I was fortunate to attend
Necronomicon 2015 as my personal stars aligned with the dates of the
convention: Thursday 8/20/15 ( HPL’s 125th birthday) to Sunday 8/23/15. The FB promotions for the event were too
tantalizing to resist, although I had some trepidation in having no idea what
the experience would be like. I have gone to Howard Days and a hometown comic
book convention on a regular basis but Necronomicon promised to be somewhat
odder or unusual, at least in my imagination. After all it was HPL’s 125th
birthday and these guys celebrate Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian Old Ones. They
even have a Cthulhu prayer breakfast on Sunday! I hoped they had some idea of
the forces they might be unleashing. No one wants to be at ground zero of the
Cthulhu Apocalypse. So I approached it a little like the opening of the Large
Hadron Collider, where scientists were pretty certain they were not going to
generate a giant Galaxy devouring Black Hole, but … not 100% certain. However,
I knew Howardians would be there as Rusty Burke, Jeff Shanks and Mark Finn were
manning an REH Foundation table in the Dealers Hall. So there was barbarian backup if needed.
My travel plans immediately hit a
snag as weather cancelled my 8:30 PM Wednesday night flight and I could not get
on another until 8:40 PM Thursday night. I would miss the opening ceremonies at
the First Baptist Church which fortunately can be seen on You Tube where guests
of honor Leslie Klinger (The Annotated Lovecraft) , Ramsey Campbell (World
Fantasy Life Achievement Award winner), and Robert M Price (writer, scholar,
and anthologist) all gave speeches. Flying into Providence late Thursday night
the pilot announced that we should not worry about the cloud banks on either
side of the plane that were putting on a lightning show as we were flying in a
‘clear’ corridor between them. Very reassuring.
Friday morning (8/21) I met Jeff Shanks at the
Omni Hotel coffee shop for a quick breakfast and then attended his first 9 AM panel where he gave a wonderful talk on Darwin and the Deep Ones: Anthropological
and Evolutionary Anxiety in Lovecraft’s Works. One of the other talks on
this panel was by a terrific guy named Fred Lubnow on The Lovecraftian Cosmos and Modern Science. He has written
extensively on modern science and how it generally favorably intersects with
Lovecraft’s views of the cosmos. My brain was immediately stretched, and
remained so for the rest of the con.
Jeff Shanks sported the academic attire that he would wear the entire
con which consisted of a professorial tweed jacket with either a Frazetta Conan
or Death Dealer t-shirt underneath. A
Howardian to the core! Note to self:
order one of those T shirts when you get home.
Omni & Biltmore Hotels in Providence, RI |
At 10:30 AM I went to the Biltmore
Hotel across the street from the Omni to the 17th floor Grand Ballroom, a trip
made repeatedly throughout the con as lectures were spread between the two
hotels. The panel was The Annotations of
Madness where Rusty Burke, Leslie Klinger and the ubiquitous S T Joshi
talked about the challenges of editing and annotating HPL, REH and others.
Klinger has annotated Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, and Lovecraft in beautiful
volumes. I did learn that he suggested reading the story through first then go
back and read the annotations for the best experience. This was helpful to me
as I have driven myself nuts trying to read text and annotation at the same
time.
I then went to the Dealer’s Room at
the Omni which was kind of con central as all of the booksellers and publishers
were represented as well as vendors for T Shirts and cool Lovecraftian craft
items. This was a Wayne ’s World “
shwing-worthy” moment as almost all of
the great small press publishers were represented like Hippocampus Press, PSPublishing, Fedogan and Bremer, and Dim
Shores . Jeff Shanks pointed me towards an independent
vendor who had two original copies of The King in Yellow for sale. Beautiful
books surprisingly sized like modern day mass market paperbacks. No I did not
buy one, but I did hold them and had a long enjoyable conversation with the
seller. I also met Derrick Hussey of
Hippocampus Press which was wonderful as I have made many purchases from him
and respect the great scholarship that he makes available to the Weird reading
community. All the volumes of Lovecraft’s letters and the new HPL Variorum editions … I almost became “verklempt”. Derrick was a very
nice personable guy.
REH Table (LtoR) Mark, Jeff, Rusty |
I sat with Mark, Rusty and Jeff at
the REH table and watched them
tirelessly promote REH to all who came by. I believe they sold all but one
small box of the many Foundation books they brought with them over the course
of the con and they sold all 15 copies of Bloodand Thunder that they had with them.
I was barely able to pull myself
out of the Dealer’s Room to attend a 4 PM lecture in the Biltmore Grand
ballroom on The New Weird with Lois Gresh, Scott Nicolay, Joe Pulver and Jeffrey
Thomas. Caitlin R Kiernan was to be on the panel but could not attend the con
this year due to writing deadlines. It
was still a wonderful discussion of the
modern day Weird lit scene. Joe Pulver is warm, generous, and funny. He made a
big fan in me.
Rusty, Jeff, and Mark were able to
get me a Guest Pass so I could accompany them to the
presenters reception Friday evening. Mark and I were both ravenous and put a
dent in the excellent heavy hors d'oeuvres that were served. Robert M Price was given the Robert Block Award at the reception and
luminaries were everywhere. Daniel Look and Laura Brown of the REH community
were there and I had a great conversation with Daniel about the stylometric
work he is doing on Almuric. Head
stretched again. End of a very full and wonderful day.
Saturday (8/22) at 9 AM I attended:
Lovecraft: A Critical History with S T Joshi, Robert M Price, Peter Cannon,
Steve Mariconda and Paul di Filippo. This was a historical retracing of how
Lovecraft went from an obscure pulp writer to the influential and acclaimed
figure that he is today. Robert M Price is hilarious with a razor sharp wit
like a bearded Johnathan Winters. Note to self: never pass up an opportunity to
hear this guy talk. He was the editor of the journal Crypt of Cthulhu for 107 issues and has done many anthologies for
Chaoseum Press centered on stories about individual Lovecraftian Elder Gods.
You know, Yogg -Sothoth or Azathoth etc
in addition to writing his own fiction. His day job, I kid you not, is a
preeminent academic Jesus historical scholar and a fellow of the elite Jesus
Seminar. The panel was again terrific and informative. S T Joshi is just a gem
of scholarship and a fount of knowledge. I then took a break and ate an early
lunch.
Lovecraft: A Critical History Panel (LtoR): Steve, Robert, S.T., Peter, & Paul |
At 1:30 I went to a lecture on Chambers and The King in Yellow. Joe
Pulver is a Chambers expert and entertaining speaker. Lovecraft liked Chambers’
work but read him later in his career so he was not influenced much by
Chambers.
At 4 PM the main event of
Necronomicon for REH fans occurred when Jeff, Rusty, and Mark did a 90 minute
panel called Two-Gun Bob Rides Again.
Scott Connors was the moderator. He is the S T Joshi of Clark Ashton Smith
scholarship. I did not know this but Jeff kindly clued me in. Rick Lai also was
on the panel. He is a sweet and
wonderful man who may have more pulp fiction knowledge in his head than any
human on earth. Even Rusty is in awe of the guy.
The panel was attended by at least
50 people and was, in my opinion, one of
the best I attended during the whole con. Our guys gave a new perspective on
REH that was much more expansive than just “the creator of Conan”. The Howard
erudition on the panel was mind blowing. A long discussion ensued describing
and laying the case for the under appreciated world building of REH, which
clearly was new information to the audience and opened a new understanding of
viewing Howard’s place in literature. People were asking if a book was in the
offing about all this and Rusty volunteered Jeff. It should be out by
Christmas. Just kidding!
REH Panel (LtoR): Jeff, Rusty, Scott Mark, & Rick |
But Jeff does have a new scholarly
book about Weird Tales coming out later this year with many great contributors.
We then retired to a local pub for libations and victuals. Several adoring fans
accompanied the group of victorious panelists. All kidding aside, the guys did
an amazing job representing REH all weekend long and were unflagging in their
enthusiasm. We retired early after dinner as Mark had to prepare for his
presentation Sunday.
Which I missed because, with trepidation, I attended
the Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast at 8 AM Sunday morning in the 17th floor Biltmore
Hotel Grand Ballroom. I had to keep an
eye on these HPL guys to stop some unholy monstrosity from being unleashed on Providence ! Black cloaked and hooded figures were
slipping into the room as I waited in line. To my surprise the first 50 minutes
was a scrambled egg buffet. Rick Lai, and Scott Connors sat with me which was
nice as I knew no one else there.
Then, along came Ramsey Campbell
and his lovely wife Jenny who joined us for the whole event. Unbelievable! They
couldn’t have been nicer people. Great table conversation. Scott had to run
off early to do a Clark Ashton Smith
panel back at the Omni. Robert M Price was the Grand Hierophant of the event
with Darryl Schweitzer as a red fez wearing official and Cody Goodfellow was
the DJ. Cody, in sunglasses, assumed a
persona that was a mix of Pee Wee Herman
and ZZ Top with a dash of Weird Al Yankovic thrown in. Price was like an
Eldritch Pope, occasionally covering his face with a yellow hanging mask and channeled
a message from Cthulhu to the crowd; something about it’s hard to find good
minions these days. A speak and response piece had as a response chant “Nug and
Yeb, great dragons black and red, come prepare thy fathers table.” The robed
and hooded figures were a choir and sang tunes like “Got the Old Ones Religion”
to the tune of Got that Old Time Religion.
The showstopper was a tune about Cthulhu sung to the tune of Baby
Got Back. Ramsey Campbell almost
fell out of his chair. It was a combination of Saturday Night Live, Bennie
Hill, and Monty Python! Note to self: do not ever miss this event if you have a
chance to go! The New Yorker even published an article on it that is on FB now.
Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast |
I then quickly said goodbye to my
new friends Ramsey and Jenny and Rick Lai who all went off to do a broadcast of
Lovecraft eZine together right there overlooking Providence . Just kidding about “my friend”
Ramsey as he has no idea who I am. However, on Friday I did follow him to the
bathroom and waited outside to get his signature on a book which he very
graciously obliged.
When we were having breakfast on Sunday he told me a
story about Stephen King’s last con appearance where King was sitting in a
bathroom stall and a fan pushed a book underneath for a signature! At least I
wasn't that bad. Ramsey does have a new Lovecraftian Trilogy he is working on
and has written the first draft of the first book. Something to look forward
to.
I ran off to hear the panel on CAS
by Scott Connors along with S T Joshi
and heard the last half of it . Awesomeness! Scott shared his encyclopedic
knowledge of CAS with the audience. This panel is available on You Tube. He is
coming out with paperback editions of the Night Shade Books five volume
collected CAS series with the first book, The
End of the Story, available on Amazon. The hardcover editions have
skyrocketed in price so this is good news. He has been working on a biography
but wants to get the fiction available in affordable volumes first. Then right
after this, S T Joshi did a panel on Lord Dunsany (DunZANEY is the correct
pronunciation). Awesomeness! I learned so much. Looking back over the weekend I
inadvertently scheduled myself for a Joshi-thon. A very nice accident indeed!
Jeffrey Shanks' Presentation |
When the weekend was over, I ran to the airport and
had an easy trip home to resume normal life. But I did leave with a faded Miskatonic University black t-shirt. You can order
one from cthulhulives.org. Before I left, I managed to say a quick good bye to
Rusty and Jeff, but missed Mark. By the way, Mark has a short story in a new
anthology titled Barbarian Crowns. He
did not have any at the con but you can buy it now on Amazon.
All in all Necronomicon was an
amazing convention. I don't know all the people who put it together but they
all deserve a serious pat on the back for a spectacular event. Neils Hobbs was
everywhere and did a superhuman job coordinating everything. There were roughly
2000 attendees, so I heard. I hope I can attend again if the stars align for a
Necronomicon in 2017. There will not be
one next year.
My ramblings above are given in the spirit of sharing
a perspective of the con to those who could not attend. I love to live
vicariously through the stories of others who get to do things that I can’t. It
is almost like being there for me and I am sharing my experience to spread the
fun. Jeff, Mark, and Rusty were very busy
at the REH table and preparing for their talks. They couldn't have been nicer
people to hang with and better ambassadors for the REH legacy.
I left “on the table” a whole lot
of other convention experiences. First, every 90 minute period starting at 9 AM
to after 5PM the con had at least 5 panels or lectures that you could attend. I
could only pick one, and my choices were more historical in interest. Many
other interests could be pursued by picking different panels or readings to
attend. Second, I did not have time to do a walking or bus tour of Lovecraftian
sites in Providence ,
which many people said was the highlight of their experience. Rusty did one
with a friend. I did not see the Lovecraft grave. Also, There were book
readings from fantastic authors like Simon Stranzas, Paul Tremblay, Joe Pulver,
and Richard Gavin that I would have loved to have seen. I also missed a
presentation by Jason V Brock and his lovely wife Sunni. Additionally, there
were film showings at night and an art gallery with a great exhibit. Unfortunately,
I missed them all because there was simply not enough time or they overlapped
one another. That is how full and rich
this con experience was. But I did come away meeting some impressive new people
like Scott Connors and Rick Lai and experiencing people like Robert M Price,
Darryl Schweitzer, Cody Goodfellow and Joe Pulver who were priceless. And no
Cthulhu Apocalypse!
Best,
Scott Valeri
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