{"id":43244,"date":"2020-10-31T06:58:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T03:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tentaclii.wordpress.com\/?p=43244"},"modified":"2020-10-31T06:58:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T03:58:14","slug":"october-on-tentaclii-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2020\/10\/31\/october-on-tentaclii-2\/","title":{"rendered":"October on Tentaclii"},"content":{"rendered":"

Squish, squish squish. No, that’s not the sound of Lovecraftian monsters arriving ready for Halloween… only to look around in a puzzled manner and wonder where all the people have gone. It’s just that October 2020 was a rather squishy month. Squishy underfoot, with the fallen and yellowing leaves slowly turning into gooey mud. Squishy and futile attempts to squish what is now a not-very-lethal virus. Squishy political operators squirming through America. Students squishing through the rain, back to campus. Tentaclii<\/em> even became a little squishy, with a temporary paucity of H.P. Lovecraft items in the middle of the month forcing side-topic posts on Machen, Derleth and others.<\/p>\n

In new books, the chunky 600-page Eccentric, Impractical Devils: The Letters of Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth<\/em> was released for Halloween. I also surveyed where one might find the ‘best of’ Derleth’s imaginative fiction, and was disappointed to find that the two print book needed — In Lovecraft\u2019s Shadow: The Cthulhu Mythos Stories of August Derleth<\/em> and The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus<\/em> — are now ridiculously expensive and lack affordable ebooks. On the other hand, nearly all of Derleth’s science-fiction can now be had free on Archive.org in the original magazines.<\/p>\n

In scholarly work, a new Italian book was noted that appears to have a useful summary of ‘Lovecraft and Nietzsche’ in terms of the influence. There was news of a big new book on Lovecraft by leading scholar Ken Faig, but it’s only “forthcoming” at present. The Spanish appear to have reprinted a 1972 book collection of Lovecraft’s essays in translation. In work from the occultist crowd, the new book Dark Magic: H.P. Lovecraft, Starry Wisdom and the Contagion of Fear<\/em> looks serious and to have an interesting central idea. <\/p>\n

There’s not much happening in scholarly journals in this hectic back-to-uni \/ Christmas-is-coming time, but S.T. Joshi launched his new mega-journal Penumbra<\/em> #1 to fill the gap, and I noted the non-fiction essays in it which seem of most interest.<\/p>\n

In bargains and freebies, I noted that The Lovecraft Arts & Sciences store in Providence appears to have Eckhardt\u2019s illustrated booklet Off the Ancient Track<\/em> for just $10, and in the revised 2013 edition too. I also noted that one can now get a run of the venerable and informative zine Pulpdom<\/em> complete in PDF for $30, with an Index. On Archive.org, the H.P. Lovecraft Companion<\/em> (1977) popped up and is available to borrow.<\/p>\n

My regular \u2018Picture postals\u2019 blog posts returned to College Street, with a look at the Handicraft Club. Also, I found more night pictures in the form of two evocative views from Providence artist Whitman Bailey (1884-1954). One of these was from Lovecraft’s favourite place, Prospect Terrace, in 1914. I also peered inside Robinson Hall, the first Brown Library, and considered what a fine H.P. Lovecraft Archives & Museum it might have made for the city.<\/p>\n

Ahead of an Art Club ‘Picture Postals’ post, which is set for November, I also posted a list of the Providence Art Club Costume Party themes, 1913-26, and the full TOCs for the important new two-volume Letters to Family and Family Friends<\/em> collection of Lovecraft letters.<\/p>\n

My own short research essays in October considered: H.P. Lovecraft\u2019s tentative editorship of the unrealised revival of the Magazine of Fun<\/em>; Lovecraft and the artist Fuseli; and Lovecraft and Halloween (as a real-life annual event). The latter usefully led me to consider the location of Lovecraft’s un-named New York “occultist” book shop, and to suggest a possible candidate for this. My short post “More on Lovecraft in Harlem” also updated my previous look at the topic, and suggested a walking route he knew and that there was a Kalem meeting in Harlem. And in “Lovecraft in Esquire<\/em>, 1947″ I was pleased to discover a previously unknown 1940s memoir-fragment about both Lovecraft and Weird Tales<\/em>, written by the magazine’s publisher Henneberger. I also tested his memory against what we now know.<\/p>\n

In academic opportunities, I noted a call for chapters for Religion and Horror Comics<\/em>, and that Providence\u2019s Brown University has a fully-funded PhD opportunity in Music and Multimedia Composition. A couple more items were added to Open Lovecraft page.<\/p>\n

The month was light on podcasts, but I linked to the Voluminous<\/em> podcast as they began reading a multi-part Robert E. Howard – Lovecraft letter series. I was also pleased to find a new free reading of Lovecraft’s \u201cThe City\u201d, a long and seminal poem that I copiously annotated a year ago.<\/p>\n

Finally, I’ve just looked at my Patreon<\/a> and am pleased to find it’s increased slightly to $70 a month, from $69. My thanks to the booster, Daverius, who is giving $1 per month. If you can find a $1 or two to also support Tentaclii<\/em> and my other<\/a> ventures, it would be most helpful.<\/p>\n

That’s it for October. More next month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Squish, squish squish. No, that’s not the sound of Lovecraftian monsters arriving ready for Halloween… only to look around in …<\/p>\n

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