Greetings, all, and welcome to my (appropriately, I think) THIRTEENTH
FABULOUS FRIDAY FEATURE
This week's theme is the creator of my favorite horror mythos: H.P. Lovecraft. Next week, I'd like to show you all some of my favorite pieces of all time, whether they come from someone well-known or someone with almost no watchers at all! If you've got someone you think should be featured in next Friday's Feature, send me a note with a link to their gallery and I'll take a peek 
I'd also love to hear about other features, particularly themed ones. I'll list those in the bottom section to help spread the word! The same goes for contests or news articles!
Please favorite this journal and pass it on! And if you liked this feature, be sure to check out the one from last week: [link]
And don't forget to let me know what your fave kind of horror story is in my poll!: [link]
I am ALWAYS seeking donations and nominations for my pay-it-forward project! So far I've been able to donate three premium memberships, and I'm only a few hundred points away from being able to give away another one! I want to be able to donate premium memberships to deserving members, so please check out my journal for info on sending nominations:
Pay-It-Forward ProjectDeviants so far who have received premium memberships as part of this project:
:iconkinachuku::iconhillsofmyst::iconcelestialmemories::iconai-sanura::iconsurrealcachinnation:
Thank you sososososo much to $namenotrequired for helping me to promote this project!
Greetings! I am posting this to let you all know I have decided I want to try to pay the premium membership love forward, and so I am looking for donations to go toward buying premium memberships for other people 
You can find the donation box on my front page. PLEASE DONATE! I'll need lots of help - all contributions are appreciated, no matter how small
That's part one, here's part two:
I'm seeking nominations for extra-special deviants, especially those who are really involved in the community, who don't already have a premium membership. If you'd like to nominate someone (I will accept self-nominations, though I look extra-carefully at those), send me a note with the following information:
~The nominee's
And now, without any further ado: THE FEATURES!
Visual Art
Need more? Might I suggest 
Literature
Under A Gibbous MoonIt was a dark evening, the light of a starkly gibbous moon shone ominously onto a lone Arkham building. A place rooted firmly into one of the more undesirable districts of that cursed city. The light trickled through into its Georgian interior, as if afraid of the dancing shadows it threw forward like devilish spectres. The pointed ears and peaked form of something alien to the world were cast darkly onto Howard Phillip Lovecraft by the softly tortured light. He sat reading the "The Cask of Amontillado", muttering to himself, strange musings punctuated by the curling of his lips. The cat's shadow disappeared and the scene seemed twisted for a
A Lovecraft PasticheI put these words to paper in an attempt to set my mind at rest, hoping that in some way the act will purge my mind and soul of certain memories of my youth, in particular my final act as a buccaneer. I have tried to erase all recollection of that final voyage with strong liquor, with unrestrained hedonism and with numbing opiates, all to no avail. I still recall vividly how Captain Hart stood like a dead man at the wheel, oblivious to the stinging spray that washed over the decks of the Queen's Lament, his long dark oilskin hanging shroud-like from his lanky frame, his pale strange eyes locked on the distant shape of the Estrella del nort
Lovecraft in VillanelleI witnessed dark horrors best left untold
In places most would never dare
As I plunged into the depths of the secrets of old.
I peered into the tombs of rulers long turned cold,
And their cryptic history was laid bare.
I witnessed dark horrors best left untold.
I traversed great ruins cracked and slicked with mold.
We ignored the faded warnings to beware
As I plunged into the depths of the secrets of old.
The world's true origin did unfold
As deeper and darker my descent did fare.
I witnessed dark horrors best left untold.
With knowledge furthered I grew quite bold.
My ignorance led me down without a care
As I plunged into the d
The Seraphim of Cobwebbed HallsSilently I heard her whispering,
pallid ivory lips soft lisping,
Paper drifting slowly shifting,
from the bedroom's mildewed walls.
In these halls stirs vaguest chanting,
whippoorwills their cries decanting;
psycopomps in midnight sighing,
just outside these mildewed walls.
Huddled forms sprawl stealthily creeping,
countless spiders surging sweeping,
toward the bed where she lies sleeping,
the maiden of these mildewed walls.
Trapped within that pall's mass trembling,
writhes the one I stayed here tending,
all those bleak nights never-ending,
within these wretched mildewed walls.
Blasphemous birds fall shrieking mocking,
throu
Innsmouth FolkThem’s queer folk up in Innsmouth,
As men do ‘ear it tell’
Them’s not much for outsiders,
Nor for decent folk as well.
Tis a queer place up in Innsmouth,
‘neath smokey clouded skies.
With many a decrepit building,
With board o’er its eyes.
There’s queer things up in Innsmouth,
Wot chatter an ‘a bark.
And queerer things that leap and hop,
In Innsmouth after dark.
There’s queer fish up in Innsmouth,
As come in with the tide.
An’ pagan gods, an’ demons too,
An’ worser things beside.
Them’s queer folk up in Innsmouth,
A’ spoutin’ heathen rites.
To evil th
speak no more of marble glories.Sometimes I dream the ground is falling from beneath my feet
And I have to run to stay upon the firmament
More often I float in gravitationally weak leaps
Grabbing at lampposts in a desperate bid to change direction
Other times I clutch at straws
there's one street I'm travelling down
From the town of my birth or my last misadventure
I can never tell
It's filled with everyone I've ever met
And every awkward moment and miscommunication
That ever passed between us
I feel their eyes bore into the back of my skull
And know them for my own
Sometimes, silently, we nod at each other.
BenevolenceYour bones are sharp chips of obsidian, lacing the marrow.
and we swallow fish scales,
searching for sad pierrots with silk tears.
desperate hands clamber for the scars of youth;
a childish whisper wrapped in the cloth of moth-eaten raincoats.
We curled in the cold light of the letterbox
drinking in the weight of unmarked stamps
from the Dead Sea.
I held broken satellites to your lips
so you could kiss the stars
and you whispered prayer to Botticelli
and the colours of Lovecraft
tissue-papered with gold.
We trip over the wings of bluebird cries
as snow melts our teeth like wax
and blood the colour of crushed red velvet
that w
AzathothQuiet horror,
Cosmic mind older than the earth,
A vestige of ancient madness
Seething through the cracks of space,
Amorphous blasphemy bubbling and frothing
In the silence outside darkness,
Immortal chaos, the harbinger of dissolution
Is hungry.
His existence trembles with lust and death.
Entropy fills his belly
And he vomits forth the end.
Madness and violence fill the universe
And the end times are finally upon us.
After all is settled and done,
Azathoth sated and the crawling chaos abated,
Silence reigns again
And the circle begins anew.
Letters to CthulhuDear gelatinous squid-man
of curiously disproportionate dimensions,
the noxious gases manifesting
from your many orifices are - nauseating,
their intent, purely malignant,
their stench, quite unnecessary.
Your squishy head, spherical-ish
like a massive fleshy watermelon,
makes one recall, with adequate 'horror'
the consistency of blancmange.
Scrap the claws, the cultist aspirations,
your superfluously tentacled face
only creates a stir,
amongst fans of hentai porn.
The ocean floor is not yours alone,
so keep your pickled-egg eyes
off my monoliths.
Yours,
Dagon the fish God.
PS. Your wings look ridiculous,
like a
Purgatory Will Smell Like M...Purgatory Will Smell Like Mothballs
I. Possibly Dried Sweat As Well
Dear diary, who guards the diaries of the dead?
Does the same inviolate law protect their innards
as when their writers, still breathing, cried out to them;
or are their secrets sealed by older laws - do readers
of such diaries, gibbering, join the cult of ghouls?
Are analogies more apt - I think they are, and that
the readers of these diaries, tasting sweet, warm flesh
of memory, hunger for its taboo taste again
and so become ghoulish (in a literary sense).
These thick thoughts and others more profane envelop me
as I breathe the mothballs of your attic and the ch
Bayou DreamsThunder rolls ancient drums across the sky
deep in the swamp water Bayou priests chant
their voices linger far across the hills
where the rains darken in electric skies
charged with spirits called up from dreamland sleep
where dead they long awaited in slumber
awakened by forbidden rituals
beneath the midnight's cyclopean eye
ever watching dancers deep in the bog
painted in the deep earthen rich dark mud
to play among their old bitter bones
summoning the Old Ones from their mire
to once again reclaim their enthroned place
it is the distant whisper Cthulhu
Elegy from the UndeadMy soul sings an elegy to yours, bends and twists,
fills every void, a spiritual pornography of explicit bliss,
an ebb and flow of our pulses kept close by embrace.
there will never be daylight in my dreams, love
only the perpetual midnight of our bodies
tangled and content
awkward and perfect at once
You are the neverending echelons of my heart,
infinitesmal bliss and euphoria and lust, All-in-One,
bound in trinity amid the celestial womb of space and time,
which begets every longing fantasy
and punctuates every moment aching to hold you still.
purpureous in purpose,
with purest passion
You are that beast devouring me,
wild, i
Community News, Features, and Fun(ny) Things
Winners of the Write and Revise ContestPart One
1. 
2.
Part Two
1:
2:
3:
Thank you to everyone who entered. Prizes will be delivered shortly.
Stay tuned for our next contest.
The Literature Community ExperimentThis is a typical example of a ^Beccalicious shower pondering! The idea of this is to try and bring together as many people as possible all in one journal, but not for the sake of making a big number, but to encourage interaction and share useful tidbits. We often say the "literature community" has drifted apart over the past few years and this is just one attempt to try get people to come back together. It's a little hippy, perhaps a far-fetched idea, which is why I am calling it an "experiment". This could be successful and could be a complete fail- only you guys and your efforts can decide its fate!
Wow! The response for this has been HUGE!!! Thank you so much all of you who have participated! Don't forget to add #CRLiterature to your watch as well as replying to all these wonderful comments! 
The Experiment
So you may be new to the literature side of deviantART, or you may be one of those long
Community Portal: December 23rdNews
Love dA Lit: Issue 108
If you'd like to have something added/mentioned in this journal or the article please comment or send me a note!
`IrrevocableFate
About Love dA Lit
Love dA Lit aims to promote volunteer opportunities, various resources, prompts, challenges, and workshops, as well as highlighting various contests, and spotlighting a specific group every week. This is by no means a complete list of all the literature going-ons, merely a tool to help you get involved and stay informed.
Love dA Lit is published every Sunday, by `IrrevocableFate via news article, and the Community portal will be updated in accompaniment with it! 
Literature Links!
Operation WFP: Start This ends TODAY. December 23rd at 11:59PM EST (USA).
Fantastic Feature Tuesday #24This is a weekly feature of amazing literature that I come by during my
travels across deviantART. This is only a small sample of a vast amount
of wonderful pieces of literature written by absolutely fantastic
writers. Each deviation was carefully selected from a writer's gallery
based on structure, impact and word usage. I will never feature the
same person twice, so check out these wonderful writers now while you can!
Please this news article so it will reach a larger audience!
Merry Christmas and happy reading! 
Two Poems: A Contest (DEADLINE EXTENDED)NaNoWriMo is on its final wind-down, and many of you are hopefully very ready to terminate your one-month lease of a headspace where editing was unwelcome. Even more of you are, like us, feeling near-fatally neglected by the muses who have been showering their grace on prosehounds and keeping their distance from verse (or so they would have had you believe). On the heels of the no-editing, no-poetry silence let's recapture our words mid-arabesque--and then hilariously beat them down to nice respectable pliés while that one leg's still stretched backward. #confessional-poetry and a mangled cast of extras present:
Two Poems: A Contest of Poetry and Editing
Essential Info
- Poetry contest, obviously.
- Submissions open December 1, 2012, and close February 28, 2013. (NO MORE EXCUSES. YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME NOW.)
- Open to all members of the site.
- ORIGINAL WORKS ONLY. Nothing that wasn't written specifically for this. This i
Love dA Lit: Issue 108Welcome to the one-hundred eighth issue of Love dA Lit! 
Every Sunday this article will aim to promote volunteer opportunities, various resources, prompts, challenges, and workshops, as well as highlighting various contests, and spotlighting a specific group every week. This is by no means a complete list of all the literature going-ons, merely a tool to help you get involved and stay informed.
This week’s group spotlight is #Ordinary-Writing!
#LITplease's Community Portal
Navigation
Literature Links | Group Spotlight | Workshops, Prompts and Challenges
Literature Contests | Resources
What did you do last November?If you answered "NaNoWriMo", then boy do we have a treat for you. If you have been burnt-out from keyboard mashing 50,000 words twiddling your thumbs with boredom since then, how do you feel about taking part in a blog about your experience of this year's NaNoWriMo? Send us a note with your own endeavours for this year's NaNoWriMo and we'll include them all in a blog entry that will help people who will either take their first try next year, or veterans looking for advice. Include what you found helped you write, what didn't, and most importantly what kept you AWAKE during those long hours of typing.
In your note, we'd also love a link to your NaNoWriMo profile, and even excerpts of your toils. Don't worry if you didn't reach the 50,000 word goal - it's the effort that counts and what you learnt from undertaking this momentous exercise.
So what are you waiting for? This is the cathartic moment that has been eluding you since the end of November, so get typing and you
The Pick'N'Mix contest!It's finally here, ladies and gentlemen. After announcing it last week, we're officially releasing our latest contest today.
UPDATE: Once you're done, submit your entries to this Favourites gallery here http://thewrittenrevolution.deviantart.com/favourites/53144079 , or note us with a link to your submission and we'll do it for you! What you have to do is go to the folder we linked just now, click on "suggest a Favourite", then select the deviation from your gallery. Remember to include your dice numbers in your Artist's Comments!
Wooho, I know, right?
We already said in the blog linked above what this contest is about, but we'll do a quick revision for those of you who didn't do their homework. You know who you are. 
The basic idea
This contest will have you write either prose or poetry following the guidelines that Lady Randomness w
Critmas is here! (Last Day!) Today is the LAST DAY for you to get your 12 critiques in! Make sure you leave a comment in this journal linking all your pieces. There's plenty of prizes up for grabs Remember you have until 11:59 PM pst TODAY to complete your critiques!
On the first day of Critmas, a deviant gave to me.
Back by popular demand, I bring you...
The 12 days of CRITMAS challenge!
"CRITMAS IS COMING, THE PROSE IS GETTING FAT. OUT COMES THE RED PEN TO GET RID OF THAT!" (`Memnalar)
Now most of you are relaxing and chilling out on your Christmas vacations; some of you have time off work/school and will be staying at home in the warm over the next week or so. So why don't we make use of that hermit time and do something productive? Get your onesie on, warm up a mince pie, pour yourself a Baileys and let’s get comfortable around our computers!
The Challenge
Traditional Tuesdays #47***WARNING: Viewing these works of art may cause giddiness, elevated heart rates, and happiness in the pants(which could lead to blindness)! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!***
Now with the warming out of the way, Hi, and welcome to edition number forty-seven of Traditional Tuesdays. This week, like all of the other weeks, I'll be featuring fifteen works of art from the Traditional Gallery. Any more than that might and you might loss interest or it could cause your monitor to fail in an explosion of awesomeness. I would feel guilty if that were to happen, so I'm keeping it at fifteen! The
Traditional gallery is a vast storeroom of work that covers many mediums and genres. I've tried to show a diverse array of artwork, but I don't have room for them all. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!
Prompt: December 24, 2012Feature
Santa Fe de Bogota by =AzizrianDaoXrak.
"I know that in your swelling city heart
you long por el mar, por la sal del mar,
but instead you straddle the roads,
hunker down over your landscape and breathe"
This poem by =AzizrianDaoXrak is a gorgeously bilingual piece that uses the word, monachopsis (noun, the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place), from our last prompt to jump off into a cityscape that's at once urban and poetic. The way the speaker of the poem effortlessly slips from Spanish to English and vice versa creates a beautifully musical sound, as well as giving the poem a remarkably personal touch. This is a lovely poem of language that becomes very personal to the reader, as it depends on the reader's knowledge of Spanish (or English) - either way, it's a fantastically vivid work of writing that deserves your time.
Her
We Will Be Active Again +Please Read+After taking a much required hiatus I am back and determined to get this group going.
Things are going to be a bit different this time once I get everything back together. If you're interested in begin an admin or critic for the group please send a note to =WorldWar-Tori
Our estimated reopening date will be Febraury 1, 2013; but I'm hoping (and have good faith) we will be opening before that. Please keep a watch on your inboxes for more information to come!
Again, if you're interesting in helping out with the group, please note =WorldWar-Tori
Merry Christmas: A Feature!:icongood-intention:
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and your's this holiday season! I want to wish you all days filled with happy memories and partaking in the small acts of kindness that can really pay off on this big holiday.
Group Updates:
#Good-Intention has an incredible 400 members in just over a week! I am absolutely amazed at the momentum this group has gained in such a short amount of time, it's incredible the kind of support we've received from the deviantART community.
As a result of our growth, and suggestions from our members, changes will be made, such as these below:
=Danimi suggested a folder called 'Feedback Needed,' for artwork that requires constructive feedback and critique. Feedback is meant to be encouraging and helpful, so please be mindful of this.
`lintu47 suggested a folder for 'Interviews,' which is designated for journals interviewing users of the deviantART community.
:devwaiti
DD Suggestion Guidelines RevampedRevamped Christmas 2012
Why should I suggest literature to you?
Oh for any number of reasons, the most logical of them being that I (and all of us Lit ^CV's) cannot be everywhere on the site at any given time. There is literature going gravely unnoticed right now that deserves attention and you may be the only one aware of that writer and their work. You should suggest literature because it helps represent the literature community as a whole. It helps us understand what is impacting writers and what is capturing readers' interest when we receive suggestions-- of similar topics, genres, or forms. It helps keep our view of the community in perspective so we are able to make reasonable decisions regarding DD choices.
That Being Said...
I've been a Literature ^CV for a little while now and I'd like to clear up a few things surrounding lit DD suggestions as well as revisit my guidelines below. Starting January 1st, 2013, any suggestion
Colors ContestThis was the hardest contest I have ever judged. All the entries were outstanding. I read, re-read, re-read again and had them read to me while I closed my eyes and let the images enthrall me. Every poem submitted was a gem...a treasure, so making a decision was incredibly difficult. My thanks to all of you for the enjoyable reading - every piece inspired me. I am pleased to announce the winners:
1st place: Color Wheel: One by :iconTheGlassIris:
2nd place: The Other Girl's Eyes by :iconTheLastSongbird:
3rd Place: other shades by :iconnicolemonique:
Honorable Mentions:
Supernova by :icondance-of-aquaiu:
Blue by :iconObsidian-Nightfall:
Court Martial of Grey by :iconDreamydeb: 
A Cavalcade of Gold by :icontimeraider:
Chartreuse by :iconRainevyre:
100 Poem Project Update!
Current progress: 67/100
journal: [link]
blog: [link]
Also note that the terribly sweet ~SayaStarshine took a look at my list and decided she wanted to do it, too! She is using the same topics as me, and you can find the link to her stuff here.
#Good-Intention
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
this feature and these wonderful works of art, thank you!
:thumb332382
Horror 
