Saturday, December 24, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
T Peter Park Update
Peter, I am told, is fine now. I am trying to make contact with him.
Thank you, each of you, who wrote to me about him. I will certainly tell him, when I reach him, that people still care deeply for him.
Monday, December 12, 2011
T Peter Park
I'm not sure where else to post, so I am back at the HPL blog.
Peter and I spent many emails over the years discussing HPL, and his own mythic beliefs and theories. Of that, I am not unique, as many care deeply for Mr. Park and his legacy and interests.
However, since his serious illness in late 2010, I have not found anyone who has an update on his condition of whereabouts. I fear the worst and hope for the best.
If you do know of Mr. Park's condition, whatever that may be, could you drop me a line at chrisperridas@yahoo.com?
Thank you.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Yuggothian Driven Computer
Ia !!
Scientists have succeeded in forming a "feedback loop" between a computer and a common yeast to precisely control the switching on and off of specific genes. Full Story here.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wonderful Weird Tales Site
Tellers of Weird Tales
This tells the story: "Welcome to Tellers of Weird Tales, a compilation of biography and bibliography on the men and women, writers and artists, who contributed to Weird Tales magazine and its companion titles, Oriental Stories and The Magic Carpet Magazine, from their founding in the 1920s and '30s until the revivals of the 1970s and '80s."
Friday's entry was on Mary McEnnery Erhard (ca. 1885-?), and many more! Check it out.
Friday's entry was on Mary McEnnery Erhard (ca. 1885-?), and many more! Check it out.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Did Cthulhu get hit by satellite?
From the Call of Cthulhu:
... 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. ... The Emma, he says, was delayed and thrown widely south of her course by the great storm of March 1st, and on March 22nd, in S. Latitude 49° 51', W. Longitude 128° 34', encountered the Alert, manned by a queer and evil-looking crew of Kanakas and half-castes. ... and in S. Latitude 47° 9', W. Longitude 126° 43' come upon a coast-line of mingled mud, ooze, and weedy Cyclopean masonry which can be nothing less than the tangible substance of earth’s supreme terror—the nightmare corpse-city of R’lyeh...
While we are uncertain of the precise locations of Cthulhu, it is likely that the creature is both mobile when it wants to be, and its domain extends over a wide swath of territory. As in the recent Cloverfield movie, a satellite awakens a great beast when it falls into its domain.
Nasa's UARS spacecraft fell to Earth north-east of the Samoan islands.
Orbital tracking experts have now established that the defunct satellite entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 14.1 degrees South latitude and 170.2 degrees West longitude. Any debris that survived Saturday's fiery descent would have plunged into open water, the US space agency says.
While we are uncertain of the precise locations of Cthulhu, it is likely that the creature is both mobile when it wants to be, and its domain extends over a wide swath of territory. As in the recent Cloverfield movie, a satellite awakens a great beast when it falls into its domain.
Nasa's UARS spacecraft fell to Earth north-east of the Samoan islands.
Orbital tracking experts have now established that the defunct satellite entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 14.1 degrees South latitude and 170.2 degrees West longitude. Any debris that survived Saturday's fiery descent would have plunged into open water, the US space agency says.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Yuggoth Update: A new Planet "X" Uncovered?
A computer simulation has shown that our solar system couldn't have formed without an extra planet. But if that theory is true, what happened to it?
Yuggoth Article
David Nesvorny from Colorado’s Southwest Research Institute reached the conclusion after performing around 6,000 computer simulations about the formation of the solar system, nearly all of which required the extra planet .. The computer simulations also explain the fifth planet's fate ... the five gas giants begin tightly wound together. But soon the lighter planets of Neptune and Uranus get pushed into a further orbit by Jupiter and Saturn, and the fifth planet gets ejected from the solar system ... somewhere out there, there may still be a solo gas giant ... floating aimlessly through space.
Yuggoth Article
Monday, September 26, 2011
Fungus Among Us: Patagonian Galls
Dateline Patagonia, 23 August 2011.
Lovecraft's Fungi From Yuggoth may have been horrific, but German lager would not exist without a boost from the yeast of Patagonian beech tree galls.
The entire article can be found here.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Buy Books at Miskatonic Books
Fellow lover of weird fiction,
For the past several months we’ve been busy building our new site at www.miskatonicbooks.com to better service all our customers who love weird tales, ghost, mythos and dark fantasy.
We have only scratched the surface of our inventory and will be adding hundreds of more books from your favorite genre authors and publishers daily so check back often. Check out our featured author page here FEATURED AUTHORS
Like our old bookstore, our new site will cater to Lovecraftian fiction and weird tales in general. You’ll find our new site is easier to navigate, quicker checkout, and faster page loads. You’ll also get $5 media rate shipping on any size order that ships in the US and 5% back in points to be used on future purchases for anything at www.miskatonicbooks.com
If you’ve ordered a book through our store at Horror-Mall your order is still valid and there is no reason to reorder on the new site. All orders placed through Horror-Mall will be filled as usual.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me at miskatonicbooks@me.com
Please click the banner below to check out our new site and be sure to subscribe to this blog to stay up to date on all the new titles at www.miskatonicbooks.com and our own publications through our Arcane Wisdom imprint.
Thanks so much for your continued support!
Ufo's?
Lovecraft wrote often about "aliens on Earth" in a fictional manner, and much of what he wrote has seeped into Fortean and cult interpretations.
Unless one counts the 1890's reports, it has been nearly 2/3 of a century since the modern flying saucer phenomenon swept the Cold War world. Surely we have learned something since then?
In fact there is a lot we know, but not what we might have suspected. Beginning shortly after the WWII victory in Europe by the allies, an immediate cold war began inciting rampant paranoia in the United States not seen again since shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Unbelievably vast sums of money were expended to create clandestine organizations - most who did not even know each other existed - and they immediately set about to create spectacularly frightening and innovative technological marvels.
We also learned that humans are remarkably observant and equally poor at interpretation of those observations. Many of the clandestine airborne objects were sighted and reported setting off a frenzy in the government. Some thought this evidence that the Soviets were ahead in technology, not understanding they originated from sister, yet clandestine, organizations. Others were shocked that defense strategies were impotent to see or stop “something” that thousands were seeing. Retaliation was not analysis, but threats to civilians to shut up, and later to discredit vocal individuals with ridicule or with other socio-psychological techniques.
However, once the threat was perceived as relatively non-existant, a second wave of “cover-up” began. First, recruiting scientific types to counter observations and reports, then to coerce media to ignore or ridicule observations, and finally to simply ignore any reports.
Thousands of amateur civilians began to suspect something was strange, and since true scientific inquiry was marginalized by government pressure, they began to take their own reports and go down numerous blind alleys. Often, psychologically impaired individuals muddied the water, but by the 21st century some answers were forthcoming. Freedom of information acts also assisted in discovering that the intelligence agencies were mostly clueless as well for most of this time.
Humans experience complex reactions. An ordinary object perceived through extraordinary circumstances prompts layers of interpretation by the brain. A candle seen through a greasy window does not look much like a candle, but under usual circumstances we know it is a candle. But not when we are tired, have experienced collateral trauma of some sort, or are in a dream-state, or influenced by disease, or drugs, adrenaline, or other chemical modifications.
As hundreds of thousands of reports flooded into amateur organizations, they quickly began to see a wide range of phenomenology that did not fit well into “alien invasions”. Some did try to categorize a plethora of alien species based on innumerable reports, but one may as well categorize things based on dreams and nightmares. This is not the first time organizations faced this problem. Scholarly, but paranoid clergy once tried the same thing with demons, fairies, and in other cultures, other categorizations. This, in turn, corrupted the input because people began to read written descriptions of other reports and reinterpret what they experienced through those filters. A sort of cult-feedback loop happened, well-known to folklorists. Instead of reporting what they experienced, they put on a primary filter using language extracted and influenced by those who were actually taking the reports.
It took a great while to recognize this, and again, true academic and scientific researchers were unavailable due to self-exile. Real examination of this phenomenology might have made theses and jump-started careers, but no, they ran. A notable exception was Carl Sagan who tried for a short time, until he also seemed to either become exasperated or began to feel marginalized by colleagues and perhaps worried it might impact his career and income.
In any event, our world may have indeed been invaded by some aliens. There seems some solid evidence that alien microbes are here, and maybe at least once or twice a ship or probe may have landed. But with all the hoopla we would never know it for certain, and the leaders of our governments might be the last to know. It has taken most of sixty-years to begin to divide the paranormal experiences from the real experiences. When real experiences are uncovered, and examined carefully, a large number of these have been found to be clandestine government objects, devices, and activities - most by errant sub-contractors with the military quick to cover it up. Other observations have been found to be meteors, space debris disintegrating in the atmosphere, electrical or electro-magnetic effects, and so forth. This validates the keen observation ability by humans, and documents how poorly we can interpret phenomenon out of our ordinary experience. These same observations have been attributed to aliens, conspiratorial agents, ghosts, alternate-dimensions, devils, visions, deities, or angels.
It should be about time for experts and professionals to assist those who labor part-time as amateur investigators. Yet even as investigators close in on answers, our government is broken and dysfunctional, and professionals (such as scientists) are more than ever marginalized and fearful for their positions.
Unless one counts the 1890's reports, it has been nearly 2/3 of a century since the modern flying saucer phenomenon swept the Cold War world. Surely we have learned something since then?
In fact there is a lot we know, but not what we might have suspected. Beginning shortly after the WWII victory in Europe by the allies, an immediate cold war began inciting rampant paranoia in the United States not seen again since shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Unbelievably vast sums of money were expended to create clandestine organizations - most who did not even know each other existed - and they immediately set about to create spectacularly frightening and innovative technological marvels.
We also learned that humans are remarkably observant and equally poor at interpretation of those observations. Many of the clandestine airborne objects were sighted and reported setting off a frenzy in the government. Some thought this evidence that the Soviets were ahead in technology, not understanding they originated from sister, yet clandestine, organizations. Others were shocked that defense strategies were impotent to see or stop “something” that thousands were seeing. Retaliation was not analysis, but threats to civilians to shut up, and later to discredit vocal individuals with ridicule or with other socio-psychological techniques.
However, once the threat was perceived as relatively non-existant, a second wave of “cover-up” began. First, recruiting scientific types to counter observations and reports, then to coerce media to ignore or ridicule observations, and finally to simply ignore any reports.
Thousands of amateur civilians began to suspect something was strange, and since true scientific inquiry was marginalized by government pressure, they began to take their own reports and go down numerous blind alleys. Often, psychologically impaired individuals muddied the water, but by the 21st century some answers were forthcoming. Freedom of information acts also assisted in discovering that the intelligence agencies were mostly clueless as well for most of this time.
Humans experience complex reactions. An ordinary object perceived through extraordinary circumstances prompts layers of interpretation by the brain. A candle seen through a greasy window does not look much like a candle, but under usual circumstances we know it is a candle. But not when we are tired, have experienced collateral trauma of some sort, or are in a dream-state, or influenced by disease, or drugs, adrenaline, or other chemical modifications.
As hundreds of thousands of reports flooded into amateur organizations, they quickly began to see a wide range of phenomenology that did not fit well into “alien invasions”. Some did try to categorize a plethora of alien species based on innumerable reports, but one may as well categorize things based on dreams and nightmares. This is not the first time organizations faced this problem. Scholarly, but paranoid clergy once tried the same thing with demons, fairies, and in other cultures, other categorizations. This, in turn, corrupted the input because people began to read written descriptions of other reports and reinterpret what they experienced through those filters. A sort of cult-feedback loop happened, well-known to folklorists. Instead of reporting what they experienced, they put on a primary filter using language extracted and influenced by those who were actually taking the reports.
It took a great while to recognize this, and again, true academic and scientific researchers were unavailable due to self-exile. Real examination of this phenomenology might have made theses and jump-started careers, but no, they ran. A notable exception was Carl Sagan who tried for a short time, until he also seemed to either become exasperated or began to feel marginalized by colleagues and perhaps worried it might impact his career and income.
In any event, our world may have indeed been invaded by some aliens. There seems some solid evidence that alien microbes are here, and maybe at least once or twice a ship or probe may have landed. But with all the hoopla we would never know it for certain, and the leaders of our governments might be the last to know. It has taken most of sixty-years to begin to divide the paranormal experiences from the real experiences. When real experiences are uncovered, and examined carefully, a large number of these have been found to be clandestine government objects, devices, and activities - most by errant sub-contractors with the military quick to cover it up. Other observations have been found to be meteors, space debris disintegrating in the atmosphere, electrical or electro-magnetic effects, and so forth. This validates the keen observation ability by humans, and documents how poorly we can interpret phenomenon out of our ordinary experience. These same observations have been attributed to aliens, conspiratorial agents, ghosts, alternate-dimensions, devils, visions, deities, or angels.
It should be about time for experts and professionals to assist those who labor part-time as amateur investigators. Yet even as investigators close in on answers, our government is broken and dysfunctional, and professionals (such as scientists) are more than ever marginalized and fearful for their positions.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Kappa Alpha Tau Report: Willow
Dateline: NEW YORK (15 September 2011) — A calico cat named Willow disappeared from a home near the Rocky Mountains five years ago. Willow escaped when contractors left a door open during a home renovation. Willow was suddenly found Wednesday on a Manhattan street, identified by an implanted chip, and will soon be returned.
How she got to New York, nearly 1,800 miles away, no one knows. Whatever happened, Willow dodged coyotes and owls in Colorado, life on New York streets, and everything in between. Willow was just five and a half pounds.
A Kappa Alpha Tau Lovecraftian Salute to Willow!
interlude
Today: Not about Lovecraft, but still funny ...
“Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” Attributed to Jack Benny.
“Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” Attributed to Jack Benny.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
By the Light of a Gibbous Moon
(Art from "I Think I Went Mad" blog).
Here is an interesting new book out. It contains short fiction inspired by HP Lovecraft and is now released as a Kindle book. House of Yig is one of those stories, and this can be found free here (click).
It begins:
House of Yig
I, Father John Marylebone, have promised to record the statement of the Pocumtuck Indian called ‘Blind Crow’ exactly as spoken. This particular Pocumtuck is a fine reader of the English language, and has some letters as well, but he insists that his tale be recorded by a more learned man. He has done much work with the Church as we help the Pocumtuck people come into the Light of Christ, so I am happy to oblige.
Firstly I must set down, at my subject’s grave insistence, that he is not called ‘Blind Crow’ because he is old and sightless. It is an affectionate jibe chosen for him because of his clumsiness with tools and, I speculate, also because of his croaking laugh. It is a laugh unheard in Deerfield Township for many a long month now.
More.
Welcome to Cluthu Country
That is not a typo, Lovecraftians. Salute !! to our brothers and sisters of New Zealand, and highlight on:
Situated in the Cluthu River valley on highway 1 and Cluthu Valley Road lies the rural New Zealand paradise featuring the town of Balcluthu.
What more could a Lovecraftian want for relaxation?
The heritage of Clutha Country is rich and diverse. From Early Maori to European exploration, right through to the days of the gold rush and the hum of industry, the story of Clutha makes for a good yarn. Here's a quick rundown on our little slice of history...
Clutha Country’s rivers flow from inland mountains and lakes, creating fertile plains and verdant valleys. The magnificent coastline rich with sea life provided Clutha Country’s first great industry, and introduced the first colonial era. In Captain Cook’s 1770 journal, he wrote of a wealth of whales and seals as well as a safe harbour at Waikawa. However, a cartographer of the admiralty erroneously applied the name of Port Molyneux to this safe harbour, which was near the mouth of the Clutha River. The information contained in the entry still had dramatic consequences on the social history of coastal South Otago.
Situated in the Cluthu River valley on highway 1 and Cluthu Valley Road lies the rural New Zealand paradise featuring the town of Balcluthu.
What more could a Lovecraftian want for relaxation?
The heritage of Clutha Country is rich and diverse. From Early Maori to European exploration, right through to the days of the gold rush and the hum of industry, the story of Clutha makes for a good yarn. Here's a quick rundown on our little slice of history...
Clutha Country’s rivers flow from inland mountains and lakes, creating fertile plains and verdant valleys. The magnificent coastline rich with sea life provided Clutha Country’s first great industry, and introduced the first colonial era. In Captain Cook’s 1770 journal, he wrote of a wealth of whales and seals as well as a safe harbour at Waikawa. However, a cartographer of the admiralty erroneously applied the name of Port Molyneux to this safe harbour, which was near the mouth of the Clutha River. The information contained in the entry still had dramatic consequences on the social history of coastal South Otago.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Taking back the blog!
Sort of. Mr. Lovecraft has had this blog for many years now. But he and I must make a new deal - from time to time, Chrispy will hold center court.
News: Status of my proposed books. I am 2/3 of the way through the tentatively titled "Lovecraft's Grandfather: The Business Life of Whipple Van Buren Phillips". It is not peer reviewed, but I have showed it to one or two people. Their feedback, believe it or not, was that it was worthy of publication (I have a publisher if I finish by the way) and if I proceed to make it scholarly, I had flubbed the footnote formats badly. It has been many years (decades) since college term papers, so I admit I am very rusty. I am a scientist, but I am not an historian, nor a biographer, so I am learning new skills in order to attempt this. Wish Chrispy luck.
I am completed with "Young Lovecraft" to mid 1892. It is not to my satisfaction, but it certainly shows that what has been said about Lovecraft's first 2 years has much more to be stated. I can never praise Mr Faig enough, but by others these critical first two years have been given short shrift especially in light of new primary documents that have come to light on Miss Guiney, the Auburndale, MA. speculative real estate development between 1888 and 1893, and Winfield's expansive sales trips per his hotel announcements.
Don't hold your breath. Things could go south on these books. I am currently 55 years old, and this is very much a part time development that has to fit my very limited time. I have determined that if I do publish, it will most certainly not be for financial gain - unlike other Lovecraft endeavors. The sheer lack of interest in these subjects (perhaps 2,000 people out of 7 billion?) means that this is a labor of personal interest and for scholarship, though I hope some money might eventually be made and given to some charity or other. It is payment to Mr Lovecraft for the hours of entertainment he has given me since 2002.
What else is Chrispy doing?
If you don't see me on Facebook, or playing some Zynga game (curse you psychologist-demons of Zynga) that meas I am at work, church, or blogging over at Miskatonic books. I am rapidly losing touch with my old T-12 gang and old Horror Mall friends who are deeply into their own endeavors in and out of horror. I wish them good luck!
I am not writing horror as much as I used to, and I already see that my skills are rusting. So I may start up again. I have dozens of unfinished projects that would take me into my old age if I choose.
I feel toward our US government much as I do toward the governors of Kentucky. Each election I say, "How can we get worse candidates than these? How can any governor be this bad?" Yet I have watched wacky governors and presidents (of both parties) enrich themselves and their friends, while doing nothing to stop inevitable disaster. All I can say is I suppose we are getting what we deserve, and I will continue to complain, but expect no better.
This leads me to my next diatribe. I am no fan of Richard Dawkins. Today, I saw that he had his own pontificating windbaggish lambast of America, Texas, Republicans, and specifically governor Perry. Perry was clearly baiting political targets, and Dawkins fell for the bait, though one wonders why? He seems not to "have a dog in the hunt" in American politics, but loses little opportunity to sell his books. Or should I say one panderer should recognize another?
Ivory towerists never see the real populist reasons for things. It has been a while since I took biology, thank you, and I did major in chemistry, but if I recall Darwin's ideas, they were specifically stated in a way that I might paraphrase: When natural environments change they cause biological organisms to rapidly adapt to them.
I know almost no creationist, scientist, molecular biologist, or even CSISCOP's to object to this. We see it every day in every way, particularly with new dog breeds and Franken-crops. However, there is much to object to the catch-all term 'evolution', particularly as usurped and practiced by the British elites, Nazis, American medical staffs, and others who proposed social-Darwinism for political and elitist gain. Why one must denigrate people of faith - Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian for the sake of selling books on a THEORY I don't understand.
There are millions of scientists and engineers who are people of faith and practitioners of hope, love, and charity. They seem not to have an issue with living their lives peacefully, and do not get in the face of their brothers and sisters, grind axes, or descend to calling names. If only ivory towerists would do the same. And this should apply to name-callers on either side of this issue.
Lastly, what is wrong with horror?
I can sort of summarize my feelings a few ways. First, high expectations. We might think a return to the Stephen King/Anne Rice days is normal. THAT was the aberration. We are in a very normal sales volume for horror based on 20th century norms.
We insist of horror being in novel form. Horror is best practiced as short story. So what happened? Corporations pay by the word for some insane reason, so today's writers pad their works to get maximum gain for the least effort. They must type a minimum of three novels a year to maintain their B-list rankings, and be able to pay bills. Or they must hire assistants to type their books form outlines they provide and hope the imitations are sufficient to maintain their minimal fan base.
Please, bring back short story horror and pay a living wage to writers for it.
Alas, I fear that the days of Poe and Lovecraft writing a few short stories of quality each year, or even Charles Schultz doing every word, every line, every drawing, and every ink is as passe as, well, playing defense or the two-point shot in basketball.
Horror is corporate, and corporations - this may come as a big surprise - maximize profits at the expense of the least amount of outlay to employees. Karl Marx had the wrong solution, but he stated the problem correctly. Profit is good, but greed is bad, and absolute greed corrupts absolutely and is what we have today.
This is precisely the battle between E Hoffman Price and H P Lovecraft. Price stated that only in writing was the amateur held up as better than the professional. Lovecraft countered that selling stories for only money will always end up in mediocre work and hack work. They talked past one another, and neither made very much money. The middle ground ends up one of two ways. Very lucky talented writers write what they want and the audience finds them and supports them. Very unlucky talented writers end up poor and their stories in the garbage after they die.
I will guarantee there are wonderful, talented, horror writers you have never read because they did not attract a corporate backer, were unable to advance through the hurdles placed before them, and gave up. Or they chose to write something else to pay bills - say like Max Brand writing westerns, or Conan Doyle writing Sherlock Holmes. I guess that is back to natural selection.
Horror is a two-way street. You must meet it half-way. We have the worst economy in our lives, and the real unemployment is closer to 20%, and we have no confidence in anyone. We have to stop the merry-go-round and break the cycle of mistrust. If you are lucky enough to have a job, and inspired enough to enjoy horror, find a wayward writer and support that person. Take a chance on someone new. Buy their book, or support a trustworthy publisher (there are a few left) who is trying to help new talent. Do your homework, and while you may purchase a few duds, you will find a writer who resonates with you in the independent press.
OK, Mr Lovecraft, thank you for letting me have these few minutes on the HPL blog.
News: Status of my proposed books. I am 2/3 of the way through the tentatively titled "Lovecraft's Grandfather: The Business Life of Whipple Van Buren Phillips". It is not peer reviewed, but I have showed it to one or two people. Their feedback, believe it or not, was that it was worthy of publication (I have a publisher if I finish by the way) and if I proceed to make it scholarly, I had flubbed the footnote formats badly. It has been many years (decades) since college term papers, so I admit I am very rusty. I am a scientist, but I am not an historian, nor a biographer, so I am learning new skills in order to attempt this. Wish Chrispy luck.
I am completed with "Young Lovecraft" to mid 1892. It is not to my satisfaction, but it certainly shows that what has been said about Lovecraft's first 2 years has much more to be stated. I can never praise Mr Faig enough, but by others these critical first two years have been given short shrift especially in light of new primary documents that have come to light on Miss Guiney, the Auburndale, MA. speculative real estate development between 1888 and 1893, and Winfield's expansive sales trips per his hotel announcements.
Don't hold your breath. Things could go south on these books. I am currently 55 years old, and this is very much a part time development that has to fit my very limited time. I have determined that if I do publish, it will most certainly not be for financial gain - unlike other Lovecraft endeavors. The sheer lack of interest in these subjects (perhaps 2,000 people out of 7 billion?) means that this is a labor of personal interest and for scholarship, though I hope some money might eventually be made and given to some charity or other. It is payment to Mr Lovecraft for the hours of entertainment he has given me since 2002.
What else is Chrispy doing?
If you don't see me on Facebook, or playing some Zynga game (curse you psychologist-demons of Zynga) that meas I am at work, church, or blogging over at Miskatonic books. I am rapidly losing touch with my old T-12 gang and old Horror Mall friends who are deeply into their own endeavors in and out of horror. I wish them good luck!
I am not writing horror as much as I used to, and I already see that my skills are rusting. So I may start up again. I have dozens of unfinished projects that would take me into my old age if I choose.
I feel toward our US government much as I do toward the governors of Kentucky. Each election I say, "How can we get worse candidates than these? How can any governor be this bad?" Yet I have watched wacky governors and presidents (of both parties) enrich themselves and their friends, while doing nothing to stop inevitable disaster. All I can say is I suppose we are getting what we deserve, and I will continue to complain, but expect no better.
This leads me to my next diatribe. I am no fan of Richard Dawkins. Today, I saw that he had his own pontificating windbaggish lambast of America, Texas, Republicans, and specifically governor Perry. Perry was clearly baiting political targets, and Dawkins fell for the bait, though one wonders why? He seems not to "have a dog in the hunt" in American politics, but loses little opportunity to sell his books. Or should I say one panderer should recognize another?
Ivory towerists never see the real populist reasons for things. It has been a while since I took biology, thank you, and I did major in chemistry, but if I recall Darwin's ideas, they were specifically stated in a way that I might paraphrase: When natural environments change they cause biological organisms to rapidly adapt to them.
I know almost no creationist, scientist, molecular biologist, or even CSISCOP's to object to this. We see it every day in every way, particularly with new dog breeds and Franken-crops. However, there is much to object to the catch-all term 'evolution', particularly as usurped and practiced by the British elites, Nazis, American medical staffs, and others who proposed social-Darwinism for political and elitist gain. Why one must denigrate people of faith - Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian for the sake of selling books on a THEORY I don't understand.
There are millions of scientists and engineers who are people of faith and practitioners of hope, love, and charity. They seem not to have an issue with living their lives peacefully, and do not get in the face of their brothers and sisters, grind axes, or descend to calling names. If only ivory towerists would do the same. And this should apply to name-callers on either side of this issue.
Lastly, what is wrong with horror?
I can sort of summarize my feelings a few ways. First, high expectations. We might think a return to the Stephen King/Anne Rice days is normal. THAT was the aberration. We are in a very normal sales volume for horror based on 20th century norms.
We insist of horror being in novel form. Horror is best practiced as short story. So what happened? Corporations pay by the word for some insane reason, so today's writers pad their works to get maximum gain for the least effort. They must type a minimum of three novels a year to maintain their B-list rankings, and be able to pay bills. Or they must hire assistants to type their books form outlines they provide and hope the imitations are sufficient to maintain their minimal fan base.
Please, bring back short story horror and pay a living wage to writers for it.
Alas, I fear that the days of Poe and Lovecraft writing a few short stories of quality each year, or even Charles Schultz doing every word, every line, every drawing, and every ink is as passe as, well, playing defense or the two-point shot in basketball.
Horror is corporate, and corporations - this may come as a big surprise - maximize profits at the expense of the least amount of outlay to employees. Karl Marx had the wrong solution, but he stated the problem correctly. Profit is good, but greed is bad, and absolute greed corrupts absolutely and is what we have today.
This is precisely the battle between E Hoffman Price and H P Lovecraft. Price stated that only in writing was the amateur held up as better than the professional. Lovecraft countered that selling stories for only money will always end up in mediocre work and hack work. They talked past one another, and neither made very much money. The middle ground ends up one of two ways. Very lucky talented writers write what they want and the audience finds them and supports them. Very unlucky talented writers end up poor and their stories in the garbage after they die.
I will guarantee there are wonderful, talented, horror writers you have never read because they did not attract a corporate backer, were unable to advance through the hurdles placed before them, and gave up. Or they chose to write something else to pay bills - say like Max Brand writing westerns, or Conan Doyle writing Sherlock Holmes. I guess that is back to natural selection.
Horror is a two-way street. You must meet it half-way. We have the worst economy in our lives, and the real unemployment is closer to 20%, and we have no confidence in anyone. We have to stop the merry-go-round and break the cycle of mistrust. If you are lucky enough to have a job, and inspired enough to enjoy horror, find a wayward writer and support that person. Take a chance on someone new. Buy their book, or support a trustworthy publisher (there are a few left) who is trying to help new talent. Do your homework, and while you may purchase a few duds, you will find a writer who resonates with you in the independent press.
OK, Mr Lovecraft, thank you for letting me have these few minutes on the HPL blog.
Lovecraft alphabetic letters
This was sent to me by Paul, and as we post all things Lovecraftian, you may want to check this out. I do not know what the fundraiser is for, so check it out if you are so inclined. The link is above and here
For those who've been following the hints on our Twitter account this is the new Yoggie project - Lovecraftian Letters! Yes, now you can create your own Lovecraftian miniature tales and share your dark wisdom with everyone in your kitchen with over 500 Lovecraft-inspired magnetic words!
We've set up a fundraiser preorder via IndieGoGo to help get this unique item into production. The preorder comes with a variety of additional benefits and exclusives and we anticipate that sets will start shipping very shortly after the fundraiser closes in early October.
Lovecraftian Letters - we think "Grandpa Theobald" would approve. (Well, we hope. )
Based on H.P. Lovecraft's unique lexicon, Lovecraftian Letters contains over 500 words and word fragments that allow anyone to create phrases and tell miniature tales of eldritch horror. The handsome set comes in a metal tin you can use to try out your squamous combinations before putting them on your fridge (or brain cylinder).
There's never been anything quite like it and it's only from YSDC.
The fundraiser/preorder closes on the 10th October and all orders include prepaid worldwide shipping. It's something a little different from us and we're hoping you like it.
For those who've been following the hints on our Twitter account this is the new Yoggie project - Lovecraftian Letters! Yes, now you can create your own Lovecraftian miniature tales and share your dark wisdom with everyone in your kitchen with over 500 Lovecraft-inspired magnetic words!
We've set up a fundraiser preorder via IndieGoGo to help get this unique item into production. The preorder comes with a variety of additional benefits and exclusives and we anticipate that sets will start shipping very shortly after the fundraiser closes in early October.
Lovecraftian Letters - we think "Grandpa Theobald" would approve. (Well, we hope. )
Based on H.P. Lovecraft's unique lexicon, Lovecraftian Letters contains over 500 words and word fragments that allow anyone to create phrases and tell miniature tales of eldritch horror. The handsome set comes in a metal tin you can use to try out your squamous combinations before putting them on your fridge (or brain cylinder).
There's never been anything quite like it and it's only from YSDC.
The fundraiser/preorder closes on the 10th October and all orders include prepaid worldwide shipping. It's something a little different from us and we're hoping you like it.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Giant Lobster
Lovecraft mingled folklore, real events, and his imagination into some of the spookiest stories. Hoping to keep that spirit of newness and excitement alive, we frequently discuss weird beasts with slight Lovecraftian imagery to your attention.
What people thought they saw were organic shapes not quite like any they had ever seen before. Naturally, there were many human bodies washed along by the streams in that tragic period; but those who described these strange shapes felt quite sure that they were not human, despite some superficial resemblances in size and general outline. Nor, said the witnesses, could they have been any kind of animal known to Vermont. They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membraneous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be.
August 2011:
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, the general formula to estimate a lobster's age is its weight in pounds times four, plus three. That makes Coney Island's Big Red is an astounding 75 years old and still growing.
New England Lobster's bookkeeper, Jennifer Vargas, set out to save the giant creature when it was received on the West Coast. "This seemed like a [lousy] way to go," she told the Daily News. "A lot of the customers were interested in him -- the problem was, they didn't have a pot big enough."
The New York Aquarium in Coney Island, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, responded to an online posting, and the 18-pounder was shipped back East.
What people thought they saw were organic shapes not quite like any they had ever seen before. Naturally, there were many human bodies washed along by the streams in that tragic period; but those who described these strange shapes felt quite sure that they were not human, despite some superficial resemblances in size and general outline. Nor, said the witnesses, could they have been any kind of animal known to Vermont. They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membraneous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be.
August 2011:
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, the general formula to estimate a lobster's age is its weight in pounds times four, plus three. That makes Coney Island's Big Red is an astounding 75 years old and still growing.
New England Lobster's bookkeeper, Jennifer Vargas, set out to save the giant creature when it was received on the West Coast. "This seemed like a [lousy] way to go," she told the Daily News. "A lot of the customers were interested in him -- the problem was, they didn't have a pot big enough."
The New York Aquarium in Coney Island, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, responded to an online posting, and the 18-pounder was shipped back East.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Young Lovecraft and Astronomy
For this post, Chrispy will cast modesty aside. In earlier posts, Chrispy uncovered nearly the exact dates that Lovecraft almost died early in 1910. This was based on an obscure and sudden comet appearance, Comet 1910A.
He lost a great deal of weight, likely due to complications from measles and lung infection. He made a slow recovery, but was feeling well enough by the time of Halley's comet to go out at night by trolley and view it with his telescope and sketch it. With the help of several friends, mainly Steve and Dave, the precise point where he did his sketches was determined.
The articles below show the hysteria over Halley's comet which only phased Lovecraft in that he would have been appalled by what he would call ignorance. Note the "Comet pills" in the article below.
He went back and forth on Percival Lowell and his theory. This parallels public articles. Lowell was a powerful, popular figure and astronomers did not cross him lightly. However, as new telescopes went on line, Lowell's power faded, and astronomers were more vocal. This echoes the articles Lovecraft did in newspapers, as he mostly responded to the breaking news of astronomy.
What is becoming clear is that Lovecraft adored astronomy, but somehow he had a disconnect. He was a reasonably good observer, and a reasonably good writer conveying astronomical knowledge, but he did not become a good theoretician. Even with all the data he accumulated from hours of observations, Chrispy has not yet detected one original theory has been found in his writing - not even a bad one.
(His presentation of the theory of a ninth planet was bold, but it was a belief that many held based on a number of theories of the time. Lovecraft poeticized his Yuggoth, his near-contemporary Clyde Tombaugh searched for it.)
Can one fault his telescope? Not really. He read copious articles in professional and amateur journals. He associated with the staff at Ladd observatory, even using it from time to time. If he volunteered to crunch data, no evidence has been found.
This is not meant to be critical, as Lovecraft had a stack of issues between 1904 and 1911 that were daunting. He fell quickly behind in math comprehension - not a natural proclivity - and never recovered. He grasped other people's ideas rapidly, but could not use them to create his own. This may be an inherited Phillips trait, as all his successful Phillips' ancestors and relatives appeared to do just this. They were excellent managers (Chief Operating Officers of today) such as Theodore W Phillips and his adopted son also Theodore, or his grandfather who took other people's ideas and created wealth from them, or sadly, like Edwin his Uncle, saw opportunity but could not capitalize on it.
The articles below should expand into more readable views if you click them.
He lost a great deal of weight, likely due to complications from measles and lung infection. He made a slow recovery, but was feeling well enough by the time of Halley's comet to go out at night by trolley and view it with his telescope and sketch it. With the help of several friends, mainly Steve and Dave, the precise point where he did his sketches was determined.
The articles below show the hysteria over Halley's comet which only phased Lovecraft in that he would have been appalled by what he would call ignorance. Note the "Comet pills" in the article below.
He went back and forth on Percival Lowell and his theory. This parallels public articles. Lowell was a powerful, popular figure and astronomers did not cross him lightly. However, as new telescopes went on line, Lowell's power faded, and astronomers were more vocal. This echoes the articles Lovecraft did in newspapers, as he mostly responded to the breaking news of astronomy.
What is becoming clear is that Lovecraft adored astronomy, but somehow he had a disconnect. He was a reasonably good observer, and a reasonably good writer conveying astronomical knowledge, but he did not become a good theoretician. Even with all the data he accumulated from hours of observations, Chrispy has not yet detected one original theory has been found in his writing - not even a bad one.
(His presentation of the theory of a ninth planet was bold, but it was a belief that many held based on a number of theories of the time. Lovecraft poeticized his Yuggoth, his near-contemporary Clyde Tombaugh searched for it.)
Can one fault his telescope? Not really. He read copious articles in professional and amateur journals. He associated with the staff at Ladd observatory, even using it from time to time. If he volunteered to crunch data, no evidence has been found.
This is not meant to be critical, as Lovecraft had a stack of issues between 1904 and 1911 that were daunting. He fell quickly behind in math comprehension - not a natural proclivity - and never recovered. He grasped other people's ideas rapidly, but could not use them to create his own. This may be an inherited Phillips trait, as all his successful Phillips' ancestors and relatives appeared to do just this. They were excellent managers (Chief Operating Officers of today) such as Theodore W Phillips and his adopted son also Theodore, or his grandfather who took other people's ideas and created wealth from them, or sadly, like Edwin his Uncle, saw opportunity but could not capitalize on it.
The articles below should expand into more readable views if you click them.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
To Walter Coates, 1926
Note from Chrispy.
I have tried to make the blog as family friendly as possible. Thousands of people wander by, some addicted to HPL, some only tangentially interested in the topic. The absolute bombastic sentiments of this letter I can't agree with, and it is part of Lovecraft's personality that makes me cringe. I can't make him different, and I am also uncomfortable censoring him a centruy later.
If you do read onward, be prepared for the worst.
_____
H. P. Lovecraft. Autograph Letter Signed "HPL".
Two pages, 5.5" x 9", n.p.
[Providence, Rhode Island], n.d.
["Tuesday", perhaps 1926], to Walter J. Coates, plain paper, ink.
The text of the letter reads, in full:
"My dear Coates: - I wasn't especially defending Emily Dickinson, but was merely pointing out the multiplicity of the causes - & the soundness of a few of them - which impel occasional revaluations of literature from age to age.
The present case is not unique, as you may easily see by following the reputation of any varied assortment of authors through a space of several centuries. It is a mistake, too, to single out Victorian opinion as a basis of comparison.
In many ways the middle 19th century formed a naive & curious Dark Age of taste in all the arts - I hardly need point out its architectural barbarities. If we want to formulate a norm for the Anglo-Saxon main stream, we must consider the average massed opinion all the way down from Chaucer's time.
The Elizabethan age represented a far truer flowering of our racial impulses than did the Victorian. However - as I said on my card, your main thesis seems to me perfectly sound & well taken.
Undeniably - all apart from the effects of natural change and altered philosophic-scientific-psychological perspective - the world of American taste & opinion is distinctly & lamentably Jew-ridden as a result of the control of publicity media by New York Semitic groups. Some of this influence certainly seeps into Anglo-Saxon critical & creative writing to an unfortunate extent; so that we have a real problem of literary & aesthetic fumigation on our hands. The causes are many - but I think the worst factor is a sheer callous indifference which holds the native mind down to mere commercialism & size & speed worship, allowing the restless & ambitious alien to claim the centre of the intellectual stage by default.
In a commercialised civilization, publicity & fame are determined by economic causes alone - & there is where the special talents of Messrs. Cohen & Levi count. Before we can put them in their place, we must de-commercialise the culture - & that, alas, is a full-sized man's job!
Some progress could be made, though, if all the universities could get together & insist on strictly Aryan standards of taste. They could do much, in a quiet & subtle way, by cutting down the Semite percentage in faculty & student body alike.
It is really amusing how we simple Western Europeans have allowed Orientals to trample over our brains for 1500 years & more - ever since we let them saddle us with the sickly Jew slave-religion of Christus instead of our own virile, healthy, Aryan polytheistic paganism. In this matter of religion, though, we are coming back - for the Jew-Christian tradition will be extinct in the Western world in two or three more generations, save for the nominal Catholic ritualism of the eternal rabble.
We are getting back to the same Aryan philosophy & paganism which are naturally ours by right of blood & instinct. However - that isn't what we were discussing. As for literature - you'll find that the causes for contemporary change are many & complex, & that Semitisation is only one contributing influence.
Let Great Britain, still largely un-Semitised, be your index of comparison. Scientific thought in England is pretty straight Anglo-Saxon stuff - Bertrand Russell, Aldous & Julian Huxley, H. G. Wells, Sir J. Jeans, Eddington, &c. &c. - but we find the forces of change emphatically at work.
It was out of Ireland - where Jews are almost as happily scarce as snakes - that James Joyce's "Ulysses" came. The causes of our cultural changes, be they renaissances or decadences, are buried deep in complex historical & psychological phenomena. Our present convulsion - which is probably a renaissance in some phases & a decadence in others - is far too big an affair to be traced to any single origin. Roughly speaking, the thing is due to the effect of sudden new doses of knowledge, & of sensationally rapid changes in ways of living, travelling, earning money, & making things.
Personally, I think we're losing more than we're gaining; for of all the current changes only the matter of added knowledge & intellectual liberation seems really good to me. Weiss & Harris write very interestingly - especially Harris, who is refreshingly intelligent despite a narrow aesthetic horizon. He'll expand with the years, I think.Rather cool autumn hereabouts, so that I haven't been outdoors as much as last fall.
I don't envy you up in the Arctic regions! Best wishes - & I eagerly await your second article on literary transvaluations.
Yr obt servt
HPL
P.S. Is the magazine you want The American Poetry Magazine, edited by Clara Catherine Prince, 358 Western Ave., Wauwautosa [sic], Wisconsin? The man who prints that is a friend of a friend of mine, & is thinking of founding a pedagogical publishing house. If he does, I shall probably be his chief reviser.
_____
"Walter J. Coates was a fellow amateur journalist and small-time publisher introduced to Lovecraft, most likely, through W. Paul Cook (later to publish Lovecraft's The Shunned House). Coates' and Lovecraft's friendship developed over a mutual love for New England and poetry.
Coates published a great amount of Lovecraft's writing in his regional magazine Driftwind, beginning with HPL's essay "The Materialist Today" in October 1926. Later, Coates would print a good amount of Lovecraft's poetry in the same periodical.
The most striking content in this particular letter from Lovecraft to Coates is the former's bald articulation of an obvious anti-Semitism.
In the midst of a letter discussing Emily Dickinson and socio-literary issues, and amongst discourse on writers such as Russell, Huxley, Wells, and Harris (most likely his friend Woodburn Harris, to whom he had probably been introduced by Coates) Lovecraft launches into a diatribe on a culture he sees as "Jew-ridden as a result of the control of publicity media by New York Semitic groups."
Lovecraft's view of Jewish people is a most curious aspect of his personality. In many letters to friends and associates, Lovecraft espoused a similar opinion of Jewish people as he articulates here. Yet, he had numerous Jewish friends, and in his one marriage, betrothed himself to a Jewish woman, Sonia Greene.
Debate rages over the depth and degree to which Lovecraft actually felt his own anti-Semitism, but there can be no doubt that "the gentleman of Providence" held a viewpoint that is quite unpopular and out of vogue in current times.
Frank Belknap Long attempted to contextualize or rationalize Lovecraft's apparent racism in a letter to L. Sprague de Camp which appears in the latter's Lovecraft: A Biography. Whether or not one believes Long is his or her choice, for certainly enough evidence can be found from Lovecraft's own pen to support a charge of anti-Semitism.
Still, Long attempts to come to the aid of an old friend: "This may be hard for you to believe. But during the entire NY period, in all the meetings and conversations I had with him, he never once displayed any actual hostility toward 'non-Nordics' - to use the term to which he was most addicted - in my presence, either in the subway or anywhere else...If one of them had been in distress he would have been the first to rush to his or her aid. Emotionally he was kindliness personified. It was all rhetorical - the kind of verbal overkill that so many of the hippie underground-press writers engaged in in the sixties.
It was a sickness in him, if you wish - the verbalization part - but it wasn't characteristic of him in a deep, basic way."
This letter is in remarkable shape, with usual mailing folds, one small crease at the bottom right corner, and a barely noticeable fingernail nick along the right edge.
The page has toned slightly, but is overall in very fine condition.
(S. T. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life 427)
From the Robert and Diane Yaspan Collection.
Shipping: Flat Material, Small (view shipping information) Auction Location:
3500 Maple Avenue, 1st Floor Gallery, Dallas, Texas, United States
I have tried to make the blog as family friendly as possible. Thousands of people wander by, some addicted to HPL, some only tangentially interested in the topic. The absolute bombastic sentiments of this letter I can't agree with, and it is part of Lovecraft's personality that makes me cringe. I can't make him different, and I am also uncomfortable censoring him a centruy later.
If you do read onward, be prepared for the worst.
_____
H. P. Lovecraft. Autograph Letter Signed "HPL".
Two pages, 5.5" x 9", n.p.
[Providence, Rhode Island], n.d.
["Tuesday", perhaps 1926], to Walter J. Coates, plain paper, ink.
The text of the letter reads, in full:
"My dear Coates: - I wasn't especially defending Emily Dickinson, but was merely pointing out the multiplicity of the causes - & the soundness of a few of them - which impel occasional revaluations of literature from age to age.
The present case is not unique, as you may easily see by following the reputation of any varied assortment of authors through a space of several centuries. It is a mistake, too, to single out Victorian opinion as a basis of comparison.
In many ways the middle 19th century formed a naive & curious Dark Age of taste in all the arts - I hardly need point out its architectural barbarities. If we want to formulate a norm for the Anglo-Saxon main stream, we must consider the average massed opinion all the way down from Chaucer's time.
The Elizabethan age represented a far truer flowering of our racial impulses than did the Victorian. However - as I said on my card, your main thesis seems to me perfectly sound & well taken.
Undeniably - all apart from the effects of natural change and altered philosophic-scientific-psychological perspective - the world of American taste & opinion is distinctly & lamentably Jew-ridden as a result of the control of publicity media by New York Semitic groups. Some of this influence certainly seeps into Anglo-Saxon critical & creative writing to an unfortunate extent; so that we have a real problem of literary & aesthetic fumigation on our hands. The causes are many - but I think the worst factor is a sheer callous indifference which holds the native mind down to mere commercialism & size & speed worship, allowing the restless & ambitious alien to claim the centre of the intellectual stage by default.
In a commercialised civilization, publicity & fame are determined by economic causes alone - & there is where the special talents of Messrs. Cohen & Levi count. Before we can put them in their place, we must de-commercialise the culture - & that, alas, is a full-sized man's job!
Some progress could be made, though, if all the universities could get together & insist on strictly Aryan standards of taste. They could do much, in a quiet & subtle way, by cutting down the Semite percentage in faculty & student body alike.
It is really amusing how we simple Western Europeans have allowed Orientals to trample over our brains for 1500 years & more - ever since we let them saddle us with the sickly Jew slave-religion of Christus instead of our own virile, healthy, Aryan polytheistic paganism. In this matter of religion, though, we are coming back - for the Jew-Christian tradition will be extinct in the Western world in two or three more generations, save for the nominal Catholic ritualism of the eternal rabble.
We are getting back to the same Aryan philosophy & paganism which are naturally ours by right of blood & instinct. However - that isn't what we were discussing. As for literature - you'll find that the causes for contemporary change are many & complex, & that Semitisation is only one contributing influence.
Let Great Britain, still largely un-Semitised, be your index of comparison. Scientific thought in England is pretty straight Anglo-Saxon stuff - Bertrand Russell, Aldous & Julian Huxley, H. G. Wells, Sir J. Jeans, Eddington, &c. &c. - but we find the forces of change emphatically at work.
It was out of Ireland - where Jews are almost as happily scarce as snakes - that James Joyce's "Ulysses" came. The causes of our cultural changes, be they renaissances or decadences, are buried deep in complex historical & psychological phenomena. Our present convulsion - which is probably a renaissance in some phases & a decadence in others - is far too big an affair to be traced to any single origin. Roughly speaking, the thing is due to the effect of sudden new doses of knowledge, & of sensationally rapid changes in ways of living, travelling, earning money, & making things.
Personally, I think we're losing more than we're gaining; for of all the current changes only the matter of added knowledge & intellectual liberation seems really good to me. Weiss & Harris write very interestingly - especially Harris, who is refreshingly intelligent despite a narrow aesthetic horizon. He'll expand with the years, I think.Rather cool autumn hereabouts, so that I haven't been outdoors as much as last fall.
I don't envy you up in the Arctic regions! Best wishes - & I eagerly await your second article on literary transvaluations.
Yr obt servt
HPL
P.S. Is the magazine you want The American Poetry Magazine, edited by Clara Catherine Prince, 358 Western Ave., Wauwautosa [sic], Wisconsin? The man who prints that is a friend of a friend of mine, & is thinking of founding a pedagogical publishing house. If he does, I shall probably be his chief reviser.
_____
"Walter J. Coates was a fellow amateur journalist and small-time publisher introduced to Lovecraft, most likely, through W. Paul Cook (later to publish Lovecraft's The Shunned House). Coates' and Lovecraft's friendship developed over a mutual love for New England and poetry.
Coates published a great amount of Lovecraft's writing in his regional magazine Driftwind, beginning with HPL's essay "The Materialist Today" in October 1926. Later, Coates would print a good amount of Lovecraft's poetry in the same periodical.
The most striking content in this particular letter from Lovecraft to Coates is the former's bald articulation of an obvious anti-Semitism.
In the midst of a letter discussing Emily Dickinson and socio-literary issues, and amongst discourse on writers such as Russell, Huxley, Wells, and Harris (most likely his friend Woodburn Harris, to whom he had probably been introduced by Coates) Lovecraft launches into a diatribe on a culture he sees as "Jew-ridden as a result of the control of publicity media by New York Semitic groups."
Lovecraft's view of Jewish people is a most curious aspect of his personality. In many letters to friends and associates, Lovecraft espoused a similar opinion of Jewish people as he articulates here. Yet, he had numerous Jewish friends, and in his one marriage, betrothed himself to a Jewish woman, Sonia Greene.
Debate rages over the depth and degree to which Lovecraft actually felt his own anti-Semitism, but there can be no doubt that "the gentleman of Providence" held a viewpoint that is quite unpopular and out of vogue in current times.
Frank Belknap Long attempted to contextualize or rationalize Lovecraft's apparent racism in a letter to L. Sprague de Camp which appears in the latter's Lovecraft: A Biography. Whether or not one believes Long is his or her choice, for certainly enough evidence can be found from Lovecraft's own pen to support a charge of anti-Semitism.
Still, Long attempts to come to the aid of an old friend: "This may be hard for you to believe. But during the entire NY period, in all the meetings and conversations I had with him, he never once displayed any actual hostility toward 'non-Nordics' - to use the term to which he was most addicted - in my presence, either in the subway or anywhere else...If one of them had been in distress he would have been the first to rush to his or her aid. Emotionally he was kindliness personified. It was all rhetorical - the kind of verbal overkill that so many of the hippie underground-press writers engaged in in the sixties.
It was a sickness in him, if you wish - the verbalization part - but it wasn't characteristic of him in a deep, basic way."
This letter is in remarkable shape, with usual mailing folds, one small crease at the bottom right corner, and a barely noticeable fingernail nick along the right edge.
The page has toned slightly, but is overall in very fine condition.
(S. T. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life 427)
From the Robert and Diane Yaspan Collection.
Shipping: Flat Material, Small (view shipping information) Auction Location:
3500 Maple Avenue, 1st Floor Gallery, Dallas, Texas, United States
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Science Fiction
Here is an image (click to expand) of Google Insight's tracking of the term science fiction. There is a notable decline in interest in the term. Astonishingly, Northwest Africa seems to rate high in searches for the term.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Hola! Lovecraft
(Click Image and it should expand to be more readable)
Google Insights is a statistical tool to track trends. Since 2004 Lovecraft has plummeted in interest. One hopes that Chrispy's blog did not bore people away from HPL. :)
However, look at the global map. Spanish speaking nations score high in Lovecraft interest, while the USA is quite low.
The decline in Lovecraft trends proportionately to the rapid lack of interest in traditional science fiction.
There is a slight uptick in interest in Lovecraft lately, and one hopes it will continue.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
HPL Walking Tour 20 August 2011
Celebrate the 121st birthday of America's master of the strange and macabre. Author of "The Thing on the Doorstep" and "The Call of Cthulhu," H.P. Lovecraft was born in Providence in 1890. Join us on a walking tour which explores the College Hill neighborhood where Lovecraft drew literary inspiration and where he called home.
H.P. Lovecraft:
A Literary Walking Tour
Saturday, August 20
11:00 a.m.
Tour departs from the John Brown House Museum
52 Power Street
Providence, RI
Contact Barbara Barnes: (401) 273-7507 x62 or bbarnes@rihs.org
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Pale Mansion
... The Pale Mansion tells the story of one Arthur Bollingham, an heir to the eponymous estate. As the young man will soon find out, the Pale Mansion is not just any old house, and living there might not be as healthy as in other places of the country...
Chrispy had a chance to read through, this and if you like stories with the antiquarian pace of H. P. Lovecraft (would you be reading this if you didn't?) then check out The Pale Mansion!
Excerpt
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
New CD Release: Shorter Horror of M R James
Press Release, 18 July 2011
Nunkie Productions release a CD of rare material by the Master of the English ghost story
CURIOUS CREATURES
The Shorter Horror of M R James
Read by R M Lloyd Parry
Are there, here and there, sequestered places which some
curious creatures still frequent… ?
Montague Rhodes James [1862 – 1936] asked this question at the end of A Vignette, the last ghost story he ever wrote. This enigmatic, eerie tale is set in his childhood home in Suffolk, and apparently relates an authentic supernatural experience, one that he says “has had some formidable power of clinging through many years to my imagination.” It was published in a London magazine five months after his death, and is one of nine shorter, lesser-known works included on this pleasingly terrifying new double CD – two of which have never been recorded before.
Curious Creatures… also includes: A Livermere Poem ● A Night in King’s College Chapel ● The Malice of Inanimate Objects ● Rats ● A School Story ● There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard ● After Dark in the Playing Fields ● Stories I Have Tried to Write
The CD is performed and produced by actor and playwright Robert Lloyd Parry. Since 2005 he has toured a trilogy of one-man shows based on six of M R James’s best-loved tales around the UK, USA and Ireland. Reviewing the first of these, The Times said “Lloyd Parry catches the sense of dread that gives James his originality”. In 2008 he was award the Dracula Society’s Hamilton Deane Award for Best Performance in the Gothic Genre.
Curious Creatures – The Shorter Horror of M R James is available for £16.99 inc. p+p from www.nunkie.co.uk
For further details please contact Robert Lloyd Parry on roblloydparry@hotmail.com or 07722 859011.
Nunkie Productions release a CD of rare material by the Master of the English ghost story
CURIOUS CREATURES
The Shorter Horror of M R James
Read by R M Lloyd Parry
Are there, here and there, sequestered places which some
curious creatures still frequent… ?
Montague Rhodes James [1862 – 1936] asked this question at the end of A Vignette, the last ghost story he ever wrote. This enigmatic, eerie tale is set in his childhood home in Suffolk, and apparently relates an authentic supernatural experience, one that he says “has had some formidable power of clinging through many years to my imagination.” It was published in a London magazine five months after his death, and is one of nine shorter, lesser-known works included on this pleasingly terrifying new double CD – two of which have never been recorded before.
Curious Creatures… also includes: A Livermere Poem ● A Night in King’s College Chapel ● The Malice of Inanimate Objects ● Rats ● A School Story ● There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard ● After Dark in the Playing Fields ● Stories I Have Tried to Write
The CD is performed and produced by actor and playwright Robert Lloyd Parry. Since 2005 he has toured a trilogy of one-man shows based on six of M R James’s best-loved tales around the UK, USA and Ireland. Reviewing the first of these, The Times said “Lloyd Parry catches the sense of dread that gives James his originality”. In 2008 he was award the Dracula Society’s Hamilton Deane Award for Best Performance in the Gothic Genre.
Curious Creatures – The Shorter Horror of M R James is available for £16.99 inc. p+p from www.nunkie.co.uk
For further details please contact Robert Lloyd Parry on roblloydparry@hotmail.com or 07722 859011.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Chrispy is back !
2,795 blog posts.
I had to take a break, my dear readers. Not that I rested, oh no. But I have recently been flooded with new items from many good people, and it is time to start setting them down for each of you to review.
I am continuing to write on a Whipple V. Phillips biography, and a lengthy (multi-year?) new biography of Young Lovecraft (pre-1914). There has been so much new material I've found, I feel that it is worthy of an endeavor. Oh, if I only live long enough to finish it!
OK, starting tomorrow and following, I will begin to give you new information on items that have been forwarded to me. If you are one of those, I will get it up as soon as I am physically able to do so.
Onward ...
I had to take a break, my dear readers. Not that I rested, oh no. But I have recently been flooded with new items from many good people, and it is time to start setting them down for each of you to review.
I am continuing to write on a Whipple V. Phillips biography, and a lengthy (multi-year?) new biography of Young Lovecraft (pre-1914). There has been so much new material I've found, I feel that it is worthy of an endeavor. Oh, if I only live long enough to finish it!
OK, starting tomorrow and following, I will begin to give you new information on items that have been forwarded to me. If you are one of those, I will get it up as soon as I am physically able to do so.
Onward ...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Fungus I Have Known: Yellow Fungus
Above are some very vivid and startling fungal growths that were probably as big as 9 or 10 inches across. These images were taken on 26 October 2008. We have went back each year and while the yellow fungus is still there each year, it is only in very small clumps no more than maybe an inch or two.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
ScientiSnaps: HPL Three Years After His Death
In 1940, HPL was still vividly remembered and honored in scientifiction magazines. This one is from Walter E. Marconette of Dayton, Ohio and starting in February, 1939were mimeographed, a rather recent innovation over hectographing.
The Very Old Folk was featured here, and as it came from a letter written to Donald Wandrei on Thursday, 3 November 1927, he must be implicated somehow in its use. It would not be used in print by Derleth until 1944 in Marginalia.
SUMMER 1940 (Volume 3 #3) had this:
DEDICATION
Thls issue is respectfully dedicated to the memory of the late Howard Phillips Lovecraft 1890 · 1937 * Gentleman, Scholar, Correspondent of great renown, and the greatest modern Master of the Macabre.
Contents:
Fiction
"The Very Old Folk" by H. P. LOVECRAFT
"The Chestnut Mare" by David H. Keller, M.D
"Midas" by Charles R.Tanner
Verse
"The Nightmare Lake" by H. P. LOVECRAFT
Articles & Features
"Kaleidoscope" by Walter E. Marconette
"H. P. Lovecraft; Strange Weaver" by J. Chapman Miske
"Book Review; After Many a Summer Dies the Swan" by Jack Williamson
"Fantasy Footnote" by Harry Warner, Jr
Departments
"Fireside" (an editorial and readers department)
Advertisements....... 2, 26, & 27
_____
*edit
The seller typed in HPL's death as 1957, but of course it was 1937. Thanks Dave for pointing that out, and it is now corrected.
Additionally, STJ in his new bio mentions that the Old Folk exists in three versions, at least, but confirms this is essentially Wandrei's version.
The Very Old Folk was featured here, and as it came from a letter written to Donald Wandrei on Thursday, 3 November 1927, he must be implicated somehow in its use. It would not be used in print by Derleth until 1944 in Marginalia.
SUMMER 1940 (Volume 3 #3) had this:
DEDICATION
Thls issue is respectfully dedicated to the memory of the late Howard Phillips Lovecraft 1890 · 1937 * Gentleman, Scholar, Correspondent of great renown, and the greatest modern Master of the Macabre.
Contents:
Fiction
"The Very Old Folk" by H. P. LOVECRAFT
"The Chestnut Mare" by David H. Keller, M.D
"Midas" by Charles R.Tanner
Verse
"The Nightmare Lake" by H. P. LOVECRAFT
Articles & Features
"Kaleidoscope" by Walter E. Marconette
"H. P. Lovecraft; Strange Weaver" by J. Chapman Miske
"Book Review; After Many a Summer Dies the Swan" by Jack Williamson
"Fantasy Footnote" by Harry Warner, Jr
Departments
"Fireside" (an editorial and readers department)
Advertisements....... 2, 26, & 27
_____
*edit
The seller typed in HPL's death as 1957, but of course it was 1937. Thanks Dave for pointing that out, and it is now corrected.
Additionally, STJ in his new bio mentions that the Old Folk exists in three versions, at least, but confirms this is essentially Wandrei's version.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
An Odd Providence Happening (1910)
Speaking of the Aurora Borealis (4 April 2011 post), here is one that happened in Lovecraft's youth. 21 July 1910.
Eva had some type of ecstatic spell and called for an end of the world. Her let down, or come-upance as it might be, came on the day of a mild aurora borealis. It is unknown if she was a member of "the jehovah witnesses", but maybe.
She would have been nearly identical in age to HPL.
Monday, April 04, 2011
The Aurora Borealis in "Polaris"
Well do I remember the night of the great Aurora, when over the swamp played the shocking corruscations of the demon light. After the beam came clouds, and then I slept.
And it was under a horned waning moon that I saw the city for the first time.
_____
The third sentence mentions a "horned waning moon", which precisely matches data for late on the 7th of March, 1918. Of course this is a typical situation each and every lunar cycle. However, that evening was a night of low moonlight.
The "horned moon" can be coraborated in two sources, one calculated (briancasey.org), and one contemporary (Armour's Almanac 1917 for 1918). You will see (click to expand images below) that in Boston, the last quarter Moonwas 5 March 1918 at 5:44 AM. New Moon was 12 March 1918 at 2:52 AM.
However, why is 7 March such an interesting date? It was the date of a spectacular aurora borealis that dazzled New England and shorted out telegraphs. The product of solar flares, the energy is tremendous as it interacts with Earth's magnetic field. This one was a "hum-dinger". Between about 9:45 PM and 11:00 PM on 7 March 1918 the electric wires sizzled. The NYT article is below. Conveniently, Popular Astronomy received a Massachusetts report on the visual giving as close as what Lovecraft would have seen from his window or outside if he ventured into the cold (note snow on ground).
There is a slight complication, as that on 5 April 1918 another Aurora was seen of less intensity. That report is also listed below.
A star map from Popular Astronomy for March 1918 is included with green sketching (by Chripy) for the aurora (above). Polaris is marked in red. It runs right through Charles' Wain (wagon), also known as ursa major and the big dipper. Polaris is part of the "little dipper". One supposes that while Lovecraft was writing Polaris, he recalled the aurora and impulsively mentioned it.
To date, Chripy has not seen a definitive dating of Polaris. However, Darrell Schweitzer in Discovering H.P. Lovecraft (p. 75) states that "'Polaris' seems to have been based on a dream Lovecraft had in Spring of 1918, which is related in some detail in letter 34...". (i.e. to Maurice Moe, 15 May 1918, "...several nights ago ..." HPL had a dream about a city.] S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz in An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia mentions that it was written in late Spring or early Summer 1918 using the letter as a terminus date. This is repeated in The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories (2004).
Whether seeing the aurora in March, or even in April, stimulated the subsequent dream in May, Lovecraft clearly had this event in mind and forced the connection to the star Polaris.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Beyond the Wall of Sleep: Anderson's Star
Lovecraft and reality! There was a star ...
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. ... I have merely set down certain things appealing to me as facts, allowing you to construe them as you will.
All this he tells me — yet I cannot forget what I saw in the sky on the night after Slater died. Lest you think me a biased witness, another pen must add this final testimony, which may perhaps supply the climax you expect. I will quote the following account of the star Nova Persei verbatim from the pages of that eminent astronomical authority, Professor Garrett P. Serviss: "On February 22, 1901, a marvelous new star was discovered by Doctor Anderson of Edinburgh, not very far from Algol. No star had been visible at that point before. Within twenty-four hours the stranger had become so bright that it outshone Capella. In a week or two it had visibly faded, and in the course of a few months it was hardly discernible with the naked eye."
Lovecraft used Serviss' article (above), but he didn't have to go that far. When he was a little boy, he almost certainly saw that star. So did everyone in Providence, though Chrispy can't say that HPL recorded it in his astronomy writing, only years later in his notable story. If he and grandfather Whipple read the paper at all that week, they would have seen the headline below in one of the newspapers. This actually comes from the weekly circular printed by the Providence Journal called Manufacturers and Farmers, as the Providence Journal is difficult to find online.
Unfortunately, Chrispy does not have time to type up the entire article, but it can be read by clicking one of the links.
In Providence, Professor Upton and his staff were at Ladd Observatory, but Frank Seagreave lived on Benefit Street and constantly monitored the skies independently. He is mentioned prominently in the article, and very well known in his day.
Link
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. ... I have merely set down certain things appealing to me as facts, allowing you to construe them as you will.
All this he tells me — yet I cannot forget what I saw in the sky on the night after Slater died. Lest you think me a biased witness, another pen must add this final testimony, which may perhaps supply the climax you expect. I will quote the following account of the star Nova Persei verbatim from the pages of that eminent astronomical authority, Professor Garrett P. Serviss: "On February 22, 1901, a marvelous new star was discovered by Doctor Anderson of Edinburgh, not very far from Algol. No star had been visible at that point before. Within twenty-four hours the stranger had become so bright that it outshone Capella. In a week or two it had visibly faded, and in the course of a few months it was hardly discernible with the naked eye."
Lovecraft used Serviss' article (above), but he didn't have to go that far. When he was a little boy, he almost certainly saw that star. So did everyone in Providence, though Chrispy can't say that HPL recorded it in his astronomy writing, only years later in his notable story. If he and grandfather Whipple read the paper at all that week, they would have seen the headline below in one of the newspapers. This actually comes from the weekly circular printed by the Providence Journal called Manufacturers and Farmers, as the Providence Journal is difficult to find online.
Unfortunately, Chrispy does not have time to type up the entire article, but it can be read by clicking one of the links.
In Providence, Professor Upton and his staff were at Ladd Observatory, but Frank Seagreave lived on Benefit Street and constantly monitored the skies independently. He is mentioned prominently in the article, and very well known in his day.
Link
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Lovecraftsman: HP Lovecraft will be featured in the season finale...
The Lovecraftsman: HP Lovecraft will be featured in the season finale...: "In the upcoming two-part season finale of Supernatural on the CW, HP Lovecraft is going to make an appearance in the double episode, ..."
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
April Derleth
Publisher April Rose Derleth, 56, died March 21, 2011. The daughter of author August Derleth, April was co-owner of Arkham House with her brother Walden Derleth, and ran the company as president and CEO starting in 2002.
Arkham House has announced that sales and unfulfilled orders will be temporarily suspended.
Arkham House has announced that sales and unfulfilled orders will be temporarily suspended.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Are We Just Globs of Bacteria?
Are we all just globs of bacteria? If so, then the Lovecraftian materialists win, and Lynn Margulis is right.
Lynn Margulis rocked the biological world with her 1967 declaration that mitochondria were actually embedded bacteria somehow absorbed several hundreds of millions of years ago by animal life. The formidable Ernst Mayr declared her contribution "of enormous importance."
Margulis rejects the current trends of mathematical microbiology and neo-Darwinism. Her belief is that "evolution" occurs not by natural selection, but by sudden stresses forcing symbiogenesis. This is not exactly the same as Stephen Jay Gould's punctuated evolution, but goes toward solving the same issue.
Essentially, organism living in close proximity comingle and absorb microorganisms that in turn give them benefits that make sudden leaps forward for them to overcome the environmental stress, and to dominate their niche in that same environment. Examples are mitochondria in animals and chloroplasts in plants. Therefore evolution explodes in big jumps, not gradual selection over aeons.
She offers a specific example of a slug that ingested algae absorbing the chloroplasts making the slug photosynthetic. It also changes colors to reds and yellows exactly as leaves do when seasons change. In her view, cows are 40 gallon fermentation tanks. People hear because at some point a cilia containing bacteria was absorbed into the ear canal mechanism that was super-sensitive to calcium crystals (balance/vertigo) and sound waves. Also the cones in the eye.
Therefore, life does not branch, it forms webs of intersections at given times and environments. And we are in a real sense a complex web of millions of types of microorganisms in symbiosis all harmonized and specifically selected to our environment to attack and repel other microorganisms that are not acceptable to the conglomerate.
Margulis thus proposes one of the most radical forms of materialism in biology. We are unique only because of our incorporated microorganisms long ago disguised as organs and tissue. It is the collective "consciousness" of quadrillions of micro-life-forms that make us both individuals and species. Any radical alteration of these collectives then make us – or any other collective-organism - very different species or life-forms. It also explains a lot of parallel evolution. Like micro-environments or macro-environments create collectivisms that mimic one another (emus, ostriches, rheas, etc.)
______
And this news flash may flow right into Margulis' mincrobe-materialist viewpoint of evolution.
Experts at Edinburgh University set out to discover how the Transylvanian naked neck chicken (the Churkey) came by its appearance. A protein influenced by production of Vitamin A, BMP12, is produced, suppressing feather growth and causing the bird to have a bald neck. The findings could help poultry production in hot countries because chickens with naked necks were better equipped to withstand the heat. They also have implications for understanding how birds, including vultures, evolved to have featherless necks. Transylvanian naked neck chickens are thought to have originated from the north of Romania.
Kansas: Dust in the Wind.
Lynn Margulis rocked the biological world with her 1967 declaration that mitochondria were actually embedded bacteria somehow absorbed several hundreds of millions of years ago by animal life. The formidable Ernst Mayr declared her contribution "of enormous importance."
Margulis rejects the current trends of mathematical microbiology and neo-Darwinism. Her belief is that "evolution" occurs not by natural selection, but by sudden stresses forcing symbiogenesis. This is not exactly the same as Stephen Jay Gould's punctuated evolution, but goes toward solving the same issue.
Essentially, organism living in close proximity comingle and absorb microorganisms that in turn give them benefits that make sudden leaps forward for them to overcome the environmental stress, and to dominate their niche in that same environment. Examples are mitochondria in animals and chloroplasts in plants. Therefore evolution explodes in big jumps, not gradual selection over aeons.
She offers a specific example of a slug that ingested algae absorbing the chloroplasts making the slug photosynthetic. It also changes colors to reds and yellows exactly as leaves do when seasons change. In her view, cows are 40 gallon fermentation tanks. People hear because at some point a cilia containing bacteria was absorbed into the ear canal mechanism that was super-sensitive to calcium crystals (balance/vertigo) and sound waves. Also the cones in the eye.
Therefore, life does not branch, it forms webs of intersections at given times and environments. And we are in a real sense a complex web of millions of types of microorganisms in symbiosis all harmonized and specifically selected to our environment to attack and repel other microorganisms that are not acceptable to the conglomerate.
Margulis thus proposes one of the most radical forms of materialism in biology. We are unique only because of our incorporated microorganisms long ago disguised as organs and tissue. It is the collective "consciousness" of quadrillions of micro-life-forms that make us both individuals and species. Any radical alteration of these collectives then make us – or any other collective-organism - very different species or life-forms. It also explains a lot of parallel evolution. Like micro-environments or macro-environments create collectivisms that mimic one another (emus, ostriches, rheas, etc.)
______
And this news flash may flow right into Margulis' mincrobe-materialist viewpoint of evolution.
Experts at Edinburgh University set out to discover how the Transylvanian naked neck chicken (the Churkey) came by its appearance. A protein influenced by production of Vitamin A, BMP12, is produced, suppressing feather growth and causing the bird to have a bald neck. The findings could help poultry production in hot countries because chickens with naked necks were better equipped to withstand the heat. They also have implications for understanding how birds, including vultures, evolved to have featherless necks. Transylvanian naked neck chickens are thought to have originated from the north of Romania.
Kansas: Dust in the Wind.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Wilhelm Nauck
Here you will see that Mr. Nauck was a significant presence in language studies in Providence.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Abbie Shepardson Nauck - 1
You will see in this article that the future Mrs. Nauck was quite accomplished at violin.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Lovecraft in the 21st Century: A View
Below are three non-consecutive paragraphs from Davis' interesting blog-excerpt and from the book, Darklore Volume 5. Hopefully, you will be tempted to read it in its entirety.
Calling Cthulhu
by Erik Davis
For Lovecraft, it is not the sleep of reason that breeds monsters, but reason with its eyes agog. By fusing cutting-edge science with archaic material, Lovecraft creates a twisted materialism in which scientific “progress” returns us to the atavistic abyss, and hard-nosed research revives the factual basis of forgotten and discarded myths.
Lovecraft’s fiction expresses a “future primitivism” that finds its most intense esoteric expression in Chaos magic, an eclectic contemporary style of darkside occultism that draws from Thelema, Satanism, Austin Osman Spare, and Eastern metaphysics to construct a thoroughly postmodern magic.
Lovecraft’s father was a traveling salesman who died in a madhouse when Lovecraft was eight, and vague rumors that he was an initiate in some Masonic order or other were exploited in the Necronomicon cobbled together by George Hay, Colin Wilson, and Robert Turner. Others have tried to track Lovecraft’s occult know-how, especially his familiarity with Aleister Crowley and the Golden Dawn. In an Internet document relating the history of the “real” Necronomicon, Colin Low argues that Crowley befriended Sonia Greene in New York a few years before the woman married Lovecraft.
more --- click!
Calling Cthulhu
by Erik Davis
For Lovecraft, it is not the sleep of reason that breeds monsters, but reason with its eyes agog. By fusing cutting-edge science with archaic material, Lovecraft creates a twisted materialism in which scientific “progress” returns us to the atavistic abyss, and hard-nosed research revives the factual basis of forgotten and discarded myths.
Lovecraft’s fiction expresses a “future primitivism” that finds its most intense esoteric expression in Chaos magic, an eclectic contemporary style of darkside occultism that draws from Thelema, Satanism, Austin Osman Spare, and Eastern metaphysics to construct a thoroughly postmodern magic.
Lovecraft’s father was a traveling salesman who died in a madhouse when Lovecraft was eight, and vague rumors that he was an initiate in some Masonic order or other were exploited in the Necronomicon cobbled together by George Hay, Colin Wilson, and Robert Turner. Others have tried to track Lovecraft’s occult know-how, especially his familiarity with Aleister Crowley and the Golden Dawn. In an Internet document relating the history of the “real” Necronomicon, Colin Low argues that Crowley befriended Sonia Greene in New York a few years before the woman married Lovecraft.
more --- click!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Abby Clinton Shepardson Nauck
At last, REVEALED!
The violinist, Mrs. Nauck, wife of Wilhelm, was from a musical background. It appears her father was a sort of inventor of a reed tuning device. She lived a long life.
Above an e-clipping of where she played for a wedding in 1910.
Additional below:
Name: Abbie Clinton Shepardson Nauck
Gender: Female
Burial Date:
Burial Place:
Death Date: 04 Mar 1939
Death Place: Providence, Rhode Island
Age: 82
Birth Date: 1857
Birthplace:
Occupation:
Race:
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Wilhelm Nauck
Father's Name: Edmund E. Shepardson
Father's Birthplace:
Mother's Name: Emma M Evans
Mother's Birthplace:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: B03124-4
System Origin: Rhode Island-EASy
Source Film Number: 1955171
Reference Number: 26
_____
Name: Wilhelm Nauck
Gender: Male
Burial Date:
Burial Place:
Death Date: 24 Jun 1925
Death Place: Providence, Ri
Age: 66
Birth Date: 1859
Birthplace:
Occupation:
Race:
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Abbie S. Nauck
Father's Name: Carl Nauck
Father's Birthplace:
Mother's Name: Luise Sheideman
Mother's Birthplace:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: B03100-0
System Origin: Rhode Island-EASy
Source Film Number: 1940317
Reference Number: 234
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Frank Belknap Long, Sr !
The Beginning of Frank Belknap Long, Jr.?
Belknapius, as HPL called Frank Belknap Long, Jr., was a progeny and keenly fascinated with creating the blend of horror fantasy known as "the weird tale". It's hard to know who adored who the most, HPL or Long!
One little e-news clipping (above) seems to be the very beginning of young Mr. Long, Jr., though he was but a glint of love between these two people at the time. This reports his parents marriage!
If you are a romantic about weddings, these details may make you swoon. The Bride wore white – with flounces! The bridesmaids wore yellow and saffron! Diamonds were given out like candy! (Almost). Dr. Long (senior) was a dentist, and at least for the wedding day, a Baptist.
You'll see the date of this marriage was on 20 November 1895. Dr. Long had been practicing dentistry (a dental surgery specialist), and as can be seen (from the Dental Cosmos, Vol. 34, 1892) he'd graduated 10 March - only a few years before.
It shouldn't be presumed that just because Belknapius' father surgically extracted teeth from suffering patients that this drove him to write The Hounds of Tindalus, but then again …
_____
For you genealogy buffs:
EMMA AUGUSTA MANSFIELD [Belknapius' grandmother}, born July 22, 1846, married Sept. 15, 1869, Charles E. Doty. Their children are May Mansfield Doty, born Oct. 18, 1870 ; Cassie Mansfield Doty, born Feb. 22, 1872 : and Mansfield Mudge Doty, born Aug. 18, 1879.
This makes Mrs. Long (nee May Mansfield Doty) about 20 years older than HPL, and much youunger than his mother's age - Susan born 1857.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Celebrating H.P. Lovecraft: A Library Walk
March 19, 2011 - - time sensitive info.
Special Walking Tour
Celebrating H.P. Lovecraft: A Library Walk
Saturday, March 19
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: John Brown House Museum
Fee: $10 per person
For more information contact: Barbara Barnes
401-273-7507 x62 or bbarnes@rihs.org
Special Walking Tour
Celebrating H.P. Lovecraft: A Library Walk
Saturday, March 19
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: John Brown House Museum
Fee: $10 per person
For more information contact: Barbara Barnes
401-273-7507 x62 or bbarnes@rihs.org
Friday, March 11, 2011
Fungi Not From Yuggoth
For more fungi see:
http://discovermagazine.com/photos/24-the-funky-fungi-freak-show
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Lunar Extreme
On March 19, 2011, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away. On top of that, it will be full.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Lovecraft in Context
Lovecraft has been roundly criticized for his negative ethnic beliefs. As should we all.
However, we must continue to place hPL in context, and as a child of the Phillips family. HPL was born in 1890, and his family came from western Rhode Island. His grandfather, Whipple, once met Abraham Lincoln, and the entire family was staunchly Republican - as a time when Republicans were just beginning to be a party.
A new book clearly states Lincoln's early beliefs - sentiments that ran deep in many white families in the United States. This is not to take away any proactive or positive attributes of Lincoln, the Phillips family, or even Lovecraft. It is what it is, and people are products of our times. Beware throwing stones in a glass house. The news article states Lincoln spoke thusly:
"For the sake of your race, you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people," Lincoln said, promoting his idea of colonization: resettling blacks in foreign countries on the belief that whites and blacks could not coexist in the same nation.
Lincoln went on to say that free blacks who envisioned a permanent life in the United States were being "selfish" and he promoted Central America as an ideal location "especially because of the similarity of climate with your native land — thus being suited to your physical condition."
As the nation celebrates the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's first inauguration Friday, a new book by a researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax makes the case that Lincoln was even more committed to colonizing blacks than previously known.
However, we must continue to place hPL in context, and as a child of the Phillips family. HPL was born in 1890, and his family came from western Rhode Island. His grandfather, Whipple, once met Abraham Lincoln, and the entire family was staunchly Republican - as a time when Republicans were just beginning to be a party.
A new book clearly states Lincoln's early beliefs - sentiments that ran deep in many white families in the United States. This is not to take away any proactive or positive attributes of Lincoln, the Phillips family, or even Lovecraft. It is what it is, and people are products of our times. Beware throwing stones in a glass house. The news article states Lincoln spoke thusly:
"For the sake of your race, you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people," Lincoln said, promoting his idea of colonization: resettling blacks in foreign countries on the belief that whites and blacks could not coexist in the same nation.
Lincoln went on to say that free blacks who envisioned a permanent life in the United States were being "selfish" and he promoted Central America as an ideal location "especially because of the similarity of climate with your native land — thus being suited to your physical condition."
As the nation celebrates the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's first inauguration Friday, a new book by a researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax makes the case that Lincoln was even more committed to colonizing blacks than previously known.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Next New Horror?
As anyone can tell horror is down for the count. Only parodies are selling. The latest is "mash-ups" which is a traditional or literary out-of-copyright setting or characters set in a zombie, or sometimes vampire story. Jane Austen zombies and Abraham Lincoln vampires are two recent ones.
Zombies are hot. Most likely because we feel we live in a world that has become zombiefied. Our governments are inept, overtaken by their shadow counterparts. We are unemployed, and therefore just living-dead.
However, as a student of antiquarian horror, I can say that the next new horror will not be a rehash of what has come before. While the old saying, "People who do not know history are doomed to repeat it," is true, there is a corollary. We do not live the future in a rear-view mirror. We are a people who are influenced subliminally by our present.
Lovecraft's fiction was about his xenophobia. The Weird Tale circle was a means to deal with transition out of Poe influenced, and Gothic horror. They collided with a parallel fantasy movement, scientifiction. It dominated fantasy fiction for decades as science moved us from the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age. It was Modernism.
In that milieu, Robert Bloch, Shirley Jackson, and even Tom Harris came out with a blend of reality-noir-right-next-door horror.
We are now post-post-modern. The bizarro fantasy fiction wave has explored a number of avenues of that post-post-modern phase and is still doing so with great effect and success, though none of it has hit NYT best seller status.
When 9/11 changed the world, did you notice that ghost fiction and reality was everywhere? We wanted to understand our roots, and so we told ghost stories on TV and in small communities. Ghost stories are society's means of remembering history, and those who have lived before us. That all changed when the world economy went south. Zombies are now the rage.
But what's next?
I think the merger of Lovecraft-Mythos with Forteanism is one path. It is quite obvious in the movies.
The other wave is just beginning. Conspiratorial horror. Steve Alten and Whitley Strieber have pioneered that format. Alten's Grim Reaper and a few others of his tie together cabala, conspiratorialism, and well researched history. Streiber, long a believer of extra and ultraterrestrials has several books out now exploring what that might mean. His and Art Bell's Day After Tomorrow combined conspiratorial viewpoint with adventure.
Horror is down, but I'm enjoying new writers who are already percolating what will be the new-new thing.
Zombies are hot. Most likely because we feel we live in a world that has become zombiefied. Our governments are inept, overtaken by their shadow counterparts. We are unemployed, and therefore just living-dead.
However, as a student of antiquarian horror, I can say that the next new horror will not be a rehash of what has come before. While the old saying, "People who do not know history are doomed to repeat it," is true, there is a corollary. We do not live the future in a rear-view mirror. We are a people who are influenced subliminally by our present.
Lovecraft's fiction was about his xenophobia. The Weird Tale circle was a means to deal with transition out of Poe influenced, and Gothic horror. They collided with a parallel fantasy movement, scientifiction. It dominated fantasy fiction for decades as science moved us from the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age. It was Modernism.
In that milieu, Robert Bloch, Shirley Jackson, and even Tom Harris came out with a blend of reality-noir-right-next-door horror.
We are now post-post-modern. The bizarro fantasy fiction wave has explored a number of avenues of that post-post-modern phase and is still doing so with great effect and success, though none of it has hit NYT best seller status.
When 9/11 changed the world, did you notice that ghost fiction and reality was everywhere? We wanted to understand our roots, and so we told ghost stories on TV and in small communities. Ghost stories are society's means of remembering history, and those who have lived before us. That all changed when the world economy went south. Zombies are now the rage.
But what's next?
I think the merger of Lovecraft-Mythos with Forteanism is one path. It is quite obvious in the movies.
The other wave is just beginning. Conspiratorial horror. Steve Alten and Whitley Strieber have pioneered that format. Alten's Grim Reaper and a few others of his tie together cabala, conspiratorialism, and well researched history. Streiber, long a believer of extra and ultraterrestrials has several books out now exploring what that might mean. His and Art Bell's Day After Tomorrow combined conspiratorial viewpoint with adventure.
Horror is down, but I'm enjoying new writers who are already percolating what will be the new-new thing.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Cat - Human Bonding
Kappa Alpha Tau report here. Lovecraft adored cats, and they seemed to know that instinctively by his many reports.
Cats Adore, Manipulate Women
Cats attach to humans, and particularly women, as social partners, and it's not just for the sake of obtaining food.
Cats attach to humans, and particularly women, as social partners ... nearly identical to human-only bonds, with cats sometimes even becoming a furry "child" in nurturing homes.
For the study, led by Kurt Kotrschal of the Konrad Lorenz Research Station and the University of Vienna, the researchers videotaped and later analyzed interactions between 41 cats and their owners over lengthy four-part periods. Each and every behavior of both the cat and owner was noted. Owner and cat personalities were also assessed in a separate test. For the cat assessment, the authors placed a stuffed owl toy with large glass eyes on a floor so the feline would encounter it by surprise.
The researchers determined that cats and their owners strongly influenced each other, such that they were each often controlling the other's behaviors. Extroverted women with young, active cats enjoyed the greatest synchronicity, with cats in these relationships only having to use subtle cues, such as a single upright tail move, to signal desire for friendly contact.
While cats have plenty of male admirers, and vice versa, this study and others reveal that women tend to interact with their cats -- be they male or female felines -- more than men do.
"In response, the cats approach female owners more frequently, and initiate contact more frequently (such as jumping on laps) than they do with male owners," co-author Manuela Wedl of the University of Vienna told Discovery News, adding that "female owners have more intense relationships with their cats than do male owners."
Cats also seem to remember kindness and return the favors later. If owners comply with their feline's wishes to interact, then the cat will often comply with the owner's wishes at other times.
_____
Chrispy believes there is an error in this report: Although there are isolated instances of non-human animals, such as gorillas, bonding with other species, it seems to be mostly unique for humans to engage in social relationships with other animals.
In my Weird Beasts study, I have found innumerable cases where infant mammals bond to females of other mammal species. It does not seem to matter, at the infant state, the maternal instincts tend to outweigh species differentiation for many, many mammal species. I can't say it isn't rarer at the adult stage, though.
There is an incredible National Geographic magazine essay about the domestication of foxes! Ferret domestication is prevalent. It appears that many mammals can be domesticated rapidly over less than 30 or 40 generations and it rapidly changes their genetic mutations and speciation.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Palo Moyombe?
Over the weekend, it looks like maybe a weird off-shoot of Palo Mayombe may be at work. This fits the profile of a "gang or cult", and the high $$ aspect for motivation. It would also explain why mostly catholic cemeteries seem affected.
More here.
More here.
Bodies Stolen in New Jersey
These news stories, while sensational, come and go quickly as the media loses attention. So I preserve them on the HPLblog. He was sometimes interestd in ghoulish things, though he was squeamish. His Statement of Randolph Carter was of grave matters, so to speak. The Hound, which he later frowned upon, was very ghoulish. We need not go into Herbert West.
Though the police discuss that it may have been a cult, I have my personal reservations that it was satanic cults. It may have been for medical black market, or a gang prank, or the work of a proto-serial killer, but it's hard for me to believe satanists. Time will tell.
I've added a Google map showing the locations of the cemeteries, approximately, and how close they are. Elizabeth, of course, is where HPL wrote the story He.
The story {excerpted}:
PERTH AMBOY, NJ (23 February 2011) — A ghoulish cult practice may have been the motivation behind the theft of human remains from cemeteries in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy, officials believe. Authorities are now asking area cemeteries and the public to report suspicious activity to the police and also to help identify any suspects.
The body snatchers targeted the remains of a 72-year-old man interred at Most Holy Rosary Cemetery in the Fords section of Woodbridge and the remains of a 2-year-old boy buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Perth Amboy, officials said Wednesday.
The Perth Amboy incident was reported on Nov. 28 by a cemetery visitor who saw the open grave. The Woodbridge incident was first noticed last Tuesday by a passerby who reported that a granite mausoleum “had been disturbed,” officials said.
The families of the deceased have been notified by the authorities. Investigators believe people engaged in a “non-traditional religious practice” may be responsible.
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