{"id":5335,"date":"2018-10-25T22:42:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T22:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=5335"},"modified":"2018-10-25T22:42:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T22:42:13","slug":"eckhardt-the-art-of-lovecraft-and-poe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/eckhardt-the-art-of-lovecraft-and-poe\/","title":{"rendered":"Eckhardt \u2013 The Art of Lovecraft and Poe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exciting! Electrifying! Eckhardtian! Episcopalian! These are just four words beginning with E. None of the illustrated books we mention today are episcopalian (we don\u2019t think) but they are fun – even scholarly but fun in one case. And we have some exclusive illos to show off. Our targets are Jason Eckhardt, Sam Gafford, Brandon Barrows, Hugo Petrus, Edgar Allan Poe<\/strong><\/span> and a surprise guest, David Langford<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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NOTE: All pics should be clickable for larger versions, and sales links are provided for each book should you fancy a copy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Artist at the Threshold
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We start with an illustrated volume we mentioned a while back, as a neatish link. Our first in-depth exposure to Jason Eckhardt\u2019s<\/strong> striking work was in Some Notes on a Nonentity: The Life of H.P. Lovecraft<\/em> (PS Publishing 2017), written by Sam Gafford<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The art of Some Notes on a Nonentity<\/em>, a biography in graphic novel form, is fascinating, and was very well received:<\/p>\n

\u201cEckhardt’s art deserves especial praise here: while he has published many drawings on Lovecraftian subjects over his career, the breadth of style and expression in SOME NOTES ON A NONENTITY is a cut above what anyone might have expected, and those familiar with the people and places involved will appreciate the considerable care that has gone into photo-references of the historical persons and places within. It’s an attention to detail that is echoed in Sam Gafford’s text, although the pace is kept lively – this is a work that could easily have been twice as long, and yet have become less accessible.\u201d (Amazon Reviewer)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We even bought a copy at the time, and were most pleased with it \u2013 a lovely work to browse, and very informative.<\/p>\n

Eckhardt: Behind the Masque<\/h1>\n
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Now Jason Eckhardt has turned to Edgar Allan Poe<\/strong>, a fitting choice given Poe\u2019s influence on Lovecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoe has probably influenced me more than any other one person. If I have ever been able to approximate his kind of thrill, it is only because he himself paved the way by creating a whole atmosphere & method which lesser men can follow with relative ease.\u201d (HPL to J. Vernon Shea, 19 June 1931)<\/em><\/p>\n

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The new book, The Masque of the Red Death and Others<\/em> (Ulthar Press 2018), includes a selection of Poe\u2019s original stories, each beautifully illustrated by Eckhardt:<\/p>\n

\u201cEdgar Allan Poe lives again in this collection of 13 of his most famous short stories and poems brought to life by exclusive, never-before-seen haunting illustrations from famed artist Jason Eckhardt. Stories include \u2018The Murders in the Rue Morgue\u2019, \u2018The Tell-Tale Heart\u2019, \u2018Metzengerstein\u2019, \u2018The Gold-Bug\u2019 and many more including the title story.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Masque of the Red Death and Others<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amazon UK http:\/\/amzn.eu\/d\/fn8ygc7<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon US http:\/\/a.co\/d\/g99wlZs<\/a><\/p>\n

\"some<\/a>Some Notes on a Nonentity: The Life of H.P. Lovecraft<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amazon UK http:\/\/amzn.eu\/d\/2E48Yz7<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon US http:\/\/a.co\/d\/ezZVFgx<\/a><\/p>\n

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By Langford Station, We Sat Down and Wept<\/h1>\n

The curious thing is that whilst checking out more of Eckhardt\u2019s work, we knew he\u2019d done a lot of line art for other Lovecraftian projects, but hadn\u2019t realised that he\u2019d illustrated an old friend of ours, that erudite author, editor and reviewer David Langford<\/strong>, a Britlander like ourselves. Many and many\u2019s the time we have shouted at him across a crowded convention bar \u2013 and discovered that we were on his deaf side. No, really.<\/p>\n

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The item in question is the Irrational Numbers<\/em> Pamphlet (Necronomicon Press 1994) by David Langford (Author), Jason C. Eckhardt (Illustrator).<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Irrational Numbers by David Langford is a collection of three short stories in techno-Lovecraftian vein, where occult investigations intersect dangerously with physics, mathematics and computer software.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNeil Gaiman’s back-cover quote reads “Only Dave Langford knows the meaning of the word ‘fear’,” with the tiny footnote The other words only Dave Langford knows the meaning of are ‘Labile’, ‘Glabrous’ and ‘Scrotiform’.\u201d<\/span>“<\/em><\/p>\n

The pamphlet itself is around occasionally, secondhand, but the three stories are still available in Different Kinds of Darkness<\/em> by Langford:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Different Kinds of Darkness collects 36 “straight” sf\/fantasy\/horror stories, complementing the parodies and pastiches in <\/em>He Do the Time Police in Different Voices — there is no overlap. The stories range from the first Langford professional appearance in (gulp) 1975 to my latest piece of fiction at the time of delivery in October 2003.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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He Do the Time Police in Different Voices<\/em> is an especially delightful book of parodies which we have mentioned on greydogtales before:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/parodies-possibilities-end-of-the-year-part-the-last\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Different Kinds of Darkness<\/em> is available through Ansible (as is Time Police<\/em>).<\/p>\n

https:\/\/ansible.uk\/books\/dkod.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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Barrows Wrangles with Lovecraft\u2019s Worlds<\/h1>\n

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Finally, as we\u2019re in the zone, it seems well worth mentioning another graphic work from last year, Mythos: Lovecraft’s Worlds<\/em>, written by Brandon Barrows<\/strong> and illustrated by Hugo Petrus<\/strong>, published by Calibre Comics. Petrus has worked with writer Roy Thomas<\/strong> for Marvel Illustrated: The Three Musketeers<\/em>, amongst other projects.<\/p>\n

Barrows is, of course, a writer of both comics and many varieties of weird and thriller fiction, including his recent novel This Rough Old World<\/em>, which is published by\u2026 Ulthar Press, run by Sam Gafford. Degrees of Kevin Bacon explode.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemembered as the father of modern horror, H.P. Lovecraft is best known for tales of terror, cosmic abominations and especially his most famous creation, the dreaded Cthulhu! Few realize, however, the true creative breadth and depth spanned by Lovecraft, who penned stories of horror but also of fantasy, science fiction and even humor. Within this Mythos series, writer Brandon Barrows and artist Hugo Petrus go beyond tentacles and evil gods to explore the rare corners and the myriad worlds created by H.P. Lovecraft!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Barrows has adapted Lovecraft\u2019s original texts clearly and appropriately to fit the medium of graphic stories, and there are two other particular pleasures in Mythos<\/em>:<\/p>\n