Link: A Lesson in Squidgy History
We are creeped out by cold, slimy limbs, flesh that lacks bones. I recently experienced this feeling first-hand while snorkeling, when I got to touch Read More
Tag: William Hope Hodgson
Link: Fear Factor: Using Childhood Fears in Mythos Fiction
Sometimes, the day job gives you pearls. I was sitting in a seminar on Childhood Anxiety when I realized I was looking at something important Read More
“The Derelict Fleet” and William Hope Hodgson
“The Derelict Fleet” from Adventures Into the Unknown #47 (September 1953) is jam-packed with William Hope Hodgson-isms. Set in the Sargasso Sea, it draws from Read More
Neils Orson the Ghost Hunter
The 1930’s was the last great period of Spiritualism in Britain and America. Houdini and other defrauders were busy debunking the phonies and relegating the Read More
Cephalopods Attack!
H. P. Lovecraft certainly did his bit for promoting tentacles in horror fiction. But he wasn’t the first by any stretch of the imagination. M. Read More
Link: Cosmic Mojo – Part 1
Critics of horror fiction have labeled Lovecraft’s brand of storytelling “cosmic” horror to differentiate it from the regular legions of werewolves and murderers that filled Read More
The Abominations of Yondo
The triple-decker Fantasy novels of the 20th Century, most cast in the semblance of J. R. R. Tolkien’s masterworks, bear little fruit for me. When Read More
The Ballantine Fantasy Series by Per. J. Okerstrom
Late in the summer of 1968 the publishing team of Betty and Ian Ballantine recognized that the success of their edition of J. R. R. Read More
The Hogs of Horror
Monsters are often warped versions of animals. Wolves, bears, tigers even lizards and birds are common choices, the more dangerous the animal the more likely. Read More
Link: From a Gable Window
One of my favorite Cthulhu Mythos clichés is the protagonist dragged out of the window by a tentacle as he writes all about it. Where Read More