WAILING WRAITH

 WAILING WRAITH

' "And what were they like? Do tell us!" said Algernon and Wilfred eagerly.

 

"Rags and bones, young gentlemen: all four of 'em: flutterin' rags and whity bones. It seemed to me as if I could hear 'em clackin' as they got along. Very slow they went, and lookin' from side to side."

"What were their faces like? Could you see?"

"They hadn't much to call faces," said the shepherd, "but I could seem to see as they had teeth." 

"He looked at the field, and there he saw a terrible figure — something in ragged black — with whitish patches breaking out of it: the head, perched on a long thin neck, half hidden by a shapeless sort of blackened sun-bonnet. The creature was waving thin arms in the direction of the rescuer who was approaching, as if to ward him off: and between the two figures the air seemed to shake and shimmer as he had never seen it: and as he looked, he began himself to feel something of a waviness and confusion in his brain, which made him guess what might be the effect on someone within closer range of the influence."

M.R.James, The Wailing Well

TOMB GUARDIAN

 TOMB GUARDIAN

"Suddenly, he began to hear a faint sweeping or rustling noise approaching over the carpet. He turned half over, nothing to be seen. The room being, as I said, very fairly light by reason of the strong moonlight outside. It came to the side of the bed, then a pause, next a very slight stretching of the bedclothes over his legs towards the outside of the bed. Much as if a kitten had jumped up. Harry was not much affected by this but on the alert. The next phenomenon was the touch on the bare back of his neck of something bristly. So much so that it pricked the skin. He whipped over in the bed thoroughly frightened and to just time to see a very strange object against the white window blind before it disappeared. It was long and sharply crooked in the midst. He could only describe it by saying that it was like a very long finger covered thickly with short hairs. He was out of bed in a second, had a candle lighted and searched the room thoroughly. The door was fastened and the window shut and there was no sign of man or beast in any corner."

"And then straight upon that, two sharp points had been plunged into his neck. He had cried out and clutched with his hands at the spot only to feel something hairy, which pricked his fingers and seemed to melt away under them."

"'What in the world is this on the table in the picture? Why, it's an enormous spider.'"

"And so it was, painted there no doubt as the emblem of industry or avarice or both."

 M.R.James, Speaker Lenthall's Tomb

TOME DEMON

TOME DEMON

 "At first you saw only a mass of coarse, matted black hair; presently it was seen that this covered a body of fearful thinness, almost a skeleton, but with the muscles standing out like wires. The hands were of a dusky pallor, covered, like the body, with long, coarse hairs, and hideously taloned. The eyes, touched in with a burning yellow, had intensely black pupils, and were fixed upon the throned King with a look of beast-like hate. Imagine one of the awful bird-catching spiders of South America translated into human form, and endowed with intelligence just less than human, and you will have some faint conception of the terror inspired by the appalling effigy."

"There was black and tattered drapery about it; the coarse hair covered it as in the drawing. The lower jaw was thin — what can I call it? — shallow, like a beast’s; teeth showed behind the black lips; there was no nose; the eyes, of a fiery yellow, against which the pupils showed black and intense, and the exulting hate and thirst to destroy life which shone there, were the most horrifying features in the whole vision. There was intelligence of a kind in them — intelligence beyond that of a beast, below that of a man."

M.R. James, Canon Alberic's Scrapbook

RUNE DEMON

 RUNE DEMON

"One was a woodcut of Bewick's, roughly torn out of the page: one which shows a moonlit road and a man walking along it, followed by an awful demon creature."

"So he put his hand into the well-known nook under the pillow: only, it did not get so far. What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth, and with hair about it, and, he declares, not the mouth of a human being."

"The man bent over and looked at him. 'The devil? Well, I don't know, I'm sure,' Harrington heard him say to himself, and then aloud, 'My mistake, sir; must have been your rugs! ask your pardon.' And then, to a subordinate near him, ''Ad he got a dog with him, or what? Funny thing: I could 'a' swore 'e wasn't alone.'"

M.R. James, Casting the Runes

FROG DEMON

FROG DEMON

"The door was opening again. The seer does not like to dwell upon what he saw entering the room: he says it might be described as a frog – the size of a man – but it had scanty white hair about its head. It was busy about the truckle-beds, but not for long. The sound of cries – faint, as if coming out of a vast distance – but, even so, infinitely appalling, 

reached the ear."

M.R. James, The Haunted Dolls' House

Merry Christmas M.R. James

It's not M.R. James' birthday next week but it is Christmas. And if James is known for anything, it's for his annual "ghost" stories that he would write and read aloud to the Chit Chat Club on Christmas around a fire. So in honor of the master of the ghost story, I'll be posting a full week's worth of monsters next week, including Christmas Day. 

You may notice I put "ghost" in quotes. That's because most of James' stories don't concern actual ghosts but demons, banshees, curses and unnameable horrors. His obssession with church architecture and the history of England add an undeniable sense of reality and place to stories where dark specters lurk in grim atmosphere. 

"At the opposite pole of genius from Lord Dunsany, and gifted with an almost diabolic power of calling horror by gentle steps from the midst of prosaic daily life, is the scholarly Montague Rhodes James, Provost of Eton College, antiquary of note, and recognised authority on mediaeval manuscripts and cathedral history. Dr. James, long fond of telling spectral tales at Christmastide, has become by slow degrees a literary weird fictionist of the very first rank; and has developed a distinctive style and method likely to serve as models for an enduring line of disciples."
H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror In Literature 

 

KUDZU DEVIL

 KUDZU DEVIL
"There  was a skull beside it on the table. Except for a few clinging tatters of dried flesh and greenish fur-the other was bleached white by the sun-this skull was identical to Gradie's Japanese souvenir: a high-domed skull the size of a large, clenched fist, with a jutting, sharp-toothed muzzle. A baboon of some sort, Mercer judged, picking it up."

"'No,' Mercer said dully, glancing at the freshly typed label he had scooped from the table. 'He's boiling off the flesh so he can exhibit the skull.' For the carefully prepared label in his hand read: 'Kudzu Devil Skull. Shot by Red Gradie in Yard, Knoxville, Tenn. June 1977'"

"'They're little green devils,' Gradie raved weakly. 'And they ain't no animals-they're clever as you or me. They live in the kudzu.'"

"'Hiding down there beneath the damn vines, living off the roots and whatever they can scavenge. They nurture the goddamn stuff, he said, help it spread around, care for it just like a man looks after his garden. Winter comes, they burrow down underneath the soil and hibernate.'"

Karl Edward Wagner, Where the Summer Ends

Happy Birthday Karl Edward Wagner

This Friday is Karl Edward Wagner's birthday. To celebrate, I'll be posting a creature from his amazing story Where the Summer Ends. 

Wagner was a strange dude. He started off his professional career as a psychiatrist but then became known to the weird fiction world for his anarchistic biker attitude and appearance. 

His short story Sticks is known as one of the best Mythos stories, his Kane character is widely accepted as one of the best anti-heroes in the sword and sorcery genre and he's responsible for excising L. Sprague DeCamp's clumsy attempts at continuity from Howard's Conan stories and restoring them to the original text. On top of all that he was also known as a fantastic editor, having helmed  The Year's Best Horror for 15 years.

He's also full of great quotes

On choosing content for YBH:
" I play no favorites with authors. Big Name Pro has the same shot as first story small press writer. I’ve run stories by Stephen King, and I’ve run stories by writers who may have never written another story. I have maintained this attitude for fifteen years as editor: No taboos. No holds barred. No free rides. Excellence required. Whiners piss off."

On why horror is so popular:
"That question does get asked a lot and I've thought about it a lot and I know the answer. Because it's sex. It's dirty, smutty stuff, there's subliminal messages hidden in there. If you read Frankenstein backwards.... (applause/laughter) So now you know. If you take close ups, photographs, I've seen this done, of simple words in these horror books, you can see suggestive shapes and poses. The paper on which these things are printed has been imprinted with a subtle aphrodisiac. If you turn the pages you're already a lost soul."

On Lovecraft:
"To my mind, what’s im­pressive about Lovecraft is his profound cosmic negativism: the idea that mankind is confronted by horrors that are completely beyond his comprehension, forces against which he is powerless, and when he begins to realize these horrors exist, they inevitably destroy him."
Karl Edward Wagner interviewed by Dr. Elliot, July 1981

 

THE ANCIENT DEVOURER

THE ANCIENT DEVOURER 
"There was a monstrous creature encased halfway in the solid ice. It had large unlidded eyes, milky white; its mouth wide and round, its scaled flesh reflecting light dully. Where its neck might have been was a ring of purplish pustules, circling the fusion of its ichthyic skull to its tendonous body. Chunked squid limbs lay outstretched, uncontrollable in its death."
Simon Strantzas, On Ice

Happy Birthday Simon Strantzas

Tomorrow is Simon Strantzas birthday and to celebrate I'll be posting a drawing of a creature from his short story On Ice from his collection Burnt Black Suns.

Toronto based, Strantzas has written four collections thus far and the praise for them is astounding. I've only read two (Cold To the Touch and Burnt Black Suns) but I loved them and plan on reading the rest. He's also edited two collections, Aickman's Heirs (out next year) & Shadows Edge.

Up until now, the birthday posts I've done have been older, mostly dead, authors. But if there's one thing (aside from monsters!) that I'd like to do on this blog, it's introduce people to modern authors that are upholding the traditions of the weirdos we all know and love from the 30's. Right now, there is a huge boom of great, interesting and diverse horror fiction. My Nyarlathotep project is another way I'm hoping to help spread the word about these folks (at some point I'll post my reading list from this year). But if you haven't read any of these modern authors, I honestly can't recommend them enough.

News...

Hey everyone! Just a quick update about next week. 

There will be TWO birthday posts for two of my favorite weird fiction authors. 

One current and one past, both really awesome.

After that there will be a little break before I post the new M.R. James monsters during Christmas week.

Two of Alan Brown's pieces from his zine I See A Shadow Coming in the M.R. James pack

And just a heads up. If you want an M.R. James pack and you want it to arrive before Christmas, now's the time to order. There are only SIX copies left. You can click the link in the previous post or go to the Yog-Blogsoth Store.

News...part 4

Today is the biggest news of my news week. I may have hinted at it before but I'm going to start a "zine label" or more appropriately a "publishing haunted house" called Seventh Church Ministries. The idea is to ask artists whose work I love to illustrate weird fiction stories and I'll help 

print/promote/distribute them.

The inaugural book will be Alan Brown's I See A Shadow Coming based on the stories of M.R. James.  I should actually say all the stories of M.R. James. Alan did over 30 gorgeous pieces covering every single one of James' published works. His paintings are eerie and unsettling, reminding one of Stephen Gammell, Virgil Finlay or "Ghastly" Graham Ingels!

 Alan's illustrations of An Evening's Entertainment and The Wailing Well

Since James is known for his Christmas ghost stories, it's only fitting that I See A Shadow Coming will be available just in time for the holidays. It will also be full of bonus materials. The package will not only include Alan's 8.5"x 5.5." zine, but a mini edition of Illustro Obscurum with my versions of 10 M.R. James monsters and a stunning full color print by Jeanne D'Angelo depicting the creature from James' chilling story The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas!

THIS PACKAGE WILL BE AVAILABLE DECEMBER 1st IN
THE YOG-BLOGSOTH STORE!!

 A detail of Jeanne D'Angelo's illustration of The Treasure Of Abbot Thomas

There will also be a few handmade "artifacts" and three additional posters by Alan Brown. I really can't wait for this. Stay tuned for more info next week!

News...part 3

Another bit of news today. My friend Trevor Henderson is putting a haunted house zine together where a different artist is illustrating each room. Artists include Trevor himself, Jenn Woodall, Alan Brown, Sam Heimer, Kat Verhoeven, Jeanne D'Angelo, Zé Burnay, Andrea Kalfas, Patrick Sparrow, and about 20 other artists. I can't wait for this zine!

 

I chose the "sacrificial chamber" and decided to weave my mythology into the piece. You can see a secret ritual performed by the Order Of the Eternal Serpents. 

News...part 2

About a month ago, I was contacted by Dave Kirkby asking if it was ok for him to sculpt a miniature of my drawing of Nyarlathotep as Jack O' Lantern (based on Scott David Aniolowski's description). It's part of a Halloween custom he and his daughter partake in every year where they each make creepy sculpts for the holiday. 

Of course I said yes. I appreciated that he contacted me ahead of time and specified it would be one sculpt and one time. Especially with the problems I've had in the past, it's nice to see someone who's respectful and courteous.

So, You can see his progression photos over on his blog, including more detailed versions of the finished piece. Thanks so much Dave for including this in your Halloween tradition!

I also JUST realized that Scott David Aniolowski himself made and encouraging comment on the Jack O' Lantern piece on this blog! Be sure to check out his blog, Whispers From the House Of Secrets!

That's all for today but later in the week there will be BIG news for Christmas and Yog-Blogsoth/Illustro Obscurum fans!

News...

Hey folks! There won't be any new monsters this month, but December will be full of them! This week, I'll be making a few Yog-blogsoth related news posts.

This first one is a big thank you to Sam over at the William Hope Hodgson Blog. He featured my WHH birthday monster tribute the first day they were posting. That blog, and the Sargasso zine he edits, are the absolute best source for all things past, present and future concerning Mr. Hodgson. The zines go fast so head over and grab one!

Hopefully with all the noise being made, the WHH revival will keep goin on the upswing!

TROPICAL HORROR

 TROPICAL HORROR

"As I look the Thing comes further over the rail. It is rising, rising, higher and higher. There are no eyes visible; only that fearful slobbering mouth set on the 

tremendous trunk-like neck;"

"For a few seconds the hideous creature lies heaped in writhing, slimy coils. Then, with quick, darting movements, the monstrous head travels along the deck. Close by the mainmast stand the harness casks, and alongside of these a freshly opened cask of salt beef with the top loosely replaced. Then those lips open, displaying four huge fangs;"

"There, right about the mouth, is a pair of little pig-eyes, that seem to twinkle with a diabolical intelligence."

"There, with its tail upon the deck and its vast body curled round the mainmast, is the monster, its head above the topsail yard, and its great claw-armed tentacle 

waving in the air."

"It is curling and twisting here and there. It is as thick as a tree, and covered with a smooth slimy skin. At the end is a great claw, like a lobster's, only a thousand times larger."

William Hope Hodgson, A Tropical Horror

 

DEVILISH BEAST

 DEVILISH BEAST
"And well they might show signs of fear, for crawling about the bark's deck were the most horrible creatures I had ever seen. In spite of their unearthly strangeness there was something vaguely familiar about them. Then it came to me that the face that Stevenson and I had seen during he night belonged to one of them. Their bodies had something of the shape of a seal's, but of a dead, unhealthy white. The lower part of the body ended in a sort of double-curved tail on which they appeared to be able to shuffle about. In place of arms, they had two long, snaky feelers, at the ends of which were two very humanlike hands, which were equipped with talons instead of nails. Fearsome indeed were these parodies of human beings!"

"Their faces, which, like their tentacles, were black, were the most grotesquely human things about them, and the upper jaw closed into the lower, after the manner of the jaws of an octopus."

'"What devilish beasts!' burst out the captain in disgust."

William Hope Hodgson, Demons Of the Sea

 

GIANT CRAB

GIANT CRAB

"I uttered a great cry; for there, lying upon the deck, on its back, was a gigantic crab, so vast in size that I had not conceived so huge a monster existed."

"We had been attacked by a wandering shoal of giant crabs, which, it is quite possible, roam across the weed from place to place, devouring aught that comes in their path."

Wiliam Hope Hodgson, The Fifth Message

"Then the bo'sun sung out to us to haul the crab aboard, that we had it most securely' yet on the instant we had reason to wish that we had been less successful; for the creature feeling the tug of our pull up on it, tossed the weed in all directions, and thus we had full sight of it, and discovered it to be so great a crab as is scarce conceivable--a very monster."

William Hope Hodgson, The Boats Of the Glen Garrig

GIANT FLEA

GIANT FLEA

"From the weed itself numberless insects of a peculiar kind jumped like a flea, only that they were a hundred times greater."
William Hope Hodgson, A Voice In the Dawn

SWINE CREATURE

SWINE CREATURE

"It was quite unclothed, and had a remarkable luminous appearance. Yet it was the face that attracted and frightened me the most. It was the face of a swine."

"'A pig, by Jove!' I said, and rose to my feet. Thus, I saw the thing more completely; but it was no pig—God alone knows what it was. It reminded me, vaguely, of the hideous Thing that had haunted the great arena. It had a grotesquely human mouth and jaw; but with no chin of which to speak. The nose was prolonged into a snout; thus it was that with the little eyes and queer ears, gave it such an extraordinarily swinelike appearance. Of forehead there was little, and the whole face was of an unwholesome white color."

"For perhaps a minute, I stood looking at the thing with an ever growing feeling of disgust, and some fear. The mouth kept jabbering, inanely, and once emitted a half-swinish grunt. I think it was the eyes that attracted me the most; they seemed to glow, at times, with a horribly human intelligence, and kept flickering away from my face, over the details of the room, as though my stare disturbed it."

It appeared to be supporting itself by two clawlike hands upon the windowsill. These claws, unlike the face, were of a clayey brown hue, and bore an indistinct resemblance to human hands, in that they had four fingers and a thumb; though these were webbed up to the first joint, much as are a duck's. Nails it had also, but so long and powerful that they were more like the talons of an eagle than aught else."

William Hope Hodgson, The House On the Borderland

Happy Birthday William Hope Hodgson

Sunday November 15th is William Hope Hodgson's birthday. To celebrate, everyday next week I'll be posting a new monster from a Hodgson story. 

Not only did Hodgson write one of my favorite weird fiction short stories (A Voice In the Night) but he lived an extraordinary life. Born the son of an Anglican priest, he ran away from home to become a sailor at age 13. Though he got caught, he eventually received permission to become an apprentice on a ship. He found himself frequently bullied by other sailors because of his good looks and short stature, so he learned how to fight and soon the bullying stopped.

That's pretty exciting right? Well he also won an award from the Royal Humane Society for rescuing a fellow sailor from shark infested waters, was a notable photographer, opened his own "gym" (W. H. Hodgson's School of Physical Culture) and "pranked" Harry Houdini!

He served in WWI as a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery where he was thrown from his horse and broke his jaw. However, he reenlisted and was sadly killed by an artillery shell in Ypres in 1918. 

I love Hodgson's work even though it can be a bit repetitive (recycled plot elements appear often) and I'm fascinated by his life. Here's to hoping his work has the same renaissance that HPL and M.R. James have experienced.

PS-A Voice In the Night was the inspiration for the Toho psychedelic romp Matango. I highly recommend it! 

"Mr. Hodgson is perhaps second only to Algernon Blackwood in his serious treatment of unreality. Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and insignificant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and the abnormal in connexion with regions or buildings."

H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror In Literature 

 

Interview on Shoggoth Kinetics

Hey everybody! Next week will be a full week's worth of special monsters, but until then enjoy this morsel. Lucas Korte over at Shoggoth Kinetics did an interview with me about the history, categorization and inspiration behind Yog-Blogsoth. Check it out HERE.

KUKULCAN

 KUKULCAN

"It seems that Yig, the snake-god of the central plains tribes—presumably the primal source of the more southerly Quetzalcoatl or Kukulcan—was an odd, half-anthropomorphic devil of highly arbitrary and capricious nature."

H.P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop, The Curse Of Yig

"Another reptilian deity, the feathered serpent Kukulcan, may be but another aspect of Itzamna."

"One such scene portrays a human sacrifice to Kukulcan, the feathered serpent, patron deity of the center." 

Robert Sharere & Loa Traxler, The Ancient Maya

"Kukulcan is said to have come to Chichen Itzá, depictions of a masked individual backed by a feathered serpent may refer to the actual historical individual. However the historical figure may have been apotheozised at death as his namesake, thus further blurring the distinction between the man an the god."

Mary Miller & Karl Taube, The Gods and Symbols Of Ancient Mexico and the Maya

 

SABAZIOS

 SABAZIOS

"Saddest of all that cluster round the tomb

(Three sister Fiends of Cithaeronian gloom),

"See Crime, Pain, Poverty, the ether rend
With howls Sabazian at their master's end."

H.P. Lovecraft, Monody On the Late King Alcohol

"Sabizios is possibly a serpent creator deity or a serpent god of the underworld. He might have been one of the deities of the Valentinus Gnostic sect. Sabizios is sometimes associated with the goddess Barbelo who was said to be his mother. He is also identified with Jehova. Some say he was worshiped under the name Zgreus by the Thracians and Phrygians." 

Charles Russell Coulter & Patricia Turner, Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities

"Originally Sabazius was the Thracian and Phrygian god of vegetation, worshiped in the north of the Balkan and in the central part of Anatolia in Asia Minor. His cult spread from Thrace in the north of Greece to Attica and to Athens in the fifth century BCE. There Sabazius took on a special appearance and role in relation with the Attic cults and the favorite local deities. In Athens Sabazius became the god of barley."

"An important symbol of his cult was a snake, which is a chthonian symbol as well as one of revival. Another symbol of Sabazius was a crown (with two small snakes raising their heads) worn by the god himself and by some of the members initiated into his cult. Small snakes encircled also the hands of his worshipers. The cult of Sabazius (similar to that of Cybele or Dionysus) was accompanied by music, particularly by the players of double flute and castanets, and by ecstatic dancers holding these small snakes."

"He did not appear in Attica on a horseback as it was described in the other regions. A cult-scene pictured on the volute krater made by the Polygnotan Group (Ferrara 2897) represents Sabazius with Meter seated on their thrones, with in their scepters and plates (perhaps with barley) and surrounded by their worshipers."

Dr. Alena Trckova-Flamee Ph.D., Encyclopedia Mythica

PYTHON

PYTHON

"In golden show'rs, that mercifully rend 

The Python chill of Winter, whose dread pow'r

So lately coil'd about the the budding bow'r."

H.P. Lovecraft, Ver Rusticum

"Python was a monstrous serpent which Gaia (Mother Earth) appointed to guard the oracle at Delphoi. The beast was sometimes said to have been born from the rotting slime left behind after the great Deluge."

Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

 "When the serpent Python, which guarded the oracle, moved to prevent Apollon from approaching the oracular opening, he slew it and thus took command of the oracle."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca

 
"Where the wine-faced, bronze-scaled serpent, 
his back sparkling in the dark leafy laurels, 
The monstrous beast of earth, crawled
Around the oracle of the Gods of Earth."
Aeschylus, Eumenides

*thanks to Jeanne D'Angelo who started her painting of Python way before mine and gave me the heads up on this quote that points to the serpent's color scheme.

 

TIRAWA

 TIRAWA

"In the autumn his children were hungry and wild, and Yig was hungry and wild, too. All the tribes made medicine against Yig when the corn harvest came. They gave him some corn, and danced in proper regalia to the sound of whistle, rattle, and drum. They kept the drums pounding to drive Yig away, and called down the aid of Tiráwa, whose children men are, even as the snakes are Yig’s children."

H.P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop, The Curse Of Yig 

"According to the Pawnee, the world was created by the god Tirawa, who sent the stars to support the sky. Some brighter stars were in charge of the clouds, winds and rain. This was to ensure the fertility of the Earth. Some lesser stars became jealous. " 

Julia Gunyuk, Tirawa

THE SHADOW FROM THE LAND OF THE THREE SUNS

 THE SHADOW FROM THE LAND OF THE THREE SUNS

"I went nearer the stone temple, and a huge doorway loomed in front of me. Within that portal were swirling shadows that seemed to dart and leer and try to snatch me inside that awful darkness. I thought I saw three flaming eyes in the shifting void of a doorway, and I screamed with mortal fear. In that noisome depth, I knew, lurked utter destruction—a living hell even worse than death. I screamed again. The vision faded."

 “So in the year of the Black Goat there came unto Nath a shadow that should not be on Earth, and that had no form known to the eyes of Earth. And it fed on the souls of men; they that it gnawed being lured and blinded with dreams till the horror and the endless night lay upon them. Nor did they see that which gnawed them; for the shadow took false shapes that men know or dream of, and only freedom seemed waiting in the Land of the Three Suns. But it was told by priests of the Old Book that he who could see the shadow’s true shape, and live after the seeing, might shun its doom and send it back to the starless gulf of its spawning. This none could do save through the Gem; wherefore did Ka-Nefer the High-Priest keep that gem sacred in the temple. And when it was lost with Phrenes, he who braved the horror and was never seen more, there was weeping in Nath. Yet did the Shadow depart sated at last, nor shall it hunger again till the cycles roll back to the year of the Black Goat.”

"Where I had, in the landscape itself, seen the twisted, half-sentient tree, there was here visible only a gnarled, terrible hand or talon with fingers or feelers shockingly distended and evidently groping toward something on the ground or in the spectator’s direction."

H.P. Lovecraft & Duane W. Rimel, The Tree On the Hill

News...

Hey everyone...Just a few quick updates.

First off, the extremely talented Orrin Grey just did an in depth interview over at Surreal Sermons. He talks about his amazing collaboration with illustrator M.S.Corley called Gardinel's Real Estate, his previous (Never Bet the Devil) and upcoming collection annnnndddddd our collaboration for my Nyarlathotep project! He's an amazing author and just a super nice guy. You should check out all his work.

Secondovly, my obscenely gifted friend and illustrator Alan Brown is being featured on Great Big Iceberg. You may remember Alan from his Randolph Carter contribution to Guests In the Witch House on this blog. Well, Great Big Iceberg is an in depth look at an artist, their work, their life, their influences, and anything in between. On GBI's tumblr, Alan talks a bit about his inspirations. He mentions the illimitable Jeanne D'Angelo and myself! Alan, and this project are amazing. You should definitely follow both. I'm flattered and honored and humbled to be mentioned by both these gifted folks.

Also, Halloween week will be dedicated to Yig's children. Well, three of Yig's children a rival and something unrelated. But the three days leading up to and including Halloween will be super serpentine!

"It must be the curse of Yig. He had sent his monstrous children on All-Hallows’ Night, and they had taken Walker first."
H.P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop, The Curse Of Yig

And lastly, the first wave of orders from Store Des Ghoules reopening will be shipping today, don't forget you can still pick up a number of ghastly prints in time for Halloween! Including this gruesome Rotting Baphomet screenprint!

 

OUKRANOS

OUKRANOS

"By noon Carter reached the jasper terraces of Kiran which slope down to the river’s edge and bear that temple of loveliness wherein the King of Ilek-Vad comes from his far realm on the twilight sea once a year in a golden palanquin to pray to the god of Oukranos, who sang to him in youth when he dwelt in a cottage by its banks"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath

MERCURY

MERCURY

"In Circes palace grand. 

To beasts at her command. 

But Mercury did set him free 

From witcheries like this 

Unhappy he his men to see 

Engaged in swinish bliss."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Hermes (Mercury) was depicted as either a handsome and athletic, beardless youth, or as an older bearded man. His attributes included the herald's wand or kerykeion (Latin caduceus), winged boots, and sometimes a winged travellers cap."
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology 

"Celestial messenger of various skill, whose powerful arts could watchful Argos kill. With winged feet 'tis thine through air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse; great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine."
Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes

"The principal attributes of Hermes are a travelling hat, with a broad brim, which in later times was adorned with two little wings;"

"The white ribbons with which the herald's staff was originally surrounded were changed by later artists into two serpents, though the ancients themselves accounted for them either by tracing them to some feat of the god, or by regarding them as symbolical representations of prudence, life, health, and the like. The staff, in later times, is further adorned with a pair of wings, expressing the rapidity with which the messenger of the gods moved from place to place."
Sir William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

ADONIS

ADONIS

"Scarce nobler seem'd the Latmian swain whose grace
Could raise a glow on Dian's placid face;
Jove, seeing thee, from Ganymede would turn' 
And Cyprus' queen her lov'd Adonis spurn'"
H.P. Lovecraft, To Alfred Galpin, Esq.

 The gods took pity on her and changed her into the tree called the Smyrna. Nine months later the tree split open and the baby named Adonis was born. Because of his beauty, Aphrodite secreted him away in a chest, keeping it from the gods, and left him with Persephone. But when Persephone got a glimpse of Adonis, she refused to return him. When the matter was brought to Zeus for arbitration, he divided the year into three parts and decreed that Adonis would spent one third of the year by himself, one third with Persephone, and the rest with Aphrodite. But Adonis added his own portion to Aphrodite’s. Later on, while hunting, he was attacked by a boar and died."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca

"The dogs had roused a wild boar from his lair, and the youth threw his spear and wounded the animal with a sidelong stroke. The beast drew out the weapon with his jaws, and rushed after Adonis, who turned and ran; but the boar overtook him, and buried his tusks in his side, and stretched him dying upon the plain."

Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology

APOLLO

 APOLLO

"O'er the damp wold Apollo's shafts descend 
In golden show'rs, that mercifully rend
The Python chill of Winter, whose dread pow'r
So lately coil'd about the budding bow'r."
H.P. Lovecraft, Ver Rusticum

 "Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy and music, was the son of Juipiter and Latona, and brother of Diana."

"Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day a tortoise, of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it and drew cords of linen through them and the instrument was complete. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus."
Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology

"To avenge the death of his son Asklepios, who had been killed by a lightning bolt, Apollon slew the Kyklopes who had forged the weapon."
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology