Tweet
I found CUF when I did a Google on myself to see if anyone has yet reviewed my new book (it's been out since October and no reviews yet, except the two at Amazon, one of which I wrote meself...) I was instantly attracted by the BYU connection -- spent a week at BYU when I was an LDS kid in Scouts, back in the 1960's I believe it was.
Raised LDS, served a mission (1971-1973) first in Ireland, then got transferred to the Arizona/Las Vegas mission for health reasons. Was excommunicated for twenty-five years after I came out as homosexual. Got into punk rock and published a semi-famous fanzine, PUNK LUST, in the early 1980's. Soon my lifestyle evolved into that of a degenerate queen punk transvestite, and I found a series of jobs in restaurants owned by old punkers who let me work wearing mini-skirts and Boy George makeup. That's how I was living when two Elders knocked on my door and I invited them to come back and give me the discussions. I told them ain't no way I'm returning to the Church.
I was re-baptized two years later.
Moved in with my invalid Mother two years ago, so not having to pay rent &c makes it possible for me to work full-time on writing weird Lovecraftian fiction. I have always been a writer, used to write little musicals for the Ward, and began to write horror fiction while I was an Elder working in Northern Ireland. Became obsessed with the New England writer H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), and there is a tradition called the Cthulhu Mythos wherein a bunch of people write stories inspired by Lovecraft. Most of my books are in the Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos tradition. Wrote three books last year, one of which (WEIRD INHABITANTS OF SESQUA VALLEY) was published last October. Next October will see the publication of an illustrated hardcover omnibus of about 150,000 words, INHABITANTS OF WRAITHWOOD: COLLECTED WEIRD FICTION OF W. H. PUGMIRE, published by the prestigious Centipede Press of Colorado. I am now working on a book of tales, each of which is inspired in some way by my old friend, Robert Bloch (author of the novel PSYCHO, on which Alfred based his film). I want to dedicate the book to Bob's memory, so it has to be the best thing I can do.
I love being LDS and my testimony is rock solid. I love the weird things that make our Church unique, especially controversies such as historical evidence of the BoM and the controversy over the translation of the Book of Abraham papyrus. The weirder things get the more I like it. Faith comes easy to me because of my lifelong experience with supernatural wonders. I like to get all "Oscar Wilde" and tell my doubting friends, "Oh, I can believe in anything, so long as it is highly improbable." I am addicted to feeling the experience of the Spirit, which is the root of testimony. I like how it can sneak up on you and manifest itself at the oddest of times. My friends now say that I am brainwashed, but that is absurd. The last thing I wanted was to stop living as a freak and become a flipping Mormon again!
I still get my "freak fix" on my MrWilum YouTube channel, and it is very freaky indeed. I sometimes stress out that the Big Guys in Salt Lake will see it and that will forever deny me my Restitution of All Blessings. It's cool, I'm a patient guy. I sat in Sacrament for two years, unable to partake as I awaited my re-baptized. It's all God's Time. Things will happen, if they happen at all, when the time is right. It's just so good to be active again. All during my twenty-five years away from the Church, I felt this void, and I looked everywhere to fill it up, inthe queer culture, in punk rock, in the horror writer community. Never found the missing piece until I returned to the Church. When I compare the Church and the Restored Gospel with everything else out there, I know what most beguiles me, the thing that offers beauty and sanity and hope. So I'm gonna be LDS until the end of my mortal time. Selah.
Raised LDS, served a mission (1971-1973) first in Ireland, then got transferred to the Arizona/Las Vegas mission for health reasons. Was excommunicated for twenty-five years after I came out as homosexual. Got into punk rock and published a semi-famous fanzine, PUNK LUST, in the early 1980's. Soon my lifestyle evolved into that of a degenerate queen punk transvestite, and I found a series of jobs in restaurants owned by old punkers who let me work wearing mini-skirts and Boy George makeup. That's how I was living when two Elders knocked on my door and I invited them to come back and give me the discussions. I told them ain't no way I'm returning to the Church.
I was re-baptized two years later.
Moved in with my invalid Mother two years ago, so not having to pay rent &c makes it possible for me to work full-time on writing weird Lovecraftian fiction. I have always been a writer, used to write little musicals for the Ward, and began to write horror fiction while I was an Elder working in Northern Ireland. Became obsessed with the New England writer H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), and there is a tradition called the Cthulhu Mythos wherein a bunch of people write stories inspired by Lovecraft. Most of my books are in the Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos tradition. Wrote three books last year, one of which (WEIRD INHABITANTS OF SESQUA VALLEY) was published last October. Next October will see the publication of an illustrated hardcover omnibus of about 150,000 words, INHABITANTS OF WRAITHWOOD: COLLECTED WEIRD FICTION OF W. H. PUGMIRE, published by the prestigious Centipede Press of Colorado. I am now working on a book of tales, each of which is inspired in some way by my old friend, Robert Bloch (author of the novel PSYCHO, on which Alfred based his film). I want to dedicate the book to Bob's memory, so it has to be the best thing I can do.
I love being LDS and my testimony is rock solid. I love the weird things that make our Church unique, especially controversies such as historical evidence of the BoM and the controversy over the translation of the Book of Abraham papyrus. The weirder things get the more I like it. Faith comes easy to me because of my lifelong experience with supernatural wonders. I like to get all "Oscar Wilde" and tell my doubting friends, "Oh, I can believe in anything, so long as it is highly improbable." I am addicted to feeling the experience of the Spirit, which is the root of testimony. I like how it can sneak up on you and manifest itself at the oddest of times. My friends now say that I am brainwashed, but that is absurd. The last thing I wanted was to stop living as a freak and become a flipping Mormon again!
I still get my "freak fix" on my MrWilum YouTube channel, and it is very freaky indeed. I sometimes stress out that the Big Guys in Salt Lake will see it and that will forever deny me my Restitution of All Blessings. It's cool, I'm a patient guy. I sat in Sacrament for two years, unable to partake as I awaited my re-baptized. It's all God's Time. Things will happen, if they happen at all, when the time is right. It's just so good to be active again. All during my twenty-five years away from the Church, I felt this void, and I looked everywhere to fill it up, inthe queer culture, in punk rock, in the horror writer community. Never found the missing piece until I returned to the Church. When I compare the Church and the Restored Gospel with everything else out there, I know what most beguiles me, the thing that offers beauty and sanity and hope. So I'm gonna be LDS until the end of my mortal time. Selah.
(except for the mission part - mine was a touch later)
Comment