HPLHS News & Events Autumn 2023

Jupiter Ammon CDs

• December 20, 2023

The CDs for "The Temple of Jupiter Ammon" have been delivered, and the Shipping Shoggoth is sending them out as quickly as inhumanly possible!

2024 Renewal Stamp

• December 18, 2023

The new HPLHS Membership renewal stamps for 2024 are now here, and will be going out to all new and renewing members starting today!

Visit the Temple!

• December 4, 2023

The twenty-eighth episode of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre® is now available for download! Everyone who pre-ordered should be getting an automatic email link to the show in the very near future. The CDs are at the replicator and we hope to be shipping the physical version of the show with all the props within the next couple of weeks! Thanks to the stellar cast and crew for all their hard work. READ MORE!

Featured Member

• December 1, 2023

Our Member of the Month for December, 2023 is Matt McHorris of Arlington, Virginia.

Matt says: "I was born in Tennessee, and joined the Marine Corps to see the world but was only sent to neighboring North Carolina. I then joined the US State Department and travelled to Philippines, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Angola and Brazil. I got the “Call of Cthulhu” during the Great Hunker of 2020 when working in Angola by playing Call of Cthulhu online and listening religiously to the godspell of Strange Studies of Strange Stories, Voluminous, The Lovecraft Tapes, Ain’t Slayed Nobody, and Good Friends of Jackson Elias.

Although I’ve always been a horror and suspense fan, I became obsessed with all things HPL over the last three years and have been impressed by the craftsmanship of the HPLHS Gamer Prop Sets and other products. I completed pilgrimages to Providence for the 2022 Necronomicon and the 2023 HPL Film Festival, and finally to HPLHS headquarters in 2023 where I met Andrew Leman and Sean Branney. I’ve been a lifetime member of HPLHS since 2020 and my favorite HPL story is "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". I enjoy listening to Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, meeting fellow cultists and plan to celebrate this holiday season with my Brazilian fiancée Aline listening to A Very Scary Solstice. I hope to meet more of y’all at the 2024 Necronomicon. Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!"

Visiting Dignitary

• November 29, 2023

HPLHS collaborator and seasoned traveler N.R. Jenzen-Jones flew far out of his way to drop by HPLHS HQ today to sign and number copies of his new book, Christmas with H.P. Lovecraft. It was his first visit to headquarters and it was a pleasure to have him here. He is the publisher at Helios House, which produced Miskatonic Missives, the volumes of the Miskatonic Literary Society, and is currently working on the upcoming Shunned House replica. If you would like to get your very own signed copy of the limited edition of his freshest book, CLICK HERE!

Solstice Sale 2023

• November 23, 2023

Here in the US it's Thanksgiving Day, and we are thankful for our many friends and members worldwide. Now the holiday shopping season gets underway, and we're happy to be able to offer a 20% discount throughout our online store from now until the end of Cyber Monday. Just use the discount code "Solstice2023" at checkout to take advantage. We have lots of new items on offer this year, including new holiday ornaments, a special book Christmas with H.P. Lovecraft, and the fountain pens shown below. HO HO HO!

Miskatonic Fountain Pens

• November 22, 2023

HPL wrote pretty much everything with a fountain pen, and we have long been fans of this classic technology, experimenting with every kind from the cheapest disposable versions to redoubtable Waterman models to a fancy Sailor pen that costs hundreds of dollars. We started using them to help make prop documents look more authentic, but now we just use them for everyday writing all the time, experimenting with different brands and colors of ink. We are happy to be introducing our own Miskatonic University fountain pen: the Armitage Edition. It is not a premium, high-end pen, but it is very affordable and it's lots of fun to write with. It comes with an installed converter so you can fill it with any kind of ink you like (which you'll have to acquire separately), and we're also throwing in a standard black cartridge so you can write with it as soon as you get it. There are so many wonderful kinds of fountain pen inks available, we decided we couldn't pick just one to offer through our online store, but we have links to some that we like and use here at HQ on the product page in the store. NOW SHIPPING!

Featured Member

• November 1, 2023

Our Member of the Month for November, 2023 is Vincent Molina of Los Angeles, California.

Vincent says: “Born in Pasadena in 1986 and living in Eagle Rock all my life, I entered a weird world only to make it weirder with my own brand of weirdness. Growing up, I had a huge fascination with alternate dimensions, sci-fi, fantasy worlds, and just plane weird stuff. It wouldn't be until my college years when I started hearing about Cthulhu through my friends. Then in 2020, I used my Lockdown time to read The Necronomicon Collection. After reading Dagon, I got hooked!

Now I have immersed myself more into The Lovecraftian world. I was even fortunate enough to find a Dark Adventure Radio Theatre CD/Prop of "Dagon: War of Worlds" at SDCC. Hearing the story as told in an old-timey theme transported me to The Weird Eldritch World of Lovecraft. I now have a binder full of the prop sets that I buy from The HPLHS HQ and have joined The HPLHS Lifetime Tier! I even incorporate Cthulhu in my Drawlloween prompts.

Lastly, I am including a picture of my cat Pierrette because why not? To all my fellow cultists, I wish you a mighty, "IÄ!" And to everyone at The HPLHS, I thank you for letting me join and dive deeper into this fanatical universe! Stay weird, everyone!"

Halloween Open House

• October 30, 2023

HPLHS Member Tim Lonegan brought a number of fascinating pieces from his extensive personal collection of Lovecraftian art and artifacts to share with us for a special Halloween Weekend open house at headquarters. On exhibit were numerous different Cthulhu idols by such notable sculptors as Jason McKittrick, Nick Derington, Alberto Camargo and Randy Bowen, along with numerous spectacular pieces by Gage Prentiss, Chris Walas, Joel Harlow, Joe Broers and others. He even brought along one of the classic "Howard" award trophies sculpted by the beloved Gahan Wilson! And fellow member Nikita Budkov came by with one of his own paintings: "The Quest of Iranon: A Death so Pure". Thanks to Tim and Nikita and to all who attended and added such lively atmosphere to the event. And we still have plenty of trick-or-treat candy left over, in case anyone wants to come by HQ!

Headquarters Facelift

• October 16, 2023

It's taken so long we've lost track of time, but something like a year since they started remodeling the front of our building, they have this morning installed an entirely new facade here at society HQ. They spent months applying (and re-applying) lovely white stucco, and now they have completely covered all of it with shiny black aluminum panels and simulated wood siding. We don't know if it's an improvement or not, but we doubt HPL would have approved. We just hope they're finally finished! Come check it out in person at the Halloween Open House if you can!

Halloween Open House

• October 15, 2023

We're hosting an Open House at headquarters on October 27 from 4pm to 8pm and on October 28 from noon to 4pm. Come on by to check out an exhibit of Cthulhoid movie props and artifacts from the private collection of HPLHS Member Tim Lonegan. He's bringing up a terrifying number of Cthulhu idols, plus masks, artwork and other relics to share with fellow members and visitors alike. He'll be on hand to answer some questions, and we'll have seasonal treats for the taking! If you're a card-carrying member and you show up in costume, you'll even get a new bonus stamp for your membership card!

Assault on Antares!

• October 16, 2023

Troy Sterling Nies, the composer of HPLHS motion picture and Dark Adventure Radio Theatre® scores, is throwing a listening party for one of his latest projects: Assault on Antares. It will be happening on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5pm Pacific time: that's right after our Halloween Open House here at HQ, but it happens online! Check it out and RSVP at Troy's Bandcamp page!

The Next DART Episode

• October 15, 2023

We are now very actively in production on the next two episodes of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre®! The first to be released will be "The Temple of Jupiter Ammon", an original story inspired by a real archaeological expedition of the 1920s. We're recording now and aim to release it by December first. Now available for pre-order in our online store!

Featured Member

• October 5, 2023

Our Member of the Month for October, 2023 is Carlos of Johnson City.

Carlos says: “I discovered H.P. Lovecraft in 2007 when a colleague recommended his writings to me and was blown away by At the Mountains of Madness. A few months later I stumbled across the Society and was similarly hooked on the Radio Theater productions. The Society continues to curate and produce such amazing works of tribute to Lovecraft - it's my privilege to support the team and be a small part of these efforts to reintroduce Lovecraft through such dynamic and creative projects!"

As you can see from the above photo, Carlos is a highly-decorated member of ten years standing, and although we have some hints about his very interesting life, we respect his wish to remain otherwise confidential. We thank him for his many years of stalwart support!

New Dark Adventures

• October 3, 2023

A stalwart team of Dark Adventurers gathered last night at headquarters to read the two new scripts out loud. We had a very good time and will be making some changes as we gear up for production! Thanks to the cast for their talent and feedback! Pictured above from center top clockwise: Sean Branney, Kacey Camp, Mark DeCarlo, Yeni Alvarez, Time Winters, Larissa Gallagher, Kevin Stidham, Sarah van der Pol, Matt Foyer and Ken Clement. Andrew Leman taking the picture!

HPL Film Festival

• October 2, 2023

Andrew and Sean will be headed up to Portland, Oregon this weekend to attend the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival! Sean will be running a session of the HPLHS' Call of Cthulhu® game "The Treasure Map" on Friday, and Andrew will be reading "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" and "The Cats of Ulthar" live on stage, with live musical accompaniment by Chris Bozzone on Saturday afternoon. Members who catch one of us lurking in the lobby can get a bonus stamp for their membership card!

Composer Extraordinaire

• October 2, 2023

Composer Extraordinaire Troy Sterling Nies, who did/does music for HPLHS feature films and the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre series, dropped by society HQ this week. He was in Los Angeles to attend one of the premiere screenings of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut. Troy wrote and performed the musical soundtrack for this new version of the classic and highly controversial film made in 1979, which screened recently at the Cannes Film Festival and is now finding its way around the world! (We snapped a picture of him at HQ but then lost it, so here he is pictured with the film's star, Malcolm McDowell...)

Graveyards of Arkham

• September 21, 2023

Andrew had lots of fun today shooting with the crew of Chaosium's Graveyards of Arkham! Greatly looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Arkham Investigator Wallet unboxing

• September 13, 2023

We noticed this nice unboxing video today and thought we'd share it!

Bluesky

• September 13, 2023

Like many of you, we have grown increasingly uninterested in being on Twitter, and very seldom look at it or post things there anymore. Thanks to friend of the HPLHS Bud Baird, we have been invited to join the recent social media alternative Bluesky, and we are now signed up there and will be trying to post there. You'll find us @hplhs.bsky.social. We were never terribly active tweeters in the first place, and when all of our Twitter followers were stolen by a hacker a year or two ago we became even less active. We hope Bluesky proves to be a happier experience for all of us!

As things progress we might completely delete our old Twitter account, and will try to provide a shortcut to the new Bluesky feed if we can figure out how to do it!

Featured Member

• September 1, 2023

Our Member of the Month for September, 2023 is Deanna Brown of Whitby, Ontario, Canada.

Deanna says: “Since childhood, I have always been an avid reader and usually could be found with my nose deeply in a book. Fantasy books led to a fascination with myths and legends and science fiction. Once I discovered the horror genre, it quickly became a favourite. So when I discovered Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos around my early 20s, I was pretty quickly engrossed in the Mythos. Cosmic horror became a sort of comfort blanket – a good cosmic horror movie or short story is usually my go-to to decompress after a rough day. Or on any day, really.

Relatively recently, I discovered the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG. Having played Dungeons and Dragons for many years and interested in roleplay games, I’d heard of the game before but didn’t know a lot about it. During the pandemic, I started listening to Call of Cthulhu actual plays and fell in love with the system. Perhaps ironically, Call of Cthulhu helped keep me sane during the pandemic. I quickly went out and bought the core rulebook and once we could get together again convinced some of my D&D friends to come join the madness with me.

The gamer prop sets from HPLHS have added an extra special something to my games. The Dark Adventure Radio Theatre productions have also been a great inspiration as well as just plain great audio drama adaptations. I’m thankful to the HPLHS for all their great creative work that helps bring Lovecraft’s stories to life.

It is safe to say that Lovecraft, cosmic horror in general, and the Call of Cthulhu RPG have become obsessions of mine. I’m always looking for new movies, games, and books. I wonder about picking up Abdul Alhazred’s Necronomicon next for some light reading?"