“K. A. Opperman’s The Laughter of Ghouls is a dark gem of endless depths in which one may see the decadent procession of exquisite darkness in which this poet revels!”—D. L. Myers, author of Oracles from the Black Pool
For close to a decade, K. A. Opperman has been among the leading weird poets of our time. Bursting on the scene with the scintillating volume The Crimson Tome (published by Hippocampus Press in 2015), Opperman has consistently displayed a wide imaginative range, a metrical precision reminiscent of the work of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith, and a sensitivity to the subtle overtones of the weird in daily life that make his poems far more than mere exercises in shudder-coining.
The Laughter of Ghouls shows Opperman at the height of his poetic powers. The emphasis here is on ghouls as symbols of the fragility of our human mortality. Opperman’s fascination with vampires male and female is displayed in a series of poems, while verses on the ghost, the werewolf, and the witch show the poet infusing new life into these traditional weird motifs. Throughout, Opperman exhibits all the qualities that have made him a pioneer in the renaissance of weird poetry that has been ongoing over the last several decades.
Contents
Introduction: Tainted Laughter
Graveyards Forgotten
The Laughter of Ghouls
Ghoul Moon
Among the Ghouls
Woodland Funeral
In Fits of Wildest Dreaming
To Court the Night
Carpathian Spells
Transylvanian Darkness
A Queen of Carpathia
Portrait of the Countess
Blood and Beauty
O My Vampiress
Symbols of Blood
The Black Czarina
The Vampire-Slayer’s Whip
The Lady of the Dagger
Empress of Vampires
Carmilla
Clarethea
The Woman in the Feathered Mask
Roses, Black Roses
Bloody Tears
Eventide
Queen of the Bats
The Harpy
The Hunter and the Succubus
When Wolfsbane Blooms
Werewolf
Wilhelmina
Ghostly Sighs
Amorella
The Lady in Scarlet
Midnight in the Ebon Rose Bower
Absinthia
The Lady of the Graves
A Ghostly Lily
The Shadow of the Reaper
The Spectral Knight
The Ghost Carriage
Her Ghostly Sigh
The Lady in White
Songs of the Goat
Invocation of Diana
Divinity
Ode to Ashtoreth
Flame-Mistress of the Morning Star
Lilith
Lucia
Child of Ice
In the Dead of Winter
Krampus
Priestess of the Goat
Chant of the Priestess
Song of the Goat
Woods at Dusk
The Goat of Walpurgis
Walpurgis Eve
The Crimson Circle
May Song
Beltane
The Wicker Woman
Witch Summons
The Witch
The Benighted Path
Ode to the Gorgon
The Night Mare
Saturna
Nightshade Flowers
Your Mask of Porcelain
Harlequin
Carnival Siren
Crimson Masquerade
Cassilda Dons the Pallid Mask
Black Widow
Medusa
The Crimson Witch
Devil’s Valentine
Daemonic Nathicana
Queen of Nenuphars
My Lady of the Nightshade Flower
The Forest Witch
The Blood Garden
The Demon of Ennui
The Mushroom Siren
The Fungal Nymph
Her Fungal Glance
The Fungal Fog
The Book of Black Dreams
Black Oracles
Among the Gargoyles
Nocturnal Forest Cathedral
Mary of the Rosy Grave
Villanelle of My Dead Love
The Voice of the Waves
My Ship of Dreams
Heart Burial
Requiem
Funeral
Acknowledgments
This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 20 March, 2021.
