The Beginning of my Lovecraft Studies

I wonder how many Ph.D. Dissertations start with a funny story. Any guesses? Well, I suppose that my real interest in Lovecraft began in undergrad. I had read some of his work, loved it, and had some interest in the silly fan stuff - shirts from Miskatonic University, buttons that say "Campus Crusade for Cthulhu," stuff like that. My room-mate Mike was also into Uncle Howie's work, and he had a bumper sticker that said: "Cthulhu Saves (He may get hungry later.)." Since he had no car, he put the sticker on a binder.

One day Mike came into the room looking terrified. Some wild-eyed little crazy guy had seen the Lovecraft reference on his binder and ran up to him, grabbed him / embraced him, shook him violently, and screamed "YOU AWAIT THE OLD ONES' RETURN AS WELL???!!!!!" Mike, who was huge, was unnerved not by the physical assault but by the strangeness of it all.

That was my first realization that Lovecraft has an affect on readers that probably no other writer has ever had. My obsession with figuring out where that insane level of devotion / mania came from really started things off. Over the weeks and months, I will try to record anything I can come up with that may be of interest to Lovecraft fans, but this seems like a good starting point. Maybe we can share our best "Crazy Cthulhu cultist" stories.

Lovecraft Insights - Introduction

Greetings to all, from the formally trained Lovecraft scholar (I think we are up to about 5 of us now) to the poor wing-nut who believes that he will use the Simon Necronomicon to summon up something slimy to finally teach those mean guys at school a lesson. This weblog is intended to serve many purposes. One is to give me an outlet for fun writing where I really don't have to worry too much about editing and revising - just having fun. Another, less self-indulgent reason is to try to share ideas about the works of the Great H.P. Lovecraft in a forum that is realistic, intelligent, and reasonable. I will try not to get too terribly snarky about people who believe that everything that Uncle Howie (That's what I call Lovecraft now. After writing my Ph.D. Dissertation about him, I feel almost as though I know him. Sorry if that offends anyone) wrote was some kind of prophecy of doom. He was not a prophet, or a freaking monster fighter. He was many things - a genius, an atheist, a genius (did I say that already?) --- Let's frame that a bit better. He started reading at 3 years old, writing and reciting long, complex poems at 7, and published scientifically-based writings at 16. He predicted the existence of Pluto before it was confirmed by professional astronomers, mastered organic chemistry in a home laboratory for fun, and read his way through his grandfather's rather massive library all at by the age of 16.

In this weblog (I hate the word "Blog." It sounds like a puke noise.) I will try to throw out some ideas, suggestions, and INSIGHTS that may benefit (or at least amuse) Lovecraft fans, or anyone who may be interested in Weird Fiction, Horror Literature (a label that is problematic for most of his writing, and we will discuss why), Science Fiction, etc. I will probably pull from my book H.P. Lovecraft and the Modernist Grotesque pretty often for convenience purposes. It explains things better that what I could probably whip up on the spot.

Please keep in mind that I am in no way trying to act like I know everything about Lovecraft - or anything else, for that matter. I could be wrong about certain things, and there is much that I don't know. There is nothing like a Ph.D. Dissertation to make you feel like a dip-shit. Seriously. This is not some goofy attempt at "playing humble." It was a blur and I don't remember half of what I read. I don't feel like a Lovecraft expert at all. There is just too much. However, after doing that research and also teaching various classes that include Lovecraft (I am scrambling to make a living teaching part-time at three different colleges), I have come up with certain observations, likes, dislikes, preferences, etc. that may at least stimulate other Lovecraft fans into seeking out new books, articles, films, and (perhaps most importantly) perspectives. If I wax a bit professorial at times, please excuse that annoying tendency, and I certainly do not mean to patronize anyone. Since I don't know who knows what (or whether or not anyone is actually reading this damn thing), I may throw out some info that is really common knowledge in your circle.

After having gone through all of these preliminaries, I hope that you will enjoy this weblog on some level or another. Thank you so very much for your interest, and for your interest in the most under-rated, overly ripped off master of imagination in the world - good old Uncle Howie. This is my first weblog, so I will probably screw up something or another pretty soon, so please bear with me. Have a great holiday season and happy reading / viewing.