In the Yaddith Time Book

In the Yaddith Time is a book of sonnets by Ann K. Schwader published by Mythos Books in 2007. Each of the 36 sonnets gets its own page (the same number of sonnets in Fungi from Yuggoth). The cover art is by Steve Lines of Rainfall Books (he has one painting appear in the wonderful A Lovecraft Retrospective from Centipede Press). who also provides a fair number of interior drawings, most of them next to the sonnet they are illustrating. I didn't particularly get jazzed by the cover although I liked all of his interior drawings. The introduction was by Richard Tierney and I thought it was a very good introduction. Ms. Schwader is a very accomplished mythos author; her collection Strange Stars and Alien Shadows from Lindisfarne Press is an excellent read (remember the good old days when Lindisfarne Press was going to publish so many anthologies?). I like good poetry but I basically have only read the best the English language has to offer, guided by college literature classes. When I read the tidbits in mythos books they tend to be pretty lame by comparison. Nonetheless, I like Ms. Schwader's fiction so much I had to give In the Yaddith Time a try.

The inclusion of 36 sonnets is a direct nod to Fungi from Yuggoth (BTW some day Hippocampus Press is publishing an annotated Fungi from Yuggoth; can't wait for that!). She uses Shakespeare's model of 14 lines of iambic pentameter. I counted three different rhyme schemes:

ababcdcdefefgg
abbacddceffegg
abbacddcefgfge

One thing that is very difficult is to avoid a dog trot kind of feel to iambic pentameter; Ms. Schwader is too skilled to fall into that trap. In fact these poems work better when read aloud (mind you I felt a little goofy reading poetry to myself, but I got over it). The sonnet cycle is really one long telling of the story of mankind's demise as humans are enticed beyond the boundaries of what we know. I didn't really have a favorite although I liked some of the imagery:

from [The Will of Yaddith]

As Earth's first masters harnessed shoggoth-kind
to raise aquatic citadels of stone

As I see it, this book's appeal is probably limited to those familiar with Lovecraft, Fungi from Yuggoth and are fans of poetry, a pretty select audience! Read in a single setting (preferably aloud) they tell a compelling story. I enjoyed the experience well enough but I doubt I'll be pulling this book out for another read, at least not until I've read the Hippocampus Yuggoth book when it comes out. The 3 stars are because I much prefer prose fiction to poetry, and because the book is so short. If you want to sample Ms. Schwader's prose buy Strange Stars and Alien Shadows. That will keep you up at night reading!

I believe the entire contents of this small book are included in Ms.Schwader's new poetry collection from Hippocampus Press, Twisted in Dream.