Happy Halloween, lovers of 1970s horror fiction! And the rest of you too, we guess. This morning, The Millions pointed us to this excellent Tumblr of vintage horror paperback covers curated by Too Much Horror Fiction, a blog dedicated to collecting, reviewing and celebrating the same. Some of these covers are eerie, some are bizarre, and some are flat-out horrifying, but they’re all totally weird and amazing — and they all make us want to read them on this spookiest of nights. Click through to see some of our favorites from the Too Much Horror Fiction archives, and then be sure to check out the website for more! … Read More
H.P. Lovecraft
Famous Last Words: 15 Authors’ Epitaphs
In this the spookiest of months, we find ourselves occupied with the world’s darker themes, and we got to wondering — what words have sent famous men and women of letters into the great unknown? Or perhaps more precisely, which words were chosen to honor them for eternity? From the tongue-in-cheek to the ponderously serious, from the knightly to the poetic, and even one that doubles as a grave robber’s curse, we’re fascinated by the epitaphs of famous authors, so we’ve collected a few of them here for your shivering pleasure.… Read More
H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Tomb’ Illustrated as a Dr. Seuss Book
Around this time last year, a DeviantART user who goes by the handle DrFaustusAU wowed us with his illustrated mashups of Dr. Seuss and “The Call of Cthulhu.” Thanks to a post over on io9, we just discovered that the artist has returned to the H.P. Lovecraft well, this time creating a wonderful adaptation of one of horror master’s earliest stories, “The Tomb.” Is the tale of a dreamy boy who is obsessed with a mausoleum only to end up institutionalized in a “refuge for the demented” as an adult? Probably not. But that’s what makes it so much fun! Click through to preview the first few pages, and then head over to DeviantART to view DrFaustusAU’s epic work in progress — he’s only got five pages left to go. … Read More
Doodling on the Faces of Famous Writers
When video director and editor Michael Daye found himself at home with a box of postcards of 100 famous authors and nothing to do, he decided to take a Sharpie and have a little fun. Doodling on the faces of the defenseless writers, Daye created a series of often charming artworks of his own — sometimes the augmentations are relevant to the author they decorate, and sometimes they’re just for show, but we love the way he has taken these iconic faces and made them his own. Click through to see some of our favorites from the project, and head over to Daye’s Tumblr to check out even more. … Read More
10 Artifacts from Literature That We Wish Were Real
This week, we stumbled upon some interesting news: that a specific strain of fictional marijuana — Elephant Crush, from Mark Haskell Smith’s Baked — had been created in the real world. “I’m totally surprised and delighted that someone would grow a fictional strain,” Smith said. “What happens when you smoke it? Do you enter a fictional world?” If only. Inspired by this recent development, we got to thinking about some fictional items from literature that we wish were real — and we’re talking real real, not collector’s item real. Click through to see what we came up with, and let us know which fictional objects you dream of owning in the comments. … Read More
The Creepiest Twins on Film
Iconic British production studio Hammer Films rose to fame for their gothic horror films in the 1970s that featured titans of terror like Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as vamps and slayers duking it out.
After Hammer’s first two movies in their Karnstein Trilogy — loosely based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s early vampire novella, Carmilla — Hammer set their sites on real-life twin Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeleine Collinson for part three. Twins of Evil arrives on Blu-ray today, and tells the story of sisters — one naughty, the other nice — that become seduced by a vampiric Count and grow a few fangs of their own.
Hammer’s raven-haired double threat weren’t the first on film to frighten audiences. Visit several other creepy movie twins after the jump. … Read More
What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office
Today at Flavorpill, we decided that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Kenneth the Page deserve their own TV show. We permanently swore off of squid after reading this fun little fact. We wondered why Madonna needs 20 international phone lines in her dressing room when on tour. We… Read More
Whodunit? 10 Famous Ghostwriting Collaborations
The newest celebrity scandal has nothing to do with sex, drugs, or alimony. Instead, New York Times dining writer Julia Moskin recently shared a behind the scenes look at cookbook ghostwriting and outed star Gwyneth Paltrow. Moskin states that the actress did not write her best-selling cookbook, My Father’s Daughter. Gwenny isn’t happy and responded to the claim on Twitter. “Love @nytimes dining section but this weeks facts need checking. No ghost writer on my cookbook, I wrote every word myself,” she shared with fans.
While we love a good cookbook, the recent headlines inspired us to revisit some of our favorite fiction penned by ghostwriters instead. Many famous authors have either helped others find their footing in the literary world, or have sought the assistance of an invisible friend. Check out ten ghostwriting collaborations past the break. Head to our comments section to leave your own picks. … Read More
A Brief Guide to Fictional Languages in Literature
This week, we were treated to a great article on the creation of the Dothraki language, as it is spoken in the HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. Inspired by this new insight into the culture of Khal Drogo, we decided to take the opportunity to look into some other interesting fictional languages, from complete universes with many dialects to what amounts to English augmented by very creative slang. Before you rise up in righteous fury, this is only a guide to languages either solely or originally conceived of in books, so nerd-favorites Na’vi and Klingon are excluded — but you’ve already heard too much about them anyway. Click through to read our brief guide to fictional languages in literature, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorites in the comments. … Read More
The Peanuts Gang Meets H.P. Lovecraft
A few weeks back we tipped you off to a fantastic series of illustrations currently in the works from DeviantART user DrFaustusAU that reimagines H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulu as a rhyming Dr. Seuss book. Today, thanks to our friends over at io9, we bring you an equally entertaining tribute: artist Julien Bazinet’s Lovecraft-inspired Peanuts comics. Click through to take a look at his work, and if you find yourself craving even more Lovecraftian laughs, then check out this hilarious McSweeney’s piece that imagines the famed author’s brief tenure as a Whitman Sampler copywriter. … Read More
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