Dates announced for the next H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival

The 2014 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival-Los Angeles will occur September 26-28 at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. Aaron Vanek will be jointly running it with James Knouse and Miguel Rodriguez.

Thanks to them, everyone will only go partially insane and not totally insane next fall! James did the 2013 HPLFF-LA social media (a few posts reached 46K hits) and makes Cthulhu Pickles, and Miguel runs the Horrible Imaginings Horror Film Festival of San Diego. It's a good crew, and I look forward to working with all of them to make the next year even bigger than this last one!

Personally, I think it might have to be a year where we see a big focus on the games of Cthulhu, as well, because a number of Cthulhu-centered games supported by Kickstarter and other methods are anticipated to be coming out for that year. 

From a  poet's perspective, it's also the 100th anniversary since the publication of Lovecraft's poems "Ad Criticos," "On a Modern Lothario," "The End of the Jackson," "To the Members of the Pin-Feathers on the Merits of Their Organisation, and of Their New Publication, The Pinfeather," "To the Rev. James Pyke: On His Unpublished Verse," "To General Villa," "To the Rev. James Pyke," and "New England". Which weren't exactly all time classics of his we really read any more, but they're also among his earliest forays into published writing. But 20 years later, in 1934 he'll be publishing poem like "Dreams of Yith" with Duane Rimel.

2014 will also be 80 years since Lovecraft first published the short story "From Beyond," in 1934 and 90 years since he published his classic short stories "The Rats in the Walls," and "The Hound," which has his very first mention of the dreaded tome The Necronomicon. I'd also take note that in that year he wrote "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" with Harry Houdini. Several of these have been adapted to short films and feature films.

Cinematically, it's 20 years since Full Moon Pictures' adaptation of "The Lurking Fear," although I'm not quite a fan of that version, nor Cornerstone Films' 1989 adaptation, "Dark Heritage: The Final Descendant," which would be celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Barring some non-Euclidian calamity, for the next year's festival, I'll also have copies of DEMONSTRA on hand in 2014, and will be doing interviews again with many of our featured guests who are participating.

So start dusting off your scripts, finishing up your films and pondering what will happen when the stars are right, because 2014 is going to be a fantastic experience!

Jambo Africa at the Twin Cities Daily Planet

 

My recent performance at IBe Kaba's Accent Reading at Jambo Africa was featured in the Twin Cities Daily Planet recently in a nice article by Sheronda Orridge. The plan of the reading was that by bringing people together at African business we can not only introduce people to the African community in the Twin Cities (and African culture) but also help these businesses stay viable. It’s about doing our part to ensure our community continues to thrive in our new home.

Be sure to check Jambo Africa out at 6000 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center!

5 Flavors to appear in Expanded Horizons

My poem, '5 Flavors' will be appearing at Expanded Horizons later this month!

But in the meantime, here's an earlier poem: "The Robo Sutra" examining what might happen if Minneapolis Laotown workers built their own robots to replace themselves at the world's largest padaek factory.

The mission of Expanded Horizons is "to increase diversity in the field of speculative fiction, both in the authors who contribute and in the perspectives presented. We feature speculative fiction stories and artwork, as well as essays about speculative fiction and fandom from diverse points of view."

Lake Monsters of America

Atlas Obscura mapped out the Loch Ness-type monsters, webbed hominids, and giant killer sea creatures that reputedly lurk beneath the various waters of America. They missed the Zaj of Phalen Lake in Minnesota,  and a few others, but overall, it's a great point to start from.