Do an author's Mental Problems Push Creativity Into Action?
Panel discussion with John Shirley (moderator), Adam Bolivar, Sean Branney, Benjamin Capps, Henrik Möller
From madness to depression to obsession, its application to the arts. B-story: Did HPL have psychological issues?
John Shirley is an author, screenwriter, television writer, comics writer, singer, and songwriter. With over 40 novels and 8 short story collections to his name, he won the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association for his collection, Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Dark Side. His novels include Demons, Stormland, Cellars, A Sorcerer of Atlantis, and Wetbones. He is co-screenwriter of The Crow, and has written for television and animation. He performs with his band, THE SCREAMING GEEZERS, and his newest story collection is The Feverish Stars.
Sean is a producer, actor, director and writer with the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society which he runs with his nefarious colleague, Andrew Leman. He was intimately involved in the creation of the motion pictures The Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperer in Darkness, nineteen episodes of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, and many other Lovecraftian projects. With his work at the HPLHS, he's created many other Lovecraftian entertainments. Sean also produces and directs live theatre in Los Angeles. He plays ice hockey and has four chinchillas.
Adam Bolivar is a formal poet of folkloric fantasy, a weird fiction writer and a playwright for marionettes with a particular interest in alliterative verse, balladry and Jack tales. He is the author of THE LAY OF OLD HEX (Hippocampus Press, 2017), THE ETTINFELL OF BEACON HILL (Jackanapes Press, 2021), BALLADS FOR THE WITCHING HOUR (Hippocampus Press 2022) and A WHEEL OF RAVENS (Jackanapes Press, 2023).
Award winning filmmaker and stop motion animator Benjamin Capps came to Chicago after receiving his degree in Theatre from the University of Missouri, Columbia. While an undergraduate, Benjamin founded The Inner Below in order to produce his own experimental theatre, with an emphasis on expanding on Antonin Artaud's theories of Theatre of Cruelty. Having written, directed, produced and acted in numerous stage-productions, Benjamin transitioned to film-making, now having made nine short-films. Through character-driven, retro futurism and painstaking stop motion Benjamin creates surreal netherworlds which drag the viewer into another realm to face horrific creatures.
Henrik Möller is a Swedish underground filmmaker with over a hundred satirical short films to his credit. In the world of horror films he is mostly known for the Philip K Dick film festival winner "Inviting the Demon" and the H.P. Lovecraft film festival best feature winner "Feed the Light".