• About
  • Directory
  • Free stuff
  • Lovecraft for beginners
  • My Books
  • Open Lovecraft
  • Reviews
  • Travel Posters
  • SALTES

Tentaclii

~ News and scholarship on H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937)

Tentaclii

Monthly Archives: January 2019

Tentaclii in January

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Housekeeping, Odd scratchings

≈ Leave a comment

Well, another month has nearly gone on Tentaclii. Snow and crisp ice powders the ground below Tentaclii Towers, and the sky across the valley is an icy blue. But thankfully my typing fingers are warm, and in January 2019 the blog had 7,000 words of daily blog posts + many pictures.

Including: my new discovery of details and pictures for Lovecraft’s encounter with a bas-relief maker in Salem prior to “The Call of Cthulhu”; details of where one might (perhaps) find a published Wortman cartoon showing a good portrait of Kirk (of the Lovecraft circle) & his Chelsea Book Shop; a new pictorial survey of the Rhode Island School of Design including my newly-found picture of the Greek and Roman sculpture gallery interior as Lovecraft knew it in his boyhood; many notes and links for new books and scholarly essays and papers; details of a new free high-quality graphic novel of Lovecraft’s life; and several links to relevant online archive and in one case free audiobooks. Free research tools for independent scholars were also noted, with Paperwork being open source software for searching inside your PDF collection, and my JURN open access search-engine has returned to its former URL. There were also posts and links relating to the comics artist Moebius, to R.E. Howard, and one for Poe as a character in fiction.

If you can support Tentaclii on Patreon, please, then that would be very welcome and encouraging. The end of January saw new Patrons emerge from Norway and France, and so I now have 8 patrons giving $52 a month. All appear to be Tentaclii readers, as my hopes appear to have been unfounded that patrons might also be found among the readers of Digital Art Live magazine or users of JURN. Despite the quality of those two projects.

If you can spare just $1 a month via Patreon, please, it would be very welcome. Or you can just promote Tentaclii to your forums and groups, or do the same for one of my books. Many thanks!

New forum: Terres Lovecraftiennes

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Odd scratchings, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

I’m pleased to see Terres Lovecraftiennes, a new Facebook Group dedicated to Lovecraft’s life and times. It’s on-topic, well illustrated and moderated. All readers of Tentaclii will want to join this Group. Facebook auto-translates the Group for me, and it’s readable in English.

Lovecraft on DA this month

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Lovecraftian arts

≈ Leave a comment

A few Lovecraft items I noted being posted this month on DeviantArt, just in case you were looking for an active Lovecraftian illustrator.

Clothes Maketh Man by Sinkevic

Brawl by CaptainElfufel.

Uthar kittees + Lovecraft monster mash-ups may be trending…

Azafloof (Azathoth-kittee) by ProdigyDuck

Cathulhu by MonicaRavenWolf

The man who called himself Poe

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Odd scratchings

≈ Leave a comment

On Archive.org to borrow, The man who called himself Poe (1969). Stories and poems with Poe as a character.

Also on Amazon, used. It appears never to have made it to a paperback, or become one of the Gollancz yellow-jacket budget ebook reprints of recent years.

The Perennial Apocalypse: How the End of the World Shapes History

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Historical context, New books, Odd scratchings, REH, Scholarly works

≈ 1 Comment

Those interested in the sweeping intellectual and emotional influence of Spengler on the 1920s and 30s might be interested in a new long review of the out-of-print book The Perennial Apocalypse: How the End of the World Shapes History (1998). Spengler’s ideas and their popular interpretations touched enduring writers such as H.P. Lovecraft and R.E. Howard. In science-fiction, Asimov’s ideas about psychohistory also spring to mind. Thus this new review seems relevant to mention here. The review states that the book looked at…

Spengler alongside a long tradition of historical models that all pointed towards an “end of history.” These summaries of historical narrative modes are the best parts of the book. The project of The Perennial Apocalypse is more ambitious than to provide summaries, though. […] The central argument of The Perennial Apocalypse is that prevailing historical models of how history should go, must inevitably go, play their part in shaping events. But history almost never proceeds in the predicted fashion as a result.

A fascinating idea, re: how intellectual doom-mongering and an associated wrong-headed consensus among the gullible classes and journalists, might act as bumpers on the fast-moving pinball-table of emerging historical events. It’s something I discuss from time to time, over on my 2020 blog, and there are other books on it such as Herman’s The Idea of Decline in Western History.

Yet, while the reviewer finds in the book an interesting and well-written discussion of the structural commonalities of such predictions, he also finds few examples of their strong influence on the flow of history…

Reilly never managed to give many thorough examples of this kind of process at work. The Perennial Apocalypse ends up dwelling far more on the stuff of the great totalizing narratives of history than how they manifest in intellectual spheres and end up steering society.

Too many variables in the mix, perhaps, which in a way is kind of encouraging. Since it might lead to the supposition that no matter how much the cultural elites try to ‘put bumpers on the pinball table of history’ or tilt the table to ‘correct’ it by pounding on it with their fist, they can’t ultimately beat the inbuilt structural elements of the table. Elements which inexorably channel the probabilities of the ball’s direction across an implacable and unreachable table-base. The pinball always ends up in the hole at the bottom of the table.

The book is said to be discursive and goes beyond its main thesis, to detour into…

obscure 19th century millenarian scientific romances, H.P. Lovecraft, theosophy, Christian eschatology, and the evils of the worlds envisioned by Arthur C. Clarke.

It sounds fascinating. The original promotional blurb ran…

In every culture, history is a story, and the end of that story is the end of the world. This work describes the surprising similarities among the various forms that the ‘end of history’ has taken around the world and throughout time. Further, it explores how the image of the end has affected actual historical events, from the rise of millenarian cults to the evolution of the idea of progress.

Regrettably the book now appears to be totally unavailable, unless one pops up on eBay or Abe. There’s not even an Amazon listing for it on either Amazon UK or USA. Although the table of contents is still available along with a free bit of Chapter 2. A good example, I’d suggest, of how certain early self-published POD books are likely to become the real collectable ultra-rarities for the mid 21st century book collector.

Howard’s story openings – the systematic survey

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in New books, Odd scratchings, REH

≈ Leave a comment

The new Marvel comics Conan reboot opens with a defenceless Conan adrift at sea, before he goes “stumbling” into Stygia. Sounds like a rather mundane way to start, Marvel. I don’t read Conan for an approach which goes…

Hither wandered Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, depressed, no sword, bedraggled and stumbling, to hobble over the weary dust of Stygia with his blistered feet.

The new Marvel approach is to be enlivened by “romance and comedy”, apparently. Oh dear… it doesn’t sound good. But I’m probably not their intended audience, these days.

What would R.E. Howard have done, to make the big ‘splash’ opening just a touch more gripping and forceful? Mark Kirby posted a fine guide to that, a week ago…

Robert E. Howard did not leave us much in the way of personal writing advice. The few direct comments we have by him on the topic are gleaned from his letters, or revealed by Novalyne Price Ellis in her biography … There are eight primary elements most often used by Robert E. Howard in opening narratives.

A Brief REH-Inspired Guide to Writing Great Story Openings (Part One)

A Brief REH Inspired Guide to Writing Great Story Openings (Part Two)

He also usefully points to the currently-active main forum for Howard discussion.

Added to Open Lovecraft

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

* M. L. Varnieri, “Medos aquaticos: uma poetica do horror liquido em H. P. Lovecraft”, Tessera, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2018. (Water as a symbolic story element in Lovecraft’s evocation of atmosphere. The journal appears to be a new Brazilian title on imaginative literature, with the first issue themed: “An Imaginary Dossier: Forerunners, Founders and Disciples”).

* M. Simicevic, Lovecraftian Horrors: Space and Literature in Silent Hill (2018). (Possibly a Masters dissertation, for the University of Zadar in Hungary. In good English, the author discusses spatiality and the elements of space in selected Silent Hill videogames, and identifies similarities with the texts of H. P. Lovecraft).

I Luoghi di Lovecraft

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Maps, New books

≈ Leave a comment

Now available from the Italian Amazon site, the Italian travel guidebook for Lovecraft, I Luoghi di Lovecraft: novissima guida ad uso del viaggiatore. In English translation it’s something like, “The Places of Lovecraft, a new guide for the use of travelers”. Published by the Imaginary Travel Ltd and written by Michele Mingrone, Caterina Scardillo and Sara Vettori.

Apparently written to the Lonely Planet series style-guide, although the book is not one of their titles. Which means one gets things like history and shops, monuments to see, hotels, transport, and so on. It even ventures out of New England and has sections on Antarctica, the Nameless City, and even the Dreamlands.

Moebius Odyssey

28 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Lovecraftian arts

≈ Leave a comment

A blog new to me, Moebius Odyssey – A space to meditate on the art of Moebius. On Moebius and his legacy. Includes French style 1970s/80s arty erotica, so it’s ‘not safe for work or school’.

The numbers have aligned…

28 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Housekeeping

≈ Leave a comment

Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography

28 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Historical context, New books, REH, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

One book I seem to have unintentionally overlooked, in my blog’s rolling survey of such in Sept/Oct of last year, is Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography (Oct 2018). The new book is intended as a reliable and well-written introductory biography for those new to Howard and his work, and who are not historians. It weighs in at 250 pages as a trade paperback or budget Kindle ebook. There’s a foreword by Rusty Burke, who praises the author and notes that the text was peer reviewed by Howard scholars. Howard’s fiction is stepped through in chronological sequence, with judicious plot summaries. Lovecraft and the backroom editorial matters at Weird Tales are covered adequately. The ‘deep background’ on Howard’s family history and early childhood is briefly surveyed in only a few pages, as this material can now be found elsewhere in good form.

More details on Ave atque Vale

28 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by asdjfdlkf in New books, Scholarly works

≈ 1 Comment

S. T. Joshi has a new blog post, which usefully pins down the differences between the forthcoming-soon book Ave atque Vale: Reminiscences of H. P. Lovecraft and 1998’s Lovecraft Remembered…

“we have included most of the material in that [1998] volume (some items were omitted for copyright issues; others for editorial reasons) and included several newly discovered memoirs not included in Peter’s volume.”

Right, so it sounds like the Lovecraft scholar would still need both. The new book will be a $30 trade paperback, Joshi states, as well as a hardback.

Should one be considering sampling some of Dunsany’s vast output, on whom Joshi is also the expert, he usefully notes…

“Darrell Schweitzer’s “How Much of Dunsany Is Worth Reading?” (first published in Studies in Weird Fiction, Fall 1991)”

This has been reprinted in the new The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature (#11, 2018). It can also be found in Schweitzer’s essay collection Windows of the Imagination: Essays on Fantastic Literature.

← Older posts

 

Please become my patron at www.patreon.com/davehaden to help this blog survive and thrive.

Or donate via PayPal — any amount is welcome! Donations total at Summer 2022, since 2015: $340.

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010

Categories

  • 3D (13)
  • Astronomy (57)
  • Censorship (13)
  • de Camp (6)
  • Doyle (7)
  • Films & trailers (89)
  • Fonts (8)
  • Guest posts (2)
  • Historical context (1,069)
  • Housekeeping (83)
  • Kipling (10)
  • Kittee Tuesday (74)
  • Lovecraft as character (38)
  • Lovecraftian arts (1,383)
  • Lovecraftian places (19)
  • Maps (58)
  • NecronomiCon 2013 (40)
  • NecronomiCon 2015 (22)
  • New books (864)
  • New discoveries (158)
  • Night in Providence (17)
  • Odd scratchings (851)
  • Picture postals (208)
  • Podcasts etc. (375)
  • REH (148)
  • Scholarly works (1,234)
  • Summer School (31)
  • Uncategorized (2)
  • Unnamable (85)

Get this blog in your newsreader:
 
RSS Feed — Posts
RSS Feed — Comments

H.P. Lovecraft's Poster Collection - 17 retro travel posters for $18. Print ready, and available to buy — the proceeds help to support the work of Tentaclii.

Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Chateau by Ignacio Ricci.