While Wandrei's better-known today for his fantasy and science fiction stories, and as co-founder of Arkham House (with August Derleth), his earlier weird poetry was actually how he became acquainted with Clark Ashton Smith and HPL. Indeed, the title sonnet cycle on this disc was likely one of the sources that pushed Lovecraft into his famous "Fungi From Yuggoth" sonnets! Dwayne Olson provides liner notes, while Wandrei's old friend Rodger Gerberding taps own theatrical and poetic training for lush, highly dramatic interpretations of these poems:
After Sleep, Purple, The Old Companions, The Head, In The Attic, The Cocoon, The Metal God, The Little Creature, The Pool, The Prey, The Torturers, The statues, The Hungry Flowers, The Eye, The Rack, Escape, Capture, In the Pit, The Unknown Color, Monstrous Form, Nightmare in Green, What Followed Me?, Fantastic Sculptures, The Tree, The Bell, The Ultimate Vision, The Red Specter, Doom, The Woodland Pool, The Whispering Knoll, Dark Odyssey, In Mandikor, The Challenger, The Greatest Regret, Valerian, Chaos Resolved, Phantom, The Worm King, Witches' Sabbath, Forest Shapes, The Dream That Dies, King of the Shadowland, Credo, The Cypress Bog, The Monster Gods, and A Queen in Other Skies.
