Cosmic Laughter

Many people allege cosmicism is bleak; however, this is to ignore the Prophet Lovecraft’s dictum that the universe is comedy. In glimpse of this, yesterday I found a Yog-Sothothic joke roiling in my mind; whether this shift in my mental state is a sign I am overcoming the slight foulness I acquired from Tenebrae or …

Squamous Decay

Cold winds howl around me! A claw tears at the very fabric! Foulness spreads! The black abyss gapes ever closer! By which of course I mean that we are having our decking replaced, so there is a craftsperson prying up rotten boards and carrying them through the house to their van with the resultant wind-tunnel …

Whispering the Darkness

As perspicacious readers might have inferred despite my reticence in openly discussing the matter, I am not unfond of Lovecraft's work and cosmic dread in general. So, I was most joyous to discover Matt Hundley's film-length adaptation of The Whisperer in Darkness; while it is not perfect, it inclines strongly toward my preferred approach in …

Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror, ed. Lynne Jamneck

Jamneck applies a broad rather than narrow criteria to both female voice and Lovecraftian horror, resulting in a diverse range of stories. This anthology contains twenty short stories and novelettes that portray a female-perspective on an incomprehensible universe. “Shadows of the Evening” by Joyce Carol Oates. Escaping the tedium of life as her ageing aunt's …

Not So Deep One

With worrying footage of a fisherman fleeing from a glowing-eyed creature off the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, some people are asking whether it is in fact a seal playing in the wash. Those few familiar with the exegesis of Leman know there is a more troubling question: if Y'ha N'thlei (and hence all …

Season of the Cultist

Haiku are closely associated with Zen, a philosophy which suggests human life has no intrinsic elevated value and reality is not as most people perceive it. Although often rather less bleak in expression, this view of existence will be immediately recognizable to Lovecraft fans as very similar to cosmicism. So, as I like both haiku …

Now You See It

The official story is that Matthew Heawood is missing. However, if you tune your radio just right, in the crackling spaces you might hear his voice calling out to return. And return he might, for Pleasant Green has shifted between realities before. I rather enjoyed Julian Simpson's adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth for BBC …

Advent Ghosts: Uncountable Sorrow

A joyous Yule or other festival of choice to everyone. As in previous years, I am participating in Loren Eaton’s Advent Ghosts 100-word scary story project. This year, a story inspired by a Wiltshire legend: Uncountable Sorrow Twelve stones. It was silly; a story made up by locals to get outsiders to buy drinks. But …

Outsiders Within Release

Outsiders Within, containing twelve tales of the dark gulf behind our pretence of a rational universe, is now available in ebook and paperback from major retailers. Summon forth your copy today. We fear discovery when we should fear what there is to discover. Lovecraft and his successors show a world where human civilisation is only …

Dreaming of the Red King

One of the many contested perspectives on Lovecraft's Yog-Sothothery is the idea that Azathoth currently sleeps and the world will end when he wakes. Lovecraft's own works do not state this, so where might it come from? Perhaps our own tendency to live in a dream of purpose rather than a reality of explicit facts. …