Dracula VS Cthulhu
A discussion of the relationship between Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" and Bram Stoker's classic "Dracula." Both stories are told through diary entries, news articles, letters, and interviews with other people, but there's more to it than that. Lovecraft wrote on the cusp between literary movements. With one foot in the Gothic past and one foot in the post-war future to come, Lovecraft created a unique blend between the Gothic literary tradition of the 1800s and the monster tradition of the modern era. This panel discusses his work within the literary framework of Gothic, while at the same time, examining the groundwork he laid for modern authors.
Leslie S. Klinger is the editor of the highly-acclaimed New Annotated Dracula, New Annotated Frankenstein, and the two-volume New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. He also edited the anthologies In the Shadow of Dracula and In the Shadow of Edgar Allen Poe, featuring 19th- century supernatural fiction. Together with Lisa Morton, he’s also edited the anthologies Ghost Stories and Weird Women, both with extensive selections of Victorian horror. Klinger’s annotated editions include the four-volume Annotated Sandman (with Neil Gaiman), Watchmen Annotated (with Dave Gibbons), and Annotated American Gods (again with Neil Gaiman). He serves as Treasurer of the Horror Writers Association and lives in Malibu with his wife Sharon, dog Jenny Calendar, and cat Rupert Giles.
Kenneth Hite has designed, written, or co-authored 100+ roleplaying works, including Trail of Cthulhu, Bookhounds of London, The Dracula Dossier, the Delta Green RPG, Night’s Black Agents, The Fall of Delta Green, and Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition. His other works include the two-volume Tour de Lovecraft, Cthulhu 101, The Cthulhu Wars for Osprey, the “Lost in Lovecraft” column for Weird Tales, an annotated edition of Chambers’ The King in Yellow, and four Lovecraftian children’s books. Half of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast and an Artistic Associate at Chicago’s WildClaw Theatre, he lives in Chicago with two Lovecraftian cats and his non-Lovecraftian wife, Sheila.
Robin D. Laws designed the GUMSHOE rules for Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu roleplaying game, and such beloved supplements for it as The Armitage Files, Dreamhounds of Paris, and The Book of Ants. He is the author of the short story anthology New Tales of the Yellow Sign and the editor of Shotguns v. Cthulhu. Other fiction of interest to Cthulhucon PDX attendees includes short story contributions to Letters to Lovecraft and Madness on the Orient Express. Ghouls, byakhee and Nyarlathotep get frequent namechecks on "Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff," the weekly podcast of gaming, culture, and weirdness he co-hosts with fellow writer and game designer Kenneth Hite.
Sean Hoade is a fiction coach and the author of 17 books. He has written thrillers, literary novels, horror, and Penny Dreadful novelettes. He taught creative writing at the university level for almost a decade before he even realized what was going on. He lives in Las Vegas. Sean is always eager to hear from readers and other writers, or just people who want to talk about cool stuff. He is easily locatable and friend-able as hoadewriter on Facebook; always saying strange things on Twitter (@SeanHoade); On Instagram, he’s seanhoadewriter; and on Pinterest, somewhat lazily, he’s once again seanhoadewriter.
Rhiannon Louve is a freelance writer. Professionally, she writes short stories, video game dialogue, table-top role-playing books, and privately commissioned fiction. She hopes to soon add novels to the list. With her MA in Applied Theology, Rhiannon has taught World Religions at the college level, and published Pagan thea/ology essays. Rhiannon's published short fiction is mostly steampunk so far, while her current video game gig is with State of Decay 2, about surviving post zombie apocalypse. Most of Rhiannon's table-top RPG work is in traditional fantasy, though not without horror and Lovecraftian elements, such as her contribution to the award-winning Elder Evils D&D 3.5 sourcebook. Rhiannon has a strong interest in Lovecraftian fiction, but comes at it from a weird fantasy or dark fantasy perspective, fascinated most by the mythos itself and the psychology of such a world. Outside work, Rhiannon mostly games (table top, analog), including a Bleach-inspired shinigami game, using her own homebrew version of Exalted. Her other hobbies include scholarly study of primate behavior (including humans), and learning languages (she speaks French, some Spanish, and minute amounts of Japanese and Irish). Rhiannon rarely watches television in English, and has written scholarly papers on manga and anime. Do ask her about anime and Lovecraft!