But to give it a name at this stage was mere folly. It looked like a radiate, but was clearly something more. It was partly vegetable ... it was marine in origin ... yet one could not be exact as to the limit of its later adaptations. ... How it could have undergone its tremendously complex evolution ... to leave prints in Archaean rocks{?} ... Great Old Ones ... filtered down from the stars and concocted earth life as a joke or mistake; and the wild tales of cosmic hill things from outside ... - At The Mountains of Madness, H. P. Lovecraft
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Blood Poureth Forth - At The Mountains of Madness
Blood Falls emerging from the Taylor Glacier. Lake Bonney is in the foreground. The glacier face (not including the brown sediment) is about 50 feet high.
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Lovecraft wrote a short novel about horrific happenings in Antarctica, long a place of intense fascination for him. His imagination was phenomenal, but real life Lovecraft science is amazing, too.
Scientist Finds Microbe Colony Under Half-Kilometer of Antarctic Ice
By Art Chimes
Washington, D.C.
20 April 2009
Scientists in Antarctica have discovered a colony of microbes that appear to have lived for millions of years under an ice formation hundreds of meters thick. Jill Mikucki led the international team that discovered life in a place without light or oxygen, in a briny solution so salty that it doesn't freeze even at 5 degrees below zero. At the nose, or front, of Taylor Glacier is a well-known formation that sounds like something out of a horror movie: Blood Falls. But the red ice that gives Blood Falls its name didn't scare off Mikucki.
"It's a real intriguing curiosity, and the first time I saw it ... I knew that this rust or this stain on the glacier was due to iron. I thought about, 'Hmm, what microbes are there taking advantage of that energy source?'"
The briny water that discharges at Blood Falls comes from beneath the glacier. It flows out only intermittently, so it took Mikucki several years to collect a fresh, uncontaminated sample.
She thinks the water is an ancient saltwater lake, which got trapped 1.5 million or more years ago as the glacier advanced and covered it up, sealing it and all the microscopic life swimming around in it, under the ice.
"It's undergone some pretty dramatic change," she explained. "It lost all its sunlight. It became permanently cold and dark. It's very salty. It's concentrated seawater. And so, only the strongest survived."
The briny liquid that's been trapped under the glacier is rich in iron and minerals, and it supports what could be a very large ecosystem. The bacteria that live down under Taylor Glacier are adapted to the extreme conditions, but they're not so exotic that they can't thrive in warmer environments, too.
"Some of these bacteria are incredibly resilient, and I can actually grow them on a petri dish in the laboratory. They tolerate the cold and can grow in it, but they'll do just fine at higher temperatures as well."
What would Mr. Lovecraft make of this?
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Hand of Nyarlathotep?
Is Nyarlathotep at work again?
17,000 light-years from Earth, a rapidly spinning neutron star known as PSR B1509-58 spews out patterns of energy that look like a blue cosmic hand in this Chandra X-ray image.
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The scientific story behind the Chandra X-ray Observatory's image of PSR B1509-58 (or B1509 for short): The image shows a pulsar - that is, a rapidly spinning neutron star - in the southern constellation Circinus. The pulsar has a magnetic field at its surface that's estimated to be 15 trillion times as strong as Earth's, and that makes B1509 one of the most powerful electromagnetic generators in the galaxy.
All that energy drives streams of electrons and ions through the nebula surrounding the star, and in the picture above, those streams are shown in blue. When the magnetically charged torrents hit knots of material in a neighboring cloud of gas known as RCW 89, the energy is released in X-ray emissions that are shown here in red.
17,000 light-years from Earth, a rapidly spinning neutron star known as PSR B1509-58 spews out patterns of energy that look like a blue cosmic hand in this Chandra X-ray image.
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The scientific story behind the Chandra X-ray Observatory's image of PSR B1509-58 (or B1509 for short): The image shows a pulsar - that is, a rapidly spinning neutron star - in the southern constellation Circinus. The pulsar has a magnetic field at its surface that's estimated to be 15 trillion times as strong as Earth's, and that makes B1509 one of the most powerful electromagnetic generators in the galaxy.
All that energy drives streams of electrons and ions through the nebula surrounding the star, and in the picture above, those streams are shown in blue. When the magnetically charged torrents hit knots of material in a neighboring cloud of gas known as RCW 89, the energy is released in X-ray emissions that are shown here in red.
Monday, April 27, 2009
J G Ballard Pases 19 April 2009
From Discover Magazine Blog:
Science fiction author J.G. Ballard died, aged 78. People know of Ballard as the author of the autobiographical Empire of the Sun, which was turned into a movie of the same name, Ballard was the creator of a number of relentlessly dystopic books and short stories. These haunting works were often set in times and places where worldly devastation was reflected in the equally scarred psyches of many of his characters. In a manner reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft, he portrayed humans as insignificant beings in a universe filled with terrible forces–civilization was a game of pretend that could come screeching to a halt at any moment. Unlike Lovecraft however, the forces that could irrevocably alter someone’s life overnight were not supernatural in origin—they were generally human or natural forces, amped up to apocalyptic proportions—floods, winds, wars, buildings, cars, and so on. (In choosing environmental and ecological disasters as the engine of many his apocalypses in a time when nuclear war was armageddon of choice, Ballard proved to be well ahead of the curve.) Reading Ballard was always a somewhat uncomfortable experience, but his willingness to explore the dark underbelly of technology and future will be sadly missed.
...elsewhere ... Author J.G. Ballard, a survivor of a Japanese prison camp whose vision was so dark and distinctive it was labeled "Ballardian". Ballard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006. He had been ill "for several years" and died in London at the home of his long-term partner.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Lovecraft Poem
The Cats
by H. P. Lovecraft
Babels of blocks to the high heavens towering
Flames of futility swirling below;
Poisonous fungi in brick and stone flowering,
Lanterns that shudder and death-lights that glow.
Black monstrous bridges across oily rivers,
Cobwebs of cable to nameless things spun;
Catacomb deeps whose dank chaos delivers
Streams of live foetor that rots in the sun.
Colour and splendour, disease and decaying,
Shrieking and ringing and crawling insane,
Rabbles exotic to stranger-gods praying,
Jumbles of odour that stifle the brain.
Legions of cats from the alleys nocturnal.
Howling and lean in the glare of the moon,
Screaming the future with mouthings infernal,
Yelling the Garden of Pluto's red rune.
Tall towers and pyramids ivy'd and crumbling,
Bats that swoop low in the weed-cumber'd streets;
Bleak Arkham bridges o'er rivers whose rumbling
Joins with no voice as the thick horde retreats.
Belfries that buckle against the moon totter,
Caverns whose mouths are by mosses effac'd,
And living to answer the wind and the water,
Only the lean cats that howl in the wastes.
by H. P. Lovecraft
Babels of blocks to the high heavens towering
Flames of futility swirling below;
Poisonous fungi in brick and stone flowering,
Lanterns that shudder and death-lights that glow.
Black monstrous bridges across oily rivers,
Cobwebs of cable to nameless things spun;
Catacomb deeps whose dank chaos delivers
Streams of live foetor that rots in the sun.
Colour and splendour, disease and decaying,
Shrieking and ringing and crawling insane,
Rabbles exotic to stranger-gods praying,
Jumbles of odour that stifle the brain.
Legions of cats from the alleys nocturnal.
Howling and lean in the glare of the moon,
Screaming the future with mouthings infernal,
Yelling the Garden of Pluto's red rune.
Tall towers and pyramids ivy'd and crumbling,
Bats that swoop low in the weed-cumber'd streets;
Bleak Arkham bridges o'er rivers whose rumbling
Joins with no voice as the thick horde retreats.
Belfries that buckle against the moon totter,
Caverns whose mouths are by mosses effac'd,
And living to answer the wind and the water,
Only the lean cats that howl in the wastes.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Lovecraft Poem
Where Once Poe Walked
by H. P. Lovecraft
Eternal brood the shadows on this ground,
Dreaming of centuries that have gone before;
Great elms rise solemnly by slab and mound,
Arched high above a hidden world of yore.
Round all the scene a light of memory plays,
And dead leaves whisper of departed days,
Longing for sights and sounds that are no more.
Lonely and sad, a specter glides along
Aisles where of old his living footsteps fell;
No common glance discerns him, though his song
Peals down through time with a mysterious spell.
Only the few who sorcery's secret know,
Espy amidst these tombs the shade of Poe.
by H. P. Lovecraft
Eternal brood the shadows on this ground,
Dreaming of centuries that have gone before;
Great elms rise solemnly by slab and mound,
Arched high above a hidden world of yore.
Round all the scene a light of memory plays,
And dead leaves whisper of departed days,
Longing for sights and sounds that are no more.
Lonely and sad, a specter glides along
Aisles where of old his living footsteps fell;
No common glance discerns him, though his song
Peals down through time with a mysterious spell.
Only the few who sorcery's secret know,
Espy amidst these tombs the shade of Poe.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Providence: Beyond 2000
HPL wrote a poem of Providence in 2000. (Providence in 2000 A.D. on 4 March 1912) From his perspective it was many generations hence, but he was disturbed that the immigrants were quickly supplanting his cherished ways of life, a very human, albeit xenophobic, reaction.
Here's a Providence 2009 update.
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There are few smiles among those who live in Providence, R.I., these days. In February, the metro area reported an 11.6% unemployment rate, one of the highest in the country. Construction--one of Providence's major industries--is down; traditional manufacturing has been struggling for years. Like many across the country, few are spending at retailers. And while the area's median income is $54,064--about $4,000 higher than the national average--its cost of living index is steep, 22 points above the national average of 100.
All this means it's hard to catch a break in Providence. While not as dire, other metro areas across the country are facing similar situations. It costs more than average to live in Sacramento and Portland. The New York metro area's got an 8.2% unemployment rate; in San Jose, home to Silicon Valley, it's 10%.
Here's a Providence 2009 update.
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There are few smiles among those who live in Providence, R.I., these days. In February, the metro area reported an 11.6% unemployment rate, one of the highest in the country. Construction--one of Providence's major industries--is down; traditional manufacturing has been struggling for years. Like many across the country, few are spending at retailers. And while the area's median income is $54,064--about $4,000 higher than the national average--its cost of living index is steep, 22 points above the national average of 100.
All this means it's hard to catch a break in Providence. While not as dire, other metro areas across the country are facing similar situations. It costs more than average to live in Sacramento and Portland. The New York metro area's got an 8.2% unemployment rate; in San Jose, home to Silicon Valley, it's 10%.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Young Lovecraft 1
Now in English, the comic strip: Young Lovecraft
KettleDrummer Books, in association with Diabolo Ed., is proud to present Young Lovecraft, the web comic that took Spain by storm (selling over 4,000 copies), makes its English language debut in this hilarious graphic novel by Jose Oliver and Bartolo Torres. Oliver and Torres explore the childhood of H.P. Lovecraft, the great genius of literary terror who gave us the cycle of the Myths of Cthulhu, and forever changed the landscape modern horror. What happens if you cross Lovecraft & Mythos creatures, literature, Calvin and Hobbes, Tim Burton and goth rock? That's it: Young Lovecraft.
Check the online version at
http://younglovecraft.blogspot.com
Jose
KettleDrummer Books, in association with Diabolo Ed., is proud to present Young Lovecraft, the web comic that took Spain by storm (selling over 4,000 copies), makes its English language debut in this hilarious graphic novel by Jose Oliver and Bartolo Torres. Oliver and Torres explore the childhood of H.P. Lovecraft, the great genius of literary terror who gave us the cycle of the Myths of Cthulhu, and forever changed the landscape modern horror. What happens if you cross Lovecraft & Mythos creatures, literature, Calvin and Hobbes, Tim Burton and goth rock? That's it: Young Lovecraft.
Check the online version at
http://younglovecraft.blogspot.com
Jose
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Recently Seen News
In HPL's Colous Out of Space, it was obvious that his fascination for astronomy and chemistry came together in his weird imagination to make a meteor the theme of his story. Meteors always fascinate us, because they are true aliens to our world.
Elizabeth Wilson, Astronomy: Found Meteorites Could Aid Asteroid Studies, March 30, 2009, Chemical and Engineering Magazine.
Chrispy’s digest: Recently meteorites sprayed over the Nubian Desert in northern Sudan (October 2008). The uniqueness of this event is that the precise fragmentation of an asteroid is known and was tracked to the minute of disintegration in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Hundreds of the fragments were collected, and found to consist of dark, fragile, porous rock. Analysis continues.
Elizabeth Wilson, Astronomy: Found Meteorites Could Aid Asteroid Studies, March 30, 2009, Chemical and Engineering Magazine.
Chrispy’s digest: Recently meteorites sprayed over the Nubian Desert in northern Sudan (October 2008). The uniqueness of this event is that the precise fragmentation of an asteroid is known and was tracked to the minute of disintegration in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Hundreds of the fragments were collected, and found to consist of dark, fragile, porous rock. Analysis continues.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
More Real Life Cthulhu Science
Ivan Amato, Newscripts, Chemical and Engineering News, March 30, 2009, p.64
At the HPLblog we bring cutting edge Real-Life Cthulhu science as it happens. Chrispy is of the opinion that while Cthulhu may be a creature of exotic dark energy, upon his arrival to and just before he fell to sleep under the Earth’s surface millions of years ago, he looked about and saw and admired the elegant intelligent cephalopod, and immediately adopted that form. Therefore the more we know of these mysterious creatures, the more we shall understand of the wisdom and madness of dread Cthulhu.
{Just} as kids love candy, … giant squid, octopods, and other deep-sea cephaopodsike to stuff … their beaks ... {but} the only thing that remains … in whale’s stomachs are chitinized beaks. A French research team … with a cache of beaks from nearly 20 cephalod species retrieved from the stomachs of htree sperm whale s that had become stranded in the Bay of Biscay in 2001. The scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research and the Universit of La Rochelle used a high-end mass spectrometer {a device that blasts apart molecules, scans them, and compares the residue to known molecular and ionic structures thus determining what unknown elements are present in a compound}. The measured 13C and 15N indicators of {whether the food in their beaks was of deep sea or surface origin}.
In a recent Biology Letters the scientists indicated that the squids and octopods {had been eating} in deep oceanic beds, not along the continental shelf. The species spanned 1.5 trophic levels similar to dolphins {and whales}. The giant squid, Taningia dinae, is an aggressive top {of the food chain} predator. The giant octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, dwells higher in the water column, and is eaten more often.
At the HPLblog we bring cutting edge Real-Life Cthulhu science as it happens. Chrispy is of the opinion that while Cthulhu may be a creature of exotic dark energy, upon his arrival to and just before he fell to sleep under the Earth’s surface millions of years ago, he looked about and saw and admired the elegant intelligent cephalopod, and immediately adopted that form. Therefore the more we know of these mysterious creatures, the more we shall understand of the wisdom and madness of dread Cthulhu.
{Just} as kids love candy, … giant squid, octopods, and other deep-sea cephaopodsike to stuff … their beaks ... {but} the only thing that remains … in whale’s stomachs are chitinized beaks. A French research team … with a cache of beaks from nearly 20 cephalod species retrieved from the stomachs of htree sperm whale s that had become stranded in the Bay of Biscay in 2001. The scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research and the Universit of La Rochelle used a high-end mass spectrometer {a device that blasts apart molecules, scans them, and compares the residue to known molecular and ionic structures thus determining what unknown elements are present in a compound}. The measured 13C and 15N indicators of {whether the food in their beaks was of deep sea or surface origin}.
In a recent Biology Letters the scientists indicated that the squids and octopods {had been eating} in deep oceanic beds, not along the continental shelf. The species spanned 1.5 trophic levels similar to dolphins {and whales}. The giant squid, Taningia dinae, is an aggressive top {of the food chain} predator. The giant octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, dwells higher in the water column, and is eaten more often.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Free Lovecraft audio
Morgan is a regular at the Lovecraft Group (see how to join below). She's made recordings available, so go out and listen to them!
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I recently recorded an audio version of Pickman's Model. For those who fancy being read to, here are the links.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheLurkingFearByHPLovecraft
http://www.archive.org/details/PickmansModelByHPLovecraft
Regards
Morgan Scorpion
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I recently recorded an audio version of Pickman's Model. For those who fancy being read to, here are the links.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheLurkingFearByHPLovecraft
http://www.archive.org/details/PickmansModelByHPLovecraft
Regards
Morgan Scorpion
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Lovecraft, Edward S Lauterbach, and 1973 Fanzine
From the seller:
THE DARK BROTHERHOOD JOURNAL #3
This 1973 copy of The Dark Brotherhood Journal #3 was published by George H. Record who started an organization for fans of Weird Tales magazine, Arkham House books and other macabre fiction and called it The Dark Brotherhood. The name came from an Arkham House book of stories and articles by and about H.P. Lovecraft. After producing a number of newsletters and several of these journals, George Record seemed to disappear and the organization was no more. We think these journals were produced in a very limited quantity because we have a membership roster which only listed 116 persons as members, including some famous-name honorary members. Cover by Craig Robertson.
Contents:
Ave (editorial) by George H. Record
Lovecraft in the British Thriller by Edward S. Lauterbach
Atlantis: The Temple by Edward S. Lauterbach
Witch House by Edward S. Lauterbach
Reprinting the Classics by J.B. Post
The Second Passenger by Basil Copper
About Bram Stoker by Kenneth W. Faig, Jr. (includes a bibliography of Stoker's work)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Copy of Roy Squires Cat 8 Surfaces
Details from the auctioneer:THE LOVECRAFT CIRCLE
Catalog 8, H.P. Lovecraft and Friends' Books and Autographs
This exquisitely printed (of course) Roy Squires publication, H.P. Lovecraft and The Lovecraft Circle Books & Autographs was sent out October 21, 1974 to HPL fans and collectors. It lists "Books and Pamphlets, Manuscripts and Letters, Serials and Oddments." This catalog has many of Lovecraft's letters to Clark Ashton Smith. Included is a greeting card printed on heavy textured card stock and signed by Roy A. Squires. Besides the original mailing envelope, we'll include a copy of HPL's portrait by Joe Wehrle, Jr.The greeting card says, "Greetings" on the front and inside it says, "& may you discover in 1975 all that eluded your search this year" and signed, "Roy A. Squires." Here's the last item in the catalog of 160 items:
Pamphlets from my private press. I have begun publication of a new series of Smith's previously unpublished poems. The first of these, The Titans in Tartarus, is now available at $6. Titles of the next two will be A Song from Hell and The Dream God's Realm. The series will continue for at least 6 volumes. And for the record I should say that there is also a special Manuscript Edition, in effect o.p. on publication for all copies are reserved for subscribers.Yet available is Roy Bradbury's That Son of Richard III, ordinary edition, at $7.
The catalog measures almost 9 1/2" by 6" with 20 pages. The card measures 5 3/8" by 4 1/8". The envelope measures 9 1/2" by 6 1/2".
Pamphlets from my private press. I have begun publication of a new series of Smith's previously unpublished poems. The first of these, The Titans in Tartarus, is now available at $6. Titles of the next two will be A Song from Hell and The Dream God's Realm. The series will continue for at least 6 volumes. And for the record I should say that there is also a special Manuscript Edition, in effect o.p. on publication for all copies are reserved for subscribers.Yet available is Roy Bradbury's That Son of Richard III, ordinary edition, at $7.
The catalog measures almost 9 1/2" by 6" with 20 pages. The card measures 5 3/8" by 4 1/8". The envelope measures 9 1/2" by 6 1/2".
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Lovecraft's Follies
Another copy of this rare play has recently surfaced.
Here are details:
( H.P.) LOVECRAFT'S FOLLIES a Play by James Schevill
LOVECRAFT'S FOLLIES: A PLAY. (ISBN: 080400501X / 0-8040-0501-X) Schevill, James. Chicago: The Swallow Press Inc., [1971], 1971. Wrappers issued simultaneously in cloth. First edition. "A surrealist play centering around Lovecraft." - Joshi III-G-iv-6. The Margaret Brundage cover art is "borrowed" from a 1930's issue of Weird Tales (not credited on c.p.). Wrapers rubbed, VG free of any former owner markings.
LOVECRAFT'S FOLLIES: A PLAY. (ISBN: 080400501X / 0-8040-0501-X) Schevill, James. Chicago: The Swallow Press Inc., [1971], 1971. Wrappers issued simultaneously in cloth. First edition. "A surrealist play centering around Lovecraft." - Joshi III-G-iv-6. The Margaret Brundage cover art is "borrowed" from a 1930's issue of Weird Tales (not credited on c.p.). Wrapers rubbed, VG free of any former owner markings.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Joke
Thanks Julio, for finding this blog, and Arne for help, too!
From http://dodofuglen.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/le-med-lovecraft/
Sunday, April 12, 2009
More on the Allendale Coffin Story
No one knows precisely how Lovecraft imagined his story, but this one is very gruesome. Images of the deceased have been posted on the internet, and gives life to the dearly departed. A poet once remarked, long ago, that you can judge a civilization by how they treat their deceased.
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Summary of the story:
Body believed cut to fit in coffin
ALLENDALE, S.C., April 2 (UPI) -- South Carolina authorities have begun a criminal investigation into whether a funeral home fit a 6-foot-5-inch man into a coffin by severing his legs.
Allendale County Coroner Hayzen Black said "undesirable evidence" was found after officials examined the body of James Hines, a tall man who died in 2004 of skin cancer.
Black would not say what the evidence was, CNN reported, but he noted rumors that Hines' legs were cut so he could fit into a prepaid coffin.
An employee Cave Funeral Home, which handled the Hines burial, had no comment, CNN said.
Neither the county sheriff nor the local prosecutor immediately returned calls from United Press International Thursday.
The dead man's wife, Ruth Hines, told WJBF-TV, Augusta, Ga., 60 miles northwest of Allendale, she was "going through quite a bit" after learning of the allegations.
"It's like starting all over again, and it's left me with hurt and numbness," she told the TV station.
"According to the measurements on the casket, and the funeral director, we asked him, 'Was this suitable for his length?' and he said, 'Yes that will be perfect,'" Hines said.
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Summary of the story:
Body believed cut to fit in coffin
ALLENDALE, S.C., April 2 (UPI) -- South Carolina authorities have begun a criminal investigation into whether a funeral home fit a 6-foot-5-inch man into a coffin by severing his legs.
Allendale County Coroner Hayzen Black said "undesirable evidence" was found after officials examined the body of James Hines, a tall man who died in 2004 of skin cancer.
Black would not say what the evidence was, CNN reported, but he noted rumors that Hines' legs were cut so he could fit into a prepaid coffin.
An employee Cave Funeral Home, which handled the Hines burial, had no comment, CNN said.
Neither the county sheriff nor the local prosecutor immediately returned calls from United Press International Thursday.
The dead man's wife, Ruth Hines, told WJBF-TV, Augusta, Ga., 60 miles northwest of Allendale, she was "going through quite a bit" after learning of the allegations.
"It's like starting all over again, and it's left me with hurt and numbness," she told the TV station.
"According to the measurements on the casket, and the funeral director, we asked him, 'Was this suitable for his length?' and he said, 'Yes that will be perfect,'" Hines said.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Lovecraft Makes All Time Reading List
75. H. P. Lovecraft, Tales: Edgar Allan Poe’s 20th-century successor as the master of "weird fiction." His Cthulhu mythology has spawned a cult following. Caution: Lovecraft’s work is pessimistic, and redemption plays almost no role in his stories.
At LewRockwell.com an all time fundamental reding list gives Lovecraft as a notable.
More Cultural Literacy: A Reading List for Beginners
by Jason Jewell
In my last article, I provided the first half of a 100-title reading list for cultural literacy that grew out of conversations with some literary colleagues.1 This second half picks up chronologically where the first one left off, in the 19th century. ... more here.
At LewRockwell.com an all time fundamental reding list gives Lovecraft as a notable.
More Cultural Literacy: A Reading List for Beginners
by Jason Jewell
In my last article, I provided the first half of a 100-title reading list for cultural literacy that grew out of conversations with some literary colleagues.1 This second half picks up chronologically where the first one left off, in the 19th century. ... more here.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Ron Howard and writer Gore Vidal join Bill Maher, April 10 on HBO
Bill Maher is back on HBO for his Friday night wrap up of news, trends and analysis with some of the most diverse opinions and voices out there.
Ron Howard was recently announced to direct Image Comics’ graphic novel “The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft,” which is set to hit shelves this April. According to Variety, Universal and Howard's company Imagine Entertainment have bought the rights to the novel, and are planning it as a director’s vehicle for Howard.
The graphic novel is described as a nod to the classic Universal horror movies like Dracula and Frankenstein. The story is a bit of a Roman à clef of Lovecraft; his nightmares come to life, and the evils of his imagination are set loose upon the world. The premise borrows elements of his real life, such as family mental illness and his writer’s block.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Real Life Lovecraft: The Allendale Coffin Story
Thanks to T. Peter Park and Dave Goudsward for the news article and the reminder that HP Lovecraft's stories were sometimes as gruesome as reality.
An eye for an eye! Great heavens, Birch, but you got what you deserved. – H. P. Lovecraft, In the Vault.
(Read the Lovecraft story - click here.)
SC man's corpse was apparently cut to fit coffin
By JEFFREY COLLINS – 4 April 2009
ALLENDALE, S.C. (AP) — James Hines was a giant — a 6-foot-7, 300-pound preacher and funk musician so big that after he died in 2004, a macabre rumor began circulating in this small town that the undertaker had to cut off his legs to fit him in the coffin.
This week, after years of whispers, Hines' body was exhumed, and the gruesome story appeared to be all too true.
The coroner's office said only that it had found "undesirable evidence," and a criminal investigation has been opened. But Hines' widow said investigators told her that his legs had been cut off between the ankle and calf, and his feet had been placed inside the casket.
"It's just like pulling the scab off an old sore. I was kind of like smoothing things out. But now it's like starting all over again," Ann Hines said Thursday, two days after investigators pulled the casket from the ground, lifted the lid, photographed the contents and returned it to the earth, all without leaving the graveyard.
Under South Carolina law, destroying or desecrating human remains is punishable by one to 10 years in prison.
Reached this week, a man who identified himself as the owner of Cave Funeral Home, which handled the funeral, declined to comment.
The allegations were so startling that funeral directors around the country are talking about the case.
"You hear old wives' tales about this around the turn of the century, but, no, this was a shock to me," said Doggett Whitaker, a past president of the National Funeral Directors Association.
Ann Hines said that she and her family went to the funeral home after her husband's death to make the final arrangements, and she picked out a standard-size casket. At the funeral, only the top half of the lid was open, showing Hines from the chest up, she said. She said nobody ever suggested a bigger box.
Funeral directors sometimes pull up the knees or shift the padding in the coffin to make sure the body fits. But the best solution is usually a longer casket, Whitaker said, adding: "Just being upfront and honest with the family is the best path to take."
He said bodies are usually measured and families told where a corpse's head will rest in the casket. Longer caskets are routinely manufactured, though they cost more than standard ones.
Duffie Stone, the county prosecutor, would not comment on the investigation.
Around town, Hines was an unforgettable figure, and not just because of his size. An albino black man, he performed for decades as a soul and funk guitarist.
His group, J. Hines and the Boys, never hit it big but filled clubs and auditoriums in the Southeast, and small radio stations played some of its recordings, including "Funky Funk" and "Can't Think of Nothing (Blank Mind)."
He gave up what he called his instrument of sin when he found God in the early 1990s. But his pastor had heard Hines' recordings and, convinced that Hines should share his gift, took him to buy a new guitar.
Eventually, Hines became a minister in Allendale, about 75 miles southwest of the capital, Columbia. He played his guitar during services at the church he built and on a nearby Christian radio station until his death from skin cancer at 60.
At his funeral, several people, including one of Hines' five children, said the casket looked too small. Hines was about 79 inches tall in his bare feet, according to his family.
The interior length of a standard coffin is about 80 inches but can vary by a few inches, depending on the padding, the thickness of the walls and other features, said Scott Jones, chief executive of Service Casket Co., a casket distributor in Columbus, Ga.
After the funeral, the rumors began — started, some say, by a former funeral home worker — and it seemed as if all 3,700 people in town were talking about the burial.
Ann Hines said she threatened to sue Cave Funeral Home and the business agreed to settle out of court as long as she did not tell anyone how much she received. She said workers at the funeral home never told her exactly what happened. She said she accepted the deal and tried to forget about the whole thing and stop wondering why nobody even apologized.
Eventually, someone called the South Carolina Board of Funeral Service, and the coroner and an investigator with the agency received the widow's permission to dig up the grave.
An eye for an eye! Great heavens, Birch, but you got what you deserved. – H. P. Lovecraft, In the Vault.
(Read the Lovecraft story - click here.)
SC man's corpse was apparently cut to fit coffin
By JEFFREY COLLINS – 4 April 2009
ALLENDALE, S.C. (AP) — James Hines was a giant — a 6-foot-7, 300-pound preacher and funk musician so big that after he died in 2004, a macabre rumor began circulating in this small town that the undertaker had to cut off his legs to fit him in the coffin.
This week, after years of whispers, Hines' body was exhumed, and the gruesome story appeared to be all too true.
The coroner's office said only that it had found "undesirable evidence," and a criminal investigation has been opened. But Hines' widow said investigators told her that his legs had been cut off between the ankle and calf, and his feet had been placed inside the casket.
"It's just like pulling the scab off an old sore. I was kind of like smoothing things out. But now it's like starting all over again," Ann Hines said Thursday, two days after investigators pulled the casket from the ground, lifted the lid, photographed the contents and returned it to the earth, all without leaving the graveyard.
Under South Carolina law, destroying or desecrating human remains is punishable by one to 10 years in prison.
Reached this week, a man who identified himself as the owner of Cave Funeral Home, which handled the funeral, declined to comment.
The allegations were so startling that funeral directors around the country are talking about the case.
"You hear old wives' tales about this around the turn of the century, but, no, this was a shock to me," said Doggett Whitaker, a past president of the National Funeral Directors Association.
Ann Hines said that she and her family went to the funeral home after her husband's death to make the final arrangements, and she picked out a standard-size casket. At the funeral, only the top half of the lid was open, showing Hines from the chest up, she said. She said nobody ever suggested a bigger box.
Funeral directors sometimes pull up the knees or shift the padding in the coffin to make sure the body fits. But the best solution is usually a longer casket, Whitaker said, adding: "Just being upfront and honest with the family is the best path to take."
He said bodies are usually measured and families told where a corpse's head will rest in the casket. Longer caskets are routinely manufactured, though they cost more than standard ones.
Duffie Stone, the county prosecutor, would not comment on the investigation.
Around town, Hines was an unforgettable figure, and not just because of his size. An albino black man, he performed for decades as a soul and funk guitarist.
His group, J. Hines and the Boys, never hit it big but filled clubs and auditoriums in the Southeast, and small radio stations played some of its recordings, including "Funky Funk" and "Can't Think of Nothing (Blank Mind)."
He gave up what he called his instrument of sin when he found God in the early 1990s. But his pastor had heard Hines' recordings and, convinced that Hines should share his gift, took him to buy a new guitar.
Eventually, Hines became a minister in Allendale, about 75 miles southwest of the capital, Columbia. He played his guitar during services at the church he built and on a nearby Christian radio station until his death from skin cancer at 60.
At his funeral, several people, including one of Hines' five children, said the casket looked too small. Hines was about 79 inches tall in his bare feet, according to his family.
The interior length of a standard coffin is about 80 inches but can vary by a few inches, depending on the padding, the thickness of the walls and other features, said Scott Jones, chief executive of Service Casket Co., a casket distributor in Columbus, Ga.
After the funeral, the rumors began — started, some say, by a former funeral home worker — and it seemed as if all 3,700 people in town were talking about the burial.
Ann Hines said she threatened to sue Cave Funeral Home and the business agreed to settle out of court as long as she did not tell anyone how much she received. She said workers at the funeral home never told her exactly what happened. She said she accepted the deal and tried to forget about the whole thing and stop wondering why nobody even apologized.
Eventually, someone called the South Carolina Board of Funeral Service, and the coroner and an investigator with the agency received the widow's permission to dig up the grave.
Alam M. Clark and Cthulhu
13"x19" Photo Archival print. Limited edition (limitation 500 copies). Print image size varies with the shape of the image. Illustration for the game MYTHOS published by Chaosium, Inc. "Cthulhu Statuette" copyright © 1997 Alan M. Clark.
Details
SKU SKU19177
Store: Alan M. Clark Art
Price: $29.00
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Fall into a blackhole: Video
From:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16885-what-would-it-look-like-to-fall-into-a-black-hole.html
Lovecraft's Elder Gods may sleep here, too?
Yet More Cthulhu Stories. :)
The following product is on preorder or backorder. Our expected ship date / ETA: May 15, 2009 (all dates are tentative and subject to change).
Imagine being free. Free from everything that defines you, that makes you easily recognizable as who you are. Welcome to a place where bleak noir cityscapes share a Technicolor sky with combat fighters, where you can find gunslingers from the Old West and a lost chapter from a literary classic, all with something in common: Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. This is a place where the Crawling Chaos has to solve his own murder and the Old Ones come up against the Gods of Las Vegas, a place where the new player in London's underground isn't human and masked heroes go toe-to-tentacle with eldritch horrors. This is a Mythos collection unlike any other. This is Lovecraft in many colors, many guises. This is Cthulhu--Unbound!
Details
SKU SKU19181
Store: Bloodletting Books
Author: Thomas Brannan & John Sunseri
Publisher: Permuted Press
Edition: Trade Paperback
Release Date: May 2009
Price: $14.95
Monday, April 06, 2009
UgBJ0BL7zydw~~_1.jpg)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
CTHULHU directed by Dan Gildark (Regency)
SYNOPSIS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted from a story by H.P. Lovecraft. A Seattle history professor, drawn back to his estranged family on the Oregon coast to execute his late mother's estate, is reaquainted with his best friend from childhood, with whom he has a long-awaited tryst. Caught in an accelerating series of events, he discovers aspects of his father's New Age cult which take on a dangerous and apocalyptic significance.
RT: 101 min, color, Digital Betacam, aspect ratio 1.78 (16x9) sound: stereo, in English
Rated R for language, some sexuality, nudity and violence
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Lovecraft's Dreams: Geomagnetically Influenced?
Thanks to T Peter Park for calling attention to this article. I've condensed it for blog use.
.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16871-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-
geomagnetic-activity.html
.
Sweet dreams are made of geomagnetic activity
April 2009 by Ewen Callaway
.
{H P Lovecraft was famous for his dreaming. In his fantasies, dreams and madness were critical components of his exposition. Notably, Cthulhu dreams, and its dreams influenced sensitives to frenzy. Perhaps Lovecraft's intuition bordered on genius, since nw it appears that dreams are influenced by geomagnetic fluctuations, precisely the kind that a sleeping god-behemoth might produce nestled in the Earth's magma.}
.
Looking for an explanation for recurring nightmares?
.
New research suggests you can blame the Earth's magnetic field, rather than a
repressed childhood. Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist formerly at the Center for Space
Medicine in Berlin, Germany, found a correlation between the bizarreness of his dreams, recorded over eight years, and extremes in local geomagnetic activity.
.
Other studies have tied low geomagnetic activity to increases in the production of the melatonin, a potent hormone that helps set the body's circadian clock. So, based on anecdotal evidence that melatonin supplements used as a sleeping aid can cause off-kilter
dreams, Lipnicki wondered whether local magnetic fields could induce the same effects.
.
Between 1990 and 1997, he kept meticulous records of his nightly reveries, amassing a total 2387 written accounts during his teenage years. "I always wanted to do science with them," he says. For the study, he devised a five-point scoring system to rate the
bizarreness of these dreams.
.
Lipnicki looked up daily geomagnetic activity in Perth, Australia – his home at the time. A scale called the k-index quantifies local geomagnetic activity, and he included only days that scored on the extremes of this index. This whittled his dream log down to 66 days of low geomagnetic activity and 70 days of high activity.
.
Using these figures, Lipnicki uncovered a statistical correlation between dream bizarreness and geomagnetic activity, with freakier dreams occurring on days with the least geomagnetic activity.
.
{While this is real science, and a real study, the fantasy writer inside Chrispy wants to be credulous. However, the scientist part of me has grave doubts about the subconscious triage being done, and then applying statistics to pre-selected data. So, it is what it is, but my imagination soars to consider all those dark energy beings striving for immortality living inside our planet or outside our atmosphere influencing our dreams – and nightmares.}
.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16871-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-
geomagnetic-activity.html
.
Sweet dreams are made of geomagnetic activity
April 2009 by Ewen Callaway
.
{H P Lovecraft was famous for his dreaming. In his fantasies, dreams and madness were critical components of his exposition. Notably, Cthulhu dreams, and its dreams influenced sensitives to frenzy. Perhaps Lovecraft's intuition bordered on genius, since nw it appears that dreams are influenced by geomagnetic fluctuations, precisely the kind that a sleeping god-behemoth might produce nestled in the Earth's magma.}
.
Looking for an explanation for recurring nightmares?
.
New research suggests you can blame the Earth's magnetic field, rather than a
repressed childhood. Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist formerly at the Center for Space
Medicine in Berlin, Germany, found a correlation between the bizarreness of his dreams, recorded over eight years, and extremes in local geomagnetic activity.
.
Other studies have tied low geomagnetic activity to increases in the production of the melatonin, a potent hormone that helps set the body's circadian clock. So, based on anecdotal evidence that melatonin supplements used as a sleeping aid can cause off-kilter
dreams, Lipnicki wondered whether local magnetic fields could induce the same effects.
.
Between 1990 and 1997, he kept meticulous records of his nightly reveries, amassing a total 2387 written accounts during his teenage years. "I always wanted to do science with them," he says. For the study, he devised a five-point scoring system to rate the
bizarreness of these dreams.
.
Lipnicki looked up daily geomagnetic activity in Perth, Australia – his home at the time. A scale called the k-index quantifies local geomagnetic activity, and he included only days that scored on the extremes of this index. This whittled his dream log down to 66 days of low geomagnetic activity and 70 days of high activity.
.
Using these figures, Lipnicki uncovered a statistical correlation between dream bizarreness and geomagnetic activity, with freakier dreams occurring on days with the least geomagnetic activity.
.
{While this is real science, and a real study, the fantasy writer inside Chrispy wants to be credulous. However, the scientist part of me has grave doubts about the subconscious triage being done, and then applying statistics to pre-selected data. So, it is what it is, but my imagination soars to consider all those dark energy beings striving for immortality living inside our planet or outside our atmosphere influencing our dreams – and nightmares.}
Friday, April 03, 2009
Another Vintage Illustration: Recapture
More of an interesting filler, but intriguing. From a January 1946 Weird Tales.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Interlude
Last month was a great one for the HPLblog.
3,723 reads.
2,370 unique visitors.
Thanks to all of you who read the blog.
:)
3,723 reads.
2,370 unique visitors.
Thanks to all of you who read the blog.
:)
Antiquarian Artwork: Herbert West Illo.
From a recent seller on the ebayeum, an interior illustration of Herbert West in Weird Tales, September 1942.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Early 1900's Post Card: April Fool's Day
My French is pretty rusty after all these (30) years (someone help!!), but I think it goes something like:
In April, fish go for lovely walks. So, let's be like them, and skim quickly across the water, friends.
On this April Fool's Day, we can remember that Susie was a French language specialist, that Lovecraft hated fish, and would have little to do with superstitions. Or maybe, just consideer these to be Innsmuth Ichthians.
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