Old Thaddeus McIlvaine discovered a dark star and took it for his own. Thus he inherited a dark destiny -- or did he?

"I've done it," McIlvaine said quietly.

"What's that?" asked Alexander testily.

"I discovered a new star. It lies just off Arcturus," McIlvaine went on, "and it would appear to be coming closer."

"Give it my love," said Richardson with a wry smile. "Have you named it yet? Or don't the discoverers of new stars name them any more? McIlvaine's Star -- that's a good name for it. Hard a port of Arcturus, with special displays on windy nights."

What Thaddeus McIlvaine and Alexander Richardson didn't realize was that they were characters in a horror story. A story written by August Derleth, the man who founded Arkham House. None of these folks knew it yet, but they're all DOOMED! "Doomed! Mwahahahaha!"

This Vision book for youth 9 - 15 years old tells the thrilling story of one of America's greatest missionaries who came down from Canada with explorer Louis Joliet to explore the mighty Mississippi River, the "great river" bordered by Indian tribes who killed white men on sight. Of the few who had dared explore this immense waterway, none had lived to return and report where it emptied. If he could travel to the mouth of the "great river," Fr. Marquette hoped to obtain new lands for France and new souls for Jesus Christ. He braved the dangers of tomahawks and tortures to bring the Word of God to the Indians of the New World. Rapids, floods, Indian superstitions, tribal warfare - these are only a few of the obstacles Father Marquette and Louis Joliet encountered in trying to meet their challenge. Illustrated.

In this first volume, Lovecraft's relations to one of his most prominent colleagues and disciples, August Derleth (1909-1971), are recounted in the hundreds of letters they exchanged beginning in 1926. The youthful Derleth first wrote to Lovecraft, via i]Weird Tales /i] magazine, in regard to an obscure work of weird fiction, and their subsequent correspondence deals extensively with the history of weird fiction, the two authors' ongoing attempts to publish stories in pulp magazines, Derleth's evolution into a sensitive writer of regional fiction and of detective stories, and debates over such issues as spiritualism, occultism, the literary use of coincidence, points of language and style, and other matters. Especially noteworthy are several letters by Lovecraft that Derleth interpreted as giving him permission to elaborate upon Lovecraft's pseudomythology, which Derleth named the "Cthulhu Mythos." All the letters are exhaustively annotated by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi.

In this second volume of the letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, the two authors-now noted luminaries in Weird Tales and the world of pulp magazines-continue to write letters on an almost weekly basis. Lovecraft, however, is plagued with self-doubt as a result of the rejection of i]At the Mountains of Madness /i] by i]Weird Tales /i] and other professional setbacks. Meanwhile, Derleth is beginning to make a name for himself in the realm of detective fiction with the creation of Solar Pons; he has also begun sensitive mainstream writing that is finding placement in prestigious little magazines of the period. Derleth himself surreptitiously submitted Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and "The Dreams in the Witch House" to i]Weird Tales /i]; the former was rejected, the latter accepted. In all, Lovecraft wrote nearly 400 letters to Derleth, but only about 40 of Derleth's letters to Lovecraft survive. All the letters are extensively annotated by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi.

A classic account of the Wisconsin River's early exploration by French traders and Jesuit priests through the 1940s. Mixing folklore and legend, Derleth tells of the Winnebago, Sauk, and Fox peoples; of lumberjacks, farmers, miners, and preachers; of ordinary folks and famous figures such as the Ringling Brothers, Chief Blackhawk, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Zona Gale.