H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos were among the first horror I encountered once I moved to San Antonio in 1967. One of my classmates, Richard, had a copy of THE DUNWICH HORROR AND OTHER TALES from Lancer Books. It was seriously mind warping material. I read Lovecraft and Howard. I discovered Robert W. Chambers and August Derleth and Robert Bloch and Frank Belknap Long and the other acolytes of HPL at about the same time.
In college I ran into Joe Pumilia and Bill Wallace, the founders of the Esoteric Order of Dagon of which I was a charter member, but left shortly thereafter finding the rigors f doing a regular amateur press ‘zine were more than my time and money could allow.
But the wonderment of it all stayed with me these 43 years.
As I was looking for a book to do for Forgotten Books I gravitated toward another novel from the 1960’s, since people have responded well to those and it is enjoyable to go back and revisit those old friends. But this week I got sidetracked with ArmadilloCon and other things like work. So I went with something a little newer but decidedly weirder and fun. BABY’S FIRST MYTHOS is a simple little volume, reminiscent of those old Golden Books or other children’s books that helped us learn about our world. The cover speaks for itself. When you open it up, you find the first simple rhyme, a meme to help young ones keep the Elder Gods straight so as to not cause any unfortunate … events,
D is for Dagon
A is for AZATHOTH,
Who dwells in the center,
Dreaming us from a place
That we cannot enter.”
Accompanied by a suitably outré illustration from Erica Henderson to accentuate the works of her father. The book covers the entire alphabet, the Eldritch numbers 1 though 9 and 0 as well as a haunting little counting rhyme beginning “1 little Old one sitting in a tree…”
So, for those of you out there with “exceptional children” who need this type of learning, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Good knows the schools and day care facilities have forgotten the lessons which the Old ones taught us and consequently send uneducated heathens out into the world. You might use it to teach your children well, or, even those friends who might appreciate the cosmic horror of it all. Others are best left uneducated since their only role in the scheme of things is as fodder.
Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.
Austin artist Chepo Peña is having a showing of his Star Wars themed loteria cards this weekend in Austin. Peña’s wry mashup of two cultural memes is spot on for both. His graphical style matches the classic Mexican loteria cards and his humorous translations of the cards to the Star Wars milieu is brilliant. Greedo as El Boracho, R2-D2 as El Barril and an AT-ST as El Gallo are some examples of Peña’s creative madness. My favorites are the ones that are not so obvious. You expect Leia to be La Dama and Han Solo to be El Valiente, but El Melon represented as Luke Skywalker’s head inside Darth Vader’s split helmet from Luke’s swamp vision is the kind of weird that strikes home!
The opening for this event is Sunday September 5th, 2010 from 5-7 PM at Thunderbird Coffee (2200 Manor Road, Austin, TX). Like karaoke music will be provided by Karaoke Apocalypse.
While Peña’s loteria cards are not approved by Lucasfilm which prevents him from selling them, you can see them all on his site, www.chepo.net.
The interview is short but sweet with interesting nuggets like the inspiration for “Kali Yuga”, the appeals of the mythos and the fascinating note about his band, Boxcar Satan, and their stint as the house band in R’lyeh. Having heard Boxcar Satan, that last bit doesn’t seem so farfetched.
Shot entirely in San Antonio, the horror comedy – written and directed by Bryan Ortiz and produced by Michael Druck – centers on a mysterious scientist (Rick Carrillo) and a cheerleader (Alicia Shaddeau) who battle a zombie outbreak in the town of Crystal Oaks. Originally written and shot as a fictitious trailer for Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse trailer competition, and then expanded to feature length, Doctor S: The Movie has become a festival favorite since its 2008 premiere, winning the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2009 San Antonio Film Festival, the First Feature Award at the 2009 Brainwash Drive-in Bike-in Walk-in Movie Festival, and the award for Best Comedic Horror Film at the 2009 Chicago Horror Film Festival. With screenings across the U.S., Doctor S: The Movie has developed a devoted cult following, with the blog Quiet Earth declaring “We demand a sequel!” and The Overtime Theater working with Ortiz to turn the film into a stage musical (set to premiere in October).
Rick Carrillo will face the zombie hordes of Atlanta when Doctor S: The Movie screens at the Dragon*Con International Film Festival on September 6.
“Doctor S was a labor of love,” says Ortiz, “made by horror fans, for fans. So we’re thrilled to be able to bring it to Dragon*Con and introduce it to a whole new universe of fans. Hopefully they’ll enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!”
The Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival is one of the featured events of Dragon*Con, one of the largest science-fiction and fantasy conventions in the world. Previous attendees at the festival have included George A. Romero (director of Night of the Living Dead) and John Carpenter (director of Halloween). “Directors like Romero and Carpenter have been huge influences for me,” Ortiz recalls, “and we paid tribute to them in Doctor S, so it’s such an honor to be included in their company and be a part of this festival.”
Limon will be located in the Hyatt Regency East Ballroom at the Comics & Pop Art Emporium. He’ll be displaying a bevy of art items including two brand-new mini-print sets — a ten-piece set called the Fragment Set, and a four-color silkscreen print set called Skull Garden.
Fisher will be screening his short film Shocking Bloody Robot News! at the Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival at the Hyatt Regency. Using 2D animation, 3D animation, video and motion-comic technique, his film takes a fun look at the fact that robots will soon kill us all. When he’s not showing his film, he’ll be trying to figure out a way to have a quiet dinner alone with Barbara Eden and Marta Kristen.
If you’re attending Dragon*Con, shout out below, and be sure to say ‘hi’ to all three SA artists when you’re there.
We haven’t read it yet, but consider us intrigued.
According to Analog Science Fiction & Fact’s website, the magazine’s October 2010 issue contains a short story by Arlan Andrews called “The Alien at the Alamo.” Unfortunately, the story isn’t available online, and at press time we were unable to locate a paper copy.
That means we don’t yet know how the story’s title alien made it to the Alamo, whether the alien fought alongside the Texians, or whether — like Pee Wee Herman — he/she/it made the embarrassing mistake of looking for the basement. And, frankly, the suspense is killing us.
Andrews appears to have an intriguing background and Lone Star credentials to boot. He’s founder of SIGMA, a group of science fiction writers that offers futurism consulting to the U.S. government. According to SIGMA’s website, he previously held positions at AT&T Bell Labs and White Sands Missile Range, NM, before taking his current position as Environmental Program Manager for the U.S. Navy in Corpus Christi.
Jackets Required by Steven Heller & Seymour Chwast
I thought I might take a quick break from my reveries of the 1960’s and the new wave that have been present during the last three reviews, so this little non-fiction title I got from good friend and excellent writer, Bill Crider, seemed to fit the bill (pun intended). This will be a relatively short review just like the book. Subtitled An Illustrated History of American Book Jacket Design 1920 – 1950, that pretty well tells you what this book is about.
As a book collector I am interested in how the book has evolved over the years. Recently Penguin Books celebrated the 75th anniversary of the birth of the modern paperback. (Yes, I know there were other paperback titles and publishers, but that’s a different column). But, before the paperback, there was the hardback volume. In the 1830’s the first dust jackets were applied tom volumes. Their intent was to protect the boards of the book form wear and dust. They were intended to be discarded once the book was safely ensconced on the shelves of the library. As such, the early dust jackets were plain and contained little to no information. Illustrations on the dust jacket were introduced in the second half of the 19th century, but really did not come into wide usage until the 1890’s.
The authors explore the rise of the American dust jacket art and the phases it went through in some small detail in the text of this book. While the text portion of the book is minimal, the illustrations are extensive, They divided the first section into thematic covers – fiction, war, western, mystery, humor, places, adventure, romance, manners, political, short stories, poetry, juvenile, historical fiction, politics, journalism, science, history, biography, travel, culture, and lifestyle are all features, some more extensively than others. Then there is a section of great illustrators – E. McKnight Kauffer, William Addison Dwiggins, Arthur Hawkins, Jr., George Salter, Alvin Lustig, and Paul Rand are all featured.
The 2010 World Fantasy Award nominees in the Artist category (L to R): John Jude Palencar, John Picacio, Charles Vess, Sam Weber, & Jason Zerrillo.
The 2010 World Fantasy Awards nominees have been announced. Winners will be announced in Columbus, Ohio at the World Fantasy Convention, October 28-31, 2010. San Antonio’s John Picacio is one of five finalists in the Artist category. It’s Picacio’s sixth World Fantasy Award nomination. He won the award in 2005. Here’s the list:
Novel
Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)
The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey)
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland)
In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)
Novella
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
“The Lion’s Den”, Steve Duffy (Nemonymous Nine: Cern Zoo)
The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS)
“Sea-Hearts”, Margo Lanagan (X6 )
“Everland”, Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories) Continue reading 2010 World Fantasy Awards Nominees! »
A new collection of critical essays edited by Damien Broderick. According to Broderick, the Skiffy and Mimesis of the title are not a pair of performing kangaroos.
As it sounds, the book is a collection of essays from the critical journal Australian SF Review. It includes contributions by authors such as Gregory Benford, Janeen Webb, Lucius Shepard, Jenny Blackford, George Turner, Yvonne Rousseau, Douglas Barbour and covers subjects as diverse as the Watchmen and Ursula K. Le Guin.
According to Damien, the rendering by Oxford University neurophilosopher Anders Sandberg “really glows on the glossy cover of the trade paperback.” He also wants us to know that Skiffy and Mimesis “are not a pair of performing kangaroos, and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.”
Teams of filmmakers recently spent a long weekend creating short films as part of the national 48 Hour Film Project competition. Presented here is the short film Sign Trainer directed and animated by Joey Carillo of Lone Bannana Productions with assitance from Nikki Young, Mistah Pete, Don Rios, and Paul Vaughn.
We will bring you more of these short films as they become available.
@KatWithSword Best thoughts for you right now. Hang in there. I'll see if another Poe poster is around somewhere 4 next time we cross paths. 2010/09/01
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