MetaFilter posts tagged with lovecraft

The Lurking Fear

Artw — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:13:44 -0800

Lovecraft 101: Get To Know The Master of Scifi-Horror. For more detailed insights into each of Lovecraft's tales in publication order you might want to follow the H.P.Lovecraft Literary Podcast. For another story-by-story guide to Lovecraft you might want to check out Kenneth Hite's Tour De Lovecraft (also available in expanded form as a book). China Mieville on Lovecraft and racism and a lecture at Treadwells by Archaeologist James Holloway which delves deep into Lovecraft and identity. The making of the Call of Cthulhu RPG. The making of Cthulhu (Hipsters! Ego! Madness!). Happy Halloween with H.P. Lovecraft!

For the Love of Craft

kurumi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:53:59 -0800

For your next shoggoth-hunting trip to Antarctica (or Halloween party), you can arm yourself with authentic-looking props by visiting Propnomicon: contemporary ephemera, pages from the Necronomicon, monster-repelling (or -attracting) amulets, and so on. If your expedition is a bust, bring back a homemade thing in a bottle, or in a pinch, make your own tentacle. Artists offer some props for sale, but there's also a healthy variety of do-it-yourself tutorials, and links to other Lovecraftian, steampunk, and LARP sites. Related, previously: BugMaker

The Necronomicon Files

Artw — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:15:03 -0800

"Necronomicons: The Scariest Book in the World" - A talk given by Daniel Harms, author of the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, on the history of the Necronomicon(s) - taking in Abdul Alhazred, John Dee, assorted aquaintences of HP Lovecraft, some rather dodgy sounding occultists from the 70s and a man known only as Simon. Previously.

Klaatu. . .verada. . .

EarBucket — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:42:02 -0800

It's Friday! Enjoy Necronomicon, a fun little flash-based card game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

The Compleat Musical Lovecraft

absalom — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:01:30 -0800

Innsmouth: The Musical. Carol of the Old Ones. Shoggoth, Shoggoth, Shoggoth. If I Were A Deep One. I Saw My Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth. Away In A Madhouse. Freddy the Red Brained Mi-Go. I'm Dreaming of a Dead City. Awake Ye Scary Great Old Ones. The Cultist Song. Byakhee, Byakhee. Bonus Feature: Shoggoth on the Roof - A Play Performed with puppets.

Now available in mint flavor!

clockworkjoe — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:17:08 -0800

Suffering from a bad case of cosmic dread? Have you voyaged too far into the midst of the black seas of infinity? Concerned about invisible abominations stalking you in the dead of night? Fortunately, there's help. (SLYT).

Lurker at the Threshold

Artw — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:49:01 -0800

Today sees the 100th birthday of August Derleth, the man who founded Arkham House and saved the works of HP Lovecraft from falling out of print. Much of the Cthulhu Mythos cosmology we know today was actually the invention of Derleth, such as the distinction between Elder Gods and Outer Gods, and aligning the various Mythos deities along elemental grounds - something not entirely without controversy in Lovecraftian circles, as were Derleth's posthumous collaborations and Arkham's ownership of Lovecraft's work. Regardless opinions on his work, his impact is indisputable, and his home state of Wisconsin has honoured him by making Febuary 24th August Derleth Day.

Where in the world is H.P. Lovecraft?

Caduceus — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:28:18 -0800

Lovecraft is Missing. If you like reading Lovecraft, you might enjoy this comic about his unexplained absence, as well. Make sure to check out the Lovecraft related links on the left.

Fantastic art by John Jude Palencar

mediareport — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:04:24 -0800

Just some cool dark fantasy art by John Jude Palencar, including covers for Lovecraft, de Lint, Tolkien and other popular books.

A Terrifying Narrative Experience

Caduceus — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:41:32 -0800

Night of the Cephalopods Shoot eldritch floating squid monsters with a shotgun as a horrified narrator describes your every move. Requires download, and is Windows only, I'm afraid. via

Mad artist in ancient sinister house draws things. What were his models? Glimpse.

Artw — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:10:13 -0800

"Mirage in time—image of long-vanish’d pre-human city." - "Ancient and unknown ruins—strange and immortal bird who SPEAKS in a language horrifying and revelatory to the explorers." - "A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert. Face gone—no man hath seen it." - Images based on the commonplace book of HP Lovecraft. "As dinosaurs were once surpassed by mammals, so will man-mammal be surpassed by insect or bird—fall of man before the new race." - "The Italians call Fear La figlia della Morte—the daughter of Death." - "Death lights dancing over a salt marsh." - "Daemons, when desiring an human form for evil purposes, take to themselves the bodies of hanged men." (2) - Talking rock of Africa—immemorially ancient oracle in desolate jungle ruins that speaks with a voice out of the aeons". - "Azathoth, hideous name." - "Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building." - (2, 3) - "Life and Death Death--its desolation and horror--bleak spaces-sea bottom-dead cities. But Life-the greater horror/Vast unheard-of reptiles and levia-thans-hideous beasts of prehistoric jungle-rank slimy vegetation-evil in-stincts of primal man--Life is more horrible than death." - "An sint unquam daemones incubi et succubae, et an ex tali congressu proles nasci queat?" - "A very ancient tomb in the deep woods near where a 17th century Virginia manor-house used to be. The undecayed, bloated thing found within." - "A monstrous derelict—found and boarded by a castaway or shipwreck survivor." - "Monsters born living—burrow underground and multiply, forming race of unsuspected daemons."

..and when Pickman suddenly unveiled a huge canvas on the side away from the light I could not for my life keep back a loud scream

Artw — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:35:37 -0800

Tentacles and Cosmic SF - Ann and Jeff VanderMeer on the art of Lovecraft. - More of the book - No, I don't know what's become of Pickman, and I don't like to guess.

"He makes Gozer look like little Mary Sunshine."

JHarris — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:29:57 -0800

Back in the 80s DiC produced a cartoon, aired in syndication and on ABC Saturday Mornings, called "The Real Ghostbusters." Based on the popular action-comedy movie, it more-or-less continued the adventures of Ray, Egon, Winston and ~~Garfield~~ Peter through seven seasons of supernatural shenanigans. It could have been a mere cash-in, but there was something more to it. It aspired to realism, at least as much as possible. It was story-edited by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5. (He also worked on He-Man and Murder She Wrote!)
This may explain the second season episode, written by Michael Reaves and rife with Lovecraft references, in which the Ghostbusters face down the Cthulhu cult. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

The master of black and white

aldurtregi — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:44:00 -0800

An introduction to the works of Alberto Breccia, 'often referred to as "The master of black and white."' A brilliant comic artist little known in the english-speaking world, his works have mostly been published in italian, french and spanish. In the '70s he and writer Norberto Buscaglia adapted nine H.P. Lovecraft stories, available here in ebook form (in spanish, but the art speaks for itself).

Hairbeast from the watery deeps

BlackLeotardFront — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:33:30 -0800

The partially decomposed sea monster has 4 paws, a tail, and long fur. Is that you, Dagon?
Other famous sea-monster bodies (known as "globsters") include
The St. Augustine Monster ^
The New Zealand globster
Several more recent blobs
And here's how to tell a blob from a sea monster

Management cannot guarantee the sanity of the listener.

Pope Guilty — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:51:17 -0800

You desire to listen to "The Shadow Out of Time". You may also desire to listen to adaptations of The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour Out of Space. Possibly you desire to listen to Neil Gaiman's Lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes pastiche A Study in Emerald, the text of which is available in a fetchingly formatted PDF. Or maybe it's all academic, and you'd rather just listen to some lectures about Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

Y'ha N'thlei is deeper than they know.

JHarris — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:08:59 -0800

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fish-Men. Brought to you by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

Gelatinous red semi-immensity

BlackLeotardFront — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:06:01 -0800

I think we all know what this "squoctopus" thing should be named. After vigintillions of years baby Cthulhu is loose again, and ravening for delight.

Weird Tales: The Strange Life of HP Lovecraft

Kattullus — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:33:02 -0800

Weird Tales: The Strange Life of HP Lovecraft is a 45-minute BBC radio documentary: "Geoff Ward examines the strange life and terrifying world of the man hailed as America's greatest horror writer since Poe. During his life, Lovecraft's work was confined to lurid pulp magazines and he died in penury in 1937. Today, however, his writings are considered modern classics and published in prestigious editions. How did such a weird, wild and ungodly writer get canonised? Among the writers considering his legacy are Neil Gaiman, ST Joshi, Kelly Link, Peter Straub and China Mieville." ST Joshi, a biographer of Lovecraft, has an essay up on The Scriptorium. Wikisource has an extensive collection of his writings, including not only his most famous novels and short stories, but also essays, letters, poetry and legal documents. He is buried in the city of his birth, Providence, Rhode Island, where he does eternal lie, even though someone made an unsuccessful attempt to exhume him in 1997.

Nightmare In A Jar

jonson — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:43:08 -0800

Alex cf is a young British artist, fresh off of a series of extremely creepy visualizations of Alice in Wonderland characters. His current project is creating amazing looking HP Lovecraft inspired nightmares in specimen jars, which he is more than happy to build on commission.

The Eldritch Dark: The Sanctum of Clark Ashton Smith

mediareport — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:05:37 -0800

The Eldritch Dark. No, not about Mr. Lovecraft, but a sprawling site dedicated to Clark Ashton Smith, a friend and frequent correspondent. Along with Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, Smith is an early contributor to Weird Tales whose stories stand the test of time (his work directly inspired Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison). He thought of himself primarily as a poet.

Nosh-Sothoth

sourwookie — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:20:32 -0800

I understand The Elder Ones are quite tasty on saltines with a dash of Tabasco.

Welcome to the world of ancient, eldritch creatures that will haunt your nightmares!

Kattullus — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 16:51:45 -0800

Welcome to the world of giant Cambrian predators! The anomalocaris is one of the ancient creatures found fossilized in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, a particularly rich trove of fossils from the Cambrian period (543 to 490 million years ago), in which one finds not only the hard parts of animals, but also the soft, squishy bits. Some of the finds were so weird, that they got names like hallucigenia and odontogriphus ("toothed riddle"). Other sites for finding fossils of equal quality from that era are Chengjiang in China and the House Range in Utah.

De Animator

blackfly — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:34:04 -0800

It is uncommon to fire all six shots of a revolver with great suddenness when one would probably be sufficient. (fearsome flash friday fun). Battle zombies and contemplate he whose name cannot be spoken. No, not him.

Hello caller, you're on with Cthulu

lilbrudder — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 23:06:21 -0800

Cthulu hosts a dial in show