Yaddith Times

When it comes to reviews, glad tidings are always welcome!

Hippocampus Press publisher Derrick Hussey recently let me know about some very kind words re my 2015 fiction collection Dark Equinox & Other Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. In Wormwood #27, reviewer John Howard finds that


. . . Schwader unflinchingly shows the disintegration of the personal and the cosmic: and nothing is, or ever again can be, secure. (re 'When the Stars Run Away')

Intense and with a superb sense of place, each tale refers obliquely back to one or more stories or concepts from the Cthulhu Mythos, and runs with it in a refreshingly distinctive way. Lively and intriguing, they are utterly Lovecraftian in spirit. (re my five linked tales of Cassie Barrett)


Dark Equinox is available from the publisher, or from Amazon in both print and Kindle formats.

To the possible detriment of the world’s collective sanity, Cthulhu Fhtagn! is available today from Word Horde.

Editor/publisher Ross E. Lockhart reports that copies will be arriving at Word Horde HQ “later today,” & that direct orders will be being fulfilled this week.

Retailer links to Amazon (where you can preorder your Kindle copies already!), Ingram, B & N, and other places will be appearing on the anthology’s page as they go live. Find all the ordering information you’ll need here.

[Truth in LJing: yes, I’m very happy to say that I’ve got a story in this puppy. “Dead Canyons” is a tale of Martian exploration, ancient warfare, Mythos entities, AI, & a desperate woman no one will listen to . . . . all set in Boulder, CO.]

I am (incredibly) happy to report that Hippocampus Press is now taking preorders for my second weird / Lovecraftian fiction collection, Dark Equinox. Find all the details – and a draft version of creepy Southwestern cover art by Lyndsay Harper! – here.

For May, at least, Hippocampus Press is also offering a package deal on Dark Equinox & my omnibus weird poetry collection Twisted in Dream. Find details here. This one came out in 2011, & includes my very SF 36-sonnet sequence In the Yaddith Time.

I’ll be posting more details & a real “cover reveal” later. For now, happy Mother’s Day weekend to any & all moms reading. Stay weird!

Mike Davis’s excellent Lovecraft EZine blog remains a must-read for Lovecraftians in search of the newest & weirdest in the Mythos world -- and today’s post is definitely a case in point.

Imagine, if you will, Cthulhu as a puppet play. (Or don’t, & save your sanity.) The Texas A&M-Commerce University Playhouse has, & will be presenting it this weekend!

Unable to attend? It’s already available for free on YouTube, accessible right from Mike’s post. I haven’t yet watched this 43 minute video myself, so YMMV – but the concept is so delightfully bizarre, I felt compelled to post about it anyhow.

Thank you, Lovecraft EZine!

H.P. Lovecraft turns 124 tomorrow. (I know, he doesn’t seem a day over 120 . . . gotta love that Innsmouth look.)

Got any plans to celebrate?

If you’re still in the planning stages, why not check out editor Ross Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu site? Rumor has it that a brand new round-robin inspired by the Old Gent himself will be posted tomorrow, at the rate of one section per hour.

And, yes, one of those sections is by Yours Truly.

Join in the serial celebration!

At long last: an all-female Lovecraftian anthology!

(Or at least the Indiegogo campaign for one.)

I’m very pleased to be a squidling in the She Walks in Shadows project, edited by Innsmouth Free Press’s own Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. Over a dozen female writers have agreed to write original works in the Lovecraft universe for this anthology. In my case, the work in question will be poetry.

The campaign has only 31 days to run, and the proposed TOC is a pretty decent who’s who of women & entities in the Mythos.

For all details, including a spiffy book trailer, check here.

And, if you feel so inclined, Join Team Squid!

Cthulhu Haiku and Other Mythos Madness (Popcorn Press 2012), edited by Lester Smith, gets an extensive and favorable review this week on the Amazing Stories website.

Diane Severson (divadiane1) includes her own history with this anthology -- she backed it as a Kickstarter project -- as well as notes on H.P. Lovecraft, scifaiku, & some online sources for Lovecraftian fiction and poetry.

In addition, Diane lends her professionally trained voice to an extensive selection of works from the anthology, available as a free download.

[Truth in LJing: I have two haiku in this anthology, and Diane reads one of them in her selection.  She picked the more disturbing one, of course.]

Forget that poor abused groundhog -- it's time for Lovecraftians to celebrate the accursed (not to mention eldritch, & possibly squamous) natal day of Wilbur Whateley.  Born in the township of Dunwich on this date in 1913, he overcame his humble earthly origins  & single parent upbringing to do his daddy proud . . . to the profound regret of the surrounding community.

If you aren't familiar with Wilbur, check out all the particulars here.

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" first appeared in the classic magazine Weird Tales in April, 1929.