Letters Of H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth: paperback

Essential Solitude: The Letters Of H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, 1926-1931 (2 vols.) is about to hit paperback, according to a Hippocampus FB notification.

$50 for both. Although Americans using Amazon.com can currently snag a nice pre-order, for $40.41 the pair with free shipping. The books are also listed on Amazon UK at £41 ($63), so those of us in the UK get a better deal ordering direct from Hippocampus. Pricey, but a lot more affordable than the $750 Amazon U.S. is asking for the hardbacks!

Lovecraft on Staten Island

New topographical article tracing one of Lovecraft’s 1924 excursions, “Chasing Lovecraft on Staten Island”.

Above: the scary-looking Staten Island steam train, 1925. Possibly the “wheezy accommodation train” Lovecraft used.

Ulthar kittee patrol

World map of all cats known to be resident in libraries, and the Library Journal article that led me to it.

Monstrous Invisible

New stage play, Stephen Near’s Monstrous Invisible, which…

“tells the relatively unknown story of [H.P. Lovecraft's] brief courtship, marriage and subsequent divorce to a woman named Sonia Greene.”

23rd-25th May 2013 at Theatre Aquarius in Canada.

Shadow forests

Cool lamp that casts spooky shadows…

Lovecraft portraits

Found online, a couple of photographs of Lovecraft that I don’t remember seeing before…

1. Lovecraft in a sunny nook at the side of the Van Wickle Gates (built 1901) at Brown University…

2. Probably 1922 on the cliffs at Magnolia, specifically the rocks above Rafe’s Chasm…

Abstract art during Lovecraft’s life

Neat timeline by Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr. of the movements in modernist abstract art during Lovecraft’s lifetime. The influence of the archaic primitive Greek sculptures collected by Ruskin might be added to the influences alongside “Negro Sculpture”.

The Young Man of Providence (BBC, 1983)

The Young Man of Providence is a 43-minute BBC Radio dramatised documentary on Lovecraft, dug up from Halloween 1983 and online as an mp3. It’s a mix of narrated documentary and his letters, with occasional fragments from the stories read by old-school actors and mixed with excellent FX. The best Lovecraft documentary, I’d say, although not perfect. I wonder if it might be worked up into an unofficial fan-film documentary? It could be carefully expanded into a feature-length movie by inserting new narration-free sections (contemplative Ken Burns-style pans across archival materials / evocative landscapes / old haunts / Jarman-esque dream-montages) to slacken the galloping pace that the format of a 40-minute radio programme necessarily enforced on the producers.

Above: Lovecraft at 10 Barnes St. (1926-1933) by Cortney Skinner.

Digital Cthulhu does your bidding…

Need Cthulhu to do your bidding? No need to mess around with The Neconomicon and star-charts. The excellent Cthulhu Rising 3D model is currently 40% off, at $20.97. It’s a 3D digital model that you can pose and light and render (i.e. make a picture of) using the free DAZ Studio 3D software. Images made with him are royalty-free.

There’s also a range of other Lovecraftian monsters available, and even a 3D Lovecraft himself.

Lovecraftian places that really exist: even more…

More Lovecraftian places that really exist…

Abandoned entrance, Sweden.

One-mile long abandoned tunnel under College Hill, Providence, New England.

Cheve Cave, Mexico.

The Windsor Ruins, Mississippi.

Ruins from the Old Kingdom (5000 years ago), North Faiyum Desert, Egypt.

Underwater excavation of Cleopatra’s ancient temple, off the coast of Egypt.

Presidential Library, Arkansas.

Pyramid in St. Anne’s Churchyard, Limehouse, London.

Tower at Laguna Beach.