Halloween Countdown, Day 15

[eldritchhobbit]

It's official! For the Summer 2015 semester, I'll be offering a new online and interactive course for degree-seeking graduate students and interested auditors alike via Mythgard Institute: "'Literary Copernicus': The Cosmic Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft." I'm most excited!

Speaking of Lovecraft...

"Droga5 art director Kevin Weir has lots of cool work in his portfolio, like his Flux Machine, a Tumblr in which he turns old photographs into nightmares thanks to some carefully crafted animation—sometimes crazy, sometimes subtle, always disturbing."
- "Old black and white photos come alive in disturbing ghostly GIFs" (Thanks to witchcat07!) This is definitely worth a look, especially during the Halloween season.

Check out this Lovecraftian example of Weir's art:



While I'm at it, here are two Lovecraftian book recommendations:
* The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft by Leslie S. Klinger (2014). This just came out on October 1st, and let me tell you, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's gone to the top of my "to read next" stack.
* Reanimators by Pete Rawlik (2013). This is the ultimate Lovecraftian mash-up. Great fun. Here's my review.


"I have looked upon all that the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and the flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me. But I do not think my life will be long. As my uncle went, as poor Johansen went, so I shall go. I know too much, and the cult still lives."
- H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926)

Comments

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

:-)

Those manipulated gifs that turn old photos into creepypasta are fun.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Aren't those gifs fun? I'm glad you liked them, too. :)

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

It sounds like an interesting course. I find Lovecraft interesting as, in a sense, a mythopoeic writer, but one whose myths grow out of early twentieth century science rather than Christian theology or older folklore. It might be fruitful to compare his approach with those of E. E. Smith (in the Lensman series) and Olaf Stapledon (in Star Maker). All three writers weren't merely reciting "in a galaxy far, far away" and then telling the same old stories; they were trying to present something compatible with new understandings of the cosmos—though in Smith's case the really strange stuff was kept in the background.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

I find Lovecraft interesting as, in a sense, a mythopoeic writer, but one whose myths grow out of early twentieth century science rather than Christian theology or older folklore.

Yes! I agree 100%. This follows along some of the lines of our discussion at A Long Expected Party, in fact.

Great point re: comparing E.E. Smith and Olaf Stapledon and how they were also "trying to present something compatible with new understandings of the cosmos." Thanks for the terrific ideas!

[witchcat07.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. Glad you liked it. :)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yay! I loved it. I'm following that Tumblr now!

Happy (slightly early) birthday!!!!

[witchcat07.livejournal.com]

Thank'ee!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I love the manipulations. They may make me start following Tumblr again.

And congrats on the teaching course. All about Lovecraft—and can it not be both interesting and fun!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Aren't those manips fun?!?

And thank you! :D

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks for pointing out that new Annotated Lovecraft! I have the Penguin editions from several years ago with Joshi's annotations, but it would be nice to get another viewpoint.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! I think it will complement Joshi's work really well: from the (albeit limited) comparisons I've made thus far between my own books, Joshi tends to come down on the side of commentary whereas Klinger tends to come down on the side of context, so the two really do fit nicely together. It's also lovely to have the original pulp covers and illustrations and such.