August 20, 2016

On Saturday, 8/27/16, & Sunday, 8/28/16, I will be a guest speaker at the Carnival of Para Horror in Buffalo, New York.  

​The Carnival will be held at the Buffalo Central Terminal, 495 Paderewski Drive, Buffalo New York. This is a three-day event, starting on Friday, 8/26/16, and running over the weekend.  Tickets can be purchased online at the Carnival of Para Horror website and also at the door of the event.  There is free admission for children 10 and under. 

My presentation on Saturday is “H. P. Lovecraft’s Cosmic Weird Tales & the Cinema”.  It will start at 2:00 PM and conclude at 3:00 PM or thereabouts.  This will be very informal; I want my listeners to feel totally relaxed and to have fun; guests should feel free to ask any questions during the presentation or after, and raise any issues they may wish me to address. 

I will be examining Lovecraft’s unique, cosmic and rather revolutionary view of horror and fantasy, as expressed in his major fictional works.  Then, I will comment on key Hollywood films that attempt to bring Lovecraft’s unique vision to life: Stuart Gordon’s Dagon (2001); Daniel Haller’s The Dunwich Horror (1970); the Samuel Z. Arkoff production of Die Monster Die (1965), starring Boris Karloff, and Roger Corman’s The Haunted Palace (1963).

My presentation on Sunday, “H. P. Lovecraft’s Goddess Shub-Niggurath: Redefining the Horned God Archetype of the Wiccans”, will start at 1:00 PM, concluding an hour later at 2:00 PM.  Again, this will be very informal.  I decided to discuss Shub-Niggurath separately since this entity represents a “special case” in Lovecraft’s work, bringing in themes about gender, race and miscegenation that add a disturbing element to Lovecraft’s aesthetic.

Before and after the presentations, I will also have a stall at the Carnival for those who wish to purchase a signed copy of my new book, and for those who, likewise, might want to just drop by and say hello.  I hope to see some of my Facebook and Twitter friends and colleagues who live in the New York area as well.

The Carnival of Para Horror is a well-known, annual event for individuals (like me) who are fascinated by all things horror and paranormal.  It’s a guaranteed good time for everyone.

And I am going to be in very good company for this event! The well-known occult author, writer and publisher Corvis Nocturnum will be a guest; other guests include Debbie Rochon, actress, filmmaker, director and Fangoria radio host; Patsy Mullen, actress, model and star of Frankenhooker; and Eugene Clark, star of The Land of the Dead.

For information about the Carnival & the list of speakers, check out the Carnival of Para Horror website: http://www.parahorror.com/#!guests/c1h6a

I hope to see all of you at the Carnival of Para Horror, 2016!

JLS