It’s still August 20 in my time zone as I type these words, so it’s not too late for me to send out this year’s Lovecraftian birthday acknowledgment into the cyber-ether. Thus: Happy Birthday, Howard, wherever you are or are not. If it’s the former, if you really are somewhere, then I know you’re eternally…
Tag: horror
In praise of horror movie music, from Bernard Hermann to Goblin to Ennio Morricone to John Carpenter
A recent engaging article from the Guardian pings on a number of my most cherished horror film themes and composers by examining the contributions of, among others, Bernard Hermann, Howard Shore, John Carpenter, Goblin, and Ennio Morricone, and by invoking the cinematic legacy of such directors as Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, and William Friedkin.
Which movies horrify the masters of horror?
Jason Zinoman, a theater reporter for The New York Times, has been showing up virtually everywhere in media land this summer thanks to the publication of his new book Shock Value in July. Subtitled “How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror,” the book has been characterized as the…
H.P. Lovecraft, DMT, and the mysteries of the pineal gland
Does Rick Strassman’s DMT research provide a kind of real-world verification of Lovecraft’s fictional hypothesis in “From Beyond”?
Cosmic Horror and Cosmic Wonder: Revisioning Our Vision of H.P. Lovecraft
H.P. Lovecraft, the recognized master of cosmic horror, was actually moved as much by a sense of cosmic wonder.
Economic doom redux: REALMS OF FANTASY and DREAMS OF DECADENCE shutting down
It’s official: Realms of Fantasy magazine is now history, as announced by publisher Warren Lapine at the magazine’s website today (“A Farewell Note from the Publisher“) and repeated by Locus (“Realms of Fantasy Folds“). We’ll all recall that ROF previously announced they were folding early last year. Some of you will also recall that I…
Report: ArmadilloCon 32
Well, I’m back from ArmadilloCon 32, having spent the entire weekend down in Austin at the lovely Renaissance Hotel (which was home to the World Fantasy Convention in 2006). This was my third time to attend ArmadilloCon, and it was, as expected, an excellent event all around. Two themes dominated the weekend for me. The…
Reviews of my stories in ‘Cthulhu’s Reign’ and ‘Dark Faith’
Here’s some new Internet chatter about my recently published stories. ABOUT “THE NEW PAULINE CORPUS” IN CTHULHU’S REIGN [The anthology’s premise] leaves the contributors with a fairly broad territory to explore, which they do to greater or lesser effect, and sometimes with stunning originality. . . . Matt Cardin’s “The New Pauline Corpus” plays with…
It’s the Most Tentacled Time of the Year: Happy 120th Birthday, H.P. Lovecraft
Nobody would have been more surprised than Howard Phillips Lovecraft himself at his posthumous ascent to the twin positions of international entertainment culture icon and canonical American literary figure. Today is his 120th birthday. He was born on August 20, 1890 (only four days (plus 80 years) before my own birthday, I gleefully note). He…
A New Golden Age of Horror Fiction?
We just may be living through a new golden age of horror fiction. That’s my diagnosis as I survey the range of wonderful books that have recently appeared, and that have been appearing for the past few years, and that are set to appear in coming months. I make this claim in full awareness that…