I recently mentioned reading The Lais of Marie de France. Now, I discussed her work specifically in that previous post, but the introduction actually reminded me of a nexus of things that connect in interesting ways: the medieval concept of mouvance, our modern concepts of remixing and the Creative Commons, and the profound difference between oral and literate cultures… and what the implications might be for magical systems in fantasy worlds unlike ours. (Say, those that have predominantly illiterate populations.) 

I’ve been writing less short fiction since embarking on my novel project—which has once again taken over my life, as it does during work holidays—but I’m happy to announce that Ross Lockhart’s Lovecraftian anthology Cthulhu Fhtagn! Weird Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft is available for preorder at Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook; the print release is on August 15th, which is this Friday Saturday (oops). (See the publisher’s website for more information.) Among many other tales by esteemed Lovecraftians, Cthulhu Fhtagn! includes my “The Return of Sarnath.” Those that know “The Doom That Came to Sarnath” can probably guess some of what it’s about, though in fact it’s another …