Site Introduction

Does the world need another Lovecraft blog, probably not but here we go. I was first introduced to HPL by a school chum in grade 8 or 9. He also introduced me to Louie L’Amour at the same time but that was another journey. I must have waxed enthusiastic because that Christmas my mother gave me the Ballantine edition of Lurker on the Threshold with the funky Murray Winkleman cover, which sadly, I no longer have. Thus I meet August Derleth and his sometimes confusing collaborations/contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and entered the world of H.P. Lovecraft, the man who launched a thousand pastiches. (Not to mention Cthulhu slippers, etc.) For many years I did not move beyond a few second hand collections. Then one day my wife and I were at a SF convention. My wife bought me the 5 volume Arkham House edition of The Selected Letters of H.P. Lovecraft  for my birthday and I purchased their edition of The Rim of The Unknown, by Frank Belknap Long, with the beautiful Herb Arnold dust jacket, and my serious collecting days had begun.

I am not a huge fan of current horror. I prefer the writers so beloved of Lovecraft in his Supernatural Horror in Literature and those chosen by August Derleth for publication by Arkham House. (At this point I want to go on record, and say Thomas Liggotti has written many wonderful stories.) I also find some of the current Lovecraft pastiches are not to my taste, but I have found more than enough that I enjoy, to read and discuss. I do not consider Lovecraft to be a great writer/stylist. He could be far too stilted, contrived, derivative, and downright silly. But he took mankind, and his readers out of our comfortable earth-centric horror themes and introduced us to cosmic horror and our place in the universe. The sometimes creaky apparatus of the Cthulhu Mythos has inspired generations of wonderful writers who have chosen to follow in the steps of the master and I have happily tagged along. One of the things I love about Lovecraft, as you could probably guess from my site name and the quotes on the right hand side, is the importance of the dreams that pervade so much of his life and work.

Some of the most interesting comments I have heard about Lovecraft’s work are by Alan Moore and can be found at the following link.

http://boingboing.net/2015/11/03/alan-moore-on-lovecraft-and-th.html

For a general overview of Lovecraft and his work , I recommend a documentary on YouTube called Fear of The Unknown, participants include Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, S.T Joshi, Caitlan R. Kiernen and John Carpenter. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spoz_1KyZiA

This blog will focus on my thoughts on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, his circle of friends, other Arkham House writers and the numerous pastiches that have been and continue to be produced based on all aspects of Lovecraft’s work. I do not consider my posts reviews, I do not bring any great literary knowledge or critical approach to what I read. Nor am I conversant with the vast amount of Lovecraft scholarship available. I would rather read the stories. My impetus for this blog? Ratty in the Wind in the Willows liked messing around in boats, I like messing around in books.

Disclaimer

Howard Philips Lovecraft was a racist and a number of his stories, poems and letters reflect this, it appears that the World Fantasy Awards will discontinue awarding a bust of Lovecraft to winners of the award because of his racist views.

http://fusion.net/story/229595/world-fantasy-awards-stop-using-hp-lovecraft-trophy/ 

I cannot claim to know if he was only a product of the time he lived in, I suspect it was more than that, he was certainly more vocal in his views than many of his contemporaries. Some have suggested that he moderated his views as he aged but the views expressed in some of his letters from 1934, three years before his death, do not seem to indicate any great change in his feelings on race; and inferior versus superior stock as far as I can see.