Creatures of the Caves and Caverns...

My new Mysterious Universe article is on the strange subject of monsters not in the woods, the lakes, the mountains, or the jungles...but the ones that may exist deep below us.

It starts like this...

"Over the years, I have collected a number of very weird stories on one particular subject that doesn’t necessarily always get the coverage it deserves – regardless of whether the subject actually has any merit to it or not! It’s the issue of strange, humanoid creatures living deep below the UK, whether in caverns, caves, huge tunnels, and/or old and disused mines. And we’re talking about the modern era: the 20th and 21st centuries.

"Yeah, I know: it sounds like something straight out of H.P. Lovecraft. And, perhaps, that’s all it is. The fact is, however, there are more than a few stories out there that suggest – just maybe – there is something to the controversy. And I stress the maybe!"

Positively Lovecraftian!

My latest Lair of the Beasts article at Mania.com, which begins like this...

"Imagine, if you dare, a real-life equivalent of H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous and legendary creation: the great Cthulhu. In the dark and disturbing pages of The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft gave a hideous description of the ominous nightmare.

"Cthulhu was, said Lovecraft, “A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.”

 

Could there be a real-life equivalent? Maybe...

 

 

Fort, Fiction, Fact

Andrew May has a new post up at his Forteana Blog which begins...

"At the end of February, Nick Redfern wrote a blog post about The Lurker at the Threshold – a novel that is purportedly by 'H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth', although it’s generally considered to be almost pure Derleth, worked up from just a brief fragment by Lovecraft that was discovered after his death. Like Agatha Christie’s N or M, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, The Lurker at the Threshold is a book I’d had sitting unread on the shelf for years. I was finally prompted to read it by Nick’s very positive words about it... and particularly because he mentioned that it 'cites the work and books of Charles Fort.'"

And, in the same way that my article focused on matters of a fact vs. fiction nature when it came to Derleth, so Andrew has done likewise with Fort...

August Derleth: Fact or Fiction?

There's another new post from me up at Mysterious Universe, which deals with a controversial character and an equally controversial book. It starts like this...

"We all have our favorite books that we can (and do!) read over and over again. I can certainly name several: Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur; Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles; and Keith Waterhouse’s Billy Liar.

"And then there’s The Lurker at the Threshold, a big favorite of mine, which was widely credited to acclaimed horror writers H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth. First published in the 1940s by Carroll & Graf, the book was, in reality, almost solely the work of Derleth, with barely a couple of thousand (if even that) of its approximately 50,000 words having been contributed by Lovecraft.



"The Lurker at the Threshold is a most intriguing book, to say the least. Although presented to the reader strictly as an entertaining work of fiction, it deals with certain issues that are central to many topics that crop up in the real world of Forteana, and with which I have crossed paths, time and again, during the course of my studies and writings of the paranormal kind."

And here's the rest of the post on this very curious saga...

A Haunted Mind

A couple of days ago, I received in the mail a copy of Dr. Bob Curran's new book: A Haunted Mind, which is a study of the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft - with most of the book devoted to addressing the very intriguing theory that much of the man's fictional work was possibly based on his secret knowledge of all-too-real things monstrous, malignant, ancient and other-worldly.

I'm about 50-pages into the book and it's excellent reading. If you're already a fan of Lovecraft's work, are intrigued by the possibility that there might be actual truths behind the fiction, or are new to the man and his writings, Bob's book is one I definitely recommend!

I'll be doing a full review of A Haunted Mind right here once I have finished reading it.

PS: On a very refreshing note, Bob does not present Lovecraft as some untouchable god-like writer who is to be revered and praised on bended knee at all times. No. Instead, Bob shows the man as he was: deeply weird, massively flawed, odd, eccentric, racist, asexual, not at all likable, socially-challenged, and someone with an overwhelming and ridiculous sense (an incorrect sense, of course) of his own superiority and importance over others. Yes, Lovecraft was a tremendously gifted writer. But as a man? Well, put it this way: be content to remember him as a great writer and nothing else...

Nick's Pick of the Day 4

If you're into the life, work and fantastic tales of H.P. Lovecraft, you definitely won't want to miss this, which hits the shelves next month: A Haunted Mind: Inside the Dark, Twisted World of H.P. Lovecraft by Dr. Bob Curran.

New Page Books say of their forthcoming release:

"Arguably no American writer has had more of an impact on the modern horror scene than Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the man who created the Cthulhu Mythos, with its strange gods, eerie places, and forbidden books. But what sort of a man was Lovecraft, how did he create such a terrible universe, and where did his inspiration come from? Was it, as some have argued, based on esoteric knowledge forgotten or even denied to all sane people? In A Haunted Mind, Dr. Bob Curran explores what motivated Lovecraft—his personal life is just as strange as some of his creations—and drove him to create his terrible cosmos. Using both folklore and history, Dr Curran investigates a wide variety of Lovecraftian mysteries. A word of warning: you may never look at Lovecraft—or the world—in exactly the same way again!"

Will I be reading and reviewing it? Of course I will!

A Haunted Mind and H.P. Lovecraft

This is a book I'm most definitely looking forward to reading, Dr. Bob Curran's A Haunted Mind: Inside the Dark, Twisted World of H.P. Lovecraft, which will be published by New Page Books in August.

If you are into the work of Lovecraft, but want to learn more (in fact, much more!) about the man himself, this is not a book to miss.

Here's what New Page Books have to say about Dr. Bob Curran and his forthcoming A Haunted Mind:

"Arguably no American writer has had more of an impact on the modern horror scene than Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the man who created the Cthulhu Mythos, with its strange gods, eerie places, and forbidden books. But what sort of a man was Lovecraft, how did he create such a terrible universe, and where did his inspiration come from? Was it, as some have argued, based on esoteric knowledge forgotten or even denied to all sane people?

"In A Haunted Mind, Dr. Bob Curran explores what motivated Lovecraft—his personal life is just as strange as some of his creations—and drove him to create his terrible cosmos. Using both folklore and history, Dr Curran investigates a wide variety of Lovecraftian mysteries. A word of warning: you may never look at Lovecraft—or the world—in exactly the same way again!

"Dr. Bob Curran has travelled throughout the world, fascinated by the myths and stories that he has found. He has written a number of books, including Vampires; Lost Lands, Forgotten Realms; Zombies; and Werewolves, all for New Page Books. He lives in Northern Ireland with his wife and family.

"Illustrator Ian Daniels, who has illustrated book covers for science fiction luminaries Marion Zimmer Bradley, Orson Scott Card and Poul Anderson, has illustrated all of the books written by Dr. Curran."