I think of this as the "dog and cat" Halloween post...


Virginia, the world's most beautiful Boston terrier and our best friend, is ready for Halloween. Are you?



(You can see more of Virginia, in and out of costume, here.)


And now, on with the show…

Link of the Day: Literature of the Fantastic Archive (This is a terrific place to do some Halloween reading. Don't miss these stories!)


Literature of the Day: It's about time for me to bring out the one and only H.P. Lovecraft! I have both a poem and a very, very short story to share with you today. I think both are quite spine-tingling.

The Poem:

"The Cats"
by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)

Babels of blocks to the high heavens towering
Flames of futility swirling below;
Poisonous fungi in brick and stone flowering,
Lanterns that shudder and death-lights that glow.

Black monstrous bridges across oily rivers,
Cobwebs of cable to nameless things spun;
Catacomb deeps whose dank chaos delivers
Streams of live foetor that rots in the sun.

Colour and splendour, disease and decaying,
Shrieking and ringing and crawling insane,
Rabbles exotic to stranger-gods praying,
Jumbles of odour that stifle the brain.


Legions of cats from the alleys nocturnal.
Howling and lean in the glare of the moon,
Screaming the future with mouthings infernal,
Yelling the Garden of Pluto's red rune.

Tall towers and pyramids ivy'd and crumbling,
Bats that swoop low in the weed-cumber'd streets;
Bleak Arkham bridges o'er rivers whose rumbling
Joins with no voice as the thick horde retreats.

Belfries that buckle against the moon totter,
Caverns whose mouths are by mosses effac'd,
And living to answer the wind and the water,
Only the lean cats that howl in the wastes.



The Short Story:

"The Cats of Ulthar"
by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)

Excerpt:
It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.

Read the complete short story here.