Season 7, Episode 7: The Black Stone (Epic Closer for Season 7)

Greetings, Cromrades! This week we conclude our seventh season with a discussion of REH's The Black Stone. It's free on Project Gutenburg or, if you're on the hunt for an audio retelling of the story, check out an older post by SFF Audio. They give some great shout-outs to podcasts that narrated The Black Stone. Their post also presents some additional art inspired by the story! Here's the  cover art for Bantam's 1979 edition of the "Wolfshead" collection...

This widely-lauded "Cthulhu mythos" story was first published in Weird Tales in November of '31... We think this is a tremendous story! While there are arguments to be made about its derivative qualities (see this well-written essay by Price), this is as much a tale that exhibits "Howardian" themes as those typically associated with Lovecraft....

One Things

Jon: Magic for Humans on Netflix.

Josh: Aw...Crap, A Hellboy Podcast and the Hellboy Book Club Podcast.

Luke: Trilogy by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

Also... Be sure to check out "The Terrible Parchment" by Manly Wade Wellman, as recommended Rusty Burke!

Next time... Cromtober!

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

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We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Pop music includes Donovan's "Season of the Witch." All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 6: Grimoires on Film! Evil Dead, In The Mouth of Madness, and The Ninth Gate

Greetings, Cromrades! This week on the show we consider three films that make use of the grimoire trope in different ways. Under consideration are Evil Dead (1981), directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell (et al.), In The Mouth of Madness (1995), directed by John Carpenter and starring Sam Neill (and others), and The Ninth Gate (200), directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Johnny Depp (etc).

Joinnnnn Usssssss....

Can you see the underlying influences in these works? Is there Howard, Lovecraft, Smith, or Bloch to be found? The Ninth Gate was based on the book The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte which we have not read. However, there is a certain element of pulp adventure to be found in the film!

Certainly some good discussion fodder to be had here! What is your favorite movie featuring a grimoire?

Want more Deadite discussion? Check out The Faculty of Horror Episode 14 for a deeper dive into all things Evil Dead!

Want more Hollywood grimoire discussion? We appeared on Episode 275 of Trick or Treat Radio back in November 2017 and discussed the pulpy film Residue. Check it out!

One Things

Jon: Generation Wealth. (Mo money, mo problems.)

Josh: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (originally for TurboGraphx-16 CD in Japan, you can play this on the PSP. (Or emulate it! Shhh...)

Luke: Clint Mephisto's Shit-Kickin' Road Show on Radio Free Satan.

Next time: An baleful black obelisk beckons.

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!
Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Where Is My Mind by The Pixies. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 5: De Vermis Mysteriis

We continue down this path of weird, arcane books and our next tome to read is Robert Bloch's De Vermis Mysteriis. This grimoire first appeared in Bloch's "The Shambler from the Stars" and is such a powerful book that it summons forth something our narrator cannot deal with! Bloch even based one of the characters off of his idol, HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft picked up the thread and used De Vermis Mysteriis himself in "The Haunter of the Dark". 

These two tales are our featured stories and we hope you'll read them and join us for a discussion on these mysterious worms!

One Things
Jon: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars by David Bowie
Josh: James Acaster's "Repetoire", streaming on Netflix (dun dun)
Luke: Luke's gotten wise and gone to church, The Church of the Cosmic Skull that is, Check out their album "Science Fiction"

Next time we'll cover De Vermis Mysterious, as referenced in Bloch's Shambler in the Stars and Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark.

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!
Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Shamble on, you crazy, fleshy diamond

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Starman by David Bowie, The Thin White Duke. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 4: The Book of Eibon!

Hello again, Cromrades! We meander a bit with this episode, but after a solid front-end covering bourbonz, books, TV, and podcasts, we finally get into a big discussion of three Clark Ashton Smith stories, namely The Door to Saturn, Ubbo-Sathla, and The Coming of the White Worm.

As referenced in our episode, below are two of CAS's depictions of Tsathoggua!

One Things
Jon: Priceless, by Wittman and Shiffman
Josh: Retrogaming podcasts, including Retronauts and Watch Out for Fireballs, and Graveyard Duck!
Luke: Sharp Objects, both the HBO series and the book!

Next time we'll cover De Vermis Mysterious, as referenced in Bloch's Shambler in the Stars and Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark.

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!
Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Closing theme: In the Evening, by the Led Zeppelin. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 3: Have You Found The Yellow Sign?

 “I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow.” 

 - Robert W. Chambers, "The Repairer of Reputations".

Cover of the 1895 edition.

Hello again, Cromrades! We trust that you have been keeping up with your reading. This particular book is most enlightening. Tell us - Have you found The Yellow Sign? This week, we take on Robert W. Chambers' influential collection of short stories, THE KING IN YELLOW. It's easy to see how these tales influenced the authors we've discussed thus far on the show, from Lovecraft to Howard to Smith and beyond. We focus our discussion on THE YELLOW SIGN, but other stories from the collection are also considered.

Note: This episode contains spoilers for True Detective, Season One! They start at around the 60 minute mark, if you want to avoid them!

Extra Resources

Listen to The Repairer of Reputations on the Tales to Terrify podcast, and The Yellow Sign on Pseudopod!

Consider whether life is worth living and the notion of anti-natalism while you listen to David Benatar on Waking Up with Sam Harris.

Do Slenderman and other creepypastas spring forth from the same fount as pulp grimoires like The Necronomicon?

Should THE KING IN YELLOW be considered a weird fiction grimoire in the same way as The Necronomicon? Let us know what you think!

One Things
Jon: The Nintendo Switch, and Mario Kart! Who is your go-to kart racer?
Josh: Supergods, by Grant Morrison. (But is it a grimoire?)
Luke: Zeal & Ardor's 2018 album Stranger Fruit.


Next time: Klarkash-Ton tells us of The Book of Eibon. What terrible wisdom lies within the pages of this dread tome?  Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!
Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Cirice by Ghost B.C. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 2: Behold the Necronomicon!

Welcome back, Cromrades! Episode 2 on our road of grimoires features that magical book we all know and love, The Necronomicon! To get acquainted with this particular tome, we have read "The Hound" by HP Lovecraft and also discuss "The Nameless City" and "The History of the Necronomicon". What sort of terrible knowledge did Abdul Alhazred write down? 

To read with us: 

H.P. Lovecraft's "The History of the Necronomicon" and "The Hound"

Join us, if you dare!

One Things

Luke: Monster Talk podcasts on grimoires and the history of the esoteric 

Josh: The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and Sam Keith 

Jon: The Museum of the Bizarre in Wilmington, NC 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

You know you want to follow us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!

Or, check us out on iTunes!

We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: "Do the Necronomicon" from Evil Dead the Musical. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 1: Grimoires in the Pulps!

gri·moire: noun. a book of magic spells and invocations, that may itself possess some magical properties.

Take a look, it's in a book... 

Welcome back, Cromrades! It has been a bit since our journey to Howard Days and the wrap-up of our adventures with Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser. We're sure we'll be seeing them again someday. But for now, our journey takes us down some dark paths. We are searching for knowledge, and to that end have purchased some ancient tomes that ought to open new vistas in our perceptions of reality! To that end, Season Seven will focus on Grimoires and their use as literary devices and tropes in pulp fantasy and horror! This week, we dive into a general discussion of grimoires both real and fictional and ponder why this trope is so prevalent in the pulps!

One Things
Jon - Kolchak the Night Stalker
Luke - His raised bed - zukes & cukes!
Josh - Altered Carbon on Netflix

Next week: H.P. Lovecraft's classic grimoire, The Necronomicon! We'll be reading "The History of the Necronomicon" and "The Hound" for our eldritch, gibbering discussion!

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!
Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!