Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.213: The Haunter of the Dark

I picked up this first edition of John Coulthart's adaptation of The Haunter of the Dark many years ago, so I suppose it must be something of a rarity these days; it was later republished in a collected edition of Coulthart's Lovecraft adaptations (including The Call of Cthulhu and a somewhat truncated version of The Dunwich Horror). Not only is the collected edition introduced by Alan Moore, but it also contains Coulthart's illustrations for a set of Lovecraftian Tarot cards which he and Moore were apparently working on (but have yet to see the light of day as far as I'm aware). Personally, I'm not sure that I really go for Coulthart's style; even so, the intricate weirdness of his work does an excellent job of representing the indescribable.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.212: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has always been a favourite Lovecraft tale of mine, so I was pleased when I.N.J. Culbard went on to give it the graphic novel treatment (Culbard has since gone on to adapt The Shadow Out of Time, At the Mountains of Madness, The Dream-Quest for Unknown Kadath, as well as Chambers' King in Yellow tales in graphic novel format). I was fortunate to win this copy at a Lovecraft event organised by Chris Lackey at the Bishopsgate Institute in London back in 2012, where I came first in the Lovecraft quiz (answering every single question correctly, I'll have you know!). Culbard was in attendance, so I was also able to get my prize signed by him. Nice.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.211: Lovecraft

Published by Vertigo in 2004, Lovecraft by Hans Rodionoff, Enrique Breccia and Keith Giffen prefigures the conceit of Alan Moore's more recent Providence in presenting a biography of Lovecraft in graphic novel form - but one which assumes that the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos are real. Unfortunately my copy is currently in storage, but I seem to recall that Lovecraft was far too reliant on the pop-Freudianism of the L. Sprague de Camp biography - although it is nicely illustrated. I haven't been massively impressed by Alan Moore's attempt either, so I guess we will just have to wait for he definitive graphic novel biography of Lovecraft...

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.210: Zenith

Grant Morrison's Zenith is not only one of my favourite Lovecaftian comic-strips, but one of my favourite comic series of all time. First appearing in 2000AD in 1987, Zenith commences with a remarkable scene depicting Nazi superhero Masterman about to defeat his British counterpart in the ruins of 1945 Berlin - moments before the Americans drop the first atomic bomb on the city. This sets the scene for a decades-long Nazi conspiracy - about to reach fruition in late 1980s London - involving an occult programme underpinning Nazi racial policy to create superhuman meatsuits for the Lloigor or 'Many-Angled Ones' of Lovecraft's tales (I've always felt it was something of a shame that Morrison didn't push the race issue here, given the source material...)

In any case, the focal point of all this is the eponymous Zenith: a young and hip 80s popstar with inherited superpowers who is far more interested in being photographed by the paparazzi at high profile media events than saving the world. As such, the series is as much a commentary on the superficiality of celebrity culture and the MTV generation, as well as on the social and economic erosion instigated by the neoliberal policies of the Reagan-Thatcher era (one of the key characters is a retired superhero who has become a high-ranking minister in the Conservative Party), as it is about superheroes battling interdimensional horrors. In this regard Zenith Hasn't aged that well: the kind of neo-con/neoliberal ideology presented in its pages seems rather quaint and nostalgic in comparison to the truely monstrously Lovecaftian standards of today's neoliberal right-wingers...but I digress. It is, indeed, very much a product of its time: as with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns (both of which also appeared in '86/'87), Zenith subverts typical superhero tropes to re-examine the moral relationship between power and responsibility - but on this occasion via a morally-disorienting encounter with Lovecraftian nihilsm. To my mind this is where Zenith as a series really shines, veering as it does into some very dark and horrifying territory as the truely cosmic scope of the Lloigor's plans are revealed, and (in its later phases) protaganists are forced into monstrous undertakings to defeat them - including (SPOILER ALERT) the destruction of entire universes. Quite literally, the moral distiction between gods and monsters - between superheroes and the quasi-divine cosmic awfulness of the Many-Angled Ones - is called into question. Great stuff.

Zenith is now available in multi-volume graphic novel form both in hardcopy and in ebook format from the usual suspects (Amazon, iTunes, etc.).

Lovecaftian Thing a Day No.209: The Doom that Came to Gotham

It was inevitable, I suppose, that we were going to get a Batman-Cthulhu mash-up - given that Julius Schwartz (who acted as agent fof the sale of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness to Astounding Stories) later edited the Batman line for DC during the period that Arkham Asylum became part of its mythology (although apparently it was Jack C. Harris and not Schwartz who added that particular institution to the DC universe). Mike Mignola's previous form with the Lovecraft-inflected Hellboy series, he seems a good fit as writer for The Doom that Came came to Gotham: the caped crusader's first official outing against the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. This is, however, set in an alternative DC universe, and thus is pretty much at right angles to what I presume is the 'canonical' Batman timeline (and in doing so attunes elements of the original character's mythology with the Cthulhu Mythos). Whilst this didn't quite hit the right note of cosmicism for me, The Doom that Came to Gotham marks an interesting attempt to push Batman toward what might be seen as the kind of darker territory for which Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego are well suited.

Lovcraftian Thing a Day No.208: Gateways to Abomination

With the overwhelming weight of material currently being produced by presses both small and large, it feels like we are close to reaching critical mass where Lovecraftian fiction is concerned. Just to keep up with the mass of recent Cthulhuvian novels and anthologies, I made the decision to go digital. However, every now and then I encounter a unique voice in the field of weird and Lovecraftian literatur which voraciously reawakens my collecting habit. Matthew Bartlett is one such voice, whose work I have felt compelled to collect and buy in hardcopy editions. Hence today I present a weird menagerie of Bartlett's work: his initial, self-publushed endeavour Gateways to Abomination, along with the chapbook The Witch-Cult in Western Massachusetts, and his most recent offering, Creeping Waves - which collectively explore via a coterie of tales and vignettes the very weird locales and characters inhabiting witch-haunted Leeds, Massachussetts (not to mention the bizarre transmissions broadcast into the minds and lives of Leeds' residents by the local WXXT radio station). Whilst Bartlett's work is difficult to categorise, if you think Lovecraft channelling William Burroughs meets Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem, you'll have some idea of the kinds of strange and horrible directions which Bartlett's work takes. Nice.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.207: Hypnogoria Podcast

 

Others before me have noted that there is something quite personal and intimate about podcasts. I also consider the podcast to be a very social medium; I live on my own, and listening to podcasts is one of my favourite pastimes - insofar as many podcasters are very active on social media and have built up significant online communities around their shows, I have certainly had the opportunity to interact online with some of my favourite podcasters, and in some instances have been able to meet and socialize with them (and the commnities that exist around them) face-to-face. I've twice met Mr. Jim Moon - who produces the Hypnogoria stable of podcasts, the focus of today's post - in person (both times as part of the notorious Black Dog Podcast social gathering - for which read 'massive piss-up' - which occurs every September in London).

I discovered both the Hypnogoria and Black Dog podcasts (which Mr. Jim also co-hosts) around 4 years ago. They represented a break from tradition in terms of what was my staple diet of podcasts back then (namely those which were gaming-oriented): at the time I was on a huge nostalgia trip - in part because of many radically life-changing events that were hugely and depressingly disrupting my life, leading me to naively seek solace in what seemed to be the more simpler, more innocent time of 60s and 70s cult tv. This led me to what was then the Hypnobobs podcast, which in turn led me to the Black Dog podcast (which isn't so much about cult tv, but is rather a weekly retrospective film review programme, often (though not exclusively) with a sci-fi focus). Without going into too much personal detail, binge listening to these podcasts got me through a very, very dark week in my life (indeed, the very title of the Black Dog podcast - as well as the reasons for its inception - were relevant to this). In any case, going back to the intimacy and the sociality of the podcasting medium, at that particular time shows like Hypnobobs and the Black Dog gave me (and still do) the sense of participating in a shared discussion and exploration of some of the geeky things that were and still are important to me.

Sob story aside, the later re-named Hypnogoria pidcast, recorded from the Great Library of Dreams, is without doubt one of the best podcasts out there if you have an interest in the weird and the wonderful in both literary and televisual endeavours. Whilst not Lovecaft-focused, the connosieur of weird literature will find much of interest in the hundreds of hours of podcasting goodness available from hypnogoria.com (or iTunes). Nonetheless, Lovecraft is well represented (a recent episode is dedicated to Lovecaft's Fungi from Yuggoth sonnet cycle), as are many other doyens of the weird, inclding: Machen, Poe, Ligotti and William Hope Hodgson (Mr. Jim Moon has, in fact, recently comletedvaudio readings of all the Carnacki tales) to name but a few. Hpnogoria also includes a number of ongoing series on folklore, Batman, Zombi movies, Egyptian mummies, as well as retrospectives on key weird writers, filmmakers and screen stars associated with genre film and tv. A particular favourite two-parter of mine looks at the occult roots of rock music; in another memorable three-episode mini-series, Mr. Jim even manages to turn his holiday to Florida into a wonderfully evocative and spooky sequel to Lovecraft's The Statement of Randolph Carter!  In any case, I absolutely cannot recommend the work of Mr. Jim Moon enough: make yourself a cup of cocoa, put your feet up, and prepare to be immersed into the strange and fantastic world that is the Great Library of Dreams...

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No. 206: Lovecraft eZine Vidcast/Podcast

Not only does Mike Davis produce the excellent quarterly Lovecaft eZine, he also hosts regular panel discussion vidcasts via YouTube which are now available as audio podcasts via iTunes. If there is one place to get the sknny on whats hot and upcoming in the Lovecraftian milieu, watching/listening to the Lovecaft eZine 'cast is an absolute must - especially as the show regularly includes interviews with the big names as well as up-and-comers within the world of Lovecaftiana. Not only that, but panel discussants regularly include key players in the current Lovecraftian and weird lterary scene, including author, editor and Chambers scholar Joe Pulver, author and Lovecraftian chronologist Peter Rawlik, pulp-scholar and author Rick Lai, UK-based weird publisher Salome Jones, and editor (as well as resident oncologist) Matthew Carpenter. At the time of typing, I also discovered that Matthew Bartlett is being interviewed for the show in September - which I'm very, very excited about. In any event, the vidcast is scheduled to stream this very evening (24th July) at 6pm Eastern time (that's about 10pm in proper British time!).

Lovecraftian Thing a Day 205: Virgil Finlay's Far Beyond

In a change from our scheduled transmission, today we celebrate the birthday of Virgil Finlay, illustrator of classic weird and sci-fi fiction, and the artist who brought us the image of Lovecraft as a periwigged 18th Century gentleman - possibly one of the most popular and best known artistic portrayals of HPL. Finlay of course also provided the cover for the First Arkham House edition of The Outsider and Others, as well as illustrating various of Lovecraft's tales. Far Beyond is the only dedicated collection of Finlay's work that I currently possess, and focuses primarily on the post-Weird Tales era; whilst it includes Finlay's illustrations of tales by Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long, Lovecraft's work, unfortunately, is not represented here. Even so, it is a fine volume that celebrates the life and work of even finer artist.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No. 204: H.P Lovecraft Literary Podcast

No discussion of Lovecraftian podcasting would be complete without a mention of Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer's The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast, which has not only trawled its way through a discussion of pretty much all of Lovecraft's published fiction, but is currently working its way through the contents of 'Supernatural Horror in Literature' (as well as taking a closer look at the weird fiction of Lovecraft's contemporaries). I also managed to get in on the action via the Kickstarter campaign which the  HPLLP ran for their NecronomiCon 2015 live show, and subsequently appeared as a discussant on one of their vidcasts about post-Lovecraftian fiction. In any case, if there is one podcast that I would recommend to the prospective Lovecraftian podcast listener as a starting point, it is definitely this. And did I mention that I appeared on one of their vidcasts?

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.203: I Love Yog Radio!

My first encounter with the world of podcasts pretty much began in 2005 when I discovered the format via Yog-Sothoth.com, which remains the premier site dedicated to Lovecraftian roleplaying Both in the UK and globally. At that time, Paul Maclean (the founder of Yog-Sothoth.com) and his compatriot Yoggies (sometimes known as the 'Innsmouth House Players') produced actual-play recordings of the classic Chaosium Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign for the Call of Cthulhu rpg, as well as a (roughly monthly) discussion-based podcast called Yog Radio which dealt the Call of Cthulhu rpg, Lovecraftian gaming, and the Lovecraftian milieu more generally. Ths was at at time when the now-burgeoning Lovecaftian renaissance was pretty much in its inception, and when the likes of Chaosium and Yog-Sothoth.com were the principle bearers of the flame of Lovecraftian fandom. As I've noted before (see my earlier posts re: Chaosium's Cthulhu Mythos fiction line, and Carl Ford's Dagon zine amongst others), it was the gaming scene that played a significant role in revitalizing an interest in Lovecraft from the 1990s onwards. In any case, during the early 2000s there was no where near as much Lovecraftian media product available as there is today, and for me Yog-Sothoth.com provided the mainstay of aural Lovecraftian entertainment at the time.

Today Yog-Sothoth.com continues podcasting, producing the monthly Cthulhu Breakfast Club, as well as actual play recordings of various CoC campaigns; primarily these are for patrons of the site (and I would heartily recommend that readers support the work that the Yoggies do by become patrons - which you can do here); nonetheless, the Yoggies regularly release free samples of other recordings (many of which can be found on itunes), and they have made the entirety of their classic Horror on the Orient Express campaign recordings (70+ hours of listening) - as well as lots of other stuff - freely available on the YSDC Soundcloud page. Even if you are not a fan of roleplaying games, I would still recomend thar interested readers revisit some of the early days of Lovecraftian podcasting. Go on - you know you want to...

Lovecaftian Thing a Day No.202: Tanis Podcast.

Offshoot from and sister podcast to yesterday's offering, Tanis follows the attempt of one of The Black Tapes producers to unravel the mystery of the short story 'Where is Tanis?', supposedly written by Jack Parsons for a pulp science-fiction magazine n the early 1950s. What unravels is a wider conspiracy involving the myth of Tanis, and exactly what it is: a place, a thing, an entity, a state of mind?

New clues, events and characters appear regularly throughout the series' narrative arc (often to be dopped suddenly, then unexpectedly resurrected in a later episode), all indicating how deeply interwoven the myth of Tanis is throughout the interstices of the everyday of the podcast's imagined world; however, over two seasons none of these have ultimately offer a clear or satisfactory indication of exactly what Tanis is: a cabin in the woods with uncertain physical dimensions, which mysteriously disappears and maybe the location of a 'breach' marking the intrusion of something alien (Tanis?) into our world; strange cults worshipping Tanis without really knowing what it is; movies found on the deep web which depict horrifyingly unspeakable acts, and which are somehow associated with Tanis; something known as Eld Fen - possibly a monstrous, primordial being (and also the name of a text about said being) which, as is made explicit in the mythology of the Tanis podcast, was also the original inspiration behind Lovecaft's Cthulhu Mythos - and which may be Tanis in the process of waking up...None - or maybe all - of these things may be relevant to understanding the mystery of Tanis. But as a serial podcast, Tanis is ultimately about the journey and not the destination - its concern is not really with the resolution of a mystery, but rather an interrogation of the ways - whether they be religion, myth-making or conspiracy theories - by which we seek to make meaningful that which is truely unknowable. All of which hopefully indicates that Tanis has a very Lovecaftian (albeit not typically Cthulhuvian) vibe to it.

Listen and be mystified.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.201: The Black Tapes Podcast

I was an early adopter of the podcast format (more on this in a later post), and I think it is reasonable to say that listening to podcasts has now become my prefered form of mediatised entertainment/infotainment. My taste in podcasts, whilst varied, does veer in the direction of those addressing aspecs of contemporary geekdom, cult tv, and the occult/conspiracies/and the paranormal more generally. Unsurprisingly, podcasts tackling Lovecraft and the Lovecaftian milieu are at the top of my list of preferences. Taking a break from the material artefacts which predictably constitute the bread and butter of the Lovecraftian Thing a Day, for the next week or so, I want to point interested readers in the direction of some of my current favourites when it comes to Lovecraftian-themed or inflected podcasts.

First up is The Black Tapes Podcast, a serialized docudrama involving an investigation of the work of skeptical psychologist Richard Strand - the eponymous 'Black Tapes' being a collection of videos documenting Strand's research into paranormal phenomena. Whilst The Black Tapes deals with tropes fairly typical of 'mainstream' horror and supernatural fiction - demonic possession and Satanic cults loom large in this respect - the overarching narrative involves a strange and apocalyptic conspiracy concerning sacred geometry/mathematics, quantum physics, interdimensional portals for calling forth ancient demons, as well as a recurrent 'unsound' first heard by a team of researchers in the Antarctic - all of who died within a year of hearing it. Along with direct references to Lovecaft, Hastur gets namechecked a few times, and the most recent episode has intimations of something akin to Machen's 'Little People' mythology. Whilst, admittedly, elements of genuine cosmic horror are rare, there is definitely a Lovecraftian vibe here - one which is perhaps even more evident in The Black Tapes' sister podcast, to which I will return tomorrow.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day 200: Cthulhu Tupilak

Today represents another landmark for the Lovecraftian Thing a Day as we reach the 200th posting. With that in mind, I present the harbinger of monstrous Outsideness that is the Cthulhu tupilak. Supposedly carved from a Gnoph-Keh tusk by the inhabitants of the long-lost Lomar (some sources claim that it was a mighty sorcerer and prestidigiter known as Krs'Laahqi who was the creator of these artefacts), this is twin to the item found by fellow anthropologist Professor Webb during his expedition to the Arctic in 1870. As you can see from the above image, the power of this item is such that projects a sickly violet aura of some yet unidentified radiation, kept only in check by the powerful seals and wards which guard my sanctum sanctorum.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.199: Cthulhu Chaosphere

'You know what would be cool? If we superimposed an octopus on a chaosphere then hit it with some zenithal spray-gun highlighting! That would be some super-scary hardcore Lovecraftian occult shit in an Alan Moore kind of way!' Which pretty much sums up my feelings about this piece.

Lovecaftian Thing a Day No.198: Cthulhu Mug

More crushing disappointment fom this hand-painted piece of Cthulhuvian pottery. I don't quite know where I got this from and, frankly, I no longer even care given the depths of nihilistic despair that acknowledgement of ownership of this piece of Lovecraftian tat has produced in my febrile brain. All I can say is that I was young and it seemed like s good idea at the time. Needless to say, it has earned itself a place in a shadowy nook at the very back of the lowest shelf of the Lovecraftian cabinet of curiosities. With such a shining endorsement, here's hoping that this isn't the creation of one of my Facebook friends...

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.197: Lovecraft Playing Cards

More useless Lovecaftian ephemera - because everyone needs a set of playing cards with Lovecraft depicted as a joker with a tentacled hat! Classy. I need one of those Henry Weston's cocktails from yesterday...

Lovecaftian Thing a Day No.196: Miskatonic Cocktail Club Glass

The fact that this week's entries comprise of various odds and ends with little commentary is, in part, due to the fact that I'm suffering from a bit of blog fatigue - time for a drink, then! And what better to sup from than this Miskatonic Cocktail Club Highball glass? It even comes with its own squid-like cheap plastic cocktail ornament...

The cocktail presented above (which I am shortly about to partake in) is a Henry Weston's Vintage Cider (8.2% abv) - the West Country's finest. The cocktail part being the ice. Chin-chin!

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.195: Miskatonic University Keyring

The Miskatonic University keyring - another of the odds and ends I have floating around in my collection of Lovecraftiana.

Lovecraftian Thing a Day No.194: Mi-Go Brain Cylinder Cloissonne Badge

Another piece of ephemera from the Cthulhuosphere: a cloisonne badge in the form of a Mi-Go brain cylinder - which just goes to show that even the minutiae of the Cthulhu Mythos has a place within the material culture that has emerged from the Lovecraftian milieu.