Blasphemous Tomes

We’re back and we’re pushing boundaries. Good taste has never come easily to us, but it’s downright impossible when talking about art that might inspire Call of Cthulhu games. From performance artists who mutilate themselves...

The post Art and the Cthulhu Mythos, with Kailas Elmer appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re poring over bas-reliefs yet again. Once you start looking into the relationship between Lovecraft and art, the damn things are everywhere. We would say that there’s no relief from them, but...

The post Lovecraft and Art, with Kailas Elmer appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re twiddling the tracking knob. It’s supposed to clear up the image on this old videocassette, but maybe that’s just missing the point. The static can be the most interesting part, filled...

The post Analogue Horror, with Holly Buteau appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re answering the call of the void. It’s about the scariest call you can receive, regardless of what Cthulhu may claim. The yawning darkness of eternity just shouldn’t be that tempting. For...

The post Horror in Space, with Holly Buteau appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re and we’re putting on our plastic ponchos. Sure, they look a bit silly, but we can work with that. Hell, it might even help. The important thing, however, is keeping some...

The post Comedy Horror, with Evan Dorkin appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re making stuff up. But so much of the stuff we make up is inspired by stuff other people made up. And sometimes, it turns out, they’re inspired by some of the...

The post RPGs and Fiction, with Evan Dorkin appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re riding the carousel. Holding onto the handlebars is a bit awkward, however, with all this pricking in our thumbs. Our digits may be warning us that something wicked this way comes,...

The post Something Wicked This Way Comes, with Cuppycup appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re mopping up protein spills. What sounded like an innocent sexual innuendo has turned out to be far more scatological than we would have liked. The unpleasant realities of theme parks are...

The post Theme Parks and Horror, with Cuppycup appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re smothering ourselves in garlic. While we’ve been assured this will protect us from vampires, we’re wondering if it might just make us more appetising to cannibals. Getting chopped up and roasted...

The post The Appeal of Vampires, with Josephine McAdam appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re hiding behind the sofa. Sure, the monsters, masked killers, and mutants can probably find us back here, but it still feels safer for some reason. Fear is rarely a rational thing,...

The post Horror For the Nervous, with Josephine McAdam appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re digging up the past. Some of this excavation is purely physical, burrowing into the clay under London in search of the usual skulls and spaceships. The rest, however, is more atavistic...

The post Quatermass and the Pit, with Seth Skorkowsky appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re blundering. That’s not to say that we don’t have a clue, but we’re not quite sure what to do with the handful we’ve managed to find. We’ve tried pinning them to...

The post How to be an Investigator, with Seth Skorkowsky appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re digging deep. While you might expect to find ghosts in these haunted landscapes, mostly we’re unearthing history. Oh, and carcinogens. On balance, ghosts seem like the healthier option. Main Topic: Haunted...

The post Haunted Landscapes, with Heather Miller appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re polishing our magnifying glasses. Being a detective requires a keen eye for detail, an analytical mind, and a thorough knowledge of genre. But that happens when you find yourself in a...

The post Call of Cthulhu and Detective Fiction, with Heather Miller appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

Our 2024 Christmas ghost story double-bill concludes with the second part of William Hope Hodgson’s “The Horse of the Invisible”, from the casebooks of Carnacki, the Ghost Finder. This is our second Carnacki tale this...

The post The Horse of the Invisible, by William Hope Hodgson – part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

Our 2024 Christmas ghost story double-bill continues with William Hope Hodgson’s “The Horse of the Invisible”, from the casebooks of Carnacki, the Ghost Finder. This is our second Carnacki tale this year, and you can...

The post The Horse of the Invisible, by William Hope Hodgson – part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

Our 2024 Christmas ghost story reading reaches the bizarre conclusion of “The Searcher of the End House”. You can find part one of this tale on your podcast feed of choice or on this very...

The post The Searcher of the End House, by William Hope Hodgson – part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We have a special treat for our 2024 Christmas ghost story reading, with not one but two tales of Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson. Our first is “The Searcher of the End...

The post The Searcher of the End House, by William Hope Hodgson – part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re enjoying the salt air. Or should that be the Saltair? Either way, it would be even jollier if there weren’t all these ghouls around. We have nothing against ghouls, and they...

The post Carnival of Souls, with Ross Bryant appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re raising the dead. Well, sort of. After all that discussion about Joseph Curwen’s necromantic exploits, we thought we’d try something on a larger scale. Instead of tomes of forbidden knowledge, however,...

The post Bringing Historical Games to Life, with Ross Bryant appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re peering through time. Handily, Yog-Sothoth has granted us the power to see he who is to come after us. Well, except Charles Dexter Ward actually turned up in 1926, around a...

The post The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 5 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re peering into wells. Perhaps it’s not unusual to find dead things in wells, but they aren’t generally this animated. Maybe the poor things would lie down and die if there was...

The post The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 4 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re rearranging the furniture in the library. All perfectly normal stuff. Nothing to worry about. Everyone gives a strangled cry or two when lifting heavy objects. And that nasty smell? Furniture polish....

The post The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 3 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re researching our family histories. Nothing but wholesome stuff here. Surely everyone’s ancestors faced an angry mob or two. It was just the done thing in those times. Main Topic: The Case...

The post The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re digging through our family tree. Or should that be digging up our family tree? Either way, we dig it. While The Case of Charles Dexter Ward doesn’t precisely advocate for raising...

The post The Case of Charles Dexter Ward part 1 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re summoning horrors from beyond space and time. If we’re honest, we’re not quite sure why we’re doing this, but here we are. It’s too late to worry about such details at...

The post Call of Cthulhu Deities: Iod, Zu-che-quon, and Nyogtha appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re being suggestive. Or is that suggestible? Why don’t you tell us! Main Topic: Listener Suggestions Meets the Wolf Man Back in late 2022, we used Discord and Twitter to ask our listeners what kinds of...

The post Listener Suggestions Meets the Wolf Man appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back with the conclusion of our interview with Jason Cordova, the mastermind behind The Gauntlet and creator of such RPGs as Brindlewood Bay, The Between and Public Access. Our winding discussion takes in game...

The post Special: Interview With Jason Cordova part 2 appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re catching up with our sleep. You think we’d be trying harder to escape, given that we’ve been tied up and lowered into the abysmal depths under the pyramids. But, no, we’re...

The post Under the Pyramids appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back with another special interview episode. This time, we’re talking to Jason Cordova, the mastermind behind The Gauntlet and creator of such RPGs as Brindlewood Bay, The Between and Public Access. Jason’s games take...

The post Special: Investigative Games With Jason Cordova appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re squirming. Sure, the best way to get out of this straitjacket would be to have someone unbuckle it, but where’s the fun in that? Then again, now that we’re getting lowered...

The post Strange NPCs: Harry Houdini appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re doubting our humanity. It’s easily enough done. Whether it’s these gill slits on our necks, that pervasive smell of death surrounding us, or just the weird way our shadow shifts and...

The post Non-Human Characters in Call of Cthulhu appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re catching up with our reading again. Specifically, in this episode, we seem to be reading in bed. You’d think that such a common pastime wouldn’t merit much discussion, yet somehow we...

The post Media Catch-Up – Books appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re under the influence. Sure, the alien entity taking up residence in our heads may not technically be a demon, but that feels like an academic distinction right now. It’s little comfort...

The post Possession in Call of Cthulhu appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re dabbling with dark forces. If Late Night With the Devil has taught us anything, it’s that achieving fame and fortune is just a matter of striking the right bargains. Sure, that’s...

The post Late Night With the Devil appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

In our recent episode on injury and disease in Call of Cthulhu, we mentioned the strength drain ability of Dark Young. Good friend of the Good Friends Frank Delventhal, AKA Strongman Frank, got it touch...

The post Special: Strength Drain and Recovery With Frank Delventhal appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re damaged. Send help. Main Topic: Injury and Disease in Call of Cthulhu This episode, we’re looking at how injury, disease, poisons, and other physical hazards work in Call of Cthulhu. Being...

The post Injury and Disease in Call of Cthulhu appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re spinning the wheel of misfortune. R’lyeh Roulette is not a game to be entered into casually. While you might not place bets in the normal manner, there is still much at...

The post R’lyeh Roulette IV appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re suckling. This is more difficult than you might think, at least when Yibb-Tstll is involved. Even once we get past all those pesky nightgaunts, there’s the whole, um, moving target aspect...

The post Call of Cthulhu Deities — Shudde M’ell, Yibb-Tstll and Bugg-Shash appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.

We’re back and we’re consuming. Mostly, we’re consuming media. At least that’s the consumption we feel happiest talking about in public. Also, the digestion of media tends to lead to less dyspepsia, bloating and flatulence...

The post Media Catch-Up appeared first on Blasphemous Tomes.