As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our ninth contributor to be interviewed is cartoonist/illustrator Rickard Fornstedt. 1. It came pretty late in life. A teacher I had in college a couple of years ago used to mix some Lovecraft references into our tasks, but I didn’t actually read anything by H.P. Lovecraft until last year. Me and the gang used to play Cthulhu By Gaslight, and one of my friends in the group lent me a copy of At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror (with a wonderful cover illustration by Michael Whelan). 2. ”The Statement of Randolph Carter”. That last line gives me chills. 3. Me and Mohammed Omar will showcase our comic Professor Frans och Necronomicon i Upsala.
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our contributor number eight to be interviewed is writer Mohammed Omar. 1. During the 80’s I played the roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu with a couple of class mates. The 3:rd edition from 1986. I remember liking the idea of Sanity Points, that you could go insane. Later in the 90’s I had goth friends who listened to Fields of the Nephilim. That band had some Lovecraftian influences in their songs. 2. My favourite short story is ”The Call of Cthulhu”. Not because of Cthulhu himself. I’ve never been that interested in the monsters. Tentacles are just not my thing. What I do like is the idea of the sunken city, R’lyeh somewhere on the bottom of the Pacific, like a frightening version of Atlantis. Also the concept of artists painting dreams that are not their own. I have used that idea in my poems. 3. I will be talking about a comic book that I’ve done in collaboration with the artist Rickard Fornstedt. It’s called ”Necronomicon in Upsala”. The protagonist is Frans Stenberg, an excentric egyptologist. At his side is Star Wars fanboy Henning. It turns out […]
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our sixth contributor to be interviewed is cartoonist/illustrator Jonas Andersson. 1. My first thought was the roleplaying game (The Call of Cthulhu, ed. note), but actually it must have been ”The Music of Erich Zann” that was featured in a Hitchcock Presents short story collection. 2. My favourite would probably be ”The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. 3. Myself and Daniel Thollin have just released our latest graphic novel, 1000 Ögon: Cthulhu. A stand alone sequel to last year’s 1000 Ögon: Lovecraft. It will be availabe for purchase at the festival.
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our fifth contributor to be interviewed is cartoonist/illustrator Joakim Hanner: 1. My first encounter came through the record cover for the Iron Maiden album. A quote from ”The Nameless City” was carved on the tomb stone pictured there: “That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.” 2. ”The Colour out of Space” and ”Pickman’s Model” are high on my list. But it’s really hard to pick a favourite. 3. I will be drawing to live music. In front of an audience. A first one for me, so it’s gonna be sweet!
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our fourth contributor to be interviewed is one of the founding members of the HPLHS, Sean Branney: 1. I first encountered H.P. Lovecraft when I was about fourteen years old. My weirdest friend, Darrell Tutchton (still the illustrator for the HPLHS), handed me an anthology of horror stories and said, “You have to read this one, it’s really weird.” The story was Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls”. I read it and loved it. 2. If I had to pick just one, I think I’d pick ”The Call of Cthulhu”. I love its many-layered structure and its global scale. I also like how the horror is vague and abstract but then becomes increasingly tangible and specific as the story moves forward. I think it’s a great embodiment of what HPL was trying to accomplish with the concept of cosmic horror. 3. I have a very full schedule at the SHPLFV. On Thursday we’ll be screening the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s film of The Call of Cthulhu and I’ll be on hand to do a Q&A after. On Friday I’ll be reading the entire story of “The Whisperer in Darkness”. On […]
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our third contributor to be interviewed is filmmaker Henrik Möller: 1. I first met him in 1991 through the roleplaying game The Call of Cthulhu and that got me interested in his stories. I’ve been obsessed with Lovecraft for many years now and have read several biographies about him. I’m also planning to do a film down the road presenting a fictionalised biography 2. Maybe The Call of Cthulhu. But it’s hard to pick a favourite. I’d need to do a top five at least. 3. I’m really looking forward to meeting all the amazing people who share my interest in Lovecraft. Like Sean Branney and Mohammed Omar for instance.
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. Our second contributor to be interviewed is filmmaker Einar Baldvin: 1. My friend Sölvi, introduced me to him when I was around 8 in Iceland. He was reading all the books and wanted us to play the roleplaying game The Call of Cthulhu. I read a lot of the stories around that time, even though my English was not great it was good enough to get hooked on his wonderful way pulling one into his stories. 2. It’s hard to say, I do love ”Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn” enough that I am turning it into my next animated film but ”The Shadow over Innsmouth” and ”The Rats in The Walls” are some of my favorites. 3. Unfortunately I cannot attend but my film ’The Pride of Strathmoor’ which was influenced by Lovecraft will be screening there.
As part of the countdown to the festival I’ve asked our esteemed guests and contributors three quick questions: 1. What was your first encounter with H.P. Lovecraft? 2. Which one of his stories do you like the best? 3. What will you be doing at SHPLFV? You will probably find a lot of common ground reading their answers in the days to come. First up is filmmaker Marko Kattilakoski: 1. My first contact with H.P. Lovecraft came through the roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu. I was 14 years old when a friend gave it to me. I became transfixed by the illustrations, the environments and the mood conveyed in the rules. They made me curious about the short stories and the first one I read was the Swedish translation of ”The Outsider” by Sam J. Lundwall. I still remember being profoundly shaken by it. I still have the box (for Call of Cthulhu 2nd Edition) and really treasure it. Complete down to the original set of dice. 2. That is a tough choice. Call of Cthulhu is the classic when talking about Lovecraft and I really like it. I really appreciate the short story ”The Terrible Old Man”, mostly since it leaves so much up to the reader’s imagination. ”The Outsider” still touches me deeply. 3. On Thursday I will be presenting my film ”The Terrible Typewriter” and take any questions from the audience afterwards. I’m really curious to see the other movies on offer. I have Call of Cthulhu on dvd, but have never […]
There was a lot of stuff happening over the course of the festival. Our cameras caught some of it. For those of you who couldn’t make it or simply want to relive some glorious moments, here comes a cornucopia of beastly beauty: