Squish, squish squish. No, that’s not the sound of Lovecraftian monsters arriving ready for Halloween… only to look around in a puzzled manner and wonder where all the people have gone. It’s just that October 2020 was a rather squishy month. Squishy underfoot, with the fallen and yellowing leaves slowly turning into gooey mud. Squishy and futile attempts to squish what is now a not-very-lethal virus. Squishy political operators squirming through America. Students squishing through the rain, back to campus. Tentaclii even became a little squishy, with a temporary paucity of H.P. Lovecraft items in the middle of the month forcing side-topic posts on Machen, Derleth and others.

In new books, the chunky 600-page Eccentric, Impractical Devils: The Letters of Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth was released for Halloween. I also surveyed where one might find the ‘best of’ Derleth’s imaginative fiction, and was disappointed to find that the two print book needed — In Lovecraft’s Shadow: The Cthulhu Mythos Stories of August Derleth and The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus — are now ridiculously expensive and lack affordable ebooks. On the other hand, nearly all of Derleth’s science-fiction can now be had free on Archive.org in the original magazines.

In scholarly work, a new Italian book was noted that appears to have a useful summary of ‘Lovecraft and Nietzsche’ in terms of the influence. There was news of a big new book on Lovecraft by leading scholar Ken Faig, but it’s only “forthcoming” at present. The Spanish appear to have reprinted a 1972 book collection of Lovecraft’s essays in translation. In work from the occultist crowd, the new book Dark Magic: H.P. Lovecraft, Starry Wisdom and the Contagion of Fear looks serious and to have an interesting central idea.

There’s not much happening in scholarly journals in this hectic back-to-uni / Christmas-is-coming time, but S.T. Joshi launched his new mega-journal Penumbra #1 to fill the gap, and I noted the non-fiction essays in it which seem of most interest.

In bargains and freebies, I noted that The Lovecraft Arts & Sciences store in Providence appears to have Eckhardt’s illustrated booklet Off the Ancient Track for just $10, and in the revised 2013 edition too. I also noted that one can now get a run of the venerable and informative zine Pulpdom complete in PDF for $30, with an Index. On Archive.org, the H.P. Lovecraft Companion (1977) popped up and is available to borrow.

My regular ‘Picture postals’ blog posts returned to College Street, with a look at the Handicraft Club. Also, I found more night pictures in the form of two evocative views from Providence artist Whitman Bailey (1884-1954). One of these was from Lovecraft’s favourite place, Prospect Terrace, in 1914. I also peered inside Robinson Hall, the first Brown Library, and considered what a fine H.P. Lovecraft Archives & Museum it might have made for the city.

Ahead of an Art Club ‘Picture Postals’ post, which is set for November, I also posted a list of the Providence Art Club Costume Party themes, 1913-26, and the full TOCs for the important new two-volume Letters to Family and Family Friends collection of Lovecraft letters.

My own short research essays in October considered: H.P. Lovecraft’s tentative editorship of the unrealised revival of the Magazine of Fun; Lovecraft and the artist Fuseli; and Lovecraft and Halloween (as a real-life annual event). The latter usefully led me to consider the location of Lovecraft’s un-named New York “occultist” book shop, and to suggest a possible candidate for this. My short post “More on Lovecraft in Harlem” also updated my previous look at the topic, and suggested a walking route he knew and that there was a Kalem meeting in Harlem. And in “Lovecraft in Esquire, 1947″ I was pleased to discover a previously unknown 1940s memoir-fragment about both Lovecraft and Weird Tales, written by the magazine’s publisher Henneberger. I also tested his memory against what we now know.

In academic opportunities, I noted a call for chapters for Religion and Horror Comics, and that Providence’s Brown University has a fully-funded PhD opportunity in Music and Multimedia Composition. A couple more items were added to Open Lovecraft page.

The month was light on podcasts, but I linked to the Voluminous podcast as they began reading a multi-part Robert E. Howard – Lovecraft letter series. I was also pleased to find a new free reading of Lovecraft’s “The City”, a long and seminal poem that I copiously annotated a year ago.

Finally, I’ve just looked at my Patreon and am pleased to find it’s increased slightly to $70 a month, from $69. My thanks to the booster, Daverius, who is giving $1 per month. If you can find a $1 or two to also support Tentaclii and my other ventures, it would be most helpful.

That’s it for October. More next month!