NEWSCLUSTER
Polarizing
011 years ago
Two wildly different reviews in this week for Scott R Jones’ When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality. The first can only be described as “glowing”, the kind of glowing that might require the reader to don a lead apron, actually, and that makes it our favourite, for obvious reasons. The second has a lot to say about the book, and much of it in the category of complaints about what the book is not. Now, Nick Mamatas (a fellow who we trust) claims that no one actually reads these reviews, and he’s very likely correct in that. But the dynamic tension between these statements from readers of WTSAR has got us thinking. Some excerpts…
the Glowing review
“There’s no denying the potency of Jones’ profound examination of R’lyehian thought. This book is a beautifully weird Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen trinity paradox, where the author prods the primordial swamp of R’lyehian existence which invokes ripples across the mindscape, thus throwing interpretations of locality and reality askew. A literary Eliphas Levi, he weaves astral light into words with such honed wit, such wisdom, such a deep passion the title of literary mage is clichéd but appropriate…”
(full review here)
the Whiny review
“… the whole books reads like a lot of random journal entries from one guy who took a LOT of psychedelic drugs, had some tentacle dreams, and then decided that collecting his own writings about his personal experiences and how you are supposed to act once you have already begun to foster the Black Gnosis equates to writing a how-to on actually getting there yourself from scratch…”
(full review here)
Have you read When The Stars Are Right? If so, what’s your opinion: is Jones a trailblazing Lovecraftian mystic? or a damp, trippy hippy with pseudopods on the brain? Does WTSAR trust in the reader to find their own way into the R’lyehian mysteries? or should it hold the seeker’s hand more, explicitly pointing to the Black Gnosis? Let us know in the comments, or better yet, write a review of your own and let us know where you post it.
And speaking of polarizing books, we here at MMP HQ are extremely pleased to hear of the imminent release of Bobby Derie’s new book, Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos, coming out later this month from the esteemed Hippocampus Press. Mr Derie has been a friend of the show for a while now, and we’ve been fortunate to watch the process of the writing of what is sure to be a groundbreaker of a book that will ruffle a few skirts and spark lively debate. Mr Derie’s research skills are frighteningly impressive: many times we’ve been on the receiving end of some casually dropped piece of Lovecraftiana scholarship that has blown our minds (and we don’t mean Upworthy-style, either!) and reformatted our perceptions of Lovecraft the Man, the Product, and the Mythos. Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos (with a snazzy Gahan Wilson cover, no less!) is available now for pre-order: we very strongly urge MMP readers to pick up their copy today, because this one? This one will be on more than a few lips upon its arrival, and if you’re at all interested in the seamy overlap between the perceived prudishness of classic Lovecraftiana and the boiling sexuality that froths between the actual lines of HPLs fiction, you’ll want in on the discussion. Order direct from Hippocampus Press here
Martian Migraine Press: the Best Kind of Headache
Open Call for Submissions RESONATOR: New Lovecraftian Tales From Beyond
011 years ago
Tillinghast: "My ... god! It's ... a new anthology from Martian Migraine Press!" Dr. McMichaels: "I want to see more. FEEL MORE!"
In his classic story From Beyond, Howard Phillips Lovecraft introduced the Tillinghast Resonator: a monstrous device that stimulates dormant senses in man, opens up unseen worlds to unsuspecting eyes, and calls through terror and ecstasy from a realm far beyond our mundane perceptions. This is an open call for submissions to the third anthology from Martian Migraine Press…
RESONATOR: New Lovecraftian Tales From Beyond
We want to see weird fiction with the Tillinghast Resonator (and machines or processes like it) as inspiration. What creatures, both mindless and sentient, are revealed in its uncanny radiation? What worlds may be opened up to the user with the slightest change in frequency? What profit, what peril, what power and pleasure may be derived from its use? We want to see new and startling applications of Tillinghast Resonator technology, be introduced to bizarre new entities with motives and mentalities that beggar the imagination, and experience psychedelic perceptions in prose. We also wouldn’t mind clever riffs on the campy-cult goodness of Mr Gordon’s film! Mind-blasting horror, black humour, high-frequency kinkiness, and cosmic enlightenment are all part of the game when the Resonator powers up!
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES and PAYMENT INFORMATION
So turn on the juice, throw every switch, brace your pineal gland for some unprecedented growth, and get ready to go BEYOND!
Smut and Spirituality for Spring!
011 years ago
A double-header Newscluster for you this morning, Migraineers! Some smut and spirituality to start off your Spring!
CONQUEROR WOMB goes FREE on Kindle for a Limited Time…
First off: the Spring has sprung! the grass is riz! And if you’re wondering where the Black Goat of the Woods is, well babies, She is over in the Amazon Kindle store where she’s been since we put her there, gathering followers and great reviews. And in celebration of the Vernal Equinox, she’s making herself all free and easy for your reading pleasure and beyond! That’s right. CONQUEROR WOMB: Lusty Tales of Shub-Niggurath is going on a bit of a gratis orgy. Pick up your Kindle edition of CW (with stories by Wilum Pugmire, Molly Tanzer, Christopher Slatsky, Kenton Hall, Christine Morgan, Jacqueline Sweet, Brian M Sammons, and others) FREE TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY MARCH 23rd.
Oh, and a quick note about the cover to CW… you may recall our censorship troubles with the Big A regarding the awesome cover art by Scottish comics wunderkind Garry Mac (“Too many nursing titties!” they said. “Nine is too many!” they whined.) Well, we’ve managed a work-around on that, too: you get the un-censored cover graphic in the body of the text now. Everybody happy! (We hope.)
And don’t forget to send your Amazon email receipt to bookstore@martianmigrainepress.com to get your Conqueror Womb bonus e-book, DARK/YOUNG, with a story each by editor Justine Geoffrey (BLACKSTONE Erotica) and author Jess Gulbranson (Antipaladin Blues)
WHEN THE STARS ARE RIGHT Official Launch
The pre-order period for getting your early paperback copy of Scott R Jones’ game-changing book, When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality, is now over. Which means we’re launching the Damned Thing into the world officially. You can order your physical copy or your EPUB and PDF e-versions HERE, or, if you want to start digesting Jones’ dark wisdom immediately on your Kindle or Kindle-enabled device, you can head on over to the Kindle store HERE to have it delivered via Amazon’s WhisperNet in literally seconds.
We’re hoping you’ll want to talk about When The Stars Are Right once you’ve been infecte–… we mean, once you’ve enjoyed the book, so, a reminder about hashtags for the social media: we’re trying to get #KeepinItRlyeh (or, alternatively, #KeepingItRlyeh with a G in there, for you grammar Nazis), #Cthulhusattva, and #BlackGnosis trending. Use those while gibbering about your reading experience on Facebook or Twitter, or when dropping some review-action on the book, and we’ll notice! We are all about noticing things like that.
