The Man Who Collected Machen's Mysterious Cover

Last week, the upstanding Chomu Press and Mark Samuels gifted the weird fiction community with a lingering mystery. Chomu recently held a contest that challenged observers to uncover the hidden meaning within the cover art for The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales. Blogger Brendan Moody was declared the winner, due to his especially herculean effort at unraveling the cover's message, and the strange aftershocks it left him.

Still, the mystery remains. Is it possible that Chomu, Samuels, and the cover artist have conspired to give weird fiction one of its most intriguing meta-fictional quests in recent times? I hope so! If this is the case, it's brilliant marketing - exactly the kind that should be appreciated in a genre that often overlooks strange mechanics operating outside the horror stories.

While the book cover will never approach the notoriety of something like the infamous Voynich Manuscript, it's nevertheless a fittingly Samuels-esque bonus to an excellent collection. Care to take a stab at the cryptogram yourself? Read my review from earlier this year, and then consider picking up The Man Who Collected Machen.

-Grim Blogger

The Man Who Collected Machen's Mysterious Cover

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Lovecraftian Places Google Map

Poking around on Google Maps led me to this fan generated atlas of Lovecraftian places. It's rather embryonic, containing only about ten or so locations described in the Cthulhu Mythos. Luckily, the locations of these haunted regions appear to be placed very accurately based on the descriptions from H.P. Lovecraft's fiction.

It's a fantastic idea, and with a little added effort, might produce a nice resource for a Lovecraftian world tour or an aid for gaming. Let's see if anyone out there can do this map one better, or add further Cthulhuvian sites to this one. If you're up for the challenge, do e-mail me and I'll gladly link to your Lovecraftian google map. Of course, any and all other maps related to weird fiction are welcome too.

-Grim Blogger

Lovecraftian Places Google Map

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"Weird Tales" Solicits New Flash Fiction, Plans Ligotti Interview

"Weird Tales" magazine has posted a new entry on its blog that discloses details of upcoming content and a few changes at the magazine. It appears they aim to expand their line of "one minute weird tales," a series of print and Youtube generated content that barely ventures above a hundred words. If anyone out there has any ideas for this type of flash fiction, this may be a good market to submit to, and a high paying one ($25 flat rate, according to their website) for so few words. Experienced writers with an inclination for the weird might also find this a good mental exercise. Personally, this type of short-short fiction strikes me as the perfect vehicle for crystallizing the fragmentary pulp of dreams into a brief story.

Also of great interest is the announcement by the magazine that interviews with Thomas Ligotti and horror artist Richard Corben will be published in their spring issue. Ligotti has to be one of the few weird writers out there whose interviews remain highly sought and always fascinating, despite the decline in his fictional output the last several years. Updates on his longstanding non-fiction work of philosophy, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, are always welcome too. In any event, this interview with one of the luminaries of the high weird should net "Weird Tales" more readers in a few weeks and satisfy those who crave the refined, oneiric, and even experimental style of fiction created by authors like Thomas Ligotti.

-Grim Blogger

"Weird Tales" Solicits New Flash Fiction, Plans Ligotti Interview

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Cthulhu Mythos Fiction Writing Contest

The website Play@Yog Sothoth is putting on a Cthulhu Mythos fiction writing contest to celebrate its anniversary. Got an original story under 5,000 words that's burning to escape your Lovecraft haunted mind? Then perhaps you should stop by the site's forums and submit according to the guidelines there. The contest runs through the end of the year. Finalists will be announced in January, and a winner selected sometime by March, 2009. With the relative lack of new Cthulhu Mythos anthologies the past few months, this is a great avenue for new and experienced writers to get a Lovecraftian tale published and read by a fairly sizable audience.

The contest's complete details are below. For more information, see the official guidelines linked above.

• The competition is open to original and unpublished short Cthulhu Mythos fiction pieces not to exceed 5000 words.
• Entries outside the word limitation will be disregarded.
• One entry permitted per author.
• All entries must be in English, original, unpublished, and not submitted elsewhere until the winners are announced.
• Play@YSDC reserves the one-time publication rights of all entrants - a submitted entry assumes you agree to this.
• Entrants retain reprint and copy rights to their work.
• Entries must be submitted electronically (via email), either in the form of a plain text file, a Microsoft Word document or standard PC-compatible email body text to fictioncontest@callofcthulhu.org.uk by midnight (GMT) December 31st 2008 with subject line reading: Play@YSDC Mythos Fiction Contest 2008
• Make sure to include the title and word count of your piece.
• All successful entries will be published on the Play@YSDC website.
• Submissions will be disregarded if they breach existing copyright.


• Judging will be based on the emailed submission, do not submit more than once. Judges will agree a finalist shortlist of at least five entries for final voting by the members of the Play@YSDC site.
• Finalists will be notified by email will commencing 1st February 2009. The overall winner (by member vote) by the end of February 2009.
• Judges, Administrators of Play@YSDC and members of their immediate family are not permitted to enter the competition.
• Illustrations of any kind are not permitted.

-Grim Blogger

Cthulhu Mythos Fiction Writing Contest

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"Fantastic Horror" Hosts Post Card Writing Contest

"Fantastic Horror," an online forum and E-Zine, is putting on a seasonal contest asking readers to create postcards based on famous doomed characters in horror stories. Judging by the list of entrants already in the contest, the contest contains more than a few candidates directly inspired by the weird. "Fantastic Horror" proudly displays their affection for the weird in their E-Zine and forums, so the contest is very favorable to weird horror entires (with the caveat that the postcard should be based on a story well known to readers of horror). Several Lovecraftian entries have been made to the contest. Ready to make your own? Here's the 'zine's guidelines:

A doomed character from a famous horror story takes a few minutes to write a postcard to somebody. The subject must be recognizable to a majority of horror fiction enthusiasts. The winner(s) will be chosen by clever foreshadowing or funniest satire. We'll collect the entries and whittle them down to a few favorites to be included in FH#9, as a "Top 5" or something where you scroll through to reach the ultimate winner.

The top picks will be made into postcard images like the one advertising this contest (feel free to pass that image around—let folks know the deadline is nov. 28). The ultimate winner will also have a digitally engraved (perhaps animated) trophy of handcrafted pixels to silently and tastefully boast his/her achievement to all of cyberland.

Please note that entries must be submitted on the website through their thread linked above. This may entail registration, but it's worth it to have access to the many interesting threads cataloged in "Fantastic Horror's" online kingdom. The postcard writing contest closes in a little less than a month, on November 28th. The top five winners will be featured in the ninth issue of their publication due sometime in the near future.

-Grim Blogger

"Fantastic Horror" Hosts Post Card Writing Contest

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Thoughts on the Big 85 Weirdmongers from "Weird Tales"

"Weird Tales" magazine has released its reader selected list of the top eighty five most influential weird storytellers and artists of the last eighty five years, in anticipation of the publication's eighty fifth anniversary. Their special anniversary issue, featuring this list and further details, will be hitting stores any time now. After running down the list available at the link above on their website and blog, it's immediately obvious the strange compilation contains the expected, but more than a few surprises as well.

• The Usual: H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, M.C. Escher, and Salvador Dali, among others, easily win well deserved spots. Curiously, some of the titans of weird fiction like Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen are absent, but perhaps this is because a good segment of their best weird work was written prior to the 1923 cut off date. All in all, it's hard to dispute the place of successful weird literary figures and famous, innovative artists. The readership of "Weird Tales" continues to be savvy and intelligent enough to recognize the powerful influence exercised by fantasist demi-gods like Lovecraft and Bradbury, cult legends like Ligotti, as well as the commercial powerhouses of Stephen King and Clive Barker.
• The Startling: The selection of several more "mainstream" literary types and alternative art/media figures is a slightly jarring, but not unpleasant surprise. William S. Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, and even Dr. Seuss are listed. This is surprising, since none of these writers are known for the explicitly dark and supernatural bend common in many weird greats (Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith, for instance). On the other hand, it doesn't take much strain to see why they readily take their place alongside the more "traditional" weirdmongers. Burroughs, Vonnegut, and Thompson changed subsequent writing practices forever, and their subject matter often diverged from the that of previous authors and post-modern contemporaries. Dr. Seuss' bizarre world remains popular for children because of its sheer strangeness. Additionally, the selection of Art Bell, Bjork, and Rod Serling are unexpected pluses. More than anything, it shows the clear evolution of the weird influence into new mediums and sensory realms. Art Bell and Rod Serling, prolific radio and television personalities renowned for their gatekeeping and discussion of the outre, rightly achieve their freakish plaques from the weird community at last. Bjork and a few other musicians on the list are possibly the boldest selection of all, since these are extreme contemporaries whose aggregate influence on the rest of the weird remains to be seen. And, as in most cases, musical preferences tend to bring out the most petty and fierce combativeness.

Not satisfied with this list or want to laud the innovative minds of the "Weird Tales" readership and editors? The magazine's staff invites commentary over at their blog article about this subject. Interestingly, the eighty fifth anniversary issue will include fuller descriptions of all eighty five personalities on the list. One per day will also be covered in more detail on the website, a welcome contribution to further understanding these selections.

-Grim Blogger

Thoughts on the Big 85 Weirdmongers from "Weird Tales"

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Ligottian Diversions

The excellent forums at Thomas Ligotti Online continue to provide tools for serious research on Thomas Ligotti and interesting diversions based on his work. TLO's "Town Manager" (Admin) Dr. Bantham recently posted a submissions call for Ligottian crossword puzzles. A couple have already been produced in Flash format, one being an older Beta, and another one actually culled from a submission entry. Lovers of crosswords and Ligotti's highbrow horror will meet a formidable challenge on the online battlefield worthy of their skills. With tasteful illustrations in the background, these puzzles incorporate the best in characters, themes, and philosophical ideas from the intensely hypnotic words of Thomas Ligotti.

Now, if only someone would do the same for the famous mix of antiquarian, flamboyant, and cosmic terms used by H.P. Lovecraft! Which would be rather ironic, since Lovecraft was said to have scoffed at crosswords as a waste of time...

-Grim Blogger

Ligottian Diversions

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"Weird Tales" Experiments Continue

Following a new look and logo last year, "Weird Tales" magazine (via jazzy website) continues to offer challenges and events in an effort to market their publication, and to push celebration of the weird further into reality. 2008 is also the 85th anniversary of the journal responsible for titans of weird fiction and horror like H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Thomas Ligotti. They took contest entries until the end of 2007 to determine the 85 weirdest authors of all time, a prestigious list that should be appearing shortly.

Even more impressive, however, is the involvement from "Weird Tales" in helping popularize several odd festivities. The first Miss Zombie Pageant this year will see winners taking all sorts of excellent prizes: a year's subscription and the new anthology, Weird Tales: The 21st Century (Volume 1). The ultimate victor will also get a special "Zombie Love" book, with appropriately ragged, unsettling style. The magazine will also reportedly have a contigent at the quirky "Wicked Winter Renaissance Pirate Ninja Lovecraftian Faire III" on February 8th and 9th, 2008. And for a publication that did so much to build the very historical foundations upon which a gathering of Lovecraftiana, dark humor, and bizarreness like this can exist, there really couldn't be a better place for "Weird Tales" to make a big splash than here.

Bravo, "Weird Tales." This is the kind of involvement that tears away from merely printing fine fiction, and leaps into actively forwarding the real world cause of the weird. Despite grumblings by traditionalists over the new format (particularly the logo), the good will and innovation of "Weird Tales" cannot be denied. Let's hope it continues!

-Grim Blogger

"Weird Tales" Experiments Continue

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The Shortest Weird Tale Ever Written? And a Challenge!

I was re-reading the Foreward to Thomas Ligotti's short story collection, Noctuary, when I came upon this odd bit:

For example, there is a well-known story that goes as follows: A man awakens in the darkness and reaches over for his eyeglasses on the nightstand. The eyeglasses are placed in his hand.

Despite being "well known," I haven't yet found the origins of this short story. Nevertheless, I'm impressed at getting a shiver or two out of a couple sentences. Whoever penned this--Ligotti or someone else--made a perfect example of the weird tale's essential need to rely on the imagination. Envisioning what lurks in the darkness and gives the man his glasses conjures up a great deal of bizarre imagery.

On that note, I challenge anyone to bring forward one to three sentences of equally strange quality to try to match or outdo this piece brought by Ligotti. Original design, discovery from another author, I don't really care. I would be glad to have this challenge won, since the world needs more creepy short-short pieces like this. Feel free to post entries in the comments to this thread, or e-mail me, and I'll post all entries after a time in a new blog post.

-Grim Blogger

The Shortest Weird Tale Ever Written? And a Challenge!

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