A post by AudioBoo's user "mattins" contains a nicely read fragment from Robert W. Chambers' weird cycle, The King in Yellow. The piece is from the book's most notable story, "The Yellow Sign." In it, our artist narrator and his model come upon the maddening tome. The beauty of Chambers' prose is reflected in this passage, alongside his adeptness at building the tense support structures of weird atmosphere.
Unfortunately, this passionate reader's selection is short lived. For a less emotive, but full version of this story and others from The King in Yellow, listen to these readings on Librivox. The MP3 files will probably need to be downloaded, as they're in the range of several dozen megabytes or more. While the Librivox version of Chambers' tales could use a little more stylistic "umph," there is plenty of room for competition. Robert W. Chambers, like Lovecraft, is an author who has most (if not all) of his weird tales in the public domain.
Transfuzion, a publisher specializing in graphic novels, recently posted some promising preview shots of an upcoming graphic novel based on H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu." Two things make this comic notable in the growing world of illustrated Lovecraft: artist Michael Zigerlig has opted to retain Lovecraft's full language for narrating the tale, and an introduction by phantasmal artist H.R. Giger precedes the artwork. These aspects should be a heavy draw for Cthulhu Mythos fans. The graphic novel is available for pre-order at the publisher's website. It's scheduled to appear in the spring.
This is also not Tranzfusion's first Lovecraftian undertaking. They were previously involved with two volumes of comic adaptations called Worlds of Lovecraft, and they have also issued two volumes of The Miskatonic Project to date. Continuing their publication of Lovecraft inspired comics with The Call of Cthulhu suggests this is one publisher of weird art that is here to stay...at least for awhile.
-Grim Blogger
New "Call of Cthulhu" Graphic Novel by Michael Zigerlig
In the short film "The Black Hole," there is a greater blackness. Not quite the same as the one Thomas Ligotti alludes to in his corporate horror, but the setting of this short is not so different from Ligotti's only slightly surreal office spaces. Or, perhaps this is an overnight shift at a branch office of the dark businesses that do commerce in the fiction of Mark Samuels and Simon Strantzas. Here, the proverbial corporate drone's wonderment becomes his demise at the hands of greed and something strange...
You know Pan is at work when a sheep delivers a strikingly human-faced calf, a blasphemy that belongs more in the pages of Arthur Machen than in the newspaper. Mercifully, perhaps, the creature was dead on arrival into this world. Mercifully again, the source of this story is the Russian tabloid Pravda, so there is possibly a little doubt about its veracity. Unmercifully, the photo of this abomination shows a coy smile plastered to its lifeless mask...
The Braincase Factory is a growing gallery of horror comic strips, some with very obvious inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft. The tone of the pieces is generally humorous, though a couple more serious projects can be found there. Horror, Lovecraftian themes, and science fiction constitute their stories to date. Stylistically, creators Matt Nixon and Sebastian Dietz use black and white sketches somewhat reminiscent of the underground comics from several decades ago. As their website states, certain content on it is a little more explicit and adult oriented, so the squeamish may wish to forgo venturing there. Otherwise, check it out for a few artistic bits of Lovecraftian humor.
This week, Resonance 104.4 FM begins a series of atmospheric readings by various authors entitled "Weird Tales for Winter." The broadcasts will stream at midnight (time zone unclear) each day. The most notable name on the list is that of Thomas Ligotti. An audio rendition of his story "The Bells Will Sound Forever"by Mordant Music will play on January 30th. This particular tale is a selection from his collection In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land.
This rare audio performance of a Ligotti story will be of definite interest to weird fiction readers. Though the other stories and authors lined up for the series are less well known, its theme suggests other weird yarns are worth hearing. More details are reportedly forthcoming from Resonance 104.4's website.
A well thought parcel of commentary on H.P. Lovecraft sprang up earlier this month over at the "Newspaper Rock" blog by Rob Schmidt, a blog focusing on portrayals of American Indians in popular culture. "Natives in H.P. Lovecraft" explores the intersection of native peoples and HPL's dark gods from several different angles. Lovecraft's fictional use of natives as related to a collision of real world mythology with the Cthulhu mythos is discussed, as well as portrayals of natives as allies of supernatural chaos arrayed against civilization. As with most articles discussing Lovecraft and ethnicity, this content is mildly controversial, and it may provoke a feistier debate in the comments over time.
Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie appear to be two techies who have clothed a vast knowledge of techno-occult workings in Lovecraftian terms. "The C Programming Language" is an elaborate "Shadow Over Innsmouth" pastiche that runs with the amusing idea of Lovecraft as software programmer. Surely, this is a new role for the Providence writer in the world of Lovecraftian humor. But, with Cutethulhu type jokes running rampant online in "geek" subcultures, perhaps it was only a matter of time. And thankfully, it has finally happened, if only to show that madness like this can raise its bloated head up on the stage of weird comedy. Who else could visually encode the language of the Old Ones in modern terms?
void Rlyeh (int mene[], int wgah, int nagl) { int Ia, fhtagn; if (wgah>=nagl) return; swap (mene,wgah,(wgah+nagl)/2); fhtagn = wgah; for (Ia=wgah+1; Ia<=nagl; Ia++) if (mene[Ia]
Check out the link above for a laugh from the black labs of experimental eldritch humor.
Since his night terror inspired designs became ubiquitous, H.R. Giger has occupied a visionary place in the weird aesthetic. His paintings and sculptures imprison the essence of exotic horror in tangible forms, nightmare landscapes and grotesque creatures scarcely imagined by other strange artists in the literary or visual media. He also proved more than a tenuous connection with the weird when he titled certain artworks in Lovecraftian terms, and later constructed the infamous Alien for a film widely considered one of the most Lovcraftian ever made.
In the past two decades, a small army of imitators and artistic offspring sprouted up from the blackness embodied in Giger's creation. So, it's only natural that he continues to be a source of immense curiosity. These two interviews on Youtube go a little ways toward satisfying wonderment about this man. The first is a recent piece in German. It highlights the Giger museum, the alien form, and the artist. The second is vintage footage from a 1980s interview in English.
Ice, snow, and wind are common winter phenomena with an uncanny ability to transform into eerie mysteries. Today, collisions between the frigid and the supernatural play a great role in weird fiction. Writers like Algernon Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft, Dan Simmons, and Simon Strantzas utilize numbing oddities to great effect in their work. And, as the story below proves, there is still plenty to tweak for incorporation into weird literature. The unintelligible weather cycles of this planet constantly heave up strangeness. That much is given, but little else is about these immense ice balls.
Yesterday, after weary hours of deliberation, a small group of Edgar Allan Poe descendants left Baltimore as the de facto home of the weird writer. The actual decision was decreed by a very distant cousin of Poe: the family members will not select any city this time, but will re-evaluate the issue in 2049, when the bicentennial of Poe's death occurs. So, Baltimore remains the strongest claimant to Poe's legacy, but don't expect this to stop Richmond, Philadelphia, Boston, Charlottesville, Charleston, and even London from trying. The Maryland port city, where Poe spent his remaining years and died, has claimed Poe's mantle for some time now.
A much expanded account of this geographic wrangling can be read in this article from the San Francisco Examiner. To some, this whole issue certainly seems like much ado about nothing. However, for those who care about inflating the literary reputation of these cities, not to mention their tourist dollars, the battle over declaring a "Poe City" will continue to generate serious debates.
-Grim Blogger
Baltimore to Remain Edgar Allan Poe's City...For Now
Nearly two years after it began making inexplicable appearances online, the weird meme of Zalgo has expanded its internet empire, while developing certain features that are more definitive than ever. Most notably, it spawned a (now dormant) blog called Zalgo Approaches. For several months of 2009, this site did a great job of chronicling Zalgo related media across the web. Consider it the LOLCats of Zalgo. Now, it lurks in comatose inactivity, seemingly due to the keeper's belief that Zalgo has itself gone dormant. On this point, I disagree.
True, the meme has apparently sloughed off its earlier zeal. As it creeps into 2010, perhaps it will perpetually take on the character of other internet memes--a slow, but steady boil from the rocket ride it previously experienced. There's also the possibility that the meme will sit beneath the surface of conscious internet activity, only to burst into a flurry of new activity upon rediscovery in the coming weeks, months, or years. Although alien looking Zalgo messages (or is it spam?) no longer burn up the blogosphere, several artists are tending their fascination with Zalgo, and pushing it into new territory.
Perhaps Zalgo's quiescence is for the best, at least from an analytical viewpoint. With the library of Zalgo material produced, it's possible to pinpoint several commonalities shared by most Zalgo pieces in its current incarnation. As I noted from the beginning, it continues to operate with a relatively Lovecraftian aura around it. Zalgo, as a dark god or corrosive influence from another dimension, continues to reflect features of Cthulhu and other Old Ones, as well as other terrors of the weird aesthetic. Black tentacles, strange shadows, dark pitch pouring from the eyes, and yawning maws are the most common identifiers of Zalgo. Its aforementioned text logo is with a blocky, alien looking type of writing that also appears in a backdrop on certain images and videos. The phrase "He Comes" is almost expected.
More than anything, Zalgo has fully developed into a supernatural force of irrational corruption. This explains its popularity in parodies of comics and in original pieces of art. Look for the toxicity of this 'net creature to tunnel new pathways online this year. Cameo appearances by Zalgo in offline fiction, graffiti, and film is not entirely out of the question.
Eldritch Musicks is a bold new multi-media initiative that drips with a sound inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and Thomas Ligotti, unleashing its tuned voice in a musical amalgamation of all these entities. The main component is a handsomely encased CD spearheaded by Casey Rae-Hunter, the intellectual media personality behind The Contrarian blog. Orbiting around the main feature are several sideshows offered via digital download (a link to this is received via e-mail after ordering the CD). Readers will immediately wonder how the star attraction--the Eldritch Musicks CD or the Eldritch Musicks MP3 album--stacks up, as Lovecraftian musical projects on this scale are rarely attempted. Fortunately, the Contrarian's courageous gambit has paid off, as Eldritch Musicks is not a failure or even a one-trick pony, but a gripping musical extravaganza listeners will return to often for its catchy tracks and weird saturated atmosphere.
Arguably, the most important component of any musical experience--however complex or intriguing its message--is the ability to drag the listener in with unique vocals, instrumentals, and style. Those versed in previous musical projects linked to weird fiction such as Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, Current 93, and others will recall the diverse sounds originating from these successful efforts. Eldritch Musicks, taking its musical cue from Blue Oyster Cult (whose manager, Sandy Pearlman, helped originate the idea for the album), is sufficiently formed to take its place alongside these other ethereal products.
Rae-Hunter clearly mounts a focused effort at molding his creation into the first modern Lovecraftian rock album. An eerie balance of vibrant guitar chords, rumbling drums, and a few synthetic effects generates an instrumental backdrop derived from the lineage of great rock artists. Four short instrumental tracks named "Eldritch I-IV" give the sharpest example of this. These are more experimental, atmospheric performances than the other nine songs with spoken words, but they mime their own voiceless tales of awesome cosmic spaces and Ligottian arcana very well. The instrumentals bound in the "Eldritch" tracks and drawn throughout the rest of the CD also complement the haunting vocals assembled by the Contrarian: poetic recollections of a bygone, psychedelic age.
The lyrics of Eldritch Musicks offer a host of bizarre imagery and atmosphere, but they are activated as more than words, transformed into strategic catalysts of the album's overall gestalt. The opening song, "Sunken City," employs the repetition of one phrase in such a way that it almost sounds like an incantation--perhaps to pry open the gateway to the Lovecraftian dimensions that follow. "Dweller on the Threshold" is another excellent example, hiding lines of electric warnings within a repetitive shell, like bullets chambered in their revolver.
Other turns of phrase are essential to creating the right mood, and re-imagining certain themes. "The Cove" and "Haunter of the Dark" are rich homages to H.P. Lovecraft packaged in Rae-Hunter's own brand of musical mystery. "Crimson Village" conveys a Ligottian atmosphere with lyrics drafted from Arthur Machen's terrible wonders. Here, there is derangement, and occultic transformation in a story of magic, town relics, and implications of rituals. Similarly, "Nyarlathotep" relays the crawling chaos of Lovecraft's wily deity, and avoids sinking into slavish pastiche. The song's themes are original, and whisper words that are as much an emissary of a greater blackness as Nyarlathotep (perhaps) is for Azathoth.
Only "For Lavina" breaks rather dramatically from the Lovecraftian journey. It is a darkly pleasing composition, but exhibits more shadows of Poe than Lovecraft or Machen. This is mildly jarring, in retrospect, but hardly enough to derail or otherwise cheapen the broader immersion into strangeness. "Brothers of the Yellow Sign" holds an obvious connection to Robert W. Chambers' cycle of weird tales. It is an uplifting finish that closes the album, not with any promise of rebirth for the human spirit, but a subtle invitation for listeners to merge into the Brotherhood we are all already members of--whether we realize it or not--and to recognize and imprint the Yellow Sign upon our psyches, with a little aid from this eldritch experience.
As with most albums, listeners will naturally infer a multiverse of conclusions from Eldritch Musicks. Fortunately, one is not stranded to drown in their own search for this project's meaning. Casey Rae-Hunter tosses several lifelines in the form of the digital extras included with the CD. A behind the scenes/making of video presents the actual process of the artist. An audio podcast chronicles its origin, and also illuminates a deeper, but not orthodox understanding of its messages, thanks to a running commentary on each song. "The Cove" is a competent weird tale tied to the CD track of the same name. An illustrated version of this is available for download as an extra, but even non-customers can listen to an audio production of this story at Shadowcast. Finally, a beautifully presented PDF file of the lyrics rounds out the extras, the final tier propping up an artwork that crosses mediums as easily as Lovecraft's terrors bleed across space-time.
Although Eldritch Musicks must be filed under "music" for its main attraction and taxonomic convenience, it is much more than that. Striking tentacles of visual, comprehensive terror jut out from the main hive of creepy melodies. Aficionados of the weird will be lucky if Rae-Hunter is inspired and encouraged enough to develop more illuminated labyrinths of this kind. Eldritch Musicks might be the jumpstart needed to revive Lovecraftian rock, and a nutritious boost to weird media as a whole.
An auction closed on Ebay.com not long ago, seemingly for a good quality manuscript of H.P. Lovecraft's story, "The Unnamable." Although this is a typed version and not a handwritten draft, a rare surfacing of an unknown Lovecraft manuscript from private hands appears to have occurred--though only for a moment. The $2026.00 total the manuscript closed at means it passed into the hands of another collector, as it's unlikely any scholar or university would shell out that much for a single Lovecraft artifact. And that relies on assuming there are a few of those out there, trawling the online markets for rare bits of Lovecraftiana: an unlikely phenomena in of itself.
Still, the (re)appearance of "The Unnamable" manuscript is curious for a few reasons. Many Lovecraft materials--especially his voluminous letters--remain in private hands, hidden from the prying eyes of scholars. More importantly, however, S.T. Joshi listed "The Unnamable" as one of the missing Lovecraft manuscripts in his essay "Textual Problems in Lovecraft" (which made an appearance in Darrell Schweitzer's 2001 collection of scholarly texts, Discovering H.P. Lovecraft). Joshi notes, "The task of restoring the texts of Lovecraft's fiction is in essence simple, thanks to the survival of manuscripts for nearly all of his original tales...Important tales for which no manuscripts exist are...'The Unnamable'" (Page 100). Earlier in the same piece, he records the fact that certain H.P. Lovecraft texts are "notoriously corrupt," with stunning misprints of words and entire passages.
Clearly, the diligent work of S.T. Joshi and other enthusiasts has done much to restore Lovecraft's texts to their intended constructions, even moreso since this essay appeared in 1982, and again in 2001. Still, it would be interesting to know if this "Unnamable" manuscript that exchanged hands on Ebay is one of the fabled lost manuscripts, and, moreover, what textual alterations could be lurking in its old pages.
-Grim Blogger
H.P. Lovecraft's Missing Manuscript for "The Unnamable" Sold on Ebay?
Alma is a short animated film by Rodrigo Blaas. Despite having the look of a children's movie by Pixar, its thought provoking content is quite disturbing, and definitely in line with the weird aesthetic. Alma's "transition" involving a doll that looks like her in a mysterious, deserted toy shop recalls themes explored by Thomas Ligotti. It plays out a bit like a 3-D inverse of "Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech," raising the same disturbing concerns about creation and identity in facsimiles produced in our own image.
The Heavy Stuff blog recently carted out an autopsy of strangeness from last year. This post on 2009's most Fortean news stories contains a modest gallery of oddities, rarities, and inexplicable phenomena that will force you to take a self-guided tour through the real (or at least potentially real) weird. Set aside at least an hour or two. Stigmata, telepathic abilities, eerie animals (like the albino alligator above), and other strangeness awaits in their list of foreboding links. This is a fitting exhumation of 2009's more obscure creepiness.
The Stygian Darkness Across the Potomac blog is a new project intertwining Lovecraft pastiche, the local history of Washington D.C., and odd conspiratorial lore. theProtagonist, a shadowy entity behind this endeavor, effectively melds pictures from his chosen city along with Lovecraftian rumors. Antiquarian booksellers, masonic lodges, and unusual happenings teetering on the edge of documented reality melt into an online cocktail that will leave readers wondering how much fact or fiction lurks in each occurrence.
Though Stygian Darkness currently has a handful of postings, chances are that the blog will pick up steam in the months to come. This is certainly an imaginative collision between Lovecraftiana and city history. Washington D.C.'s lengthy history of odd backroom deals and allegedly mystical architecture is an almost natural target for visitations by the Cthulhu Mythos. The delivery of these episodes comes through an imitation of a familiar voice. But fortunately, theProtagonist's nominally Lovecraftian writing style adds charm rather than cheap thrills to the project.
-Grim Blogger
A Lovecraft Pastiche Blog: Stygian Darkness Across the Potomac
War zones have regularly served as stations for the undead. Ghosts, gremlins, and other horrors regularly patrol the close border between life and death that curls around every battlefield. Sometimes, accounts of supernatural events are lively and one-sided, such as the English bowman who allegedly returned from the dead to help Entente soldiers stave off their German foes at Mons during the Great War. In other instances, such as the latest weird stories from Afghanistan, the spirits are much more restless and without any clear objective. They may be maddened mirrors sent from the afterlife, or the self-obsessed delusions of shell shocked troops, but they're always fantastic symbols of the most nightmarish environs our species is capable of making.
A snippet in The Baltimore Sun has summarized the triumphant bicentennial that raged throughout 2009 for Edgar Allan Poe. "Poe Makes His Return" clarifies the immense popularity Poe enjoyed in this notable year, and the possibility of a more lasting influence. More importantly, though, the article provides a peak at Poe based events scheduled for early 2010. Perhaps the most interesting, Jeffrey Combs' "Nevermore," which stars the actor himself as Poe (this is a guy who was lucky enough to have played both Lovecraft and Poe in his career), will see another performance late this month at Baltimore's Westminster Hall.
Across the length and breadth of the internet, images of the Guy de Maupassant are rare. This weird writer has yet to receive the wide span of treatments ranging from comical to gorgeous given to more well known authors like Poe and Lovecraft. Still, the unassuming visage of this French master of psychological horror is honored in several quarters. Interestingly enough, the casual explorer would be hard pressed to find Maupassant portraits differing little across the centuries. A few notable exceptions to the trend, however, are revealed below.
This black and white sketch appears on the University of Adelaide's web page devoted to Maupassant: a fine place to read many short works by the man. It's an old and fairly stereotypical scan of the 19th century portrait, probably inspired by one of his photos.
Almost a political cartoon, this one shows off Maupassant's prodigious literary themes and output. It doesn't take an understanding of French to appreciate the colorful charm here.
The image above represents a modern, stylized contribution from an admirer of Maupassant, deviantart.com's Monsterofid. Note that it is he who takes his place in center, a deserved place French literature, which he plastered with contributions from many genres (though his works of weird fiction concern us here). Maupassant is flanked by Theophile Gautier on the left, and Gerard de Neval on the right.
-Grim Blogger
Weird Anxiety Depicted: Portraits of Guy de Maupassant
This short film by Gary Fierro and Conor Timmis offers a cinematic ending to H.P. Lovecraft's story, "The Silver Key." It's a silent sequence, depicting Randolph Carter using the titular key to regain entry into the world of dreams. The special effects are adequate, and one can observe the Yellow Sign as well as the Derleth version of the Elder Sign light up. From the Youtube description, it doesn't appear that this scene is a segment from a longer film.
On the other hand, it easily could be, if its makers so desired. There is definite room for Lovecraft films based on the Randolph Carter trilogy (comprising "The Silver Key," "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key"). HPL's dreamworlds have received little treatment on film to date.
The fascinating Hypnogoria blog has done an exhaustive overview on the traditional Christmas ghost story and its media adaptations, especially on television. Particular attention is rendered to the haunting and wintry works of two weird fiction masters: M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu. "Ghost Stories for Christmas" is a veritable exhumation of the weird's public face, seasonally appropriate even as this year's prime holidays are being buried.
It is almost equally as thought provoking when considering what the article doesn't say. The migration of the purely spectral weird onto television is the main place it continues to flourish, securing James and other artists a sort of immortality. This comes well after the classic ghost story peaked under James, then blurred into stranger territory, New Weird motifs, and psychological horror with Robert Aickman and his successors. Today, Reggie Oliver is one of the sole literary exceptions who continues to produce tales resembling the classic ghostly model.
In any case, Hypnogoria's post is a stimulating catalog that touches on weird literature and its expansion into new mediums. A real gem amid the rich and growing community of online scholarship on the outre.
MP3 album--stacks up, as Lovecraftian musical projects on this scale are rarely attempted. Fortunately, the Contrarian's courageous gambit has paid off, as Eldritch Musicks is not a failure or even a one-trick pony, but a gripping musical extravaganza listeners will return to often for its catchy tracks and weird saturated atmosphere.
