HPLHS News & Events Autumn 2018

Live Events!

From time to time the HPLHS hosts live events at its global headquarters in Glendale, California. Click THIS LINK or the image above to see the current list of upcoming events.

Happy Solstice!

• December 21, 2018

In the northern hemisphere, tonight is the longest, darkest night of the year. Wishing you and yours peace and joy this season. For all our friends in the southern hemisphere, welcome to summer!

Featured Member

• December 19, 2018

Our Member of the Month for December 2018 is Charleen Briggs of Parker, Colorado.

Charleen says: "I am super excited to have been randomly chosen for the honor of December member of the month! I never win things like this! The Others have gibbered in my general direction, and I am cautiously thrilled!

A little bit about me, besides being completely unlucky in contests and drawings: I enjoy obnoxiously singing Innsmouth sea shanties and solstice carols all year long while trying to keep my cats from summoning elder things while I’m away...above is a photo of one of the evil little demon-summoners, because they are much more photogenic than me. (My Innsmouth look is beginning to show...)"

Thank you, Larry DiTillio

• November 20, 2018

Larry DiTillio, one of the original authors of the celebrated Call of Cthulhu™ campaign Masks of Nyarlathotep, recently donated his collection of CoC materials to the HPLHS library. We are grateful not only for that gift, but for Larry’s extraordinary contribution to gaming which is Masks, and we thought it would be fitting to send him a thank-you card from the whole CoC gaming community. If you’ve enjoyed Masks and would like to participate, please send us a scan or photo of your handwritten note offering your thoughts. We’ll roll them into a super-sized thank you card for Larry and his family. Submissions are due by Monday, Nov. 26. Please send them to keeper@cthulhulives.org

Solstice Sale 2018

• November 23, 2018

As we recover from the indulgence of Thanksgiving, it's time to kick off the holiday season! We're offering a 20% discount across the board in the online store!

Featured Member

• November 16, 2018

Our Member of the Month for November 2018 is Stuart Welbourn of Derbyshire, England.

Stuart says: "I first came across the name Lovecraft as a teenager in the 1980s when I watched Stuart Gordon's From Beyond followed closely by Re-animator (the order I watched them in, not release). As a film fan, I then always looked out for more Lovecraft releases, but only actually read a few of his tales back then. I thoroughly enjoyed what I did read & clearly they left a lasting impression.

Fast forward to 2014 & as a bit of a midlife crisis, I enrolled on a Masters Degree in Film Course. I was working on my own screenplay for a dark & twisted feature film, which my mentor commented sounded a bit Lovecraftian. I then spent the next 2 years studying both Directing & Lovecraft himself. I must have read half of his fictional works during this time, but am pleased to say there are still delights for me yet to discover. For my final film I shot a modern-day adaptation of "The Terrible Old Man" based on a screenplay penned by a local writer; which has literally just been accepted for a pretty big Horror Film Festival in the UK.

Only days later, I was humbled to receive an email informing me I had the honour of being selected as Member of the Month by HPLHS. Would seem the Elder Ones bestowed upon me two great birthday gifts, as I share the same birthday as Winfield S. Lovecraft (which might explain a thing or two); but what will be the price?!"

Congratulations to Stuart on the success of his film. We hope we get to see it some time!

The Stockholm H.P. Lovecraft Festival

• November 6, 2018

This past weekend the seventh edition of The Stockholm H. P. Lovecraft Festival took place at Kulturbiblioteket. The stunning poster above is by Rodrigo Obon. Over the course of a suitably gloomy All Hallow's Day discussions and film screenings drew a crowd that filled the venue to capacity. Among the guests you could find Gabrielle de Bourg, one of the writers behind the upcoming Swedish edition of Call of Cthulhu. Actor Kola Krauze and director Ludvig Gür gave us a world premiere in the form of a teaser for their upcoming short "The Outsider". Festival producer Anders Lundgren and prolific filmmaker and writer Henrik Möller presented the slideshow "Walking with Lovecraft" showing sights from the author's old stomping grounds. The audience were then treated to "Creation of a Myth" (Möller's third Lovecraft inspired short subject), award winning "Hypnos" by Juho Aittanen, "Clark Ashton Smith: The Emperor of Dreams" (Darin Coelho Spring) and "They Remain" by Philipp Gelatt. The festivities then continued into the small hours at local pub The Queen's Head where communal singing inspired by HPLHS hit "What do you do with an Innsmouth Sailor" was heard at times.

Festival organizer Anders Lundgren in conversation with author Gabrielle de Bourg. Photo by Oskar Boström.

The crowd for Henrik Möller.

Happy Halloween!

• October 31, 2018

Wishing everyone a terrific Halloween! This HPL jack-o-lantern was among a set displayed last night at the Huntington Library, where we performed a live excerpt from DART "The Dunwich Horror".

DART Live at the Huntington

• October 30, 2018

The HPLHS appeared once again at the Huntington Library and Gardens for their annual Halloween Members' Night celebration. The theme of the evening was "monsters in the library", so Sean, Andrew and Kevin did an excerpt from the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre version of "The Dunwich Horror", staged in front of the lovely Orbit Pavilion. Thanks to the Huntington for inviting us, and to all the Huntington members who attended. It is always a pleasure to do DART shows for a live crowd!

Visiting Dignitaries

• October 29, 2018

HPLHS headquarters was graced with a visit from Brian Callahan (r) and Darren Iskandari, from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland. They had come to town to attend a special event for the highly anticipated re-release of Bryan Moore's movie version of "Cool Air", and took time to make a trip to HQ.

Call of Cthulhu Video Game

• October 25, 2018

The friendly folks at Focus Home Interactive are about to release the much-anticipated official video game of Call of Cthulhu. They have kindly provided us with three free download codes to give away, and we've decided to award them to the people who write the best Call of Cthulhu limericks. You can submit your limerick via Facebook or Twitter, if you follow HPLHS there. We'll pick winners and award the prizes on October 30th.

UPDATE: The Winners!

There once was an old one named Cthulhu
Whose tentacles could slither right through you
When awoken from slumber
He complained and he thundered
“Just five more minutes what’s it to you?!”

An unfortunate newly-wed laddie
Found his bride to be awfully catty.
It turned out that his missus
Didn't care for his kisses
Because she was really her daddy.

With my friend Francis Thurston I spoke
'Bout a statue by Wilcox baroque
Through John Raymond Legrasse
And Johansen's trip last
Both my mind and Cthulhu awoke.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

In the dread city of R'lyah
Great Cthulhu awoke and said "Hey"
"I've had a great rest
But the time now is best
To ruin humanity's day."

When securing a garret for study
Do consider retaining a buddy
To keep track of your dreams
And to muffle your screams
And to mop up the floor, when it's bloody.

HPLHS at the Huntington Library

• October 25, 2018

We are pleased to say we are returning to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, for their Strange Science: Monsters in the Library Halloween event. Open to Huntington members, the event will take place on October 30th from 6 to 9:30PM. We'll be doing a live performance of a scene from the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre production of "The Dunwich Horror". Those familiar with the story might be able to guess which scene, considering the theme of the event.... More information at the Huntington website.

Masks Pre-Orders now Available!

• October 9, 2018

We think we have solved the numerous puzzles of packing and shipping, and are now taking pre-orders for all of the various editions of "Masks of Nyarlathotep"! Many people have already ordered and received the MON Gamer Prop Sets, and so far people seem to be pretty happy with it. The props and handouts contained in the GPS are designed specifically for people who are going to play Chaosium's classic adventure. We are still working on production of the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre episode itself, and once it's done we will begin shipping it in all three editions.

All episodes of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre come with prop documents, and in the past we have been limited to the number we could pack into a standard jewel case: usually four. Since "Masks of Nyarlathotep" is six times bigger than a typical episode, and since it won't be packaged in a standard jewel case, we are including 20 prop documents with the STANDARD EDITION. We are now also taking pre-orders for the DELUXE EDITION, which includes the show plus more than 80 props, all packed into a vintage case file. This Deluxe Edition contains a number of props that are in the Gamer Prop Set which has already been shipping. Since the show is an adaptation of the game, there is of course some crossover in the props. But there are things that happen in the game that do not happen in the show — and events and characters in the show that do not appear in the game — so the Deluxe Edition omits some of the GPS props and instead includes more than 20 props that are not part of the GPS. We are also taking pre-orders for the SUPER DELUXE LIMITED EDITION. This will include everything in the Deluxe Edition, plus seven elaborate artifacts handmade and presented in painstaking detail. Images are in the slide show above. The Super Deluxe Edition is limited to 99 copies, and each will be numbered.

We are very happy to be working with our esteemed colleagues at Type40 in Australia on this prop collection. Allan Carey and his team have created some amazing artifacts out of solid metal: the Golden Mirror from Peru and the Crook and Flail of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. For those who pre-order the Super Deluxe Edition, we will also be including a copy of Type40's leather-bound Carlyle Campaign Journal, which itself features a bonus prop or two!

We are also very happy that Laura Brody, the costume designer who worked on both of our film productions, is making the lovely ceremonial robes from the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. The simple cassock which forms the bottom layer is a commercial product, but the elaborate phelonion/mantle and the headdress are hand-made by Laura.

We are also pleased to work again with Jason Hendricks, who sculpted the statue of the Bloated Woman and the Token of Bast's Regards.

We know that there are some people who want to get their hands on every possible prop we've made for "Masks". Because the Gamer Prop Set and the Dark Adventure episode feature some of the same props and some that are different, it can be complicated and confusing. The only absolutely foolproof way to get everything is to get both a Gamer Prop Set and the Super Deluxe Edition of the show. Realizing that's rather expensive, we are offering a special GAMER ADD-ON prop set for people who are fans of both Dark Adventure and the role-playing game. If you purchase a Deluxe edition of the show and the Gamer Add-On, you'll get all the prop documents from both the show and the game (with the exception of the Chinese Scroll, which is included only with the full GPS). You'll have duplicate copies of about 40 items, but we hope you'll agree that's not necessarily a bad thing!

HPL Film Festival Portland!

• October 1, 2018

We are now preparing for our annual trek to Portland, Oregon to attend one of our favorite events: The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival! We are going to be performing Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Shadow Over Innsmouth LIVE on stage on Saturday afternoon, with the members of the audience portraying the Deep One horde! On Friday night after the theater closes we're hosting an Innsmouth Sea Shanty sing-along at the Moon and Sixpence pub. Card-carrying HPLHS members who attend can collect bonus stamps: be sure to show us your membership cards!

UPDATE: Our apologies to those who came to the Moon and Sixpence hoping to sing sea shanties. Due to a failure of communication, the people who run the pub did not know there was supposed to be a shanty event there that night, and it was impossible to arrange at the last minute.

Featured Member

• September 1, 2018

Our Member of the Month for September 2018 is Eric Lawrence of Los Angeles, California.

Eric says: "I was born and raised in West Lafayette, Indiana, the home of Purdue University (in retrospect, a Midwestern version of Misktatonic University, especially when one considers one of their noteworthy achievements is having graduated nearly two-dozen astronauts, who surely have seen some strange things out there in the inky darkness...) With my family I moved to Los Angeles when I was nine, and unlike HPL's experiences in NYC, I took to the big city like fungi to Mi-Go, and have lived here ever since, graduating from UCLA in '93, working as a DJ at a local public radio station for over 20+ years, and now currently working towards my M.A. in English Literature from Cal State Northridge (with a bit of a focus on the gothic, the subgenre into which HPL tends to get lumped by academics).

It was while at UCLA, with their borderline eldritch library collection, that I discovered the likes of Robert W. Chambers, Arthur Machen, and, of course, HPL. In fact, if I recall correctly, some cheeky librarian had created fake records for books like The Necronomicon, the play script of "The King in Yellow," the original 1st edition of the Principia Discordia, etc. I began visiting annual antiquarian book fairs, looking to collect assorted Arkham House books, beginning with a signed copy of one of Derleth's collections of his own short stories, but soon branching far afield & acquiring many favorites from that beloved imprint (no A Hornbook for Witches, alas). I even ventured into the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, but rarely found investigators brave enough to venture too deeply. But the key Lovecraftian works remain a personal favorite, ones I am happy to reread and celebrate often!

I am honored to be among such august company, and honored even further by this recognition!

Nyarlathotep Editing!

• September 1, 2018

Although we had originally hoped and planned to release the epic "Masks of Nyarlathotep" episode this month, we are still working on it and expect it will come out in October instead. It's as big as six regular episodes combined and doing all the editing, sound design, and music is taking some time. We know people are eager to hear it and we're eager to bring it to you. We're also working on finalizing the prototypes for all the Deluxe and Super Deluxe props and packaging so we can calculate final costs. As soon as we have those answers we'll be announcing pre-orders for those versions. We deeply appreciate the patience of those who have already pre-ordered the show!