Sorry for the lack of updates to this blog, but we’ve been in sort of a horse latitude of news about the next issue of the Gazette (and other Sentinel Hill Press projects) while we move from writing to final revisions and layout.  Our goal is to have a complete draft of the issue out to our Kickstarter backers on or around July 1, with the issue getting a general release, PDF and POD, soon after.  Our Kickstarter backers will get things first, of course.

Regarding future projects:

• On or around the 1st of July I will post our official call for submissions for future issues.  I’ve got a least two likely topics in mind with perhaps a third one to be added on as well.  I want to stress however that we are interested in anything to do with Lovecraft Country and even if you’ve got an idea or piece that doesn’t wholly jibe with our suggested topics, you should still submit it!
• I’ll be launching a Patreon soon, to fund my book addiction and maybe start a monthly podcast about Sentinel Hill Press, New England history, and Lovecraft Country.  Watch this space for news, or just email me your credit card numbers or cashier’s cheques  (I used a q to make my larceny sound fancy).
• I’ve been working, in drips and drabs, on a few future SHP releases (not including work associated with the Arkham Gazette Kickstarter), including Graveyards of Lovecraft Country (now up to a 20,000 words) and Namacknowatt Island.  For the later, I’m wondering if we might do it in an open source way, with us providing a general framework but having our readers contribute locations for the island.  It is not the biggest place, clearly, but it might be fun…
• I am reluctant to admit it, but I’ve also started jotting down notes for our next Octoberganza here at SHP.  Topic suggestions welcome!

While you wait for us to put the finishing touches on the next issue of the Arkham Gazette, I thought I might tide you over with a few links of interest relating to New England history and folklore that I’ve turned up in the past month or two.  If you’re part of the G+ group for the Arkham Gazette some of these might be familiar to you already, while others are new.  I’ve got something from every state in New England, plus a little-known Lovecraft Country scenario:

• A Trail of Cthulhu adaptation (and translation) of “In the Claws of the Green Flame“, a Call of Cthulhu originally appearing in the French gaming magazine Casus Belli, set in Kingsport.
• Epitaphs from Burial Hill, Plymouth Massachusetts (1892)  A catalog of the inscriptions at (and a history of) the Burial Hill Graveyard in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Includes a map and frequent illustrations.
• What They Say in New England (1897) a collection of folk tales and folklore from New England. (Readers should note that some of “what they say” is racist, unfortunately.)
• Myths & Legends of Our Own Land [vol 1] (1896), of particular interest is the section “Tales of Puritan Land” on page 185.  (This continues in volume 2.)  As with the above work, the views of the author do not always jibe with my own, or yours most likely.
• The WPA Guide to Rhode Island (1937).  Wonder what the state was like the year Lovecraft died?  (Maybe he should have gotten a job with the WPA and paid for a doctor.  Or non-canned food.)
• Obscure Vermont – a photo-rich blog about the odd in the Green Mountain state.
• Strange Maine – a similar site for Vacationland’s weird people, places, and legends.
• These Strange Hills – Ditto, for western Massachusetts (aka The Berkshires).
• Folk-lore Sketches and Reminiscences of New Hampshire Life (1910). Here’s a sample story:
  Once upon a time there lived in New Hampshire a man so lazy that he decided it was better to die than make the necessary effort to get his daily bread… the procession on its way to the cemetery was stopped by a stranger who wished to know the usual details of such occasions. Upon being informed, he remarked that rather than let the man die he would have given a bushel of corn. There upon a voice from within the hearse called out, “Is the corn shelled ?” “No, it is on the cob,” replied the sympathetic stranger. “Then drive on” was the prompt response.
• The Battle of the Frogs, at Windham [CT] 1758 (1857).  “[T]hey were woken up by terrifying noises in the woods, unlike anything anyone had ever heard. Some thought it was attacking wolves or bears, and others feared it was an invading army. Still others were terror stricken that it was trumpets heralding the end of the world.  The terrified town posted a guard overnight… they sent a search party to investigate… [T]hey reached a local pond, and discovered it was nearly dried up. Lining the pond’s dry bed were the carcasses of dozens and dozens of bullfrogs.”