datajunkie: More on "The Shaver Mystery"!

Let's try this post again, so without further ado, here's some more on Richard Shaver. Yes, the writing (and re-writing by editor Ray Palmer) was often abysmal by the contemporary standards, there was a certain crazy vitality to the whole thing that resonated well with the, uh... shall we say," less stable" readership of Amazing and Fantastic. This loose mish-mash of religious imagery, hollow earth theory, Fortean paranioa and way more was pretty over the top stuff, yet it gave forth to a flood of affirmative responses that left many (including me, even at this late date) with my jaw on the floor. Woodwork creaks and out come the freaks, as they say.
As to his writing style, apart from the manic, messianic, almost, dare I say it... insane quality to the almost stream-of consciousness ideas and psuedo-science, the other main factor the Shaver's work is the out and out meaness. Bizarre, twisted nastiness, bordering on outright sadism. Take this footnote below -