Time for yet another shout-out to inform ye all that the latest Caliber Comics re-issue of my H. P. Lovecraft adaptations is now available for order through Diamond Distribution! This time up is ARTHUR JERMYN, also known as “Facts in the Case of Arthur Jermyn and His Family” and “The White Ape.” (Phew!) Cover and interior art by the great Wayne Reid. Like all the Caliber/Lovecraft re-issues this graphic novel features re-scanned artwork and updated editorial material along with an illustrated copy of the original story by HPL.
William Heitman’s illustration for Lovecraft’s “Arthur Jermyn” as it appeared under the title “The White Ape” in the April 1924 issue of Weird Tales.
Speaking of that original story, Lovecraft gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his inspiration for it in this snippet from a letter he wrote to Weird Tales editor Edwin Baird in 1923:
“Somebody had been harassing me into reading some work of the iconoclastic moderns — these young chaps who pry behind exteriors and unveil nasty hidden motives and secret stigmata — and I had nearly fallen asleep over the tame backstairs gossip of [Sherwood] Anderson‘s Winesburg, Ohio. The sainted Sherwood, as you know, laid bare the dark area which many whited village lives concealed, and it occurred to me that I, in my weirder medium, could probably devise some secret behind a man’s ancestry which would make the worst of Anderson’s disclosures sound like the annual report of a Sabbath school. Hence Arthur Jermyn.”
The focus of LOVE GONE WRONG is … well … love. Familial, romantic, dedicated, obsessive … you name it. The one thing that truly unites all these love stories, however, is a misstep occurs which leads into a slide into the uncanny.
“Expiration Date” is a tale of a marriage left to sour and how even the best laid plans of vengeance involving the supernatural can go terribly awry. “Expiration Date” is also my homage to those wonderful portmanteau sixties and seventies films from Amicus Productions like DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS, ASYLUM and FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.
Nope, flowers and candy aren’t going to save the day here.
Just a quick shout-out to let you all know that the latest Caliber Comics re-issue of my H. P. Lovecraft adaptations is now available for order through Diamond Distribution! This time up is THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN with cover and interior art by the ever-awesome Aldin Barzoa, who worked with me long, long ago on NIGHTLINGER and TATTERS (both available through Caliber). Like all the Caliber/Lovecraft re-issues this graphic novel features re-scanned artwork and updated editorial material along with an illustrated copy of the original story by HPL. I also want to add that, after THE LURKING FEAR, this is my favorite of the Lovecraft adaptations and am so happy to see it available again in a better-than-ever presentation!
It is almost year end. Time to take a look back at 2020 (which I forgot to review last January) and 2021 and then take a look at what’s ahead in 2022.
The pandemic made 2020 an unpleasant and often tragic year for many people, but even before the shutdowns started in March the year got off to an unhappy start with the death of Clive Cussler on February 24. Mr. Cussler left behind a truly memorable legacy and remains sorely missed.
Clive Cussler was true to character until the end, as demonstrated by his epigraph on the tombstone he shares with his wife Barbara.
On a more personal note, the shutdowns meant no comic conventions which meant no get-togethers with fans and old friends at places like MSP or local cons. I missed you all and hope we will have the opportunity to gather again in the future.
Meanwhile “The Adventure of the Ambitious Task” was adapted into a one-man show called “The Adventure of the Inescapable Crypt” by Jonathan Goodwin, winner of the 2020 Hamilton Dean Award from The Dracula Society. Goodwin wrote the adaptation and performed as Holmes (but also some other characters) for his Don’t Go Into the Cellar theater group as a Halloween program that was available live throughout the world as an online Zoom broadcast. If you didn’t catch it and would like to get an idea of what the production was like, you can click on the image below to see Goodwin portraying Holmes for the Kickstarter promotion for the production.
Getting settled in our new home will be the priority. That said, I am very excited to be writing a short story for an all-new anthology to be published later this year dedicated to an overlooked pulp hero created by one of the medium’s most popular authors. That is all I can right now, but I promise to share details here as soon as I have the okay to do so. Meanwhile Trey Baldwin is working on our latest Lovecraft comics adaptation, The Call of Cthulhu, which will hopefully be available from Caliber Comics before the end of 2022. I have also been submitting to various publishers more than I have in many years, but there is no way of knowing right now if any of these will be accepted. If anything is, I will let you know here. Work also continues on the second novel in my Lovecraftian series and I recently began outlining a possible second Sherlock Holmes novel. I have also been whittling away on a non-fiction book that looks at how superhero films have changed from their inception with Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941 up to the launch of the Marvel Comics Universe with Iron Man in 2008. I am not going to lie, my finishing this is a long shot, but it is a manuscript I come back to when I need a break from other writing projects or there isn’t enough time to start working on a new project before something time-consuming happens, say like moving across four states.
So, hey, I’m keeping busy.
And that’s it for now. It has been quite a couple of years. Things are improving in some ways, but not so much in others. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do have every faith that we are near the end of this pandemic and that we will be all the better and stronger for it
I am gobsmacked and amped to proclaim far and wide that all nine of my H. P. Lovecraft adaptations and both volumes of H. P. Lovecraft’s Worlds that collects the nine adaptations have either been or are in the process of being re-issued by Caliber Comics! All feature the nifty Lovecraft Series logo seen above to show that it is part of my original series of Lovecraft adaptations. Look for the seal to know they are Cthulhu Approved!
The artwork for all nine stories have been re-scanned and the book itself reformatted to look and read better than ever.
In case you have forgotten, these nine adaptations are:
Just look at that line-up of artists! And the Dagon adaptation features a new cover by artist Sergio Cariello!
Along with the release of Shadow Over Innsmouth in 2020 there is a total of 10 Lovecraft adaptations to choose from! And if that is not enough hard-core Lovecrafty goodness for you, let us not forget about these dark chests of wonder that are also available for your reading entertainment:
Lovecraft: The Early Stories features the original Lovecraft tales from my first nine Lovecraft adaptations. Illustrated, edited by noted Lovecraft scholar S. T. Josh, and featuring an introduction by me
“Steven Philip Jones has done the impossible! He has penned a series of thrilling, engrossing mysteries that fit seamlessly into the continuity of the original Conan Doyle stories. A highly enjoyable and necessary read!” – Matthew J. Elliott (Sherlock Holmes on the Air)
“A strong plot and characters, a logical progression of events, a clear summation of motives and the events and causes that led up to the crime, and historical events and people makes this a satisfying and informative read.” – Sharlene Almond, Reedsy.com (Click HERE to read the full review)
Click HERE to read the Publisher’s Weekly book review!
We all know the news of Sherlock Holmes’ death in 1891 was greatly exaggerated.
Instead of tumbling into the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty, Holmes spent the next three years in Tibet, Persia, and the south of France … or that is what he told his friend and biographer Dr. John H. Watson.
Holmes did not lie to Watson, but he did leave out some details.
Quite a few, actually.
But that is okay, because so did Watson.
Reichenbach was only the start of the war with the Moriarty gang, and what Holmes and Watson were really up to during the Great Hiatus is at last revealed in THE ADVENTURE OF THE COAL-TAR DERIVATIVE, my new anthology-novel from MX Publishing!
You will not only discover the truth about Holmes and a certain Giant Rat, but what Holmes knew about Jack the Ripper.
You will be in on the search for a precious, lethal stone that could destroy London as well as learn what a mysterious masked passenger aboard a long-ago shipwreck has to do with all this.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE COAL-TAR DERIVATIVE is now available in hardcover, paperback of Audible audio book, and you can order a copy from my Amazon Author page by clicking here!
Ask yourself first, though: “The world may at last ready to learn the truth, but are you?”
This adaptation from Caliber Comics also includes Lovecraft’s 1931 novella (edited by me and appearing with permission from Lovecraft Holdings LLC) and my articles “H.P. Lovecraft: A Brief Biography” and “Lovecraft: A Look Back,” both of which have been updated for this adaptation.
What’s that?
You say you can’t wait until February to claim yourself a copy?
According to MX Publishing: “The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene in 2015 featuring adventures written by many of the world’s leading Sherlockian authors, and since then its popularity has continued to grow.” All royalties from this collection are being donated by the writers for the benefit of the preservation of Undershaw, one of the former homes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, currently the home of Stepping Stones School, a school for children with special needs.
