Bücher von Frank Coffman

THE GARGOYLICON: IMAGININGS AND IMAGES OF THE GARGOYLE IN LITERATURE AND ART is a compendium of visions and unique perspectives on this intriguing and enigmatic figure. Beyond its function as a water spout to send potentially damaging rain water away from walls and foundations of buildings, it has also been seen as both a symbol of Evil forces and, in seeming contradiction, as a protector against the same. Was it meant to also frighten the unbeliever into faith and keeping the "straight and narrow path," or, perhaps, to attract pagans due to its grotesque and monstrous appearance-the stuff of their legends?The poetry, fiction, and art in this tome offer a great variety of perspectives upon and interpretations of these wonders.

ROBERT E. HOWARD: SELECTED POEMS is a large and representative collection of the poetry of Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936). Well over 400 examples of Howard's 700+ extant poems and fragments are included, along with commentary and an introduction by Frank Coffman, one of the foremost authorities on REH's poetry. Howard was a member of the illustrious triumvirate of WEIRD TALES poets in the age of "The Pulps." Along with Clark Ashton Smith and H. P. Lovecraft he contributed-in that "Unique Magazine" and elsewhere-to the speculative poetry of the early 20th century.Coffman has published seminal essays on Howard with "Texas Talespinner: Robert E. Howard's Ways With Words" in TWO-GUN BOB (2006)-the first stylometric study of Howard's Work-and "Barbarism Ascendant: The Poetic and Epistolary Origins of the Character and His World" in CONAN MEETS THE ACADEMY (MacFarland 2013, ed. Jonas Prida). He has also given presentations on the topics of "Conan as The Bright Barbarian" and the subjective stylometric analysis of the Conan "canon" with "Robert E. Howard's DNA [Distinctive Narrative Attributes]"

ECLIPSE OF THE MOON is Frank Coffman's third major collection of speculative poetry. It follows THE COVEN'S HORNBOOK & OTHER POEMS (2019) and BLACK FLAMES & GLEAMING SHADOWS (2020). This collection features a long narrative, THE DECIPHERMENT (An Epyllion [mini-epic]), a 72-title sonnet sequence featuring 111 sonnets (since some of the titles contain sequences within themselves), and a 57=quatrain Addendum to his 2019-published KHAYYÁM'S RUBÁIYÁT that renders Omar's (and the "Omarian School's" stanzas into English verse. Several genres of the speculative are represented: weird, horror, supernatural, science fiction, and myth, folklore, and legend. As with the previous two collections, the book also includes some traditional verse, some metapoetry (poems about poetry itself and the composition thereof) AND a complete "Glossary" of the many exotic, cross-cultural, and invented forms used therein.Frank Coffman has published speculative poetry and short fiction in a variety of magazines, anthologies, and collections, and his first two poetry books have received recommendations for consideration for the Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association. He is also a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association and is the founder and moderator of the Weird Poets Society Facebook Group."Unlike so many poets, if not most, restricted to the one string on their lyre of horror or the supernatural, Frank Coffman...has many strings to his lyre....THE COVEN'S HORNBOOK & OTHER POEMS, alerted us to a major new voice in imaginative poetry....As anyone who has experienced his work knows for a fact, [he] is a master poet, a wizard of rime, meter, and form. Truly a grand and glorious traditionalist."-Master Bard, Donald Sidney-Fryerin a review in SPECTRAL REALMS #14

This is the first anthology from THE WEIRD POETS SOCIEtY, a Facebook group open only to published poets in the various areas of Speculative and Higly Imaginative Literature. It represents a fine sampling of the range of topics and poetic styles of several of the members. It is hoped that this will become an annual anthology. This one represents poetry published in 2018 or not previously published.