Compleat Crow

LORD OF THE WORMS

IF I HAD to choose the definitive Titus Crow story, it would have to be Lord of the Worms. It had been 'writing itself' for something like a year, between other stories and novels, when I first mentioned it to Paul Ganley. The way I remember it, he wanted to see it at once. Which meant I had to finish it at once. I think it took me about three weeks to get all the bits together and type it up, following which it was too long and too fresh in my mind for me to read objectively. So I simply sent it to Paul. He found one basic error and corrected it, and the story appeared in the next Weirdbook. And I breathed a sigh of relief when finally I read it.

I think this novelette says a lot about the difference between H. R. Lovecraft's 'heroes' and mine. Crow doesn't faint and he doesn't run away. In fact, I didn't even allow him a single gibber in his unrelenting battle with the monstrous

Lord of the Worms.

Twenty-two is the Number of the Master! A 22 may only be described in glowing terms, for he is the Great Man. Respected, admired by all who know him, he has the Intellect and the Power and he has the Magic! Aye, he is the Master Magician. But a word of warning: just as there are Day and Night, so are there two sorts of Magic — White, and Black!

Grossmann's Numerology,

Vienna, 1776.