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Letters to Family and Family Friends – got both volumes

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in New books, Odd scratchings, Scholarly works

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I was expecting some ‘post Black Friday’ Amazon Warehouse deals, as bumped and damaged stock was returned to the warehouses. I’m pleased to say that, by looking out for such items, I’ve bagged both volumes of the new H.P. Lovecraft: Letters to Family and Family Friends. The cost for both together was a bargain £30, ‘half price’ and with no extra shipping to pay — Amazon was willing to send them to a local locker for free.

My thanks to my Patreon patrons who’ve made this vital purchase possible, and you’ll doubtless benefit from improved posts here at Tentaclii in the coming years.

It may well be the springtime before I get around to reading them now, as my Lovecraft interest tends to be seasonal from May-October. But for now they look mighty pretty on the shelf. Only very slightly bumped on a few of the cover-corners, and otherwise fine. They’re going to be read and consulted quite thoroughly, so I don’t bother about such minor blemishes.

I also managed to bag Frank Belknap Long’s The Black Druid for $10 on eBay. This being the mid-1970s Panther paperback of his stories, and the uniform paperback companion to his The Hounds of Tindalos. Which I had bagged at about the same price from eBay about 18 months ago. Most of the time they’re offered for silly ‘collector’ prices. There were only two such volumes of his stories here in the UK, if you were wondering, both with fine Bruce Pennington covers.

Ziperart

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts

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A stylish bit of b&w showing Lovecraft, for what appears to be a new Spanish illustrated book by Ziperart, of Cuentos de H.P. Lovecraft. I guess he did sometimes type with his hat on, when the weather was especially cold.

Also of note, though not Lovecraftian, over in Canada the new indie publisher Eye of Newt is growing a small range of quality fantastical art-led books.

The new Froud-alike fairies book launches next summer.

Friday ‘Picture Postals’ from Lovecraft: the Art dept.

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Historical context, Picture postals

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This week, an addition to my 2014 posts “I used to be a water-colour fiend” and Lovecraft’s new library, 1900, and also to my recently peek into the Providence Art Club.

A good and extremely well coloured look at the entrance to the Art Dept. located in the Providence Public Library.

This is as Lovecraft, then aged 16, would have encountered it in 1906.

Release: Call of the Sea

07 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts

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Nice to see a new Lovecraftian videogame that’s a rare thing… a roaring success when first released. At least, a success judging by the spoiler-packed reviews.

Trailed a few months back in Digital Art Live, the first reviews for the new Call of the Sea game are now in…

Call of the Sea is an amazing, albeit short, adventure puzzle game. It’s a fully engrossing experience that’s tense, but not scary, and is the perfect game to show to people if they’re interested in the Lovecraftian genre but aren’t fans of [post-1960s] horror. … the thing I love most about Call of the Sea is that it’s not a horror game, yet it’s fully inspired by the Lovecraftian horror genre. A fully optimized and glitchless package. Out of the Blue Games couldn’t have designed a better game for their debut.” (Gaming Trend review).

Call of the Sea is solid adventure with tons of atmosphere [and] shrouded in mystery and easy to dive into. […] it’s hard to ignore just how challenging and charming the title is. (The Escapist)

Call of the Sea is a gorgeous game. It has more of a cartoony style to it, but the levels are highly atmospheric and feature lovely vistas and beautiful use of vibrant color. The areas also feel lived-in and believable. This is certainly the kind of game where you’ll stop and gawk at the scenery every now and again.” (PC Invasion)

There are puzzles, but apparently seamlessly integrated into the story and not fiendish or illogical (as one knocking ‘review’, seemingly from a leftist anti-fan, would have it). The Games Radar review seems to have it about right, on the puzzles…

The puzzles are beautifully balanced too, not so complex you immediately head to YouTube for a solution feeling like your math teacher was totally right about your failures, but not so easy they feel like last-minute set dressing. … It’s a great story, told with heart, and the perfect narration.

It appears to riff on Lovecraft’s idea at the end of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, the one encapsulated in the ideas and plans the “Innsmouth” protagonist has for his cousin in the Canton madhouse, as he spirals up to a new sort of ‘sanity’.

Also ‘fresh from the sea’, New Horror Express interviews film-maker Chad Ferrin on The Deep Ones…

A Lovecraftian horror picture done very much in the 80s mould [… the movie] will be released in the U.S. on 1st May 2021.

Travel in 1937

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Historical context

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Extracted and cleaned by me from a new magazine upload at Archive.org, here is transport as it was envisioned in Lovecraft’s final year by an illustrator whose name appears to be “Glenn Grore”…

… made all the more interesting today by the slightly sinister black beetle-shape of the car in the bottom-left (one thinks of the “beetle-race” that Lovecraft had supplanting humanity), and the glimpse of a giant airship in the top-left.

Possibly this could give a creative lead for a book-cover designer, considering how best to tackle a book collection of the very best of Lovecraft’s many travel accounts? I imagine such a book as being accounts of the vehicles and travel itself, rather than the destinations. This would not be without some weird interest, for instance his letter recounting a nightmare involving waiting for a sinister tram-car to start. Such a project might appeal to those who are interested both in vintage transport and transport-history, and in Lovecraft-the-man.

Lovecraft auction at PBA Galleries

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Odd scratchings

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The PBA Galleries in Berkeley, California, reportedly have a big public auction of “Science Fiction & Mystery” items on 7th January 2021. 450 choice lots are on the block, including…

* “a wonderful selection of the works of H.P. Lovecraft and related ephemera”.

* “a first edition of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider” from Arkham House.

* “a large collection of the works of Ray Bradbury, with many signed and scarce pieces”.