with: "An Introductory Essay" by Conrad Hawley
Little is known, publicly, about this sad little outcast. It is generally supposed, by those who know no more than you or I, that he died horribly in the mid-sixties, sometime around the age of eleven. It is known for a fact, however, that, despite his youth, he was a brilliant wordsmith with a strong sense of experimentation, although he was, of course, completely sexually confused.
In nightly trance states Hopjohn wrote a series of books which include the brilliant and childlike Rainy Day Wonderland, the sketchbook presented here -- Postcards from Chaos: A Book of Bedtime Stories, the astonishingly complete International Encyclopedia of Drivel, and, of course, the mercifully unfinished Bloodlust in Ratland. All but the last have, somehow or other, been published and have since gone swiftly out of print.
Bloodlust in Ratland consisted, at the time of Hopjohn's mysterious disappearance and/or death, of about 400 hand-written pages, mostly a series of disconnected notes, for the most part incomprehensible and vulgar, except for a number of vicious and possibly actionable literary characterizations of notorious public figures. It was finally driven into obscurity by legal difficulties and general disinterest.
Hopjohn's earlier works are far different from this obscure, forgotten masterpiece, consisting, as they do, primarily of anecdotes of mysterious significance, far-fetched speculations in nearly every scientific and literary field imaginable, demonic poetry and magic incantations -- all tied very loosely together with what seem to be plots stolen from the very sleaziest of adult novels. Unlike Bloodlust, these books are often disturbingly clear in style, their tones ranging from sardonic to melancholic to what can only be called a kind of elfin malice.
Postcards from Chaos, reprinted here for the first time since the Great Cataclysm, perhaps reflects these qualities at Hopjohn's very best. We are glad that these disturbing reflections are once again held up as a mirror to an unappreciative world.
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Rant 1
An Introduction to a Mad Poet |
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Rant 2
Let's Open Our Souls |
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Rant 3
Babelaztec Byzantbuoyant Bubblybelly Blee Blop Boop Bee Bang ! |
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Rant 4
Oh dear! That could warp a person for life! |
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Rant 5
Pull up a flame |
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Rant 6
As it seems it must always be... |
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Rant 7
Michael Row The Boat Ashore |
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Rant 8
The Quiver of Life |
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Rant 9
Salvation is a Circle |
Bloodlust in Ratland | Sandy's Story | Afterglow of the UFO | The Bride's Night Out | The Wayward Plaything | The Final Chapters | Dirt Cheap Notes | Postcards from Chaos | The Negress Always Called Him Natty Bumppo When He Laughed