“Woe, Babylon Besieged” Lead Story In Lovecraftiana, Walpurgisnacht 2019 Issue

As mentioned in previous posts, this Lovecraft pastiche originally appeared in 2018 in the Danish extreme horror magazine Trigger Warnings. Despite the general prejudice against reprints, the editor at Lovecraftiana, The Magazine Of Eldritch Horror, thought well enough of the yarn to accept and print it as the lead story for the 2019 Walpurgisnacht issue. This is very flattering since Lovecraftiana is the premiere magazine today devoted to exploration of the Lovecraft ethos. It’s one of many worthy publishing endeavors from Rogue Planet Press. Like all other Lovecraftiana issues, this one has a terrific cover. It’s great to see my name and the story title on it. Please consider purchasing a copy:

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For those sticklers among you wondering about the meaning of Walpurgisnacht, it’s the night before the feast of St. Walpurga, an 8th century nun. The Eve is widely celebrated throughout Western Europe and occurs on either April 30 or May 1. Supposedly on the Eve, the powers of evil were at their strongest and witches often held their infernal sabbaths then. The date and the association with evil and witches make the feast sound to me as being suspiciously like Beltane, the Celtic festival that complemented Samhain on October 31 (which is coming up soon). This wouldn’t be the first example, however, of a pagan holiday being appropriated for Christian purposes, e.g., Christmas itself.