author of weird and fantasy tales and correspondent of HPL (1934–37). In his letters HPL wrote expansively to Rimel about numerous subjects, offering constant assistance in matters of literary technique. In a letter dated June 17, 1934, HPL includes a segment called “Notes on Writing a Story,” one of several different versions of the essay “Notes on Writing Weird Fiction” (1933). HPL read many of his early stories and revised some of them, including “The Tree on the Hill” (1934; Polaris, September 1940) and “The Disinterment” (1935; WT,January 1937), and perhaps also “The Jewels of Charlotte” ( Unusual Stories,May–June 1935). Rimel published many other stories in fanzines and semi-pro magazines. His poem cycle “Dreams of Yith” ( Fantasy Fan,July and September 1934) was revised by HPL and perhaps by Clark Ashton Smith. In his so-called death diary, HPL mentions revising Rimel’s story “From the Sea” in January 1937, but the story apparently is unpublished and does not survive. Rimel briefly spearheaded the HPL fan movement in the 1940s, luring Francis T.Laney back into fandom and coediting The Acolyte(1942–46). He went on to write westerns and soft-core pornography under pseudonyms. See his memoir, “H.P.Lovecraft as I Knew Him” ( CryptNo. 18 [Yuletide 1983]: 9–11). Much of his weird short fiction and poetry has now been reprinted in The Forbidden Room(Moshassuck Press, 1988), The Many Worlds of Duane Rimel(1988), The Second Book of Rimel(1989), and To Yith and Beyond(Moshassuck Press, 1990).
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Robbins, Maria.
In “The Shunned House,” a woman from Newport, R.I., hired by Mercy Dexter in 1769 to be a servant at the house. Although her health declines markedly, she stays until 1783, when the Harris family moved out of the house.
Robinson, Buck.
In “Herbert West—Reanimator,” a semi-professional boxer (nicknamed “The Harlem Smoke”) who is killed by “Kid” O’Brien in an informal bout in Bolton, Mass. He is taken to the office of Dr. Herbert West, who hopes to revive him from the dead, but West believes he has failed, since the solution he injected into Robinson (an African American) was “prepared from experience with white specimens only.” Later West learns otherwise.
Rogers, George.
In “The Horror in the Museum,” the curator and chief artist of a wax museum in London who has a penchant for teratological monstrosities and who goes mad after he captures a strange “deity.” His latest creation in wax—a depiction of himself mutilated by the deity—proves to be no wax effigy at all.
Romero, Juan.
In “Transition of Juan Romero,” a Mexican peon who is actually a descendant of the Aztecs. When he and the narrator explore the vast cavern uncovered in the Norton Mine, where they are employed as miners, he witnesses something frightening in the great abyss, and the next day is found dead in his bunk.
Romnod.
In “The Quest of Iranon,” the boy from Teloth who helps Iranon seek his homeland, Aira. They come to Oonai, “the city of lutes and dancing,” where they stay, and there Romnod indulges in strong drink, from which he eventually dies.
Ropes,———.
In At the Mountains of Madness,a student and a member of the Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition of 1930–31.
Roulet, Etienne.
In “The Shunned House,” a Huguenot who flees from France to East Greenwich, R.I., in 1686. Roulet is somehow connected with Jacques Roulet of Caude, who in 1598 is accused of lycanthropy. The land on which the Shunned House was built had been leased to Roulet and his wife in 1697. Rufus, L[ucius] Caelius.
In “The Very Old Folk,” a provincial quaestor in the Roman province of Hispania Citerior (Spain), who accompanies a cohort of the Roman army to investigate reports of peculiar events in the hills above Tarraco. In the dream inspiring this story, HPL himself was Rufus.
Russell, John,
British amateur journalist living in Florida and infrequent associate of HPL. When HPL wrote a letter to the Argosycriticizing romance writer Fred Jackson (published in the September 1913 issue), Russell was one of many to protest—but his protest (published in the November 1913 issue) was in verse, leading HPL to respond with the Ad Criticospoems. After a year of sporadic exchanges, the editor of the Argosyasked the two writers to reconcile, and they
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did so in an item published as “The Critics’ Farewell” in the October 1914 issue, containing HPL’s poem “The End of the Jackson War” and Russell’s “Our Apology to E.M.W.” HPL must have got in touch with Russell personally around this time; he urged Russell to join amateur journalism, but Russell did not do so immediately. Russell’s poem “Florida” and HPL’s poem “New England” were published together in the Providence Evening News(December 18, 1914); Russell’s poem was reprinted from the Tampa Times. HPL’s brief article “An Impartial Spectator” ( Conservative,October 1915) consists of paragraphs prefacing and following Russell’s poem “Metrical Regularity, or, Broken Metre.” In April 1925, Russell spent a few days in HPL’s company in New York. Thereafter he disappears from the record. No correspondence between HPL and Russell survives.
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S
Sandusky, Albert A. (d. 1934?).
Amateur journalist and associate of HPL. Sandusky, a resident of Cambridge, Mass., operated the Lincoln Press, and in this capacity he printed the two issues of the Providence Amateur(June 1915 and February 1916) for HPL, as well as several issues of HPL’s Conservative(July 1915, October 1915, January 1916, April 1916, and possibly July 1916). HPL first met Sandusky on a visit to Boston on March 10–11, 1923, to attend a meeting of the Hub Club (an amateur group associated with the NAPA), of which Sandusky was a member. HPL was taken with Sandusky’s piquant use of contemporary slang, and his poem “The Feast (Hub Journalist Club, March 10, 1923),” published in the Hub Club Quill(May 1923), is dedicated to “Wisecrack Sandusky, B.I., M.B.O. (Bachelor of Intelligence, Massachusetts Brotherhood of Owls).” HPL met Sandusky again in Boston in August 1923, and Sandusky visited HPL in New York in June 1925. No correspondence by HPL to Sandusky has survived.
Sargent, Joe.
In “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” he drives the motor coach that takes Robert Olmstead between Arkham, Newburyport, and Innsmouth.
Sargent, Moses and Abigail.
In “The Thing on the Doorstep,” servants of Edward and Asenath Derby who, after being dismissed by Edward, appear to exact some kind of blackmail from him.
Sawyer, Asaph.