Richard L. Tierney nominated for Grand Master at Science Fiction Poetry Association

Weird poet and novelist Richard L. Tierney, whose legend in the world of Lovecraftian fiction and verse looms large, has been nominated as a Grand Master in this year's awards at the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Here is the link: http://www.sfpoetry.com/grandmaster2010.html

The full story reads as follows:

Richard L. Tierney

nominated by Charles Lovecraft


Richard L. Tierney's impressive contribution to the field of weird literature goes beyond nearly sixty years of fine literary and poetic output. It extends into the development of ideas and the continuity of a tradition of weird literature.

When Tierney was born in 1936 his chosen mentor H.P. Lovecraft was still alive. In his lifetime he has known and communicated as an equal with many of the great names of 20th century weird literature, people such as Frank Belknap Long, Donald Wandrei, August Derleth, Carl Jacobi, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Ramsey Campbell and Robert M. Price.

His work is an important link between early 20th century and 21st century weird poets. It expands and builds upon the output of greats such as Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. He is truly a part of the great enduring literary stream, as S.T. Joshi pronounces: "The progression of weird poetry over the centuries might be significantly aided with a comprehensive anthology containing work ranging from Homer to Richard L. Tierney." (Joshi, Emperors of Dreams, 2008.)

Tierney's poetry is highly acclaimed by notable practitioners in the weird literature field, such as Campbell, Sidney-Fryer, Joshi, Long, Steve Eng, Robert M. Price, Lin Carter, Leigh Blackmore and Ann K. Schwader.

Tierney has been supportive of other weird poets, for instance reading and commenting, writing reviews and introductions for poetry publications of Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Stanley McNail, Schwader and Blackmore.

He made a major contribution to the understanding and development of the Cthulhu Mythos. He first differentiated the Derleth Mythos from Lovecraft's world view in a letter to the editor of Nyctalops #5 (1971), followed by a more substantial, widely-published essay in 1972. This broke fertile ground and showed the way for the creative effort of others in further developing the great weird literary movement associated with the Cthulhu Mythos and the Lovecraft Mythos.

Tierney's literary work is diverse and prolific. His significant body of fiction showcases his virtuosity and his linkages to masters such as Lovecraft, Howard, Smith, E.R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Bloch.

Tierney began writing poetry as a youth and continues to this day. His work spans not just six decades but the many schools of thought on literary and poetic matters that held sway in that period. His poetry demonstrates his mastery of poetic expression as he garners and applies the very best from decades of poetic thought. Like Smith, he honed his poetic skills by translating seven of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. He has in his poetic work given traditional forms of verse fresh impetus and meaning for the modern age. His formal verse is as fine as his freer verse; his use of evocative imagery as wonderful as his use of the plain, direct and vernacular; he creates compelling moods, twists that shock, and chilling understatement that freezes to the core. His poetic repertoire has amazingly extensive range and depth. Schwader notes he "is a poetic craftsman of the first order... His formalism is apparently effortless, his vocabulary both extensive and precisely deployed... He is a poet of the old school in the best possible sense, and richly deserving of more notice by all speculative writers." (Schwader, e-mail, 12 Feb. 2010)

Richard L. Tierney is a quiet, private person known to the greats of the mid- and late 20th century as a literary equal. He is a grand master of weird poetry. It behoves the SFPA to recognize this still vibrant, older master poet while he is yet with us. Now is the time to bestow honors for which he qualifies and to open up his works to another generation while he is able to pass on his gifts in person.