J. Vernon Shea

Joseph Vernon Shea (1912–1981) was an American author of horror, fantasy, poetry, and essays; and a correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and August Derleth.

Shea was born in Dayton, Kentucky, the son of a professional magician. When corresponding with Lovecraft in 1931–1937, he resided in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Shea later served overseas in the Army Medical Corps, then returned to civilian life and worked as a metallurgist in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a long-time member of the "Esoteric Order of Dagon" Amateur Press Association at the time of his sudden accidental death.^[1][2]

Works

Stories

• "The Necronomicon" at the Wayback Machine (archived October 20, 2009). (Written before Lovecraft's death in 1937; Lovecraft read and annotated the manuscript.)
• "The Old Lady's Room". August Derleth, ed., Over the Edge. Arkham House, 1964.
• "Five-Year Contract". Magazine of Horror, September 1964.
• "The Flaw". Magazine of Horror, Spring 1967.
• "The Haunter of the Graveyard". August Derleth, ed., Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Arkham House, 1969.
• "Icarus Climbs Toward the Sun". The Dark Brotherhood Journal, No. 2, 1972.
• "Dead Giveaway". Outré, 1976. Reprinted in Robert M. Price, ed., The New Lovecraft Circle. Fedogan & Bremer, 1996. ISBN 1-878252-16-X.
• '"The Snouted Thing". 1979. Reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991. Posthumous collaboration with Lovecraft.
• "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit". Whispers, No. 15–16 (Vol. 4, No. 3–4), March 1982.

Poems

• "When Artists Die"
• "Look to the Skies"
• "The Dream-World of H.P. Lovecraft"
• "We tire of tyrants...”
• "A Walk in Providence"
• "H.P.L.’s Gravestone"
• "So Little Time Beneath the Stars"
• "Impermanence"
• "Better Days?"
• "What Good Is a Book?"
• "Roses Blooming in November"
• "Here at Swan Point"
• "Tomorrow"

(All above reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991.)

Essays

• "H. P. Lovecraft: The House and the Shadows." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1966. (Memoir of Lovecraft.)
• "H.P.L. and Films". 1972. Reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991.
• "The Lovecraftian Saga". 1976. Reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991.
• "H. P. Lovecraft and Samuel Johnson: A Comparison". 1978. Reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991.
• "The Timeless Lovecraft". 1979. Reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991.
• "'The Outsider'". 1979. Reprinted in In Search of Lovecraft, 1991.
• "On the Literary Influences Which Shaped Lovecraft’s Works". S.T. Joshi, ed., H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism. Ohio State University Press, 1980. ISBN 0-8214-0577-2, ISBN 978-0-8214-0577-2.
• "An Introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos". Fantasy Empire Presents H. P. Lovecraft. Tampa FL: New Media Publishing, 1984.

Books

• Strange Desires. Lion Books, 1954. (Edited short-story anthology.)
• Strange Barriers. Lion Books, 1955. Reprinted: Pyramid Books, 1961. (Edited short-story anthology.)
• H.P. Lovecraft: The House and the Shadows. West Warwick RI: Necronomicon Press, 1982. ASIN B0006YAHLC. (1966 essay in chapbook.)
• In Search Of Lovecraft. West Warwick RI: Necronomicon Press, 1991. ISBN 0-940884-39-9, ISBN 978-0-940884-39-7. (Collection of essays, fiction, and poetry.)

Periodicals

• Outré. (Science fiction fanzine.)

References

1. S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz, "Shea, J(oseph) Vernon (1912–1981)" entry, pp. 240–241, in An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31578-7, ISBN 978-0-313-31578-7.
2. Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction brief contributor biography.

Further reading

• J. Vernon Shea, Mollie L. Werba, Robert Bloch, L. Sprague de Camp, Donald Wandrei, J. Vernon Shea: A Memorial. Mei-Li/Scorpio Press, 1981. OCLC 2712-0819.
• Burleson, Donald R. and Mollie. The Morgan and Rice Gazette Vol 21, No 4 (whole number 84) (Candlemas 2005): A Tribute to J. Vernon Shea. 20pp. For Esoteric Order of Dagon Amateur Press Association.
• S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz, "Shea, J(oseph) Vernon (1912–1981)" entry, pp. 240–241, in An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31578-7, ISBN 978-0-313-31578-7.

External links

• J. Vernon Shea at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database