Cthulhu Mythos Art: Shadows of the Game

1920s female investigator plays Call of Cthulhu

Pintureiro

1920s female investigator plays Call of Cthulhu by Pintureiro – click full size

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.  Or in this case, the fun-filled tongue-in-cheek twist on a classic Mythos concept.

This is a lovely piece of art by the super-talented Pintureiro. One of the foundation stones of the Cthulhu Mythos is the notion that dabbling with it in any way is an invitation to madness. Simple fact. We – humans – do not have the emotional integrity to cope with the Cyclopean shifts in comprehension that can come from exposure to cosmic truths of our – human – position in the teeming universe. Step beyond the Quantisphere into the squirming fury of the Outer Chaos and everything you hold dear, those cornerstones of education and knowledge, just don’t look quite right.  If they fit at all.  It’s all a question of perspective. A concept that tends to break down within the mind-warping heat of Mythos energies. In this image a female investigator is playing the game.  The shadow on the wall conveys the forewarning of what will be the result of this.

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Available in paperback or kindle

Paperback : LULU & Amazon Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)
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EDGE { novel } Ethan Carmichael, technical wizard and prolific inventor is close to burn out. Taking time out at a luxury snowboarding resort in New Zealand seems like the perfect opportunity to refresh his mind and spirit. But the mountain is a gateway to something much older than humankind, a malign and alien force that even now is oozing back into our reality, hungry for flesh and fear. On the other side of the world, Halo Santana, an unscrupulous concept scout scrambles onto the trail of a new technology that has vanished from a corporate R&D lab. Quickly out of his depth, he enters a frantic race to track down the missing components to save his life. Both men find their fates tangled in a deadly web of lies, treachery and a cosmic horror that comes from beyond the stars. David J Rodger delivers relentless narrative pace in a tense action-packed novel.

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Invitation to join: Tatters of the King – Online RPG – Starting 3rd July

Horror Stalks Back to London 1928

The King in Yellow slithers through time to take on the minds that attempt to deny its dominion over this reality.

The King in Yellow may clasp your oblivion yet – click to take part

When Simon Brake isn’t writing blood-drenched scenarios for Call of Cthulhu (see Roots in “The Things We Leave Behind“, collection), or being spotted as a zombie “extra” in a certain movie, he’s giving up his Wednesday evenings July onwards to run an online RPG session called Tatters of the King.

THIS IS AN INVITATION FOR YOU TO TAKE PART:

Just CLICK HERE or go to Facebook to get involved.

Introduction

This game is aimed at fans of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, Robert W Chambers’ The King In Yellow, or anyone who’d like to role-play a horror campaign starting in 1920s London, and spreading further afield and through the decades that follow.

It takes its name from the Tatters of the King campaign for Call of Cthulhu, but will hopefully develop beyond the confines of the one campaign and the one system. I’m hoping to use a much streamlined set of ‘rules’ that will mean the game places out more like interactive fiction (no dice!), whilst still being under the control of the ‘Keeper’ (the games master or, in this case, Admin).

You’re not stupid, so you’ll probably realise that there are spoilers out there on the internet. You’re welcome to look for them, but I’d rather you didn’t. It’ll take some of the edge off the events that will occur.

The game will hopefully be played, as group sessions, on Wednesday evenings, starting at about 7.30/8.00. Players will read and reply to the same thread, although when split up (or, in the case of the opening session, when the Characters will sit quietly to watch a play and filter it through their own past experiences) they’ll be directed to threads where just the individual Character and the Admin can chat privately.

The first session is likely to be on the 3rd July – although it’ll be mid October in game, at which point the Characters will meet up to go see a play…

ROOTS

Roots is a scenario written by Simon Brake for the RPG, Call of Cthulhu.  I gratefully received a beta version to play test. It led to two epic Saturday sessions with my regular game crew and an extreme mortality / character-ending effect. Also demonstrated again how flexible the Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur universe is to accommodate the storylines’ from other RPG systems.

About Simon Brake

Graphic designer. Writer. Father. Happy go lucky. Trying to get more writing done nowadays, but it’s hard to find the time. Still, the words are trickling out into the world and people are liking what they read. This year’s goal: a novel?

Graphic designery person. There’s more info (and graphic designery stuff) on my MySpace page – www.myspace.com/breakerspace – but to be honest I’ve probably got more up to date stuff here nowadays. MySpace is self advertising. Facebook is for reconnecting with real life people. And Twitter… Twitter is where the real party is.

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Available in paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

DOG EAT DOG { novel } Ten years after the Earth has been devastated by a viral pathogen seventy per cent of the population is dead and only a handful of cities survive intact. The majority of urban spaces have been abandoned to the Infected, creatures that were once human.  Whilst above, the orbital colonies spin within their artificial gravity wells, helpless observers to the shocking events below.  Mikhail Drobná and Carlos Revira.  Two survivors, both hungry for money and power, and fuelled by a desire to carve their names onto this new world.  One provides services of violence and protection for powerful corporate criminals in New York; the other is a renegade intelligence agent forever running from the demons of his past. Strangers, until events conspire to bring them together. There’s a complex and deadly political power play in progress. Private armies. Corruption and murder on a massive scale.  Both men seek to seize their opportunity at whatever personal cost.  But a cosmic Evil has infiltrated the remote corners of these brutalised lands and it has its own plans. Will these men work as one to defeat it or will their bitter rivalry bring about their destruction. In the end, who will devour who?  David J Rodger delivers a novel of epic vision, character depth and nerve-popping tension.

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20% discount on sci-fi dark fantasy paperbacks from David J Rodger until 2nd May

Special Offer

David J Rodger is a British science-fiction and dark fantasy author with seven novels under his belt. LULU have all of them available to purchase in paperback via their online store.

- The Guardian called his work “Atmospheric and Creepy”

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LULU are offering a tasty 20% discount

on paperbacks purchased through their online portal

For any order

Just use coupon code SILEO at checkout

(code is case sensitive)

Offer Ends 2nd May 2013

This is a great opportunity to grab any of my 7 novels, anthology of short stories, RPG work and any other authors who publish through LULU – in one awesome literary grab.

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If you’re a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos then why not try my latest novel: The Black Lake.

A novel

“The Black Lake: where only death survives.”

Order a bookstore quality paperback from LULU with 20% discount.

Full description & customer reviews on official website

The Earth has been ravaged by an event known as Yellow Dawn. Ten years later, survivors are putting lives back together and probing the frontiers of a new Wilderness; whilst overhead the orbital colonies slide across the sky, removed and unaffected. Five men leave the fortress island of Malta on an expedition to the sub-Arctic waters above Scotland. They intend to undertake scientific observations of an alien meteorological phenomenon that has followed the apocalyptic event. What they find is a cosmic horror that seethes amongst the shadows of a shattered Earth. It is a story of escape and wonder, of madness and terror.

BUY THE BLACK LAKE TODAY

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Go back to the start

Alternatively, if you’re interested in my first novel you could try God Seed.

View on Lulu

“Mankind will be judged, and smitten and cleansed”

Order a bookstore quality paperback from LULUwith 20% discount.

Full description & customer reviews on official website

I wrote God Seed in 1996: it is a tense, tightly packed thriller following a documentary film-maker as he tries to complete a new project: filming corporate mercenaries operating in western Europe. What starts as an action-packed campaign quickly descends into horror and madness as the film-maker is drawn into a conspiracy that goes far beyond the political, religious and ideological boundaries of neo-Nazis and Islamic fundamentalists, propelling him out beyond Earth, into the very heart of darkness.

BUY GOD SEED TODAY

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An entire universe to discover:

In between God Seed and The Black Lake are a number of novels that share and create a common universe for your imagination to roam, enjoy and find new thrills and terrors within. You can find a complete list of my work, including précis and customer reviews, on my official website.

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Click to browse paperbacks on LULU storefront

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Got Kindle?

If you’re keen to try these novels in digital format then you can buy all these titles at Amazon with a choice of currencies, $ US Dollars; or £ GB Pounds, or the Euro.

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Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur – update – March 2013

D&D as a setting for Yellow Dawn?

A global apocalyptic event or a regional phenomenon

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It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for Yellow Dawn (RPG).  I had my first game session for 2013 last month, where we concluded a brief, eerie and brutal “character killer” scenario written by Simon Brake, called ROOTS (read session notes).  It’s pure H.P.Lovecraft.  Great piece of work from Mr Brake.  Dark goings-on in a remote landscape: easy to adjust to the “new wilderness” concept in post-apocalyptic Yellow Dawn.  The scenario itself was perfect for this point in the life-cycle of the character group, which had been in existence since I first drafted and ran beta test sessions of Yellow Dawn as a game system (back in 2007).

So a poignant moment, seeing a lot of familiar faces either dying horribly or being driven close to total insanity by the unyielding, corrupting force of the Mythos. One character actually changed entirely, physically and psychologically to finally embrace the pure spirit of the Great Old One that had come to dominate so much of his waking life.

It was an especially satisfying example of a Mythos orientated scenario working really well within Yellow Dawn.

Note, I wrote Yellow Dawn specifically to be adaptable to a number of scenario flavours: Gamma World, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk and Shadowrun were at the forefront of my mind. These were the games I grew up on.  These are the genres I write my novels within.  But I’ve since found Yellow Dawn adapts itself well to other flavours.  Westerns, where  the Wilderness of post-apocalyptic Earth can be swapped in for the plains, prairies and mountains of the Wild West that spread along the Oregon Trail and Gold Rush fevers; the brutal treatment of The Changed can be compared to some examples of what happened to Native American Indians when conflict erupted between the new and old.

I reckon it could work with D&D, too.   Michael Tresca and I exchanged emails some time ago about an RPG campaign he was hoping to set up for his players, using Yellow Dawn as a setting:

MT: I’ve been pushing hard for my next campaign to be set in your universe, a post-apocalyptic horror taking place at the start of Yellow Dawn when the robots begin eliminating everyone who is infected…

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But it seems his players just wanted to stick with D&D.

Which led to this idea.

Having Yellow Dawn taking place within the D&D Universe.

Rather than robots attacking everything as Day Zero unfolds… it is warforged, operating under a council edict to remove a dangerous “magickal” infection from spreading through humans. Throw in a totally unknown aspect of Hastur (a D&D version ) which begins to take hold of reality.  It would be a wonderful twist to the usual hack and slash D&D experience, with characters finding their physical and magickal prowess undermined by the brutish, bone-crushing onslaught of warforged: these things actually leave the characters be as they’re not Infected.  Followed by the madness of the King in Yellow’s entry into this medieval realm of fantasy.  As to what could have caused Yellow Dawn to happen in a D&D setting. No such thing as a corporate merchant cruiser crashing into the atmosphere as it hurtled in from Deep Space… but perhaps the very human architects of this insane scheme sent something up into the atmosphere (a version of a meteorological balloon?) with the required items attached ready to – detonate.  A chaotic medley of alchemical, organic, necromantic and Mythos compounds, fused and scattered by whatever was loaded onto the ascending device as an explosive catalyst.

It’s totally untested and could be blowing smoke out of my arse, but I reckon it would be great to hear from any D&D folks who fancy giving it a go.  Get in touch if you do.

Great Southern Land

On another front, I’ve had the pleasure of striking up dialogue with a chap in Australia called Joshua Hanson.

He’s taken a wonderful depth of interest in the Yellow Dawn universe and is now working on the first draft of an Australian sourcebook for the game.  Working title: “Great Southern land”.

Early days yet. But it’s likely to contain:

• Some new weaponry and additional modern combat techniques
• Use of drones with smart / AI emulation software
• Dramatic destruction of extreme weather caused by the meteorological shifts the followed in the wake of Day Zero, with Australian suffering some of the more brutal weather reactions
• Notes on Mythos infestation(s) in the badlands away from the Living Cities but perhaps disturbingly close to remote survivor settlements

It all promises to be rather exciting. For me, there’s just a huge pleasure and grinning anticipation in waiting to see the output of another mind that is engaging with one of my creations. It will be the product of Joshua Hanson but couched within a setting that is familiar, couched in the language of Yellow Dawn.

I’ll post updates over time.

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RPG phenomenon – the emotional response when fictional character groups come to an end

End of an era

Yesterday saw the end of a group of fictional characters who have been together since 2007.

The last few years, I get to roleplay roughly once every three weeks. I have a group of keen and loyal players (one of them since 1994) who willingly sacrifice an entire Saturday to the game; they make the journey to my house on a hill, here in Bristol, and subject themselves to whatever corporate menace of cyberpunk fantasy plot comes their way; or endure the nerve-biting, skin-crawling dread of a Cthulhu Mythos nightmare unfolding around them.

I’ve been into RPGs since 1981, age 11, when I discovered Dungeons and Dragons.  Come 1985 I got into Call of Cthulhu and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. 1989 it was Shadowrun and Cyberpunk.  In 1996 I put together my own system – a rough blend of CoC and Cyberpunk and in 2006 I started  writing my own commercial RPG, Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur; which launched early 2008.

Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur, first published in 2007,  is an RPG written by sci-fi & dark fantasy author David J Rodger – it blends the Cthulhu Mythos and cyberpunk genres in a post-apocalyptic setting. It also now has two novels set within it, Dog Eat Dog and The Black Lake.

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During 2007, I had a beta version of Yellow Dawn in my hands and I started running it with my group. I was nervous as hell but after the first session knew I had a winner.  Although overall considered post-apocalyptic, the setting is polymorphic – enabling GMs to dig out their favourite old campaign books and scenarios, and adjust them with minimal effort to work in the Yellow Dawn universe. Cyberpunk adventure. Cthulhu Mythos horror. Mad Max mayhem. Gun-slinging anti heroics of the Westerns.  Swords and sorcery. Ghost hunting and Wilderness survival.

My group created a bunch of characters. Skint. Barely surviving. They came together at a Living City desperate for cash and willing to sign-up to a tour with the CRC (City Recovery Corps) heading out as a unit into the nearest Dead City to scavenge and bring back resources essential to the Living City’s daily grind. Hard work. Risky business.  The Infected crowd the abandoned roads and buildings. And the Influence of Hastur is an invisible, pervasive threat to sanity and soul alike.

They did well. In fact, they managed to beat off a random attack by a bunch of aggressive Changed (Warrior Orcs), capturing the truck these things were using harass a remote wilderness road.

The characters used the truck to scout nearby wilderness, found an abandoned mini business park; a few corporate buildings. They took it over. Stripped it clean and repaired damage from 10 years of neglect and weathering.  They built a base.  And it was perfect.

From there they became involved in a wild range of scenarios and campaigns, including Shadows of the Quantinex – heading off-world into Deep Space at one point – to discover the truth behind what caused the apocalyptic event known as Yellow Dawn to occur. And to stop an even worse catastrophe from hammering the few million survivors of that event into dust.

It was all thrilling stuff.

Throughout this, the characters increased their hero rank and wealth. They gained superheroic bonuses and increased skills beyond levels of normal mastery.

And then, yesterday, 16th February 2013 (real date) or in the world of Yellow Dawn, 27th September YD+1 (11 years after Yellow Dawn event rocked the planet), that group of characters came to an end.  Some of them at least. One died (throat hacked open at the climax of a brutal ceremonial orgy); one of them vanished – taken by a mysterious golden figure, an Elder God, which had been haunting his dreams for weeks; one of them changed into sub-human creature of the forest, associated with the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath and finding a sort of perfect ending after weeks of torment since a traumatic encounter in the mountains of Belgrade, in Europe (Horror on the Orient Express). And one of them survived, barely, after an epic struggle to beat off madness and death – but was so exhausted and traumatized, he has decided to depart back into orbit and then Deep Space.

So the character group that is known as Little Boston has come to an end. Not all dead. Not over forever. The settlement they build is there, as are some secondary characters and a whole bunch of NPCs who run the farm and small bio-fuel facility. But it will be a long time before any of us see them again.  New characters are going to be created. A new starting point, possibly Aigues-Morte on the coast of the South of France.

So like the players, I’m going through a profound moment of reflection.  When I was packing away all the stuff from the dining room table this morning; the folders crammed with character sheets and player notes; I flicked through the thick slab of GM notes I’ve built up since 2007… most of them I threw away after reading, but I’ve decided to keep some of the early ones. It might seem strange to an non-RPG player, but reading those notes brings back memories and emotions that are as vivid (and valid) as anything you or I might experience in actual reality.

At the end of the session last night several of us wandered over to the local pub and knocked back a couple pints of real ale in quick succession, calming nerves, soothing brains and then easing into smiles of nostalgia and fond recollection.  We could have talked for hours about the “shared memories” of these game sessions.

I think for me that is the enduring appeal of roleplaying. Sitting around a table, effectively carrying on the tradition of oral storytelling, but one where the participants get to interact with the story and influence its path through dice rolls. Real memories from fictional moments.

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YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

• Letters ¦ Feedback on Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur – RPG Rulebook Gets Thumbs-up

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YD 2.5 – from LULU

Paperback : from LULU ¦ Hardback (with black cover): from LULU

Primary Rulebook (2.5) This book is crammed with everything you will need to create characters and run scenarios. [] Features narrative examples of key themes • The Influence of Hastur • Medical theories on the Infection • Zombie surges • Dead Cities • Wilderness survival • Comprehensive scavenging system and how to repair or build things with resources • Backgrounds and motivations of government bodies and corporations • Computer hacking and drug abuse • High-tech immortality options • Non-human characters • Enhancements through cyberware and bioware • Weaponry, equipment and armour • Complete character generation and development system • Complex political, corporate and quasi-religious tensions • Schools of Elemental Magick, occultism, demonology, and the alien horrors of the Outer Chaos – the Cthulhu Mythos.

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Photography: Ethereal Being – angel, demon or the mythos in disguise – Kristian Schuller

Ethereal Being

Photography Ethereal Being: Image by Kristian Schuller – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

Ghostly light and shimmering golden skin, this apparition of a human male form could be mistaken for an Angel or the seductive beauty of the creature, Lucifer.

Romanian born fashion photographer Kristian Schuller has crafted this shot with a more sombre hand, angling away from his usual flare for vibrant colours and dramatic form.  It’s a stunningly simple effect. A male face, in thoughtful repose or slumbering.  But the concept leaps towards the super-human… or non-human in a bipedal, mammalian guise.

The Cthulhu Mythos is riddled with non-human species that have adopted the human form. British science fiction and dark fantasy author, David J Rodger has added to this pantheon with several of his own creations.  Things that walk shoulder to shoulder alongside the creaking, arthritic, nefarious and polymorphic creations of H.P.Lovecraft.

Most hideous of these new additions are the Grom crabs.  Parasites, a little smaller than a human fist, they resemble a translucent grey crab, with horribly long spider-like legs, a segmented carapace with hard black chitinous pincers.  They wield a Nerve Sting attack, effected by a set of “semi-visible” tendrils that can lash out up to 6 metres; made of an alien matter that can slice through flesh, bone, clothing and armour to reach into the nervous system of any living thing and deliver a crippling, paralysing attack. Any living organism can be affected. And the effects are instant; the target becomes paralysed, all muscles cease to function. The primary use of this attack is to allow the Grom crab to crawl into any cavity near the brain (usually the mouth), and burrow into a suitable resting place, from which to occupy and control the host. Highly intelligent, the Grom roam different worlds, taking control of hosts – including human victims – and building empires.

Upon arriving in a suitable location, they construct hive-like temples, dedicated to their god, Murg, incorporating the flakes of crystal they excrete through their appendage from time to time (Resonators). Grom themselves are
rarely encountered outside of a larger “host” creature; they are often accompanied and served by mutated-beings known as Groth.

In the post-apocalyptic “Mythos fiction” novel, Dog Eat Dog, the Grom are encountered by the main protagonists.  The encounter, sinister, brutal, and shocking in its climax reveals the silent incursion of alien horrors into the abandoned spaces of an Earth left ravaged by the event known as Yellow Dawn.

The photo by Kristian Schuller is more akin to the sublime and mysterious creatures known by erudite scholars as the “The Great Magi”. Formidable sorcerers from a time on Earth predating the evolution of Modern Man.  They are anthropomorphic, walking upright, with a humanoid head that resembles a cross between a chimpanzee and a cheetah.  However, they are renowned for their use of potent illusionary magick to walk amongst humans as if one of them. Often mesmerizing with the physical beauty and charm.

Skeletons of The Greta Magi have occasionally been discovered by scientists and mistaken as the “missing link”, these people are normally silenced and the evidence removed (by the Order of the Amber Eye) before the truth ever comes close to the surface. The Great Magi came to Earth after the Elder Things had retreated beneath the oceans and for a while came to dominate the proto-human savages that had evolved from the Elder Thing experiments. In their ancient culture they wore ceremonial robes and carried weapons (typically daggers). The Great Magi warred heavily with the far older race of Serpent People. Because of this war, only a few remain in existence at this time on Earth. The Order of the Amber Eye is based in a sandstone city on a remote planet, a temple held up by vast ape-like statues, surrounded by alien jungle; any Great Magi will have access to this place via a magical gateway.

Kristian Schuller has an incredible portfolio of imagery from his career in photography and fashion. You should certainly take a peek at his work on his website:

• Kristian Schuller website

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YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:

• More creations for the RPG Yellow Dawn in a free download called Monsters of the Mythos
• The Ninth Gate: occult and tarot-like symbolism in the engravings by Aristide Torchia and Lucifer, plus wider meanings of the movie

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Available in paperback or Amazon Kindle

Paperback: LULU & Amazon Kindle US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

“Atmospheric and creepy” – The Guardian

THE BLACK LAKE: The Earth has been ravaged by an event known as Yellow Dawn. Ten years later, survivors are putting lives back together and probing the frontiers of a new Wilderness; whilst overhead the orbital colonies slide across the sky, removed and unaffected. Five men leave the fortress island of Malta on an expedition to the sub-Arctic waters above Scotland. They intend to undertake scientific observations of an alien meteorological phenomenon that has followed the apocalyptic event. What they find is a cosmic horror that seethes amongst the shadows of a shattered Earth. It is a story of escape and wonder, of madness and terror. David J Rodger’s trademark unforgiving rendering of harsh reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a novel that tears open a rent in the boundary of reality, providing a nerve-jarring glimpse of the Outer Chaos and the horrors that lurk just beyond the threshold of our fragile, human existence.

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Horror Animation: UK TV Show – Countdown – reveals the gruesome, flesh shredding face of H.P. Lovecraft’s Mythos with a quivering nod to Carpenter’s The Thing

Mythos Horror Meets Countdown

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Short and delightfully “on the money” in regards to Carpenter’s The Thing – a concept that blends seamlessly like thrashing tentacles into the nightmare polymorphic forms of H.P.Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.

Movie poster for John Carpenter The Thing (1982) – click full size wallpaper

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When the Cthulhu Mythos meets Cyberpunk:

Available in paperback or kindle

Paperback : LULU & Amazon Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)
BUY > iBook : from iTunes Store

Recently given 5 star review: Brilliant piece of Sci-Fi literature

EDGE { novel } In the near future, a prolific inventor is close to burn out. Desperate for a break he grabs an opportunity to go snowboarding in New Zealand, thinking it will refresh his mind and spirit. But a malign and alien force is oozing back into our reality, older than humankind and growing strong as it emerges after centuries of absence. Zen Dow snowboarding and ski resort, perched in the foothills of the volcanic mountain Ruapehu, is about to experience mind-shredding consequences as one of the Great Old Ones returns. On the other side of the world, an unscrupulous concept scout scrambles onto the trail of a new technology that has vanished from the corporate R&D labs. Quickly out of his depth, it becomes a race to track down the missing components before competing corporate agents kill him. David J Rodger’s trademark relentless narrative pace is here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that blends corporate espionage, with a creeping, spine-chilling horror.

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YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:

• Tracking down the Fog, John Carpenter movie (1980)

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Another 5 star review of EDGE: a sci-fi dark fantasy thriller with a lot of blood on the snow

Book Review

A Spanish fan has written-up a wonderful review of my 4th novel, EDGE, on Amazon.

Available in paperback, kindle and iBook

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Brilliant piece of Sci-Fi literature

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“I found out about David’s novels when I moved to Bristol a couple of years ago. As I needed to improve my English I thought I would give a chance to some local writer and after reading some reviews about David’s books I decided to buy ‘Edge’ from Amazon.

What can I say about it, not only is a brilliant piece of Sci Fi literature but a fabulous way for someone like me to learn new vocabulary and expressions. The richness of the descriptions and characters make you get into the story so much that you don’t want the book to have an end. You can’t help but to get attached to Ethan and his geekiness or Samson and his magnetic personality, even feeling some sympathy for Halo and his sick mind.

I don’t want to spoil anyone’s experience with this book so I’ll just say that really bad things happen, is not a love story so some blood must be expected ;)

I can’t wait to put my hands on another of David’s novels and same will happen to you if you give ‘Edge’ a well deserved chance!”

- By Sergio (source)

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• BUY > paperback : from LULU
• BUY > kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)
• BUY > iBook : from iTunes Store

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#Free RPG Download: Monsters of the Mythos – New Outer Gods, Great Old Ones and Non-Human Species

Cthulhu Mythos

This supplement has been written as part of the post-apocalyptic survivor horror RPG: Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur. It expands upon the concept of the Cthulhu Mythos, introducing a raft of new Great Old Ones, Outer Gods and non-human species for characters to encounter.

If you’re more into narrative than rule systems, you can enjoy new flavours of the Cthulhu Mythos in the novels, EDGE, Dog Eat Dog and The Black Lake.

Click to download the free PDF

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Available from LULU

YELLOW DAWN – THE AGE OF HASTUR: The Earth has been ravaged by viral pathogens, the death of billions observed by the orbital colonies and deep-space habitats that were largely unaffected by the Outbreak. Terrified of infection, nobody came to help. Less than 30 percent survived the first few weeks. Then came the 2nd Wave of infection, spreading steadily outwards from the impact points, and that was when the horror really began…

This book is crammed with everything you will need to create characters, run scenarios and experience horror and adventure in the fictional world of David J Rodger.

FEATURES: Narrative examples of key themes • The Influence of Hastur • Medical theories on the Infection • Zombie surges • Dead Cities • Wilderness survival • Comprehensive scavenging system and how to repair or build things with resources • Backgrounds and motivations of government bodies and corporations • Computer hacking and drug abuse • High-tech immortality options • Non-human characters • Enhancements through cyberware and bioware • Weaponry, equipment and armour • Complete character generation and development system • Complex political, corporate and quasi-religious tensions • Schools of Elemental Magick, occultism, demonology, and the alien horrors of the Outer Chaos – the Cthulhu Mythos. Purchase via LULU.

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Fungi from Yuggoth: 36 strange sonnets by cosmic horror writer H. P. Lovecraft

Containing hidden keys to locked dimensions

Fungi from Yuggoth – art by unknown source (advise and I’ll credit)

First Exposure

I’ve been aware of this piece of work since I first got into H.P.Lovecraft. But that was back in the mid 1980′s and I was a teenager and not appreciative of the subtle magick woven into these words. Back then I wanted pure narrative flow, the creeping, doom-laden, macabre psychological horror of Lovecraft’s short stories and novellas. And the thrills and chills of playing the classic investigative horror role-playing game: The Call of Cthulhu.  And that’s what I got.

Polyphasic Sleep and a New Dawn

Skip to 2007 and I’m working on putting together my own RPG setting – Yellow Dawn: the Age of Hastur -  based on the shared universe of my novels (Cthulhu Mythos horror and cyberpunk science-fiction).  That was an intense year. My dad had recently died and I was in the middle of a 2 year hiatus from employed work – living on savings to focus on writing – so I was throwing myself body mind and soul into this endeavour, keen to finish before my money ran out.

One of the techniques I use to maximise creative output is polyphasic sleep – or what I call my Da Vinci Method. Every 45 minutes I stop work (alarm goes off), then go lie down with a pillow and blanket near my desk and drift off into a light doze.  Another alarm goes off after 15 minutes, making sure I don’t actually fall into a deep sleep. The trick is to fight through any feeling of nausea or disorientation and get up, make a cup of tea or coffee, and get back to it. 45 minutes on. 15 minutes off.  You can go for most of the day and night doing that, reducing the need for proper sleep for a few days at a time. Eventually it catches up with you and you crash for a bit, but overall you’re much more productive.

I have a stack of audio recordings of H.P.Lovecraft stories that I often put on to play in the background whilst I doze off.  One of these was a fantastic array of broken narrative pieces – over an hour long with eerie and haunting musical sounds punctuating the narrator.  And because I was listening to it 15 minutes at a time, rarely in sequence, the whole thing became a dizzying jumble of brilliant morsels of Lovecraftian lore, concepts and raw Mythos atmosphere.  It was only when I stopped to check – what am I actually listening to? – that I discovered it was The Fungi from Yuggoth.  Written by H.P.Lovecraft in late 1929.

Keys & Windows

Some people call “The Fungi from Yuggoth” a sequence of poems – which is quite right, considering they’re numbered as such. But when you listen  to the work (or simply read it), you experience the sleight of hand that Lovecraft employs; leaving you slipping through gaps of narrative blocks, non-linear structures that take you outside of the “Gutenberg Galaxy” – where information can only be processed by following the logical flow – and propelling you instead into the non-Euclidian universe – where shape and matter have no sense – that Lovecraft always did so well to reveal.

So although structured for print, each sonnet is in itself a disparate self-contained gem that when peered into provides overlapping, and at times contradictory glimpses of the universe that Lovecraft is painting.

Yet linked with all the laws of time and space.
A faint, veiled sign of continuities
That outward eyes can never quite descry;
Of locked dimensions harbouring years gone by,
And out of reach except for hidden keys.

Sonnet XXXVI. Continuity – The Fungi from Yuggoth – H.P.Lovecraft

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Lovecraft has crystallised the raw essence of his imagination in these sonnets.  Plunge through them, losing yourself in their sequence or pick them apart, piece by piece to extract the underlying meanings and references – leading you to discover new gates of discovery.

In the first three sonnets: “The Book“; “Pursuit“; and “The Key” – the chief narrator seems to be a person who acquires a book of infernal lore, almost by chance – or by stealth; a book that enables him to access distant and dramatic realms of cosmic wonder – and later of abject anxiety and monstrous horror.  Whether these places and scenes are of “this universe” or are from some parallel dimension beyond time and space is unclear.   But the suggestion is that the book unlocks (or unleashes) a stream of visions – or consensual journeys – upon the man who has stolen the book away.

Much in the same way that the Influence of Hastur (referenced in Yellow Dawn RPG; and short stories House of Heavenly Light; Corrupt Moon; Tainted Moor, all three of which are contained within the anthology of short stories Songs of Spheres) is able to warp, twist, mutate and rapidly change the local reality surrounding an individual who has been “infected” by exposure to… it.

The rest of the sonnets swing and carousel between scenes of brooding horror and looming insanity, as if the narrator has been injected at random into the sensorium of a succession of nameless victims of Mythos mayhem.

And like a bad drug that finally loosens its grip on the conscious mind, with the fragmented narcotic trip in the wane, the chief narrator’s sense of reality begins to return, forever changed – and possibly damaged by the nervous experience.   The sonnet “Expectancy” and those that follow it serve to document the narrator’s estrangement with what was once familiar reality – and normality.

Many of Lovecraft’s “pillar brand” concepts are given genesis and exploration here. The boldly nightmarish tale of Mi-go infestation and manipulation in “The Whisperer in the Darkness”; the Machiavellian mind-games of the Crawling Chaos – Messenger of the Outer Gods – Nyarlathotep.

Audio Renditions

The one I’d really love to share – with the wonderful atmospheric musical accompaniment seems really hard to get a hold of.  But here’s a reasonably well-narrated version by CulainRuledByVenus.

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Related Links

• Dark Art: Farmer Seth Atwood, from The Well, in Fungi from Yuggoth by HP Lovecraft
• Reasons to like Lovecraft: Mi-go (Fungi from Yuggoth)

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The Fungi from Yuggoth – Full Version

I. The Book

The place was dark and dusty and half-lost
In tangles of old alleys near the quays,
Reeking of strange things brought in from the seas,
And with queer curls of fog that west winds tossed.
Small lozenge panes, obscured by smoke and frost,
Just shewed the books, in piles like twisted trees,
Rotting from floor to roof—congeries
Of crumbling elder lore at little cost.

I entered, charmed, and from a cobwebbed heap
Took up the nearest tome and thumbed it through,
Trembling at curious words that seemed to keep
Some secret, monstrous if one only knew.
Then, looking for some seller old in craft,
I could find nothing but a voice that laughed.

II. Pursuit

I held the book beneath my coat, at pains
To hide the thing from sight in such a place;
Hurrying through the ancient harbor lanes
With often-turning head and nervous pace.
Dull, furtive windows in old tottering brick
Peered at me oddly as I hastened by,
And thinking what they sheltered, I grew sick
For a redeeming glimpse of clean blue sky.

No one had seen me take the thing—but still
A blank laugh echoed in my whirling head,
And I could guess what nighted worlds of ill
Lurked in that volume I had coveted.
The way grew strange—the walls alike and madding—
And far behind me, unseen feet were padding.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) – finally got round to watching this early innovative masterpiece of creeping psychological horror and murder

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Mythos-like madness

German Expressionism distilled through a cinematic lens to create an experience that is captivating and wonderfully unsettling

1920 – Werner Krauss and sleepwalking Cesare – Conrad Veidt – click for full size

The deranged Dr. Caligari and his faithful sleepwalking Cesare are connected to a series of murders in a German mountain village, Holstenwall.

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I’ve known of this movie for years but for some reason or another, never got round to hunting it down to watch it.

Then I recently saw the incredibly informative and engaging BBC documentary by Mark Gatiss: Horror Europa.

Amongst the range of unheard of gems of European horror films that he discusses, is a detailed foray into the genesis and production of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  Gatiss talks about how the horrors of WWI influenced the writers and artists involved in the making of the movie – and the stance of German Expressionism at that time. Plus a fantastic glimpse of miniatures that have been made of the original sets used during the making of the movie.

I was so inspired by Gatiss’ documentary that I’ve found / reserved many of the movies he covered.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari I found on YouTube.

It’s a gripping story, and despite the fact it’s 94 years old, it is immensely watchable. And it’s easy to see why “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is deemed to be one of the most influential movies of its era; an influence that stretches through decades of movie making and story telling, through the shadows and harsh lit angles of film noir, into the glossy fabrications of modern horror in the 21st century. Despite its age, it still punches its weight. And the ending, expertly shifting the focus through a maelstrom of madness, genuinely caught me by surprise and injected macabre delight.

It’s a movie that introduced the idea of a “twist” into cinema.

Cesare creeps through the German mountain village Holstenwall – click for full size

Werner Krauss plays the title character, shifty, unsettling, he is a shabby hypnotist who travels the carnival circuit displaying a somnambulist named Cesare (Conrad Veidt).

The movie’s hero protagonist is Francis (Friedrich Fehér).  And when he and his friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) visit the  carnival that has come to their town, they see Dr. Caligari and the somnambulist Cesare. Caligari declares that Cesare can answer any question he is asked. When Alan asks Cesare how long he has to live, Cesare tells Alan that he will die before dawn tomorrow. A prophecy which is brutally fulfilled.  Francis suspects the good doctor Caligari, but the local authorities – although interested in helping  – fail to stop the murders, and are themselves bogged down by a series of simple but effective red-herrings that make for good story evolution.

Friedrich Fehér as Francis takes the investigation of the murders into his own hands – click for full size

Taking the investigating on his own hands, Francis makes a startling and genuinely chilling discovery about Dr. Caligari – and what is really happening.

The stage sets are something right out of a Lovecraftian nightmare – and probably inspired some in the 1920s American writer of weird, cosmic horror.

And I wonder if there was ever any cross-pollination between Lovecraft and the two writers behind the movie: Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – like a Lovecraftian nightmare

Meeting in Germany after World War I, neither Janowitz or Mayer had any film making associations. But they were enthuisastic about their idea – and persevered. Erich Pommer, the producer who finally bought into the idea of making it nearly had them thrown out of his studio – but they grabbed a valuable chance to explain their idea and Pommer was profoundly impressed.

The now iconic sets were the work of designer Hermann Warm and painters Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrig; who Pommer had met as a solider – and they were directly responsible for convincing Pommer that it would be effective to paint lights and shadows DIRECTLY on set walls, floors, background canvases, and to place flat sets behind the actors.  All of this adding to the weave of disconcerting angles and damaged reality threaded through the story.

Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was best remembered for his roles in this movie, and others such as The Man Who Laughs (1928) – - inspiration for the iconic Batman villain The Joker ; and Casablanca (1942) – another massive favourite movie of mine, Veidt plays the hauntingly good looking Major Heinrich Strasser. Veidt left Germany in 1933 to live in the United Kingdom before settling in the United States in 1941.

Events close to the climax of the movie involve disparate characters working together, probing the secrets contained within ancient manuscripts, and this conjures up numerous Cthulhu Mythos scenarios where people desperately try to gain a grasp on what might be happening, through the seemingly chaotic ramblings of long-deceased madmen.  There’s also a hint of The Dumas Club, a book written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte – used as the basis for Roman Polanski’s remarkable cryptic and metaphorical movie: The Ninth Gate.

• Related Link: The Ninth Gate: occult and tarot-like symbolism in the engravings by Aristide Torchia and Lucifer, plus wider meanings of the movie

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is like Lesser-Mythos tale: where reality has warped around an infectious and corruptive meme – something the arrival of Dr. Caligari has set in motion. Or otherwise… AVOIDING SPOILERS.

At the core of its black and jaggedly highlighted heart, the movie is about a journey into madness. Grist for the Mythos (Lovecraft / Cthulhu) Mill.

It’s fuzzy and jerky, it’s old and it’s strange – and it’s a treat.

Find yourself a copy and take 90 minutes out to enjoy. (Try Bloody Cinema channel on YouTube)

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Cinema Lobby Card for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) – click full size

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Available in paperback or Amazon Kindle

Paperback: LULU & Amazon Kindle US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

THE BLACK LAKE: The Earth has been ravaged by an event known as Yellow Dawn. Ten years later, survivors are putting lives back together and probing the frontiers of a new Wilderness; whilst overhead the orbital colonies slide across the sky, removed and unaffected. Five men leave the fortress island of Malta on an expedition to the sub-Arctic waters above Scotland. They intend to undertake scientific observations of an alien meteorological phenomenon that has followed the apocalyptic event. What they find is a cosmic horror that seethes amongst the shadows of a shattered Earth. It is a story of escape and wonder, of madness and terror. David J Rodger’s trademark unforgiving rendering of harsh reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a novel that tears open a rent in the boundary of reality, providing a nerve-jarring glimpse of the Outer Chaos and the horrors that lurk just beyond the threshold of our fragile, human existence.

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Horror News: trailer released for the H.P.Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos inspired short film – Beyond the Basement Door

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Beyond the Basement Door

A short film by Jason Huls and Ten Wing Films

H.P.Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos gets a fresh lease of undeath

Written and directed by Jason Huls the short film is inspired by the psychological, sci-fi horror of H.P.Lovecraft, and features Steve Christopher, Daniel Roebuck (LOST, The Fugitive, Halloween 2), Brenna Lee Roth (The Road), and Richard Pryor Jr.

The full film will be released shortly but right now their drumming up interest and publicity; so here’s the trailer.

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PLOT OUTLINE:

Alistair, a genetic researcher, saves his own life from cancer by making a pact with some dark and dangerous people. The secret lies with whatever is making the odd sounds in Alistair’s basement. The deal he made forbids him to go down there for three days…no matter what he sees or hears. His sanity, his life, depends on it.

As the line between reality and delusion fades, Alistair struggles with nosy neighbors (Richard Pryor Jr.), a rival ex-boss (Daniel Roebuck, LOST) and haunting images of a lady in blue. Getting out of the house only makes his anxiety worse. With each passing hour, an urge to open the door slowly chips away at him…

Will he be able to resist? What’s making all that noise beneath the floorboards? How is Alistair connected to the lady in blue and what is beyond the basement door?

RELEVANT LINKS:

• Official Facebook Page for Beyond the Basement Door
• Link to END CREDITS for Beyond the Basement Door

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Cast and crew on set of the H P Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos short film Beyond the Basement Door

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Available in Paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

GOD SEED { novel } In the near future, a documentary film-maker is covering mercenaries engaged in corporate espionage. A nervous executive wants to smuggle stolen data to Cairo. Yet events rapidly and frighteningly escalate out of control. The film-maker finds himself battling for his life and his sanity as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond. Fascist extremists, Islamic terrorists, corrupt government officials and a religious sect that worships a nefarious avatar of a many-faced God of the Outer Void, become fused into a gruesome knot of lies, treachery and mass-murder. David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of a dark and edgy reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that plunges you uncomfortably deep into crawling chaos festering and feeding on the membrane of human existence.

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Dark Art: porthole with giant tentacle – fabulous #Cthulhu #Mythos horror ornamentation for any room

From ArtAkimbo

Dark Art porthole with giant tentacle by ArtAkimbo – click full size

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

This is a great piece of visual horror ornamentation, perfect for your writing / gaming den – or more utilitarian areas of your abode if you can get away with it (if the partner shares your macabre taste in decor).

This is a simple but really well put together ensemble that should make a bold (and chilling) impression and anybody who understands the accursed place-name: R’lyeh

Or knows the meaning of the dreaded phrase:

That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die.

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The construction is as follows:
A wooden support structure is built. To this, styrofoam is added and carved into the basic tentacle shape. It is then closely covered in aluminum wire mesh.
In the meantime, newsprint is boiled, then whipped into a mush. The mush is allowed to dry over a period of several days, then it is ground into a fine powder. This is combined with sawdust, glue, starch, linseed oil and a bit of bleach and applied to the mesh by it pushing into the mesh to form a very solid base coat. After this coat dries, it is refined with rasps, and a finer mixture of pulped tissue paper,glue and gypsum is applied and allowed to dry. This makes a very nice finish coat. After it dries, the whole piece is sanded and further refined. Each sucker is built in a 3 stage process over a period of several days.
Once the piece is thoroughly dry, it is painted in many thin layers with an airbrush. The depth of the color is further enhanced by a finish coating of highly glossy shellac.
The end product is both lightweight and quite durable.

The porthole is made of plywood and medium density fiberboard, coated with copper paint and chemically patinated to it’s lovely blue green hue.
It can also be made in a rusted iron, a blackened iron or a weathered brass finish.

Vital Stats:

The porthole is 14 3/4″(38cm) in diameter.
The tentacle reaches approximately 36″(79cm) into the room.

Purchasing:

Made-to-order versions available from artist, visit the ArtAkimbo website or Etsy for details.

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Find tentacles and other horrors that stalk the darkness between the stars…

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Available in paperback or kindle

Paperback : LULU & Amazon Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)
BUY > iBook : from iTunes Store

EDGE { novel } In the near future, a prolific inventor is close to burn out. Desperate for a break he grabs an opportunity to go snowboarding in New Zealand, thinking it will refresh his mind and spirit. But a malign and alien force is oozing back into our reality, older than humankind and growing strong as it emerges after centuries of absence. Zen Dow snowboarding and ski resort, perched in the foothills of the volcanic mountain Ruapehu, is about to experience mind-shredding consequences as one of the Great Old Ones returns. On the other side of the world, an unscrupulous concept scout scrambles onto the trail of a new technology that has vanished from the corporate R&D labs. Quickly out of his depth, it becomes a race to track down the missing components before competing corporate agents kill him. David J Rodger’s trademark relentless narrative pace is here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that blends corporate espionage, with a creeping, spine-chilling horror.

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Wonderful photograph of H.P. Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long sparring in Brooklyn on July 11th 1931

H.P.Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long

H.P. Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long sparring in Brooklyn 7/11/1931

This is a charming photograph of my favourite author of weird and cosmic horror – H.P.Lovecraft. Taken in Brooklyn in 1931, it’s a unique image of a man who has so few photographs publically available of him in life. What’s even more unique is the fact he looks to be positively enjoying himself, first time I’ve ever seen such an image.

Huge thanks to H.P.Lovecraft (Facebook Fan Page) for sharing this gem.

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YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:

• Hunting down H.P.Lovecraft – outside 169 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York, location of the Horror at Red Hook

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Holiday bonanza – 13 days of discounts from LULU – 20th Dec is 30% off any hardback Yellow Dawn – Age of #Hastur – #RPG

Looking for something new or coming back for more…

LULU are offering 30% off any hardback today

 purchased through their online portal

For any order

Just use coupon code 20DEC at checkout

(code is case-sensitive)

Offer Ends Today

This is a great opportunity to grab the special hardback edition of my RPG, Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur.

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If you’re a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, Cyberpunk, Infection apocalypses, zombies and survival horror, then why not try this much praised role-playing game. It works either as a standalone system or as a setting for your own RPG system.

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Available exclusively from LULU

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Product Link: http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-j-rodger/yellow-dawn-25-special-edition-hardcover/hardcover/product-20012076.html  (Don’t forget Discount Coupon Code 20DEC)

YELLOW DAWN – THE AGE OF HASTUR

The Earth has been ravaged by viral pathogens, the death of billions observed by the orbital colonies and deep-space habitats that were largely unaffected by the Outbreak. Terrified of infection, nobody came to help. Less than 30 percent survived the first few weeks. Then came the 2nd Wave of infection, spreading steadily outwards from the impact points, and that was when the horror really began… YELLOW DAWN: This book is crammed with everything you will need to create characters, run scenarios and experience horror and adventure in the fictional world of David J Rodger. FEATURES: The Influence of Hastur; Medical theories on the Infection; Zombie surges; Comprehensive scavenging system; Computer hacking and drug abuse; Non-human characters; Enhancements through cyberware and bioware; Weaponry, equipment and armour; Complex political, corporate and quasi-religious tensions; Schools of Elemental Magick, occultism, demonology, and the alien horrors of the Outer Chaos — the Cthulhu Mythos.

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An entire universe to discover:

YELLOW DAWN  fits into a raft of novels that are set before and after the apocalyptic event.  In between God Seed and The Black Lake are a number of novels that share and create a common universe for your imagination to roam, enjoy and find new thrills and terrors within. You can find a complete list of my work, including précis and customer reviews, on my official website.

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Got Kindle?

If you’re keen to try these novels in digital format then you can buy all these titles at Amazon with a choice of currencies, $ US Dollars; or £ GB Pounds, or the Euro.

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It’s a good time to get excited about gaming: introducing Classic Realms of Adventure

Classic Realms of Adventure

This is one of the real delights of the Interweb. Encountering positive, enthusiastic and like-minded people.

One such chap is Wes, who has been shouldering a lot of effort and stress as he single-handedly creates a new online resource for gamers, with a helpful slant towards folks who are new to RPGs and gaming in general. All of this from over four decades of experience and a jaw-dropping spread of different game types and systems.

There’s a healthy adoration of all things Lovecraftian, too.

Classic Realms of Adventure is the umbrella site, folding in several strands such as a YouTube channel, Darkness over Dunwich (my favourite, of course) and some old-school war-gaming joy mixed in with board games.

So if that whets your appetite then please step through the portal into a different land.

• Classic Realms of Adventure

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Short Animation: At The Mountains of Madness – H.P.Lovecraft – in Spanish with English subtitles

At the Mountains of Madness

At the Mountains of Madness is one of my favourite Lovecraft stories, despite being long, somewhat repetitive and slightly irksome to read (just my personal opinion). The concept is brilliant.  I first discovered HPL around the same time I first watched John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), a film that really grabbed my nascent imagination and turned me onto the horror confronting a deadly mystery whilst isolated within a hostile environment.  Alien and Aliens are similarly favourites.   And yet HPL crafted this story back in 1931.

On a tangential (and self-serving) note, I’m taking great pleasure in the fact that I’ve recently received reviews of my latest novel – The Black Lake - comparing it to the flavour of At The Mountains of Madness.   The Black Lake is a post-apocalyptic haunting that descends into the surreal cosmic horror of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Michele Botticelli has crafted a short animation that presents his interpretation of At The Mountains of Madness. In Spanish, it comes complete with English subtitles if you require them. The animation is wonderfully low tech which I think works well up to a point. I had to grimace at one scene near the end and instruct my mind to accept that this is a theatrical portrayal.   A little bit like the biplane vs Fungi from Yuggoth fight scene in the wonderful film adaptation of The Whisperer In the Darkness (2011), distributed by HPL Historical Society.  Don’t allow moments like that to spoil your enjoyment of the whole.

So, find yourself 33 minutes and a workstation where you can plug-in headphones during your lunch break or evening without being disturbed, and enjoy.

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Rise of Cthulhu (Mythos)

With the latest tranche of 3D remakes and another generation being exposed to recycled vampires, werewolves, poltergeist, evils spirits and possessed victims it seems like the major movie houses are yet again missing a trick with the Cthulhu Mythos.

This is perhaps epitomised by Warner Bros and Universal failing to act on Guillermo del Toro’s proposal for filming At The Mountains of Madness; although the latter studio seems willing, but only at the cost of introducing a love interest and a happy ending.

Hello – this is Lovecraft>!<

Even though I’d love to see James Cameron render Lovecraft’s Mythos into stunning big-budget digital fantasy, I’d hate to see the Mythos concept diluted by the tired and jaded industry tricks that belong to the 20th century.  Just look at the phenomenal success of the movie Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (based on novel by James Sallis) to see you can have love interest without a happy ending.  So perhaps not everyone is missing the trick; it’s not about Titanic scale budgets, it’s about the right funding to bring the cosmic beauty and breathtaking horror of Lovecraft’s visions to a wider audience.  It’s about finding the Will and having the Courage to take the risk.

Here’s to praying.

Ph’nglui Mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

Links Relevant to this article:

• The Black Lake – a post-apocalyptic haunting with Cthulhu Mythos
• The Whisperer In the Darkness (2011), film based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story of the same name, produced by Sean Branney, Andrew Leman, and David Robertson and distributed by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society.
• The H P Lovecraft Historical Society Website – Cthulhu Lives!

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5 Star review for The Black Lake – a post-apocalyptic tale of haunting and Cthulhoid terror

The Black Lake: 5 Star Review

I launched The Black Lake at the start of this month.  It starts off as a ghost story that descends into revelations and machinations of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.  It’s doing really well considering there’s just me and one bod in the States pushing the word “out there”.  It’s scored a great review on Amazon so I’m sharing it with you here:

Review from Amazon UK – click to view source

The review was placed on Amazon UK but it is also available from Amazon US ($), DE (Euro), and  FR (Euro).

You can review and purchase The Black Lake in paperback from LULU.

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First Review for The Black Lake – a post-apocalyptic ghost story

The Black Lake: Review

I’m very pleased by this.  Short and sweet.  I released the novel last week.  The review was placed on LULU for the paperback version. The book is also available on Amazon Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

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Press Release: David J Rodger launches his 7th novel – The Black Lake – a ghost story within the Cthulhu Mythos

The Black Lake

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Launch of 7th novel – The Black Lake – a ghost story within the Cthulhu Mythos

Available in paperback from LULU

BRISTOL, UK—AUGUST, 2012— British Sci-Fi & Dark Fantasy author, David J Rodger has written and published his 7th novel.  The Black Lake is fundamentally a ghost story set within the Cthulhu Mythos – but also goes some way into revealing Rodger’s interpretation of the machinations of one of the most mysterious and virulently dangerous entities from that genre: the Great Old One – Hastur (The Unspeakable One, Him Who Is Not to be Named, Assatur, Xastur, or Kaiwan). Specifically, the influence Hastur  – as the King in Yellow – can have upon the minds of men and women.

Set on Earth in the not-to-distant (cyberpunk) future, in a period that follows an apocalyptic event known as Yellow Dawn; the story charts the progress of a meteorological expedition that heads to a remote island in the sub-Arctic waters above Scotland.  Ignoring the warnings of those who have some knowledge of the horror that awaits them, the expedition sets up camp and get to work.  Battered by tornadoes and ferocious storms they begin to unpick the nature and structure of alien atmospheric phenomenon that dominate the area – in the hope of shedding some light on what caused Yellow Dawn – and the awful consequences of the apocalyptic event (70% mortality across the planet; dead cities and hordes of screaming Infected).  The expedition’s presence on the island acts as a catalyst to an unfolding set of terrifying events.

Links to publication:

• Paperback via LULU
• Amazon Kindle US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David J. Rodger is a British science fiction & fantasy author and game designer best known for his novels set in a near-future world of corporate and political intrigue. So far he has published seven novels.  Rodger’s contributions to the Mythos include the creation of new Great Old Ones in the novels Edge and Dog Eat Dog, and the use of the Outer God Nyarlathotep in the novel God Seed. Rodger has also written Murder at Sharky Point, a murder mystery game. Rodger spent 8 years working for a non-departmental government agency, developing a virtual communications service within the IT Division, before moving into commercial project management for a UK media company. In 2000 Rodger’s presence on the Internet got him a place in the BBC documentary Through The Eyes of the Young, directed by Chris Terrill. Rodger now lives in Bristol, England, with a Braun coffee-maker, writing from a house on a hill with a view of Earth’s curve.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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