What kind of tobaccco goes in a Cthulhu pipe?
This is just wicked. A lemon shaped like Cthulhu.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Eerie Images of Cthulhu
Thes eimages and more at Dark Roasted Blend. click here.
What kind of tobaccco goes in a Cthulhu pipe?
What kind of tobaccco goes in a Cthulhu pipe?
Question and Announcement
I was alerted by Michele at Strange Maine that in some cases the blog is acting squirelly since I added a banner. Can anyone confirm this? I can remove the banner if it is interfering.
I am slowly starting to add enhancements to the blog. For instance, a few of you may now be receiving news alerts. Some of you have long ago set the blog for rss, but I'm going to try to get an email list going soon using Google Group. Once I do, I think I can add code for automatic sign in.
As I get more posts up, my tracking shows that lots (LOTS) of people are beginning to use the blog for their personal research and maybe role playing games. I do strive to be as accurate as possible with facts, and as fun as possible with fiction. It's cool to see all the folks from all the countries who stop by, and I do try to stop by and say thank you.
-Chrispy
I am slowly starting to add enhancements to the blog. For instance, a few of you may now be receiving news alerts. Some of you have long ago set the blog for rss, but I'm going to try to get an email list going soon using Google Group. Once I do, I think I can add code for automatic sign in.
As I get more posts up, my tracking shows that lots (LOTS) of people are beginning to use the blog for their personal research and maybe role playing games. I do strive to be as accurate as possible with facts, and as fun as possible with fiction. It's cool to see all the folks from all the countries who stop by, and I do try to stop by and say thank you.
-Chrispy
Cthulhu On The Move? More Real-life Cthulhu Science.
The Morrison Co.'s freighter Vigilant, bound from Valparaiso, arrived this morning at its wharf in Darling Harbour, having in tow the battled and disabled but heavily armed steam yacht Alert of Dunedin, N.Z., which was sighted April 12th in S. Latitude 34°21', W. Longitude 152°17', with one living and one dead man aboard.
Is Cthulhu on the move? :) In the last day or so, major earthquakes have appeared in the most desolate part of the Pacific Ocean.
One can track earthquakes as they happen at USGS (click here). Above is a map of recent earthquakes in the area near that designated by The Call of Cthulhu.
Earthquake List for Map of S Pacific Region
Update time = Mon Oct 1 00:00:08 UTC 2007
Update time = Mon Oct 1 00:00:08 UTC 2007
Here is a list of the earthquakes located by the USGS Most recent events are at the top.
Magnitude, time y/m/d h.m.s; Latitude, Longitude; Locale
6.8 2007/09/30 09:47:49 -49.409 163.265
AUCKLAND ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND REGION
7.3 2007/09/30 05:23:34 -49.416 163.843
AUCKLAND ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND REGION
6.8 2007/09/30 09:47:49 -49.409 163.265
AUCKLAND ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND REGION
7.3 2007/09/30 05:23:34 -49.416 163.843
AUCKLAND ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND REGION
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Real Life Cthulhu News: Strange and Eerie Happenings in Southeast Pacific Ocean
For the technical monograph, click here.
Scientists investigated the penetration of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the surface waters of the south east Pacific (08–35°S, 142–73°W) from October to December 2004. The lack of life in that portion of the sea let the light penetrate up to 28 meters. A Dead Zone.
That's the real life science.
Professor Zoe Dyer, great grand-daughter of the late William Dyer, looked out over the vast expanse of ocean. Her hair tousled witht he wind and salt spray, and she barked an order to her graduate student, Jeff.
"Jeff, drop that sensor array in the next 5 minutes or we're going to miss our window. We have to find out what the Hell is causing this -all this death."
There was no response, and Jeff simply kneeled over the array pack mumbligh some gibberish.
"Jeff?"
The young man looked up at Dyer, and she screamed. His eyes were white as boiled eggs, unseeing, and drool drenched his beard. Beyond madness, he lept at Dyer. The last thing she heard as her throat was torn out was a gurgling, "Cthulhu phtagn, Cthulhu pftagn".
fictional excerpt (c) 2007 Chris Perridas. permission given to copy with reference to author.
Scientists investigated the penetration of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the surface waters of the south east Pacific (08–35°S, 142–73°W) from October to December 2004. The lack of life in that portion of the sea let the light penetrate up to 28 meters. A Dead Zone.
That's the real life science.
Professor Zoe Dyer, great grand-daughter of the late William Dyer, looked out over the vast expanse of ocean. Her hair tousled witht he wind and salt spray, and she barked an order to her graduate student, Jeff.
"Jeff, drop that sensor array in the next 5 minutes or we're going to miss our window. We have to find out what the Hell is causing this -all this death."
There was no response, and Jeff simply kneeled over the array pack mumbligh some gibberish.
"Jeff?"
The young man looked up at Dyer, and she screamed. His eyes were white as boiled eggs, unseeing, and drool drenched his beard. Beyond madness, he lept at Dyer. The last thing she heard as her throat was torn out was a gurgling, "Cthulhu phtagn, Cthulhu pftagn".
fictional excerpt (c) 2007 Chris Perridas. permission given to copy with reference to author.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Lovecraft's Autograph (1919)
The seller states: 1919 a holographic (hand written) manuscript for the poem, Despair, with a nice clear Lovecraft signature and date at the end, purchased from the granddaughter of the publisher ( Horace L Lawson ) of the Wolverine magazine, a periodical which published at least 5 H P Lovecraft pieces, the Wolverine published Arthur Jermyn in March 1921 , The Nameless City in November 1921 , The Street in December 1920 , The Vivisector in June 1921 and On the Return of Maurice Winter Moe, Esq. in June 1921 . there is no record of Despair having been published by The Wolverine, this 2 page poem is completely holographic, written on brown paper (the reverse is actually an order form for a Book Club) and has the date 192__, Lovecraft has signed this as H P Lovecraft and dated the piece February 1919, as well he has written a note in the corner stating that this poem appeared in Pine Cones June 1919, this is certainly from 1919, or at least 1920 when The Wolverine was publishing HPL pieces, the poem is completely legible although some of the letters are a bit faded, the 2 pages have been paper taped on the verso as this was framed by Lawson, there is no bleeding or show through from the tape, the handwriting is undeniably Lovecrafts, the condition overall is VERY GOOD....., any image directly beside this listing is the actual book and not a generic photo. Signed by Author. First Edition. Manuscript.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Was the Original "Beast" in Beast In The Cave - a Cat?
Meow.
For convenience, I'm using the Del Rey text of Beast in the Cave (*). Read this passage along with me.
"These impacts were soft, and stealthy, as of the paws of some feline. Besides, when I listened carefully, I seemed to trace the falls of four instead of two feet."
The next paragraph continues, "I was now convinced that I had by my own cries aroused and attracted some wild beast, perhaps a mountain lion which had accidentally strayed within the cave."
A bit later we read, "Meanwhile the hideous pattering of the paws drew near."
This presents a textual problem that has not been discussed to my knowledge. The story as it presently stands tells the story of a cave beast, a man who has degenerated and turned into an albino ape. To what purpose does all the subterfuge serve about the beast being a cat? It seems to only make sense if the original 1904 story was about a cat in a cave, and later the story was editied (redacted) to be an albino ape-man in a cave.
*7th edition of The Transition of H. P. Lovecraft: The Road To Madness, 1996 (1st ed, Oct. 1996).
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Lovecraft's Legacy: 2007 (DVD sets)
{Just saw. -CP}
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Volume 1: Cool Air:Synopsis: Randolph Carter moves into a squalid boarding house in the summer of 1925 where he becomes friends with a mysterious doctor who revives him after a near-fatal heart attack. Soon after Carter discovers the awful truth about the doctor, and the fragile line that separates life and death. Featuring a stellar performance by Jack Donner as Dr. Munoz, Cool Air remains a haunting reminder of the power of the human will. Plus: Nyarlathotep, The Hound, An Imperfect Solution, The Hapless Antiquarian, and interviews with the cast & crew of Cool Air, bonus shorts, and an interview with scholar S.T. Joshi. Rating: Not RatedNumber of Discs: 1Run Time: 148 minutesSuggested Retail Price: $19.95DVD Bonus Features: Plus: Nyarlathotep, The Hound, An Imperfect Solution, The Hapless Antiquarian;Interviews with the cast & crew of Cool Air;Bonus shorts;Interview with scholar S.T. Joshi.
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Volume 2: Rough Magik:Synopsis: Plugging nicely into the world of Delta Green, Rough Magik is about 'The Night Scholars', a clandestine organization setup to monitor the ancient cult of Cthulhu. After decades of compiling an enormous database of arcane information, they have come to a single, incontrovertible conclusion: the Sleeping God is waking.
Diana Armitage, with the help of her Home Office Liaison, the mysterious Mr. Moon (Paul Darrow), launch an aggressive campaign against the Dreamers. This operation, designated the Rough Magik initiative, was successful but they trod on the toes of some powerful people, amidst accusations of financial impropriety and possible treason, the Night Scholars were disbanded. Now years later, the old magic is returning, the Sleeping God is rising, and there are more Dreamers than Mr. Moon can handle as he struggles to rebuild the Night Scholars before it's too late.
Plus: Bob Fugger's Terrible Old Man and From Beyond and Darkest of the Hillside Thickets music videos. DVD also contains an audio commentary track by Rough Magik screenwriter/producer Stephen Parsons, interviews with the cast & crew of Terrible Old Man, bonus shorts, and an interview with scholar S.T. Joshi. Rating: Not RatedNumber of Discs: 1Run Time: 130 minutesSuggested Retail Price: $19.95DVD Bonus Features: Plus: Bob Fugger's Terrible Old Man and From Beyond and Darkest of the Hillside Thickets music videos;Audio commentary track by Rough Magik screenwriter/producer Stephen Parsons;Interviews with the cast & crew of Terrible Old Man;Bonus shorts;Interview with scholar S.T. Joshi.
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Volume 3: Out of Mind:Synopsis: The third volume in the H.P. Lovecraft Collection contains some of our favorite Lovecraft inspired films. The sublime Out of Mind seamlessly melds a stealth Lovecraft documentary using dialog based on his numerous personal correspondence, and story fragments from his mythos woven into a single fascinating tapestry.
The film also introduces us to Lovecraft the person (through the brilliant characterization by Christopher Heyerdahl). There are lots of in-jokes and references to all things Lovecraftian for the astute fan. Even some iridescent protoplasma shows up but the filmmakers wisely keep their on-screen time very short, hinting at them rather then attempting to gross anyone out.
The plot revolves around a modern day artist, Charles Dexter Ward, who inherits a copy of the Necronomicon that causes a series of nightmare excursions into his familial past and to the dream world meeting with Lovecraft himself.
The volume also includes John Strysik's The Music of Erich Zann (now with the new 5.1 dolby surround sound mix) and Aaron Vanek's The Outsider & My Necronomicon.Rating: Not RatedNumber of Discs: 1Run Time: 120 minutesSuggested Retail Price: $19.95DVD Bonus Features: Also includes John Strysik's The Music of Erich Zann (now with the new 5.1 dolby surround sound mix) and Aaron Vanek's The Outsider & My Necronomicon
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Volume 2: Rough Magik:Synopsis: Plugging nicely into the world of Delta Green, Rough Magik is about 'The Night Scholars', a clandestine organization setup to monitor the ancient cult of Cthulhu. After decades of compiling an enormous database of arcane information, they have come to a single, incontrovertible conclusion: the Sleeping God is waking.
Diana Armitage, with the help of her Home Office Liaison, the mysterious Mr. Moon (Paul Darrow), launch an aggressive campaign against the Dreamers. This operation, designated the Rough Magik initiative, was successful but they trod on the toes of some powerful people, amidst accusations of financial impropriety and possible treason, the Night Scholars were disbanded. Now years later, the old magic is returning, the Sleeping God is rising, and there are more Dreamers than Mr. Moon can handle as he struggles to rebuild the Night Scholars before it's too late.
Plus: Bob Fugger's Terrible Old Man and From Beyond and Darkest of the Hillside Thickets music videos. DVD also contains an audio commentary track by Rough Magik screenwriter/producer Stephen Parsons, interviews with the cast & crew of Terrible Old Man, bonus shorts, and an interview with scholar S.T. Joshi. Rating: Not RatedNumber of Discs: 1Run Time: 130 minutesSuggested Retail Price: $19.95DVD Bonus Features: Plus: Bob Fugger's Terrible Old Man and From Beyond and Darkest of the Hillside Thickets music videos;Audio commentary track by Rough Magik screenwriter/producer Stephen Parsons;Interviews with the cast & crew of Terrible Old Man;Bonus shorts;Interview with scholar S.T. Joshi.
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Volume 3: Out of Mind:Synopsis: The third volume in the H.P. Lovecraft Collection contains some of our favorite Lovecraft inspired films. The sublime Out of Mind seamlessly melds a stealth Lovecraft documentary using dialog based on his numerous personal correspondence, and story fragments from his mythos woven into a single fascinating tapestry.
The film also introduces us to Lovecraft the person (through the brilliant characterization by Christopher Heyerdahl). There are lots of in-jokes and references to all things Lovecraftian for the astute fan. Even some iridescent protoplasma shows up but the filmmakers wisely keep their on-screen time very short, hinting at them rather then attempting to gross anyone out.
The plot revolves around a modern day artist, Charles Dexter Ward, who inherits a copy of the Necronomicon that causes a series of nightmare excursions into his familial past and to the dream world meeting with Lovecraft himself.
The volume also includes John Strysik's The Music of Erich Zann (now with the new 5.1 dolby surround sound mix) and Aaron Vanek's The Outsider & My Necronomicon.Rating: Not RatedNumber of Discs: 1Run Time: 120 minutesSuggested Retail Price: $19.95DVD Bonus Features: Also includes John Strysik's The Music of Erich Zann (now with the new 5.1 dolby surround sound mix) and Aaron Vanek's The Outsider & My Necronomicon
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1955 (CanFan #29)
In 1955, Canfan was in it's 14th year of publication. That's a very long time for a fan magazine in any era. This HPL issue had an interesting mimeograph sketch.
(30 pages )
cover William D Grant
cover William D Grant
highlights:
Forrest J Ackerman - Stars And Atoms (fiction)
Henry Elsner - Elsner Looks Back
Les Croutch - Croutch On Unions
William D Grant - Decline And Fall Of Some
Don Wilson - HP Lovecraft ( nearly 13 pages!)
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Lovecraft's Legacy: Parody of Cthulhu
Roger Martin Tudor (click here) found this LOLCthulhu blog (click here). Two of several rad posters with a take off on Lovecraft's stories in a purposely misspelled 2007-style.
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1972 (HPL, A LOVECRAFT TRIBUTE)
{This is a rather obscure item of Lovecraftiana but it is not 70 years old as far as I can tell. In fact if one goes to one reads this, "summer of 1972, and the first printing of 35 numbered hardbounds and 1000 self-covered volumes was sold out by summers' end. In September 1972, 500 copies of a 2nd printing were ordered, since the printer would only hold the plates for 6 months. These do not qualify as a 2nd edition, just as second printing because the only changes were two removals: the $3.00 on the top of page 2 and the note at the bottom of page 3 as to the 1000 limited print run.". (More, click here.) So, according to the editors, there were a few more than 2000 copies printed in 1972.}
The seller staes in part:
H P L : A tribute to Howard Phillips Lovecraft. (1890-1937). Entire contents copyright by Meade & Penny Frierson. All rights, including translation into other languages, reserved. This booklet is a non-commercial publication, published in the United States of America. No subscriptions; no future issues are planned. The artwork, articles and poetry are intrepretations and commentary upon such and acknowledgment is given to ARKHAM HOUSE, Publishers, Sauk City, Wisconsin...(the rest is about copyright and reproduction rights). so this is a 1 shot magazine or fanzine. {see notes above - CP} PUBLISTED IN A LIMITED EDITION OF 1000 COPIES INCLUDING 35 B0UND COPIES WHICH ARE NUMBERED ON A SPECIAL PAGE. 144 pages, magazine size. Mint, no marks, no tears, no stains, even the staples are not rusted. Maybe the white is not absolutely perfect but this mag is 70 years old. Some of the art credit: Steve Fabian, Tim Kirk, Dany Frolich, Herb Arnold. Some of the articles Robert E. Howard, James Wade, Hert Arnold, J Ramsey Campbell, Stuart Schiff, John L. McInnis III, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, E Hoffman Price, Fritz Leiber, George T. Wetzl, more.
H P L : A tribute to Howard Phillips Lovecraft. (1890-1937). Entire contents copyright by Meade & Penny Frierson. All rights, including translation into other languages, reserved. This booklet is a non-commercial publication, published in the United States of America. No subscriptions; no future issues are planned. The artwork, articles and poetry are intrepretations and commentary upon such and acknowledgment is given to ARKHAM HOUSE, Publishers, Sauk City, Wisconsin...(the rest is about copyright and reproduction rights). so this is a 1 shot magazine or fanzine. {see notes above - CP} PUBLISTED IN A LIMITED EDITION OF 1000 COPIES INCLUDING 35 B0UND COPIES WHICH ARE NUMBERED ON A SPECIAL PAGE. 144 pages, magazine size. Mint, no marks, no tears, no stains, even the staples are not rusted. Maybe the white is not absolutely perfect but this mag is 70 years old. Some of the art credit: Steve Fabian, Tim Kirk, Dany Frolich, Herb Arnold. Some of the articles Robert E. Howard, James Wade, Hert Arnold, J Ramsey Campbell, Stuart Schiff, John L. McInnis III, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, E Hoffman Price, Fritz Leiber, George T. Wetzl, more.
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1974 (Whispers #2)
Click on images, they should enlarge. Stuart David Schiff was a great attractor of great writing.
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1988 (Midnight Shambler #2)
{Any Wilum H. Pugmire, Jr. story is worth reading! - CP}
The horror fanzine Midnight Shambler. This magazine had an extremely low print run making it a rare find. This magazine has numerous original short stories by such writers as W.H. Pugmire, Gary Lovisi, and many more. This particular issue was an H.P. Lovecraft themed issue with most of the stories dealing with the Chthulhu Mythos. There are many illustrations by such artists as Richard Sardinha, Darrell Tutchton, Carole Wellen and more.
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1951 (Destiny #6)
{I dig that futuristic art on the cover. - CP}
32 pages
cover W Max Keasler
fiction:
Pat Eaton - 5th And Dearborn , art by D Bruce Berry
Andrew Duane - Temple Of Destiny , art by Malcolm Willits
features:
DC Richardson - The Wheel As A Religious Symbol , art by Haskell Richardson
George Wetzel - Lovecraft Randomomium , art by RR Phillips
DC Richardson - The Father Of John Carter and Tarzan , a tribute to Burroughs
Robert Bloch - On Fan Mags
Who's Who In Sci-Fi August Derleth
cover W Max Keasler
fiction:
Pat Eaton - 5th And Dearborn , art by D Bruce Berry
Andrew Duane - Temple Of Destiny , art by Malcolm Willits
features:
DC Richardson - The Wheel As A Religious Symbol , art by Haskell Richardson
George Wetzel - Lovecraft Randomomium , art by RR Phillips
DC Richardson - The Father Of John Carter and Tarzan , a tribute to Burroughs
Robert Bloch - On Fan Mags
Who's Who In Sci-Fi August Derleth
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1951 (Destiny #4/5)
{I love Hannes Bok art! - CP}
32 pages
cover Hannes Bok
fiction:
Henry Chabot - The End , art by Jim Bradley
Malcolm Willits - The Hills , art by Willits
Andrew Duane - The Invaders , art by Bradley
Allen Kenney - Lust For Gold , art by Bradley
features:
George Wetzel - Lovecraft's Amateur Press Works , art by RR Phillips
Who's Who In Sci-Fi - L Stern Lawrence
poem:
D Bruce Berry - Intruder , art by Berry
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1970 (Mirage #9)
MIRAGE #9 1970. 42 page hectographed fanzine published by Jack L. Chalker, who later founded Mirage Press and somewhat even later became a popular science fiction author in his own right. Nonfiction includes “Prolegomenon to a Constitution for the Planet Mongo” by John Boardman (a detailed article on Flash Gordon’s adopted world), a checklist of the unpublished works of David H. Keller by Paul Spencer and “The Necronomicon: A Bibliography” by Jack L. Chalker and Mark Owings. (Back cover detached but present, otherwise a Very Good copy. )
Monday, September 24, 2007
J W Bennett
Hey folks, go over to Neomythologist: J W Bennett (Click Here) and look at his great new book.
Unrequited is now available for direct order from the printer. Hopefully, it will appear on Amazon by the end of next week, if not sooner, so finally, I have a novel out there in the big wide world!!!It's all very exciting (not to mention nerve-racking) and I'm eagerly waiting to get my hands on some complimentary copies, but thanks to everyone who has made this possible. You know who you are.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Lovecraft's Legacy: 1979 - Whispers # 13 & 14
WHISPERS Magazine double issue 13-14, edited and published by Stuart David Schiff, in 1979. 128 pages.FRITZ LEIBER TRIBUTE ISSUEThis legendary fantasy and horror magazine pays tribute to the creator of Fahfrd and The Gray Mouser and other legendary fantasies in a giant double issue with contributions from a fine assortment of writers and artists (see scan of contents page), including a piece by Leiber himself, a great folio by Steve Fabian, and much more.It also contains the long awaited conclusion of H. Warner Munn's "HPL: A Reminiscence," which includes a photograph of Lovecraft furnished by Munn. Whispers is one of the greatest small-press publication of all time, and this is an exceptional issue.{Try clicking on images to make the larger and more readable. - CP}
Rare Original Art of Hannes Bok
Hannes Bok was a true illustrative genius. Here is the original Hannes Bok artwork (as published in the May 1944 issue of WEIRD TALES). It illustrated segments of the H P Lovecraft poetry cycle FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH. All 4 of images are very small ink gems, each measuring about 1.5" x 1.25" or smaller; all 4 drawings are on a single piece of 2 ply board. {Starting bid on this was $250}
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Letter of Lovecraft to Eddy (21 July 1924)
Image now unavailable
Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS).
8 pages, dated 21 July 1924, to "Dear C M E Jr." [Clifford M. Eddy, Jr.], signed "yr faithful grandfather HPL." Written on four sheets of 6 x 9 1/2-inch paper with Hotel Pantlind letterhead, from 259 Parkside Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Approximately 1300 words.
A nice gossipy letter about the world of the pulps: who's in, who's out, which magazine is going under, which one is starting up, which writers have which stories in limbo at which magazines. "Henneberger is now the nominal editor of Weird Tales; but he owes the printer $43,000, & the latter may take over the magazine & publish it himself in Indianapolis." Expresses frustration about getting any kind of weird material into All-Story, referring to its editor as "É Sister Bob Davis, that delicate soul for whose fastidious readers our rough frightful tales seem to be altogether too horrid & shocking & unpleasant." Yet Davis' superior, Matthew White was even more dead set against it. Indeed, there were very few markets for the kind of material that HPL and his gang wrote. Unpublished. Letter has faint mailing creases, but is in fine condition. (#109138) Price: $2,000.00
Friday, September 21, 2007
Great Oil Portrait of Lovecraft !
At Catfish Charlie, this oil painting was found. Groovy! (Click Here).
Hey guys! I was pointed here from the Necronomiphiles group. I figured if this wasn't the right place for this, then no place is!I had a request some time ago to do a portrait of H.P. Lovecraft. Although I had the idea on the back-burner for a long time, I just couldn't resist giving it a shot. I plan to put it up for auction on eBay tomorrow evening ...more.
More Weird Cthulhu Images
In Under Vhoorl's Shadow, this great image shows up. Great site! Click here. (I think they're hot dogs.)
Unique Image of Lovecraft with Hidden Meanings
At the artist's web site (click here). he explains his picture.
Do you know how sometimes you get strange ideas by looking at your surroundings and by associating things that have seemingly nothing in common? somehow, your creative Muse manages to invent something new with a bric-a-brac of objects, sounds, smells, colors or words.
I was trying to imagine how H.P.Lovecraft ever managed to invent such a massive universe and instead of deep and intensive researches in Libraries and Museums, why wouldn't he just put things together at the dinner table? Now imagine a scene where Howard is at home, eating some sea-food spaghetti while reading some encyclopedia on fish, bats and other magazines. Suddenly, a light bulb pops at about 100 watts and he puts it all together:
I was trying to imagine how H.P.Lovecraft ever managed to invent such a massive universe and instead of deep and intensive researches in Libraries and Museums, why wouldn't he just put things together at the dinner table? Now imagine a scene where Howard is at home, eating some sea-food spaghetti while reading some encyclopedia on fish, bats and other magazines. Suddenly, a light bulb pops at about 100 watts and he puts it all together:
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Unique Illustration of Lovecraft Connected to Stephen King
At the artist's site (click here: ROBERTO PARADA):Lovecraft's Pillow —April, 2005This was commissioned by Carol Kaufman at the LA Times (Sunday Book Review Section). It was a critique of a book about the horror genre originator, H P Lovecraft. And written by the contemporary horror great Stephen King. In his praise of the book, he recalled a story of passing by a thrift shop in Lovecraft's native Rhode Island and imagined, while looking at the display window, seeing Lovecraft's own bed pillow. King wrote of it being his greatest idea that never materialized because of his admiration for the memory of H P Lovecraft.
A Real Lovecraft Fan Speaks
I came across this neat blog called the Staging Point. (click here for full text).
(excerpts)
But how on earth does someone who can compose the wonderful simile of the ruins "protruding uncannily above the sands as parts of a corpse may protrude from an ill-made grave" manage to let themselves write, not a page later, that the "brooding ruins ... swelled beneath the sand like an ogre under a coverlet"? --Kenneth Hite on Lovecraft
The BBC recently broadcast a radio show examining the life and continuing influence of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is the early 20th-century writer of weird fiction who invented the Cthulhu Mythos and penned many stories of "cosmic horror."
I am extraordinarily fond of Lovecraft's writing. In fact, I'd certainly place him amid the crowd of writers whose work has inspired or influenced me throughout my reading life. ... But he's got one thing that more than compensates for any technical failing of his writing: sheer, unadulterated vision. You can see it lurking behind every awkward, adjective-laden phrase, in every earnest description of a monster that's supposed to be horrifying but instead comes across sounding like a hippopotamus-headed tentacled frog. ... Occasionally, amidst all the mad scientists and squid-faced flying ooze monsters, you catch a sanity-shattering glimpse of what Lovecraft is really scared of: a universe that doesn't care, in which mankind and all he's accomplished is just an unnoticed aberration of evolution. ... I like Lovecraft because he's an example of somebody whose ideas were so compelling that his writing deficiencies simply didn't matter.
(excerpts)
But how on earth does someone who can compose the wonderful simile of the ruins "protruding uncannily above the sands as parts of a corpse may protrude from an ill-made grave" manage to let themselves write, not a page later, that the "brooding ruins ... swelled beneath the sand like an ogre under a coverlet"? --Kenneth Hite on Lovecraft
The BBC recently broadcast a radio show examining the life and continuing influence of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is the early 20th-century writer of weird fiction who invented the Cthulhu Mythos and penned many stories of "cosmic horror."
I am extraordinarily fond of Lovecraft's writing. In fact, I'd certainly place him amid the crowd of writers whose work has inspired or influenced me throughout my reading life. ... But he's got one thing that more than compensates for any technical failing of his writing: sheer, unadulterated vision. You can see it lurking behind every awkward, adjective-laden phrase, in every earnest description of a monster that's supposed to be horrifying but instead comes across sounding like a hippopotamus-headed tentacled frog. ... Occasionally, amidst all the mad scientists and squid-faced flying ooze monsters, you catch a sanity-shattering glimpse of what Lovecraft is really scared of: a universe that doesn't care, in which mankind and all he's accomplished is just an unnoticed aberration of evolution. ... I like Lovecraft because he's an example of somebody whose ideas were so compelling that his writing deficiencies simply didn't matter.
The Occult Lovecraft in The Grim Blogger
On Thursday, August 30, 2007 the Grim Blogger (click here) said (excerpts):
Fate Magazine: The Occult Lovecraft
I had the opportunity to pick up the current issue of Fate Magazine, featuring an article by Gavin Callaghan entitled “The Occult Lovecraft.” As one might expect from a journal specializing in stories of the occult and paranormal, the article focuses on the longstanding connection between Lovecraft, and those who believe he was in contact with some deeper reality. What it is not: an attempt at evaluating the merits of Lovecraft’s creations in a traditional scholarly fashion (a la Joshi or Price). What it is: an analysis of Lovecraft’s themes and their role in engendering ostensibly real believers of the Cthulhu mythos.
... Of most interest, I found his general overview of some of the more recent Lovecraftian-inspired occult products quite effective. The author discusses developments like the popular “Simon Necronomicon,” so common that it can now be readily in found in just about any Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore, as well as newer occult followers of Lovecraft like the Wisconsin-based “Cult of Cthulhu.” Callaghan mostly leaves his readers to draw their own conclusions, but the selective quotes from Cthulhu Cult leader and criticisms of Simon rightly suggest the hackish and even insane quality of those who try to turn Lovecraft’s creations into real systems of belief. ...
-Grim Blogger
Fate Magazine: The Occult Lovecraft
I had the opportunity to pick up the current issue of Fate Magazine, featuring an article by Gavin Callaghan entitled “The Occult Lovecraft.” As one might expect from a journal specializing in stories of the occult and paranormal, the article focuses on the longstanding connection between Lovecraft, and those who believe he was in contact with some deeper reality. What it is not: an attempt at evaluating the merits of Lovecraft’s creations in a traditional scholarly fashion (a la Joshi or Price). What it is: an analysis of Lovecraft’s themes and their role in engendering ostensibly real believers of the Cthulhu mythos.
... Of most interest, I found his general overview of some of the more recent Lovecraftian-inspired occult products quite effective. The author discusses developments like the popular “Simon Necronomicon,” so common that it can now be readily in found in just about any Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore, as well as newer occult followers of Lovecraft like the Wisconsin-based “Cult of Cthulhu.” Callaghan mostly leaves his readers to draw their own conclusions, but the selective quotes from Cthulhu Cult leader and criticisms of Simon rightly suggest the hackish and even insane quality of those who try to turn Lovecraft’s creations into real systems of belief. ...
-Grim Blogger
Real Life Colour Out of Space !
This news just in from the blog: Infocult ! (click here).
Peruvian village imitates Lovecraft story
A Peruvian village encounters a classic H.P. Lovecraft story:
Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache...Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.
Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.
Nihilistic Kid notes the connection:
"Nothin'... nothin'... the colour... it burns... cold an' wet, but it burns... it lived in the well... I seen it... a kind of smoke... jest like the flowers last spring... the well shone at night... Thad an' Merwin an' Zenas... everything alive... suckin' the life out of everything... in that stone... it must a' come in that stone pizened the whole place... dun't know what it wants... "
—"The Colour Out of Space", H. P. Lovecraft.
(via Saramin)
Peruvian village imitates Lovecraft story
A Peruvian village encounters a classic H.P. Lovecraft story:
Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache...Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.
Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.
Nihilistic Kid notes the connection:
"Nothin'... nothin'... the colour... it burns... cold an' wet, but it burns... it lived in the well... I seen it... a kind of smoke... jest like the flowers last spring... the well shone at night... Thad an' Merwin an' Zenas... everything alive... suckin' the life out of everything... in that stone... it must a' come in that stone pizened the whole place... dun't know what it wants... "
—"The Colour Out of Space", H. P. Lovecraft.
(via Saramin)
Lovecraft's Legacy: Paul Carrick
Just saw this at Michael's SFFandom (click here).
Boston Artist Paul Carrick to Participate in Lovecraft Art Exhibit at Swiss Science Fiction MuseumPaul Carrick invited to display H.P. Lovecraft inspired artwork with industry greats as H.R. Giger, John Howe, Guillermo Del Toro and many others. Museum is only to focus entirely on science fiction.Boston, MA, September 18, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Ever since Paul Carrick attended art school in Providence, Rhode Island, he has had a greatened level of appreciation and connection to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft (1890 – 1937). Lovecraft, often described as a godfather of gothic horror writing, frequently incorporated his beloved hometown of Providence into his macabre tales. As Paul read these stories, knowing that they sometimes took place only blocks away from his residence, his imagination took root and ran wild on the surface of his paintings. This deepening connection has made a large impact on his art, and Lovecraft's stories and characters have become a dominant vein in Paul's body of artwork. Nearly fifteen years later, Paul is receiving international recognition for his contribution, and will have his artwork displayed in a Swiss museum exhibit along with other noted artists in his field.In late October, artists from all over the world will be displaying their artwork inspired by Lovecraft at the Maison d'Ailleurs (the House of Elsewhere) of Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. The Maison d'Ailleurs, founded in 1976 is the only science fiction museum in the world and also an exhaustive library of 40,000 copies of related books, magazines and other publications. Other contributors include H.R. Giger (Aliens films), John Howe (J.R.R. Tolkien illustrator), James Gurney (Dinotopia), Dave McKean (Sandman) and director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth).The show, on display through April, will be celebrating the great influence that Lovecraft has had on the creative community. Each piece will be inspired by a selection from the writer's Commonplace Book, a list of over two hundred and twenty ideas and brainstorms that he had collected over his career. "It is a great honor", says Mr. Carrick, "to be included in such a prestigious company, and a humbling challenge to expound on some of Lovecraft's concepts." As a way to share his excitement with other fans of Lovecraft, Paul has created a blog to chronicle the development of the artwork at blog.nightserpent.com. Once the four paintings are completed and shipped to Switzerland, Paul will commemorate the experience by sculpting a statue of Cthulhu, and it's creation, too, will be shown in-progress on his blog."We're pleased to have an exciting young artist like Paul participating in this exhibition.” Said Patrick Gyger, the museum’s coordinator. “Paul's paintings and illustrations really capture the tortured yet poetic side of Lovecraft in ways that no one else seems able to.”As Lovecraft's one hundred and seventeenth birthday passes, Paul looks excitedly to the future about sharing his art in a prestigious venue with his peers.Paul Carrick, son of children's book author/illustrator team Carol and Donald Carrick, has continued on an artistic family tradition. His hundreds of published illustrations have spanned from fantasy role games to children's books. For more information, visit Paul's online gallery http://www.nightserpent.com/ .Paul Carrick6172672962paul@nightserpent.comhttp://www.nightserpent.com/
Caricature of HPL
This portrait of legendary fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft was done by no less legendary cartoonist Bruce Timm and Chrispy found it at The Ephemerist.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Fantasy Magazine: September 1935 (Challenge From Beyond)
ULTRA RARE Fantasy Magazine Sept. 1935 THE CHALLENGE FROM BEYOND This is one of the grails of ROBERT E. HOWARD and H.P. LOVECRAFT collecting. This is the original appearance of the ONLY story to which these giants of weird fiction BOTH contributed -- THE CHALLENGE FROM BEYOND. Very few of these exist, and they almost never turn up for sale.The story was written by five weird fiction authors "round-robin" style -- besides H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, three other masters of weird fiction contributed -- C.L. Moore, A. Merritt, and Frank Belknap Long. Supplied with only the title of the story, each author wrote a chapter, each picking up where the last left off.This copy is in very nice shape and is hand signed by it's editors, the legendary Julius Schwartz and Forrest J. Ackerman.Also in this issue, five giants of science fiction also take a crack at THE CHALLENGE FROM BEYOND. Stanley G. Weinbaum, Donald Wandrei, Edward E. Smith, Harl Vincent, & Murray Leinster.
The image on the cover indicates that there are 2 Challenges: One for weird fiction, and the other for scientifiction. Ackerman later cointed the term "SciFi", probably after the abbreviation "HiFi", high fidelity sound.
Fantasy Fan: June 1934
Seller States: Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- June 1934 (issue #10)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is a bit chipped around the edges (see picture), but otherwise in nice shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, this issue of The Fantasy Fan features H.P. Lovecraft's story FROM BEYOND, as well as a chapter of Lovecraft's epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about The Apex of Gothic Romance. This issue also contains PROSE PASTELS III, The Muse of Hyperborea by Clark Ashton Smith.
In case you can't read the text (try clicking on image) here is what Smith says ... {Glad my article on M. R. James was approved by so many readers. Later on, I hope to do some brief articles on other masters of the macabre and fantastic. Clark Ashton Smith.}
Fantasy Fan: October 1934
Seller States: Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- October 1934 (issue #14)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is in great shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, this is a special ALL H.P. LOVECRAFT ISSUE of The Fantasy Fan. This issue features BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP by Lovecraft, as well as Lovecraft's FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH and a chapter of Lovecraft's epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about Spectral Literature on the Continent.
Fantasy Fan: September 1934
Seller States: Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- September 1934 (issue #13)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is in great shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, The Fantasy Fan featured the original publication of H.P. LOVECRAFT'S epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about European supernatural horror stories such as The Phantom Ship, Zanoni and Wuthering Heights. This issue also contains PROSE PASTELS IV, The Lotus and the Moon by Clark Ashton Smith, and more.
Fantasy Fan: December 1934
Seller states that this is an Ultra Rare -- H.P. LOVECRAFT in THE FANTASY FAN -- December 1934 (issue #16)This is an original copy of the legendary THE FANTASY FAN.These rarely come up for sale because very few copies were ever printed, and fewer still remain -- I've heard some estimate that only a couple dozen copies of each issue remain. This particular 73 year-old copy is in great shape.Published by Charles D. Hornig, The Fantasy Fan featured the original publication of H.P. LOVECRAFT'S epic essay SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE. In this chapter, Lovecraft writes about Edgar Allan Poe. This issue also contains an early fan story by author Robert Bloch (Psycho), "The Laughter of as Ghoul," and PROSE PASTELS V, The Passing of Aphrodite by Clark Ashton Smith, and more.
(You should be able to click on image and open it larger in a new window - CP)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Hello Kitty Meets Cthulhu!
From 2003 to 2005, a little cartoon series that is rich in parody had Hello Kitty and other critters of cute interact and infuriate a cartoon Cthulhu. Would HPL approve? One thonks he would, since he had grown amused by all the Yog-Sothery that abounded by the end of his life.
See this and the rest of dozens and dozens of cartoon panels. Click Here.
Be Careful How You Cook Your Eggs
I found this wonderful item at Deadprogrammer's Cafe. Ia! Behold! The egg of madness!
Deadprogrammer can be found > (click here) and says: My wife was making boiled eggs for breakfast for the first time in a long time. She seemed to forget that the eggs will crack if put into hot water, and thus created a replica of a certain Great Old One. He was very tasty with some chutney from farmer's market.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Dark Swamp of Chepachet: Found!
Yes. It has indeed. And you can read about it at JARETT KOBEK's blog. (Click Here).
There are many images. Kobek begins ...
The footprint of Howard Phillips Lovecraft in Rhode Island is surprisingly shallow: a plaque on the campus of Brown, a headstone & not much else.
But the discerning eye will find many traces of the gent from Angell Street. Often it happens with your knowledge– like returning home as a new Ulysses and being offered Lovecraft’s apartment at 10 Barnes Street and instead taking the one where Donald Wandrei wrote part of The Web of Easter Island. Other times, you find out years later– like discovering that your high school was on the same grounds as Lovecraft’s grammar school.
It accumulates over the years and then there’s nary a thing Lovecraftian you haven’t seen or done.
But there’s always more. We had, in particular, focused on the Dark Swamp of Chepachet, RI, the hardest to find of all Lovecraftian locations.
More ... Click.
There are many images. Kobek begins ...
The footprint of Howard Phillips Lovecraft in Rhode Island is surprisingly shallow: a plaque on the campus of Brown, a headstone & not much else.
But the discerning eye will find many traces of the gent from Angell Street. Often it happens with your knowledge– like returning home as a new Ulysses and being offered Lovecraft’s apartment at 10 Barnes Street and instead taking the one where Donald Wandrei wrote part of The Web of Easter Island. Other times, you find out years later– like discovering that your high school was on the same grounds as Lovecraft’s grammar school.
It accumulates over the years and then there’s nary a thing Lovecraftian you haven’t seen or done.
But there’s always more. We had, in particular, focused on the Dark Swamp of Chepachet, RI, the hardest to find of all Lovecraftian locations.
More ... Click.
Lovecraft's Legacy: Kevin O'Brien
Writer of the Cthulhu Mythos, Kevin O'Brien has listed the contents of Crypt of Cthulhu. What a great service tot he communtiy! Click Here.
Lovecraft's Legacy: 2007 (Parody at Grim Reviews blog)
Also, Brian Keene noted "Grim Reviews" essay on The King in Yellow at his Hail Saten blog. Other great essays at "Grom reviews" are: Common Place Book Project, The Occult Lovecraft, Happy Birthday Mr. Lovecraft.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Lovecraft's Legacy:
Here is a new electronic magazine. They include a classic Lovecraft essay.
While your there, check out the writing of my writer pal: Jack Farber!
More on The Beast in the Cave and Alpeus Spring Packard, Jr.
In the production of these cave species, the exceptional phenomena of darkness, want of sufficient food, and unvarying temperature, have been plainly enough _verae causae_. ... while the process of the origination of the new forms which have survived, or been selected by nature, is to be explained by the action of the physical environments of the animals coupled with inheritance-force.
From this point forward, whether it was The Beast in thr Cave, Arthur Jermyn, Dunwich Horror, or Colour Out of Space - or his views of foreigners and races - Lovecraft deeply held onto Neo-Lamarkism.
From this point forward, whether it was The Beast in thr Cave, Arthur Jermyn, Dunwich Horror, or Colour Out of Space - or his views of foreigners and races - Lovecraft deeply held onto Neo-Lamarkism.
What is The Beast in the Cave All About?
Lovecraft came under the influence of two powerful intellectual forces. The first was the emerging weird tale found in his dark fiction sources. He read tarzan, and ghost tales, and western mysteries, and so much else. This is not much different than kids today reading comic books, watching John Carpenter movies, or reading science fiction and horror.
He also was deeply influenced by Scinetific Adventurism. It was the rage of the Edwardian era. He lept from chemsitry, to antarctic exploration, to evolution, to astronomy, to arctic geology, and more. He wrote letters to Scinetific American, and later newspaper articles, and letters to fiction magazines that disputed scientific facts.
It is explicit that he knew Upton the astronomer, and Appleton the chemist. I propose he also knew the most famous biologist in America - Packard.
Lovecraft worked hard on this little tale, and it is significantly different than anything that came before.
I believe the first version showed a cave cat (he had just lost his cat in the 1904 move), and Packard died at the same time that his grandfather Whipple did. At least within several months of each other.
The cave cat had devolved just as Packard proposed in many published sources. Notably" "1. Change in environment from light, even partial, to twilight or total darkness, and involving diminution of food, and compensation for the loss of certain organs by the hypertrophy of others.
"2. Disuse of certain organs.
"3. Adaptation, enabling the more plastic forms to survive and perpetuate their stock.
"4. Isolation, preventing intercrossing with out-of-door forms, thus insuring the permanency of the new varieties, species, or genera.
Lovecraft is "actng out" through his weird fiction science as he knows it. It would be an ongoing theme until he died.
He also was deeply influenced by Scinetific Adventurism. It was the rage of the Edwardian era. He lept from chemsitry, to antarctic exploration, to evolution, to astronomy, to arctic geology, and more. He wrote letters to Scinetific American, and later newspaper articles, and letters to fiction magazines that disputed scientific facts.
It is explicit that he knew Upton the astronomer, and Appleton the chemist. I propose he also knew the most famous biologist in America - Packard.
Lovecraft worked hard on this little tale, and it is significantly different than anything that came before.
I believe the first version showed a cave cat (he had just lost his cat in the 1904 move), and Packard died at the same time that his grandfather Whipple did. At least within several months of each other.
The cave cat had devolved just as Packard proposed in many published sources. Notably" "1. Change in environment from light, even partial, to twilight or total darkness, and involving diminution of food, and compensation for the loss of certain organs by the hypertrophy of others.
"2. Disuse of certain organs.
"3. Adaptation, enabling the more plastic forms to survive and perpetuate their stock.
"4. Isolation, preventing intercrossing with out-of-door forms, thus insuring the permanency of the new varieties, species, or genera.
Lovecraft is "actng out" through his weird fiction science as he knows it. It would be an ongoing theme until he died.
Lovecraft, Packard, and Beast In The Cave
I submit this long extract from Packard's book: Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution
The present writer, {Alpeus Spring Packard, Jr. - CP} from a study of the development and anatomy ofLimulus and of Arthropod ancestry, was early (1870)[217] led to adoptLamarckian views in preference to the theory of Natural Selection, which
never seemed to him adequate or sufficiently comprehensive to explain
the origin of variations.
In the following year, from a study of the insects and other animals of Mammoth Cave, we claimed that "the characters separating the genera and species of animals are those inherited from adults, modified by their physical surroundings and adaptations to changing conditions of life, inducing certain alterations in parts which have been transmitted with more or less rapidity, and become finally fixed and habitual."
In an essay entitled "The Ancestry of Insects" (1873) we adopted the Lamarckian factors of change of habits and environment, of use and disuse, to account for the origin of the appendages, while we attributed the origin of the metamorphoses of insects to change of habits or of the temperature of the seasons and of climates, particularly the change in the earth's climates from the earlier ages of the globe, "when the temperature of the earth was nearly the same the world over, to the
times of the present distribution of heat and cold in zones."
From further studies on cave animals, published in 1877, we wrote as follows:
"In the production of these cave species, the exceptional phenomena of darkness, want of sufficient food, and unvarying temperature, have been plainly enough _verae causae_. To say that the principle of natural selection accounts for the change of structure is no explanation of the phenomena; the phrase has to the mind of the writer no meaning in connection with the production of these cave forms, and has as little meaning in accounting for the origination of species and genera in general. Darwin's phrase 'natural selection,' or Herbert Spencer's term 'survival of the fittest,' expresses simply the final result, while the process of the origination of the new forms which have survived, or been selected by nature, is to be explained by the action of the physical environments of the animals coupled with inheritance-force. It has always appeared to the writer that the phrases quoted above have
been misused to state the cause, when they simply express the result of the action of a chain of causes which we may, with Herbert Spencer, call the 'environment' of the organism undergoing modification; and thus a form of Lamarckianism, greatly modified by recent scientific discoveries, seems to meet most of the difficulties which arise in accounting for the origination of species and higher groups of organisms. Certainly 'natural selection' or the 'survival of the fittest' is not a _vera causa_, though the 'struggle for existence' may show us the causes which have led to the _preservation_ of species, while changes in the environment of the organism may satisfactorily account for the original tendency to variation assumed by Mr. Darwin as the starting-point where natural selection begins to act."
In our work on _The Cave Animals of North America_, after stating that Darwin in his _Origin of Species_ attributed the loss of eyes "wholly to disuse," remarking (p. 142) that after the more or less perfect obliteration of the eyes, "natural election will often have effected other changes, such as an increase in the length of the antennae or palpi, as a compensation for blindness," we then summed up as follows the causes of the production of cave faunae in general:
"1. Change in environment from light, even partial, to twilight or
total darkness, and involving diminution of food, and compensation
for the loss of certain organs by the hypertrophy of others.
"2. Disuse of certain organs.
"3. Adaptation, enabling the more plastic forms to survive and
perpetuate their stock.
"4. Isolation, preventing intercrossing with out-of-door forms,
thus insuring the permanency of the new varieties, species, or
genera.
"5. Heredity, operating to secure for the future the permanence of
the newly originated forms as long as the physical conditions remain
the same.
"Natural selection perhaps expresses the total result of the working of these five factors rather than being an efficient cause in itself, or at least constitutes the last term in a series of causes. Hence Lamarckism in a modern form, or as we have termed it, Neolamarckism, seems to us to be nearer the truth than Darwinism proper or natural selection."
The present writer, {Alpeus Spring Packard, Jr. - CP} from a study of the development and anatomy ofLimulus and of Arthropod ancestry, was early (1870)[217] led to adoptLamarckian views in preference to the theory of Natural Selection, which
never seemed to him adequate or sufficiently comprehensive to explain
the origin of variations.
In the following year, from a study of the insects and other animals of Mammoth Cave, we claimed that "the characters separating the genera and species of animals are those inherited from adults, modified by their physical surroundings and adaptations to changing conditions of life, inducing certain alterations in parts which have been transmitted with more or less rapidity, and become finally fixed and habitual."
In an essay entitled "The Ancestry of Insects" (1873) we adopted the Lamarckian factors of change of habits and environment, of use and disuse, to account for the origin of the appendages, while we attributed the origin of the metamorphoses of insects to change of habits or of the temperature of the seasons and of climates, particularly the change in the earth's climates from the earlier ages of the globe, "when the temperature of the earth was nearly the same the world over, to the
times of the present distribution of heat and cold in zones."
From further studies on cave animals, published in 1877, we wrote as follows:
"In the production of these cave species, the exceptional phenomena of darkness, want of sufficient food, and unvarying temperature, have been plainly enough _verae causae_. To say that the principle of natural selection accounts for the change of structure is no explanation of the phenomena; the phrase has to the mind of the writer no meaning in connection with the production of these cave forms, and has as little meaning in accounting for the origination of species and genera in general. Darwin's phrase 'natural selection,' or Herbert Spencer's term 'survival of the fittest,' expresses simply the final result, while the process of the origination of the new forms which have survived, or been selected by nature, is to be explained by the action of the physical environments of the animals coupled with inheritance-force. It has always appeared to the writer that the phrases quoted above have
been misused to state the cause, when they simply express the result of the action of a chain of causes which we may, with Herbert Spencer, call the 'environment' of the organism undergoing modification; and thus a form of Lamarckianism, greatly modified by recent scientific discoveries, seems to meet most of the difficulties which arise in accounting for the origination of species and higher groups of organisms. Certainly 'natural selection' or the 'survival of the fittest' is not a _vera causa_, though the 'struggle for existence' may show us the causes which have led to the _preservation_ of species, while changes in the environment of the organism may satisfactorily account for the original tendency to variation assumed by Mr. Darwin as the starting-point where natural selection begins to act."
In our work on _The Cave Animals of North America_, after stating that Darwin in his _Origin of Species_ attributed the loss of eyes "wholly to disuse," remarking (p. 142) that after the more or less perfect obliteration of the eyes, "natural election will often have effected other changes, such as an increase in the length of the antennae or palpi, as a compensation for blindness," we then summed up as follows the causes of the production of cave faunae in general:
"1. Change in environment from light, even partial, to twilight or
total darkness, and involving diminution of food, and compensation
for the loss of certain organs by the hypertrophy of others.
"2. Disuse of certain organs.
"3. Adaptation, enabling the more plastic forms to survive and
perpetuate their stock.
"4. Isolation, preventing intercrossing with out-of-door forms,
thus insuring the permanency of the new varieties, species, or
genera.
"5. Heredity, operating to secure for the future the permanence of
the newly originated forms as long as the physical conditions remain
the same.
"Natural selection perhaps expresses the total result of the working of these five factors rather than being an efficient cause in itself, or at least constitutes the last term in a series of causes. Hence Lamarckism in a modern form, or as we have termed it, Neolamarckism, seems to us to be nearer the truth than Darwinism proper or natural selection."
An Aside: Appleton Family and Packard Family
Chrispy has no evidence, but ti may be possible that John Howard Appleton and Alpeus Spring Packard, Jr. were distantly related.
An important theologian and President of Bowdoin College, Rev. Jesse Appleton often came into close contact with the nation's educational, financial, and political elites. The most remarkable feature of his life, however, may have been the knack that his family displayed for marrying well. His eldest daughter, Jane, became the wife of Franklin Pierce, and another daughter, Frances, married the theologian and Bowdoin professor, Alpheus Spring Packard. {This is Packard, Jr.'s father - CP} Three of Appleton's sisters-in-law were similarly well connected: Ellis Means married an important minister, Rev. Teppan; Mary Means became the wife of Senator Jeremiah Mason, a supporter of Daniel Webster; and Nancy Means married the exceedingly wealthy merchant and philanthropist, Amos Lawrence.
In 1832, Rev. Appleton's youngest daugher, Mary (d. 1883), followed in the family tradition by marrying John Aiken, an attorney from Lowell, Mass., an agent for the Tremont Mills, and a significant figure in the textile industry. The couple had five children -- Jane, John F., Sarah, Alfred, and Mary -- adding to the two children, William and Charles Augustus, that John had through a previous marriage to Harriet (Adams). This marriage brought about the merger of two of the most powerful families in the region, further extending an already far flung network of family, educational, and political relationships. The family worked through this kinship network to further their interests. All of the Aiken children received good educations, with Charles and William attending Dartmouth, rather than Bowdoin.
Following the death of John Aiken, Mary moved from Lowell to live with her daughter Jennie, who had married Professor Francis H. Snow of the University of Kansas.
An important theologian and President of Bowdoin College, Rev. Jesse Appleton often came into close contact with the nation's educational, financial, and political elites. The most remarkable feature of his life, however, may have been the knack that his family displayed for marrying well. His eldest daughter, Jane, became the wife of Franklin Pierce, and another daughter, Frances, married the theologian and Bowdoin professor, Alpheus Spring Packard. {This is Packard, Jr.'s father - CP} Three of Appleton's sisters-in-law were similarly well connected: Ellis Means married an important minister, Rev. Teppan; Mary Means became the wife of Senator Jeremiah Mason, a supporter of Daniel Webster; and Nancy Means married the exceedingly wealthy merchant and philanthropist, Amos Lawrence.
In 1832, Rev. Appleton's youngest daugher, Mary (d. 1883), followed in the family tradition by marrying John Aiken, an attorney from Lowell, Mass., an agent for the Tremont Mills, and a significant figure in the textile industry. The couple had five children -- Jane, John F., Sarah, Alfred, and Mary -- adding to the two children, William and Charles Augustus, that John had through a previous marriage to Harriet (Adams). This marriage brought about the merger of two of the most powerful families in the region, further extending an already far flung network of family, educational, and political relationships. The family worked through this kinship network to further their interests. All of the Aiken children received good educations, with Charles and William attending Dartmouth, rather than Bowdoin.
Following the death of John Aiken, Mary moved from Lowell to live with her daughter Jennie, who had married Professor Francis H. Snow of the University of Kansas.
Lovecraft in Context (Sitz im Leben): John Howard Appleton
It is no coincidence that Lovecraft was swet up into chemistry as a child. The organization of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society began just a few years before HPL met John Howard Appleton, a cofounder of the group. Here is the historical description of how this happened, and came to Providence.
The Organization of the Northeastern Section
Note: We have since received via email some information that differs from that presented below. If you are interested in reading it, go to the ACS History Rebuttal page.
The first page in the Secretary’s book bears the date: February 4, 1898, but this was not the beginning. The American Chemical Society was founded more than twenty year before that, on April 12, 1876. Nor was that a starting date, either, Most observers agree that the real beginning of everything was a suggestion made by Dr. H. Carrington Bolton of the Columbia College School of Mines in April 1874. He wasn’t thinking about forming a society at all: serendipity was in charge of things then, even as it is now. What Dr. Bolton wanted to do was to somehow commemorate the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestly, one hundred years earlier. It was on August 1, 1774 that the good Doctor Priestley had heated his "mercurius calcinatus per se" with a twelve inch burning lens and for the first time had released some "dephlogisticated air". Because this discovery, followed by Lavoisier’s quantitative treatment of it, had led to the oxygen theory of combustion and the subsequent development of all modern chemistry, Dr. Bolton thought that the centennial deserved some sort of observance. After all, because of his rashly liberal views, Dr. Priestley had been driven by an unruly mob from his home and his laboratory in Birmingham, England. He fled with his family to the United States, and so became an American chemist, by adoption, if not by birth.
Enter a woman chemist. Professor Rachel L. Bodley of the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania proposed that the centennial celebration should be held at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Priestley had lived and where he was buried. This suggestion was immediately adopted, and plans went forward for a three-day meeting beginning on July 31, 1874. This was the sequence of events that brought seventy-seven of the most influential American chemists, some with wives and children, together in a peaceful little village in the valley of the Susquehanna. There was no hotel there: the participants were quartered overnight by the villagers, some of whom were direct descendants of Joseph Priestley, himself. Historical papers and technical papers were presented in the tiny public schoolhouse. Cablegrams were exchanged with Birmingham, England, and the commemorative exercises were held beside Priestley’s grave. It was a remarkable affair. The friendliness and fellowship and excitement were so great, that there was a strong sentiment to carry on with such meetings. On the second day, the Centennial Day, to be exact, a group met to consider the feasibility of forming a national American Chemical Society with this purpose in mind. There were pessimists present, but nearly everyone went home with great hopes, expecting that a society would soon be formed.
Unaccountably, there was a two year delay, but the plan would not die. Professor Charles F. Chandler, also of the Columbia School of Mines, who had presided at the Centennial Program, finally set thing moving again. He uncovered more than one hundred chemists in New York and nearby cities, whose work and training rendered them eligible for membership in a chemical society. With seven confederates, he finally sent out a notice for an organizational meeting to be held April 6, 1876. That meeting was called to order with thirty-five chemists present, and the Society began operations.
Naturally, a society created in this way was a New York based organization. It had non-resident members, but the monthly meetings were held in New York, and there were not many benefits for the out of towners. A Journal was published, but few cared to submit papers, and the Society was most successful as a local organization. Small wonder that other quite similar local organizations sprang up in other parts of the Country. There was a constant agitation to get a truly national organization going: for a while it seemed likely that some of these upstart outsiders might be strong enough to take over. But the New York group had the name and they had the charter and it was apparent that the best solution was to put some new direction in this ineffective organization. The turnabout came in 1889, when the officers sent out a letter asking for suggestions as to the best way that the Society could become more useful to their non-resident members.
Upon receiving this letter, Profesor Charles E. Munroe, of Newport, Rhode Island, a charter member, sat down and wrote a detailed and lengthy response. He viewed, quite critically, the situation as it existed for outsiders, and made a number of valuable suggestions. These included the ideas that local Sections should be formed, and that General Meetings should be held outside of New York. Others had independently proposed the same ides, or at least concurred in them, so on June 6, 1890, the Constitution was changed to legalize such practices. One would have thought then that immediate action would have been taken, but that was not the case. According to Professor Munroe’s article in the Fifty-Year History, the Directors waited until July 22 of that same year to decide that (1) there would be e General Meeting outside of New York, that (2) it would be two weeks hence, August 6 and 7, 1890, that (3) it would be in Newport, R.I., and that (4) Charles E. Munroe would be in charge of arrangements! Then they let him know. Instead of collapsing under such summary treatment, he scrambled around, firmed a local committee of fourteen and began to make plans. His colleagues included a couple of Harvard Professors with summer residences in the area, some army and navy officers stationed nearby, the local high school principal, the secretary of the Newport Natural History Society, and a few younger chemists working in the area.
This group put together a remarkable program without any idea who, or how many, would attend. As a matter of fact, until the final day, when the Fall River Line boat from New York came plowing into its Newport berth, the only registrants known to be coming were the three guests whom Professor Munroe had invited to stay at his home. However, there proved to be a large and congenial group aboard, headed by Professor Chandler himself, and the meeting got off to a great start. Rhode Islanders from Providence and Kingston appeared, and there were distant visitors from Medford, Cambridge, New Haven, Ithaca, and points even further afield. Seventeen papers, covering almost every possible branch of chemistry were presented. The U.S. Naval Torpedo Station permitted an inspection of its laboratories and workshops, and its personnel presented an extensive series of demonstrations of high explosives. Not to be outdone, the personnel of the U.S. Naval Training Station put on a parade honoring their distinguished guests. On the second day of the meeting the registrants had their choice of relaxation: they could take a leisurely tour of Newport Harbor in the inspection launch, or they could select a thirty mile run around Conanicut Island in the high speed torpedo boat, "Stiletto".
With this successful venture completed, the chemists of Rhode Island wasted no time in getting behind Professor Munroe, and his colleague, Professor John Howard Appleton of Providence to form the Rhode Island Section. Their charter was granted on January 21, 1891, a full nine months before the New York group could get around to applying for its own local section charter on September 30, 1891.
The Organization of the Northeastern Section
Note: We have since received via email some information that differs from that presented below. If you are interested in reading it, go to the ACS History Rebuttal page.
The first page in the Secretary’s book bears the date: February 4, 1898, but this was not the beginning. The American Chemical Society was founded more than twenty year before that, on April 12, 1876. Nor was that a starting date, either, Most observers agree that the real beginning of everything was a suggestion made by Dr. H. Carrington Bolton of the Columbia College School of Mines in April 1874. He wasn’t thinking about forming a society at all: serendipity was in charge of things then, even as it is now. What Dr. Bolton wanted to do was to somehow commemorate the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestly, one hundred years earlier. It was on August 1, 1774 that the good Doctor Priestley had heated his "mercurius calcinatus per se" with a twelve inch burning lens and for the first time had released some "dephlogisticated air". Because this discovery, followed by Lavoisier’s quantitative treatment of it, had led to the oxygen theory of combustion and the subsequent development of all modern chemistry, Dr. Bolton thought that the centennial deserved some sort of observance. After all, because of his rashly liberal views, Dr. Priestley had been driven by an unruly mob from his home and his laboratory in Birmingham, England. He fled with his family to the United States, and so became an American chemist, by adoption, if not by birth.
Enter a woman chemist. Professor Rachel L. Bodley of the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania proposed that the centennial celebration should be held at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Priestley had lived and where he was buried. This suggestion was immediately adopted, and plans went forward for a three-day meeting beginning on July 31, 1874. This was the sequence of events that brought seventy-seven of the most influential American chemists, some with wives and children, together in a peaceful little village in the valley of the Susquehanna. There was no hotel there: the participants were quartered overnight by the villagers, some of whom were direct descendants of Joseph Priestley, himself. Historical papers and technical papers were presented in the tiny public schoolhouse. Cablegrams were exchanged with Birmingham, England, and the commemorative exercises were held beside Priestley’s grave. It was a remarkable affair. The friendliness and fellowship and excitement were so great, that there was a strong sentiment to carry on with such meetings. On the second day, the Centennial Day, to be exact, a group met to consider the feasibility of forming a national American Chemical Society with this purpose in mind. There were pessimists present, but nearly everyone went home with great hopes, expecting that a society would soon be formed.
Unaccountably, there was a two year delay, but the plan would not die. Professor Charles F. Chandler, also of the Columbia School of Mines, who had presided at the Centennial Program, finally set thing moving again. He uncovered more than one hundred chemists in New York and nearby cities, whose work and training rendered them eligible for membership in a chemical society. With seven confederates, he finally sent out a notice for an organizational meeting to be held April 6, 1876. That meeting was called to order with thirty-five chemists present, and the Society began operations.
Naturally, a society created in this way was a New York based organization. It had non-resident members, but the monthly meetings were held in New York, and there were not many benefits for the out of towners. A Journal was published, but few cared to submit papers, and the Society was most successful as a local organization. Small wonder that other quite similar local organizations sprang up in other parts of the Country. There was a constant agitation to get a truly national organization going: for a while it seemed likely that some of these upstart outsiders might be strong enough to take over. But the New York group had the name and they had the charter and it was apparent that the best solution was to put some new direction in this ineffective organization. The turnabout came in 1889, when the officers sent out a letter asking for suggestions as to the best way that the Society could become more useful to their non-resident members.
Upon receiving this letter, Profesor Charles E. Munroe, of Newport, Rhode Island, a charter member, sat down and wrote a detailed and lengthy response. He viewed, quite critically, the situation as it existed for outsiders, and made a number of valuable suggestions. These included the ideas that local Sections should be formed, and that General Meetings should be held outside of New York. Others had independently proposed the same ides, or at least concurred in them, so on June 6, 1890, the Constitution was changed to legalize such practices. One would have thought then that immediate action would have been taken, but that was not the case. According to Professor Munroe’s article in the Fifty-Year History, the Directors waited until July 22 of that same year to decide that (1) there would be e General Meeting outside of New York, that (2) it would be two weeks hence, August 6 and 7, 1890, that (3) it would be in Newport, R.I., and that (4) Charles E. Munroe would be in charge of arrangements! Then they let him know. Instead of collapsing under such summary treatment, he scrambled around, firmed a local committee of fourteen and began to make plans. His colleagues included a couple of Harvard Professors with summer residences in the area, some army and navy officers stationed nearby, the local high school principal, the secretary of the Newport Natural History Society, and a few younger chemists working in the area.
This group put together a remarkable program without any idea who, or how many, would attend. As a matter of fact, until the final day, when the Fall River Line boat from New York came plowing into its Newport berth, the only registrants known to be coming were the three guests whom Professor Munroe had invited to stay at his home. However, there proved to be a large and congenial group aboard, headed by Professor Chandler himself, and the meeting got off to a great start. Rhode Islanders from Providence and Kingston appeared, and there were distant visitors from Medford, Cambridge, New Haven, Ithaca, and points even further afield. Seventeen papers, covering almost every possible branch of chemistry were presented. The U.S. Naval Torpedo Station permitted an inspection of its laboratories and workshops, and its personnel presented an extensive series of demonstrations of high explosives. Not to be outdone, the personnel of the U.S. Naval Training Station put on a parade honoring their distinguished guests. On the second day of the meeting the registrants had their choice of relaxation: they could take a leisurely tour of Newport Harbor in the inspection launch, or they could select a thirty mile run around Conanicut Island in the high speed torpedo boat, "Stiletto".
With this successful venture completed, the chemists of Rhode Island wasted no time in getting behind Professor Munroe, and his colleague, Professor John Howard Appleton of Providence to form the Rhode Island Section. Their charter was granted on January 21, 1891, a full nine months before the New York group could get around to applying for its own local section charter on September 30, 1891.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Images of 1906 Moses Brown School
Remember, HPL was 16 and would have been in high school in 1906.
Gymnasium (1906)
Entrance (1906) to Moses Brown School
(1906) School proper
A typical (1906) classroom
The Studio (1906) at Moses Brown School of Charles Dexter Ward fame.
Remember, HPL was 16 and would have been in high school.
Gymnasium (1906)
Entrance (1906) to Moses Brown School
(1906) School proper
A typical (1906) classroom
The Studio (1906) at Moses Brown School of Charles Dexter Ward fame.Remember, HPL was 16 and would have been in high school.
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