Hi, Oi, Hola, Salut, and Здравствуй once again, most EXCELLENT followers, members, Hopefuls, and Suicide Girls! My vacation is officially over, but the fun continues! Now I get to share my experiences with you, and my friends, I have so much more to share this year, I will be breaking my vacation into 6 parts! The first one you may have already seen: the low light photo set I shot after the second night of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. I’ll be letting you inside my head a bit more this year, so this should be a bit more intimate. So grab a drink 🥃 and some popcorn🍿, and let’s head to the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival!
SO: My trip started late on Friday, 4 October due to my ongoing battle with fatigue and the late arrival of important medication via UPS, but once I got it, I was off like a shot at 12:30pm. I knew right then that I was going to be late. Fortunately, the weather was great for driving, and I made excellent time; ironically, although rain was forecasted, and I brought an umbrella, the only rain that hit was at the worst time: while I was driving into the setting sun at twilight as I arrived in Portland - and it was a downpour that slowed traffic to a crawl because we could hardly see each other. But it cleared up after that, and I didn’t encounter another drop for the rest of the trip.
When I arrived, I took a quick selfie, knowing that I would probably forget later - and you can see I’m not exactly happy, because I knew that I was 20 mins late for the first event I wanted to see: a symposium on “Queer” Horror Cinema, which featured one of my favorite people I have met at the HPLFF, Rose O’Keefe, the CEO/owner of Eraserhead Press, who was the first publisher to whom I submitted my most recent novel.
I resolved that I wouldn’t interrupt, as the meeting was in a small, classroom environment. HOWEVER - as you may have already guessed by reading my blogs, in spite of all the harsh things I have to negotiate, the Divine is very fond of me, and things started to get better right there. As I walked in the EOD (Esoteric Order of Dagon) meeting center, I heard a very pleasant woman’s voice speaking much in the way a mother would tell bedtime stories to her children - and I realized that the other event I had wanted to attend, but was scheduled at the same time as the Queer Horror Cinema discussion, was in session: “Storytime with Victoria Price,’ daughter of the famous horror movie actor, Vincent Price.
Although I missed the majority of her presentation, Victoria continued to share her memories of her father, Vincent, and I suddenly became aware of something I had never contemplated or knew: Vincent Price was an EXTREMELY loving, lovable, and inspiring person that I had never truly learned about because I never took the time to look past the formidable persona that he portrayed in so many of his movies. I was amazed at the perspective that Victoria added to my experience of horror films right there, and I immediately made a mental note to rearrange my schedule to attend the showing of “The Haunted Palace,” starring her famous dad - because she would be giving a keynote speech before it, AND interviewing the film’s director, Roger Corman. Take a good look at the book at Victoria’s feet; it plays a significant role in other events later in the Festival.
As you can see, I was starting to feel a bit happier - my fangs are showing, lol! I ran into Ross Lockhart, another publisher I have met via the HPLFF while I was in between events that first night, and advised him I would attend his writer’s workshop in the morning at 10:30.
After Victoria finished her Storytime relating memories of what it was like to be the daughter of one of the world’s most unique, recognizable, and influential horror actors, I realized that the drive and the dash over to the theater/meeting center from my motel about half a mile away had worn me out, and I decided to attend a reading of horror stories in progress by local writers. It was a different experience; the best one, IMHO, was the first one, in which a couple who had just purchased a new home from a practicing witch (I do mean witch - a Wicca would not summon or create a creature like that which appeared in the story) discover that the house is haunted by something that lives in the attic and protects the house itself. When it moves, the couple believes it is a very large rat...but it is most certainly not. After several attempts to identify, remove, and/or kill the “rat,” the husband is bitten rather violently on the hand and the couple is suddenly trapped in the house, as the creature can change the structure of the house at will, causing the doors to suddenly stick and for damage to suddenly be repaired - including a window broken to escape through. In the end, the wife figures out what is going on: the witch created a guardian demon to protect and maintain the home, and it meant them no harm, but was merely reacting to being attacked, and it was HUNGRY. Once the woman feeds the creature, it reveals itself as a chimeric animal, being a hybrid of a cat’s head, body, and tail, eagles talons on its front legs and glowing red eyes. Humorously, it can do dishes and load the dishwasher. As a final humorous ending, it is revealed that the creature also has some dog in it...somewhere...as it both purrs and wags its tail when its head is scratched. 🤨😆😈
I was sufficiently fatigued at that point that I chose not to attend the after party (there was one every night during the festival), but chose to return to my motel room to get some rest. I had picked up some rewards from the festival kickstarter and as I reviewed and photographed them, I started thinking of you wonderful people, especially since my frequent festival companion, the friend of 30+ years shown in last year’s photo with an Elder Thing, was not in attendance, because he was the husband of my girlfriend who died in July - he chose to go to Deutschland to be with his family, as he was born in Wiesbaden. As a result, I decided to try shooting a few naughty photos before bed - quickly discovering that the lighting provided by the motel was awful to the nth degree. Still, I was able to salvage some good pics - so as an intermission, the next installment of the HPLFF blogs will be the other photo set I shot, entitled, “After Party.” I hope you like it. 💛❤️🧡🖤
I will make every effort to upload day two of my festival photos and experiences tomorrow night after work, and continue in the same manner this weekend. Until then, enjoy the show!
Much Love,
💛🧡❤️🖤
- - Dhyani
