Justin Howe's Blog, page 12

RED SPECTRES 03: THIS DIABOLICAL ORDINARINESS

It’s your boi, Dr. Mabuse!

This is one those stories that has heaps of neat stuff in it, but which doesn’t quite come together. Partially this is because our POV character is the least interesting of all the character’s involved. But, mostly it’s because the ideas in it could’ve been expanded and made into a great novel. 

Anyway, it’s the early 19th century Moscow and we are in for a story of satanic gamblers, young lovers, odd coins that are actually human souls, and a nemesis who’s appar...

RED SPECTRES 02: RED PRIMROSE

Albert Robida

Welcome back! 

In this entry we’re looking at Aleksandr Chayanov’s story “The Tale of the Hairdresser’s Mannequin”. It’s an odd one. 

“The Tale of the Hairdresser’s Mannequin” by Aleksandr Chayanov (1918)

We start in Moscow. Our protagonist is a popular architect noted for his romantic conquests. The scene’s less Russian and more French as our protagonist is both a dandy and flaneur. One night’s he’s out and about doing his best to defeat his ennui, when he gives up and...

RED SPECTRES 01: BEYOND THE CHEVAL-GLASS

.. and welcome back to Yesterweird.

I did a brief post over on patreon looking at the introduction. Red Spectres is going to be a very different read than our last one. For one, it’s not in the pulp tradition. For two, I can’t think of any Weird Tales writer who ever got “disappeared” by government agents. As a patron said, Soviet Lit is “too real”. But don’t be scared. Our first story, “In the Mirror” by Valery Bryusov, isn’t quite as real as all that. With it we’re still firmly in the l...

THE LOCAL CAMPAIGN // MYSTHEAD

The local region map made on Inkarnate

Recently my game group wound down our D&D campaign for a bit of a breather. I’m the GM and we’re using Beyond the Wall as our rules. I’ve run Beyond the Wall before (here’s the first post about that game), but this time I leaned into its implied YA fantasy setting. The game had a teen delinquents and their up-tight friend solve/commit crimes and fight monsters feel to it.

Some notes and revelations:

Magic. BtW keeps it scary and unpredictable, so m...

MYSTHEAD APPENDIX N / BEYOND THE WALL

Ivan Bilibin vibes

This is for those random persons who enjoy reading about other people’s TTRPG games. Here’s a look at all the material that went into the recent game my group and I finished*. Expect a lot of links to wikipedia pages.

THE RULES USED

Beyond the Wall

We use all the Beyond the Wall material to date. Its roots are as a retroclone of D&D, but it welds on bits from AD&D (race and class) while keeping the rules loose enough. I’d love to see it overlap more with more nar...

WOMEN OF WEIRD TALES 13: THE ANTIMACASSAR

Macassar oil. Do you know what that is?

Macassar oil was a hair product that became popular during the 19th century. It was made from coconut and palm oils. Everyone back then wore so much of it that the fabric headrests of chairs would get a worn polish on them. This was unseemly in the eyes of society. Enter the antimacassar: a thin, decorated bit of cloth you could slip over a chair’s headrest to protect the fabric. If you’ve ever ridden on a bus or train, you’ve likely encountered an ...

THE WOMEN OF WEIRD TALES 12: IT’S YOUR BOI AGAIN… THE GREAT GOD PAN!

This is it. 

The penultimate story. And it’s a story that asks an important question: What if Weird Tale writers didn’t have so many sex hang-ups?

Cover by A.R. Tilburne

“Great Pan is Here” by Greye La Spina (November 1943)

Our narrator’s driving along after having five cocktails with his cousin Cecily and their chaperone, Aunt Kate. They are on their way to the symphony. Now Craig, our narrator, has the hots for cousin Cecily and fears that her upbringing under the old-fashioned Aun...

WOMEN OF WEIRD TALES 11: ENTER… THE EXPOSITION!

An Angry Boat by Ray Quigley

This is one of those stories where someone in a barroom meets a long lost someone else and listens as the lost someone tells how they got so lost, and in between the telling the first someone, the narrating someone, has a multi-page flashback detailing their relationship to the lost someone, because who the heck ever pays attention to anyone when they’re telling their life story?

“The Deadly Theory” by Greye La Spina (May 1942)

Our narrator is in a bar. They...

WOMEN OF WEIRD TALES 10: YOU SAY UBIK. I SAY UBIQUE.

We have entered the Virgil Finlay era. Look at this cover. Isn’t it great?

Imagine seeing that on a newsstand. I am going to go out on a limb and assume the issue had a reprint of Everil Worrell’s “Vulture Crag” in it. So, technically, this is our second story that received a cover illustration. It’s just not the story we’re here to talk about right now.    

“Web of Silence” by Mary Elizabeth Counselman (November 1939)

The scene is Everytown, USA. Sinister things are afoot. Threate...

THE WOMEN OF WEIRD TALES 09: STATUES, BIG AND BLACK

We have entered 1930s era Weird Tales. Gone are the fever dreams of Everil Worrell. The next set of stories have a much different and more recognizable tone. In a less charitable mood I might even describe them as “meh”.

However, the covers, as you can see, remain saucy.

“The Black Stone Statue” by Mary Elizabeth Counselman (December 1937)

Dear sirs,

My name is Very Successful Artist. I am writing this first hand account of how I became so successful. It all started in my rooming...