I mostly know of Lin Carter (1930-1988) as an editor of fantasy anthologies (such as the Years Best Fantasy books from DAW, as well as the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series), plus so-called pastiches of earlier tales (H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and other sword and sorcery writers).
Dreams from R’lyeh is a collection of some of Carter’s poems, published in 1975 by Arkham House. It’s a slim volume, originally priced at $5, with a fantastic cover by Tim Kirk. I recently obtained a copy, in my effort to try to broaden my Arkham House collection, an effort that remains ongoing, at least to some slight degree.
It’s strange—at least I think so—to read L. Sprague de Camp’s introduction and Lin Carter’s afterword in 2025, as these were written more than 50 years ago. Both de Camp and Carter are now long gone. I met de Camp many years ago (1989? 1990?) at a convention in Austin. I shook his hand, and he remarked that he had shaken the hand of someone who once had shaken the hand of Charles Darwin. It’s almost eerie, as I start to read Carter’s poems (at least those he wanted preserved), to think that by the time I shook de Camp’s hand, Carter was already dead, and yet at that time I was just starting to look for books written and edited by Carter.
There are less than 100 pages between the covers of Dreams from R’lyeh, and yet I sense a great deal of presence in this book.
