The Lovecraft Geek

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EPISODE32 - The Lovecraft Geek Apr 19, 2018

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What would you say the most underrated Lovecraft story is?Â What is your opinion of the "unmentionables" where it seems Lovecraft keeps things intentionally vague? What do you think finally happened to the Rue d-Auseil and to Erich Zann himself! Do you feel that Lovecraft's work is in a renaissance of sorts?Â What is your favorite way to consume Lovecraft's works? A leather chair by the fireplace during a crisp New England fall air? How prevalent, in your opinion, should a magical element be in lovecraftian fiction? What adaptation of the works of HPL would you like to haveÂ seen Christopher Lee in? Do you find it better when filmmakers attempt direct versions of the canon, or a more nebulous influence, like In the Mouth of Madness, Possession, or more recently, The Void? What edition of the letters do you recommend to readers most strongly? Why does S.T. Joshi have such a low opinion of Robert E. Howardâ??s writing?Â Do you have any knowledge on Isaac Asimov's views of H.P. Lovecraft?Â What are your favorite Lovecraftian-inspired films that are decidedly *not* set in the mythos or based on (however loosely) Lovecraft's works? Have you ever played the Lovecraft board game "Cthulhu Tales"? What is your opinion of the Del Rey "Shadows Over Baker Street"?

EPISODE31 - The Lovecraft Geek Mar 29, 2018

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What was HPLâ??s opinion of Great Britain and its culture? Of the Empire? Or World War 1? Was he an advocate of America joining the war against Germany, or was he of a more isolationist tendency? Any comments on Stephen Kingâ??s very Lovecraftian story â??Nâ??? What did Lovecraft himself regard as his best works of fiction, and his worst? Arenâ??t there enough parallels between the Cthulhu Mythos and Godzilla films to consider the latter a species of the former? Check out the short films on YouTube by "bluworm", especially his adaptation of â??Tthe Shadow Out of Time.â?? What is your opinion on the fiction universe of Warhammer 40k and the very Lovecraftian Chaos Deities? A tour guide on Providenceâ??s HPL walking tour stopped us at a yellow and black building with strange aquatic carvings on it, and told us that one of the creatures carved in it was Lovecraftâ??s inspiration for Cthulhu. Is that so? Any opinion on Donald Tysonâ??s novel Alhazred? Later this year there is a Call of Cthulhu game coming out for the playstation 4 and xbox. See the trailer on youtube if only to see the visuals and atmosphere. Isnâ??t the Necronomiconâ??s cosmology & word-view very similar to Epicureanism? A defense of L. Sprague de Campâ??s pioneering bio of Lovecraft. And â??Have you seen the new bio, In the Mountains of Madness, by W. Scott Poole? Not bad!)â?? Did Lovecraft know any languages besides English?Â Have you ever thought of starting a Patreon for The Lovecraft Geek? More episodes? I'd even be down with The Lovecraft Geek riffing on the work of other weird, horror, or sword and sorcery authors, etc., e.g., Lin Carter. Could you talk a little (or a lot!) about your thoughts on Arkham House, your favorite titles, the ones you own, the ones you'd like to own, etc? In "The Dunwich Horror," we read about "decayed" and "undecayed" branches of families in Dunwich. Does this actually have any meaning besides those who, like HPL, kept up a pathetic pretense of remaining "gentry" and those who no longer went to the trouble? Have you ever heard the adaptation of â??The Dunwich Horrorâ?? on the famed radio program "Suspense," featuring the great Ronald Coleman as Prof. Henry Armitage, who in this adaptation becomes the narrator. It can be heard at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRTsJnsrS_M

EPISODE30 - The Lovecraft Geek Jul 17, 2017

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Do you think that the Necronomicon, a holy book known as the "Dead Name Image," is meant to be an homage/parody of Jesus as â??the Wordâ?? who bears the â??Nameâ?? that is above every name? Is the racist name of Delaporeâ??s black cat perhaps intended to hint at the manâ??s slave-holding heritage from Virginia and before that Exham Priory? Could you direct me to scholarly works discussing the possible origins of HPLâ??s creations? Could you recommend other lexicons, dictionaries, timeline texts to help me as a new writer in the Mythos?Â What is the relationship between Cthulhu and Dagon? What genre was Lovecraft writing in--and what genre (or genres) did he help spawn?

EPISODE29 - The Lovecraft Geek Jun 02, 2017

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Why is â??Herbert West Re-animatorâ?? held in such low esteem? Should I feel guilty for enjoying Lovecraftâ??s fiction, since he was a racist? How come Lovecraft seems to have such a big following in Spain? Possible Hebrew roots of the name â??Shub-Niggurath.â?? Octavia E. Butler is now the face of the World Fantasy Award in place of that of the Rotten Old Racist from Providence. But sheâ??s not a fantasy writer! Rather SF. The Lovecraft influence in Andrea Pearsonâ??s novels.

EPISODE28 - The Lovecraft Geek Apr 14, 2017

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Iâ??ve heard you mention that you've spent some time visiting different parts of Lovecraft's New England and was wondering what kind of experiences or comments you had relating to the settings.. What are some of the things you can gain, or miss out on, by experiencing HPL through audiobooks? Am I the only person who has noticed that L. Sprague de Camp's Al Azif is 4 pages of Syriac text, turned upside down, and repeated? I haven't tried to identify the text, but the New Testament seems a good guess. It's definitely the Serto or "Jacobite" script of the Syriac alphabet. and not the Arabic alphabet, as some say. I recently re-read 'At The Mountains Of Madness' but found some difficulty accepting how much Dyer and Danforth accomplish in a short time.Â We're told they're away for 16 hours. They leave atÂ 09.00 and land at the city at 12.30.Â Being generous and saying the return trip is one and a half hours, because they know where they are going, that leaves them 10 hours.Â I find it hard to accept you could put together such a story, spanning hundreds of thousands of years, from wall relief carvings.Â How would you determine the sequence ofÂ such images?Â Where would you get the confidence to decide which is the classical style of an alien culture and what is the debased style?Â I am compelled to ask you to elaborate on your falling out with the Lovecraft eZine. What are your thoughts on the World Fantasy Award abandoning the Lovecraft bust as their official award statue? Do you think the Lovecraftian community can survive political correctness if their constant bashing of our beloved Uncle Howard continues? In your February 15th Lovecraft Geek cephalopodcast, you talked about Bible-inspired Lovecraft stories.Â One that you did not mention is "The Doom That Came to Sarnath."Â I think this is clearly a parody of the tale of the lost ark in 1 Samuel 4-6.Â Both stories have the same plot elements presented in the same order.Â Â There is the massacre, the capture as a prize of war, the tussle inÂ the temple, the curse, and the miraculous return.Â The difference between the two is that in theÂ Bible story the aquatic idol (Dagon) is vanquished, whereas in Lovecraft's story the aquatic idolÂ (Bokrug) is victorious. Exodus 33:18-23 must have been the source for the climax of Robert E. Howard's story "The Fire of Assurbanipal, right?

EPISODE27 - The Lovecraft Geek Apr 04, 2017

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Is there any way to get ahold of your old Crypt of Cthulhu stuff, and/or has any of it been reproduced elsewhere? Have you considered self-publishing your annotated Lovecraft set? Zadok Allen seems to be a known drunk and babbler.Â The folks at innsmouth appear to have no trouble scaring out or killing any other outsider or insider that threatens their dangerous game.Â Why would they bother to let him live?Â I'd be interested to hear some of your thoughts on Lovecraft in comics, maybe broken into several categories, such as direct adaptations, strong influence ('Hellboy' by Mignola and 'Zenith' by Morrison would be examples) andÂ personal appearances, such as in 'Providence' by Alan Moore or 'Necronauts' by George Rennie and Frazer Irving. Do you thinkÂ Kipling's tales had any influenceÂ on weird pulp fiction? I don't believe you mentioned the Hay Necronomicon in your Necronomicon collection, though I admit I was looking for Colin Wilson, since I'd misremembered him as the author of the entire work. You did briefly on an earlier episode, but only to dismiss it, if I recall correctly. Could you give us a little background on this work? Is it worth re-reading? What are the problems with it? In talking aboutÂ Burroughs, I got the impression you thought that evolution, as it improves life forms, would tend to create life forms that were similar enough to be sexually compatible on different world's.Â I don't think that would be the case, although I'm only basing that on my reading of Steven Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins, not any deep study. Most HPL-based movies fall short of the mark. Could this be due to the fact that HPL's reliance on atmosphere makes his work difficult to translate into a plot based medium? Does his lack of female characters mean that screenwriters have to take liberties with the story in order to inject the obligatory love interest? Is Hollywood just too commercial and "Square" to "Get" what Lovecraft meant?

EPISODE26 - The Lovecraft Geek Feb 15, 2017

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What is the mysterious Sign of Koth? Regarding the recently found Lovecraft text "The Cancer of Superstition," is the manuscript for public consumption, or because it was never published the collector has no obligation to disclose the tale? With the new troves of Lovecraftian writers joining the scene in the past decade, are there also new critics on the scene who review Lovecraftâ??s works in a new light? Besides Lovecraftâ??s parody of the Nativity in â??The Dunwich Horror,â?? are there other elements of Biblical lore in any of Lovecraftâ??s other works? Might â??The Color Out of Spaceâ?? be a modern retelling of the story of Job? Did Lovecraft have any specific favorite story from the Bible? Are there any obscure fictional universes that are non-fantastical that could pose metaphysical questions? Do you think Lovecraft (in â??The Horror at Red Hookâ??) actually knew about Yazidis in Brooklyn or simply took note of their reputation as devil worshipers in other pulp stories?

EPISODE25 - The Lovecraft Geek Jan 10, 2017

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"How do you understand 'blasphemies' in a Lovecraftian context?"

Trigger 3 - The Lovecraft Geek Live Nov 28, 2016

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EPISODE24 - The Lovecraft Geek Nov 27, 2016

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What you think is the most satisfying Lovecraftian crossover work with an established franchise character? Is there any link to or mention in Lovecraft to Arthur Conan Doyle's work? What about with Burroughs or Howard? What is your opinion of the Sherlock Holmes stories? If one were to pick one of the ancient Christian-offshoot cults to use as the basis for a Cthulhu Mythos cult, which cult would you pick and why? What entity would the cult be dedicated to? I recently watched John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness, which is clearly an homage to HPL but while the movie uses several of the tropes you find in HPL stories it just isn't effective in communicating the existential cosmic horror that I feel is the hallmark of Lovecraft's work. Do you think that this type of storytelling, this type of horror can only be effectively done in the printed word? Are there any movies that have been able to convey the alien-ness that we find in HPL's works? Do you feel that HPL's type of horror is dead? Is anyone doing work that is as different and new as HPL's was back when he was originally writing? Do you see the same type of fan involvement, organizing, and speculation in the fandomÃ¢??s of the Sword and Sorcery genre and comic books or is it unique to HPL? Evil deities are common in horror fiction, and in fantasy literature. Has there ever been a real world example of a evil deity that is worshipped? Besides Bride of Frankenstein what other Universal Monster movies do you particularly enjoy? I ponder; if there was an unknown metaphor in Lovecraft's time that he was afraid of politically?

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