Fans,

I found this interview with Joe Caldwell on a Strange Paradise website.  But there's quite a bit from Joe here about his time on DS:

http://www.strangeparadise.net/writerinterviews_caldwell.html

I wish more had been said in the interview about Cornelius Crane.  He wrote the best episodes of the entire series of SP.  Bob Costello was responsible for bringing Crane in.  I can't help wondering if Crane was a pseudonym adopted by Violet Welles... His writing has a similar calibre and attention to nuance, atmosphere, and psychodynamic use of character.

G.

http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2015/01/dark-shadows-returning-to-airwaves-in.html

A short report with a link to a blogger who provides more details.

G.

Lara has a blog now.  If you take a look and scroll down, I think the second entry onscreen provides the script for a skit she did with KLS and Marie at the June 2014 Festival:

http://laraparkersite.blogspot.com/

Best,

G.

I don't know if any other DS fans out there are watching Constantine.  The main attraction for me is Welsh actor Matt Ryan's portrayal of the title character.  He's brooding, conflicted, snarky, and a bit of a mess.  There was a lot of concern in fannish circles that the series was going to seriously adulterate the source material, but from what I have read, so far the story mostly follows the books.

For those who like occult horror with an edge, you might want to have a look. The scripts are uneven but Ryan is worth checking out.

Ryan, like a certain other actor we admire, is a dyed-in-the-wool Shakespearean, with roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company.  As a child he appeared in a West End production of Les Miz.

G.

This new annotated edition of a selection of Lovecraft's tales looks very cool.  Of the stories chosen, "The Dunwich Horror" was the source material for the DS Leviathans storyline, and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" had themes that show up in various DS narratives. "Dreams in the Witch House" might have suggested the idea of a "dream curse," although I've always thought the actual source for that was the classic E. F. Benson story "The Room in the Tower" (which has made me sleep with the light on more than once). Note that celebrity DS fan Gahan Wilson (a very talented artist) wrote a blurb strongly praising the new book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871404532/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=19X9847PVVRBK65FT3F1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

If the link doesn't work for you, just search "The Annotated Lovecraft" on the site.  This book is scheduled to be released in mid-October.

G.

The Halloween theme is divine!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!

G.

Fans,

Friday afternoon I was able to attend the Boston Comic Con on a day pass. The costume display was phenomenal.  I saw Queen Maleficent, multiple Spidermen (some of them female), Thor and Loki, a number of Death Star troopers, this one inventive lad in a sort of evil scarecrow costume on chrome stilts with ferrules on the bottoms, several very odd people (mostly female, again) in these colored leotards that entirely covered the face, Spy vs. Spy from the old Mad Magazine comics.... I'm sure I'm forgetting many.  A lot of the costumes were for characters I do not know of course.  There  was even a fully operational TARDIS in one corner. 

I wore a Dark Shadows t-shirt and got reactions from several people. This was a total surprise.  I really was not in the mood to attract attention, but a volunteer at the reg desk immediately recognized it and commented upon how cool it was.  (This was one of Julia99's beautiful "Grayson's Legion" shirts.)  The reactions varied throughout the day but were overwhelmingly positive.  Perhaps  the strangest was from  this very friendly dealer from whom I purchased a 1960s copy of MONSTER WORLD.  I'd say he was probably around 32.  He said he and his wife had started watching DS on Netflix.  And he said they were around episode 70.  Since I know way too much about the program I said, "ah!  you just enjoyed the first sighting of Josette's ghost!"  He looked puzzled and said, "Who's Josette?"  Oh dear...

Presumably they may have been multi-tasking while watching the episodes...

Best,  G.

Fans,

I just found this fan-made trailer for the 1991 revival series on Youtube.  Apart from the overkill music (sounds like someone's attempt to imitate Carl Orff) I enjoyed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzTK0Rjx0N0

G.