Day camp for your twisted inner child

July 26, 2010 8:19 AM

Vacation Necronomicon School Join us as we explore the writing of H. P. Lovecraft and work inspired by the mythos he created. We will post one assignment per day for 13 unholy days, beginning 26 July 2010.
posted by fearfulsymmetry (32 comments total)

Love it, but terrible timing for me, as I'll be away camping for part of this. Would gladly bring HPL along (campfire reading!) and do the work in the woods, but doesn't work with the daily assignment regime. Very sad. :(

May do a portion of them, though. Thanks, fearfulsymmetry.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:39 AM on July 26, 2010

Perfect timing for me! Right now I find myself in need of discrete pushes like this right now to keep writing, and HPL's usually short enough to read during lunch, and I know it enough to skim the longer ones.

(Also, in case anyone was wondering, because I was, the website's very work-safe, down to its professional white background.)
posted by cobaltnine at 8:57 AM on July 26, 2010

When I first glanced at the post, I thought it said Vatican Necronomicon School. A very different animal, I think.
posted by orrnyereg at 9:00 AM on July 26, 2010 [6 favorites]

Aw, dang. Looks like there's no central location for the assignments. Without the ability to exchange them with other students, there's little that would actually compel me to complete them.
posted by Greg Nog at 9:01 AM on July 26, 2010

I assumed you just post your 300-word assignment to the comments, no?
posted by Mister_A at 9:01 AM on July 26, 2010

Yup I was right.
posted by Mister_A at 9:04 AM on July 26, 2010

The corpse flower aside was gross. A nice, appropriate catch by the headmistress...but still gross:

Friday, the female flowers inside Lois’s chamber (the swollen portion at the bottom of the spathe) became receptive. When this happens, the big spadix starts to heat up to volatize the stinky pheromone (scent) and send it far and wide.

/shudder
posted by ServSci at 9:10 AM on July 26, 2010

Cool! I'll probably do a few of these.
posted by sveskemus at 9:10 AM on July 26, 2010

You're Woody the Shuddering Vast Ancient Shrieking Woodpecker!
posted by Babblesort at 9:21 AM on July 26, 2010

Friday, the female flowers inside Lois’s chamber (the swollen portion at the bottom of the spathe) became receptive. When this happens, the big spadix starts to heat up to volatize the stinky pheromone (scent) and send it far and wide.

That whole article is simultaneously creepy and somehow NSFW even though it's just about a flower.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:23 AM on July 26, 2010

When I first glanced at the post, I thought it said Vatican Necronomicon School. A very different animal, I think.

I did the exact same thing.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:23 AM on July 26, 2010

We have a comments field here, and 30 days to use it in... just sayin'.
posted by Artw at 9:34 AM on July 26, 2010

Can one grade the comments/assignments?

B- NEEDS MORE RUGOSITY.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:01 AM on July 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

A+ GOLD STARS-ARE-RIGHT.
posted by Artw at 10:19 AM on July 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

C- YOUR CASUAL RACISM IS A LITTLE TOO CASUAL
posted by Mister_A at 10:24 AM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought it said Vatican Necronomicon School.

Isn't that redundant?
posted by benzenedream at 10:27 AM on July 26, 2010

D- EXCELLENT WORK FOR DECADENT BRANCH OF FAMILY
posted by gurple at 10:35 AM on July 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

One may vacation with the Necronomicon, but one can never vacation from the Necronomicon.
posted by malocchio at 1:38 PM on July 26, 2010

As an Italian Catholic growing up in small-town upstate New York, I was mystified by the ubiquitous signs for "Vacation Bible School" on rural church marquees. What kind of vacation could you have at bible school?
posted by mr vino at 6:48 PM on July 26, 2010

This now added:

Latecomers and procrastinators are welcome at Vacation Necronomicon School, which will accept late enrollment through 31 July 2010.

Sweet!
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 7:39 PM on July 26, 2010

A+ THOUGH THE MERCIFUL LIGHTNING HAS OBLITERATED YOUR WORK, I OFTEN DREAM OF IT AND WAKE UP SCREAMING
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 7:14 AM on July 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

F - clearly plagarised from documents several million years old recently unearthed in Australia. Even the handwriting is the same!
posted by Artw at 7:22 AM on July 27, 2010

which may present difficulty to some readers, as these pages feature white text on a black background. These pages also wrap text to the full width of your browser, which may be troublesome for those reading on larger monitors.

Contemplating people too stupid to resize their damn browsers just cost me some sanity points.
posted by Zed at 9:55 AM on July 27, 2010

F-minus! F'tagn, that's harsh.
posted by Mister_A at 10:18 AM on July 27, 2010

That's like... you're not even a shoggoth, you're a proto shoggoth. You're like a dropping from of Ubbo-Sathla.
posted by Artw at 10:29 AM on July 27, 2010

Shoggoths aren't so bad. I wrote a retelling of The Mountains of Madness from the point of view of a shoggoth, in which they were the good guys. Sort of.

But, yeah, I'm cranky for no good reason. I hereby timeout myself from comments on others' browser use... at least until the stars are right.
posted by Zed at 10:45 AM on July 27, 2010

F - Cthulhu Fhailgn.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 10:58 AM on July 27, 2010

Shoggoths aren't so bad. I wrote a retelling of The Mountains of Madness from the point of view of a shoggoth, in which they were the good guys. Sort of

You want madness? I wrote a story where a shoggoth became a hit recording artist thanks to a bunch of frat boys. It's easy to abuse them in fiction, since shoggoths are, well, so flexible.
posted by cobaltnine at 11:04 AM on July 27, 2010

Mr. Shiny
posted by Artw at 11:09 AM on July 27, 2010

D- EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY USED IN DIAGRAMS
posted by benzenedream at 1:35 PM on July 27, 2010

OK, I'm signed up. Who else?
posted by infinitywaltz at 4:19 PM on July 27, 2010

I've been keeping up with it pretty well, except I didn't do day 2 and I'm behind on my big project. Also, 200 words is too limiting to discuss anything - I can react, but that limit cuts down on examples, etc, so I haven't been limiting my writing. But it's been good to have something ask me to write daily.
posted by cobaltnine at 7:08 AM on August 4, 2010