Category Archives: Cthulhu

Chicken Fried Cthulhu

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Hey, folks, the Chicken Fried Cthulhu Kickstarter has 25 hours left as I write this and is still a ways from funding.  This is an anthology of southwestern flavored Cthulhu and Lovecraft themed stories.  It’s set to premiere at the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio this year.

If it funds.  It’s from the same crew that brought you Skelos, and there’s an impressive lineup of authors listed, including Robert E. Howard and Joe Lansdale.  Part of the reason the goal is so high is that the editors want to pay the authors professional rates, and that takes money.

So if you’ve been thinking about pledging, please do so.  I would really like to see this project get off the ground.  I am not an author in the anthology and my only connection to the project is that I’m friends with the guys putting it together.  I just want to read the stories.

Cthuloid Encounters

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20150626_161806This past weekend my son had a dive meet in Corpus Christi.  (That was why some of my responses to comments in the last post were a little short. I was replying from my phone, something I hate.)

Anyway, afternoons were free tome.  On Friday we went to the aquarium.  The octopus, as seen in the first photo was calm and not moving when I walked up.  You can just see it in the front to the left of the red ball.

20150626_161820Every time I’ve seen an octopus in an aquarium, assuming it wasn’t hiding and I could see it at all, it was usually not moving much.  If it did move, it would be moving slowly.

Right after I walked up and took that picture, the octopus went berzerk became very active.

20150626_161911Now I’m not sure why it would react this way.  The flash on  the camera didn’t go off when I too the first picture, nor did it go off when I took the second.  You can see it pushing its head against the glass.

It sure seemed to be trying to get at me through the glass for some reason…

20150626_161926

Report on Howard Days, Part 1: Thursday and Friday

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HDs2015 Long Banner SmallRobert E. Howard Days 2015 has come to an end.  And while I have enjoyed them all, this has probably been the one I’ve enjoyed the most.  There are a number of things that came together to make this one of the most enjoyable Howard Days for me.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  The high temperatures were in the low 90s, which means it was warm but not really hot, especially since there was a breeze and the humidity wasn’t too bad. Continue reading →

I Look at The Spawn of Cthulhu

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Lovecraft Spawn Cthulhu frontMy latest post on the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series at Black Gate is up.  It’s over The Spawn of Chthulu, edited by Lin Carter.  Here’s the link to it.

This a collection of stories centered around Lovecraft’s “The Whisperer in Darkness”.  All of the stories that follow have some connection to Lovecraft’s tale.  I take a look at all of them.  If you’re into Lovecraft, check it out.

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “The Children of the Night”

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Howard HorrorThe Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Del Rey
trade paper $18.00
ebook Kindle $11.59 Nook $13.99

I read this story for the first time recently in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy collection The Spawn of Cthulhu.  (The subject of my next BAF post for Black Gate.)  Just from the title, I could have sworn I’d read it before, but I think I would have remembered this one.

“The Children of the Night” was first published in Weird Tales in the April-May issue of 1931.  It’s an interesting little story in that it ties two of Howard’s series characters in with H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Continue reading →

My Halloween Posts Creep into Other Blogs

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Blind ShadowsNot all of the things I’ve been reading for Halloween are getting reviewed here.  There have been two other posts that might be of interest to some of you.

The first post that went live was at Amazing Stories yesterday.  I had intended to have it ready to go a week earlier but an out of town wedding derailed my plans.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of pulp fantasy and horror, this is one you need to put on your radar.  There are a number of nice treats (and no tricks) in this novel.  It’s about a pair of former police partners.  One is now the sheriff and the other is a private investigator.  The book opens with the discovery of the body a former classmate of theirs.  He’s been ritually murdered.  Blind Shadows is a great combination of pulp, horror, and hard boiled adventure.

Lovecraft Sarnath frontI’ve been doing a series of posts at Black Gate for about a year now on the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series.  My goal was to have one completed about once a month, but that isn’t quite what has happened.  Things have been a little more irregular than that.

This afternoon, my latest went live.  It’s over H. P. Lovecraft’s The Doom that Came to Sarnath.  This is a collection of stories written as Lovecraft was transitioning from fantasy in the vein of Lord Dunsany to his better known work in the Mythos.  Many of these stories are quite short, but overall they’re an interesting read as they show a writer moving from imitation to his own unique voice.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to at other venues for Halloween.

Lizzie Borden vs Cthulhu

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MaplecroftMaplecroft
Cherie Priest
Roc, trade paper, 448 pgs.
ebook Kindle Nook ibooks
audio various prices

Well, sort of. Cthulhu doesn’t actually appear in this book, nor is he even mentioned by name. But a Cthulhu-esque (totally a word) miasma permeates the corners and recesses of the novel, gradually becoming more palpable and easily felt, driving to madness those to whom is it their ill-fortune to endure.

Excuse me.  I’m not sure what came over me there in that last sentence.  The prose in this novel is much (much) better.

The idea behind Maplecroft is at once both so brilliantly original and originally brilliant that I have to wonder that no one has thought of it before.  It seems so obvious.  Fall River is in Lovecraft country, or at least close enough to it as to make no difference, and the infamous events of 1892 are perfect for blending fiction with history. Continue reading →

Marvin Kaye Buys Weird Tales, Replaces Ann Vandermeer as Editor

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This was announced earlier today, so many, if not most, of you have probably seen it, but I wanted to post it anyway.  (It’s been one of those days.  Power was out over most of the campus for most of the day and classes start tomorrow.)  Marvin Kaye has bought Weird Tales from publisher John Betancourt.  He is replacing the entire editorial staff, including editor Ann Vandermeer.  Vandermeer’s final issue will be #359, which will be published next February.  (The current issue, #358 is shown at right.)  Kaye, who has edited anthologies related to Weird Tales and the now defunct H. P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, intends to edit the magazine himself.  His first issue, #360, will be a special Cthulhu themed issue.  Stories bought by Vandermeer that aren’t included in #359 will be published in future issues.  Further details can be found in Ann Vandermeer’s farewell post.  Black Gate editor John O’Neill has written a commentary here.