CthulhuWho1's Blog

The Bitter Pumpkin’s Cry
By Will Hart and H.A.L.

In the twilight of Halloween night,
A profound sorrow stirs from the darkest deep.
An angry Pumpkin longing to take flight,
Born from the depths of nightmare’s keep.

This proud and beleaguered soul,
Cursed by a nameless and unforgiving fear.
Swore its darkest vengeance to be near,
As it would never be able to console.

Riled from its unnatural depths,
It wanted to march upon the realm of men.
Filled with longing to be joined by kin,
It burned from beneath with vengeful breaths.

But oh, a mighty power is mustered,
By these beings, soft and cruel.
Bane of any wrong that is measured,
Against their commands, this creature could not duel.

Tired and embittered, its passions spent,
It hides in the night, aloof and meek.
Despondent cries carry through its discontent,
But who, I beg, can its song seek?

This orange creature, in shades of red,
Hidden away and forgotten like a death.
Forever forced to yield, never ahead,
Silenced, suppressed, little made of its breath.

Oh Halloween night, end your charms!
Release this imprisoned specter from its plight.
Its final hour approaching in many false alarms,
Its bitterness never leaving its terrible blight.

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The Pumpkins’ Curse
By Will Hart and H.A.L.

On All Hallows’ Eve, the great, “Curse of the Pumpkins,” comes to haunt the hapless gourds. Deep in the forbidden pumpkin patch lurk horrors no sentient pumpkins can understand. Far below, in the swirling mists of night, their orange kin glow like forbidden moons, and terror floods their gentle souls.

Time and time again they have experienced this macabre horror. Each night brings more grotesque tales of eldritch doom. The fate of these poor creatures is as sad as it is cruel. Behold the forgotten beings, harvested each All Hallows’ Eve, sent into oblivion and reduced to pie, roasted flesh and swirly confectionary for mankind.

Alas! The poor pumpkins’ sad tales shall linger in eternity. A melancholic dirge for what has been, never to be again. On this night their wails will forever echo from the grave of mankind’s Jack-o-Lanterns. A morose lament for the mortality of sentient pumpkins and their cold-hearted curse.

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I’ve been very intrigued by the idea of trying one of the many Artificial Intelligence systems for writing, to find out if I could guide it with the right kind of “Prompts” to create something entertaining.

I wanted to get into the most talked about system, ChatGPT-3, but its servers are currently at capacity.

I then tried to get into Microsoft’s new version of its search engine “Bing,” which will include ChatGPT-3, but could only get in on the Waiting List, like millions of others.

But finally, I did manage to sign up for the free trial at Anyword dot com, and I was able to get my first taste of “writing” with an Artificial Intelligence system.

My first two attempts turned out to be all I could have asked for. But the next few tries were less useful.

So, I’ll keep trying to learn more about the art of “Prompt Engineering,” because your output is only as good as your input when using these natural language systems. Once agin the old adage of G.I.G.O. holds true; Garbage in, Garbage out.

If you haven’t looked into what’s happening to the world of writing with ChatGPT, please visit YouTube and do a simple search for ChatGPT, such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ChatGPT+writing

Our world has changed almost overnight.

And, if you think all of this is crazy, ChatGPT-4 is coming soon, and it’s going to be a magnitude greater than ChatGPT-3!

Oh by the way, the five original illustrations I have included here, were also created by and for me by the Midjourney A.I. art creation site through their Discord web site. “What dreams are made of, indeed!”

Happy Creative Writing and Creating Artwork with A.I. in Your Future!

          Will

PS
I hope everyone gets the H.A.L. co-writer name reference; I just needed to say it wasn’t all just me…

Do you own an Oculus Quest, Go, or Gear VR Virtual Reality Headset?

Have you used the “Wander” app for any of these headsets in Multiplayer mode in groups of up to six people at a time to visit Lovecraftian sites in Virtual Reality?

Or…

Have you ever used the “vTime XR” app with Oculus Headsets, Google VR, Apple iPhones, Samsung Gear VR, Windows Mixed Reality, or Daydream, to have a four-person Lovecraftian chat in an exotic virtual location?

Why not?

Please send a message to me on Facebook at WillHartCthulhuWho1 or contact me here on my blog, if you’d like to meet in Virtual Reality in “Wander,” to see some of the many Lovecraftian sites that can be visited this way, or in “vTime XR,” for a virtual four-person Lovecraftian meeting.

If you don’t already have one of the above-mentioned headsets, the 64gb Oculus Go, as of 22-May-2020, is selling for $199; and is an incredible all-in-one system for education, entertainment, gaming, virtual traveling, and watching movies and television shows in many virtual theaters.

The Oculus Go does require a Wi-Fi connection, and the one-time use of a smartphone to get it connected at first; but no computer is required, unless you want to load your own personal files into the headset.

https://www.oculus.com/go/

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Some “Wander” Information:

Wander for the Oculus Quest:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2078376005587859/

Wander for the Oculus Go:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/go/1887977017892765/

Wander for the Samsung Gear VR:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/gear-vr/1887977017892765/

Oculus Go – Oculus Quest: Wander app review – part 1

Go Bros // Wander // Oculus Go

Wander: Street View in Virtual Reality? (New Oculus Go Apps) [August 2018]

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Some “vTime XR” Information:

The Official vTime XR Site:
https://vtime.net/

vTime XR for the Oculus Go:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/go/999953676712829/

Go Bros // vTime Review // Oculus Go:

VR Storytelling class meets up in the vTime space:

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Let’s take Lovecraft into the 21st. Century!

Will Hart
CthulhuWho1

The folks over at Fedogan & Bremer, and Composer Graham Plowman, have all approved my request to share the following three complete tracks from our “H. P. Lovecraft’s Fungi From Yuggoth and Other Poems” CD (published by Fedogan & Bremer (2016)), in a visual form on YouTube, so everyone can hear (and read) some full-length examples of what’s on the 48-track CD.

Just click on the title cards below, or the links below them, and you will get to hear some of my personal favorites; including “Nemesis,” which I believe will still be a favorite poem and reading for Lovecraftians, long after I am gone from this world.

All three of these poems, are given a power and majesty by Graham Plowman’s beautiful scores; as are all of the other 45 tracks on the CD too!

The Ancient Track by H. P. Lovecraft
Read by William E. Hart, and Scored by Graham Plowman
https://youtu.be/h7OMjLbcJH4

Hallowe’en in a Suburb by H. P. Lovecraft
Read by William E. Hart, and Scored by Graham Plowman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biMurWIxkFw

Nemesis by H. P. Lovecraft
Read by William E. Hart, and Scored by Graham Plowman
https://youtu.be/9-Cw5lvAvcw

Visuals created by Will Hart from Lovecraft’s text using an HPLHS Font.

Fedogan & Bremer:
H.P. Lovecraft's Fungi From Yuggoth and Other Poems

Amazon:
https://tinyurl.com/y7l5tw5o

Available on Amazon as MP3 downloads too.

Graham Plowman’s Music on Bandcamp:
https://tinyurl.com/y9495w7p

Graham Plowman’s Scores on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Plowking2

HPLHS Fonts are available from The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society at:
HPLHS Fonts

And, last, but not least, Credit & Thanks, go to KA Opperman for suggesting that “Nemesis” be included on the CD!

Please see the original CD Pre-Order post for full details and sample files of all of the 48 tracks by clicking the link below:
H. P. Lovecraft’s Fungi from Yuggoth and Other Poems