Hardboiled Cthulhu

June 11th, 2010

Hard Boiled Cthulhu: Two Fisted Tales of Tentacled Terror,  is an anthology of short stories wherein the Lovecraft mythos meets film noir; the Call of Cthulhu meets The Big Sleep.  It’s a great idea as this is such an excellent setting for such tales, often overlooked both in fiction and in the COC role play game.  The book contains twenty-one contributions by a wide range of writers all of whom have a passion for Lovecraft’s creations.  With a few exceptions this is the only time they have been available in print.

The book itself is some 330 pages and contains the following;

Sleeping with the Fishes (Poem) — James Ambuehl
The Pisces Club — James Ambuehl
A Change of Life — William Jones
Ache — David Witteveen
A Dangerous High — E. P. Berglund
A Little Job in Arkham — John Sunseri
Day of Iniquity — Steven L. Shrewsbury
Eldritch Fellas — Tim Curran
Outside Looking In — David Conyers
Pazuzu’s Children — Jeffrey Thomas
The Devil In You — Eric J. Millar
The Mouth — William Meikle
The Questioning of the Azathonthian Priest — C. J. Henderson
Some Thought on the Problem of Order — Simon Bucher-Jones
The White Mountains — Jonathan Sharp
The Terror Came — Patrick Thomas
The Prying Investigations of Edwin M. Lillibridge — Robert M. Price
The Roaches in the Walls — James Chambers
To Skin a Dead Man — Cody Goodfellow
Unfinished Business — Ron Shiflet
The Watcher From the Grave — J. F. Gonzalez
Dreams.biz — Richard A. Lupoff

The book itself is a good quality paperback, glossy cover, nice paper, crisp print, in fact just what I have come to expect from Elder Sign Press.  As well as the stories themselves there are capsule biographies of each of the contributors.

The tales themselves are generally very good and in many ways they tick many of my boxes, some evoke a really good Lovecraftian atmosphere (In particular Robert M Prices contribution The Prying Investigations of Edwin M Lillibridge”). Some hit the mark in terms of story; I particularly enjoyed John Sunseri’s “A Little Job In Arkham” which has a little Oceans 11 feel to it, if you want to steal a priceless tome from Miskatonic Uni then you need the right group of thieves’.  A tale, well told with a good twist in the tale. I will certainly be on the lookout for more of Mr Sunseri’s work.

Of all the tales the only one that is somewhat out of place is Steven L Shrewsbury’s “Day of Iniquity” while a great read; it was definitely a good Sword & Sorcery tale, it was not really a detective type story by any stretch of my very elastic imagination. Basically a barbarian follower of Wotan leads his tribe to achieve vengeance on a dark cult.  What was this doing in this book?

For me however there are two highlights.  Richard A. Lupoff’s Dreemz.biz” is a cracking tale in which an enigmatic web site supplies vivid and dangerous dreams to its occasional customers. Whilst not as “hardboiled” as many of the tales and its Lovecraftian horror only becomes apparent in its closing stages, the feeling of good old “cosmic horror” will stay with you for some time after you finish reading.  

Finally, not everyone’s favourite I’m sure but “Eldritch Fellas” by Tim Curran is brilliant, I won’t spoil it for you by describing the story, but it is at heart a humorous tale which takes the hardboiled genre to its Cthulhian extreme where Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler and Tony Soprano all meet.  You will laugh out loud, even if it’s only at the fart jokes.  

In summary I think this is a great collection of stories, with something for everyone whether it is the genre, the Lovecraftian horror, the humor or the fact that you collection would be incomplete without it.  It was bought for me as a gift, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it as a read and it has left me with many ideas for evil to inflict upon my role play group to boot.

Go on click here and treat yourself!

 

UK RPG Events – June & July

May 21st, 2010

I am hoping to try and provide a regular  run down of upcoming UK RPG events, we used to keep a full calendar on one of the previous incarnations of the site but if I’m honest it was murder to try and maintain.  So instead I’m going to trawl the web and my mailbox for details of those events that are coming up in the next couple of months and post them under an “events” category  – if you are hosting an RPG event and would like it to be included on the list then just drop me a mail, the usual address; derek at miskatonic.co.uk

4th-6th June: UK Games Expo 2010

Hosted at the Strathallan Hotel and Clarendon Suites in Birmingham. “‘Everything about Games’ is the strap-line and as in 2009, the Friday will be an open gaming day at the adjacent Strathallan Hotel. Starting from 10am with board gaming and RPG sessions throughout the day. The main trade show, tournaments, costumed events and all the family fun will be going on throughout Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June at the Clarendon Suites. Saturday evening you can game till you drop at the Strathallan’s gaming rooms.

“UK Games Expo is the UK’s largest mixed games show where gamers from all types of gaming can get together and enjoy playing games.”

Most significantly this years guests will include Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, so dust off your Fighting Fantasy books.  Full details can be found at www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk

19th June: Raiders of the Game Cupboard

The Salvation Army Citadel, Mosley Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1DR, 10:00am to 8:00pm. “A full day of gaming with plenty for everyone. New players are always welcome and the organisers are on hand to help you find a game. All sorts of games will be played: board games, mini’s, card games and roleplaying games”.  There is an entrance fee of £2.00 – which is a bargain really – with free entry for accompanied children under 16.  More details can be found at the Raiders of the Game Cupboard homepage here.

2nd-4th July: Summer Stabcon 2010

“A weekend of Board Games, Strategy Games, Wargames, Role Playing Games, Storytelling”

The Britannia Hotel, Stockport plays host to this  twice-yearly event.  As previously it will largely be a “play what you bring” event, but is usually well attended with accommodation available in the hotel. Open from 2pm Friday and 9:30am Sat/Sun, though gaming goes on pretty much all weekend in the main conference room and other rooms in the hotel.

Tickets are£15 for the full weekend (£17.50 after 31st May – so get a move on!), £7.50 for a single day (£8.75 after 31st May – yes, go on, get a wriggle on). Rooms are available at a reasonable rate for those who want to stay over. For more details or to book e-mail bookings at stabcon.co.uk

2nd-4th July: Continuum 2010

To be held at John Foster Hall,  University of Leicester.

“Continuum is a games convention featuring, but not exclusive to, games and worlds created by Issaries Inc and Chaosium … attendees can participate in traditional table-top role-playing games, board games, card games, free-form/LARP games (large and small), discussion panels, and all manner of general silliness.”

Costs: Well if you are reading this and don’t have your tickets you’ve missed the “Early Bird registration discounts” but Standard Registration (February 16th onwards) is £25. There is accommodation available with prices from £45 per night.

Loads more details can be found at the Continuum website here.

17th-18th July: PaizoCon UK

To be held at at Aston University Business School, in central Birmingham, with accommodation available on campus and in nearby B&Bs and hotels. This is an event dedicated to Paizo Press Pathfinder system; entrance is £15.00 per day, with volunteer GMs getting a £7.50 discount per game slot that they run.

Lots more details can be found on the website here.

miskatonic.co.uk – support for mobile devices

May 19th, 2010

motorola v3iOnce again a wordpress upgrade was available and after putting it off, as I always tend to do,  I upgraded the site to Wordpress 2.9.2 – I also took the opportunity to install the  Wordpress mobile pack, so if you are browsing the site from your mobile device you should now be presented with a mobile friendly theme and content.

We don’t appear to have done any damage, the little cultists seem to have not misplaced any content.   If you do however notice any problems please drop me a line and I’ll have someone punished.

Cheers,

Derek.

Happy GM’s Day at Chaosium too!

March 4th, 2010

Don’t forget that GM’s are people too. Celebrate their brilliance in style today. As well as the previously reported GM’s Day sale at RPGNOW we are also glad to publicise the fact that Chaosium too are doing their bit for our heroic Keepers with a special GM’s day offer.

For a couple of days you can pick up a free PDF download of the Keepers Companion (version 1). Its a great source book if you don’t already have it in your collection.

If you are contemplating a purchase from Chaosium we would seriously recommend the ARKHAM NOW sourcebook. (CHA23116) MSRP $27.95 also available as a PDF download (MSRP $19.95).  Together with the Keepers Companion we think its a bargain at $19.95.

Even if you are not in spending mood – still feeling a little credit crunched – you can still download a free ARKHAM NOW scenario from the Chaosium website “Lost In A Book”.

Tell them we sent you!

Ia! F’tagn GM’s Day!

Derek.

March 4th and celebrate!

March 3rd, 2010

GM’s Day is March 4th!

And in honour of the day it is once again the annual GM’s day sale at RPGNOW and you can celebrate with a massive 25% off of hundreds of titles. The GM’s day sale runs from 4th to the 8th of March.  Don’t miss out – Time to pick up some goodies!