Ross E. Lockhart's Blog, page 73
July 2, 2011
Countdown to Cthulhu: We've got Banners! / Lovecraftian 4:20?
We've got banners! John Hornor Jacobs, author of forthcoming Southern Gothic-meets-Cosmic Horror novel, Southern Gods (I'll be posting more about Southern Gods in the near future) and The Book of Cthulhu's "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" (one of two originals in the book), came up with this awesome banner to help promote the book:
So I dropped John a line, asking if I could re-post it. He offered to "change it up," so I jumped at the chance and had him create a general banner for the book...
...and one promoting The Book of Cthulhu's other original story, Laird Barron's "The Men from Porlock":
Want to help us promote The Book of Cthulhu? Post a banner, along with a link to your favorite online or brick-and-mortar bookseller!
---
Lovecraftian 4:20?
Earlier this morning, while watching Maddie tromp around the back yard, suddenly turning and redirecting according to her nose's whims as if she were reacting to the walls of an invisible maze, I started thinking of H. P. Lovecraft's 1936 collaboration with Kenneth J. Sterling, his only explicitly Gernsbeckian science fiction story: "Within the Walls of Eryx." Since I wasn't going anywhere for a while, I pulled up the story on my phone and gave it a quick re-read.
If you don't know the story, go read it. Themes of intolerance and colonialism abound. Here's a quick recap, though it won't do the story's journalistic style justice: Doomed narrator Kention J. Stansfield (let's just ignore the Mary-Sue aspects of the protagonist's name), a prospector working for a mining company on Venus, encounters a shaggy-stalked, spiky-leaved psychedelic plant, discovers a massive crystal, finds himself trapped in an invisible maze, gets mocked by lizardmen, and comes to a stunning realization.
I've read this story a number of times over the years. But there was something, right after Stansfield is attacked by the "mirage-plant," I'd forgotten about that made me chuckle:
"Although everything was spinning perilously, I tried to start in the right direction and hack my way ahead. My route must have been far from straight, for it seemed hours before I was free of the mirage-plant's pervasive influence. Gradually the dancing lights began to disappear, and the shimmering spectral scenery began to assume the aspect of solidity. When I did get wholly clear I looked at my watch and was astonished to find the time was only 4:20. Though eternities had seemed to pass, the whole experience could have consumed little more than a half-hour."
Strange, dancing light? Gaseous, dream-breeding exhalations that penetrate every existing make of mask? Clock stuck at 4:20? Sounds a lot like that Blue Öyster Cult show I just saw...
What do you think? Did H. P. Lovecraft come up with the cannabis culture code-word 4:20? Occultist Victor T. Cypert seems to think so.
In the spirit of harshing your mellow... how about a little bit of music? Here's Cradle of Filth's "Cthulhu Dawn" (by Arlekin):
So I dropped John a line, asking if I could re-post it. He offered to "change it up," so I jumped at the chance and had him create a general banner for the book...
...and one promoting The Book of Cthulhu's other original story, Laird Barron's "The Men from Porlock":
Want to help us promote The Book of Cthulhu? Post a banner, along with a link to your favorite online or brick-and-mortar bookseller!
---
Lovecraftian 4:20?
Earlier this morning, while watching Maddie tromp around the back yard, suddenly turning and redirecting according to her nose's whims as if she were reacting to the walls of an invisible maze, I started thinking of H. P. Lovecraft's 1936 collaboration with Kenneth J. Sterling, his only explicitly Gernsbeckian science fiction story: "Within the Walls of Eryx." Since I wasn't going anywhere for a while, I pulled up the story on my phone and gave it a quick re-read.
If you don't know the story, go read it. Themes of intolerance and colonialism abound. Here's a quick recap, though it won't do the story's journalistic style justice: Doomed narrator Kention J. Stansfield (let's just ignore the Mary-Sue aspects of the protagonist's name), a prospector working for a mining company on Venus, encounters a shaggy-stalked, spiky-leaved psychedelic plant, discovers a massive crystal, finds himself trapped in an invisible maze, gets mocked by lizardmen, and comes to a stunning realization.
I've read this story a number of times over the years. But there was something, right after Stansfield is attacked by the "mirage-plant," I'd forgotten about that made me chuckle:
"Although everything was spinning perilously, I tried to start in the right direction and hack my way ahead. My route must have been far from straight, for it seemed hours before I was free of the mirage-plant's pervasive influence. Gradually the dancing lights began to disappear, and the shimmering spectral scenery began to assume the aspect of solidity. When I did get wholly clear I looked at my watch and was astonished to find the time was only 4:20. Though eternities had seemed to pass, the whole experience could have consumed little more than a half-hour."
Strange, dancing light? Gaseous, dream-breeding exhalations that penetrate every existing make of mask? Clock stuck at 4:20? Sounds a lot like that Blue Öyster Cult show I just saw...
What do you think? Did H. P. Lovecraft come up with the cannabis culture code-word 4:20? Occultist Victor T. Cypert seems to think so.
In the spirit of harshing your mellow... how about a little bit of music? Here's Cradle of Filth's "Cthulhu Dawn" (by Arlekin):
My tweets
Fri, 14:40
: RT @thexmedic: Anybody who does pick up No Hero this month - you can participate in The Qwillery's debut author challenge: http://t.co/g ...
Fri, 14:41
: RT @thexmedic: Official Launch Day for No Hero. Tentacles, explosions, and jokes about Kurt Russell. E-book going for $3.99 http://t.co ...
Fri, 15:41
: Countdown to Cthulhu: What Would Kurt Russell Do? http://j.mp/lPLcZT
Fri, 15:44
: RT @bbeaulieu: This just made my day: [The Winds of Khalakovo] is so engrossing that I missed my trainstop on the way home last Monday. ...
Fri, 16:03
: RT @QQwill: The Qwillery: 2011 Debut Author Challenge - July 2011 MISERERE by Teresa Frohock & NO HERO by Jonathan Wood http://bit.ly/ ...
Fri, 17:26
: RT @TeresaFrohock: The Qwillery: 2011 Debut Author Challenge - July Debut Authors MISERERE @TeresaFrohock and NO HERO by Jonathan Wood h ...
Fri, 18:41
: RT @thexmedic: Ooh. Launch day review. " I know I'll grab the next Wood books and enjoy the action and unique situations." http://t.co/k ...
Fri, 18:55
: Scanning a 50+ page zombie story for a forthcoming anthology. Back & forth, scanner to computer. Turn page. Repeat. At least it's exercise.
Fri, 19:08
: Only a few more pages to go. Good thing, too, since I started incorporating "Thriller" dance moves into my scanning routine 17 pages ago.
Fri, 19:15
: In a fit of pique, @amazon kicked California out of its associate program (rather than being a good corporate citizen). Recommend another?
Fri, 19:15
: RT @jdiddyesquire: My review of The Whitefire Crossing by @cischafer from @nightshadebooks Killer debut novel with a whole lot of charm ...
Fri, 23:24
: RT @martyhalpern: Hop on the Michael Swanwick Caravan at http://tinyurl.com/3fqeaku. Follow @nightshadebooks and retweet for a chance to ...
Adult Beverage: Lagunitas Lucky 13 .alt
"Ooh, Lucky 13's a blonde now," was my thought as I grabbed this off the shelf at Petaluma Market. Only tonight, as I cracked it open, did I notice the ".alt" Usenet flashback aside, I was confused. "But... She's a blonde," I said. Doesn't ".alt" code dyeblack hair and tattoos?
In any case, Lucky 13 .alt is a "specially brewed Hi-Gravity Auburn offering." Still doesn't make sense she's a blonde, but what the heck...
Lucky 13 .alt pours pale ruddy gold with a thick, frothy head that very nicely patterns the glass with lacing. Sweet and piney nose, very green and enticing. Burnt sugar chased by hoppy bitterness on the tongue, with bitter just chasing sweet across the palate and down the throat with a pleasant alcohol burn. Outstanding bitter finish. Wow.
Lucky 13 .alt's a bombshell. Very, very nice.
July 1, 2011
Countdown to Cthulhu: What Would Kurt Russell Do?
It's July 1, 2011. Canada Day, or so I've gathered from the Internets. Today also marks the "two months to go" point until the September 1 release of The Book of Cthulhu, which means we're very busy putting the finishing touches on the book and getting our final files ready to go to the printer.
"But I can't wait two months for my tentacle fix," I hear you say. And to that, I have a solution...
Because today, Jonathan Wood's debut novel, No Hero, hits the streets. No Hero, the one novel that dares to ask the question no other piece of Cthulhu Mythos fiction has ever had the stones to ask...
"What would Kurt Russell do?"
Early reviews are in, calling No Hero "one hell of fun ride" and an "overload of awesome".
In the interest of giving you a glimpse behind the veil, here's the letter we sent out to booksellers a few months ago to introduce them to No Hero:
---
Dear Bookseller:
Night Shade books is proud to present the debut novel from Jonathan Wood: No Hero, an action-packed comic urban fantasy that dares to ask the eternal question: "What would Kurt Russell do?"
Set in sleepy Oxford, the "city of dreaming spires," No Hero follows Arthur Wallace, a middle-age British homicide detective more accustomed to paperwork and dull stakeouts than over-the-top heroics. Arthur's a good cop, a proper British bobby, and while he's a lifelong fan of American action movies, particularly those starring Kurt Russell, he prefers that the high-stakes action remain on the screen, safely performed by professionals.
But shortly after Arthur is injured in the line of duty by a mysterious swordswoman, secretive government agency MI37 comes calling, hoping to recruit Arthur in their struggle against a race of tentacled horrors from another dimension known as the Progeny. Tasked with the leadership of the team of misfits that stands between the Progeny and Earth's certain destruction, Arthur must move beyond his vicarious cinematic worldview and find the hero within. But Arthur is No Hero; can an everyman stand against sanity-ripping cosmic horrors?
With its comic tone and blend of strange magic, invading aliens, Lovecraftian cosmic horror, and references to action movies of the 1980s, No Hero is sure to appeal to fans of Mike Mignola's Hellboy and B.P.R.D. graphic novels and films like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Big Trouble in Little China.
Jonathan Wood is an Englishman in New York. He has published short fiction in Chizine, Fantasy Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Farrago's Wainscot. No Hero is his first novel.
Sincerely,
Ross E. Lockhart
Managing Editor,
Night Shade Books
---
More Monday. Unless I go and get a wild tentacle over the weekend...
"But I can't wait two months for my tentacle fix," I hear you say. And to that, I have a solution...
Because today, Jonathan Wood's debut novel, No Hero, hits the streets. No Hero, the one novel that dares to ask the question no other piece of Cthulhu Mythos fiction has ever had the stones to ask...
"What would Kurt Russell do?"
Early reviews are in, calling No Hero "one hell of fun ride" and an "overload of awesome".
In the interest of giving you a glimpse behind the veil, here's the letter we sent out to booksellers a few months ago to introduce them to No Hero:
---
Dear Bookseller:
Night Shade books is proud to present the debut novel from Jonathan Wood: No Hero, an action-packed comic urban fantasy that dares to ask the eternal question: "What would Kurt Russell do?"
Set in sleepy Oxford, the "city of dreaming spires," No Hero follows Arthur Wallace, a middle-age British homicide detective more accustomed to paperwork and dull stakeouts than over-the-top heroics. Arthur's a good cop, a proper British bobby, and while he's a lifelong fan of American action movies, particularly those starring Kurt Russell, he prefers that the high-stakes action remain on the screen, safely performed by professionals.
But shortly after Arthur is injured in the line of duty by a mysterious swordswoman, secretive government agency MI37 comes calling, hoping to recruit Arthur in their struggle against a race of tentacled horrors from another dimension known as the Progeny. Tasked with the leadership of the team of misfits that stands between the Progeny and Earth's certain destruction, Arthur must move beyond his vicarious cinematic worldview and find the hero within. But Arthur is No Hero; can an everyman stand against sanity-ripping cosmic horrors?
With its comic tone and blend of strange magic, invading aliens, Lovecraftian cosmic horror, and references to action movies of the 1980s, No Hero is sure to appeal to fans of Mike Mignola's Hellboy and B.P.R.D. graphic novels and films like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Big Trouble in Little China.
Jonathan Wood is an Englishman in New York. He has published short fiction in Chizine, Fantasy Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Farrago's Wainscot. No Hero is his first novel.
Sincerely,
Ross E. Lockhart
Managing Editor,
Night Shade Books
---
More Monday. Unless I go and get a wild tentacle over the weekend...
My tweets
Thu, 14:41
: RT @NAS482: Tentacled horrors? Pop culture references? Good price? BOUGHT @thexmedic No Hero available for ridiculous price of $3.99 htt ...
Thu, 14:41
: RT @thexmedic: Last day to pre-order No Hero e-book. Tentacles, explosions, and Kurt Russell references all for $3.99. (Regular paperba ...
Fri, 00:25
: RT @martyhalpern: Not a subscriber to @nightshadebooks e-newsletter? Go to their home page now & sign up (goodies forthcoming): http://t ...
Fri, 00:44
: RT @VisitRlyeh: The R'lyeh Tourist Board Daily is out! http://bit.ly/iQCLOa ▸ Top stories today via @arkhamhorror @rdickerson @paulisaac ...
Fri, 03:30
: Countdown to Cthulhu: R'lyeh Rising http://j.mp/l83n2q
Fri, 04:28
: My Bookish Ways: MFT Giveaway: Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh http://t.co/ONGL2qs
Fri, 04:29
: Tome Traveling: Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi http://t.co/sz73PTv
Countdown to Cthulhu: R'lyeh Rising
...How do you increase your mind's potential?...
Oh, wait... that's the slogan for those other guys' book. Ours is...
...I've got it written down here...
...ah!
-=Cthulhu fhtagn!=-
(be glad I couldn't figure out the blink tag)
Rapture, smapture. Here's what's really coming down the pipe... On September 14, 2011, Dread R'lyeh rises from the sea, unleashing sanity-wracking terror. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! Hear the phone ringing? You know what that means? It means Old Squid-head's about to rise out of the ocean, and he's hungry. The dead gonna rise. The burrowers beneath gonna burrow. Non-euclidean hounds gonna howl at myriad moons. And oh, yeah, the stars...
Will you be ready? Will you go mad from the revelation? Or will you flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age...?
Find out these answers... and more! in The Book of Cthulhu. Twenty-seven tales of tentacles, terror, and madness inspired by H. P. Lovecraft to comfort you in these perfidious and malignant days. Available September 1 at booksellers--and e-booksellers--everywhere.
Just listen to a few of the benefits early readers of The Book of Cthulhu have reported:
- Increased energy
- Heightened perceptions
- Stronger linguistic skills
- Ability to call up the dead via their essential salts
- Looming, but somehow motivating, sense of dread
- When confronted by a gaping, carnivorous cosmos, day-to-day stress just melts away
The Book of Cthulhu will be available everywhere September 1, 2011. Until then, consider this your Countdown to Cthulhu. We'll be posting Mythos-related links, lore, and survival tips right up until the big, green sticky spawn of the stars pops his awful squid-head and writhing feelers out of the surf and says "howdy!"
But first, a word from our sponsor...
[image error]
Coming September 2011
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!
First described by visionary author H. P. Lovecraft, the Cthulhu mythos encompass a pantheon of truly existential cosmic horror: Eldritch, uncaring, alien god-things, beyond mankind's deepest imaginings, drawing ever nearer, insatiably hungry, until one day, when the stars are right....
As that dread day, hinted at within the moldering pages of the fabled Necronomicon, draws nigh, tales of the Great Old Ones: Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Hastur, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, and the weird cults that worship them have cross-pollinated, drawing authors and other dreamers to imagine the strange dark aeons ahead, when the dead-but-dreaming gods return.
Now, intrepid anthologist Ross E. Lockhart has delved deep into the Cthulhu canon, selecting from myriad mind-wracking tomes the best sanity-shattering stories of cosmic terror. Featuring fiction by many of today's masters of the menacing, macabre, and monstrous, The Book of Cthulhu goes where no collection of Cthulhu mythos tales has before: to the very edge of madness... and beyond!
Do you dare open The Book of Cthulhu? Do you dare heed the call?
Table of Contents:
Caitlín R. Kiernan - Andromeda among the Stones
Ramsey Campbell - The Tugging
Charles Stross - A Colder War
Bruce Sterling - The Unthinkable
Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Flash Frame
W. H. Pugmire - Some Buried Memory
Molly Tanzer - The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins
Michael Shea - Fat Face
Elizabeth Bear - Shoggoths in Bloom
T. E. D. Klein - Black Man With A Horn
David Drake - Than Curse the Darkness
Charles R. Saunders - Jeroboam Henley's Debt
Thomas Ligotti - Nethescurial
Kage Baker - Calamari Curls
Edward Morris - Jihad over Innsmouth
Cherie Priest - Bad Sushi
John Hornor Jacobs - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
Brian McNaughton - The Doom that Came to Innsmouth
Ann K. Schwader - Lost Stars
Steve Duffy - The Oram County Whoosit
Joe R. Lansdale - The Crawling Sky
Brian Lumley - The Fairground Horror
Tim Pratt - Cinderlands
Gene Wolfe - Lord of the Land
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - To Live and Die in Arkham
John Langan - The Shallows
Laird Barron - The Men from Porlock
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59780-232-1
eISBN: 978-1-59780-355-7
---
And now, without further ado, here's your daily Countdown to Cthulhu:
cyclops shark captured in Mexico - Kind of cute for a dead, fish-faced freak.
Who Will be Eaten First? - Jack Chick, Lovecraftian-style.
Goomi's Unspeakable Vault (of Doom) - Shoggies!
...more tomorrow!
Oh, wait... that's the slogan for those other guys' book. Ours is...
...I've got it written down here...
...ah!
-=Cthulhu fhtagn!=-
(be glad I couldn't figure out the blink tag)
Rapture, smapture. Here's what's really coming down the pipe... On September 14, 2011, Dread R'lyeh rises from the sea, unleashing sanity-wracking terror. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! Hear the phone ringing? You know what that means? It means Old Squid-head's about to rise out of the ocean, and he's hungry. The dead gonna rise. The burrowers beneath gonna burrow. Non-euclidean hounds gonna howl at myriad moons. And oh, yeah, the stars...
Will you be ready? Will you go mad from the revelation? Or will you flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age...?
Find out these answers... and more! in The Book of Cthulhu. Twenty-seven tales of tentacles, terror, and madness inspired by H. P. Lovecraft to comfort you in these perfidious and malignant days. Available September 1 at booksellers--and e-booksellers--everywhere.
Just listen to a few of the benefits early readers of The Book of Cthulhu have reported:
- Increased energy
- Heightened perceptions
- Stronger linguistic skills
- Ability to call up the dead via their essential salts
- Looming, but somehow motivating, sense of dread
- When confronted by a gaping, carnivorous cosmos, day-to-day stress just melts away
The Book of Cthulhu will be available everywhere September 1, 2011. Until then, consider this your Countdown to Cthulhu. We'll be posting Mythos-related links, lore, and survival tips right up until the big, green sticky spawn of the stars pops his awful squid-head and writhing feelers out of the surf and says "howdy!"
But first, a word from our sponsor...
[image error]
Coming September 2011
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!
First described by visionary author H. P. Lovecraft, the Cthulhu mythos encompass a pantheon of truly existential cosmic horror: Eldritch, uncaring, alien god-things, beyond mankind's deepest imaginings, drawing ever nearer, insatiably hungry, until one day, when the stars are right....
As that dread day, hinted at within the moldering pages of the fabled Necronomicon, draws nigh, tales of the Great Old Ones: Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Hastur, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, and the weird cults that worship them have cross-pollinated, drawing authors and other dreamers to imagine the strange dark aeons ahead, when the dead-but-dreaming gods return.
Now, intrepid anthologist Ross E. Lockhart has delved deep into the Cthulhu canon, selecting from myriad mind-wracking tomes the best sanity-shattering stories of cosmic terror. Featuring fiction by many of today's masters of the menacing, macabre, and monstrous, The Book of Cthulhu goes where no collection of Cthulhu mythos tales has before: to the very edge of madness... and beyond!
Do you dare open The Book of Cthulhu? Do you dare heed the call?
Table of Contents:
Caitlín R. Kiernan - Andromeda among the Stones
Ramsey Campbell - The Tugging
Charles Stross - A Colder War
Bruce Sterling - The Unthinkable
Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Flash Frame
W. H. Pugmire - Some Buried Memory
Molly Tanzer - The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins
Michael Shea - Fat Face
Elizabeth Bear - Shoggoths in Bloom
T. E. D. Klein - Black Man With A Horn
David Drake - Than Curse the Darkness
Charles R. Saunders - Jeroboam Henley's Debt
Thomas Ligotti - Nethescurial
Kage Baker - Calamari Curls
Edward Morris - Jihad over Innsmouth
Cherie Priest - Bad Sushi
John Hornor Jacobs - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
Brian McNaughton - The Doom that Came to Innsmouth
Ann K. Schwader - Lost Stars
Steve Duffy - The Oram County Whoosit
Joe R. Lansdale - The Crawling Sky
Brian Lumley - The Fairground Horror
Tim Pratt - Cinderlands
Gene Wolfe - Lord of the Land
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - To Live and Die in Arkham
John Langan - The Shallows
Laird Barron - The Men from Porlock
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59780-232-1
eISBN: 978-1-59780-355-7
---
And now, without further ado, here's your daily Countdown to Cthulhu:
cyclops shark captured in Mexico - Kind of cute for a dead, fish-faced freak.
Who Will be Eaten First? - Jack Chick, Lovecraftian-style.
Goomi's Unspeakable Vault (of Doom) - Shoggies!
...more tomorrow!
June 30, 2011
My tweets
Wed, 18:59
: RT @ellanbethia: Effective cover: RT @MadHatterReview: Cover & Table of Contents for THE BOOK OF CTHULHU ed. by @lossrockhart: http://t. ...
Wed, 18:59
: RT @ChrisStrangeUF: Cover & Table of Contents for THE BOOK OF CTHULHU ed. by @lossrockhart: http://t.co/wbLiqef via @MadHatterReview
Wed, 18:59
: RT @gamingcrone: Effective cover: RT @MadHatterReview: Cover & Table of Contents for THE BOOK OF CTHULHU ed. by @lossrockhart: http://t. ...
June 29, 2011
My tweets
Tue, 14:23
: RT @QQwill: The Qwillery: The Art of The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer (@cischafer) & ARC giveaway. http://bit.ly/js2mOR P ...
Tue, 14:24
: RT @jennifergearing: lololololol vegan double down: http://bit.ly/l7YzXa
Tue, 14:51
: RT @johnhornor: At the bottom of my blog there's a banner I just made for The Book of Cthuhlu. Go there, click on it, and pre-order. htt ...
Tue, 18:47
: RT @MadHatterReview: Cover & Table of Contents for THE BOOK OF CTHULHU ed. by @lossrockhart: http://t.co/wbLiqef An image of CTHULHU rig ...
June 28, 2011
My tweets
Mon, 13:58
: RT @thexmedic: No Hero available for pre-order on kindle for the rather ridiculous price of $3.99 http://t.co/F6DICHl
Mon, 19:11
: NSB office music today, courtesy of our intern: "A Shoggoth on the Roof." Tentacles!
June 27, 2011
My tweets
Mon, 04:59
: The Book of Cthulhu is live @amazon. This September, the stars will be right. http://t.co/s28oB63
