I"m starting a 10 page Happy Undertaker Mysterie today that should wrap on Halloween. This is the only one I'm going to post here so to see the rest in the coming weeks go here

Gravenhurst sketch..

From a recent trip to Pennsylvania. The first two are from Brandywine battlefield with the first being from a view on the Washington's headquarters.
I'll be in Pumpkin Country this weekend so no posts till I get back.

For what promises to be a beautiful fall weekend up here I can't think of anything better then dipping into two of my favourite Halloweenish books by Ray Bradbury. The Halloween Tree if not my favourite book for this time of year is certainly up there and you can't beat the Mugnaini illustrations in both early editions of this book.

HPL Sketch

Massive and definitive two volume biography of H. P. Lovecraft, arguably the most important writer of weird fiction of the 20th century. Lovecraft, like Poe (whose feverish internal landscapes I read and was affected by first) , had the ability to get under your skin, tho Lovecraft's was a cosmic bleakness. He had the added bonus of creating some memorable monsters thus ensuring him a life of pop culture celebrity to a degree. Makes me think of the way Munch's the Scream has been put on just about anything at some point, you can get a inflatable Cthulhu.
Personally, I think Lovecraft's writing resonates stronger and ages better every time I re- read his stories with passages of haunting beauty.
The only complaint I have about Joshi's engaging and thorough biography is I wish there were more pictures, the bare minimum is included. The blue used as the jacket colour is pretty awful too, should have just stuck with classic black.

Dr. Phibes...

Victor Ambrus' super fun monster party mash kids book. Recommended!

Its October so here's my first Halloweenish post. Just received this from the fine folks at Centipede Press. A collection of french writer Maurice Level's stories TALES OF THE GRAND GUIGNAL. Level's 'conte cruel' stories were often used in the infamous Grand Guignal theatre in Paris.
This collects all of Level's weird stories that were translated, two novels and the short story collection
TALES OF MYSTERY AND HORROR and is beautifully produced like all Centipede books.