“Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. For them are the catacombs of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries. They climb to the moonlit towers of ruined Rhine castles, and falter down black cobwebbed steps beneath the scattered stones of forgotten cities in Asia. The haunted wood and the desolate mountain are their shrines, and they linger around the sinister monoliths on uninhabited islands.

But the true epicure in the terrible, to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteems most of all… The new Lovecraft eZine video chats on Google Hangout!”

OK, so I may have slightly edited that last sentence from “The Picture in the House”.  But I’m sure HPL would have written it that way, were he alive today.

Recently I had the idea to do a regular Google Hangout video chat, and we tested it out yesterday evening, with Joe Pulver, me, and several others.  I said that we would try it out for 10 or 15 minutes, to work the bugs out.  Yeah… right.  We ended up chatting for four and a half hours.  It’s the next best thing to being in the same room.  I can’t tell you how great it was to chat with other Lovecraftians face to face.

Our first official video chat will be this coming Sunday, July 22, 2012, at 5:00pm CENTRAL time.  (You can convert 5pm CST to your local time at this link.)  In fact, I’m going to make that our regular chat time, every week.  (We may or may not do it more often — subscribe to email updates at the top right side of this page to stay in the loop.)

This coming Sunday’s chat will feature author W.H. Pugmire!

Want to join in?  Here is what you need to know:

• Only 9 people can be in the video chat room at the same time, but there is no limit to the number of people who can watch it live.  It’s first-come, first-served, so…
• If you want to be a part of Sunday’s video chat, comment below.  You also need to add me on Google Plus.
• If you’re shy, or don’t make it into the chat room, no worries: I will be streaming the video chat for everyone to see, here at this website.  You will be able to comment and I’ll pass on your questions.  Also, if someone leaves the room early, I’ll invite the next person in line to join us.
• If you can’t watch it while we are chatting, then please know that the entire chat will be recorded and posted to Youtube so you can watch it later.
• There will be both “formal” and “informal” chats.  What I’m calling “formal” chats will be like this coming Sunday with a special guest, and what I’m calling “informal” video chats will be like last night’s.  Informal chats may not necessarily be recorded.  If you are in the chat room and I AM recording for others to watch later, I will make sure that all chatters know that.

I think most people reading this know that I’m not one to blow things out of proportion — I’m very laid back.  So when I say that this is going to be HUGE, and it is going to be THE place for Lovecraftians to chat face-to-face online, I mean it.  You don’t want to miss out on this.

To stay in the loop about the video chats, you should probably join the email update list (top right of this webpage), LIKE Lovecraft eZine on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter.

Comment below if you want to be part of this Sunday’s chat with W.H. Pugmire, and be sure to add me on Google Plus.

Mike Davis
P.S. The guys behind the awesome HPPodcraft.com have agreed to be guests sometime in August!  Stay tuned.