Weird News: Mummified Baby Stolen from Grave
Monday, May 31, 2010
Family heirloom or something far more sinister?
R.B. Russell's Literary Remains Reviewed
Saturday, May 29, 2010
R.B. Russell's weird fiction has hit the weird literary world in a remarkable surge, balancing quality with production. Close on the heels of his first story collection Putting the Pieces in Place and the novella Bloody Baudelaire, both published by Ex Occidente Press, is a new offering by PS Publishing: Literary Remains. This collection of ten new tales is an expression of haunting otherworldliness seeping into realities well known to Russell. At times, reading the book seems like a journey through a carnival funhouse, but one filled with pale whispers and wayward gentleman instead of gaudy ornaments. More than anything, Literary Remains presents the emergence of an unusual other reality so disorienting that it dazzles and terrifies in equal proportions.
Russell's attention to clearly writing what he knows convincingly solidifies the recognizable setting in his stories, and perhaps this is why their nicely paced breakdown is so strange. The author's position as Tartarus Press' chief operator is no secret, so it is not surprising that many of this collection's stories are set in bookish environs. In the titular story, "Literary Remains," a young woman's work at a bookstore leads her into tending the graveyard library of a deceased collector and writer, which seemingly harbors more ghosts than old books and papers in his house. "Asphodel" toys with the dark side of the publishing world when an elderly religious fanatic seeks to get his treatise published through a vanity publisher. The astounding success of this shadow writer and his bizarre transfiguration ring the notes of religious mystery, extracted and distilled from the world's orthodoxies. The publishing world's troubles are again displayed in "Another Country," where a representative of a major house journeys to a strange land to meet a reclusive, bitter writer. The foreigner's painful secrets are awkwardly revealed in a land made genuinely unintelligible to Russell's visitor, and these elements are only a precursor to the real horror.
If any one source of inspiration can be pinned down for this collection, it is unequivocally Robert Aickman. Russell's mixture of erotic tension and unexplained elements strongly reflect an Aickmanesque worldview, though his stories are original enough to avoid obvious parallels. Not surprisingly, the best tales have the strongest Aickman traces. "Blue Glow" spins the old dream of exchanging lives with someone else in a new direction. A middle aged fellow is slowly integrated into the luxurious flat and lifestyle of a wealthy playboy across the street, while his old life is seized by this other man. A bizarre transference of apartments, women, and wealth occurs beneath the inexplicable and melancholy aura of dark blue lighting that seems to follow the narrator's evasive partner.
Other stories also drive on the fog of Aickmanesque mystery, which is often so impenetrable it forces readers to invent their own interpretations, like reading constellations in the stars. "Loup-Garou" (which means "werewolf") showcases an artsy French film that uncannily mirrors its viewer's life. Later, the movie has an unsettling transformative effect (or is it a second transformation?) when it is viewed anew many years later. "A Revelation" hides a secret in the attic--an ancient plot device of the horror and mystery genres--but Russell's garden shed in the rafters is far more baffling than horrifying. This brief narrative is especially forceful in the sheer oddness of its revelation, which mirrors the best cosmic awe in H.P. Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann" and the eeriness of "doubles" from Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone.
"Where They Cannot be Seen" exudes further architectural mystery, but tangles it with strands of forbidden longing and lust in a way that admirably demonstrates the layered power of Russell's prose. In this story, two adulterous spouses at a couples' retreat discover a hidden chamber in their vacation house invisible to everyone else. Curiously, the room rearranges itself as their emotions evolve, reflecting and encouraging their affair, until the disturbing and sad climax. Consciously or not, Russell effectively utilizes structural unease and spacial anomaly to generate a weird atmosphere, somewhat like Mark Z. Danielewski's novel, House of Leaves. "Another Country" exhibits another type of placement distortion. Russell's authentic depiction of a foreign land (probably inspired by Eastern Europe) is an anxiety-inducing trap that accurately represents the horrors of finding oneself among strange buildings and garbled languages.
Despite Aickman's ghostly polish, R.B. Russell's fiction differentiates its mysteries by conjuring disorientation and distortions that often probe deeper into our world than Aickman's. Russell's blurring of memory is a useful and recurring tool for making the dizzy uncertainty that dominates Literary Remains. No story better exemplifies memory distortion than "Llanfihangel," where a guest at a party leads a man to mount an effort at assisting an old girlfriend, Cara, who has fallen onto hard times. Questions abound in this tale, from the narrator's own uncertainty about Cara's status and possible fraud, to the estate she formerly occupied which seems as haunted as everything else surrounding this memory ghost. The supernatural encroaches more ominously than in any other tale in "Una Furtiva Lagrima," as a young man visits the home of his father's mistress. This story takes on the appearance of shared haunting, as the literal and figurative ghosts of a terrible incident from her past manifest themselves. "An Artist's Model" sees an art student achieving the unlikely success he longs for from the story's outset. However, it comes only after sleep tainted episodes painting his instructor's curious model and a physical altercation he cannot understand. Overall, memory confusion and misunderstanding in these tales are the worst demons of all.
The most important gift of Literary Remains is a small peek behind reality's curtain into another realm, with landscapes and players which cannot be fully understood. This short story collection forces readers to become active investigators rather than passive observers. Fortunately, this follows the best tradition of weird literature, and unraveling the book's many mysteries can be immensely rewarding, besides being the only way of really appreciating the high class strangeness Russell has cultivated here. Since Literary Remains is already the third thoughtful book R.B. Russell has released in a short time, readers can expect even more from this talented conqueror of weird fiction writing and publishing. This collection sets the bar high for himself, not to mention future authors, but also ensures a special place for his fiction in the contemporary weird's bright future.
-Grim Blogger
Hector Turner's Lovecraft Tombstone
Friday, May 28, 2010
The Propnomicon blog has highlighted this interesting transformation of H.P. Lovecraft's grave by Hector Turner. Monstrous appendages, a page in occult script, and an Elder Sign adorn a much more elaborate tombstone than the one that actually sits in Swan Point cemetery:
This alternate rendering of Lovecraft's headstone is probably a first in the world of Lovecraftiana. It almost seems inevitable, though, when considering the countless adventure roles Lovecraft himself has been placed in through movies, comics, and fiction. Why shouldn't his afterlife enjoy the same reality and history bending treatment?
-Grim Blogger
More Lovecraftian Dioramas
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
A few years ago, I did a post on Donal Buckley's excellent Lovecraftian dioramas. Since then, Mr. Buckley has been hard at work on more sinister transitions of Lovecraftian ideas into three dimensional miniatures. Images in his latest gallery depict models based on several Lovecraft stories as well as Ramsey Campbell's Mythos tale, "The Tower of Yuggoth."
With real skill, Buckley gives reality to mysterious churches, lichen overgrown relics, and cults meddling with the borders between realities. His model imagining a summoning ceremony for Yog-Sothoth (above) is particularly impressive. Buckley's little towns and derelicts may even let the imagination run wild when one thinks of what goes on when the lights are out and nobody's around. I'm reminded of the miniature town from Tim Burton's Beetlejuice.
-Grim Blogger
Tales of the Cthulhu Quarter
Monday, May 24, 2010
Last month, the Tales of the... blog hosted a series of artistic presentations called "Tales of the Cthulhu Quarter." Now, following several weeks of H.P. Lovecraft inspired content, the online sideshow has just wrapped up. What's left is an eclectic mixture of podcasting, commentary, and visual art. The Cthulhu exhibit is actually the unifying theme for this blog's launch, complete with a uniquely regional focus by showcasing artists and bloggers from Northern Ireland.
While the self-contained stories told through Lovecraftian media don't deviate greatly from established Cthulhu Mythos norms, the presentation is new. This breed of multimedia powered storytelling may preview the way certain future weird tales could be told. Though it will never replace the novel and the short story collection (and that's a very good thing), thematic blogging may find a fruitful place in the world of Lovecraftiana, where monthly and quarterly print digests devoted to it are quickly falling by the wayside due to technological change and recessionary upheaval. Also, projects like "Tales of the Cthulhu Quarter" can easily incorporate video and audio content in concert with traditional literary and visual art--a potentially decisive advantage over the PDF contained e-zines floating around for the past decade or so.
I'm hardly the only commentator to muse on this change in online publishing, though. Rather than listening to echo chamber observations here, head over to Tales of the... to take in some effective Lovecraftian art and see a possible blueprint of the future.
-Grim Blogger
The Return of the Lovecraft Convention: Mythos Con 2011
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A new convention celebrating the life and works of H.P. Lovecraft is scheduled for early next year. Mythos Con, which has already locked in appearances by a large list of prestigious writers, artists, and film makers, will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, January 6-9, 2011. Like many other thematic conventions, it's slated to feature art, merchants, movies, panels, and games galore.
This is the largest effort at organizing an explicitly Lovecraftian convention for some time. On its surface, it's reminiscent of the Lovecraftian NecronomiCons that were held about ten years ago. Only the annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival has stood in as a major Lovecraft convention in recent years, and Mythos Con is sure to give it some friendly competition.
Updates and autopsies of this promising convention will be provided as more information becomes available. Consider venturing to this mass Lovecraftian gathering, if you're able.
-Grim Blogger
Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Andrew W. Jones' film Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer is a humorous, adventure-packed departure from most standard science fiction fare. It's notable here because it contains, among other things, some definite Lovecraftian elements. Jones, who previously made a Lovecraftian short called The Book Dealers (which is also available to view on his website), summarizes his latest quirky film this way:
In the annoyingly sparkly future-scape of Neo-Mega-Ultra Tokyo, reporter Holly Malone tracks a murderous urban legend.
She discovers that a chain of drug related killings leads down a super natural trail. A trail that ends with no average pill pusher, but FRANK DANCOOLO: PARANORMAL DRUG DEALER!
A comedy featuring a goofy blend of computer generated overkill, cartoon physics and stop-motion monsters.
It's clearest Lovecraftian source of inspiration appears to be HPL's story "From Beyond." DanCoolo's psychic drugs shatter the veil between his fictional steampunk human reality, and one where nameless horrors lurk. Jones' design for the creatures that DanCoolo and reporter Malone ultimately encounter is also clearly Lovecraftian. These are rigidly Cthulhuvian terrors, complete with tentacles and all.
Although Jones' new project is not a purely Lovecraftian one, it effectively highlights the versatile ways Lovecraft's themes and designs can be worked into narratives in other genres. His film does not push the boundaries too far into new territory, but then there is little need to. Frank DanCoolo is a graphically intense and delightfully silly short with an added Lovecraftian flair that will please fans of the Providence writer, without referencing deeper Cthulhuvian lore which may confuse viewers unfamiliar with Lovecraft. Jones's real virtue with this film is a balancing act resulting in a smooth mixture of sub-genres and sources.
-Grim Blogger
LTC Rolt Events by the IWA
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The UK's Inland Waterways Association (IWA) has set up a number of centennial events this year in honor of L.T.C. Rolt. There's even a reenactment of a cruise he took along Britain's inner channels during his lifetime, which resulted in him writing a log that helped generate interest in these inland waterways. Like his contemporary, Robert Aickman, Rolt was fascinated by the old network of rivers and locks throughout Britain. Rolt will always be remembered for his ghost story collection Sleep No More, which proved something of a high quality one shot in weird literature.
These events by the IWA help celebrate an important part of Rolt's life. They also remind weird aficionados that many great weird writers have interests outside a niche genre of literature. In L.T.C. Rolt's case, his devotion to preserving inland waterways was even more of a priority than writing ghost stories.
-Grim Blogger
Weird News: Turkmenistan Seeks to Shut Hell's Door
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The desire to cauterize a gaping inferno left over from the Soviet era in Turkmenistan presents a great engineering challenge. The industrial marvel that would have to be employed to shut down "Hell's Door" really stirs the imagination. But couldn't something be lost by extinguishing its fires? Oh, Turkmenistan would gain better access to its natural resources, but the human mindscape would definitely lose a rich supply of fuel in this strange and haunting fire pit.
To get a breakdown about life in Turkmenistan (including scant mentions of the hellish inferno), check out Sam Tranum's book, Daily Life in Turkmenbashy's Golden Age.
Quentin S. Crisp's Remember You're a One-Ball! Reviewed
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Quentin S. Crisp, an author of several well received collections of weird fiction, can have many labels applied to his work, but perhaps the most deserving today is "daring." His new novel, Remember You're a One Ball! published by the start up Chomu Press, is long on courage and marinated in unease. There is a dare in each chapter, to follow Crisp all the way to the bitter conclusion, across the painful landscape of human cruelty and social taboo. Trying to resist this challenge does little good, as the mystery of the book's monstrous conspiracy is so outlandish and so awful that the pages will keep turning in hope of redemption.
Remember You're a One-Ball! plunges deep into a hidden world, and casts a glowing lantern on one of society's ultimate untouchables, a cast so hidden and unspeakable that many overlook their very existence: the One-Balls. Men who have lost a testicle seemingly live a spectral existence, and this quiet half-life could possibly work out okay for them and the rest of society. But Crisp's literary excursion pulls the curtain back. Anonymity is not an option here. His world is one where the One-Ball is exposed, and put on exhibit in a zoo called society, where a series of horrible contrivances and reminders make it impossible to forget--even momentarily--that his victims are One-Balls.
The One-Ball experience comes to us through the tormented filter of Ramsey Blake. This introverted narrator's outsiderness is established early in the novel, and it serves as a useful perspective for Crisp's social explorations as well as a sympathetic conduit to observe the One-Ball drama. Blake's melancholy existence--made so by a sharp sensitivity to the human condition and his own alienation--leads him into a teaching position at his old school. Up through this point, the novel is an interesting catalog of social observations and anxious misadventures as the introspective Blake trudges unenthusiastically forward in an attempt to conform to the old cliche of "fitting in." However, after a troubled boy named Norman enters his school, an unguessable and gruesome conspiracy is discovered. The great, sinister plot unfurls itself from inside Blake's childhood memories and adult investigations, and Crisp does not relent from scraping the seafloor of despair before Blake's terrible revelations about himself and his world are returned to the shadows in an almost Orwellian conclusion.
At times, it hurts to follow the themes of this book: child abuse, psychological and physical torture, and a society so unredeeming that one wishes they could avoid being a part of it, until realizing, horribly, how close Crisp's fictional relations mirror the world outside his novel. Fortunately, his fluent and imaginative style helps the bitter medicine go down...if not with pleasure, than with literary ease. Crisp's treatment of his troubling subject matter with real seriousness is also appropriate, as it emphasizes the One-Ball's existential horror and contrasts with the jester-like existence he occupies for his torturers. Further, describing the One-Ball's case sees Crisp doing his best to shape the novel into stylistic equilibrium, and on this account he succeeds. Despite being the central attraction, the prime source of anguish, and the pariah, Crisp's One-Balls are presented with marginal distance between them and the reader, and this is for the best. The book might otherwise verge on being too disturbing without this balanced perspective.
For the record, there are no ghouls or ghosts in this horror story, only men and women, students and instructors, but that does not detract from its frightening and strange character. Whether it was intentional or not, certain events in Remember You're a One-Ball! carry a fantastical edge, while others exude a flavor of hyper-realistic social commentary. For instance, Ramsey Blake's grim everyday confrontations reek strongly of common drudgery and awkwardness. Most readers will not be able to force out thoughts of their own strained labors and relationships here. Later, a certain "game" played by two children, Harley and Samantha, takes on a sense of otherworldly perversion by Crisp's skillful prose. The mini-nightmare and oddness of its imagery is ethereal.
Yet, this novel's strangeness and its ultimate strength truly rests on its characters. The pitiful Norman, the forever broken Harley, the unassuming arch-demon schoolmaster Jeffries, and the masochistic Samantha compose a flawed and disturbing cast that is all too human. Many of Quentin Crisp's characters, by their participation in the book's wicked conspiracy, seem rigidly villainous--at least on an inaugural read. But the unsettling conclusion wisely leaves readers to wonder about complex definitions of villainy and cruelty, and if Blake's final responses to his past cloud the novel's denizens (and perhaps ourselves) in a cloak of hopeless gray.
Moreover, the book carries an eerie undercurrent of psychological submission, a theme whose reception may differ wildly among readers depending on their attitudes and interpretations. Though the story's main driver is a resistance effort mounted by Ramsey Blake, it seems that Crisp's world is a suffocating one. Characters try their damnedest to go-along-to-get-along, but what happens when the going ends up getting them? This is a question the novel inevitably poses to any who pick it up. On the other hand, Crisp's environment is bleak and practically unstoppable, but there appears to be a certain appreciation for resisting the novel's nightmarish "system" which so effectively mirrors our own. The author suggests that although outsiderness may not be ideal, it is useful for evading society's worst offenses, even when it also magnifies them to a nearly unbearable level.
There is a forceful dissection of social roles and mechanisms in this book, but Remember You're a One Ball! does not moralize. It reads more like a calm expose on all forms of cruelty, stunningly energized in sections by Quentin Crisp's wonderful prose and sensitive attention to the accursed lives of outcasts. There is a magnetic power in its themes that will adhere and unsettle the psyches of all readers who complete this journey. Like the whimsical childhood lyrics that act as a recurring scourge to the One-Ball, Crisp's latest novel calls on readers to Remember-Member-Member its warnings and revelations, and its author's name as it establishes him as a more important writer than ever in the surging field of strange fiction.
-Grim Blogger
Cthulhu's Dark Cults Previews
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Australian author David Conyers has graciously provided some story previews from the newly released anthology, Cthulhu's Dark Cults. This is the latest book of Cthulhu Mythos stories published by the well established game maker Chaosium. It appears the book's original Lovecraftian stories spring from unique influences as well as settings and scenarios found in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu Role Playing Game. Here's the table of contents:
- The Eternal Chinaman by John Sunseri
- Captains of Industry by John Goodrich
- Perfect Skin by David Witteveen
- Covenant of Darkness by William Jones
- The Whisper of Ancient Secrets by Penelope Love
- Old Ghost by Peter A. Worthy
- The Nature of Faith by Oscar Rios
- The Devil’s Diamonds by Cody Goodfellow
- Requiem for the Burning God by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
- Sister of the Sands by David Conyers
These names are mostly those of authors who have previously contributed to the contemporary Cthulhu Mythos. Fortunately, these writers often try to press the Mythos in new directions without falling back on tired pastiche. But like most Chaosium collections, this anthology likely exhibits stories with recognizable Lovecraftian elements that don't veer too far into experimental weird fiction. That's not a bad thing either because one of the Mythos' hll is its ongoing exploration of H.P. Lovecraft's vast fictional universe.
-Grim Blogger
Mark Samuels' Blog Returns from Dormancy
Friday, May 14, 2010
Due to personal circumstances, the blog of Mark Samuels was seemingly hidden from the public eye for a few months. Fortunately, it's back, and with an update regarding his work. A new short story collection should be appearing imminently from Ex Occidente Press, The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Stories. He also discusses several other projects in progress. Head on over to find out the latest news and observations of this contemporary weird writer.
-Grim Blogger
Lovecraftian Art Show in New York
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Lovecraftian artist Paul Carrick has announced his participation in a Lovecraftian art show opening June 1, 2010, at The Observatory in Brooklyn, New York. The show will run several weeks from its start, and will feature some talented personalities with definite ties to H.P. Lovecraft from the publishing and art worlds. Here's the full details appropriated from Carrick's website:
Observatory in Brooklyn, NY is having a Lovecraftian art show opening June 1 (open for 6 weeks). It's a small group show, and I am once again in extremely humbling company: Bob Eggleton, Centipede Press, Mike Dubisch, Stephen Hickman, Dan Harding, Joel Harlow, and Aeron Alfrey of Monster Brains are all slated to be involved. I think there will be lectures and other educational events along with the show, some of the above are either showing art or doing some form of presentation. More info to come as it arrives!
Check it out if you're in the New York City area. These are some top artists of the weird and macabre, and the additional presence of the luxurious Centipede Press should help pull off a thoroughly Lovecraftian atmosphere.
-Grim Blogger
Journey to H.P. Lovecraft's Grave
Monday, May 10, 2010
Here's a video of a recent excursion to H.P. Lovecraft's grave. It documents a short drive through Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, and then arrival at Lovecraft's headstone. The visitors are surprised to see offerings left at the grave by other admirers. Though the sheer number of items might surprise some, it's not an uncommon occurrence, as I related in this set of photos a couple years ago.
Lovecraft's resting place is very interesting, as both the burial ground of a famous author and as a tiny window into his fans' psychology. The many trinkets left there seem to be as frequent as they are varied.
-Grim Blogger
Books That Deserve Reprint: The Collected Strange Stories of Robert Aickman
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Owning all of Aickman has never been the easiest conquest. Today, readers will find most of his work in single out-of-print short story collections or scattered throughout random horror anthologies. There is one exception: The Collected Strange Stories, a two volume set by Tartarus Press printed in two limited editions in 1999 and 2000. Predictably, this full set of Aickman's fiction is long out-of-print, and good copies of both books are usually priced by online merchants at $400 or above.
Robert Aickman has always had a small cult following in weird fiction. This hasn't changed much, even with the advent of the internet, which occasionally helps propel established writers into a larger following. However, Aickman's output has lost none of its importance. The refined style and perplexing mysteries in his work have made him one of the most attention worthy authors in weird horror.
This makes it such a shame that The Collected Strange Stories--or a similar route to acquiring a full Aickman collection--is so difficult and expensive to find. He can be read, certainly, but not always studied or fully appreciated by this lack of a complete edition. Let us hope that Tartarus will consider reprinting a Decade Edition in the near future, or that another publisher will try herding his strange stories into one leafy corral.
-Grim Blogger
Weird News: Icelandic Volcano Photo Resembles "The Scream" Painting
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The "face" snapped in this photograph of Iceland's explosive Eyjafjallajokull volcano doesn't represent a new phenomena. In fact, people have been wanting to see evil face everywhere, from the World Trade Center's smoking debris on 9/11 to tornadoes and hurricanes. But this satellite image represents a frightening grimace on an epic scale, and has an amusing relationship with Evard Munch's famous painting, "The Scream." Aside from resembling that iconic rictus, an informative article from the Daily Mail shares another odd similarity:Meanwhile, a radar image of the volcanic crater appears to show a nightmarish face, which is reminiscent of Edvard Munch's painting 'The Scream.' Coincidentally, it is thought that the masterpiece was inspired by the blood red skies caused by the powerful volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.
Yet another bizarre event with interpretations bordering on the weird and bleak. Yet another happening that suggests things about this world, or at least our own minds, that we may not care to really absorb.
-Grim Blogger
John Reppion's On the Banks of the River Jordan Reviewed
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Swan River Press began publishing a series of short, but impressive booklets containing single short stories a couple years ago. John Reppion's On The Banks of the River Jordan is the latest installment in a collection that has come to be called "Haunted Histories." Reppion's work lives up to this label by twisting English history with weird literary atmosphere, an effective combination that also takes on a meta-fictional angle.
Reppion, who has previously written a much longer book of non-fiction called 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool, shows off his ability to use history in an eerie fictional way here. The story is nearly several contained incidences of strange happenings over the centuries at Princes Park, a section of Liverpool intimately familiar to the author. With a historian's stoic attention to detail, he introduces readers to strange lore regarding this wooded city sector: witches, pagan spirits, a secret village, and magpie birds are examined in interesting and informative historical case studies.
Yet, since this is a work of fiction, these historical snapshots are cleverly woven into a narrative bulging with creepy atmosphere. Reppion's usage of history in this way recalls the past and present successes of other weird writers doing this, such as H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, and Reggie Oliver. Moreover, the story takes on an added dimension through the manifestation of the author himself as the chief character. Bizarre historical legends are recounted through the e-mails John Reppion passes to Brian J. Showers, the real life face behind Swan River Press, on a cold winter night. However, as an increasingly disturbing set of present day occurrences make clear, the historian is about to become a potential victim of the forces chronicled in his research.
This fiction and reality blurring is commendable in its execution. In an appropriate time and place, reading On the Banks of the River Jordan can make one question their own security in a world filled with the specters of bygone horrors, just like other great weird stories incorporating history do. Reppion also excels at pacing his story, but the dramatic onset of its conclusion is slightly at odds with the introspective and scholarly tone used beforehand. This is no problem, though. Somehow, the final encounter with supernatural horror provides a satisfying exit for readers from an engrossing realm of aged terrors recounted in this tale.
Besides being an enjoyable and richly atmospheric story in its own right, On the Banks of the River Jordan is also a fine introduction to John Reppion's works. His other projects are currently histories and comics, often in partnership with his wife, Leah Moore. Note that this affordable chapbook is being produced in extremely limited quantities by Swan River Press, so get one before the print run sells out.
-Grim Blogger
W.H. Pugmire Announces Centipede Omnibus for Late 2010 Release
Monday, May 3, 2010
Wilum Pugmire's has posted an update about his upcoming mass collection of fiction from Centipede Press:
Jerad and I are putting the finishing touches on the omnibus of my best weird fiction, THE TANGLED MUSE. The book will be an extremely limited edition of 150 copies and it is going to look wonderful, we've chosen some great artwork, black and white and color. I believe the book will be available in October, and will be signed by S. T. Joshi and myself.
This is fantastic news for readers of fine Cthulhu Mythos tales and Pugmire's work. The Tangled Muse also joins Centipede's other luxuriant volumes. Besides producing gorgeous books of horror art and seasoned classics, the publisher has recently brought out massive story collections by contemporary writers. Their most recent offering is Dramas from the Depths by Reggie Oliver.
Let's hope The Tangled Muse is one more link in an expanding chain of beautifully outfitted strangeness. No one could ask for more than quality small presses coming together with today's weird fiction stars.
-Grim Blogger
H.P. Lovecraft and 4/20
Sunday, May 2, 2010
H.P. Lovecraft's influence has grown to such heights that many now look, hopefully, at the chance of the writer having a finger in their affairs. Among the more interesting suggestions to appear online is this blog post from Cannabis Culture speculating on a Lovecraftian origin for the 4/20 holiday. Lovecraft, a strict puritan when it came to substances harsher than caffeine and sugar, references the time 4:20 in his story "The Walls of Eryx." It's also the moment when his explorer comes into contact with a mind altering plant on Venus. Besides being an oddly sci-fi driven story ghostwritten for Kenneth J. Sterling, Lovecraft's vivid description of the marijuana-like Venusian growth is a departure in content from many of his other stories.
However fun it might be to think that HPL's work could have generated the name for 4/20's cannabis celebrations, it's not likely. The history of this cultural day seems fairly well documented, including its name. Also, there hasn't ever been corroborating evidence of this in any known Lovecraft scholarship.
Though the holiday recently passed and new blog posts about this appeared, the theory has actually been floating around for a few years. Its first noticeable appearance online was in a newsletter from the band Tool--quite possibly the originator. Given Lovecraft's popularity among people drawn to alternative niche cultures, this will not be the last tall tale in the now mythic existence of H.P. Lovecraft and his fiction.
-Grim Blogger
MGMT's Flash Delirium
Saturday, May 1, 2010
This music video by the band MGMT features some borderline Lovecraftian imagery, and it also exudes an overall strange atmosphere. Perhaps the musicians intended a different effect and had inspiration other than Lovecraft. Regardless, the gradual shift to bizarre happenings is suggestive of similar transformations occurring in weird literature. The lyrics to "Flash Delirium" aren't particularly disturbing, but the visual pairing makes for an unusual experience.
-Grim Blogger
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