Two New Reviews of Cthulhu's Dark Cults

Two new reviews of Cthulhu's Dark Cults have been posted on HorrorWorld.org and Amazon.co.uk. The first by Brian M. Sammons at HorrorWorld.org who said this about the book:

"Credit for this anthology must first and foremost go to David Conyers who pulls double duty as not only this collection’s editor, but also as an author of one of the best stories in this book. I have come to expect great things from Mr. Conyers as I’ve become increasingly familiar with his work, and with, “Sisters of the Sands” he has once again impressed me greatly."

He also made special mention of Steve Gilbert's cover art and the stories by Oscar Rios, Penelope Love and David Witteveen. David also received special mention on this review on Amazon.co.uk by J.P. Hunt, who had to say about the book:

"This get's a very good 9/10 marks from me. This is definitely one for a HPL fan or someone that just likes dark sci-fi / horror fiction."

Cthulhu’s Dark Cults: Cover Art by Steve Gilberts

In my ongoing series of journal entries on how Cthulhu’s Dark Cults came to be, today I am focusing on the cover illustration, which was undertaken by the very talented Steven Gilberts.

Steven has been producing artwork for the small-press industry since 2003 starting with Space & Time Magazine. Since then he has been concocting odd cover and interior illustrations for a diversity of companies including Elder Signs Press, Apex Book Company, Cemetery Dance Publications, Chaosium Inc., and Shroud Publishing. Steve is going from strength-to-strength, and I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s illustrating covers for the bigger publishing houses.

I’m grateful that Steven did the cover illustration, as he captured perfectly the theme and the style of the book.

I’m also privileged in that Steven has illustrated one of my stories, “Solvent Hunger”. I’ve included the illustration here which appeared with my story in the Book of Dark Wisdom #5. The same illustration appeared on my chapbook Cthulhu Australis Part 1, where “Solvent Hunger” was reprinted.

Steven says the following about his illustration for the cover of Cthulhu’s Dark Cults:

“The basic concept for the cover was outlined to me by Dustin Wright [editor at Chaosium]. A group of figures dancing around a statue of Cthulhu in a swamp or woodland setting.

“I opted for the figures to be (tastefully) unclad and possibly attractive. After all, just because you worship a snoozing undead cephalopod creature dreaming deep beneath the Pacific Ocean doesn't necessarily mean you are homely.

“The statue of Cthulhu needed to be lit from underneath to indicate the fire that the cultists are dancing in front of. To be on the safe side I opted for a photo reference to be sure that I would get the shadows and highlights positioned correctly. It was Play-Doh to the rescue as the sculpting medium for the model to be photographed. Following in this vein I suppose I'll need to render an illustration in crayon one of these days.

"On a related note to shooting reference shots of the stature, the dancing figures were based on images from a reference source of models for artists to use. So no, I did not have a group of nudists cavorting around my studio, at least not for this particular assignment.

"I went with bright colours and a starlit night for the background to create a scene of (hopefully) ethereal beauty. As with the figures I reasoned that, though the subject matter is dark, the overall setting could be lovely. Perhaps with good looks and scenic settings the cultists would be apt to collect more members and victims alike.”

Photo of Steven Gilberts © 2009 Michael Morris.

Recommended Reading: Copping Squid

My good writing friend Cody Goodfellow has released a new title from his publishing company Perilous Press. This is his first book in a very long time, Copping Squid, a collection of the short Cthulhu Mythos tales of by Michael Shea. The book is illustrated by Steve Gilberts and edited by S.T. Joshi. When Cody publishes a book he doesn't mind moving with the heavy-weights of the genre.

I've read Shea's enjoyable "Fat-Face" about shoggoths taking on human form, which has inspired many more authors to follow the same trend, myself being one of them. I'm sure the other stories will be just as good, and I know Steve Gilberts will produce fantastic art in the interior. I mean, just look at the cover. A detailed version of the Lovecraftian mermaid can be found here.

New Cover for Cthulhu’s Dark Cults

I was recently browsing the Chaosium website when I came across the new cover for Cthulhu’s Dark Cults, my first edited anthology out in a couple of months. It is by the very talented Steven Gilberts who is arguably the finest Cthulhu Mythos artist currently working in the field. Visit his website here for more examples of his creepy and evocative work.

I really like this cover, not that I didn’t like the previous cover, but Steve’s work really encapsulates thematically what the collection is about. Is it a scene from a specific story? No, but that doesn’t matter. Like a said, Steve’s image says everything it needs to. The silhouetted figures dancing in a naked frenzy around a materialising Cthulhuoid god in a dark and uninviting wood says it all. These are what the stories are about. I’m glad Steve came on board.

Steve has done some amazing work for other Chaosium covers including The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson, Secrets of New York, The Necronomicon and Mysteries of the Worm. Chaosium can thank William Jones for finding him, as he started out illustrating for the Journal of Dark Wisdom and covers for Elder Signs Press anthologies and novels, which is William’s flagship publishing house.

I look forward to seeing what Steve comes up with next.