HPLinks #42.
I’m pleased to say I’ve survived installing the latest version of Windows 11. Not many do survive, it seems, judging by the dire headlines in the techie news outlets. But this was a special ‘superlite’ installer — no bloat, no Microsoft account, no adverts, no ‘apps’, no ‘your hardware is insufficient’, no forced updates, etc. And it’s the version after Microsoft’s many problems of the last nine months have (hopefully) been fixed. There were many roadblocks, but they were pushed through. It’s all faster and snappier than Windows 7, and even looks like Windows 7 (install Open Shell + StartAllBack, and change the wallpaper). Many bits of freeware now have better versions, or replacements if they no longer work (e.g. Text Cleaner becomes UnWrap 2.1, the old Explorer++ becomes the native Explorer + QTTabBar for persistent tabs). I’m still getting peripheral software installed, presets re-loaded, my Lovecraft caches indexed for keyword-search, and various small shoggoths are continually being encountered and squished… but another weekend and it’ll be done. Due to this intense activity, here is another shorter-than-usual weekly HPLinks, and with a postcard instead of the usual quotes. Thank you for your patience.
* Wormwoodiana has news of the new book Borderlands and Otherworlds (2025)…
“The essays discuss in particular supernatural fiction of the Nineteen Twenties, occult thrillers of the Thirties, and the English Fantastic in the Forties and Fifties.”
* New at the Cabinet Obscura blog, “Three “Weird Tales” Writers in Florida, 1933-34”.
* The French ‘BD’ (short graphic novel) Le dernier jour de Howard Phillips Lovecraft (‘The Last Day of Howard Phillips Lovecraft’) is reportedly to have an official English translation. It appeared in French at Halloween 2023.
This graphic-novel is also to have what might be an animated screen adaptation(?) in the hands of a substantial commercial studio… “BOOM! Studios Adapts The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft“. Hence the English translation, presumably. Unless the English translation is to appear as a series of ‘adapted’ floppy spinner-rack comic-books? It’s all rather unclear.
* Broadway World reports Radiotheatre to stage 14th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Festival, 23rd-27th July 2025 in Greenwich Village, New York City…
Now in its 22nd Season, the multi-award winning, critically acclaimed Radiotheatre brings a true American theatrical tradition to the stage….the live spoken word drama…only with 21st century technology to make it a truly unique experience. For their 14th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Festival, Radiotheatre presents “The Whisperer in Darkness” live including a great cast, original orchestral score, fantastic projections, and cinematic sound design.
* A new German podcast on YouTube has the editors discussing their essay collection Kulturelle Spiegelungen zwischen H. P. Lovecraft und Deutschland (a new book on Lovecraft and Germany). In German, but don’t forget that YouTube now has all sorts of new-fangled AI auto-translate.
* The R.E.H. Foundation has announced the 2025 Robert E. Howard Awards Winners, and I see there’s also now an online “What’s Up with REH?” panel recording from the Howard Days 2025 event.
* New on Archive.org, R.E. Howard’s poetry collection Singers In The Shadows, as a scan of the 1977 edition.
* Also new on Archive.org to download as a PDF, Lin Carter’s Dunsany paperback collection Beyond the Fields We Know (1972), as a good clear scan.
* Newly for sale at Honest Abe’s Pulp & Paper Emporium, “Dagon” in The Vagrant (1919), and the rather less expensive The Arkham Sampler Volume 1 Number 3 (special ‘Lovecraft photos issue’, 1985).
* And finally, new on eBay is this fine postcard of The Arcade in Providence, with a flanking store. Seen here in its 1900s prime, the Arcade was a key place in Lovecraft’s childhood. I recall he continued visiting after childhood, in order to have his hair cut. Note the tall ‘Lovecraft-alike man’ lurking between the columns, whom the colourist has done her best to make inconspicuous in the picture.
