The Lovecaftian Thing a Day (2018) No.31: The Annotated Fungi from Yuggoth

We began this year’s Lovecraftian Thing a Day with a version of Lovecraft’s The Fungi from Yuggoth sonnet cycle, so it seems appropriate to bookend the first month of posts with yet another iteration of that fine work. So, today we present Fungi from Yuggoth: An Annotated Edition, edited by David E. Schultz and published by Hippocampus Press in 2017.

This edition also contains facsimiles of the original handwritten poems, and each sonnet is individually illustrated by Jason C. Eckhardt. Shown here are two of the facsimile pages, along with the Eckhardt illustration to Sonnet XXXV, Evening Star, which is both a heartbreakingly haunting piece and my favourite of Lovecraft’s poems.

Unfortunately Fungi from Yuggoth: An Annotated Edition - which has been years in the making, and for me one of the most anticipated Lovecraftian tomes - has now sold out of its limited edition hardcover run; however, I understand that Derrick Hussey of Hippocampus Press is considering a reprint - which would be wonderful, as this certainly deserves a wider audience.

The Lovecaftian Thing a Day (2018) No.30: From the Mountains of Madness

Last night the Silver Key unlocked a portal to an oneiric realm of polar horror, wherein my dreaming self was propelled across a vast range of snow-encrusted, needle-like mountains and onto an icy plateau - upon which I saw arrayed a city of cyclopean proportion and alien design.

I sensed beneath that aeons-old metropolis great, benighted burrows within which strange life roiled and bubbled blasphemously. Feeling my consciousness drawn inexorably toward those black vaults of horror, I spoke a Word of Power evoking the Nameless One - a Word extricated from the strange system of signification etched upon the Silver Key - to recall myself to wakefulness.

Whereupon I discovered, clutched in my right hand as I lay upon my bed, the above token - whose unearthly and unknown alloy has given life and monstrous form to a curious and horrible design.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.29: Silver Key NecronomiCon 2013 Badge

More memories of NecronomiCons past: my Silver Key badge from NecronomiCon 2013. 

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.28: Lovecraft Bust Postcard

A postcard from the Providence Athenaeum depicting Bryan Moore’s bust of the Old Gent, which currently graces the hallowed halls of that august institution. I was fortunate to witness the official unveiling of the bust back in 2013. These postcards were available to purchase at the Athenaeum during last year’s NecronomiCon.

Good times.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.27: A Dollop of HP

I Monster is a collaboration between spoken word artist David Yates (also known as Dolly Dolly - who I’ll be returning to in relation to another Lovecraftian Thing at a later date) and music students from Leeds Beckett University. A Dollop of HP (the title of which, for non-UK residents, obliquely references a traditional culinary aspect of British culture) comprises of readings of Lovecaft’s The Music of Erich Zann and Dagon, as well as two of his poems (The Garden and Nemesis), all framed by an evocative incidental score of electronic music.

This is very much in the vein of recent British hauntological electronica, and encompasses some eccentricities of that genre: the music accompanying Nemesis seems to be emulating the theme music to classic 80s technology TV programme, Tomorrow’s World; nonetheless, it does work extremely well - Yates performance is especially bleak and menacing: think Lovecaft read by an official from some sinster British ministry delivering the three-minute warning at the height the Cold War (again, more about which in a later post). This could turn out to be one of my favourite Lovecraftian spoken-word pieces - here’s hoping we hear more Lovecaft from I Monster in the future (I, for one, would relish a complete rendition of the Fungi from Yuggoth sonnet cycle).

Available for download via Bandcamp, for the hipsters and audio-retroists amongst you, this is also available as a limted-edition cassette tape (which I must admit I’m rather tempted by).

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.26: Innsmouth Gold

Regular readers will recall that, earlier in the month, I described how - through  curious circumstances - I came to be in receipt of a Silver Key; may also recall my decision to wear it during the hours of sleep with a view to unveiling the key’s oneiric secrets.

My dreams of late have been haunted by hints of weird scenes and terrifying cosmic vistas; indeed, only last night I dreamt that I was atop a great moonlit reef, overlooking a black ocean which stretched before me the distant horizon - and beneath which I sensed strange life stirring and swarming amidst monstrously ancient weed-strewn towers of repellent design.

Behind me I could discern a jagged coastline, across which spread the crumbling remnants of an old port-town - from whence came a small rowboat in the direction of the reef and which, I spied, held a loan occupant. Making my way to greet this stranger at a small sandy cove at which he had soon beached his boat, I discovered an old man dressd in the oilskinned garb of a fisherman from times past; stranger yet was his wide mouth and bulging, unblinking eyes. Approaching, he took from the pocket of his worn and heavy jacket a small pouch of roughly woven sackcloth, offering it to me with an abominable smile which revealed a long line of shark-like teeth - through which he uttered in a low, gutteral voice the alien words of an immeasurably remote and unknown tongue...

Gripped by a terror so profound that I was immediately brought to wakefulness, I discovered the small sackcloth purse arrayed on my bed next to me, smelling of the sea, and disgorging from its disagreeable interior a small flood of gold coins of curious provenance and unknown mint.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.25: The Night Ocean

Paul La Farge’s novel The Night Ocean controversially documents the friendship between H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Barlow (Lovecraft’s literary executor, and noted anthropologist). I have not yet read The Night Ocean - in part because I’d like to give it some context by first reading O Fortunate Floridian: H.P Lovecraft’s Letters to R.H. Barlow; however, I mention it here because I accepted The Night Ocean as first prize for winning the Lovecraft trivia quiz, compered by the mighty Pete Rawlik, at NecronomiCon 2017. In fact, it was one of a parcel books awarded, the other two of which, in my magnanimity, I gave to the second- and third-place runners-up.

Did I mention that this was the second time in a row I have won the NecronomiCon Lovecraft trivia quiz? If not, then do feel free to take a moment to bask in the glory of my awesomeness.

You are welcome.

I mean to return to NecronomiCon in 2019 with a view to retaining the title for a third time in a row - if you think you can do better, come along and try to lay the smackdown on me, suckers!

That’s how winning’s done

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.24: Multiuniversum & Project: Cthulhu

Multiuniversum is a small card game in which you are trying to shut down a mechanism which has open portals to other dimensions; Project: Cthulhu is an expansion which relocates Multiuniversum within the Cthulhu mythos, where players are desperately trying to stop the strange denizens of the mythos from entering our world.

I continue to be fascinated by the pervasiveness of the Cthulhu mythos throughout contemporary gaming culture, and mean to ruminate on the significance of this in the coming months, as well as offering thoughts on the reiteration of certain tropes (insanity, opening/closing portals, preventing the end of the world) in Cthulhu-themed games, as well as some analysis as to how successful these games are in accurately simulating or reflecting actual Lovecraftian themes. Much to ponder here.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.23: Lovecraft Letter

Lovecraft Letter is the Lovecraftian iteration of the immensely popular Love Letter card game - although to be honest, it being multiplayer means that I have virtually no interest in it (beautifully illustrated though it is), given that I now almost exclusively play solitaire games.

The Cthulhu and Elder Sign poker chips which come with Lovecraft Letter, are however, another matter - I pretty much bought the game (which was also ridiculously cheap) for the chips alone, and which I plan to use as part of a secret solitaire sandbox rpg project later in the year...

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.22: Off The Ancient Track

Additional to his wonderful map of Providence - and in celebration of the return of NecronomiCon -in 2013 Jason Eckhardt also produced a revised edition of his Off The Ancient Track, a beautifully-illustrated guide to Lovecraftian locales in Providence, New York, and New England more generally. I’m surprised that this didn’t get a mention in the 2016 edition of the Lovecraftian Thing a Day. Although I managed to pick up a second copy at NecronomiCon 2017, sadly this no longer appears to be readily available.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.21: Lovecraft’s Providence

Part of my NecronomiCon 2015 haul, Jason Eckhardt’s map of Lovecraft’s Providence is a thing of monstrous beauty - and I can’t believe that I haven’t yet had it framed and hung on my wall (indeed, I’m surprised I didn’t include this as part of 2016’s Lovecraftian Thing a Day). Truly gorgeous.

You can purchase a copy from Lovecraft Arts and Sciences located, appropriately enough, in Providence, RI.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.20: What Rough Beast Slouches Towards Innsmouth To Be Born?

The bag I received yesterday from Miskatonic University contained this curious specimen, labelled as an ‘unknown fetus’ and apparently hailing from the notorious Devil’s Reef off the Massachusetts coast. The label (which also bears the mark of Miskatonic University) dates the recovery of the specimen to 1928 - the same year of the infamous federal raid on the legend-haunted coastal town of  Innsmouth (which overlooks the Reef).

The test tube in which the specimen floats is attached to some kind of arcane incubation device, which emits a strange yellow glow. I’m almost certain I saw the thing twitch or move a few minutes ago.

Whatever its provenance, the mystery remains as to who sent this anomalous specimen and why...

The Lovecaftian Thing a Day (2018) No.19: What’s in the Bag?

This arrived in the post today, forwarded anonymously from Miskatonic University (Arkham, Mass.).

I do wonder: what’s in the bag?

Perhaps tomorrow we will find out.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.18: The Way It Went Down

The second of this year’s digital entries, which just dropped on Amazon and rpgnow: Delta Green - The Way It Went Down: a collection of Cthulhu mythos microfictions by Dennis Detwiller. This is going for a song (I picked it up for a couple of quid), and the stories I have read so far (about half) are redolent with the strange, oblique and unnerving mood of its parent setting - an ideal taster for those seeking an entry point into the wider world of Delta Green.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.17: Seeking the Darkest Gods

I haven’t made it common knowledge that, since September 2017, I’ve gone from being a part-time lecturer to full-time status; whilst overall this is a very good thing, the intersection of new roles and responsibilities which come with this has, over the last couple of weeks, been a tad stressful! Thus it is time to unwind by way of memories of times past: namely drinking coffee with Joe and Kimberlie Broers at their suite in the Providence Biltmore on the first day of NecronomiCon in August 2017.

On that occasion, Joe - an incredibly talented scultor of things Lovecraftian and macabre - was kind enough to gift me a copy of Seeking the Darkest Gods: a wonderfully chilling collection of Lovecraftian tales, vignettes and art, scripted by Joe, with visuals provided by Eddie Wilson, and available here.

Thank you Joe - and sorry again I wasn’t able to make dinner with Kimberlie and yourself before the end of the Con (I mean to rectify that when we meet again in 2019!).

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.16: Delta Green - Handler’s Guide:

In today’s post we revisit an old favourite - but in a new guise: the Delta Green rpg (also our first digital Thing a Day in 2018).

Initially a campaign setting for the Call of Cthulhu rpg, Delta Green has now been published as its own rpg system; whilst it is one in which I have not yet played, I nonetheless consider Delta Green to be the finest rpg setting of all time.

‘The X-Files meets the Cthulhu mythos’ is the elevator pitch often used to describe Delta Green; this, however, fails to do justice to the rich and deeply-researched background, as well as the outstanding writing which informs the setting: even for a digital product, this reeks of stale despair and unreconstructed Cold War nihilism - it is perhaps the most uncompromisingly bleak iteration of the Cthulhu mythos, catching players between the unthinkable indifference of Lovecraft’s cosmic monstrosities on the one hand, and the equally uncaring predations of government bureaucracy and neo-liberal corporatism on the other.

The Delta Green: Handler’s Guide is the GMs sourcebook for the various conspiracies which make up the Delta Green milieu, detailing their secret histories and hidden agendas from the 1920s to the post-9/11 world. Even if you are not into gaming, this still deserves to be on the (digital) bookshelf of the dedicated Lovecraftian, being the ideal primer and companion piece to the range of Delta Green fiction available from Arc Dream Publishing - all of which is uniformly excellent, containing some of the best modern Cthulhu mythos fiction currently available in an increasingly oversaturated market.

The Delta Green: Handler’s Guide - you need to buy it.

Do it! Do it now!

The Lovecaftian Thing a Day (2018) No.15: Wax Cylinder

Paul Mclean, librarian and overseer of the Miskatonic Library’s Special Collection, recently sent me this curious wax cylinder. Apparently it contains a recording pertinent to a series of strange events which occured in the wilds of Vermont in 1930; the item is labelled as belonging to Henry Akeley, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances during the culmination of said events - events which, curiously, also occured around the time when the (dwarf-) planet of Pluto was first discovered.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.14: Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill

Belated salutations to the Emperor of Dreams on the occasion of his 125th birthday!

Today we celebrate the life and works of Clark Ashton Smith - one of the great Weird Tales triumvirate - by way of Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, currently available from Hippocampus Press. This gorgeous 800 page volume traces the correspondnce between Lovecraft and Smith until the former’s demise.

Notably, these letters also include the only extant reference in Lovecraft to Austin Osman Spare, whose life and work later became so central to Kenneth Grant’s exegesis of Lovecraftian occulture (Crowley is also mentioned on a few occasions in the exchanges between Smith and Lovecraft).

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.13: Sticky Monsters

John Kenn Mortensen’s Sticky Monsters is a visual phantasmagoria of the strange, the weird, and the creepy, all expressed via the medium of pen and ink on post-it notes. Whilst the influence of Edward Gorey runs through many of the illustrations in this wonderful little book, Lovecraft also looms large; indeed, explicitly Lovecraftian examples Mortensen’s work appeared at the Ars Necronomicon exhibition in Providence at NecronomiCon 2017 - so here’s hoping we might, at some point, see a dedicated volume of Cthulhu mythos-themed work by the artist.

The Lovecraftian Thing a Day (2018) No.12: Bibliomantic Ephemera

A little piece of Lovecaftian ephemera for today’s post: the cover of von Juntz’s Unaussprechlichen Kulten - a book about a bunch of nameless cults, one of my favourite mythos tones to boot - turned into a cloisonne pin. Nice.