An Arkham Asset #1

The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 is the first issue of the magazine devoted to Lovecraft Country for Call of Cthulhu published by Sentinel Hill Press and the second to see print. Funded following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is, like the other issues devoted to specific aspects of Lovecraft Country, that moldering corner of New England home to old money, old prejudices, and ancient evils. Where the most recent issue, The Arkham Gazette Issue 3—numerically at the very least—explored witches and witchcraft, that most New England of phenomena, other issues have looked at particular locations in Lovecraft Country. The Arkham Gazette Issue o took us along The Aylesbury Pike and The Arkham Gazette Issue 2 will have us pay a visit to dread Innsmouth, but the latest edition to see print is The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 and that starts the magazine in its namesake—Arkham.

Originally released in 2013, but expanded for its 2016 publication, The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 is written for use with earlier versions of Call of Cthulhu rather than Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition—though like all Call of Cthulhu content, it is of course compatible. It opens with Bret Kramer’s ‘Deep Background: Locations in Greater Arkham’, which compiles various locations in the town which have appeared in various scenarios both before and after the publication of H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham and maps them into the town. They date back as far as ‘Gate from the Past’ in The Asylum and Other Tales and as far forward as ‘Consumption’ and ‘Darkness Illuminated’ from Golden Goblin Press’ Island of Ignorance and the article describes each location in some detail, touching upon the influence of Mythos upon only where necessary. Essentially this article maps these ‘new’ locations into the greater framework established by H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham and Lovecraft Country, putting them place for the location-based campaign.

The examination of Arkham’s deeper background continues with two articles, both by Bret Kramer. The first is ‘Deep Background: Arkham’s Markers: A History’, which presents the history of the granite posts erected to indicate the boundary between the town and its neighbours. There is not very much to this article, but it is interesting enough and some decent scenario hooks are provided so that the Keeper can bring them into his game and there is a nice newspaper article as a handout. The subject matter of the second is surprisingly mundane, which is surprising given the length of the article. As its title suggests, the subject matter of ‘Deep Background: Arkham’s Diners’ is the diners to be found on the streets of the town, their owners and staff, the dishes they serve, and their typical clientele. There is also a history of the diner and the typical food served during the 1920s. None of these diners are of any significance in terms of the Mythos, but they are places to meet friends and contacts and to make part of the investigators’ lives. Ultimately, this article adds colour aplenty to a campaign based in Arkham and Lovecraft Country and for all its prosaic detail, is rather delightful.

Bret Kramer also pens ‘The Biblio-file: Thaumaturgical Prodigies of the New England Canaan’. This presents an in-depth examination of the eponymous Mythos tome intimately associated with New England. Besides adjusting the date when this tome was published from the one given by August Derleth to that given by H.P. Lovecraft, this gives a thorough description of the book’s three editions, their content, and their history. Further details are provided about their author, Reverend Ward Philips, as well as one of the major sources he drew upon when authoring this tome. Rounding out the article is a list of the scenarios set in New England in which this book has appeared, each scenario providing both a means of obtaining a copy of the book as well as suggesting its content and a means in which it can be used. If the article is lacking, it is perhaps that a quote or two would have a been a nice addition, but that aside, this is one of those articles that provides much needed further background and detail about a particular element of Call of Cthulhu. Both this background and detail richly enhance the verisimilitude of both Call of Cthulhu and Lovecraft Country. This article feels like an like an extension of the content and format that first appeared the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion for the tomes that appear in the campaign, Masks of Nyarlathotep and that is no bad thing. Indeed, if only all Mythos tomes were accorded this treatment.

While ‘Deep Background: Locations in Greater Arkham’ added old locations anew to Arkham, Bret Kramer’s ‘New Place: The Gladding School’ describes an institution entirely new to Arkham. The Gladding School is a school and hospital for those children who are deemed mentally unfit. Although well-intentioned, the school lacks funding and cares for its patients as best it can, and this being Arkham, there is no knowing what the children might have encountered… or be descended from… Several suggestions are given as to how the school can be used in a Lovecraft Country game, but this is perhaps the article with the most difficult to use content in the issue. 

The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 contains a number of scenario seeds. These start with Chris Huth’s ‘An Encounter: Altercation on West Armitage Street’ which describes a bruising encounter between a wealthy Arkham notable and an unknown man that ends with the death of the Arkhamite. Three quite detailed options are given to explore and explain who exactly committed the murder and why, one of which does limit it to the time-frame when it can be run. Otherwise, this is relatively easy for the Keeper to develop and drop into his campaign. This is followed by ‘Scenario Seed: The Case of the Missing Manhole Covers’ by L.T. Barker. The situation is simple—a thief or thieves are stealing the manhole covers from Arkham’s streets only to return them a few days later. Again, three options are given, though not as detailed and needing more effort to set up by the Keeper. The options are actually lighter in tone than ‘An Encounter: Altercation on West Armitage Street’, one even consisting of a student prank! Actually, this is the sort of scenario that would really only work in a location based campaign where it can probably be best used as light relief to the ghastly, sometimes ghoulish things going on elsewhere in the town. If there is a weakness to the seed, it is that there is no real hook to get the investigators involved and that is probably the first thing that the Keeper will need to add.

The remaining scenario seeds are built around items of one kind or another. The first is Aleolex’s ‘Documentary Evidence: Report of Delusions of an Invisible Monster, which builds plot seeds, mysteries, and horror around an article in The New England Journal of Medicine which describes a series of delusions in the Arkham area. They might be actual delusions or they might be encounters with a Star Vampire, this being up to the Keeper to decide, but either way, the prop article is very well done and provides a convincing verisimilitude to base his scenario upon. It also manages to be brilliantly boring, which is quite an achievement. The second is ‘New Items: Arkham Curios’, penned by Evan Van Elkins, Chris Huth, and Bret Kramer. This describes seven interesting objects that can spur the investigators to make enquiries. For example, ‘The Night Flyers’, bill posters popping up all over Arkham might be for a theatrical performance, a piece of Dadaist propaganda, a prank, or the influence of the Yellow Sign, whilst ‘The Witch Doll’ might be a genuinely creepy little toy doll or it might be something more sinister with a connection to New England’s dark past. These are interesting items in and of themselves and their inclusion can only serve to make Arkham and Lovecraft Country a place of dark, moldering secrets... 

The issue’s main scenario is Ben Wenham’s ‘The Bosworth House’. This is written to be played by just a few investigators of any experience and should work particularly well with just the two investigators, neither of whom needs anything in the way of combative or physical skills. The investigators are asked to look into why Margaret Hannigan, housebound and resting following her first pregnancy, murdered her doctor husband. This is a scenario heavy on investigation, interaction, and ultimately mood, as the investigators examine the case and ultimately, the house itself. The scenario is written with a particular artifice in mind, one designed to build its mood of strange horror, though how much this is due to the influence of the Mythos is up to the Keeper to decide. The murder might simply be due to Margaret Hannigan’s depression following her pregnancy, but it might be the influence of the house itself, much like the mansion in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. Alternatively, the house might have fallen prey to the influence of Hastur and the King in Yellow. Either way, the horror and shock are nicely handled, kept to a small scale and allowed to scratch at the sanity of one of the investigators rather than rend. The issue here is that the players do need to buy into the scenario’s artifice as it proceeds, because it will quickly become apparent to both players that one investigator is being targeted and affected whereas the other is not. Otherwise, this is a pleasingly underplayed scenario of quiet horror that feels more like a short story than a roleplaying scenario.

Rounding out The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 is an ‘Annotated Scenario Bibliography: Arkham’. Assembled and commented upon by Bret Kramer and Dean Engelhardt, this details the some fifty or so scenarios that have been published for Call of Cthulhu and set in the town of Arkham. They range as far back as ‘Abduction in Arkham’ from the fanzine Dagon Issue 6 and ‘And the Dogs Shall Know You’ from Theatre of the Mind Enterprises’ The Arkham Evil and are as up to date as you can get with ‘Crimson Letters’ from the Keeper Rulebook for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition. Along the way, it takes in magazines as well as monographs, listing for each scenario its author, a summary, and its setting, locations, entities, and tomes, as well as any notes. Also included are two further lists, one of scenarios connected to the town and the other of scenarios set in Arkham, but not in the classic era of the Jazz Age. Much like the earlier ‘The Biblio-file: Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New England Canaan’, this feels like an extension of the content and format that first appeared the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. This is a highly useful reference that in some ways is the most useful article in the issue of the magazine, especially if the Keeper is running a Lovecraft Country campaign.

Physically, the layout of The Arkham Issue 1 is consistent with the style of The Arkham Issue 0 and The Arkham Issue 3, echoing as it does the layout of Call of Cthulhu supplements from the 1990s. The artwork is excellent and the use of photographs never less than appropriate. The cartography is perhaps a little bland in places, but is fine elsewhere. The handouts though, are uniformly excellent. It does need a stronger edit in places though.

As with other issues, The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 is a thoroughly useful magazine to have if the Keeper is running a Lovecraft Country campaign, though articles like ‘The Biblio-file: Thaumaturgical Prodigies of the New England Canaan’ will find a more general usefulness and many of the other articles can be adapted to suit other relatively small town locations. It is of course of even more use if a Keeper is running a campaign in and around Arkham and whilst it could not be described as being indispensable for running such a campaign, The Arkham Gazette Issue 1 is a worthy companion to H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham.

An Arkham Asset #3

The Arkham Gazette #3 is the third issue of the magazine devoted to Lovecraft Country for Call of Cthulhu published by Sentinel Hill Press and the first to see print. Funded following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is, like previous issues devoted to specific aspects of Lovecraft Country, that mouldering corner of New England home to old money, old prejudices, and ancient evils. Where previous dealt with places in Lovecraft Country—issue #0 took us along The Aylesbury Pike, issues #1 and #2 visited the towns of Arkham and Innsmouth respectively, The Arkham Gazette #3 explores that most New England of phenomena and does so in depth. That phenomena consists of witches and witchcraft. Of course witches are not unique to New England, but the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 continue to fascinate in the three centuries since their occurence, having figured most famously in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and more recently in episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bewitched, and Bones, amongst others, as well as being the subject of their own RPG, StatCom Simulations’ 1983 Witch Hunt.

Witches and witchcraft of course figure in H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction, most notably ‘The Case of Charles Dexter Ward’, ‘The Dreams in the Witch-House’, and ‘The Unnamable’. Equally they figure in scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, specifically in Lovecraft Country such as ‘The Condemned’ from Arkham Unveiled and ‘Malice Everlasting’ from Miskatonic River Press’ New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley, then further afield with ‘Wail of the Witch’ from The Curse of Cthulhu and Coming Full Circle from Pagan Publishing. The editor of The Arkham Gazette #3, Bret Kramer—who pens much of the issue, along with various authors, draws deeply from these as well as historical sources to present an in-depth exploration of witches and witchcraft in Lovecraft Country. Although officially a magazine, The Arkham Gazette #3 is very much a Call of Cthulhu supplement in its own right. (Note that unless specifically attributed, all articles in The Arkham Gazette #3 are authored by Bret Kramer.)

The Arkham Gazette #3 opens with ‘New England’s Witch Trials’, which examines the history of the region’s witch trials, from decades before 1692 to decades after. The Salem Witch Trials figure prominently, but other trials and investigations across Massachusetts and the other colonies are also discussed. Detailed are included of a witch hunter’s tools of the trade so that investigators can use them in a game, or indeed can have them used against themselves. ‘Witchcraft in Lovecraft Country’ is the fictional counterpart to the historical fact of ‘New England’s Witch Trials’, focusing primarily upon Arkham, Dunwich, and Kingsport to look at known outbreaks of witchcraft, avenues of research in the modern day of the Jazz Age, particular covens and cults, as well as notable locations. These two, quite detailed articles lay the groundwork for much of the issue, first placing witchcraft in the context of the period of the Salem Witch Trials before moving it into the twentieth century. 

Bret Kramer works with several co-authors in The Arkham Gazette #3. The first of these is Tyler Hudak for ‘Building a Better Witch’ which suggests the types of witch a Keeper could create for a scenario or campaign—white, grey, black, or even false witch—as well as possible sources of power and grimoires, before presenting several new spells such as Animal Form, Enchant Poppet, and Witch. This is the first of a series of articles that guide the Keeper through the creation of a witch NPC and is supported by ‘Gods of the Witches’, a guide to the entities often worshipped by witches. This includes both ‘deities’ and species, and range from Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth to Elder Things and Shoggoths, the choice affecting the nature of the relationship between witch and entity and suggesting what the witch might know and have been taught. Witches also have familiars, traditionally black cats, but in Lovecraft lore the traditional familiar is the Rat-Thing as inspired by Keziah Mason’s familiar Brown Jenkin. Chris Huth, together with Bret Kramer, give an exploration of the Rat-Thing and its variations, in ‘Rat-Things and Worse Horrors: Familiars and the Mythos’. The article details their genesis, and because players are going to be players, it suggests the forensic traces that such creatures might leave and how they might be interpreted, and besides giving Rat-Thing statistics, it lists possible other shapes—Bat-Thing, Toad-Thing, Spider-Thing, and so on. They are supported by several memorable examples of varying degrees of vileness. Lastly, Graeme Price’s ‘Marked by the Devil: Lessons in Lesions’ looks at one archetypal indication that a woman might be a witch, that is, the ‘witch’s mark’. These are primary the ‘blew spot’ and the ‘witch’s teat’, these being discussed as evidence of the Devil’s touch, though medical explanations are also given. The author also suggests links to the Mythos, the ‘witch’s teat’ being a possible link to Shub-Niggurath and her Mother’s Milk, whilst ‘witch’s mark’ might be linked to Hastaur.

Given that the focus of The Arkham Gazette is Lovecraft Country and thus the Mythos in the region and New England, it is no surprise that the majority of its witches are of the Mythos variety. This need not be the case, with white or grey witches perhaps having no knowledge of the Mythos, but possibly knowing other magic or something being seen as akin to it. ‘Colonial Folk Magic’ gives options for this, including astrology, healing, wards, and counter-spells. The spells for these are given in the earlier ‘Building a Better Witch’ article. Where ‘Colonial Folk Magic’  perhaps hints at links to the Mythos, Christopher Smith Adair’s ‘Touched by the Fairies’ builds links between the Mythos and legends of the faeries and changelings through the long association of the ghouls with humanity. 

The author and editor, Bret Kramer delves into two minor elements of Lovecraft lore. The first is August Derleth’s ‘The Lurker at the Threshold’, developed from an unfinished fragment written by H.P. Lovecraft, to give us the tome, ‘Of Evill Sorceries Done in New-England of Daemons in no Humane Shape’. This explores the provenance and details of the eponymous book—much in the same format as that developed by the author for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. The work is either a part of, or a companion volume to, the famed Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-England Canaan and may be seen also as an alternative to that work. The second element is another of Derleth origins, that of ‘Witches’ Hollow’, located just outside of Arkham. Here it is described in some detail and accorded a scenario seed or two. A further three seeds are presented by L.T. Barker in ‘The Dried Cat’, all built around the origins and purpose of the desiccated remains of a cat found built into a house being demolished. They include it being a protective ward against black magic, the remains of a familiar, and it having been brought from further afield. Alternative suggestions detail how to use the seed with Sixtystone Press’ The Call of Cathulhu. There are plenty of ideas here that the Keeper can develop as needed, as an addition to an existing scenario, a minor foray into the Mythos, or a fuller affair, perhaps using the material given elsewhere in the magazine.

The Arkham Gazette #3 contains a single scenario, ‘The Queen of Night’, which thirty-eight pages long, comprises of nearly a third of the issue. Co-authored by Chris Huth and Bret Kramer it concerns the links between a murder and the questionable parentage of a witch’s line. Set in and around Arkham, it begins with a gruesome, perhap ritualised, death, the scenario pulls the investigators into a rich melange of clues that not only leads them to the culprit, but also points them to something deeper, something more obviously outré in nature. Ideally investigation of the first will lead to the second, the danger being that some investigators may see the identification and apprehension of the culprit as the culmination of the scenario. This, of course, is not the case and investigating the vile cause behind the murder will take no little effort and players who enjoy the investigative process will find something to get their teeth into. ‘The Queen of Night’ is a rich, meaty, if challenging scenario—both to play and run, but is well organised and presented to help the Keeper maintain control of the plot, the clues, and the antagonists. There is the possibility to involve the members of the notorious Arkham witch-cult, though this is not specifically part of the scenario. Doing so enables to tie the Keeper to tie the scenario into a Lovecraft Country campaign. ‘The Queen of Night’ is clearly the highlight of The Arkham Gazette #3, involving a solidly done plot, a set of well realised NPCs and motivations, and an array of difficult choices for the players whilst showcasing how much can be done without recourse to the use of significant Mythos entities.

Rounding out The Arkham Gazette #3 is an annotated bibliography of scenarios and fiction. The former draws from both Lovecraft Country supplements and more diverse supplements to create its list of witch-related scenarios, it is presented in a similar format developed for the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion, giving a summary, location and entity details, noted tomes, plus notes. The list is not quite comprehensive, notably missing ‘An Invitation to the Dance’ from the Miskatonic Library University Monograph, The Primal State.

Physically, The Arkham Gazette #3 looks and feels very much like a twenty-year old release from Chaosium, Inc. for Call of Cthulhu as it apes the style of supplements from the early 1990s for the Lovecraft Country line. This includes the use of Cristoforo, Thomas Phinney’s expanded version of the Columbus font which does much to add authenticity to The Arkham Gazette #3. Yet The Arkham Gazette #3 definitely needs a second edit and some of the artwork is rather bland by Call of Cthulhu standards, but the handouts for the players, not just for the scenario ‘The Queen of Night’ and the scenario seed, ‘The Dried Cat’, but also for the article,‘Witchcraft in Lovecraft Country’, are all excellent.

The downside to any magazine devoted to a single issue is that its subject matter may not be of interest to every Keeper, but it should be to the Keeper of any RPG of Lovecraftian investigative horror with an interest in Lovecraft Country or said subject matter. There is content enough that can be adapted to other Lovecraftian RPGs as well as applied to periods outside of the classic Jazz Age era, and equally, this content can be run as easily with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition as it can with Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition. There is the means here for the Keeper to create a variety of witches, each of which would be memorable in their own way, whether of faith, methodology, or associations. Indeed, some of those associations, the witches’  familiars, are interesting enough in themselves to support either their mistress or a scenario by themselves. Further much of the contents of The Arkham Gazette #3 would be useful in campaigns for Cthulhu by Gaslight as well as classic Call of Cthulhu. The scenario would need some work, but again, the contents of The Arkham Gazette #3 would also work for scenarios set in the seventeenth century, perhaps even for Colonial Lovecraft Country. Where perhaps there is fault with The Arkham Gazette #3 is that as exhaustive and as well researched a treatment as it is of witches and witchcraft, some of the writing is dry, even a little stodgy. Nevertheless, The Arkham Gazette #3 is as definitive a treatment and exploration of witches and witchcraft as there is—and there needs to be—for both Lovecraft Country and Call of Cthulhu.

An Arkham Asset #0

Originally conceived by the late, great Keith Herber, The Arkham Gazette is a magazine devoted to Lovecraft Country, that mouldering corner of New England home to old money, old prejudices, and ancient evils. It is now being published by Sentinel Hill Press, the small press outlet for Bret Kramer, best known as the author of the scenario, Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37, and as the editor of The Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. To date there have been three issues—if you count the prototype ‘issue #0’—with an actual third issue to appear following a successful Kickstarter. The Arkham Gazette #0 began life as a proof of concept for the late, lamented Miskatonic River Press, before being developed into a prototype issue and accorded a connecting theme.

Written for use with Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition, the theme for this  inaugural edition of The Arkham Gazette is the ‘Aylesbury Pike’, the road that runs from Arkham to Aylesbury with a forks leading off to Dean’s Corners and Dunwich. With such a focus, the issue begins in mundane fashion, with ‘The Amos-Goodrich Cemetery’ and ‘New England’s Interstate Roads’. The first is an examination of a near roadside cemetery with a slightly odd reputation that lies alongside the pike, whilst the latter is a short introduction to the history of the north-east’s road system in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Both are accompanied with scenario ideas and Keeper’s options, but these are little more than ideas. ‘New England’s Interstate Roads’ is actually a companion piece to the longer, more in-depth ‘The Aylesbury Pike’, an article devoted to the most famous route running through Lovecraft Country. It details its history and its route, enabling the Keeper to add flavour and verisimilitude to those long journeys between Aylesbury and Arkham that are likely should the investigators begin to explore the secrets of Lovecraft Country.

‘Curtis Sloan, Encyclopedia Salesman’ describes a new NPC, pleasingly ordinary, if slightly unnerving. Perhaps his description could have been expanded to give a thoroughly mundane explanation for his behaviour as well as his Mythos connections. That and perhaps a scenario hook or two would have rounded this entry out… Nevertheless, Curtis Sloan is well suited to the region given the influence and presence of certain Mythos entities. 

The longest article in The Arkham Gazette #0 is ‘New England’s Petroglyphs’, an examination and discussion of the famous rock carvings and inscriptions to be found throughout the region—including hoaxes. A little dry in places, this does have Mythos relevance given the number of Mythos species that have made New England their home over countless millennia, the author highlighting the sites where such carvings can be found in Lovecraft Country, referencing various supplements, notably Escape from Innsmouth and Return to Dunwich. This is a nicely researched piece, including sources both fictional and nonfictional, perhaps only let down by the underwritten scenario and campaign options.

Better developed though in terms of options is the encounter, ‘Mr. Pickett Goes a Huntin’’, which comes ready to be dropped into a game in almost any rural location.  Whether the farmer is a simple huntsman, looking for trespassers, or something more, is up for the Keeper to decide, though the options are there for all of these. 

The scenario in The Arkham Gazette #0 is ‘The Chapochaug Tunnel Haunting’ which concerns an abandoned railway tunnel with a reputation for being haunted and a history of fatalities. A student botanist has gone missing nearby, or perhaps a pair of young lovers on a secret assignation, or perhaps the investigators are curious about the tunnel’s dark history, but the exact plot of this lengthy scenario is again up to the Keeper to decide. In comparison with earlier entries in the magazine, this scenario does feel a little as if the author is throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, so the Keeper will need to be careful in deciding exactly what is going on in the tunnel. Nevertheless, this has pleasing potential aplenty for an atmospheric single session or so and is supported with some solid handouts.

Rounding The Arkham Gazette #0 is an annotated bibliography of scenarios set along or near the Aylesbury Pike. A nice touch is that each of articles in The Arkham Gazette #0 is neatly categorised. So for example, ‘New England’s Interstate Roads’ is listed under ‘From the History Books’ whilst ‘The Aylesbury Pike’ is categorised under ‘Deep Background’. Hopefully this will be continued in the proper issues.

Physically, The Arkham Gazette #0 is a gentlemanly looking affair. Originally released in August, 2013 and revised in November, 2014, issue #0 of The Arkham Gazette does need another edit.’ That aside, it It should be noted that the look of The Arkham Gazette #0 apes that of the Lovecraft Country line, the series of classic Call of Cthulhu releases published during the RPG’s heyday. This includes the use of Cristoforo, Thomas Phinney’s expanded version of the Columbus font which does much to add authenticity to The Arkham Gazette #0. 

To be fair, much of The Arkham Gazette #0 may not appeal to the reader unless he is student of Call of Cthulhu, of Lovecraft Country, or of Lovecraftian lore. Several articles—and arguably—the issue’s ‘Aylesbury Pike’ theme are mundane, even prosaic, but that may be exactly what brings those students to this issue—that and the fact that it is free. Whilst several of the other entries do feel underdeveloped in terms of their application, the highlight of this inaugural issue  is of course the scenario, ‘The Chapochaug Tunnel Haunting’, but ‘Mr. Pickett Goes a Huntin’’ is also good. Overall, this is a nicely written guide to the byways of Lovecraft Country.