Work Set to Begin on Updated Strange Sound of Cthulhu

ROCKFORD, Ill. - Aug. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- Work is going to start on a new and updated version of The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft. The original version of the book was released on August 20th, 2006. That date would have marked the 116th birthday of the influential author. The updated version of the book is due for release on August 20th, 2016.

The book outlines the music and artists who have been influenced by the horror writer. This is accomplished through chronicling the music, interviewing the musicians and linking lyrics to the original stories. Noted H.P. Lovecraft expert S.T. Joshi said in his foreword to the book, “Gary has that rarest of skills among music critics: the ability to describe a song, whether vocal or instrumental, in such a way that readers seem to hear it running through their heads." In a review at Amazon.com J. Daniel Seffens said, “Though Hill claims that the book is in no way exhaustive on the subject, it is as close to being exhaustive as it can get. It is designed to snare the readers that are there for the music to start reading Lovecraft, and the readers there for Lovecraft to look out for the music. I found myself getting out my old music to listen for what Hill describes.” At Lulu.com Greg Olma said, “You would be hard pressed to find a more thorough book on H.P. Lovecraft and his influence on music.”

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born on August 20th, 1890 and died on March 15th, 1937. Lovecraft’s horror and science fiction stories were published in various magazines during his lifetime. While he had a following then, since his death his work has garnered even greater interest. It has influenced many writers, film-makers and (as Gary Hill’s book details) musicians. Noted film-maker Guierrmo del Toro has been working to develop a big budget film (tentatively to star Tom Cruise) of Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness” for several years.

The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft is available at lulu.com/strangesound, Amazon.com and many other locations. A German language edition is available at roterdrache.org/the_strange_sound_of_cthulhu.html. Once the new edition is released, the first one will be out of print. That will put the first edition out of print, making it a collector’s item.