Most may not be aware of C.M. Eddy Jr. (1896-1967) and his wife Muriel E. Eddy (1896-1978). Both were part of the “Lovecraft Circle,” meeting H.P. Lovecraft in 1923 and all lived in Providence, RI. Both were long-time writers, though that didn’t become their careers.
Eddy was a writer of detective stories, songwriting, and ghost stories, and got several published in the pulps. Muriel wrote romance and “occult experience” works, as well as others, and several got published as well.
After meeting with Lovecraft, they spent time with him over the years. Lovecraft influenced Eddy in his writing and even revised some of his works, with four published in Weird Tales. Muriel typed up some of his stories as well, which Lovecraft later read to them. Further, Eddy accompanied Lovecraft on several trips, including to the “Dark Swamp,” which influenced both of them. After Lovecraft’s passing, they made friends with August Derleth and wrote remembrances of Lovecraft.
Eddy spent most of his life as a theater booker along with work with a publisher and a public works department. I was surprised to learn that he worked with Houdini and wrote on his behalf. I knew of HPL ghost-writing Houdini’s “Imprisoned With the Pharaohs,” but didn’t know Eddy had done the same and that the two were working on a novel for Houdini that was stopped upon his death.
Thankfully, their grandson, Jim Dyer, has brought back into print several of their works as Fenham Publishing. These are all locally printed and very nice editions.
I would recommend purchasing directly from them as they don’t sell through Amazon, and the prices I found there for some of their works were ridiculous. Such as asking over $300 for a book you could get from them for less than $20.
These books include both reprints as well as previously unpublished works. Three are collections of Eddy’s fiction and poetry, one is non-fiction on HPL, and the final is a collection of Murial’s fiction. I have no idea if we’ll get any further volumes.
Exit Into Eternity: Tales of the Bizarre and Supernatural (1973, 2000) was first published by the family in 1973 and reprinted by Fenham. It contains a nice intro by Muriel, going over C.M.’s life and writing career.
It contains four stories, all previously unpublished, plus an unfinished work. Two of the stories were written during his association with Lovecraft. Some of these are longer works. “Pilgrimage of Peril” (written 1924) is a novella, about an experiment on astral projection. “The Vengeful Vision” (also written in 1924) is, believe it or not, a Christmas tale of sorts.
“Miscreant From Murania” (written in 1951), a novelette, has an agent of the VBI (Vampire Bureau of Investigation) after a rogue vampire. I was surprised by this, as this is a more “modern” take on vampires than I expected.
“A Solitary Solution” (also written in 1924) has three nephews getting a set of ciphers on the death of their uncle. This leads them to a mystery that may mean more deaths. “Black Noon (A Beginning)” (started in 1967, unfinished) was an attempt at a work based on Eddy’s adventures with HPL. It was left unfinished due to his passing. What might we have gotten?
The Loved Dead and Other Tales (2008) contains thirteen stories, including all seven of his stories from Weird Tales. Four of these were revised by Lovecraft: “Ashes,” “The Ghost-Eater,” “The Loved Dead,” and “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind.” The rest were written around the same time, but several only saw print in the ’70s. Also included is his first nationally published piece, “The Sign of the Dragon,” cover featured on Mystery Magazine in 1919.
“The Loved Death” is a first-person story about someone obsessed with the dead. A group protested this story’s publication, which actually increased sales of that issue of Weird Tales and might have saved the magazine. “Ashes” is about a professor whose experiments allow him to turn a living being into ashes and restore it. “The Ghost-Eater” tells of a man who travels the “devil’s wood” alone in Maine on a full moon and what happens. And, “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind” is set in a strange old house where a group investigates what has been going on there.
“With Weapons of Stone” and “Arhl-a of the Caves” are both caveman stories from Weird Tales. “The Better Choice,” his final story for Weird Tales, is a strange story of a machine that brings back the dead. The other stories are equally as weird. I have no idea why they weren’t published at the time.
“The Sign of the Dragon” is the longest work in this volume, a novelette. Three years after a man obtains a strange dragon ring in Chinatown and swears an oath on it with his father, he is pulled into a strange affair. This is centered around a woman, his “lady of the dragon” and involves a traitorous man.
Perils From the Pulps: A Collection of Tales (2020) contains six stories and four poems from his early years of writing. Several of these appeared in other pulp magazines like Action Stories, Munsey’s, and Snappy Stories. “Unshorn Lamb” and “A Little Bit of Good Luck” are stories about songwriting, something Eddy was familiar with. “Moonshine” is a ghost story. The other stories are similar.
The Gentleman From Angell Street: Memories of H.P. Lovecraft (2001) is a collection of non-fiction pieces on Lovecraft, including some poems about him and a set of photos. Half of the volume is taken up by the title piece by Muriel. There are also short pieces, “Walks with H.P. Lovecraft” by C.M. and “Lovecraft: Among the Demons” by Muriel, and other works. These are important works as they are personal remembrances by people who actually knew him, which is a great addition to learning and understanding HPL as a person.
In the Gray of the Dusk: A Collection of Typewritten Treasures (2017) is a collection of eight stories and four poems by Muriel that covers her writing career, but are all mystery and macabre tales. Not sure where they all appeared previously, but know that one appeared in Ghost Stories. I do wish we had gotten the list of sources like we got with other volumes. Are there more tales like this that she wrote?
In addition to these works, if you want more on C.M. Eddy Jr., one of the volumes of Lovecraft letters from Hippocampus Press, H.P. Lovecraft: Miscellaneous Letters, contains letters to both Eddy and Muriel. The fourth volume in their “Variorum Edition” of Lovecraft fiction also contains the four stories Lovecraft revised for Eddy.
I enjoyed all these works. I did like that these volumes were locally printed rather than print-on-demand, as they have a different feel from that, with good design that we don’t always get with POD books. Do check these out and get one or more volumes. They are all reasonably priced as well.
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