Zoth Syra: A Cthulhu Mythos killed by August Derleth

-----Contents----- 0:02:00 - Spawn of the Green Abyss 2:01:03 - The Will Of Claude Ashur Zoth Syra: A Cthulhu Mythos killed by August Derleth Charles John Thompson (March, 1923 to February, 1991) was a pulp writer who used the pen name C Hall Thompson. He published four stories in Weird Tales, including the Mythos stories Spawn of the Green Abyss and The Will of Claude Ashur. August Derleth intervened to keep Thompson from writing more Mythos stories, writing in a letter to Ramsey Campbell: He borrowed flagrantly from HP Lovecraft’s work, and we stopped it by writing to his editors pointing out his invasion of proprietary interests, though we would probably have given him the green signal to go ahead if he had submitted his work to us first. This he did not do; so it had to stop. Some Lovecraft scholars have read not only a proprietary attitude but also jealousy into Derleth's actions. Robert M Price writes that: the story goes that August Derleth intimidated Thompson into dropping the Lovecraft pastiche hobby, apparently because Thompson was working Derleth’s side of the street (and selling a better product). S T Joshi also criticizes Derleth's approach: It is not surprising that August Derleth apparently badgered Thompson to give up the idea of any further pastiches—not because Thompson had failed and was somehow tainting Lovecraft’s reputation, but precisely because he had succeeded, and succeeded far better than Derleth himself in any of his own Lovecraftian imitations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: This work is believed to be in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States before 1964, and extensive research found that copyright was not renewed. Art used in this video is secondary to the video main content and is believed to be allowed Under section 107 of the copyright Act 1976, allowance is mad for FAIR USE for purpose such a as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research.