Lovecraftian Horror

My old friend (and former boss – he was a good one) Mark Howard Jones has a new book out for all those of you who enjoy a few eldritch horrors (as I do). Star-Spawned: Lovecraftian Horrors & Strange Stories is available here, and brings together his Lovecraftian and weird fiction from the last decade or so. There's a foreword by Lovecraft expert, S T Joshi, too, so what are you waiting for?

Cthulhu Cymraeg launch day

There's a launch event for the horror anthology Cthulhu Cymraeg taking place at Swansea Library, from 10am on Saturday, April 26th.  Here's the timetable - I'm looking forward to it, plus the chance to catch up with old friends.

10.05 - The Shadow from Wild Wales : HP Lovecraft, Arthur Machen and Wales

H P Lovecraft is one of the key figures in modern horror. After a short introduction to his life in New England and New York and his work, this talk will look in particular at the Welsh author of decadent 

and mystical horror Arthur Machen, often cited as one of the main influences on HPL. How did Lovecraft find out about Machen, “a Titan” as he called him, and how did it influence his own stories, 

including The Call of Cthulhu itself? How has Wales featured in later mythos works? Is Wales, as some have claimed, the location of the dread Necronomicon? Illustrated talk by Machen expert Gwilym Games.

10.50 - The Spawning of Cthulhu Cymraeg

This panel, featuring the editor Mark Howard Jones, publisher Steve Upham and many authors from the anthology, will discuss how the book was born and the twisted gestation of the stories within it. There will also be a chance to buy copies!

11.25 – Author Readings

12.00 - Lunch

12.30 – Author Readings

1.10 - The Call of Lovecraft – Lovecraft in the 21st century

What is the strange and growing attraction Lovecraft exerts on readers and writers? Countless writers have written Lovecraftian books and stories and his impact extends to inspiring films, comics, games, 

television and even religious and occult movements. After years of neglect and dismissal of Lovecraft as a pulp writer he is now regarded by publishers as a classic author, and academic work on Lovecraft is becoming common. Why is this and where is modern mythos fiction going? How are we to judge the quality of Lovecraft’s own work and his followers? What are we to make of Lovecraft’s racism in a more tolerant age? Why do the works of the atheist Lovecraft inspire religious ideas? Discussing these and other questions the audience might throw at them is a panel featuring Rhys Hughes, Mark Howard Jones, Gwilym Games and others.

2.00 - The Technicolor out of the Screen

There have been rather a lot of Lovecraft-inspired films and adaptations of Lovecraft’s stories. Many of them are hideous abominations which test the sanity of any who might see them. In this mind-blasting survey Gwilym Games and author John Llewellyn Probert, will be reanimating some highlights of Lovecraftian cinema before your very EYES in a devastating montage of film clips and commentary. Watch if you dare!

2.50 Break

3.00 The Call of Cthulhu (Film)

Amongst other elements of tentacular terror there will be a rare chance to watch this silent classic! Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKb0_rfZEsU

3.50 The END

Adjourn to The No Sign Wine Bar for drinks after the event, where there will be a further chance to talk to authors.

The King In Yellow

I'd read a lot of Twitter and Facebook posts praising True Detective to the heavens, so I recorded the first episode when it made its UK debut last weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's a slow-burner, and inevitably there's a lot of scene-setting, but there was a real sense of menace and impending doom all the way through, so it didn't really surprise me to read this article this morning, about the links between the series and Robert W Chambers' classic 1895 collection of short stories. It's a long time since I read it, but I'll have to get hold of a copy - interesting to see that new electronic versions have already been rushed out in response to the publicity through the show.

I'm going to be interested to see how far down the Lovecraftian route True Detective goes - my guess is that it'll steer clear of the explicitly supernatural, and instead explore the 'cosmic horror' that HPL was so fond of - the Matthew McConaughey character already has the look and sound of one of his protagonists, a man who'd probably prefer not to piece together the sum of his knowledge.

Cthulhu Cymraeg

An intriguing new anthology is due from Cardiff-based publisher SD Publications in late autumn.

Cthulhu Cymraeg; Lovecraftian Tales From Wales is a collection of stories written in the style of H P Lovecraft - the American godfather of modern horror - by writers either born, living or working in Wales.

Edited by Welsh author Mark Howard Jones and publisher Steve Upham, both lifelong Lovecraft fans, the anthology intends to bring the Lovecraftian tale 'back home' to Wales.

"Lovecraft was hugely influenced by Caerleon-born author Arthur Machen," explained Mark. "Without Machen, Lovecraft's work would have been very different. He would probably have been far more influenced by Lord Dunsany or Algernon Blackwood. In short, I believe his writing would have been a lot less satisfying and have had a lot less impact than it has had."

"Given that such a large part of Lovecraft's literary DNA came from this part of the world, I've always been surprised by the fact that so few Welsh authors had responded directly to his work. Hopefully this anthology will go some way to correcting that."

Featuring the writing of Rhys Hughes, John Llewellyn Probert, Bob Lock, Brian Willis and many others, Cthulhu Cymraeg will be available in print and electronic formats through Amazon in late October.

More reasons to buy Morrison

Interesting review of Alan Morrison's Captive Dragons / The Shadow Thorns, over at Stride. It sounds like another in a growing list of fine collections from Waterloo Press - political engagement and an unflinching take on real life issues are fast becoming their hallmark, although never at the expense of musicality or readability. I can't help also being delighted that the book contains a poem referencing one of HP Lovecraft's stories - high time, too.