Order in which the Nightside Narratives were written?

[zumbzumb]

For many years now I've looked upon Kenneth Grant's fictional output as the lesser of his work, paling in comparison to his Typhonian Trilogies (and seeming vastly inferior to the sources that inspired them, mainly Lovecraft and Machen). Having said that, I do plan on re-reading them soon, to see if my opinion of them has changed since I first read them. I would like to read them in the order they were originally composed, but it seems that information as to when exactly they were written has been hard to come by.

We now know that Grist To Whose Mill? was Grant's first novel, and that it was written during the months of December 1952-February 1953 (of course, it was published much later). In a footnote in Outer Gateways Grant mentions that he wrote The Stellar Lode novella in 1953, so one could assume he began it the same year he finished Grist, though this is contradicted in Beyond the Mauve Zone when Grant mentions writing Lode sometime around 1956. As for Snakewand, The Darker Strain, Gamaliel, Dance, Doll, Dance, and The Other Child, as far as I can tell there are no references to their date of composition in any of the books that make up the Typhonian Trilogies.

As for Against the Light, I believe I read somewhere (possibly on a thread on these very boards) that it was most likely written sometime in the early-to-mid 1980's, around the same time that Grant was writing Outer Gateways (certainly, Outer Gateways was the first of Grant's books that make mention of it).

I will also admit to being curious as to what Grant's original intentions were for the creation of his fiction. I wonder if he only wrote them for his own personal pleasure, or to be circulated amongst his circle of friends, or if he ever entertained notions of them being published (that is, back in the day, when they were originally created).

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has wondered about all this!

[Michael Staley]

I do have some information as to when the various novellas were written. I'll do through my records and locate it, and come back to this thread with the information. Putting aside Grist to Whose Mill?, the typescript of which was lost for many years prior to its rediscovery in 2010, it's my understanding that The Stellar Lode was the earliest. I hadn't noticed the discrepancy in dates which you point out, but I'd regard 1956 as more likely that 1953.

Yes, Against the Light was started in the early 1980s, when it was originally entitled Madeleine. Although the early typescripts have not survived, several pages from that first typescript have been located. Kenneth would by this time have started writing Outer Gateways, though it was not published until ten years later, in 1994. Against the Light was originally to have been published between Beyond the Mauve Zone and The Ninth Arch.

I don't think that the novellas were created primarily with publication in mind. However, in the mid 1960s he did send several of them to publishers.The publication by Skoob of The Stallar Lode was to have been the first of several, but their plans were aborted untl taken up some years later by Starfire Publishing; the rest is, as they say, history.

[zumbzumb]

Thanks for the info Michael, looking forward to learning more!

[Michael Staley]

I searched through my notes yesterday evening, but couldn't find the information I was looking for. Thus it may take a while before I can supply information on the order in which they were written.

However, I do know that Snakewand was written in 1963. It was originally entitled Fanlight.