02 Tuesday Nov 2021
Posted in Historical context, Lovecraftian arts, Scholarly works
Dark Worlds Quarterly has a fine new illustrated timeline of Henry Kuttner’s Fan Letters to Weird Tales.
Talking of Weird Tales, S.T. Joshi’s Blog has updated. Among other items he brings news of a forthcoming collected stories of Robert Barbour Johnson, an author best known for his Lovecraftian ‘in the subways’ Weird Tales story “Far Below” (1939). I recall there’s already been at least one such collection, though perhaps not complete? The new book will also collect some of Johnson’s essays.
31 Sunday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
Happy Halloween. May all your scares be little ones.
28 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, Scholarly works
Found, another series of H.P. Lovecraft comics adaptations of which I was previously unaware. Previews reports it has now been mostly reprinted in paper by Caliber, and that “The Statement of Randolph Carter” is being added to the series soon. The latter is said to be re-set in the modern age.
I had of course been aware of Caliber’s two volume Lovecraft’s Worlds anthology collection, seen below. It’s been out ages and I’m fairly sure I’ve even interviewed one of the artists.
But despite my occasional perusing of Previews I was not aware that they’d been adding to the series. For instance, a third volume of Lovecraft’s Worlds in 2018.
Then there’s H.P. Lovecraft: The Early Stories. Not a comic but a heavily illustrated edition using Joshi’s texts and with an introduction by him.
And a The Shadow Over Innsmouth adaptation in 80 pages.
There are other interesting looking indie titles at Caliber, of the sort you’ll never hear about via the corporate press. Such as a 165-page Arthur: King of Britain.
This focuses on how Arthur was originally understood in the 12th century…
From veteran comic writer/artist Michael Fraley comes this history of the famous and legendary character known as King Arthur. This fully illustrated comic series and collected graphic novel is faithfully based on the original adventure of Arthur as it was written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century. Geoffrey’s work is considered one of the most important books of the medieval period, and served as the skeletal framework from which all Arthurian tales have since been based.
Arthur: King of Britain is available as a five-book £10 Kindle series on Amazon.
Talking of comics, I’m pleased to see one of my Digital Art Live colleagues on the cover of the latest ICC Magazine #16, and with an interview inside.
25 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, New books
Martine Chifflot-Comazzi kindly informs that her stage play, Lovecraft, my love — “created for streaming in Clermont-Ferrand (March) and in Paray-le-Monial with the public (September)” — is now available in translation. Sadly I can’t find the link to this new book at either of her Facebook pages, but she writes in a comment at Tentaclii that…
The text has been translated and is available (20 euros)
Previously available in French from Aigle Botte Editions, 2018. Amazon UK has no sign of the new translation yet.
24 Sunday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
A superb new 3D H.P. Lovecraft by Khoi Nguyen, posted to ArtStation a couple of weeks ago. ZBrush / Substance Painter / some Maya hair dev and rendered in Arnold.
Outstandingly good. I was thinking of having a go at shaping a DAZ G3 into a Lovecraft head, or perhaps souping up the old Meshbox/Miyre 3D Lovecraft with Some Awesome PBR Textures. But it would not have looked as good as this. Such a pity it couldn’t have been included, possibly alongside an interview with the maker, in the now-published “Gothic” issue of Digital Art Live magazine.
24 Sunday Oct 2021
New on Archive.org, the 1943 “Fungi From Yuggoth” stencil duplicated edition. Mmmm… smell that hand-cranked duplicator fluid and fan-sweat…
Also newly arrived on Archive.org from microfilm, the Monthly Weather Review 1872-2012. Useful for U.S. researchers seeking a quick answer to “and what was the weather like when event X was happening?”. The new run of Notes and Queries 1849-2014 also looks handy.
I also spotted Jacqueline Baker’s novel The Broken Hours (2015), seemingly a creepy atmospheric haunting story set in Lovecraft’s house and late Depression-era Providence. Another one that escaped me during the blog hiatus. I guess this counts as another ‘Lovecraft as character’ work, though I’m not yet sure if he actually makes an appearance.
21 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
I’m pleased to discover, via an ancient aside on an Archive.org fanzine, a Lovecraftian author of quality who was completely unknown to me.
Jeffrey E. Barlough produced a well-regarded trilogy in the 1990s and early 2020s, and has followed it up with a regular series of books. Anchorwick is a kind of prequel and said to be the best to start with, though The House in the High Wood has an affordable ebook.
The setting is an alternate history in which the last Ice Age never ended and our current interglacial warm period never arrived. A sliver of the olde British civilisation that managed to emerge now clings on down the coastline of North America. Surrounded by Ice Age megafauna, no less. A gaslamp/steampunk blend of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft, but with an appealing-sounding dash of eccentric and imaginative whimsy added to the mix.
Sadly no audiobook version, despite the avid fan-base, or even other ebook editions. His website has the full list for the Western Lights series…
Dark Sleeper (2000)
The House in the High Wood (2001)
Strange Cargo (2004)
Bertram of Butter Cross (2007)
Anchorwick (2008)
A Tangle in Slops (2011)
What I Found at Hoole (2012)
The Cobbler of Ridingham (2014)
Where The Time Goes (2016)
The Thing in the Close (2018)
Hooting Grange (2021)
Rose of Picardy (in preparation)
19 Tuesday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
DMR brings news of a new book of sword & sorcery by Lovecraftian Ramsay Campbell, Far Away & Never. Not quite new, though shiny. It’s a reprint of an apparently quite enjoyable and rollicking set of fantasy-horror stories, from many decades ago.
18 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
At last, Claveloux and Zha’s classic Dead Season (aka “Off Season”) in a good English edition. March 2022, apparently.
Possibly inspired by a dream Lovecraft had. In the Selected Letters he notes a somewhat similar dream of Providence…
the street car that went by night over a route that had been dismantled for six years, & that lost five hours in climbing College Hill. Finally plunging off the earth into a star-strewn abyss & ending up in the sand-heaped streets of a ruined city which had been under the sea.
The cover forebodes a new digital colouring, complete with yellow faces, but hopefully the interior will be in black and white. It’s also to be found in late 1970s issues of Heavy Metal magazine.
16 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
Tucked away in the back of Fantasy Classics #15 (2008), newly arrived on Archive.org, another adaptation of Kadath that’s new to me. Rather nicely done and 48 pages.
09 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts, New books
Gary Gianni’s illustrated “The Call of Cthulhu” book is shipping. 112 pages with 100+ pencil drawings plus colour inserts. Designed with Marcelo Anciano, it apparently seeks to…
push the boundaries of illustrated books and explore graphic storytelling.
Direct from the publisher Flesk seems the best way to get one before they sell out the print-run.
05 Tuesday Oct 2021
Posted in Lovecraftian arts
Inktober 2021 is here. I’d completely forgotten about it, what with the global Internet melting into a puddle from 1st October onward (better now, including a vital local SSL root certificate Windows/Opera fix, here at Tentaclii).
Obviously potential for Lovecraftian doodling and dwiddling. It’s often assumed that some hand-ground oak-gall inks and hand-plucked swan-quills are required for Inktober, but there’s no reason you can’t join in with more affordable digital tools.