• 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: September 2021

Walking in Providence

30 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Odd scratchings

≈ Leave a comment

Pre-Halloween 2021 H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour & Film Screening Tickets, October 2021 in Providence. Booking now.

Not sure what the best time of year is for hard up-and-down hillside walking in Providence, if there’s ever a good time for walking in what is apparently a very car-centric city. The Web is useless on that. Astro-turfed with what are obviously robo-written pages on ‘best time to visit’ for gullible tourists, written as it temperature and rainfall is all that matters. And the increasingly crappy search-engines are happy to rank them highly.

Back when NecronomiCon was a big thing for Lovecraftians, I recall that August was deemed a rather hot/humid time to visit and not ideal for strenuous walking tours. But I’d imagine that the first strong cold/dry snap at the end of the Autumn/Fall could be good. Cold enough to have driven the students and any lingering sneer-do-wells indoors, but the chilly breeze nicely cooling down a hot and puffing hill-walker. And at that point the leaves would be more or less off the trees, and not so thickly mushed on the sidewalks as they might be in October. Lack of leaves would also mean that the buildings and views could be seen better. Indeed, my hunch on the best timing seems to be backed up by Humble Fabulist. He evidently found 24th November a good date to try it.

If it were me I’d also want one of these in the backpack.

New book: The Recognition of H.P. Lovecraft

30 Thursday Sep 2021

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

≈ Leave a comment

S.T. Joshi’s blog has updated. The main good news is his new history book which surveys Lovecraft’s 1938-1988 period…

The Recognition of H.P. Lovecraft should appear within a few weeks, enhanced by a fine cover design by Jason Van Hollander.

Google Books suggest the full title is to be The Recognition of H. P. Lovecraft: His Rise from Obscurity to World Renown, but can as yet provide no table-of-contents or cover.

Among other items Joshi notes is the arrival of the new expanded Samuel Loveman collection Out of the Immortal Night (original book was 2004), and the slight delaying of the expected premiere of the new Lovecraft documentary. It has originally been mooted for the Lovecraft Film Festival, but is now to be shown via streaming only and “occurring a week after” the Festival.

Deep-sea biology in the time of Lovecraft

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Historical context

≈ Leave a comment

The History of Oceanography blog has a new article, “The Abyss: Resurrecting Deep-Sea Biology in the Mid Twentieth Century”. This adds some interesting historical context to Lovecraft’s ‘turn to deeps’ in his fiction…

“After the publication of the last Challenger Report in 1895, deep-sea biology fell out of favor with marine biologists. [… then] after 1900 deep-sea biology disappeared from the scientific stage and the lights dimmed on biological work in deep water for close to half a century […] Biology — [then in the process of] professionalizing in universities and in government — moved on the one hand toward [lab-work investigating marine] cellular structure and mechanism, and on another hand toward solving [the] practical problems of fisheries. Deep-sea biology became a side-issue, pursued by very few. […] Only after World War Two did deep-sea biology come back into favor.”

Morgoth’s Review on “Nyarlathotep”

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Censorship, Podcasts etc., Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

New on Archive.org today, a Morgoth’s Review podcast lecture on “Lovecraft, Nyarlathotep And Our Changing World”. This turns out to be a YouTube podcaster with a slightly-difficult accent and obvious high intelligence, who has discovered Lovecraft’s fiction via the Warhammer game of all things. Here he’s bowled over by Lovecraft’s prose-poem “Nyarlathotep”, and points out the congruence of the short tale with our current times, and many pithy points are made. An entertaining and illuminating view from a Lovecraft newcomer.

But worthy of automatic censorship? He does seem to be from that wing of the Christian-Right which believes in the existence of evil-as-an-active-force (but presumably doesn’t frown on the likes of Warhammer as an abode-of-demons?). But there’s nothing objectionable in his lecture and partial reading that I can hear. Nevertheless spotting it popping up on Archive.org made me aware of the existence of the curious ‘Deemphasized Collections at Internet Archive’ category, to which the lecture has presumably been auto-added by bots rather than the uploader. The category includes “Adult and Mature Comics” and “Vintage Men’s Magazines”, and in general is an amazing collection of weirdness and smut. All of which is presumably suppressed in searches. But which Archive.org then allows you to search all in one go, very conveniently for some.

Here ‘lovecraft’ means something very different, though a search for his name does sometimes give a few results in contexts other than a tawdry scan of a 1970s Busty British Bar-maids Vol. 1 and suchlike. For instance I see that Thomas Ligotti’s acclaimed The Conspiracy Against The Human Race and even Lovecraft’s Collected Works languishes in this suppressed category, nestling against the ‘Ancient Aliens’ Collection and other such high weirdness. Possibly the crap front-cover and the word “Conspiracy” in the title were enough to damn a great writer, but who can fathom the unexplained caprices of censorship these days? A lone copy of a 1920s Weird Tales is even consigned to the category, once deemed suitable fare for juvenile readers and distributed to every city news-stand in America.

The Dark Man journal – summer 2021

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in New books, REH, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

Now available via Amazon, The Dark Man journal for Summer 2021. Including…

* “Building a Universe: An Analysis of the Works, Lives, and Influences of the Lovecraft Circle”.

* “Adapting Lovecraft to Video Games: What is Lost, What is Gained”.

Also Rusty Burke reviewing the new biography, Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard.

Two major Odilon Redon shows

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Odd scratchings

≈ 2 Comments

“Collecting Dreams: Odilon Redon” runs from 19th September 2021, through 23rd January 2022, at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Includes a newly acquired…

“group of drawings that Redon termed ‘noirs’ for their use of black materials, such as charcoal, and their foreboding mood”

Meanwhile, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, “Bonger and Redon, Friendship and Collecting” from 29th October 2021 up and until 30th January 2022…

“The finest works by Redon will be presented at the museum from the end of October: dark charcoal drawings, but also colourful pastels, paintings and wall decorations, illuminating the special interplay between the artist and collector.”

“Hideous Larvae” (1896)

Penumbra No. 2

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in New books, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

Now listed at Hippocampus, Penumbra No. 2 (2021) is the second issue of S.T. Joshi’s new journal. The non-fiction includes…

* Guy de Maupassant: Women, Madness, and the Horla.

* A Matter of Belief: Further Thoughts on Lord Dunsany and Religion.

* [Lovecraft’s 1921] “The Quest of Iranon” and [Dunsany’s 1922] Don Rodriguez: Two Exercises in the Picaresque.

* Icy Portents of Doom: Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborean Cycle and the Polar Myth.

* Hodgson, The Night Land, and William Morris.

PulpFest 2021 recordings / Campus Miskatonic 2021

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Lovecraftian arts, Odd scratchings

≈ 1 Comment

PulpFest 2021 now has a new PulpFest 2021: Reviews and Recordings page, linking up the various items. Also a sidebar note that in 2022…

PulpFest Returns to Pittsburgh! PulpFest 50 will begin Thursday, Aug. 4, and run through Sunday, Aug. 7. It will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. Please join us for “Action for a Dime!

On reading down the recordings/reviews page one finds the twin themes are announced for 2022…

* the centennial of Fiction House, the pulp magazine and comic-book publisher.

* the ninetieth anniversary of Popular Publications’ ‘Dime’ magazines.

Meanwhile, over in France… this year’s French Lovecraft ‘Campus Miskatonic’ event returns for a second year. It will take place in-person in Verdun (about 100 miles east of Paris) shortly before Halloween 2021. The programme includes…

* Lovecraft’s influence on 20th century comic-books and later pulps. Presumably with reference to French BDs and comics-magazines, as well as to American and British comics.

* Lovecraft’s philosophical and political discussions, and their relevance today.

* What appears(?) to be a general panel discussion with noted French Lovecraftians.

* A screening of The Whisperer in Darkness (2011).

* An RPG games evening.

Lovecraft Annual 2021

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in New books, Scholarly works

≈ Leave a comment

Lovecraft Annual 2021, now listing on Amazon UK and (for an extra £5) on eBay UK. Sadly not fitted with translucent flexi-cover with washes of faint and unplaceable iridescent colours, as I had rather whimsically expected after seeing the blank slot on the initial Hippocampus listing. More of a ‘hot curry’ colour for the cover, this year. Which I like and I guess will sit well alongside the latest book of Letters… containing as it does a curry recipe.

New book: Providence Blue

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Lovecraft as character, Lovecraftian arts, New books

≈ Leave a comment

Providence Blue is a new ‘Lovecraft as character’ fantasy novel. Warning: general ‘structure-of-the-novel’ spoilers below.

In Rhode Island mysterious creatures were…

encountered by renegade preacher Roger Williams on his historical journey that ended with the founding of Providence, Rhode Island. [Later in Providence] Lovecraft is an accomplished and impish ‘Magus'”.

He investigates these historical encounters, as these seem to have foreshadowed his own monsters and to have links with a real Cthulhu cult. Even later in Providence…

An anxiety-filled former punk-rocker [Wilum Pugmire?], a drifting Athenaeum employee, and an entire cast of unique and well-developed characters find themselves thrown into a puzzling and some harrowing ride around Providence [and beyond]

Catholic World Report newspaper has an interview with the author (with some detailed spoilers, and also a horrid pop-up page-blocking overlay and nags)…

Pinault is a Professor of Religous Studies at Santa Clara University, and a native of Providence. … The author’s Catholic faith is evident throughout the story, as each character seeks redemption and an ultimate answer to the myriad sufferings of mankind.

Sounds fun but there’s no ebook or audiobook version, sadly, just a paperback. Might make for a good chunky graphic novel, by the sound of it, it you were looking for such a book to adapt.

Kaja Saudek

27 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Lovecraftian arts

≈ Leave a comment

A superb emulation of Moebius by Kaja Saudek for the cover of the Czechoslovakian pocket edition of “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, Stin nad Innsmouthem (1990).

According to a local site this was the nation’s first non-samizdat taste of Lovecraft after the collapse of communism…

Writings by H. P. Lovecraft appeared on the common Czechoslovak book market as early as 1990 [as a] series of several parts containing the short stories was published by Zlaty kun (the cover and title pages were illustrated by Kaja Saudek).

This comment suggested to me that there were more covers like this, yet to be found. A little digging finds that there are, and you can actually still some of buy them. Although not the Innsmouth one, for some reason. The cover of the 1991 Randolph Carter translation is also ‘very Moebius’. and there are even a couple of R.E. Howard items.

Daildeli Databaze has what appears to be the full set of covers and interior illustrations…

So far as I can tell, though he made many comics during his career, he never did a Lovecraft adaptation. He appears to have developed his own series, such as Arnal, with a faster and more Crumb-like style that could veer toward pop-art.

‘Station of the Boss

27 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by asdjfdlkf in Lovecraftian arts

≈ 1 Comment

New on ArtStation Marketplace, a new videogame-ready rigged Cthulhu for $300. ‘Rigged’ means he has a human-like skeleton setup and can thus be fully posed and animated. The look is a bit too squiddy and squid-ink blue, but that could be fixed.

← 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 (1,068)
  • 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.