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

Mark Owings Anecdote Surfaces

The seller also stated: Signed with an anecdote by the surviving compiler Mark Owings (see photo). A catalog of the largest Lovecraft collection ever found, Irving Binkin had died leaving behind an entire apartment of mint and scarce Lovecraft books, pulps, ephemera.

Lovecraft Play (1970)

DATE: 1970

ITEM: Lovecraft's Follies Souvenir Program

COMPANY: Trinity Square Repertory Co. Providence, RI

SIZE: 6 by 9 inches

COMMENTS: A program for the World Premiere of James Schevill's Lovecraft's Follies. The program cover has a facsimile of a "Weird Tales" cover. H.P. Lovecraft was played by James Eichelberger. Contents include The Cast; Who's Who in the Company; Artistic Staff; About the Play.

Lovecraft's Legacy: 1940

The seller of this item says

From SCIENTI-SNAPS SCI-FI/ HORROR FANZINE VOL 3 NO. 1 DATED FEBRUARY 1940. FANZINE HAS AN ARTICLE BY AUGUST DERLETH ON HIS H P LOVECRAFT "THE LOVECRAFT MEMORIAL" HIS WORK TO PUBLISH THE GREAT WORKS OF THE MASTER HORROR WRITER INCLUDING HIS JUST PUBLISHED THE OUTSIDER AND OTHERS.

{image now unavailable - unable to find it}

This is some of the text Chrispy reproduced from the image {before misplacing it}.

Scienti-Snaps, The Lovecraft Memorial, A Note On Work In Process by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei.

This is an authentic and intimate discussion of the {...} project of one of fantasy's very greatest figures, read thoughtfully .......

The appearance this month of "The Outsider and Others" by Lovecraft, represents the first tangible evidence of {...} the proposed Memorial Collection of the works of {...} Master of the macabre/ The collection, designed for {..} is to be composed of the present grouping of {...} a long study of "Supernatural Horror in Literature", {...} of collected poems, remaining stories, some collaborative {work and selected} prose non-fiction; and a third and final volume of letters.

It goes almost without saying that assimilation of {...} entailed not only great patience and dilligence, but considerable monetary expense quite apart from the time {...} The initial work of preparing manuscripts for all {... expense} of publishing "The Outsider and Others" represents {a cost ?} of $2500.00. The problem involved in the prepared {...}

Hellboy & H P Lovecraft

Just saw this interesting pericope.

Lovecraft Lives!For horror fans, Hellboy presents something very special: it is the first film that shows monsters similar to those described by H.P. Lovecraft in the Cthulu Mythos tales. “The Lovecraft style was Guillermo’s thought in the beginning,” explains Edward Irastorza, vfx producer on Hellboy. “He always sent people in that direction. Early on, Guillermo had discussions about Lovecraft with me and Blair Clark [of Tippett Studios] and we followed through with it.”

(Hellboy creator Mike Mignola’s vision harkens back to H.P. Lovecraft’s work.)

del Toro explains that his Lovecraftian vision came from the comic itself. “There is an aspect that I enjoy in the work of [Hellboy creator] Mike Mignola, and that is that his vision of hell is a cosmic one, which he shares with H.P. Lovecraft. In the movie a character says, there is a dark place where evil slumbers and waits to return. And that is basically the premise of the entire Lovecraft mythos — that there are entities out there that want to return and repossess earth — cyclopean entities, to use a Lovecraftian term.”

New Lovecraft Comic Coming Soon

The trailer and information are here. click.

The team:

Mac Carter’s first foray into directing involved an elaborate hand-animation of a runaway meatball. You haven’t heard of that effort; Mac was 11 years-old. A couple decades later, his subject matter has changed (kind of) but his adventuresome spirit and devotion to craft has not.

Tony Salmons is an underground artist, it turns out. He’s drawn commercial comics but only to critical note. These have been few and far between with most of his professional work on storyboard for film/TV. For the record, he objects categorically to the appellation, “artist’s artist,” like a roadhouse theater troop regards overripe produce.

Adam Byrne is a an enigma wrapped in a fish taco. He's still trying to figure out if he wants to be a comic book artist.

Centipede Press' Artists Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft

None other than Larry Roberts (Horror Mall & Bloodletting Press) says: This is the biggest book I've ever seen. It came traycase rather than slipcased and is 17 pounds!!! An awesome production indeed by Centipede Press.

Not everyone can afford this one (at about $375.00) but if you do it will be the book of a lifetime. More details here.

Another poster (Brian Cartwright) says: TWO bound in markers, beautiful cloth ... the most meticulously color corrected collection of dark the world has ever seen or is likely to see again. Jerad told me that dozens of the images required hundreds of layers to insure to perfect color matching.

The publisher declares: 400 pages, four color, sewn with cloth covers, enclosed in a cloth covered slipcase. Front cover image, black embossing, two ribbon markers, fold-outs, detail views. This huge tome features over forty artists including JK Potter, HR Giger, Raymond Bayless, Ian Miller, Virgil Finlay, Lee Brown Coye, Rowena Morrill, Bob Eggleton, Allen Koszowski, Mike Mignola, Howard V. Brown, Michael Whelan, Tim White, John Coulthart, John Holmes, Harry O. Morris, Murray Tinkelman, Gabriel, Don Punchatz, Helmut Wenske, John Stewart, and dozens of others. The field has never seen an art book like this -- indeed, it is an art anthology unlike anything ever published before. Many of these works have never before seen publication. Many are printed as special multi-page fold-outs, and several have detail views. The book is filled with four color artwork throughout, all of it printed full page on rich black backgrounds. A special thumbnail gallery allows you to overview the entire contents of this 400-page book at a glance, with notations on artist, work title, publication information, size, and location, when known. H.P. Lovecraft fans will simply have to have this book. Because of its sheer size and scope, this book will never be reprinted and will sell out very quickly. Twenty years down the road people will be paying huge prices for this book because of its scope and the quality of reproductions. This is the H.P. Lovecraft fan's dream come true.

How misunderstandings happen

There are a lot of HP Lovecraft myths (as in untruths) floating about. I patrol the ebayeum frequently, and when I saw this, I had to post it.

H.P.L: A MEMOIR (1945)
BY AUGUST DERLETH (aka H.P. Lovecraft)

Now, Derleth had a lot of pen names, but Lovecraft wasn't one of them. However, as time goes on and memory conflates, these misunderstandings can easily happen - thus increasing the legend and mythology of Lovecraft's legacy.

1957 Memorial to HP Lovecraft

THE FOSSIL - July, 1957
"When a man's personality so overshadows his work to his friends as to make them think of the man instead of his writings, they are quite unfit to utter a udgement"
- W Paul Cook

Howard Phillips Lovecraft's presence changed and challenged the field of Amateur
Journalism and the modern Weird Tale। Twenty years after his death this influence was examined in this 10 page article of Helen V. Wesson. Interesting viewpoints from his friends are quoted, biographical information, and photographs of HPL and some of his rarest appearances in print are pictured.

Gary Braunbeck's In Silent Graves

Lovecraft allusion. In the Leisure edition of April 2004, page 227=228,

"You see not all the angels are these ethereal white-robed, wondrous, golden-winged refugees from a beauty contest ... oh, no. Mnay of them - and I'm talking about those that sit by God's side and have his favor and love and respect and are the first to get tickets for the WWF Summer Slam - the good guys, capiche? A lot of them are so hideous in their appearance that they make Lovecraft's Great Old Ones look like Playboy centerfolds. We're talkin' class-A uggos here, tentacles and dripping teeth and putrescent flesh all dark and oily with larval eruptions that drip phosphorescent goo. All clear on that? Good."

Gary Braunbeck, In Silent Graves, Leisure, April 2004, isbn 0-8439-5329-2

Bill & Sue-On's ERBzine

This Fantasy Worlds chapter on Lovecraft may not be directly ERB-related, but on the other hand, Lovecraft collaborated with E. Hoffman Price on a Randolph Carter story. E. Hoffman Price collaborated with Otis Adelbert Kline on a Dr. Morgan Universe story and Kline's Doctor Morgan universe arguably is the same place as the Burroughs Universe.

Or, how about this: Randolph Carter, Lovecraft's recurring protagonist, is modeled in part on, and inspired by John Carter. A John Carter is actually named as a character from 17th century New England in the Case of Charles Dexter Ward (where Randoph Carter is also mentioned), implying that the two may be related. Burroughs John Carter is ageless, so he might well be the same John Carter from Charles Dexter Ward.

more here (click) ...

Glimpses Inside 1947 Arkham House

There are great images (Derleth, Hodgson & Bradbury), a Derleth poem, and some historic texts below, including the announcement of "Arkham House Samples" in the following year.

The seller states:
BOOKS FROM ARKHAM HOUSE 1947-48. AUGUST DERLETH.
Book Description: Arkham House, Sauk City, WI, circa 1946-47. 40 pages. Chap book / Pamphlet. Original blue grey paper wraps, stapled binding. Book Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. No Jacket as issued. A excellent copy, tight and solid, very, very rare in this condition. Light sunning/ slight discoloration. Typed by hand on cover 'See pages 1 and 9." and there is a price crossed out in ink and corrected to read $4.00 could possibly be attributed to Derleth. This was after all a DIY operation! An essential reference book which catalogs all of the Arkham House books up to 1948! Includes Poem by Derleth titled ‘Book Review‘and 4 pages of photos and art. A tough book/ pamphlet to find in collectible condition. Comes with a genuine vintage passport plastic sleeve! This was sent to a subscriber & Arkham House collector. Uncommon. Extremely scarce!
“PATRONS WILL OBSERVE THAT OUR NEW CATALOG IS DESIGNED TO COVER THE PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES OF ARKHAM HOUSE, MYCROFT & MORAN, AND STANTON & LEE UP TO 1949...”

New Comic Series on Lovecraft (2008)

WWLA: Ketchum Talks "Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft
by Dave Richards, Staff Writer
( http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12928 )


With 2006's "Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe," legendary artist Richard Corben reimagined some of the visionary writer's classic tales of terror. In June 2008, Corben will turn his eye to the stories of another renowned and highly influential horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, with the release of the "Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft" mini-series from Marvel Comics MAX line. CBR News spoke with Editor Daniel Ketchum about the series.

"Lovecraft" was always intended to be the follow up to the previous "Poe" series and will be published in the exact same format. "It will be three issues. In each issue you'll have three different pieces by Richard Corben as well as the original source text by H.P. Lovecraft," Ketchum told CBR News. "With each story, Richard has been true to the different core elements of the source text, but in typical fashion he's put his own twist and signature stylings on each story

"The idea was that in each one of these issues we'd have an adaptation of a short story and the other two are generally based on Lovecraft's poems," Ketchum continued. "So we're hoping in that any given issue there's at least one Lovecraft work that fans will recognize."

Marvel and Corben jointly decided which stories would be part of "Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft." "Obviously we had to play in the bounds of what we could legally do because only certain works were in the public domain. Also the stories we ended up choosing were dependant on which stories really lent themselves to doing something different visually," Ketchum explained. "But Richard had a whole list of Lovecraft stories and poems that he wanted to adapt and we went through and kind of selected the best ones. Some were very easy like the story 'Dagon' rose right to the top as one he'd do. And 'Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family' was one as well."

"What's nice about Lovecraft and his stories is there's room to dive into a number of different worlds," Ketchum continued. "'Dagon' brings us this aquatic, amphibian race of people. 'Arthur Jermyn' takes place more in a jungle type setting. Than we have an adaptation of 'The Lamp' which takes us into the pyramids and deserts of ancient Egypt. So over the course of the three issues we'll see a variety of settings, creatures, and modes of stories."

On "Poe," Corben provided all the visuals and co-wrote the series with Rich Margopulos, but on "Lovecraft," Corben will handle both the text and visuals all on his own.

Ketchum has been consistently wowed by Corben's visual interpretations of Lovecraft's stories. "With Lovecraft, there's all that interesting Lovecraftian imagery and Richard has been able to go to town on it," Ketchum said. "I'm really impressed and kind of awed by everything that has come in so far."

H.P. Lovecraft's tales are often dark, macabre stories where the protagonist's exposure to forbidden knowledge drives them insane. Ketchum feels publishing "Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft" under the MAX imprint allows the series to be as dark and horrific as it needs to be to capture the spirit of the original tales.

Ketchum hopes "Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft" will appeal to fans of the celebrated author and create some new Lovecraft fans as well. "Oddly enough I wasn't so familiar with Lovecraft before this project," he said. "I think my fun as an editor on this project was doing the research. I got to be exposed to all these different Lovecraft stories. So hopefully readers will get to have that same kind of experience. There will be some old favorites but they'll also be exposed to some things that are new as well."

Marvel is leaving the door open for Corben to do more "Haunt of Horror" mini-series after "Lovecraft." "We'll have to see. We're always batting ideas around," Ketchum said. "This is Richard's element so I wouldn't be surprised if there was another series somewhere down the line."

Lovecraft USA Trends: Google

Here I've run only the USA results. The smaller data base (compared to International) shows some oddities. That's why I added the news bullet points. The interest does seem to be waning. I'll wait until my 1300-th post to discuss my blog stats.

Here are the states. I think it's obvious that Rhode Island would be a primary area of googling. What surprises me is that Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee ranks so high. That is my region, and a small state like Kentucky with about 3 Million people really caught me off guard. The name "Lovecraft" is not a name one sees here.

I was worried that I might personally have skewed the numbers, but I think that's impossible. I don;t actually google Lovecraft often. "Chris Perridas" is more of interest to me, heh. Besides, look below at the cities - none of these three states register high.

In this report, obviously Providence scores high. Philadelphia and Boston are Lovecraft's backyard. College towns on the West Coast score high. Austin is a bit of a mystery sicne Texas was not a high registrant. Perhpas it's becuase of the language graph.

Lovecraft may be more popular among Spanish speakers than English. Lovecraft may have freaked! The young Lovecraft would be amazed, but the trending socialist 40-something Lovecraft may have chuckled.

Again, any comments on these trends would be of interest to the Google-Group - and to me.

Recent Interest in Lovecraft: Google

First we see that "Lovecraft" is a waning search value "In English and in the USA". It is a gradual trend downwards.

What is interesting here is that Lovecraft is far more of interest in non-traditional places. I see this on the web site frequently, though my blog is published in English which skews the results for me. I often see my blog posts picked up and translated.

This confirms that Hungary is a hot bed of Lovecraft interest, though I can't say why. South America dominates the nations that seem to google Lovecraft.

Here are the top cities rated for Lovecraft interest.

If anyone has more knowledge than I do (probably everyone) feel free to post comments and interpretations.

***
These graphs were generated on 28 April 2008 with http://www.google.com/trends

The Black Satellite

{This si the best image available. No date is given on the ebayeum, but elsewhere I disci=overed that it was published in 2003. More details after the sellers' blurb.}

Black Satellite #5, a hard to find small press magazine that covers horror, sci-fi, and Cthulhu Mythos elements. This issue contains 5 short stories and 1 poem including "Charnel World" by Tim Curran, author of the excellent Cthulhu Mythos novel, HIVE. Being from a small press and a back issue you are not likely to see this magazine for sale anywhere again so don’t miss it.

{Here are details I also found.}

Author Name: Black Satellite Brian Lingard James R. Cain Bill Wilson Tom Olbert Lee Clark Zumpe Tim Curran Kendall Evans Allen Koszowski

Title: BLACK SATELLITE 5

Binding: ChapbookBook

PressSize: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

Publisher: USA Dark Tree Press 2003

52 pages.

Black Satellite is a magazine of weird horror and startling science fiction. Black Satellite hopes to capture some of the spirit of The Outer Limits, The Twilight ZonE, the Alien movies or even the old magazine Argonaut.

FICTION: Toward Infinity by James R. Cain. / Wrong Turn by Bill Wilson / Immortal Beloved by Tom Olbert / Prowlers by Lee Clark Zumpe. / Charnel World by Tim Curran.

POETRY: The Shaman of Guadot by Kendall Evans.

NONFICTION: Editorial by Brian Lingard; Cover by Allen Koszowski.

Priced at 3.99 USD

Lovecraft & Gang In Weird Tales (1939)

Here is a rare situation - a glimpse inside the pages of Weird Tales. Not eveyone can own a copy, or can afford to get a copy so this is a real time trip back nearly 70 years.

Besides the table of contents with nearly everyone - Bloch, Lovecraft, Kuttner, Moore, Zealia Bishop (=Lovecraft), Finlay, Hamilton, Quinn, Starrett, and a newcomer that made his own path: Manly Wade Wellman.

Bloch's story illustration has a subscript that states: A horrendous story of the Spanish Mein and an unscrupulous English pirate - a tale of the Elixir of Life, and horrible red arms that reached out of the sea.

I can't say I ever read a "horrendous" story by Bloch! It goes to show the purple prose of promotion of the day.

"The Wicked Clergyman" is alleged to be by Lovecraft.

Lovecraft's Legacy: 1970

"BIZARRE FANTASY TALES" #1. 1970. DIGEST. STORIES BY H P LOVECRAFT.

Health Knowledge, Inc., USA

6¾"-7¾" tall 130pp. 6 stories by listed authors.

Henry S. Whitehead, Edgar Allan Poe, Eddy C. Bertin, Fred C. Smale, H.P. Lovecraft

{This is about all I could find on this item}

Lovecraft's Legacy: In Britain

Thanks to the sharp eyes of TL who alerted me. Here's a new limited edition book. Cool cover.

H.P. Lovecraft in Britain: A Monograph

by Stephen Jones
Signed by Stephen Jones and Les Edwards
A Smith & Jones Book for The British Fantasy Society
Price: £12.99 / $25.99
The British Fantasy Society is proud to announce the publication of H.P. LOVECRAFT IN BRITAIN: A MONOGRAPH, a new limited edition chapbook written by World Fantasy Award winner STEPHEN JONES.
Based on unique access to correspondence and business papers dating back more than fifty years, the author charts H.P. Lovecraft’s convoluted publishing history in the United Kingdom – from the distinctive Gollancz hardcovers, through the various licensed paperback reprints, up to the present day.
H.P. LOVECRAFT IN BRITAIN reveals the often complicated and never-before-told story of how the renowned horror author’s work came to be published in the UK, and along the way reveals new insights into how certain volumes were compiled. It is a fascinating tale, told in the words of the people involved.
Featuring an original full colour cover and interior illustrations by acclaimed British artist LES EDWARDS, the chapbook also includes reproductions of many obscure book covers and rare documents.
Limited to just 750 copies, SIGNED by both Stephen Jones and Les Edwards, H.P. LOVECRAFT IN BRITAIN will be sent to all BFS members as part of their annual subscription. The remaining copies are available at the price of £12.99 / $25.99 each. Dealers please enquire about quantity discounts.
Contact: Paul Kane. E-mail: specialpublications@britishfantasysociety.org

Beautiful Art Book 2008

Here is what the seller states:
{$400.00 Bad Moon Books}


DEBUTED AT WORLD HORROR CON IN SALT LAKE CITY 3-28-08.
FRANKLY, ONE OF THE MOST STUNNING BOOKS I HAVE EVER HELD. YOU MUST SEE THIS BOOK TO BELIEVE IT! THIS IS THE CLOTH, SLIPCASED VERSION!
Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
Introduction by Harlan Ellison. Afterword by Thomas Ligotti
This huge tome features over forty artists including JK Potter, HR Giger, Raymond Bayless, Ian Miller, Virgil Finlay, Lee Brown Coye, Rowena Morrill, Bob Eggleton, Allen Koszowski, Mike Mignola, Howard V. Brown, Michael Whelan, Tim White, John Coulthart, John Holmes, Harry O. Morris, Murray Tinkelman, Gabriel, Don Punchatz, Helmut Wenske, John Stewart, Thomas Ligotti and John Jude Palencar, and dozens of others.
The field has never seen an art book like this -- indeed, it is an art anthology unlike anything ever published before. Many of these works have never before seen publication. Many are printed as special multi-page fold-outs, and several have detail views. The book is filled with four color artwork throughout, all of it printed full page on rich black backgrounds. A special thumbnail gallery allows you to overview the entire contents of this 400-page book at a glance, with notations on artist, work title, publication information, size, and location, when known.
H.P. Lovecraft fans will simply have to have this book. Because of its sheer size and scope, this book will never be reprinted and will sell out very quickly. Twenty years down the road people will be paying huge prices for this book because of its scope and the quality of reproductions. This is the H.P. Lovecraft fan's dream come true. Don't miss it!
A HUGE BOOK IN SIZE AND SCOPE!