We felt eyes on us for miles. We’d turn only to catch a glimpse of something slinking behind a tree. Later, I felt a tug on my collar. My shirt ripped as I spun. The leg or arm of a giant insect was curled around the tree, torn fabric held in its claws. Then it slithered back behind the tree. We ran.
It was something of a female figure, taller than any human, moving among the seeming infinite shelves of books. A finger traced the spines of the collected volumes, at the end of a misformed arm, segmented like that of an insect. A priest’s vestments hung from the being’s body. Across the gown were sigils I could not comprehend. Yet something inside of me roiled when I saw them. The creature floated as it moved. Sharp, thin feet, dozens of them, kicked from under the hem of the gown. I must have made some sort of noise. It turned toward me, a hiss coming from its skeletal face. It lifted a veil covering its eyes. The empty sockets began to glow.
Alternative names: Canonesses of the True Face, Sisters of the Throne.
We at Shoggoth.net are proud to announce we just launched our own Mastodon Server for all you weirdo cosmic horror & cthulhu mythos fans to join. Sign up now!
Checking in! I hope you’re all doing well, fellow writers. My story just crested the 26k spot, which means that I am a little behind, but I am looking forward to catching up this weekend.
Also, don’t be afraid to sign up for the Advent calendar thing we’re doing for December. If you’re looking to pad your word count, that’s an easy way to do it!
Adam Scott Glancy
Delta Green, numerous Delta Green books, Horrors of WarCODY GOODFELLOW has written nine novels and five collections of short stories, and edits the hyperpulp zine Forbidden Futures. His writing has been favored with three Wonderland Book Awards. His comics work has been featured in Mystery Meat, Creepy, Slow Death Zero and Skin Crawl. As an actor, he has appeared in numerous short films, TV shows, music videos by Anthrax and Beck, and a Days Inn commercial. He also wrote, co-produced and scored the Lovecraftian hygiene films Baby Got Bass and Stay At Home Dad, which can be viewed on YouTube. He “lives” in San Diego, California.
It hurt the eyes just to look at the being. The air around it shimmered, like pavement on a hot summer day. There was no radiation, the scientists in charge assured us. The effect was due to thex being’s strange composition, they said. It was just a guess, though. They’d never been able to get a tissue sample. The colossal creature seemed to be made entirely of bone or something like it. Whatever it was, it’d proved too hard for the government’s tools to even chip. Immense chains binding it gave the illusion of security. No doubt if it awoke it would easily shrug them away. Even as it slept, it felt as though the being was reaching inside of our minds, weighing our sins, judging our worthiness.
Alternative names: Angels, Cleansers of the Earth, Fires of the Elder Gods.
Hey NaNoNerds! Checking in! How is everyone doing? I’ve got 7636 words toward my 50,000 word goal for the month. That puts me a little bit ahead of the day count, but I know something will come up that’ll eat up that lead. How are you doing and what’s your word count? Any hurdles you have had to overcome in life or plot or otherwise? Has anyone received one of those 30 covers in 30 days? Show it off! Let us know! –Matt
Not the official people, but sure, them too! Specifically, all you folks who love Lovecraft but also enjoy writing!
Tomorrow kicks off NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This is the magical time of year where we try to write an entire novel in only a month! That’s pretty intense sounding but, in practice, it’s a blast.
That being said, we here at Shoggoth wanted to invite you to travel this weird journey with us. We made a calendar (later in this same post) and we’re going to be checking in with you once per week. We want to hear what you’re writing, how the NaNo is treating you, and words of encouragement. We don’t expect all of us to make it to that mythical 50k this month, but who cares? We just want to support you as horror leaps from your fingertips.
To that effort, go ahead and friend me on NaNoWriMo.org. My username is Spazenport. I won’t be doing my usual horror writings this month, but I most certainly will be supporting your writing, no matter what genre it falls into.
Get ready, get set, and let’s go!
Expect weekly check-ins on Saturday of each week and on the last day of the month in the form of a blog post.
“For almost one hundred years, the residents of the French Hill Neighborhood have seen a terrifying figure wandering through the streets and sometimes even their homes. An evil, ancient hag nursing a giant rat. Even as French Hill becomes a trendy, gentrified, upscaled neighborhood, the old superstitions remain. Everyone knows the name Keziah Mason. And everyone knows not to anger her. …– Marion Elwood, The Ghosts of Old Arkham.