiction, noir fiction / hardboiled, and dark fantasy genres. He lives in Germany.

Work as author

Pulver started his publishing career in the early 1990s with a number of short stories published in various small press magazines, foremost among them Robert M. Price’s Crypt of Cthulhu. His tales cover subjects ranging from Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and Robert W. Chambers’ "King in Yellow."

Pulver’s professional debut came with the publication of his Lovecraftian novel, "Nightmare’s Disciple".

In addition to various american small press magazines, Pulver’s work has been featured in numerous anthologies in the USA, UK, France, and Japan. Some of these anthologies include: "Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror", "The Tindalos Mythos", "Spawn of the Green Abyss", "The Book of Eibon", Lin Carter’s "Anton Zarnak: Supernatural Sleuth", and "Rehearsals For Oblivion".

Nearly two dozen short works of his have been translated into French and Japanese.

Of Pulver and his latest work ("Blood Will Have its Season"), published by Hippocampus Press, critically acclaimed author, Thomas Ligotti, has said, "Some writers one admirers and others make one want to do as they do, or try. For me, Joe Pulver is of the latter type. His imagination is so vile so much of the time that it makes me giggle with amazement. And the prose so deadly visionary. I'm grateful that the pieces in this collection are those of a fellow horror writer who has raised the ante on what it means to be such a creature."

Lovecraftian biographer and scholar, S. T. Joshi, has said, "The prose of Joe Pulver can take its place with that of the masters of our genre-E.A. Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti-while his imaginative reach is something uniquely his own."

Rick Keffel of Bookotron.com has this to say: "Whatever your expectations may be, check them at the door. Pulver has a truly unique style for the horror genre, and this collection of short stories is a perfect vehicle for this sort of style . . . Pulver is an original."

Noted Lovecraftian editor, scholar, and writer, Robert M. Price has stated: "From the earlier book ("Nightmare's Disciple") I already recognized Pulver's genius in his ability to shape-shift stylistically between Raymond Chandler and Thomas Ligotti--without your even noticing! Like the gospel demon, his name ought to be Legion, since he assumes a new voice and persona as every particular chapter or sequence requires. In the new book, Pulver's polyphonic gifts mutate to a new and even more powerful pitch. The short scope of these many works allows him to write less leisurely, more rapid-fire. The author possesses another unique gift. The only way I know to describe it is to say that he combines the headlong, violent pace and savage sensibilities of Robert E. Howard with the refined and baleful mood of Robert W. Chambers and Thomas Ligotti, and all this in an intricate, almost blank verse poetic diction. There is nothing like it!"

Laird Barron states, that "Joe Pulver is that rare artist who wears his influences on his sleeve yet is wholly original. He infuses his mellifluous prose with a raw, intellectual swagger that is sorely lacking in genre fiction. There are many writers of dark fantasy and horror, but after Joe Pulver the gods broke the mold."

Praise for Blood Will Have Its Season

Thomas Ligotti: "Some writers one admirers and others make one want to do as they do, or try. For me, Joe Pulver is of the latter type. His imagination is so vile so much of the time that it makes me giggle with amazement. And the prose so deadly visionary. I'm grateful that the pieces in this collection are those of a fellow horror writer who has raised the ante on what it means to be such a creature."

Ellen Datlow: ""Blood Will Have Its Season is an ambitious debut [...] obviously influenced by H.P. Lovecradt and Robert W. Chambers, for the most part Pulver uses their influences to create potent tales of his own. A writer to keep an eye on."

Praise for SIN & ashes

Laird Barron: ". . . I’m gawping in amazement, shaken by Pulver’s eviscerating vision. He wields language as a scalpel, a Thompson submachine gun, an axe . . . Joe Pulver calls down the fire. Joe Pulver’s the Man. He’s got the Power." (from the introduction to "SIN & ashes")

Work as editor

Pulver has also been the editor of Midnight Shambler and Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. He was also the co-editor for Crypt of Cthulhu, published by Mythos Books LLC working alongside Robert M. Price, Michael Cisco and David Wynn. Crypt of Cthulhu also published several poems and short stories by Joseph S. Pulver.

He has also edited collections by Ann K. Schwader (The Worms Remember) and John B. Ford (Dark Shadows On the Moon).

  • A Season In Carcosa (editor) - an anthology of new tales based on Robert W. Chambers´ "King In Yellow" tales
  • The Grimscribe's Puppet's (editor) - a collection of newly written tales in tribute to and based upon Thomas Ligotti
  • The Aklonomicon (as co-editor) - Word & ART & the fragments of a certain madneSS ...
  • "Crypt of Cthulhu" (co-editor)
  • "Midnight Shambler" (editor)
  • "Tales of Lovecraftian Horror" (editor)


  • John B. Ford: Dark Shadows On the Moon
  • Ann K. Schwader: The Worms Remember

Bibliography

Novels

Collections

Anthologies

  • "... Hungry ... Rats" in Spawn of the Green Abyss, edited by S.T. Joshi, Mythos Books 2011
  • "A Line of Questions" in Rehearsals for Oblivion Act I, edited by Peter Worthy, Dimension Books 2006
  • "A Spider in the Distance" in Studies in the Fantastic No.1, edited by S.T. Joshi University of Tampa Press 2008
  • "But It's A Long Dark Road" in The Tindalos Cycle, edited by Robert M. Price, Hippocampus Press 2010
  • "Engravings" in Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, edited by S.T. Joshi PS Publishing 2010
  • "Icarus above" in Nemonymous: Null Immortalis, edited by Des Lewis, Megazanthus Press 2010
  • "Just Another Desert Night With Blood" in The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 3, edited by Ellen Datlow, Nightshade Books, 2011
  • "No Healing Prayers" in Dead But Dreaming 2, edited by Kevin Ross, Miskatonic River Press, 2011
  • "Scarlet Obeisance" in The Tindalos Cycle, edited by Robert M. Price, Hippocampus Press 2010
  • "The Adoration of the Black Flame" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "The Black Litany of Nug & Yeb" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "The Door in the House of the Never Slumbering Demon" in Lin Carter's Anton Zarnak Supernatural Sleuth, Marietta Publishing 2002
  • "The Door to the World" in Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E. Howard, edited by Robert M. Price Chaosium 2001 [with Robert E. Howard]
  • "The Exorcism of Iagsat" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "The Exorcism of Iagsat (1st version)", in Lost Worlds of Space and Time edited by Steve Lines, Rainfall Books 2004
  • "The Fevered Brain (co-authored with John B. Ford)" in The Evil Entwines, edited by John B. Ford, Rainfall Books 2005
  • "The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar" in Lost Worlds of Space and Time edited by Steve Lines, Rainfall Books 2004
  • "The Grey Rite of Azathoth" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "The Kynothrabian Dirge" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "The Last Few Nights In A Life Of Frost" in The Weird Fiction Review No.1, edited by S.T. Joshi, 2010
  • "The Nightmusic of Oakdeene" in Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos: Cthulhu's Creatures, edited by Steve Lines and John B. Ford, Rainfall Books and JNJ Publications 2007
  • "The Ritual of the Outer Void" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "To Call Forth Tsathoggua To Smithe Thy Enemy" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "To Summon and Instruct Zhogtk, the Emanation of Yoth" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "To Walk Free Amongst the Harms of Zin" in The Book of Eibon, edited by Robert M. Price, Chaosium 2002
  • "Zarnak's Guest" in Lin Carter's Anton Zarnak Supernatural Sleuth, Marietta Publishing 2002

Audio

  • "The Black Litany of Nug & Yeb" (read by Robert M. Price) on Strange Aeons, Stormclouds 2001
  • "The Stormclouds of Their Return" (read by Joseph S. Pulver) on Strange Aeons, Stormclouds 2001

Chapbooks

  • "Orchard Fruit" in E'CH PI EL, Rainfall Books 2007
  • "The Ebb of Reason" in The Yellow Sign No.2, Rainfall Books 2007
  • "The Guard Command" in The Nightmusic of Oakdeene & Others, Rainfall Books 2006
  • "The Songs Cassilda Shall Sing, Where Flap the Tatters of the King" in The Yellow Sign No.1, Rainfall Books 2006

eBooks

  • Blood Will Have Its Season, Speaking Volumes 2011
  • Nightmare's Disciple, Speaking Volumes 2011

Magazines

Reviews

  • Closed on Account on Rabies (Review of CD) in Parts No.15

Translated works

En compaignie du Roi en jaune Aug ‘99:

  • "A Line of Questions" (in French as "Une file ge questions" — translated by C. Thill)
  • "Once My Beloved" (in French as "A mon bien-aime" — translated by C. Thill)
  • "The Faces of She" (in French as "Les visages d-Elle" — translated by C. Thill)

The Book of Eibon edited by Robert M. Price [Notssuo Press Japan] 2008 [translation into Japanese]

  • "The Adoration of the Black Flame"
  • "The Black Litany of Nug & Yeb"
  • "The Black Rite of Yaddith"
  • "The Exorcism of Iagsat"
  • "The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar"
  • "The Grey Rite of Azathoth"
  • "The Kynothrabian Dirge"
  • "The Ritual of the Outer Void"
  • "To Call Forth Tsathoggua To Smite Thy Enemy"
  • "To Summon and Instruct Zhogtk, the Emanation of Yoth"
  • "To Walk Free Among the Harms of Zin"

Stories

Coming soon

Novels:

  • Blood Will Have Its Season, Speaking Volumes 2011 (eBook) - published in March 2011
  • Nightmare's Disciple, Speaking Volumes 2011 (eBook) - published in March 2011
  • Nightmare's Disciple, Speaking Volumes 2011 (TPB) - to be published in March / April 2011

Stories:

  • 4 "tExts" for Mike Dubisch art in AKLONOMICON, edited by Ivan McCann (co-edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
  • "A Hand At The Door" in "Patricide" No.3
  • "A Meeting On The Trail to Hot Iron" in "Lovecraft eZine" - to be published in April 2011
  • "kristamas as an exhibition” in AKLONOMICON, edited by Ivan McCann (co-edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
  • "Never Call Anubis Loki’s Robots Cheap-Shit" w/ Garrett Cook and Jordan Krall in AKLONOMICON, edited by Ivan McCann (co-edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
  • NIGHT BEGETS, edited by Sarah L. Covert, Double Feature Press 2011
  • "No Healing Prayers" in Dead But Dreaming 2, edited by Kevin Ross, Miskatonic River Press 2011
  • "Poem" w/ Nova Rupertus in AKLONOMICON, edited by Ivan McCann (co-edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
  • "Reprieve Eve No. 33" [anthology title and ToC to come]
  • several "tExts" in Black Velvet Necronomicon: Curse Book by Mike Dubisch
  • "tExt" for Ann S. Koi art in AKLONOMICON, edited by Ivan McCann (co-edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
  • "The Corpse-eating Cult of Leng" in The Secret Heart of Asia, edited by Robert M. Price
  • "the guilt of each… at the end" in Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities, edited by Henrik Harksen
  • "The Second Wave Of Fear" in Beyond the Mountains of Madness, edited by Robert M. Price
  • "TIME . . . and FOREVER" w/ Tara Vanflower in AKLONOMICON , edited by Ivan McCann (co-edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
  • "When the Eye of Pandora's Mask screams" in "Patricide" No.3


From the Editor's desk:

  • A Season In Carcosa (editor) - an anthology of new tales based on Robert W. Chambers' "King In Yellow" tales
  • The Grimscribe's Puppet's (editor) - a collection of newly written tales in tribute to and based upon Thomas Ligotti
  • The Aklonomicon (as co-editor) - Word & ART & the fragments of a certain madneSS ...

External links

Sources

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