Real conversation: Them: Is there a connection between CAPTAIN BILLY'S WHIZ BANG and Lovecraft? Me: ...I mean. Kinda. Tangentially. If you squint a bit. From a certain perspective. Them: You're trying very hard not to say "no." Me: I'm trying very hard not to say "yes." It's squishy.

Japanese fan comics based on US/European characters and properties which try to capture something of the style of the original are more fascinating to me than any US-based corporate Mangaverse.

Tuned out on a zoom call last night and when I tuned back in it had dissolved into an argument over whether Legolas or Gimli was the twink. Given the subject of the conversation was supposed to be homosexual interpretations of Lovecraft's life, this was a bit of conversational drift.

Real Lovecraft Scholarship(TM) has been pretty low key lately because a lot of my time and money has to go to the Howard Days 2026 projects instead of ordering stuff from archives or obscure 'zines, but I'm going to do a series of pieces for the blog looking at various memoirs on Lovecraft by women.

Debating the merits of Just Doing The Thing. Probably no one but me cares.

Okay, so I warned you about this one. Let me walk you though a very small snippet from a letter from H. P. Lovecraft to James F. Morton, dated 26 Feb 1927. Letters to James F. Morton 130.

Word you don't want to read in a Lovecraft letter: spermaceti (You do not want details.)

"I will look up “The Cabala” when I get a chance." —H. P. Lovecraft to August Derleth, [8 Mar 1929], ES 1.186

The Robert E. Howard Museum is in need of foundational repairs! Please share and donate to preserve one of America's historical treasures! Here is the video from The Robert E. Howard Foundation detailing the situation: youtu.be/LGiBNPDzJhw?... Link to donate: rehfoundation.org/save-the-reh...

The stopping power of a 1931 Bakelite telephone is not a thing to be underestimated, not even when the person wielding it stands only five feet even and a hundred pounds in her nightgown—which I had never seen her in or out of, though I had aimed to do both before she clobbered me.

"Perhaps you misunderstand the nature of Cthulhu's punishment. You see a prison. I see a castle whose walls have been slighted. Once, Earth was Cthulhu's playground. Now there is nothing to keep the other eldritch beings out. Truly, hell is other entities."

Word of the day: sybil

Book catalogue project, entry 535: Eccentric, Impractical Devils: The Letters of August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith (2020, Hippocampus Press) edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. Paperback. Clean pages, minimal wear.

Tonights' film is Cabaret Absinthe (2026), the latest from Cosmotropia de Xam.

H. P. Lovecraft loved tamales.

In a pickle. I've finished this week's Deep Cut. I'm technically trying to hold back and only do 1 a week this year. But its already done. Do I want to post it tomorrow and write another for Saturday?

Out today! SOLOMON KANE: SUFFER THE WITCH! My love letter to Robert E. Howard, heroic fantasy, and weird fiction! Wherever you like to get your books! Fun note: although there have been short stories, comics, and even a movie featuring Kane, this is the first-ever novel starring the character!

For my sins, I once watched CLERKS XXX: A Porn Parody (2013). Which feels weird because it was made solidly in between CLERKS II (2006) and CLERKS III (2022), and a long way away from CLERKS (1994), so it feels like it missed whatever parody window it was going for.

Following up on yesterday. Meditation of the day: Black people in Robert E. Howard's Conan series

Book catalogue project, entry 534: To Worlds Unknown: The Letters of Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Howard Wandrei, and R. H. Barlow (2023, Hippocampus Press) edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. Paperback. Clean pages, minimal wear.

Make a band subjunctive The Pumpkins Be Smashed

Dorothy Quick's Strange Awakening comes out in two weeks! Molly Tanzer says "Weird Tales fans and Romantasy enthusiasts alike will find something in this novel by one of our forgotten matriarchs of science fiction.” frombeyondpress.com/product/stra...

"Necrophily is horrible enough—but only physically so, like other repellent abnormalities. It excites loathing—but does not call up anything beyond Nature." —H. P. Lovecraft to August Derleth, 6 Nov 1931, ES1.404

Underappreciated deep cut of the day: One thing I really enjoy is comparing two different takes on the same material, to see how different creators interpret the same basic story and characters. And this is very much true for "Herbert West—Reanimator." deepcuts.blog/2024/08/28/r...

Meditation of the day: Black people in Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane series

Volk horror

Book catalogue project, entry 533: Born Under Saturn: The Letters of Samuel Loveman and Clark Ashton Smith (2021, Hippocampus Press) by Samuel Loveman, Clark Ashton Smith, S. T. Joshi (Ed.), and David E. Schultz (Ed.). Paperback. Clean pages, minimal wear.

New little buddy.

We have two stories left that could use reviewers.

Cold status: Chicken soup deployed.

Book catalogue project, entries 531 & 532: The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith (1st & 2nd Ed.) (2005, 2019, Hippocampus Press) by George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith, edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. Paperback. Clean pages, some wear.

Starting out 2026 by reviewing something no one else is ever going to review. SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH (2014) by Gonzo is a 3D render erotic comic inspired by Lovecraft's novella...and one day, may be lost media. deepcuts.blog/2026/01/03/s...

Friends! For June 2026, Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein wants to host reviews of older pulp/SFF works involving gender change, identity, and transition from LGBTQ+ guests. These are paid reviews. I've got three folks lined up, but I would like one or two more, if anyone is interested.

Book catalogue project, entry 530: Rhode Island On Lovecraft (2nd ed.) (1945, Grant-Hadley), edited by Donald M. Grant and Thomas P. Hadley. Chapbook. Mostly clean pages, some wear.

Real conversation: Them: I just came out of therapy. Me: That's a book store.

4/ In June I celebrated a year of self-publishing, and put out Edwina Levin (MacDonald)'s HONOR, my first genuine #romance (as opposed to a mystery with a romantic subplot)! Originally published in 1921 in ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY, it features a gentleman thief protagonist. #pulp #romancelandia

The last time I ran a series of guest posts like this was 2023, where we got some amazing reviews. Old-timey pulp fiction wasn't great for representation of gender identity and transition issues, but they're great for introspection. Could still use another 2 reviewers. deepcuts.blog/guest-posts/

Here's a game. 1 like = 1 example of Lovecraft's handwriting See what you can decipher.

The last time I ran a series of guest posts like this was 2023, where we got some amazing reviews. Old-timey pulp fiction wasn't great for representation of gender identity and transition issues, but they're great for introspection. Could still use another 2 reviewers. deepcuts.blog/guest-posts/

La correspondencia completa (no perdida) de Howard Phillips Lovecraft y Robert E. Howard www.sectarios.org/foro/viewtop... #Cthulhu #Hplovecraft #RobertEHoward #Barsoom

Book catalogue project, entry 529: Letters from New York (2005, Night Shade Books) by H. P. Lovecraft, S. T. Joshi (ed.), David E. Schultz (ed.) Clean pages, minimal wear, good dustjacket with some wear.

Friends! For June 2026, Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein wants to host reviews of older pulp/SFF works involving gender change, identity, and transition from LGBTQ+ guests. These are paid reviews. I've got three folks lined up, but I would like one or two more, if anyone is interested.

As we should expect, there are a number of instances of warning apparitions in antiquity; and it is interesting to note that the majority of these are gigantic women endowed with a gift of prophecy. —L. Collison Morley, "Greek and Roman Ghost Stories" (1912)

Book catalogue project, entry 528: Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei (2002, Night Shade Books) by H. P. Lovecraft, S. T. Joshi (ed.), David E. Schultz (ed.). Clean pages, minimal wear, excellent dustjacket. In mylar.

Happy New Year (EST). Let's make 2026 weird.

Tonight's film is SWEET HOME (1989, スウィートホーム), a Japanese haunted house film that ties into a video game of the same name.

ATTN: CONAN THE BARBARIAN FANS!! The Robert E Howard house/museum is in serious need of repair, or it may fall apart. Please donate at rehfoundation.org/save-the-reh... Or share the link and help get the word out.

Tally for the year: The Selected Letters of Novalyne Price Ellis, Vol. II (self-published for Howard Days 2025) Introduction for Il libro blasfemo di Cthulhu (Dagon Press, 2025) Foreword to The Man Who Collected Lovecraft by Marcos Legaria (Sarnath Press, 2025)

Re-skeet for the afternoon crowd.