THE DEEP ONES: "In the Pines" by Karl Edward Wagner

"In the Pines" by Karl Edward Wagner

Discussion begins November 29, 2023.

First published in the August 1973 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?50633

SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS

In a Lonely Place
Where the Summer Ends

ONLINE VERSIONS

No online versions found to date.

ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS

No online audio versions found to date.

MISCELLANY

https://karledwardwagner.org/LastInterview.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Edward_Wagner
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2021/10/30/karl-edward-wagner-knoxvill...
https://www.blackgate.com/2022/01/15/ithe-lone-wolf-karl-edward-wagneri/
https://tinyurl.com/2bmztnzn

Double post was deleted.

I've got a hold in at my local public library for In a Lonely Place, but I don't know if it will be filled by Wednesday.

>3 paradoxosalpha:

Valencourt Books recently re-released it in paperback with a new intro by Ramsey Campbell.

I read this out of In a Lonely Place. The author's notes mention that it's two first paragraphs were not in the original magazine publication.

I liked this one though I didn't think it really went anywhere unexpected. It seems to be something of an update of Oliver Onions' "The Beckoning Fair One". Ramsey Campbell's introduction makes the interesting observation that it sort of anticipates Steven King's The Shining.

Library just notified me that it has In a Lonely Place for me. It's cold and rainy today, so I'll likely pick it up over the weekend.

Just curious to find out if anyone has seen THE LAST WOLF (2020), the KEW documentary? So far I haven't been able to find it on my usual streaming services.

Looks like it's streaming on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/296318/489631337

>5 RandyStafford:

"The Beckoning Fair One" is mentioned by name, so I guess the debt is acknowledged.

Finally got around to reading this, out if Where the Summer Ends, this weekend. I liked it too, the end held little surprise but the way there was enjoyable.

And now I wonder if the first two paragraphs you mention were in the version I read. What's the first words?

>9 AndreasJ: The first sentence is "There is an atmosphere of unutterable loneliness that haunts any ruin—a feeling particularly evident in those places once given over to the lighter emotions."

That's the same as the first line in the version I read, thanks.

There were no surprises at all in this story, but the characterizations were strong and the telling was lucid. It does track "The Beckoning Fair One" on a fair number of counts, although Gerry isn't a "creative" like Oleron. (That angle is played up in his predecessor Pittman.)

The excitement over finding the old pulp magazines and the dipsomania seemed to be Wagner working himself into his character.

>12 paradoxosalpha: I recommended this story based on a Mark Samuels mention. Samuels' own "Losenof Express" strikes me as featuring a very Wagneresque writer as its protagonist.