Happy Deathday to HP Lovecraft

What better soundtrack for the day the misanthrope died than a playlist of all the songs featured in Harlem Smoke, a novel that blends Lovecraft and music? The answer is potentially a great many things: however James Champagne's choices for songs to feature do provide a pleasing change from the three threads of dark ambient, …

Hot Chocolate Macro

If one pleasure is good, then it seems logical two pleasures are better; however, that way might lead to the most lively awfulness. I rather enjoy Yog-Sothothery, computer gaming, and interesting recipes, so when I came across the Necro-Nom-Icon, a game that mixes Lovecraft and cooking, I felt an unspeakable draw. And once I began, …

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 …

Within Outsiders Within

One of my favourite parts of compiling an anthology is discovering how various authors approach the prompt or theme. Outsiders Within was a double joy because the theme was also Lovecraftian. However, as anyone reviewing submissions will admit the the inability of the human mind to correlate matters is not always a mercy. Finally, I …

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. …

Giant Ball of Fun?

Could one keep a shoggoth as a pet? The authorities in their blindness make no reference even to their existence, so there is certainly no legal barrier. But is there a practical one? The answer depends on which sort of shoggoth one speaks of. Whilst the most well-known shoggoths are those described in Lovecraft’s At …

No Masks Here

Yesterday I came across an untitled poem by Upashna that refused to quite let go. Dusk pours her dregs of light on the weary bones draped in a corrugated yellow skin threading the silk suture A melange of reverberations in the air- a distinct chirp of hatchlings calling it’s dame at prey, the yellow tailed …

Upon Boxes

Inspired by a conversation with my wife, I've added a "First in Series" category for reviews. While I feel it's a useful addition, it's rather self-explanatory and the time spent adding existing reviews didn't generate any engaging stories. So, here's a somewhat creepy short film to add some interest to the post: Stucco (Janina Gavankar, …