Raargh!

Some old T-shirt & patch designs I did...early 90's...

Horror Audio Dramas...

I was given an MP3 player for xmas... and ever since then I've been downloading all sorts of stuff of t'internet... After listening to 70 plus episodes of the HPPODCAST and getting up to date with that, I've mainly been searching out horror audio dramas to listen to... I've found all sorts of stuff - some absolute stinkers - and some that are really excellent, so I thought I'd do a little article on here with some recomendations of some of my favorites...all of these podcasts are FREE TO DOWNLOAD.... first off WORMWOOD - a weird horror mystery serial featuring supernatural investigator Xander Crowe and his mysterious gothic assistant Sparrow. There are strange goings on in the town of Wormwood - the investigators are drawn there by strange forces.... here's a little blurb off their website..

"Once a popular psychologist and best-selling author, Doctor Xander Crowe began a downward spiral after he failed to save the life of Samantha Holloway—a young girl possessed by an ancient Assyrian demon called Adramelech. The tragedy has haunted Crowe since, reducing the once respected analyst of the mind to a drunken, two-bit occult detective, scraping together a living by performing séances and minor exorcisms with the help of his assistant, the gothic hacker-magician called Sparrow. A second altercation with Adramelech has cost Crowe his right hand—which has been gruesomely replaced with a petrified “Hand of Glory.” The hand—which is kept gloved despite its occasional, twitchy movement—imbues Crowe with certain occult abilities, but its origin and ultimate purpose are shrouded in mystery." 

There are 3 seasons of this to download. It's well written, well produced - and the voice actors are great - this is a very dark story, but there are some very funny parts too. Things kind of come to a head at the end of the 3rd season - so I'm not sure if there will be anymore audio stuff, but a Sparrow & Crowe comic series is just about to come out. Check all this out at http://wormwoodshow.com/

AGE OF THE ZOMBIES is a zombie survival story... unfortunately there are only 5 episodes of this, things are just getting going...and then there's no more.. boo!  - but what there is of this is really good, 2 groups of survivors are in touch with each other over the radio, it becomes clear that some of the survivors are in just as much danger from the scientists that are with them as they are from the zombies outside their compound.... http://ageofthezombies.necropolisstudioprod.com/aotz.html

THE UNSPEAKABLE AND THE INHUMAN is another little horror audio drama that just ends as things are getting good, I'm not sure what happened - If the makers lost interest or didn't have time to do it any more or whatever? It's a shame anyhow because this is very funny indeed! - Described by the makers as "the world's only Lovecraft-inspired horror-comedy soap-opera"...the episodes are pretty short, you can still download all 9 of them from http://neohoodoo.libsyn.com/rss/unspeakable it's definately worth a listen if you're into Lovecraftian sillyness!

The people at Broken Sea Audio Dramas have a great website ( http://brokensea.com/ )with all kinds of interesting stuff...for example there are original DR WHO, PLANET OF THE APES, THE PRISONER, BATTLE STAR GALACTICA dramas, and as well as a load of other fan based programs, they have some other interesting dramas too... two things that I've listened to from these folks worth a mention are... the KOLCHAK ARCHIVES... a drama in 4 parts - I used to love watching Kolchak on the telly as a kid - it creeped me out! - Anyhow some folks have decided to continue the KOLCHAK tales in audio drama - it's great! http://brokensea.com/kolchak/

The other original drama I wanted to let you all know about from Broken Sea is JAKE SAMPSON MONSTER HUNTER - this is more in the vein of early 20th century pulp horror/fantasy - very influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and he even appears in one of the stories...In fact there are 5 tales of Jake Sampsons heroic deeds to download - and the 5th one "The Gods of War" - Is just a superb pulp romp - I loved every minute of it - Jake Sampson, Winston Churchill and the Knights Templer, John Carter and some Martians, Edgar Rice Burroughs and some others vs Fu Manchu and the Nazis!! - you can't get much better than that in my oppinion!!

"Part private eye, part adventurer…all pulp hero. Set against a 1930’s backdrop, Jake Sampson: Monster Hunter is a tribute to the cliffhanger-laden, classic radio serials of yesteryear. Join Jake and his companions, Texas Holdum and Lucy Carter as they journey to the four corners of the earth to put supernatural evil in its place."

http://brokensea.com/jakesampson/

ONE EIGHTEEN:MIGRATION - This is an epic post-zombie-appocalpse tale. These aren't your Romero style zombies though... in this story, zombification isn't spread by bites or any kind of infection, but if you die you come back as a zombie, anything dead comes back - animals too... but there's much more going on...there is a creeping madness that is spreading through the population - horrible sharred visions of a decadent white queen.... the main protagonist is a chap called Jonas Waight... the story is seen from his point of view, and also from that of a scientist who is reading Jonas's diary and is slowly going insane as he does so. This is fantastic stuff indeed!! - There are 2 full seasons to download from their website... hopefully there will be a third final series sometime. The guy who writes the story (according to his blog anyway) has been suffering from depression and is having a break whilst he gets better. Well best wishes to you feller - hope you're feeling better soon! http://oneeighteenmigration.blogspot.com/

The last horror podcast I want to meantion is another zombie one - it's currently taking the internet by storm - and it's not suprising - cos it's friggin' ace!!! - WE'RE ALIVE - another post zombie appocalypse audio drama...64 episodes so far - and still going strong!! -I've just caught up with this and I'm waiting with baited breath for the next episode.. professional cast, writting and production - this is soo great -and I'm totally sucked in to the story! - I'm not going to say much more about this - if you're into stories about zombie survival - then you've got to listen to this!!!! http://www.zombiepodcast.com/The_Zombie_Podcast/WereAliveMain.html

If anyone can recommend any other good horror / pulp / lovecraftian / zombie audio dramas - then let me know... I'm new to this genre - and I can't get enough of it!!


Don't forget - all these audio dramas are FREE TO DOWNLOAD!! - How great is that!!

Castles, Islands and beaches....Northumberland Spring 2011

Bamburgh Castle

Seahouses

Holy Island - ruined Abbey

Herring Boat Sheds - Holy Island

Lindisfarne Castle

Cheese!

Bakewell, Derbyshire - March 2011

Cardboard Cultists, Creatures & Cthulhu

I was listening to NEWS FROM PNAKOTUS podcast the other day, they mentioned in passing that someone had a designed a papercraft ELDER THING (from the H.P.Lovecraft story At The Mountains of Madness) that you could print, cut out and glue together... I tracked it down... and a whole world of paper monsters has opened up to me!!

    I was really into Miniature wargames as a teenager, from the Games Workshop Warhammer universe... progressing on to historical wargames..and my favourite of all time was the old LASERBURN 15mm sci-fi game by Tabletop Games... I spent a lot of my youth in my bedroom painting figures and writing scenarios... then came girls and thrash metal... but that's another story!

    Anyhow - check this out... the guy who's done the Elder Thing is Wayne Peters... he's got a website called CROWSTUFF...and you can get the Elder Thing here : http://www.crowstuff.co.uk/temp/Elder_Thing.pdf

   There also is a fantastic website called ONE MONK MINATURES.... not only are there CULTISTS, DEEPONES and a friggin Huge CTHULHU paper model... but there are hundreds of other paper miniatures to download for free!! - I've got to track some other geeks down to play some Lovecraftian cardboard horror games!! The guy who does One Monk also runs the Cardboard Warriors Forum where there are loads of links to other free cardboard models...

Another guy who's got some really nice Horror / Zombie designs is Adam Steel - he does DARKMOOK miniatures - some really nice stuff... he's got a blog - and looks like he's working on a downloadable zombie boardgame too... sounds great!!

Nearly forgot.... News From Pnakotus podcast is here: http://www.yog-sothoth.com/local_links.php?catid=2

At The Mountains Of Madness - Graphic Novel

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS - Graphic novel by I.N.J.Culbard... http://strangeplanetstories.blogspot.com/  I picked this up at last years Thought Bubble Comic Convention... Mr Culbard himself was doing book signings - and drawing Lovecraftian creatures in everyone's books... I got me a "Gug"! - Fantastic!! - This book is so lovely - his drawing style is bold, the use of colour is just beautiful, the whole thing is a delight... This is of course an adaptation of the H.P.Lovecraft story, and Mr Culbard has done such a good job - I can't recommend this enough! - Apparently Del Toro's film adaptation of the same story is going to be made next year... with Tom Cruise..!!???... anyhow, turns out that I.N.J.Culbard is working on another Lovecraft adaptation - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward... not sure when that's going to be out, but I'll certainly be getting a copy when it does...

Also he's also doing a Lovecraftian comic collaboration with the guys from Hppodcast.com.. called  DEAD BEATS which looks like it's going to be great! - not sure when that's coming out either, but you can see the first few pages on their website... http://deadbeats.hppodcraft.com/

I.N.J.Culbard also has done 4 Sherlock Holmes graphic novel adaptations and the Oscar Wilde classic - The Picture of Dorian Gray... He's a very tallented chap with excellent taste in literature.