Somewhat Heartless, and Somewhat Grown

Plath.

2009-11-04T17:19:08Z

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

Two Horror Readings: October 30 and October 31, 2009

2009-10-16T22:12:35Z

The code for this link graphic:

<a href="http://www.bloodletters.com/"><img src="http://www.bloodletters.com/pub/whisper2009.jpg" width="400" height="259" border="0"></a>

Friday, October 30, 8-10pm: Wayward Coffeehouse presents their annual Halloween horror reading, this time with two authors, to lead you twice as far into the dark.

ANGEL LEIGH McCOY (http://www.angelleigh.com/) is a game reviewer, game designer, and the head editor for the Wily Writers Speculative Fiction Downloads site. Her fiction has appeared in the anthologies "Ravens in the Library" and "Vile Things."

MICHAEL MONTOURE (http://www.bloodletters.com/) is the author of "Counting from Ten and Other Stories," available from Stone Pine Press. His fiction has also appeared in "Doctor Who: How the Doctor Changed My Life." "Montoure's spare, striking prose outlines characters in deliciously twisted predicaments ..." -- Seattle Weekly

Calendar links: Eventful | Facebook | Upcoming | zvents

The code for this link graphic:

<a href="http://www.bloodletters.com/"><img src="http://www.bloodletters.com/pub/feeding2009.jpg" width="400" height="259" border="0"></a>

Saturday, October 31, 8-10pm: Come enjoy terrifying stories about everyone's most basic need, at the grand opening of THE NIGHT KITCHEN, the restaurant that's finally bringing high quality late night food to downtown Seattle. (http://www.nightkitchenseattle.com/)

Calendar links: Eventful | Facebook | Upcoming | zvents

Defying gravity.

2009-09-21T18:53:33Z

Well, that was one heck of a decent weekend, if by "weekend" you mean some arbitrary number of days toward the end of the week which might begin on, say, Thursday, when windbourne took me to a preview screening of Zombieland, which is now, seriously, one of my favorite movies ever. Even though I spent most if thinking, "You poor bastards couldn't get Michael Cera, huh?" 'Cause the lead character is totally a Michael Cera character, even if he was in fact played by Jesse Eisenberg. But, yeah, this movie is all kinds of fun.

Friday I didn't really do anything, except finally try Bluefin, which was both surprisingly good and startlingly over-priced.

Saturday, retcon and I went down to the Puyallup Fair. Slightly cornball idea, but we could both stand to get out of the house, so I thought I'd suggest it. We had a great time. I went with the intention of going on rides that were outside of my comfort zone, and that was kind of awesome. (Riff, on seeing me hook my glasses in my shirt collar: "You might want to put those in your pocket. This ride goes upside-down." Me: "Oh, okay -- wait, what?") We ate Inappropriate Food and walked around looking at stupid shopping-channel type crap and at animals. Although we didn't spend long looking at the horses, because we both lack the genetic component that makes you interested in horses. Namely, a double-X chromosome.

Afterwards, we went and did a little thrifting, to prepare for going out to the Mercury for "Class", a school-themed night. Riff put together basically an Angus Young outfit, a look that worked way, way better for him than it really should. I grabbed some black shorts, a red plaid tie and a gray sweater-vest, and in a stroke of what modesty forbids me from admitting was pure genius, a couple of Cliff's Notes.

I went home and finished the outfit off with some tall boots, a white button-down shirt, a gray blazer with a school-uniform-looking patch on it, and various pins and badges. I looked adorable. I spent the evening clutching the books to my chest like a shield and cringing and apologizing for being in the way. I didn't think it was possible to have that much fun being anxious and socially awkward. I was threatened by bullies, unsuccessfully hid my cigarette from teachers, and had a cute girl tell me she'd pay me to write a paper for her. It was so. Much. Fun. I can't even tell you.

Then on Sunday, Ahna and I went to see the Pet Shop Boys. And right now, you're just mildly thinking, "Oh, right, that band who did West End Girls, oh, that's nice," and that's because you haven't been to one of their concerts. They put on an amazing stage show, with multiple costume changes and dancers with insanely great choreography and digitally-projected computer animation and -- it's more performance art than just "a concert". A full-on spectacle. You totally need to go the next time they come through town.

.... And the weekend's not over yet, apparently. Tomorrow night, I'm going to go see "Wicked" again, this time with elocinnuala, which is going to be awesome.

... And celebrate the irony

2009-09-08T23:08:20Z

Home is where I want to be

2009-07-28T20:42:58Z

Okay, team. Tuesday. And Tunes thereof. You know the drill.

I've included my usual link to this week's MP3 below, but first, before you hear the song on its own, you should check out this really insanely well-done American Psycho-inspired music video. Umm, unless you've never seen American Psycho, in which case, a.) you're probably not going to have any real appreciation for the video, and b.) remind me, why are we friends again -- ?

And now, if you can manage to get the imagery of the video out of your head, just listen to the MP3, and read the lyrics if you're not familiar with the original, and see if you can tell why I've been listening to this song over and over again for days now:

Miles Fisher - This Must Be the Place.mp3

It's a cover of the old Talking Heads song, and gives it a fresh coat of slick, cheerful, AutoTuney goodness. This has been making me feel happy, light, calm but energized, accepting and Zen. It's just what I need right now, in other words. I guess I am already there.

Home
Is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me 'round
I feel numb
Born with a weak heart
I guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's okay, I know nothing's wrong
Nothing --

Hi, yo -- I got plenty of time
Hi, yo -- you got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money,
Always for love
Cover up and say goodnight
Say goodnight

Home
Is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home
She lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time
Before we were born
If someone asks, this is where I'll be --
Where I'll be

Hi, yo -- We drift in and out
Hi, yo -- sing into my mouth
Out of all those kinds of people
You got a face with a view
I'm just an animal looking for a home
Share the same space for a minute or two
And you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head, oh, oooo ....

Reading at Wayward Coffeehouse THIS SATURDAY, July 18th, 8pm!

2009-07-14T18:07:34Z

.... Sorry for the short notice on this one, but:

Wayward Coffeehouse has been having a regular "Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author Reading Series" for a while now, and they decided my work was close enough to fit in.

We've had this scheduled for a while, and there were supposed to be one or two other authors scheduled to read that night? And for all I know, there still are, but I've never heard any confirmation about who they might be. I'd been planning on promoting this more when I had the other writers' names to announce, but, well, here we are at the last minute. :)

So come out and see me! I'll most likely be reading "Tuesday Calling" and "The Wedding Present" unless anyone else has any special requests, and probably something else besides, time permitting.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author Reading - Michael Montoure, others TBA
Wayward Coffeehouse
http://www.waywardcoffee.com/
8570 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle WA 98103

(Event details on Facebook)

Unnamed.

2009-07-04T06:44:56Z

Blood rushing deeper as tears run dry
Finding its way to the secret inside
A tide rising inward, rivers reversed
Filling the chambers and breaking their curse
No doors and no windows, no view to the sky
Just a shuddering silence, a wondering why
Hearts can be broken, rebuilt again wrong
Sharp edges inside where no shards belong
But nothing's for always, not pleasure, not pain
When what's broken is gone, what's whole will remain
The blood that remembers comes crashing like rain
Until the heart beats to its rhythm again

I've seen in your eyes something free and untamed
And it calls out to me, somewhere deep and unnamed
Says, Dancer, won't you remember the Dance?
Each surely placed footstep, and each taken chance?
Says, Lover, no matter how close we've grown
Your heart was a gift I never wanted to own
There's no place for your heart next to mine to belong
It's been right there inside you with its unheard song
Your answers aren't found in my eyes alone
Let song fill your chambers, take your unclaimed Throne
And a voice I'd forgotten from a heart that's grown still
Remembers the Dance and whispers,
"I will"

Just nod if you can hear me

2009-06-16T20:48:00Z

Time for Tunes for Tuesday, kids.

First, shock yourself awake with everyone's favorite twenty-first century disco band bringing their own insanely glam touch to an old Pink Floyd standard:

Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb.mp3

Now knock your chair over and kick it out of your cubicle, 'cause you're gonna need room to dance:

Finally, take the rest of the afternoon off, and drive around with your windows down, listening to this:

Syntax - Bliss.mp3

Painted.

2009-06-15T19:55:06Z

I have to give massive, massive props here to endorphan, kimmiemonster, retcon, and saffyre_dragon, who gave their weekend to helping me paint my condo, a project I started and abandoned -- oh, the better part of a decade ago, actually, and living inside the unfinished results has been pretty insanely depressing. But now my home is well on its way to being a proud and brilliant gleaming white, and I can't thank my friends enough.

We completely finished the living room, the dining room, and the hallway, including the interior of the hall closet, and I tell ya -- it looks fan-freaking-tastic. We even got a decent start on the kitchen. Both it and the bedroom are, sadly, not very big -- so it's really not going to take a lot to finish the place.

This is just the start. I finally have the time, energy, and cash-on-hand to start making this place livable, in a way I haven't managed since I moved in here -- what, fifteen years ago? Something like that.

And when I'm done ...

....I think I'm finally going to have a housewarming party.

Crypticon.

2009-06-03T17:05:58Z

And now for another installment of Short Notice Theater:

Going to be at Crypticon this weekend?

I'm going to be doing a reading on Saturday at 10:30pm in the Olympic Room.

If you like horror, you should really come, and not just for my reading -- the con was a lot of fun last year, and I got to meet a lot of familiar faces from horror movies I know and love. Hope to see your smiling and/or terrified faces as well. Cheers!

Last minute bribe!

2009-05-23T18:34:46Z

Okay, so you may have heard me mention, we're having a party tonight and all, and we'd sure like you to be there.

Last night, one of our members posted that she would personally refund the ticket price for her friends if they did not have an excellent time, and I thought that was awfully jake of her.

But! Since we in the Merchants of Deva have a long-standing tradition of trying to top each other¹, I can do that one better!

If you've been looking at these invites thinking, "Gosh, I sure would like to go, but President Obama hasn't fixed the economy yet and I gots no moneys" -- then I will buy your ticket!²

That's right -- if you really feel like you can't afford it, the first three people to respond to this post saying, "Sure, Six, I'd like to take cruel advantage of your generous nature" gets in the door for the low, low price of zero dollars and zero cents.

____
1. No, not like that, you perverts. Sheeeesh.
2. Local taxes and fees may apply. Offer void where prohibited. Ask your doctor if the Merchants of Deva is right for you.

The Merchants of Deva present: AFTERPARTY, Saturday, May 23rd

2009-05-18T23:21:24Z

The MERCHANTS OF DEVA have hosted fifteen years of the best parties science-fiction fandom has to offer, at conventions like NORWESCON, WESTERCON and more. Now they're finally leaving conventions behind for a brand new venue called: the real world! If you've been to their parties before, you know what to expect. If this will be your first — you won't want it to be your last!

Spinning pre-apocalyptic Techno-Industrial/Darkwave/EBM for your dancing pleasure:
→ DJ SPACEMONKEY
→ plus special guest, the West Coast-renowned DJ VELVETEEN

Drink specials:
→ Depleted Uranium
→ Reactor Coolant
→ Napalm Death
→ plus select shots and cocktails from our hosted wet bar

$15 cover includes two drink tickets.
The party starts at 8:00pm at Sodo Pop, at 2424 1st Ave, Seattle, WA.
Post-Apocalyptic costumes encouraged!

Tickets on sale now via Brown Paper Tickets:
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/67092
BUY YOUR TICKET NOW

Re-posted from merchants_deva
community.livejournal.com/merchants_deva/18749.html

	Click here to repost this message to your LiveJournal!
	Click here to post this on Twitter!

Cross purposes.

2009-05-14T20:38:55Z

Just a public note, here --

If you are on Dreamwidth and you're cross-posting to your LiveJournal, I'm unfriending you here as part of my transition. I love you all, but I don't need to read what you write twice. :)

I never post anything here friends-only, so you're not going to be missing anything by having me unfriend you. (Good lord, I hate LJ terminology.) We're good.

Sale!

2009-05-05T17:31:43Z

Hey, if you've been putting off getting your copy of "How the Doctor Changed My Life", the Doctor Who anthology that has my short story, "Relativity" -- now's the time to buy it. Big Finish is having a half-price sale on their "Short Trips" series, limited to stock on hand -- when these are gone, they're gone!

Buy "How the Doctor Changed My Life" now -- only $10.94 plus $2.20 shipping

The Audacity of Hope

2009-05-01T18:57:51Z

Dreamwidth launched its Open Beta yesterday. Even if you haven't been paying attention to Dreamwidth before now, you have probably started seeing people on your friendslist start requesting or offering invite codes.

I've seen Dreamwidth described as "a bunch of ex-LJ staffers rebooting LJ from the inside," and as "a project run by people who fell out of love with LJ, and want to create something worth loving again." As one staffer puts it, "what we're trying to do is to be what LiveJournal could have become."

I've had my Dreamwidth account for a while, thanks to an invite code from chemicallace. I've been checking it out, kicking the tires, and while it's early days still, things are starting to look pretty solid.

Do you remember my April Fool's Day post last year, where I said I was leaving LJ? Well -- like they say, many a true word is spoken in jest. A lot of the objections to LJ I raised there have simmered in my brain ever since.

At the risk of having you think I'm crying wolf again -- this time, I really am leaving LiveJournal. Not immediately, but probably soon. And I think you should, too.

Let's talk about this.
______

So what's wrong with LiveJournal?

Honestly, I've always loved this place. Look what I had to say about it after I'd been here for a year.

But the corporations who have taken it over since then -- them, I don't love so much. Six Apart, and their successors SUP, have ads put on the site (including those damned annoying Snap.com popups), and mass-deleted everything from user icons to interests to entire journals and communities due to "objectionable" content, with ham-fisted insincere apologies when people complained.

And they've proven, over and over again, that they really, simply, don't care about us. We're not people -- we're "eyeballs," page-impressions they can turn around and sell to advertisers. That's their real customer base. The advertisers, not us.

Every time you post here, you're providing them content to make money from. And you're doing it for free.

Are you really okay with that?
______

So what makes these Dreamwidth people any better?

For one thing, their business model isn't based on ads. Now, I'm just cynical enough that my first reaction to that is "well, sure, that's what they say now" -- but everything I read from them convinces me that's not gonna change. Seriously, read their Business FAQs -- they address every concern I had and more. Hell, read their diversity statement. The fact that they even have one speaks volumes about what kind of community they're trying to build.

These people look like know what they are doing. Most of them worked or volunteered for LJ before, and they know what they're getting into, both from a technical perspective and a business standpoint.
______

But isn't it just another LiveJournal clone, anyway?

Like DeadJournal or InsaneJournal, you mean? No, it's not. It starts from the same codebase, and branches off with it in a different direction. (It's a "code fork," if you speak geekish.) They're making significant changes -- here's a list of them -- and I think they're good ones, from sweeping changes to small tweaks.

The best decision they've made so far, in my opinion, is that they're getting rid of the whole "friends" concept. (Honestly, can you think of any other user-interface naming convention anywhere that's more pointlessly emotionally loaded? How many actual friendships have been harmed by being "unfriended" on LJ?) This also means that you don't have to hand someone the secret keys to your diary just because you want to read their posts. Instead, you can "grant access to" or "subscribe to" someone -- it's two separate things. (Like it should be. I've said this for years.)

______
You're really leaving?

I'm really leaving. At some point soon, when "enough" people have migrated over -- I'm going to stop posting here, and make all my old posts private. (Except for my fan fiction -- those will remain publically available.)

Once I do stop, I'll probably still log in to make comments in other people's journals and participate in communities, for a while, at least. But I'm not going to be crossposting. I know a lot of people are planning on doing that, but I'm not one of them. I really, seriously think it's time for us rats to get off this ship. And I think the longer everyone tries to keep a foot in both worlds, the harder it's going to be to make that happen. We need to build some momentum here, we need to give people a reason to switch.

If you are already on Dreamwidth -- let me know. If you're not -- it's easy and painless to copy your entire journal, comments and icons and filters and all, over to Dreamwidth. ~~If you need an invite code -- let me know, I've got some left.~~

(EDIT: Okay, all my invite codes are claimed. I will post if I get more.)

If you're planning on staying here -- please tell me you'll think about why you're doing it.

I don't think we owe any loyalty to LiveJournal itself, -- certainly, its owners don't feel any loyalty toward us. But I do still have a tremendous amount of loyalty to the ideas and ideals of LiveJournal, the heart of it -- and I think this is where that heart can be found again.

I'll see you there.

Perl.

2009-04-30T17:04:25Z

So the company I've been working for, CourtTrax, is looking to hire a Perl developer. I love working here, so if you hack Perl and need a job, I highly recommend you go read the job description and see if you think it's a good fit for you.

(Umm, we're also looking for a VP of Sales, but I think my friendsphere is likelier to have a Perl dev in it.)

Hyde.

2009-04-20T21:17:34Z

I forgot to mention what we ended up doing for our anniversary --

We went to see ACT Theatre's production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Here's how they describe it:

"Jeffrey Hatcher has seen the Victorians, and they are us. In his inventive retelling of the classic thriller, four different actors play Henry Jekyll's depraved alter ego. With its observations on the blurry line between good and evil, audiences will savor this show's psychological musings as much as its classic melodrama. And if you think this timeless story just might say something about how we live today, well...the doctor is in."

It was really, seriously, outstandingly good. It runs until May 10th. If you have the time and you can spare the money, do go and see it.

Anniversary.

2009-04-19T00:14:28Z

♫ And they said this feeling fades / It gets stronger every day ♫

Almost on my way out the door for the evening I've spent the afternoon planning -- the date snuck up on us this year, and I was completely unprepared, but I think all will work out well. Took a few minutes to look over everything I've written here about Ahna and I'm surprised to see how little of it was written to mark these days, as each year passes. I suppose each year finds me too busy out having fun to take a minute to say something.

Today, five years. I'm constantly amazed this beautiful, bright-burning, quick-clever girl wants to spend five minutes talking to me, and here we've gone riding around on this strange little planet hand-in-hand five times around the sun, and neither one of us tired of this game yet.

I love you much, strange little velociraptor girl. I'm a better person than I was before I met you, and so much of that is because I want to live up to being cool enough to hang out with you.

the computer has the evidence

2009-04-14T18:29:22Z

So usually, when I do a Tunes for Tuesday post, I put up something I've been listening to for a little while -- a few days, at least. I can't remember when I've ever heard something new on a Tuesday and turned right around and posted a link to it. But today's that day!

Some of you may have already heard a truncated version of this already; I understand it's being used in television ads for the 2010 Lincoln MKZ. It's a cover of a song you already know, and probably like, if I know my friends list correctly, so here it is:

Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom

Let me know if you do like it. Cheers.

Invasion of the POD People

2009-04-02T20:43:27Z

You know, considering how hard warren_ellis has been banging the print-on-demand drum lately, isn't it interesting that he didn't just put Crooked Little Vein up on Lulu? It came out from a traditional publisher instead, William Morrow. Gosh, why is that, do you think? Do you suppose he wanted, I don't know .... money? Exposure? To have his book carried in bookstores? To have magazines and other media actually review it? To give it some kind of weight and legitimacy, maybe?

I keep thinking to myself, "Maybe I should try all this POD stuff," since the cool kids are doing it, and it's supposed to be impossible to get published these days and no one's reading books anymore any way and and and --

And then I walk into a great big fuckoff bookstore like Barnes & Noble or Borders, and I look around and think, "Hey, wait a minute! Somebody's getting published."

What's my conclusion here? I don't have one.

Rickrolled.

2009-04-02T17:03:10Z

..... Okay, so this might not have been my most clever or original April Fool's Day prank ever, but I had fun with it. Thanks to everyone, here and on Twitter, who played along with their comments. You kept a grin on my face all day, and I've been desperately needing that lately. (It's been a really hard couple of weeks, which is why I didn't really have the energy or brainspace to come up with anything that I actually thought would fool anyone -- just something that I thought would make you grin and wonder, "Oh, now what's he up to?")

Extra-special bonus points to anyone who actually spotted this: The purported title of the story, "Tricky Sale", was an anagram for "Rick Astley." (And if you saw my post on Twitter about how the story had a "similar structure and voice" to a story called "Age Proving You Uneven", you can probably guess what that was an anagram for, too.)

Oh, yes, and -- that first link I posted, to episode one? That link was real -- I really am working on starting a podcast, and as soon as I resolve some issues with my currently dead computer (and with me being a lazy bastard), you'll start seeing real updates from me about it. Cheers.

Podcast.

2009-04-01T16:49:34Z

As I announced on Twitter weeks ago (see what you miss by not following me there?), I'm starting a podcast of my short fiction. Podcasting has become a very good way to build a following as a writer, and since I've had years of practice reading my work out loud, it seems like a natural fit.

Episode one is here. I'm not 100% happy with the sound quality -- I've bought a better microphone since then.

Finally finished cleaning up and editing episode two, and I'm pretty excited about this one -- the first one was "Feeding the Flesh", a story that's printed in Counting From Ten. But this one's brand new -- you haven't heard this at a reading yet, and only a couple of people have read it.

By popular request, it's another one of my "Shadow Market" stories. This one is about someone who's just starting out in the Market, and is about to make his first sale -- to a strangely reluctant buyer. This will be the sale that makes his reputation ... if he survives it ....

Here's the link: Bloodletters Podcast Episode Two: "Tricky Sale" (MP3 format, 11min 48sec)

Let me know what you think. (Oh, and no spoilers in the comments, please, for those who haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.) Thanks!

Accelerate.

2009-03-25T22:35:50Z

A friend of mine just posted a link to an interesting article:

Rapid Thinking Makes People Happy

This totally matches my observations, yet I'd never consciously realized that was what was going on, let alone articulated it so clearly. This probably also explains why high-tempo music with lyrics cheers me up, because my language center is being stimulated at plus-normal speed, and why driving fast in heavy traffic cheers me up like nothing else. This is going to be an incredibly useful tool in my anti-depression arsenal.*

____
* Which, frankly, I desperately need right now.

Hook.

2009-03-25T22:06:00Z

Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze; but as those who read between the lines must already have guessed, he had been at a famous public school; and its traditions still clung to him like garments, with which indeed they are largely concerned. Thus it was offensive to him even now to board a ship in the same dress in which he grappled her, and he still adhered in his walk to the school's distinguished slouch. But above all he retained the passion for good form.

Good form! However much he may have degenerated, he still knew that this is all that really matters.

From far within him he heard a creaking as of rusty portals, and through them came a stern tap-tap-tap, like hammering in the night when one cannot sleep. "Have you been good form to-day?" was their eternal question [...] Most disquieting reflection of all, was it not bad form to think about good form?

[...] To tell poor Smee that [the children] thought him lovable! Hook itched to do it, but it seemed too brutal. Instead, he revolved this mystery in his mind: why do they find Smee lovable? He pursued the problem like the sleuth-hound that he was. If Smee was lovable, what was it that made him so? A terrible answer suddenly presented itself--"Good form?"

Had the bo'sun good form without knowing it, which is the best form of all?

-- J.M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy (or Peter Pan, if you must)

I've read a handful of translations of the Tao te Ching, several commentaries thereon, a few books of koans ... but this passage, right here, by a Scottish author no less, still articulates the central idea in a way that's dearest to my heart.

Lovecraft.

2009-03-23T23:12:18Z

For years I've been wanting to go see the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival down in Portland, but I never had the money or the time. But this year, it actually came to me! A special "best-of" compilation of their short films is now running at the The Grand Illusion Cinema, a lovely little theater in the U-District.

It's playing every night until this Thursday, the 26th. If you have any appreciation for Lovecraft's unique brand of science-horror, you owe it to yourself to go to this.

Here's what I thought of each short:

Casting Call of Cthulhu was a nice cute little bit of fluff to start off with, and does exactly what it says on the tin.

Late Bloomer was the tale of a 7th-grader discovering the true horrors of reality in Ms. Lovecraft's sex-ed class, and it was -- pretty amusing, but I think ultimately wore on for too long.

The Book Dealers was a nifty little piece of animated steampunk unpleasantness with interesting characters. Felt like something I would have seen on Liquid Television back in the '90s. Check out the link -- you can watch the whole thing on-line.

Eel Girl was the first piece that really made me sit up and take notice. It looked great -- the makeup effects were by Weta, if that tells you anything. The acting was a little bit stiff, but otherwise, a nice short sharp shock -- unearthly, beautiful, sexy, disgusting, disturbing, all at once.

Legend of the Seven Bloody Torturers reminded me of Monty Python, and I mean that in the best possible way.

The Canal is the one I felt the most lukewarm about. It's a dramatic reading of a Lovecraft poem with some interesting and kind of experimental animation. There's nothing wrong with it, really, it was just not nearly as interesting as the other shorts on offer. (You can watch that one online, too, at the link provided, if you feel the need.)

Maxwell's Mind was pretty decent. It was slightly let down by some mediocre acting, but that kind of enhanced the 1940s feel they were going for here. Great sound design here -- the distorted electronic voice from the dead brain being kept "alive" scared the hell out of me.

Experiment 18 -- "As the Third Reich crumbled, a Nazi Occultist performed one last, desperate, ritual. This is his story. These are his words." This had a great documentary feel to it, which was helped by having the narration in German. (It's subtitled, natch.) The combination of black magic, the undead, and Nazis put me in mind of Hellboy, I have to admit, but that didn't really hurt this film at all.

Between the Stars is based really loosely on an unfinished Lovecraft story, and really, it doesn't tell a story -- it sets a mood. But what a mood -- stark, obsessive black-and-white, it put me in mind of Pi and Eraserhead.

Call of Cthulhu was the one I really wanted to see, and it didn't disappoint. Made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, it's a note-for-note perfect attempt to create an adaptation of his most famous story that looks and sounds like an authentic 1920's silent film. Really, really great.

~ intermission ~

The Outsider was another dramatic-reading-plus-some-animation piece, but the crucial difference is that this one featured the distinctive voice talents of Doug Bradley, best known to horror fans as Hellraiser's Pinhead. Getting to hear that great rich voice read my absolute favorite Lovecraft story was a real pleasure.

Cool Air I have mixed feelings about. In the end, I have to say it was an incredibly well-acted adaptation of a story in which not much really happens. I was simultaneously riveted and wondering how much longer it was going to be, which was a weird combination.

AM1200 was great, and my only complaint about it is that I wish it had been longer. There's enough set-up here just begging to be further explored at feature-length. This was easily the slickest, most professional production of the whole evening, and a hell of a strength to go out on.