HPLHS News & Events Autumn 2020

Happy Solstice!

• December 21, 2020

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, tonight will be the longest night of what has felt like a very long year. For our friends in the South, it is the longest day. Let's celebrate the light, whether it's lingering or returning, and look forward to better times ahead! We are happy to offer two free download tracks for your enjoyment free to download until New Year's!

The classic Solstice carol Oh Cthulhu!

And from our new Music of Dark Adventure collection, a spooky track from "A Solstice Carol" by Troy Sterling Nies, Kingsport.

Featured Member

• December 9, 2020

Our Member of the Month for December, 2020 is Brian Overton of Cary, North Carolina.

Brian says: "Hi, I am Brian, a joyful member of HPLHS. The web didn’t extinguish the HPLHS, and I came back at a certain time of the week when a new post would appear. They sold a couple of quirky items, saying they “thought it would be fun,” and I bought them under the fabricated Affliction Reduction Incorporated business as Dr. B.P. Overton. While a real archaeologist, I hold no such honored degree."

HPLHS really nurtured a good, healthy fun with HPL, roleplaying and props. By posting regularly, before visual social media bloomed, they keep me coming back and grew my greater HPL fandom. I met them at NecronomiCon, choosing to spend near a week in Providence R.I. over being with my loving and tolerant wife on her birthday which is one day removed from HPL. I have been honored to be a member and learn more about HPL and his thoughts and times from the recent podcasts, yet another successful endeavor by the Society. I have collected too much Cthulhu stuff – my daughters say the name perfectly. The Facebook group and Eldritch Elf brings a lot of fun into my life – as a Christmas baby, I really look forward to the exchange."

May your CthulhuGram arrive soon, frequently and bursting with stamps."

2021 Member Stamp

• November 27, 2020

The official membership renewal stamp for 2021 is now available. With the rod of Asclepius and a pair of shaking hands, the design is meant to convey a hope for healing and unity in the year ahead. All members who join or renew after today's date will be getting the new stamp on their documents.

Solstice Sale!

• November 27, 2020

We are deeply thankful for all the members and customers who make every year here special and keep us going. From now until midnight Pacific Standard Time, we're holding our annual Solstice Sale in our online store. Use the discount code SOLSTICE2020 at checkout for 20% off everything in the store!

Featured Member

• November 3, 2020

Our Member of the Month for November, 2020 is Sean Whittaker of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Sean says: "I first encountered Lovecraft’s fiction as a young reader in the mid-80s at the same time as my close circle of friends were becoming enthusiastic fans of a new hobby, role-playing games! Serendipitously I discovered the existence of Call of Cthulhu a couple of years later which provided the best of both worlds. I have remained a devoted fan of both Lovecraft’s cosmic horror tales and collaborative story-telling ever since.

Given my lifelong affinity for books it should come as no surprise that my bookshelves have, over time, become the repository for Lovecraft’s complete works of fiction, nearly all of the Dark Adventure radio plays, and many items from the catalogues of Chaosium and other publishers of Lovecraftian horror role-playing games. If there is a blessing to be found in this challenging year of 2020 it’s that I’ve found more time with my friends to explore some of Lovecraft’s ideas around both physical and virtual tables. Now if only my group’s enjoyment of the HPLHS’ props for Masks of Nyarlathotep was not so constrained by social distancing . . ."

The Curse of Yig!

• October 31, 2020

"The Curse of Yig" is now complete and downloads are available! The CDs are now in replication and we'll begin shipping physical product as soon as they're done, hopefully within a week or two. Be sure to check out the page for the show!

Ogham Returns

• October 31, 2020

Innsmouth's most popular crooner is back with a new live concert album. Recorded with a live band in front of an audience in Stockholm in 2012, this mix of old favorites and a couple of new tunes has been expertly remixed and mastered. Each download also comes with a link and password to see a Mythoscopic movie of the entire concert. Don't miss it!

World-Class Fiddler

• October 9, 2020

Recording sessions for "The Curse of Yig" are now underway, and today we welcomed world-class violinist Nancy Kuo to the studio at Horse Latitudes. She is providing live fiddle accompaniment to one of the scenes in the story, and she was spectacular! We thank her for lending her prodigious talent to the show.

New Shoggoths

• October 6, 2020

We have two new shoggoths working at headquarters, helping with document prep for "Masks of Nyarlathotep" Gamer Prop Sets. Paul and Carolyn have just begun to endure the endless paper cuts they will no doubt experience as they fold and collate and artfully crumple thousands of lovingly prepared props.

Featured Member

• October 1, 2020

Our Member of the Month for October, 2020 is Frank Dukowski of Berlin, Germany.

Frank says: "I am into Lovecraft since I saw those strange books in the library back in the seventies. They were black with green pages and had nearly all of Lovecraft stories available in German in those days. During the eighties I had some frightening adventures with the „Call of Cthulhu“-game, too. But Lovecraft turned into a real obsession when I discovered, (after having read his work for over 15 years!) that I shared the birthday with him, although not the year...

I grew up in Western Germany, in an area called „Bergisches Land“ (deep forest and a lot of rain) similar to Berkshire County, Massachusetts, except that we never had an UFO happening. Today I live in Berlin, but I still own a 300 years old house close to Wuppertal, NRW where I was born. At the moment I suffer the loss of an unnamable amount of sanity, by putting „Fungi from Yuggoth“ and 60 other poems by H.P. Lovecraft into proper German rhymes. We will see what it does to mankind and the world, when it will be published (hopefully on green pages!).

I got to the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society via facebook. I got hooked by the big LOVE put in every prop, and in every music, and the wonderful Radio Theater. I’m already looking forward to listening to all the Scary Solstice tracks again, when the darkest night of the year comes closer.

The Curse of Yig

• September 25, 2020

The next episode of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre is going to be "The Curse of Yig"! We've been working on the script and are now in production. We're planning to release the downloads at Halloween, with the CD and props to follow as quickly thereafter as possible.

The show is now available for Pre-Order in our online store!

Equinox

• September 22, 2020

Summer here at HQ was a little on the rough side, with heat waves, fires, and even an earthquake. We're glad it's behind us. As the seasons change we hope all of you have better weather of every kind ahead.

Featured Member

• September 1, 2020

Our Member of the Month for September, 2020 is Brandon Berry of Surprise, Arizona.

Brandon says: "My name is Brandon Berry and I'm 26 years old. Originally from Waterford, Michigan, I've lived in Surprise, Arizona for the past 2 years. I initially got into Lovecraft in middle school with the story "The Rats in the Walls". Already a huge fan of Poe and other horror masters, I instantly fell in love with Lovecraft's atmosphere and style. Every fall, I read through his collected works with my cat Abner purring in my lap. During this period, my long suffering girlfriend of 6 years patiently listens to me rattle on about Elder Gods and the Dreamlands for the umpteenth time.

My Lovecraftian collection includes a slowly growing selection of Chaosium publications, the HPLHS radio shows, and the fabulous Eldritch Horror game along with its expansion packs. I feel very lucky to be living in a time where there is no end to literature, games, and collectibles based on Howard's work, as I know this wasn't always the case.

I'm honored to be a member of the HPLHS and I hope they never stop creating wonderful Lovecraftian goodies for me to devour. Thank you guys and gals for all the great work you do and keep it up! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"

Our Library

• August 4, 2020

The catalog of the HPLHS library is now viewable online! It's not complete, and probably never will be, but you can now go take a look at the vast majority of titles the society keeps in its collection. It's the ultimate shelfie!

Our sincere thanks to HPLHS member Kevin Miller, who works at the Huntington Library, for making us aware of Library Thing and for patiently guiding us through the initial stages of setting up our own catalog there.

The HPLHS library is a research collection, amassed over the course of decades. Three of the founding members, Sean Branney, Andrew Leman and Darrell Tutchton have contributed most of the volumes, but we have quite a number of contributions from other members as well. We are proud to include three books that were the personal property of H.P. Lovecraft himself, plus one handwritten Lovecraft letter, as well as Arkham House first editions from the library of Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire and Call of Cthulhu gaming supplements from the library of Larry DiTillio. We have lots of interesting material on Lovecraft, weird fiction and nonfiction, gaming, the history of the 1920s and '30s, and graphic design. We do not lend books at the present time, but society members and the general public are welcome to pay a visit to headquarters and check out the library in person!

We are still adding to the catalog. The society has a collection of emphemera that has only begun to be included, so check again in the months ahead to see the additions!