Books bound in human skin have just such an aura-people at university libraries and other special collections have expressed a little regret rather than relief when a book purported to be bound in human leather turns out to just ordinary sheepskin. Every librarian knows that older editions of occult title tend to vanish regularly, not because they're even that rare or because occult manuals actually "work" on any level save the psychological, but because they look cool and and weirdos like the steal. He turned up dead instead, with his own face removed, with the suggestion that that face might end up being number six.Ĭertain books are notorious and thus collectible because of a certain aura around them. Our victim owned one copy of five and wished to sell. In the novel, such a book, named Arkham, is the "McGuffin" of the plot. Simply, it's binding a book a book in human (?) skin (?). We've covered anthropodermic bibliopegy before on our blog. Tell our readers about how the practice - and the book collecting culture around it - fits into your novel: I wanted a manor house style Agatha Christie mystery, the peculiar and idiosyncratic points of view not uncommon in noir (in this case, one of the narrators is the corpse of the victim), the sinister philosophical meandering of Colin Wilson's Gerard Sorme trilogy, the pointed criticisms of vice typical of satire, and the like. Even with the remit from the publisher, I had an infinite number of choices, and took them all. His idea was "Bimbos of the Death Sun meets True Detective." Despite taking the commission, "I Am Providence" may well be my most personal novel. The book was actually written on commission from editor Jeremy Lassen of Skyhorse Publishing's Night Shade Books imprint. What's the origin story of "I Am Providence"? Initial inspiration? Reviewers have tended to agree that it hits at least two of those three targets. It can also be fruitfully read, I hope, as a metaphysical horror novel, and as a satire of current mores around fandoms and consumer subcultures of all sorts. Lovecraft and the small press cottage industry that has risen up around him in the decades since his death. "I Am Providence" is, at its roots, a murder mystery that takes place at a fan convention for devotees of H. Please introduce our readers to "I Am Providence": We recently interviewed Mamatas about "I am Providence" over email. His new book, I Am Providence, is out now with the Night Shade Imprint at Skyhorse Publishing. Mamatas has contributed several pieces to our print issues over the years, including "The New Alexandria" (Summer 2012) and "Lovecraft's Providence" (Spring 2011). Nick Mamatas should be a familiar name to our regular readers.
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