22 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, Scholarly works
I’ve added a new bookseller to my ‘Lovecraft on the Web’ list. It’s Cold Tonnage, whose new list leads off with a new Tartarus Press limited-edition of Robert Aickman’s Dark Entries (originally 1964).
There’s also an article on Aickman titled “Some Notes on Aickman’s Plays” by Douglas A. Anderson, in the Tartarus Press journal Wormwood #17. Just published, #17 leads with “World Gone Wrong: H.P. Lovecraft’s mythology of loss (part one)” by Joel Lane.
21 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
A new point-and-click “hidden object” PC game, Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HUAfICN9lg&w=420&h=315]
20 Sunday Nov 2011
Posted in Films & trailers, Lovecraftian arts
A Lovecraft machinima movie has won the Grand Prize in the 2011 Machinima Expo (machinima is amateur 3D animation storytelling, rendered in real-time with a videogame engine). Phil Browne’s adaptation of The Haunter of the Dark was made with the real-time animation software iClone. Here’s the film with the director’s commentary…
[vimeo 32303090]
And here’s the original…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyqoNvcmEcM&w=640&h=360]
20 Sunday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, Podcasts etc.
The director’s cut of the recent BBC adaptation of “The Shadow over Innsmouth” is out now, with an extra 30 minutes which were cut for the broadcast…
“This 2011 adaptation comprises 5 episodes, originally aired on BBC Radio 4 Extra […] an additional 30 mins of mystery-filled audio within these five episodes”
18 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
18 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, New books
A weighty new 232-page collection of comic book adaptations of Lovecraft, The Lovecraft Library Volume 1: Horror Out of Arkham, due 6th Dec 2011 from IDW. Introduction written by Robert Weinberg.
Volume 2 is currently out as a series of traditional comic-book part-work pamphlets, as “H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror” (includes a 100-page adaptation “The Dunwich Horror”, plus other stories), and these will then presumably also be collected into a single volume at some point in 2012. When put together the two volumes should bring us over 400 pages of new comic book adaptations of Lovecraft tales.
16 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, Podcasts etc., REH
A free unabridged audio reading of perhaps the most Lovecraftian of Robert E. Howard’s stories, “The Black Stone” (1931). The new recording was kindly made by Cthulhupodcast, over the summer in July 2011…
Above: Illustration for the story, by British artist Greg Staples
A ten-page comic book adaptation appeared in Marvel’s Savage Sword Of Conan (March 1982 issue).
14 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Historical context, Lovecraftian arts
I found a new Lovecraft documentary, or at least new to me. Sponsored by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (“major grant awarded in the Spring of 2011”) and the Center for Independent Documentary. The directors of Finding Lovecraft only have this trailer at present, released June 2011…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N438T1Wylk&w=560&h=315]
“a feature-length documentary fantasy, now in production in Providence, RI. We explore the life and unique style of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, and illustrate his unique legacy using an innovative mix of narrative and documentary storytelling. A Lovecraft-inspired story unfolds for the filmmakers as we delve into the life of this extraordinary character through archival research and expert interviews.”
I was disconcerted to hear the director say in the trailer that he’s one of those who simply dislikes all of Lovecraft’s fiction. Seriously, does he really mean to say he couldn’t find anything to like, not even “The Cats of Ulthar”? But it seems the documentary is to focus instead on the the life and letters, and the various ‘Lovecraft’ places in Rhode Island. I think Finding Lovecraft will be the fourth substantial documentary:— it will follow the workmanlike but flawed The Eldritch Influence: The Life, Vision, and Phenomenon of H.P. Lovecraft (2004); the excellent Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (2009); and the 45-minute BBC Radio documentaries The Young Man of Providence (BBC Radio 4, 1983), and Weird Tales: the Strange Life of H.P. Lovecraft (BBC Radio 3, 2006). I’d love to see someone make a proper Ken Burns-style Lovecraft documentary about his time in New York City.
14 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
A fine poster for the movie The Captured Bird…
“The film is inspired by a nightmare that Jovanka’s twin brother had when he was a child, the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, the fables of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen”
It’s a successfully crowd-funded $25,000 film, expected to complete in December, and will then be shown only on the film festivals circuit during 2012.
13 Sunday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
A behind-the-scenes look at the miniature sets created for the movie of The Whisperer in Darkness.
Talking of movies, Aaron Vanek has a substantial round-up of the 2011 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.
12 Saturday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
Miskatonic School for Girls raises $36k on Kickstarter.
Does any reader know how someone from the UK might get on Kickstarter? It seems to be the only site worth using for crowd-funding, but they’re apparently “USA only”.
12 Saturday Nov 2011
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, New books
Alan Moore’s Neonomicon mini-series is collected as a graphic novel, and available for pre-order with a 25th Nov release date. The book also includes the earlier The Courtyard. Not sure if there are any nice extras like a text-fiction continuation of the story. It seems not. Personally, I found the art more memorable than the story…
