318: Metafiction and Horror, with Eleanor Hingley
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re discussing metafiction and horror. More importantly, we’re getting the title of the episode in the first paragraph for SEO purposes. Main Topic: Metafiction and Horror Metafiction turns up in every genre from literary fiction to SF, breaking fourth walls, playing with storytelling conventions, and embedding fictional narratives within fictional narratives. Our focus here, however, is on the connection between metafiction and horror, whether this is self-aware slasher films or horror novelists who write about horror novelists. We look at various definitions of...
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317: Small Town Horror, with Eleanor Hingley
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re keeping to ourselves. You really can’t be too careful. The outside world is full of dangerous ideas and strange people. Some of them don’t even play Call of Cthulhu. Sure, they might find our ways odd too, especially if they hear the singing in our early episodes. Still, the real small town horror is always other people. Main Topic: Small Town Horror This is a local episode for local people. We explore small town settings and why they work so well for horror. Isolated, insular communities are a mainstay of horror, usually populated by sinister locals who shun...
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316: Art and the Cthulhu Mythos, with Kailas Elmer
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re pushing boundaries. Good taste has never come easily to us, but it’s downright impossible when talking about art that might inspire Call of Cthulhu games. From performance artists who mutilate themselves in inventive ways to photographers who raid the local morgue looking for models, it’s hard for horror writers like us to make this stuff any nastier. But still we try. Main Topic: Art and the Cthulhu Mythos This episode is the conclusion of our two-part look into the relationship between Lovecraft and art. , we looked at the artistic influences that...
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315: Lovecraft and Art, with Kailas Elmer
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re mulling over bas-reliefs again. Once you start looking into the relationship between Lovecraft and art, the damn things are everywhere. We would say that there’s no relief from them, but that would be beneath us. Main Topic: Lovecraft and Art This episode is the first of a two-part look into the relationship between Lovecraft and art, and how this shaped the Cthulhu Mythos and Call of Cthulhu. Next episode, we’ll be flipping things around and looking for inspiration from the world of art, but here we’re examining the influence it had on Lovecraft’s life...
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314: Analogue Horror, with Holly Buteau
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re twiddling the tracking knob. It’s supposed to help clear up the image on this old videocassette, but maybe that’s just missing the point. The static can be the most interesting part, filled with whispers, ghosts, and ancient secrets. Compared to such wonders, the film itself is a bit disappointing. Then again, analogue horror seems to be more of a vibe than a form of storytelling, so maybe we should just let the white noise wash over us. Main Topic: Analogue Horror This episode sees us explore analogue horror, trying to work out what exactly it is and how to bring...
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313: Horror in Space, with Holly Buteau
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re and we’re answering the call of the void. Really, it’s about the scariest call you can receive, regardless of what Cthulhu may tell you. The yawning darkness of infinity shouldn’t be as tempting as it is. For all our talk about horror in space, maybe the real horror was inside us the whole time. Main Topic: Horror in Space This episode heads into the cold and the dark, exploring just what it is that makes space so scary. We talk about some of the real challenges and dangers posed by space travel and how they can amplify horror, then move on to inspirational...
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312: Comedy Horror, with Evan Dorkin
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re and we’re putting on our ponchos. They look a bit silly, but that works for us here. The important thing is that they’ll keep some of the gore off our clothes. Comedy horror can be a messy business, especially once you bring gardening equipment into play. We’re not sure whether to laugh or cry, so we’ll probably just scream. Main Topic: Comedy Horror This episode sees us delve into the bloody world of comedy horror, trying to pin down what makes the two genres work so well together, looking at some examples from media, and trying to work out how to perform...
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311: RPGs and Fiction, with Evan Dorkin
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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310: Something Wicked This Way Comes, with Cuppycup
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
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309: Theme Parks and Horror, with Cuppycup
The Good Friends of Jackson Elias
We’re back and we’re learning about protein spills. What sounded like an innocent sexual innuendo has turned out to be more scatological than any of us would have liked. The unpleasant realities of theme parks are well hidden behind twee language and cute costumes. Happily, once we strip them away, we can find some good horror inspiration. Although we do wish it all smelled a bit better. Main Topic: Theme Parks and Horror This episode, we visit the topic of theme parks, amusement parks, funfairs and the like, looking for Call of Cthulhu inspiration. As with so many things rooted...
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We’re back and we’re peering into wells. Perhaps it’s not unusual to find dead things in wells, but they aren’t generally this animated. Maybe the poor things would lie down and die if there was room for them to do so. Or maybe its just that gnawing hunger that keeps them going. Either way, we suppose they wouldn’t really be ye liveliest awfulness without being lively…
Main Topic: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 4
We are continuing our investigation into HP Lovecraft’s novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, heading deep into the catacombs below Pawtuxet. This section contains some of the most horrific scenes Lovecraft wrote, as well as a brief introduction to Grecian pottery. Every day is an education with Howie.
This episode brings us to the end of the story itself, but we shall return next time to discuss the various ways in which The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has been adapted for the screen, audio dramas, and Call of Cthulhu.
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- A Dreamer and a Visionary: HP Lovecraft in His Time by ST Joshi
- I Am Providence: The Life and Times of HP Lovecraft by ST Joshi
- Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters by HP Lovecraft, ST Joshi, and David E Schultz
- Lovecraft and a World in Transition by ST Joshi
- The New Annotated HP Lovecraft, edited by Leslie Klinger
- “The Thing on the Doorstep” by HP Lovecraft
- Yog-Sothoth
- HP Lovecraft Historical Society reading of Lovecraft’s complete fiction, including The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
- At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft
- The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
- Dan O’Bannon
- The Resurrected (1991)
- “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” by HP Lovecraft
- “The Call of Cthulhu” by HP Lovecraft
- “Pickman’s Model” by HP Lovecraft
- “The Waste Land” by TS Eliot
- Lekythos
- Phaleron jug
- Weird Tales
- Kylix
- Soylent Green (1973)
- The Sign of Koth
- The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
News
Innsmouth Literary Festival
Matt and Paul discuss what they got up to at the Innsmouth Literary Festival. Much of this revolves around book purchases, specifically Ambrose, Broadalbin and Sosostris by John Tynes, Ripples From Carcosa by Heather Miller, and The Dunwich Trilogy by Robert Poyton. The British setting of the latter put Matt in mind of his own scenario “An Amaranthine Desire” from Nameless Horrors.
Matt also gives a shout out to Cthulhu Loves Crafts, creators of the budgie lapel pin pictured below.
Blasphemous Tome Issue 13
We are hard at work on issue 13 of The Blasphemous Tome, the fanzine we put out twice-yearly for Patreon backers of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias. This new issue will contain a brand-new and gruesome Call of Cthulhu scenario from our own Matt Sanderson, as well as all the usual year-end features.
Anyone backing us at the $5 level or higher by the end of this year can expect a printed copy of the Tome, signed by our own fair extremities. Backers at the $3 level will receive a voucher for a discounted print-on-demand copy, and everyone will receive the PDF.
Don’t forget that backing us also gives you access to the entire back catalogue of the Tome in PDF format, which includes a wealth of Call of Cthulhu scenarios you won’t find anywhere else.
