201. Sick reasons } to attend Pluto in Furs.

Scott Dwyer prefers Don’t Go in the House (1979) to The Shining (1980). Why? Because he’s deeply perverse. Perverse as the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”: 

And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart—one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man.

 What’s the black cat’s name? Oh, yes—it’s Pluto.

I don’t mean to slander Mr. Dwyer by calling to your attention his perverse nature. No, rather, I intend to present his perverseness as the foundation for my argument that if you attend this year’s Necronomicon in Providence and count yourself as a true aficionado of horror, you’ll want to attend the reading he’s hosting at 6pm on Sat., Aug. 24. That’s the Pluto in Furs book release reading.

When you receive your Necronomicon schedule, you’ll see several other events scheduled for that time. If your passion is for alchemy & magic, I can’t possibly persuade you to skip the Dust, Ash, & Iron panel—nor would I try: that’s mere phantasy, I don’t need to know you. If you want to explore “M. R. James as weird fiction,” skip the Under the Ash-Tree panel, attend the Pluto in Furs reading, and I’ll deliver a witty and concise overview of James the weird. Or just read the essay I wrote on James’ collected for The Smart Set.

Lastly, at the same time as Mr. Dwyer’s Pluto in Furs book release reading is the Tor Books Nightfire release party. This may seem like a difficult choice, but it’s only a difficult choice if your taste is mainstream. Go, if you want, get a drink at the bar. Eat the confections on offer. Hear the authors you’re already familiar with read from their latest. If, however, your taste gravitates toward the genuinely strange, the new, the perverse—then come hear stories from the Pluto in Furs anthology.

Aside from myself, readers will include Gemma Files, Jeffrey Thomas, Clint Smith, Orrin Grey, and Richard Gavin. Copies of the anthology will be available. Afterwards, we’ll be glad to lead you to a local wine cellar where we might drink together from a pipe of Amontillado.