Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom

Comic artist Bruce Brown has posted a few nice pages from his comic-in-progress entitled Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom. It's not entirely clear where the Frozen Kingdom enters into the narrative, but the bits in pieces I've been able to turn up about this work describe it as the following:

After visiting his father in Butler Sanitarium, young Howard Lovecraft ignores his father's warning and uses the legendary Necronomicon to open a portal to a strange frozen world filled with horrifying creatures and grave danger!

This much is confirmed by the sample pages the artist posted to a comic forum here. So far, so good. Brown shows off a mixed style that convincingly reflects the boyhood innocence of young HPL and the madness and mystery of his insane father. It's interesting to observe the proliferation of these "Lovecraft as hero" themes in comics and elsewhere. Several curiosities are evident in the mythic, heroic Lovecraft that deserve mention. One is that H.P. Lovecraft seems so well suited to this fictional occupation not just because of his life as a horror writer, but because the life he lived is so unusual and well preserved through mountainous letters to colleagues. Paradoxically, many creators of the heroic Lovecraft tend to focus on periods of his life that are shrouded in mystery. The paternal madness, fragmentary childhood, and his time of self-imposed isolation as a young man are frequent launching points for the alternative and courageous lifestyles of the comic Lovecraft.

Odd though it is, these qualities have certainly spurred some marvelous adventure tales that incorporate various elements of the Cthulhu Mythos. Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom is one of the latest, and will likely be available from Arcana Comics in the near future.

-Grim Blogger

Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom

Read more...

A Video Tribute to Chris Mars

Youtube surfing for weird artists yielded this excellent video tribute to Chris Mars. Mars, a personal favorite of mine who I've mentioned here previously, may be on the cusp of achieving the wider recognition he deserves among admirers of art--weird or otherwise. An increasing internet presence, coupled with the release last summer of a new art book called Tolerance, has made Mars some visible strives forward in recognition. Better yet, the artist himself seems to be enjoying a renewed round of exhibitions and personal appearances at book signing featuring his work. If you have yet to be introduced to the cunning mutations and gloomy nightmarishness of Mars' world, then this video will serve as a fine overview.



-Grim Blogger

A Video Tribute to Chris Mars

Read more...

Weird News: Corpse Attacks Man for Having Affair

This interesting story comes from Los Angeles in 1976. It seems one man's spirit re-possessed his lifeless corpse and assailed a rival who had been having an affair with his wife. The horror! The vengeful spirit is a common theme in weird literature that probably stems from legends common to everyday life (like the one detailed below). Writers like M.R. James and Ambrose Bierce invented several grim incidents of supernatural vigilantes returning from the grave to take justice into their own hands. But what, in these instances, really is the weird phenomena? Perhaps it's the very human element usually involved. The idea that a feeling--or grudge, in most cases--can persist beyond the grave is as horrifying as it is strange.

Weird Los Angeles: The Curious Cavorting Coffin

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: Corpse Attacks Man for Having Affair

Read more...

Mass Photos of Abandoned Places

Anyone who has ever stood before a crumbling structure understands how akin the forlorn places of this world are to ghosts of living things. Naturally, the effect can be quite unsettling. Now, this can be at least somewhat mitigated while still allowing viewers to breathe in glorious dereliction thanks to websites like the archives of abandoned places from the WebUrbanist. This is where you will find a pictorial history of forgotten places you never knew existed. Lunatic asylums, urban battlefields, rusting Soviet research facilities, and dead shipyards are just a few of the ghastly ghostscapes located on this website.

Oddly, these damaged echo chambers are safe from many of the urban hazards of real life, but contain all their eeriness. Urban renewal projects may banish some of these heaping specters, but photograph archives like these online will always preserve visages of these early 21st century graveyards.

-Grim Blogger

Mass Photos of Abandoned Places

Read more...

The Terrible Unreality of Richard A. Kirk

Canadian artist Richard A. Kirk is a weaver of oneiric art. His patchwork black and white images often convey a sense of unreality so thorough that they put one in mind of viewing some journal of dreamscapes from the past. His work as an illustrator has brought him into giving imagery to the words of several prominent horror writers like China Mieville and Poppy Z. Brite. This is very appropriate, since Kirk's art easily seeps across the border from the surreal to the weird. His website lays out further description about his life and artistic techniques:

Richard A. Kirk is a prolific Canadian visual artist and illustrator. His fine art work is centered on images that explore the liminal space between imagination and reality; a pictorial space where a personal iconography manifests in protean forms that challenge conventional notions of the beautiful and the grotesque. Richard is interested in the forms found in nature, the morphology of plants and animals, and the effect of time on materials. Richard works in a number of mediums including: pen and ink, silverpoint, watercolor, and oil. He also works with found materials such as metal, rust, rubber, fossils, bones and text. Richard is represented in Europe by Strychnin Gallery.

Kirk's horrors, though they are not ghosts, hold a very spectral quality. The leafy strangeness of the library entity or the giant spider crawling out of an archive drawer above possess a light and tenuous existence, even in the world of art. The description from Kirk's site quoted also reveals some important glimmers of understanding into the nature of the artist's themes and style. It doesn't take long to notice that the haunted objects of oddness in Kirk's pieces are either indifferent or unconcerned with the strange happenings. They are not shocked, frightened, or disgusted. In some respects, this response (or lack thereof) stresses the unusual terror in Kirk's works. The lack of surprise at being confronted with strange happenings indicates things are not as they seem in the whole environment sketched by Kirk--his worlds are the transitory dreamworlds, or darker places where easy definitions of reality are not made.


This zone of unreality is a murky region, but one that lies firmly within the weird--placing Richard A. Kirk there as well, whether he is aware of it or not. The queer denizens of Kirk's artistic dreamland identify him as one of the most imaginative talents worthy of wider recognition in the community of weird admirers. His work has appeared in several art books, including Art That Creeps: Gothic Fantasies and the Macabre in Contemporary Art (which houses a full section on his ghostly wonders). Kirk's website, which includes a far more comprehensive gallery of airy frights than the one featured here, is also well worth a visit.

-Grim Blogger

The Terrible Unreality of Richard A. Kirk

Read more...

"Masters of the Weird Tale" Lovecraft Book: A HPL Photo Collection at Last?

Centipede Press, previously renowned as creators of the gargantuan tome, A Lovecraft Retrospective: Art and Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, may have finally come closer than anyone else in the United States to assembling a collection of major Lovecraft photos. These appear in their latest installment of the ultra-quality "Masters of the Weird Tale" series released last year: a 1200 page hardcover set of two volumes comprising all of HPL's best fiction called H.P. Lovecraft: Masters of the Weird Tale. Sheltered somewhere within the forest of eldritch words are photographs of Lovecraft's Providence, Rhode Island, by J.K. Potter, as well as portraits of the writer himself. Or, as Centipede's official website describes the contents:

Over 1,200 pages of Lovecraft's best fiction and selected collaborations. Also includes "Supernatural Fiction in Literature," the de facto reference essay on the genre. This volume includes a separate book of (never before published) J.K.Potter photographs of Providence, and a selection of H.P. Lovecraft portrait photographs, the largest such collection of pictures ever assembled in one volume.

This is notable for being the first time in recent memory a publisher of Lovecraft's works has specifically set out to include meaningful photos. While there's no indication it is a comprehensive album of all known Lovecraft photos, this move by Centipede may signal the step toward the appearance of such a work. As I've commented in previous posts on the subject, it's somewhat incredible that there has never been a complete Lovecraft photo album put together as either a stand alone piece or nestled within a volume of HPL's tales in the United States. Instead, the images of Lovecraft remain scattered to the four winds--in random editions of his story collections, in online scans, and in the occasional appearance in small press magazines--creating an inconvenience for the rabid Lovecraftian seeking as many images of their idol as possible.

Regrettably, as with many Centipede products, their Lovecraft volume is no small investment, weighing in at about $325 (and more for international buyers). H.P. Lovecraft: Masters of the Weird Tale retails for a discount via Amazon, though. Also, one shouldn't expect to see any stunning scans of possibly new Lovecraft photos pop up any time soon on the internet. Even if there weren't obvious copyright issues with the J.K. Potter photographs and others, actually getting the hefty thing on a scanner would prove quite challenging.

Alas, the search for a pictorial history of H.P. Lovecraft grinds on, but not without some progress thanks to Centipede.

-Grim Blogger

"Masters of the Weird Tale" Lovecraft Book: A HPL Photo Collection at Last?

Read more...

On the Trail of H.P. Lovecraft

NinjaCthulhu has uploaded a great personal tour of H.P. Lovecraft's grave and other Lovecraftian places to Youtube. While the presenter is a little over the top at times, the footage of Swan Point Cemetery (Lovecraft's burial site) and the other Providence locations turned out wonderfully. Good taste is shown in the selection of Lovecraftian sites: the real life basis for the infamous Shunned House, the gorgeous home where Lovecraft centered "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," as well as St. John's Churchyard--beloved by both Poe and HPL. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to be moving around on the ground in Providence in these areas, then this informal tour will give you some idea.






-Grim Blogger

On the Trail of H.P. Lovecraft

Read more...

Poe Bicentennial Media Roundup Continued

Though Edgar Allan Poe's big week is regrettably eclipsed by the spotlight of the US Presidential inauguration, his bicentennial on Monday continued to gain high honors from some select sources. So, I couldn't resist doing another day of media roundups for a once in a lifetime event celebrating the often dour, but brilliant life of this writer.

• "Edgar Allan Poe at 200:" This "Paper Cuts" blog entry from The New York Times includes a few nice .PDF downloads from the paper's long history with Poe. A slide show of Poe's original works can be viewed, as well as a centenary piece by the times from 1909.
• "Bicentennial Bash at the Dank Tarn of Auber!" I somehow overlooked this excellent article on Poe from "The Cimmerian" blog. Author Steve Tompkins gives a lengthy and cleverly written tour of Poe viewed through the lenses of others. A little gallery of interesting images, as well as vital quotes on the nineteenth century writer, are collected here in one engaging package.
• "Baltimore Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers: Edgar Allan Poe's Playoff:" Though seemingly out of place here, this sports article was too creative to neglect. A number of Poe puns are used throughout--often quite adeptly--to describe pending match ups with various teams. This marks an unexpected treat emerging from the blizzard of Poe related texts.
• "Poe Passion Hasn't Waned:" The Baltimore Sun produced another excellent article highlighting the reflections of a veteran Poe student and impersonator, John Astin. The actor won much respect throughout the theatrical and Gothic communities of previous decades for his very accurate portrayals of Edgar Allan. Not surprisingly, the opinions of Astin on a number of Poe subjects, as related by this article, deserve equal attention.

As an aside, I don't intend to spend an overwhelming amount of further entries on Edgar Allan Poe--at the moment. I do fully mean to make this whole year an expanded spotlight for the progenitor of all modern weird horror as we know it, here in my own little corner of cyber-space.

-Grim Blogger

Poe Bicentennial Media Roundup Continued

Read more...

Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial Media Roundup

The mainstream media is unleashing a flurry of interesting articles to mark the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth a few days ago. Over the past weekend, several major American and international papers published articles discussing various aspects of the weird writer. Below are a few of stories I found most interesting and informative:

• "Who Owns Edgar Allan Poe?" The Los Angeles Times put out this piece, which, in addition to reviewing a few good contemporary books on Poe, covers the outbreak of the "Poe Wars." This conflict refers to the aggressive attempts of various US cities to claim him as their own. The intrepid and shifty author was well known for settling in several different cities throughout his life along the East Coast. This greedy battle over Poe's homesteads is fascinating, though seemingly a little ridiculous. Isn't there enough Edgar Allan to go around?
• "Read Street: On 200th Anniversary of Poe's Birth, Authors Talk About His Influence:" This article from The Baltimore Sun is a little more than a general "happy birthday" message, though it certainly includes that. It holds the brief opinions of three award winning authors about the influence of Poe on American literature. It is, in fact, just a preview. These personalities will weigh in as guests in the newspaper throughout the week, providing more elaborate commentary on the dark legacy of Mr. Poe.
• "A Quiz on Edgar Allan Poe:" Think you know your stuff about the dark writer? Then try this quiz from The Plain Dealer about Poe. This one is just for fun. It compiles a sampling of questions ranging in difficulty about his life and literary output.
• "Poe Continues to Beat Under the Floorboards of Popular Culture:" Randy Shore of the Canada.com blog has done his research on recent Poe items, and it shows. This fine article summarizes the myriad of films, books, music, and events that have recently appeared or are on the horizon based on his work.
• "Lure of Poe's Grave in Baltimore Remains Strong 200 Years After Author's Death:" An article by The Free-Lance Star notes that Poe's grave continues to gain attention alongside his unusual life. Consider this a brief overview of the posthumous life of Poe and his cemetery markers. It gives a glimpse at the difficult, and sometimes odd history of raising funds and maintaining physical memorials for the famous writer since his death. Sadly, an author so deserving has experienced more than his share of difficulties just obtaining and keeping a proper tombstone.

-Grim Blogger

Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial Media Roundup

Read more...

Weird News: Monoliths Beneath Lake Michigan

Sunken remains of art under Lake Michigan? Perhaps H.P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones ventured further into the icy interior of ancient North America than we ever thought. The appearance of stone monoliths at the bottom of the lake, as well as the discovery of a boulder that seems to show a mastodon being killed, is coming under close scrutiny as a sensational find--if it all holds up to scientific scrutiny. In any case, these curious relics look set to spur plenty of archaeological study and speculation from the less certain pseudoscience looking at Out-of-Place Artifacts.

Another Stonehenge Discovered Under Lake Michigan?

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: Monoliths Beneath Lake Michigan

Read more...

A Smattering of Poe Fan Art

I am not an Edgar Allan Poe scholar. So, rather than write a lengthy memorium or attempt an article about a weird writer I love to read, but do not have a stellar understanding of, I thought a sampling of Poe depictions would be more appropriate. In the two hundred years since his birth today, Mr. Poe has enjoyed a fanatically loyal following from those who read and appreciate him. Not unlike H.P. Lovecraft today, Poe has been the subject of both serious study and lighthearted adulation. Though not quite as explosive and ubiquitous as HPL and his creations online, Poe has sparked considerable memes and fan art as well. The images here are just a few that I think express a celebratory and joyous mood to honor the birth of a dark, strange writer.


It appears Poe's hero like status in literature has translated to other areas of pop culture. Plastic idols are no longer the venue of great soldiers, actors, and comic book heroes. You can get your own elegant Poe figurine--complete with black cat--from Amazon here. A little cognac for fuel and he's good to go.


This amateur work suggests that Poe is not dead, but dreaming. It famously combines the writer's morbid look on life and subject matter with cozier themes. It's especially interesting in light of Poe's great fear--expressed in several of his works--that he might end up prematurely interned in the rare, but awful fashion of the nineteenth century. At least an uncovered grave here yields no chance of the smothering doom that formed an "inconvenient truth" enshadowing the minds of many men and women in the author's era.


Talk about a dynamic duo! This stylish depiction of Poe walking with Lovecraft amid the backdrop of some of their most famous literary creations rings of the heroic. In fact, I believe it was originally a promo image for a webcomic featuring both weird writers as investigators. Anyone with some knowledge of Lovecraft's life knows the force Poe's legacy exerted. Some claim, not unreasonably, that Poe was placed on a pedestal by Lovecraft as the the shining example of what a weird writer could achieve--and what HPL himself hoped to. Today, it's nearly fair to say that the two stand equal, if not yet in scholarly attention, than at least in readership.


"Two-Fisted Poe" reinforces the jocular hero theme in some of the pictures above. Actually, Poe's notoriously decadent lifestyle leaves a nice way to envision him as a pulp vigilante. Unlike the shy and gentlemanly H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe experienced his fair share of drinking and adventures in the slums of cities like Baltimore and Richmond. His unusual death--seemingly the product of a rugged life in which refined literature was the main bright spot--still commands great mystery and occasional investigation. Poe would have truly had the hardened state of mind to thrive as a warrior or "dark hero" enjoyed in many popular books and television shows today.


Given the popularity of both cat memes online and Poe's story "The Black Cat," posting this image is only natural. This tale is back in the spotlight more than other Poe stories, thanks in part to a cinematic adaptation of The Black Cat from the Masters of Horror series. There's something curious about the high proportion of weird writers who have ruminated on the glories and horrors of felines in their work. Then again, there are few other animals with such an ancient history of wonder and strangeness in human culture. Perhaps the modern cat, as a smaller representative of its powerful and deadly cousins, is a little horror. A tame horror. Poe himself concentrated in a black cat is both charming and terrifying.

-Grim Blogger

A Smattering of Poe Fan Art

Read more...

Music Video for "All Nightmare Long"

The newish music video for Metallica's song "All Nightmare Long" has generated some major buzz across the horror community online. I find it worth reposting here for its rather creative cross-genre bits of darkness bridging the gaps between weird horror, sci-fi, alternative history, and zombie apocalypses. The video tells the unusual story of the downfall of the United States at the hands of Soviet experiments with a reanimating spore originally uncovered after the Tunguska event. Re-animating? Yes, it seems there is even a hint of H.P. Lovecraft's Herbert West and his disastrous results at trying to revive dead tissue in the rock group's video.

If you're not a fan of Metallica's style, then it's likely still worth your time to turn the volume down and substitute your own song while letting the footage role. The musicians have definitely struck many pleasant notes of the strange and hip with this video. Alternate history, conspiratorial chemtrails, communist nostalgia, and zombies: what's not to like?




-Grim Blogger

Music Video for "All Nightmare Long"

Read more...

Charles Stross on "A Colder War" and More

Charles Stross, who penned the notable Cthulhu Mythos tale, "A Colder War," has recently posted a blog article shedding new light on this story's inception and its meaning. As most readers have long suspected, Stross sought to strain the paranoia, anxiety, and outright terror of the Cold War into a concentrate through the filter of H.P. Lovecraft's universe. Though its premise is borderline pulpy on the surface--an "alternative" imagining of the Cold War incorporating a secretive military-industrial complex (from both the US and the USSR) wrangling with Lovecraftian horrors--the piece has stood out since its original publication as an imaginative and well liked example of modern Yog-Sothery. Stross ruminates briefly on Stanley Kubrick's infamous "Dr. Strangelove" as well, a curious cocktail of fear and humor, not unlike Stross' own Cold War work.

One might wonder if Stross' tale represents a natural outgrowth of political Lovecraftiana not commonly touched on. While blatant political opinions were usually absent in the stories of HPL (aside from aberrations like "The Street," which explored radical anarcho-Marxist subversion from within using a rather conservative perspective), his forward-looking concepts in science readily yield themselves to political fiction. The god-like Azathoth was always described as a swirling chaos of nuclear power--presumably the most powerful and menacing "consciousness" in the universe, however "blind" and "idiotic." With the explosion of controversy around the arms race long after Lovecraft's death, political stories focusing on nuclear issues were inevitable.

In a geopolitical realm laced with its own strung out terrors beginning in the Cold War era, and even renewed clashes between the US and Russia, Stross' work may gain further interest from Cthulhu Mythos fans. It may even inspire new Cthulhu Mythos tales from the Terror War, or perhaps a future reality based Colder War between East and West. Stross' expanded novella can be read here at Infinity Plus.

-Grim Blogger

Charles Stross on "A Colder War" and More

Read more...

H.P. Lovecraft and Marvel

Geoff Klock's blog currently holds a fascinating entry by Cove West from last fall about the influence of H.P. Lovecraft on comics, specifically, the Marvel universe. In the three part article, West covers the Cthulhuvian aspects of a number of adversaries of the X-Men and other superheroes featured in comics produced by Marvel. The author makes a convincing case for the obvious presence of Lovecraft's ideas and characters. And it's clear that West knows his stuff, judging by the extensive references to specific issues from the Marvel archives.

Most interesting is West's analysis of the progressive development of Lovecraftian references from oblique ones to explicit mentions. In fact, he cites several cases where Cthulhu and other entities created by the Providence author are noted. This is a fine read for anyone who seeks to understand Lovecrafts place in a (thus far) less studied area of pop culture, or for those with an interest in both HPL and the major players in the comic industry.

-Grim Blogger

H.P. Lovecraft and Marvel

Read more...

"The Whisperer in Darkness:" A Musical Rendition

The piece below appears to have been inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's Mi-Go infested tale "The Whisperer in Darkness." Unlike some of the more boisterous music that sometimes overlaps with the weird genre, this song holds very high doses of classical charm. It may even be something Lovecraft himself might have enjoyed. Unfortunately, the description on Youtube is in French, which I'm personally incapable of reading. Despite this, the music speaks for itself. The rich darkness that will pour out of your speakers upon playing this identifies its origins and place in art: firmly within the weird subset.



-Grim Blogger

"The Whisperer in Darkness:" A Musical Rendition

Read more...

New Nyarlathotep Statue Coming Soon

SOTA, a company specializing in quality action figures and models, is set to release a new statue of H.P. Lovecraft's enigmatic Nyarlathotep in the first quarter of this year. The model will reportedly be another resin based creation that will stand about one foot high, and it will retail for about $200. This description of the monstrosity from the website "Action-Figure" gives further details:

SOTA Toys introduces the latest addition to the “SOTA Nightmares” product line, H. P. Lovecraft’s Nyarlethotep. This 12-inch tall statue features incredible detail in its horrific presentation of the messenger of the Great Old Ones, Nyarlethotep. Made of high quality resin and special “flex-resin” in key parts, this limited edition collectible will be a prized addition to any collection highlighting H. P. Lovecraft, monsters, and, as Lovecraft stated, “gigantic, tenebrous, ultimate gods.” The release date is a round about "first quarter" estimate, so I'd say to start looking for him in March. This is a statue though, so keep in mind it will set you back upwards of 200 bucks.

While SOTA's latest design is impressive, and certainly up to the high standards set by their previous Lovecraftian creations, I'm not certain the tentacled Cthulhuvian look of Nyarlathotep is quite right. Nowhere in Lovecraft's writing is the emissary of Azathoth explicitly described. He appears as a mostly formless, Crawling Chaos in faux human form in the story that bears his name, and again as a trickster in "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath." While tentacles have played their role for a long time, serving as symbols of the alien in Lovecraft's work, I believe they are overplayed. It would be nice to see more Lovecraftian horrors incorporating other strange features of his monsters: fungi, leathery wings, blindness, and quasi-biological chaos.

That said, the SOTA figure is still a good quality design and monument to weird horror. It will certainly find a home on the shelves of many collectors and connoisseurs of the outre. Look for it to hit online markets and specialty shops no later than spring.

-Grim Blogger

New Nyarlathotep Statue Coming Soon

Read more...

A Calendar of Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial Events

This article at GMA News contains a nicely laid out schedule of most known Edgar Allan Poe events open to the public in January and beyond. Some of these are repeats of large scale celebrations and commemorations I previously mentioned in this post. However, the GMA News article contains quite a few others not merely confined to the dates around the actual birth of Mr. Poe (January 19th). Large numbers of events are planned for old haunts of the bleak author: Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Richmond. I'm not sure why the article has everything for Richmond crossed out. Surely, the city hasn't canceled all Poe related celebrations?

What this list shows better than anything else is that there's something for everyone in this year of Poe. Lectures from prominent scholars, readings, film showings, wine tastings, and many types of performances constitute the aura of remembrance certain to be lit this month in the United States and across the world. A number of events are set later this year, mostly in Baltimore, around the time of Poe's death in early October. According to the list, the public will be able to attend a new funeral service for Poe and view a replica of his body, among other things, this fall.

Check back for further updates about Edgar Allan Poe bicentennial events throughout the year. I fully intend to advertise as many as possible, wherever they are, no matter how big or small. If you are planning an event in your area, feel free to e-mail me (grimblogger at gmail dot com) and I will gladly post my own list of "lesser known" Poe gatherings across the US and abroad!

-Grim Blogger

A Calendar of Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial Events

Read more...

Weird News: Venomous Mammal Revealed

It looks and sounds like something out of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands, but this overgrown shrew is truly deadly, strange, and all too real. The creature contains unique teeth capable of injecting toxin into any that rile its anger...or hunger. Fortunately, the creature seems to only exist in the murky wilds of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Look for this beast to make the rounds at zoos and exhibits as soon as its behavior and numbers are better understood. Though it readily fits the bill of nature's weird today, one has to wonder how long it will take for the animal's "shock and awe" to wear off. In a couple centuries, will the poisonous solenodon merely be another run-of-the-mill critter compared with the psychic fungi worms of Alpha Centauri?

Venomous Mammal Caught on Camera

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: Venomous Mammal Revealed

Read more...

US Post Office to Release Edgar Allan Poe Stamp

A stamp bearing the likeness of Edgar Allan Poe is to be released on January 16th, just a few days before the bicentennial anniversary of the 19th century weird writer's birth. The United States Post Office will release the 42 cent stamp to commemorate this anniversary of a major figure in American literary history. This is great timing, and underscores the significance of an author who, regrettably, usually doesn't generate a great deal of interest from the masses after they've departed school. Poe, though adored by readers of literature and weird fiction, is not widely recognized or read apart from his frequent place in High Schools and colleges as a teaching device. This is a great shame. However, if there's any year with hope of reviving wider interest in Edgar Allan Poe's work, it's this one.

Americans love an anniversary, and occasionally a gimmick. These stamps--which turned out rather stylish--should be just the thing to remind the public of Poe, the man born 200 years ago; and Poe, the writer: a timeless being of incredible cultural power. Besides, the stamps are certain to make nice collectibles and are good fun for sending parcels to those who already appreciate the sort of strangeness represented in Poe's writing. A pane of $20 Poe stamps will sell for $8.40, and they can be purchased online at the USPS product page here.

-Grim Blogger

US Post Office to Release Edgar Allan Poe Stamp

Read more...

Amateur Lovecraftiana: The Cats of Ulthar and At the Mountains of Madness

One thing hasn't changed with the New Year: Youtube continues to serve as a nexus of amateur weirdism for anyone with a little literary knowledge and technical knowhow. H.P. Lovecraft based amateur shorts continue to be the dominant force there in the realm of weird horror. These two recent films embedded below help underscore the sheer diversity of Lovecraftian pictures stored online. The first is an animated piece combining Lovecraft's "The Cats of Ulthar" with holiday themes. Although a bit belated, it was too clever to pass up--and makes a good keepsake for next Christmas. The second clip is a handsome vision of what a full movie based on "At the Mountains of Madness" might look like. The trailer meshes clips from previous popular films to achieve this effect. Let us only hope the true "At the Mountains of Madness" movie, soon to be created by Guillermo del Toro, turns out as appetizing as this!





-Grim Blogger

Amateur Lovecraftiana: The Cats of Ulthar and At the Mountains of Madness

Read more...

Lovecraft on Film from TVTropes.org

A posting at TVtropes.org has collected quite a lengthy list of Lovecraftian inspired films and television shows. Unlike some older websites which aren't the easiest to navigate, this list provides a nicely summarized glimpse at Lovecraftian film. It also includes all of the biggest ones to feature direct H.P. Lovecraft story adaptations or at least inspiration; past, present, and future. Completists will be better served by this book from Andrew Migliore, The Lurker in the Lobby: The Guide to Lovecraftian Cinema, produced by major figures involved with the annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. For the initiate into weird cinema or those who just want an easily accessible inventory of the major screen adaptions, you could do a lot worse than starting with TVtropes.org.

-Grim Blogger

Lovecraft on Film from TVTropes.org

Read more...

The Devilish Gardens of François Houtin

The French artist François Houtin captures something of the wonderful side of the weird, but also something of the terrible. His brilliantly tangled, overgrown jungles reflect some element of the bizarre beauties writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith occasionally pined after and represented in their less dark tales. Though clearly inspired by ancient legends like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Houtin's exotic paper conservatories are more like enormous plant kingdoms from another planet. The skill and immensely odd vision that seeps into each one of his etchings shows nothing short of brilliance.


Although one would be hard pressed to find a Houtin garden that isn't beautiful, the reader of weird fiction will likely feel a vague anxiety rustling amid the leaves of Houtin's works. Houtin's jungles are peopled by unearthly plants, but people themselves and animals make scant, if any appearances at all. Moreover, quite a few of Houtin's dreamscapes show the relentless encroachment of magnificent fruiting bodies over abandoned palaces and pyramids, while other images make it impossible to discern whether the plants themselves might have formed terrifying facsimiles of abandoned buildings. When the observer considers who, or what, walks among the lush fields of Houtin's worlds in the past or future, there is horror. There is a dreamy hell behind the beauty of Houtin, as with most true beauties.


Regardless of whether awe or revulsion at Houtin's seething gardens come in greater proportion, he has cultivated an atmosphere closely associated with the weird's roots: cosmic wonder. In fact, Houtin has created the very environments of the weird often conjured only in the mind from reading eldritch literature. Although chances are good he will remain fairly obscure in the United States, this needn't be the case in weird circles. Several decent galleries of the artists work are available for perusing at the "Galleria del Leone" and "The Francis Kyle Gallery."

-Grim Blogger

The Devilish Gardens of François Houtin

Read more...

"The Dreams in the Witch House" on Stage Redux

WildClaw Theater has completed its production run of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House" in Chicago. They have also set up a nice page of photos, links to reviews of the play from major papers, and other materials. It seems that they have again wracked up rave reviews from local press organs who covered their production. Lovecraft admirers unable to attend can view some great summaries of the play and see stock photos of everything from Brown Jenkin to wall scrawled shapes and formulas of inter-dimensional non-Euclidean geometry. Perhaps rising commercial and artistic success from productions like "The Dreams in the Witch House" will one day convince WildClaw to take their performances on tour.

In addition to plenty of material from "Dreams," the same page includes photos and reviews of their previous theatrical adaptation of Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan." The troupe's next play is called "The Revenants," a zombie production slated for release this spring.

-Grim Blogger

"The Dreams in the Witch House" on Stage Redux

Read more...

Creepy Images: Uncanny Valley

"Uncanny Valley" is a psychological response to human likeness--specifically robots bordering dangerously close to imitating human appearances and actions--that results in a strangely increased perception of the foreign, the alien in the faux human object. In popular usage, this catchy phrase has extended to more than just androids like the advanced Japanese designs seen above. Almost anything designed to mimic human features enjoys at least some level of Uncanny Valley responses from human observers. How does each one of the bizarre photos of human facsimiles make you feel?


This decaying dummy is like something you might find hidden in the tales of Thomas Ligotti or Robert Aickman. Shabby, feline eyed, and stupid (at least on the surface), it nevertheless represents an Uncanny Valley moment. Of course, the human mimicry is so shoddy in this sample that other creepy facets are brought to the fore.


This doll is an even more extreme example of the inhuman mixed with the realist figure in a startling clash of Uncanny Valley with outright horror. The alteration of just the mouth on the demonic second head is really the only big aberration here. Somehow, this grinning kiss from hell is a small interruption in what would otherwise be a double dose of Uncanny Valley: two icy heads staring with all their forceful likeness into the viewer's soul. Instead, the effect is lessened, but with the trade off of unease at seeing such primitive fangs overflowing from the mouth of a would-be person.


Finally, we have this schoolgirl like manikin that stares up at the observer from a pasty face with enormous eyes. The saucer eyes, though unrealistically exaggerated, suggest something frighteningly human. They are a paradox set in an otherwise sheepish face that induces toxic doses of Uncanny Valley like fears. Studies of the psychological phenomena have shown the effect is best achieved in instances where the human likeness approaches perfection, but quirks in appearance and attitude are just a little off, preventing acceptance of the impostor as human. While the strict scientific mind will probably say several of these examples are not quite human enough to incite Uncanny Valley, the picture above approaches the pitched terror of Uncanny Valley magnified. The clash of the human and inhuman, and thus the horror, is taken to greater heights in the wide eyed manikin, than, say, the low yield eeriness felt from viewing the first image of the Japanese androids.

-Grim Blogger

Creepy Images: Uncanny Valley

Read more...

Weird News: Girl Allegedly Produces Glass from Forehead

Most are familiar with vague murmurs of miraculous happenings in far away lands that usually have some broader religious symbolism. Stranger, however, are the "miracles" that seem to happen for no practical purpose, devoid of symbolism; religious and otherwise. The West Nepalese girl who supposedly produces solid pieces of glass from her body appears to be one of these wretched cases. It's unclear whether this is a marvelous hoax, a freakish mutation, or some obvious sign from the great beyond that is neither religious nor comprehensible. In any case, the unusual happenings in the article definitely qualify as weird news.

A Bizarre Case: Girl in Far Western Nepal Emits 'Glass Pieces' from Forehead

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: Girl Allegedly Produces Glass from Forehead

Read more...

Anderson II: The Rise of R'lyeh Trailer

A trailer for an interesting game called Anderson II: The Rise of R'lyeh is up on Youtube. It seems to be a sequel to the little known Anderson & The Legacy of Cthulhu which appeared in 2007. The original installment starred Robert D. Anderson, an investigator in WWII era Germany who ventured to Europe in an effort to understand his strange origins. It was an amateur video game by JoWood Productions and Home Grown Games. The game combined an investigative and adventure-shooter atmosphere in a three dimensional environment.

Details are scant about the sequel so far. A website is featured here, but no information is posted on it except for a logo at the present time. However, the trailer below offers some tantalizing hints about what players can look forward to in The Rise of R'lyeh. It looks like it's set in contemporary times, and will explore the often mentioned but little realized scenario of Cthulhu bursting into our world after the proper alignment of the cosmos. Look for further details to surface on their website as the production nears release sometime next year.



-Grim Blogger

Anderson II: The Rise of R'lyeh Trailer

Read more...