RIP Rick Hautala -- a lifetime is not long enough.

Yesterday evening a friend emailed me to let me know some sad news. Rick Hautala, Maine author and someone I’d just started to become friends with in the last few years, died suddenly yesterday afternoon of a heart attack at age 64.

Rick at NECON 2006

I couldn’t quite believe it was true, but when I went to his website at rickhautala.com, there it was. Rick’s wife Holly had posted the following on his Facebook page Thursday afternoon: “Hi all and thank you. Just to let you know there will be no funeral, as that was not Rick’s thing. I am hoping to put together a celebration of his life in a month or two. We are just devastated here, and I really appreciate your kind words. Will keep you posted…”

As shocked as I was, I can’t even begin to imagine what Holly and the rest of Rick’s family and friends are going through. My heart goes out to them.

UPDATE: Fellow author Christopher Golden has posted on his blog about how you can assist Rick's family:
http://christophergolden.blogspot.com/2013/03/if-you-want-to-help-holly-newstein.html

Those of you who attended the Lovecraft Lounge short film showing at my shop in August of 2011 to hear him speak and answer questions about the short film "Lovecraft's Pillow" which we screened will remember how nice he was, and how willing he was to give even the smallest crowd of fans his time and energy. He was even patient in explaining over and over again how to pronounce his name [HOW-tah-lah].

Rick was the most positive, friendly, and helpful "Ink-Stained Wretch" I have had the pleasure to meet. I am having a hard time realizing I'll never get a chance to tell him this. This post is simply one more small step towards reminding local folks of Rick, the writer-next-door that so many took for granted as being forever nearby. He will be missed. I'm glad he wrote as much as he did, it's going to have to last us a long while. Here's to Rick Hautala. Maine has lost a good inky friend.

I came to read Rick’s work only recently, though like many of us here in Maine I knew of him for years. I sampled his books here and there, invited him to speak about his screenwriting work for “Lovecraft’s Pillow” at my bookshop, and almost got to give an introduction for his talk at October 2012’s “Little Festival of Horrors” at the Portland Public Library (the event was cancelled by the arrival of Hurricane Sandy). I was looking forward to having another chance to introduce him this fall, but sadly that will not happen now.

Here is the short film, Lovecraft’s Pillow, if you haven’t seen it yet:

Little Brothers, 1988

I also spent some time last year interviewing him about his “Little Brother” stories as part of my research for a Strange Maine related book I am working on right now about Bigfoot in Maine history and culture. Rick was always ready to answer my questions and set me straight on what his goals in writing were.

As Rick said to me, “Honestly, I was (and am) just trying to tell stories to entertain and amuse people … and, yeah! … to creep them out.” What more could we ask from one of our state’s longest publishing horror authors? All he wanted to do was entertain us.

To quote Rick:

The most dominant theme I see (and what do I know? I’m just the writer) is people being tested to:

1) Accept something that they believe or have been told is “impossible,” and
2) Do something about it. Face it. Deal with it. Try to come out on top.

All of the LITTLE BROTHERS stories—and THE MOUNTAIN KING, too, I think, are about people coming to grips with something that, according to their limited belief structures, is impossible … yet real, nonetheless.

Losing Rick so suddenly has thrown myself and others who always thought he’d be around into just that position. How we deal with it is up to us.

For those of you who didn’t know much about Rick, here is the introduction I wrote for his postponed appearance at the Little Festival of Horrors:

RICK HAUTALA

Hello everyone, and welcome to the second author talk of the Portland Public Library’s LITTLE FESTIVAL OF HORRORS. I have the pleasure today of introducing Maine author Rick Hautala to you. He is the published author of over 90 novels and short stories, many of which have been translated to other languages and sold internationally. His short story collection, Bedbugs, was selected by Barnes & Noble as one of the most distinguished horror publications of the year 2000.

Most recently the Horror Writers Association awarded him the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement for 2011, which was presented to him at the annual banquet in spring 2012. Rick lives just outside of Portland with fellow author Holly Newstein. He moved to Maine to go to college back in the day, and never left.

His stories, which are sometimes supernatural in nature, most often deal with monsters of all sorts. He enjoys monsters, whether they’re real or not. That’s how he approached his novel The Mountain King which he aimed to write as a rip-snorting, limb-rippingly fun monster book. The story places a family of Bigfoot-like creatures in the mountains of New England, and lets the reader in on what exactly happens when the inevitable culture clash between hikers and homicidal Bigfoot families happens.

His novel Little Brothers is a favorite of many of his fans, and spawned a handful of stories and pseudo-myths about these creatures which haunt the Maine woods. There is a new Little Brothers novella titled Indian Summer which is coming out soon from Cemetery Dance Publications. Other forthcoming books include Chills and Waiting (also from Cemetery Dance), and Star Road, which St. Martin's is slated to release in 2014.

In addition, Little Brothers was recently optioned for a film, and a team is currently working on adapting it into screenplay form.

In fact, Rick writes screenplays himself. His adaptation of award-winning author Kealan Patrick Burke's "Peekers" is currently on the film festival circuit. My personal favorite of these projects is the short film “Lovecraft’s Pillow,” which was based on a story suggestion from Stephen King. In this speculative story, a desperate and bankrupt man buys a pillow that once belonged to famed horror author H.P. Lovecraft in the hopes it will inspire his own writing. The results are … understandably uncanny, to say the least.

But enough from me. I’ll let Rick speak for himself. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Rick Hautala!

Where ever he may be headed to now, I hope his audience has a warm and friendly welcome for him, as he well deserves.

At the end of January, he was interviewed on the Francy and Friends podcast. You can download the MP3 on their site here. Rick shows up about 24 minutes into the otherwise raucous show, and talks candidly, as always, about life as a writer. His personality shines through. He was always a wonderful conversationalist. Enjoy.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/francy/2013/01/21/rockin-with-rick-hautala-legendary-horror-author

Listen to internet radio with FRANCY AND FRIENDS on Blog Talk Radio

Zombie Puppet Musical auditions?!!

Yes, the headline does not lie.

WHAT: Audition for the June 2013 show,"A Post-Apocalyptic Improvised Zombie Puppet Musical" with the Improvised Puppet Project
WHEN: Auditions will be Sunday March 24 2013 at 4:00pm
FMI: E-mail Tara at info@improvisedpuppetproject.com, or visit facebook.com/improvisedpuppetproject

The Improvised Puppet Project is holding auditions for their big Spring show, "A Post-Apocalyptic Improvised Zombie Puppet Musical," which will be performed during the second annual Portland Fringe Festival the last week of June 2013.

In case you are wondering what the heck the storyline is, here is the blurbtastic plot summary:

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited by puppets, people, and zombies, only the power of musical theater can save the day.

Rehearsal & Performance Dates:
"A Post-Apocalyptic Improvised Zombie Puppet Musical" will perform Wednesday, June 26, and Saturday, June 29 at the Portland Fringe Festival and Sunday June 30 at Acorn Studio Theater in Westbrook. There will be one or two rehearsals per week from the end of March through the end of the run. This show is a 45-minute improvised Broadway-style musical, performed with puppets. Each show will be accompanied by a professional musician who will both score the show and improvise songs to sing to. We are looking for improvisors with musical theater or puppeteering experience -- or a wholehearted willingness to learn a lot of new skills in a relatively short time!

Auditions & Registration:
Auditions will be Sunday afternoon, March 24, at 4:00pm. To register, please e-mail Tara at info[at]improvisedpuppetproject.com with your full name, email address, phone number, and a short description of your improv/musical theater/puppeteering background. We'll get back to you by email and confirm time and location, and also send you more detailed information about what we're looking for. This audition will be more like an improv jam than a normal theater audition -- we want to create a laid-back, low-pressure atmosphere for you to show us your best work. We'll even tell you what we're looking for ahead of time so you don't have to wonder! No need to bring your own puppet, or even a headshot -- just your improvising self, ready to have some fun.

For more information about The Improvised Puppet Project, find us on Facebook: facebook.com/improvisedpuppetproject.

Scallop swapping?

Mario Moretto, Hancock County reporter

Well, the pressure for me to top the Rangeley Robot Monster story from the other week has been intense. I mean, how does a person top a two-week run which includes dowsers looking for Bigfoot and monster robot attacks?! Luckily for me, the Colbert Report did a fantastically funny segment about an incident on Mount Desert Island. I then found out that the story had originally been reported on by Mario Moretto of the Bangor Daily News.

Enjoy the video, and read on for more!

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

The news story was originally run in the Bangor Daily News on November 27th when reporter Mario Moretto encountered a post on the Ellsworth Police Department's Facebook page inquiring community-wide about the lost scallop pieces. He posted on Twitter about it, thinking to himself, "Isn't this weird?"

Seeing the post, his editor Rick Levasseur told Moretto he should run with it, and do a full story for the paper. Apparently Moretto and Levasseur have the nose for news, because sure enough Moretto's story got picked up by other Maine outlets and the AP wire. It can now be found reprinted in all sorts of "weird news" columns and news blogs, and everywhere the Colbert Show segment is mentioned. But, as Moretto observes, "It's sort of an occupational hazard in today's media landscape that if a story you wrote goes viral, very little attention is paid to the byline. Everyone knows the story, but not many people pay attention to who reported it."

Read Mario Moretto's original article here:
Southwest Harbor man seeking missing scallop guts after putting them in wrong car

A follow-up article, again by Moretto, appeared in the Bangor Daily News on November 28th with the headline "UM teacher: 'It was me. I have the scallop guts.'" Mario is no stranger to oddball stories. "The thing that makes 'Scallop Guts' such a great story, though, is the happy ending," he said. Darn right.

To read more of Moretto's Hancock County articles, click here:
http://bangordailynews.com/author/mmoretto/

When I asked Moretto if he had come across other strange Maine news items during his tenure, he admitted there are plenty of "out there" stories, but the scallop guts story seemed to be the best so far. In the past, among other things, he has reported about a woman who snapped photographs of bones she found on a town pier. The woman sent the photos to the state medical examiner's office. "She was convinced they were human, but the Medical Examiner identified them as chicken. A representative from that office told me it happened all the time."

Rangeley robot monster attacks!

Back in early August 1960, newspapers across the nation screamed with headlines about the goings-on in Rangeley, Maine.

THE MONSTER WHO CAME TO DINNER!

ROBOT IN ICE BOX TERRIFIES MAINE TOWN

MONSTER IN ICE BOX CHILLS BLOOD OF NERVOUS WAITRESS!

These were some of the superlative titles given to articles about the incident. But what happened?

Waitress Barbara Brackett had stepped into the walk-in refrigerator at Doc Grant's Restaurant on Main Street. As she moved through the cooler, she brushed up against something. The next thing she knew, she was in a scifi horror movie, with a giant, hideous monster robot grinding away a mere hairsbreadth from her. Sensibly, she ran screaming out the door, through the restaurant, and out onto the street. About 25 customers, no doubt startled by the shrieks and abrupt retreat of their hostess, followed suit. Apparently most of downtown Rangeley wanted to get in on the action, because by the time Deputy Sheriff Ronald "Pete" Durrell arrived, he was surprised to find himself tasked with enacting crowd control on a mob of about 150 people.

James Marshall and his hulking green creation!

Clearer heads prevailed eventually, and it was discovered that James Marshall was the mad inventor responsible for the behemoth that started the panic. The monster, happily described by its creator as "hideous and horrible," was in the walk-in fridge to test its ability to withstand low temperatures.

Poster from one of Dr. Evil's Rangeley
appearances, sometime in the 1960s.

Marshall had great plans for the beast, which he had spent the last couple of years-worth of his spare time to assemble. He had designed it to be featured in Dr. Evil's traveling spookshow, "Terrors of the Unknown." This roadshow made its way across the U.S. and Canada starting in 1953 and going steadily through much of the 1960s, when it lingered long into the tail end of the spookshow era. The show was supposed to go as far as Alaska, hence Marshall's determination that his monster be able to function after exposure to cold weather. It certainly worked enough to scare Ms. Brackett, and the robot's electronic machinery kept going until Marshall arrived to disconnect the wires.

The owner of the restaurant, Elmer "Doc" Grant himself, had given Marshall permission to use the refrigerator, but apparently failed to inquire closely into the exact intentions of the inventor. The newspapers quoted his reaction to the situation, as he stated, "I have never seen such a hideous creature in all my life," and he said that he never wanted to see Marshall or the monster again.

Marshall explained that he had wanted the monster to remain a secret, but it's hard to keep something a secret when it's "more than 12 feet tall, about 13 feet around the chest, with arms as big as a man... half animal and half fish." Add to that the fact that the beast had fur and hair up to the midsection,  succeeded by a layer of large green scales, topped off with a horn coming out of the top of its head. Did he really think people weren't going to take note of such a thing rattling around inside one of the major establishments of downtown Rangeley?

Doc Grant's Restaurant, Rangeley, Maine (postcard photo).

So did Marshall's monster ever make it onto the stage with Dr. Evil? The only clue I have found is this ad, run in the Biddeford-Saco Journal of August 23, 1965, on page 10. What do YOU think...?

Event: Cryptotrip film New England premier

NOTE: EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED DUE TO FOUL DRIVING WEATHER 2/24/13!!!
Date below has been updated to reflect change.
 
WHAT: Cryptotrip's New England premier
WHEN: Sunday, March 10th. Doors open at 3:30 for museum admission, followed by the screening. The event ends at 6:30pm.
WHERE: International Cryptozoology Museum (ICM), 11 Avon Street, Portland, Maine
FMI: http://www.cryptotrip.com/ or http://cryptozoologymuseum.com/

Join Loren Coleman and the the director Christopher Maloney for the first New England showing of Cryptotrip, a documentary film about the state of cryptozoology in the U.S. at a grass-roots level.

As director Christopher Maloney notes:
“Thousands of unexplained creature sightings are reported in the United States each year. What are people seeing? How does it impact them? What does this say about us as a nation? These questions are explored in a cross-country trek through America’s highways and byways, a journey that explores the phenomena and popularity of cryptozoology in the United States.”

The ICM will hold the screening on Sunday February 24th March 10th, 2013 with museum entry permitted at 3:30.

Admission for the film is $10.00 per person, regardless of age, and includes:

(1) Museum admission;

(2) Showing of Cryptotrip in a casual but unique cryptozoology setting;

(3) Q&A session with Christopher Maloney, writer and director for Cryptotrip;

(4) Your contribution to the educational and scientific mission of the ICM;

(5) Film refreshments for a small donation will be available;

(6) A chance to be one of the first to see this amazing cryptozoological journey!

The Facebook event page can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/470855479628739/

View trailer here:
http://youtu.be/EpR0jcxjoNQ

Call for information: Dowsing & Bigfoot!

Hi everyone! I'm going to try to get back to a more regular posting schedule here on the blog. All those juicy Strange Maine tidbits that keep piling up are bursting out of my file cabinet, sad and neglected! To start with, as many of you know, I'm working on a book right now that I'm co-writing with Loren Coleman, Bigfoot in Maine. We're trying to make it a thorough effort, so it's taking a little longer than we expected, but it'll be worth it in the end to have the book finished up in a satisfactory manner.

In my research for the book, I have come up with a loose end that I was hoping someone among you might be able help tie up. With that hope, I'm posting this as a "call for information."

I found this passage in a random book that has nothing to do with dowsing or Sasquatch. It's on page 167 of Peking Man by Harry Shapiro (1975). The important bit is in bold. I'd love to get in contact with someone who knows anything about the event mentioned.

"... I received a message one day that a Mrs. Apperson had telephoned my office while I was away. ... She began by identifying herself as Mrs. Apperson -- a name totally unknown to me. Then she said, 'I'm a dowser.' ... Mrs. Apperson proceeded to list her membership in some national society of dowsers and other connections with professionals in this field. To establish more fully her identity and authority, she mentioned various dowsing activities in which she had recently been engaged. In particular, she described with considerable enthusiasm her search, along with a group of distinguished fellow dowsers, for traces of Sasquatch in the Maine woods."

So, to whit: Here we have Mrs. Polly Apperson. She was the local organizer of the Norwalk CT chapter of the American Society of Dowsers (according to old newspaper snippets I found). I can only imagine that the folks she went to Maine to dowse for Sasquatch with are ones she likely met at the annual dowsers meeting in Danville VT, seeing that around 1970 Maine had the highest number of dowsers registered with the ASoD of any of the states in the US. I did find a photo of her during one of the Danville meetings doing a demonstration dowsing, from 1975, so I'm sure (especially being the local chapter's go-to person), it is likely she attended more than one year.

My puzzle is to find an account of this Maine expedition. My guess would be that it is somehow related to the Durham Gorilla sightings of 1973. And it would have happened before the book went to press in 1975. Do you know anyone in Maine's dowsing circles who might have been involved, or know who was?

The other interesting Maine/Sasquatch/dowsing connection I'm curious about is a report from Bigelow Mountain in 1946, when it is reported that four dowsers saw a large man, at least 7 feet tall, carrying a huge rock, covered in short dark hair, and with long hair growing from his head ("like an Indian in the movies") as well. If by any chance anyone knows more about that event, I'd also be very pleased to hear about that!

Please feel free to broadcast this query further. I'm having a hard time finding much in the archives I have access to, and a first-person account is far more exciting and (hopefully) more accurate, as well as a great chance to record an obscure piece of Maine history.

Lovecraft's influence on Maine artists

Photographer Eric Pomorski surveys his fellow artists' work.

It will come as no surprise to readers that once again I and other Portland, Maine, artists (as well as a few guests from away) have fallen under the spell of Lovecraft. The result is an epic artshow, Lovecraft: A Darker Key, which is showing at Sanctuary's gallery here in Portland from Feb 1, 2013, to May 1st, 2013 (or, Candelmas to Beltane).

The show, curated by Carrie Vinette, Michelle Souliere, and Brandon Kawashima, features the works of: Eric Anderson, Tom Brown, Clayton Cameron, Brandon Kawashima, Max Leon, Marco, Christian Matzke, Corey Paradise, Eric Pomorski, Michelle Souliere, Dave Stelmok, Jason Thompson, and Carrie Vinette.

WHAT: Lovecraft: A Darker Key artshow
WHERE: Sanctuary, 31 Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine
WHEN: Feb 1 - May 1, 2013; viewing hours 11:00-7:00 Tues-Sat
FMI: Contact Carrie at Sanctuary: (207)828-8866 http://www.sanctuarytattoo.com/

The artists involved range from illustrators to sculptors to photographers to painters, each showing his or her own interpretation of the elements of Lovecraft's stories. To quote Nicholas Schroeder of the Portland Phoenix, "Viewers, particularly those who haven't read Lovecraft, might look at 'A Darker Key'... as a richly involved visual glossary of profoundly alien terms."

Participants include such horror luminaries as Eric Anderson of the Shoggoth Assembly (who recently worked on effects for the local projects Ragged Isle and Hanover House), Mortimer Glum (currently working on art for Escape from Jesus Island), Jason Thompson (artist of the recently published Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath), Tom Brown (artist of the recently published Hopeless, Maine), and Christian Matzke (director of Nyarlothotep and An Imperfect Solution: A Tale Of The Re-Animator).

The classic weird fiction writing of author H.P. Lovecraft forms the dark heart of this delectable array of eldritch art. Each artist was inspired by the dreamlike vistas created by Lovecraft's pen in the brief window between the years of 1917 and 1935. The world of his fiction was one of contrast between cosmic horror and eerie beauty. The title of this show references one of the stories in his Dream Cycle, "The Silver Key." Appropriately, this art show bookends the anniversary of his early death, March 15 (1937).

Come, and peer through the eyes of artists at the vision of a master writer!

Those curious about the show will find an assortment of photos from the opening night here on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkbrilliance/sets/72157632712016012/with/8454099856/

Read more:
Blending Lovecraft and Modern Art, by Nicholas Schroeder, Portland Phoenix 02/07/13

“Lovecraft: A Darker Key” opens tonight at Sanctuary Tattoo [A discussion with Michelle Souliere], by Alex Steed, Bangor Daily News 2/1/2013

Explore the artists' websites:
-- Eric Anderson of the Shoggoth Assembly special effects group:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Shoggoth-Assembly/108860862470296?ref=ts

-- Tom Brown, artist of Hopeless, Maine (Archaia, 2012)
http://www.hopelessmaine.com/

-- Max Leon, illustrator and fine artist
http://maxleonart.blogspot.com/2012/06/fine-art.html

-- Christian Matzke of Page Street Studios and Crawling Chaos
Portland Art Exhibit Imagines Counterattack on Mars, Bangor Daily News 9/2/2011
http://www.flickr.com/photos/retrogarde/sets/72157608827234238/

-- Eric Pomorski, photographer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epomorski/

--Michelle Souliere, author and illustrator of Strange Maine: True Tales from the Pine Tree State
http://local-artists.org/users/michelle-y-souliere

-- Jason Thompson, artist of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
http://mockman.com/about/

-- Carrie Vinette of Sanctuary Tattoo
http://www.sanctuarytattoo.com/carrie.htm