Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Saturday Odds & Sods wgah'nagl fhtagn

Hello once again, amici and amicae. I hope this penultimate full week of August finds you hale and hearty. I want to take this opportunity to extend belated birthday wishes to the Old Man of Providence, H.P. Lovecraft. Although certainly not without his flaws, both artistically and ethically, Lovecraft tapped into a vein of horror that will continue to resonate as long as we suppress a shudder when thinking about the yawning abyss of time and space revealed above our heads in the night sky. Let us turn our heads (not too quickly, lest the Great Old Ones see us) back to more terrestrial matters and take a look at this week's Odds & Sods,.

• To begin with, a horror story of a different sort, an account of the lynching of Leo Frank.
• Two interesting looks at the workings of modern writing: An interview with the New Yorker's book reviewer and finding out how Joan Didion became Joan Didion.
• Although I cannot personally vouch for their efficacy, if you happen to run into Cthulhu or Nyarlathotep when out for a stroll it might not to be a bad to idea to try some of these magic spells from Late Antiquity.
• Finally, some poetry from Mr. Lovecraft