Poe: tonight, Lord Dunsany is going to tell a story Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany!? Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany is here?!? Lovecraft: no no i'm not ready, i can't meet lord dunsany! Poe: you'll be fine, howard Lovecraft: do i look ok? how's my hair? Poe: it's fine, howard Lord Dunsany: submitted for the approval of Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany! I'm your biggest fan! Dunsany: thank you. submitted for Lovecraft: did you get those letters i sent? King: oh yeah howard's really big on sending letters King: he just loves it Lovecraft: gosh Lord Dunsany it's so great to finally meet you! Lovecraft: i think we'll get along great! we could be friends, maybe? Lovecraft: best friends even? August Derleth: b-but howard...! Derleth: i thought WE were best friends! Lovecraft: Lovecaft: oh this is awkward

Lord Dunsany: submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this the tale of the hashish man Fitz James O'Brien: [appearing suddenly] somebody call me?

Dunsany: so i was at this party and this guy is all "hey i saw that article you wrote about the ancient and mysterious city of bethmoora" Dunsany: "you know, i myself have visited bethmoora many a time" Dunsany: "in my mind, after smoking weed"

Dunsany: now let me tell you Dunsany: when you're at a party and some guy just starts telling you about how he saw some crazy shit right after smoking weed Dunsany: you sit up and take notice

Dunsany: this guy astral projects to the court of the evil emperor Thuba Mleen Dunsany: who sics his torture goons on him Dunsany: and that is why you should never take more than you can handle and always know your dealer

Aleister Crowley: wait, this story doesn't conflate traveling in time and traveling in space! Crowley: have you ever even DONE hashish?? Dunsany: you got me, i only drink tea Crowley: Crowley: haha i love this guy! Crowley: THE GREAT BEAST! Crowley: DO WHAT THOU WILT!

Dunsany: ok sure i haven't done hashish but boy you don't know me on tea Dunsany: i can get pretty crazy if you know i mean Dunsany: i get pretty hyper on tea Crowley: oh yeah? Dunsany: oh yeah i've been known to get a little bit Dunsany: random

Dunsany: [drinks tea] hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is lord dunsany but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!!^_^ L0ve and waffles!!!!! Crowley: haha no more tea for this guy!

I reread "Cool Air" and realized that the fear of cold and the life among immigrants are not the only random autobiographical motives in it.

It's a widely known fact that for a long time young Lovecraft lived as a recluse due to some illness, probably caused by a nervous breakdown. His isolation was even worse due to the gifted kid burnout and the idea that everyone who knew him before would be disappointed to find out that he barely walks and has no energy to study like before. So I think Dr. Muñoz may be as close to HPL as the narrator and represent his memories about his life in such condition.

Poe: tonight, Lord Dunsany is going to tell a story Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany!? Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany is here?!? Lovecraft: no no i'm not ready, i can't meet lord dunsany! Poe: you'll be fine, howard Lovecraft: do i look ok? how's my hair? Poe: it's fine, howard Lord Dunsany: submitted for the approval of Lovecraft: Lord Dunsany! I'm your biggest fan! Dunsany: thank you. submitted for Lovecraft: did you get those letters i sent? King: oh yeah howard's really big on sending letters King: he just loves it Lovecraft: gosh Lord Dunsany it's so great to finally meet you! Lovecraft: i think we'll get along great! we could be friends, maybe? Lovecraft: best friends even? August Derleth: b-but howard...! Derleth: i thought WE were best friends! Lovecraft: Lovecaft: oh this is awkward

Lord Dunsany: submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this the tale of the hashish man Fitz James O'Brien: [appearing suddenly] somebody call me?

Dunsany: so i was at this party and this guy is all "hey i saw that article you wrote about the ancient and mysterious city of bethmoora" Dunsany: "you know, i myself have visited bethmoora many a time" Dunsany: "in my mind, after smoking weed"

Dunsany: now let me tell you Dunsany: when you're at a party and some guy just starts telling you about how he saw some crazy shit right after smoking weed Dunsany: you sit up and take notice

Dunsany: this guy astral projects to the court of the evil emperor Thuba Mleen Dunsany: who sics his torture goons on him Dunsany: and that is why you should never take more than you can handle and always know your dealer

Aleister Crowley: wait, this story doesn't conflate traveling in time and traveling in space! Crowley: have you ever even DONE hashish?? Dunsany: you got me, i only drink tea Crowley: Crowley: haha i love this guy! Crowley: THE GREAT BEAST! Crowley: DO WHAT THOU WILT!

Dunsany: ok sure i haven't done hashish but boy you don't know me on tea Dunsany: i can get pretty crazy if you know i mean Dunsany: i get pretty hyper on tea Crowley: oh yeah? Dunsany: oh yeah i've been known to get a little bit Dunsany: random

Dunsany: [drinks tea] hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is lord dunsany but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!!^_^ L0ve and waffles!!!!! Crowley: haha no more tea for this guy!

Okay, someone had to make it.

The quality of book cover illustrations containing collections of Lovecraft's stories has varied considerably over the years. Pictured below is certainly a provocative example. The central figure is a well dressed individual almost certainty meant to represent one of the leading citizens of Innsmouth, Mass. The figure is also depicted in a somewhat ghost-like essence. A Marsh or Gilman is most likely this fish/ frog/ human's surname - the fancy dress of the bizzare indidual would suggest that 'he' was a wealthy character. HPL might be accused of being a bit trite in choosing such a surname for a character whose relatives might commonly be found in a marsh, or might be outfitted with the gills of a fish. It should be noted, however, that Gilman (Gill-Man) is a fairly common name in old New England. When I was a child in MA there was a department store named, GILMAN and GILMAN. Additionally MARSH was the name of a popular - though now defunct - retailer in Massachusetts. The volume shown here was first issued in 1971, just prior to the sudden and considerable uptick of interest in Lovecraft as a literary figure. It was published by SCHOLASTIC BOOK SERVICES New York . London . Auckland, Sydney. I could not find a name for the illustrator and though the picture is signed the signature is somewhat illegible. When i find the artist's identity I will certainly include it here. (Exhibit 493)

So, I’ve started reading “Honeymoon in Jail” by S.T. Joshi, and I’m in love with it! HOWEVER, did he take creative liberties regarding some things about Sonia, or is that what he really thought???

Cover art by David Ireland for “Lovecraft’s Providence and Adjacent Parts” by Henry L. P. Beckwith, Jr. (1986)

Cover art by Frank D. Mcsherry Jr. for “H.P. Lovecraft, A Portrait.” Mirage Press, 1968.

The Tower. Art by Sam Dow, from The Literary Tarot.

Victor LaValle pairs H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Outsider” with the Tower card.

“Victor LaValle paired the Tower, a Major Arcana card dealing with massive, cataclysmic, paradigm-shifting change, with the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, narrowing in on The Outsider. In this short story, the unnamed narrator leaves their silent home and finds their way to a party held in a mansion that feels strangely familiar. Yet upon entering they are greeted with horror, and a mirror, and a subsequent terrible revelation.

“For all Lovecraft’s (many, many) flaws, this was a fun card to illustrate! I’m still pretty fond of several of the other thumbs. In a few we tried to fit the outline of a tower into the shadows or patterns of light, before making it part of the background. The final card focuses on the dawn of the aforementioned revelation: the narrator’s confrontation with the partygoers and their first inkling of the truth that rewrites everything they know.” —Sam Dow

lovecraftian/eldritch horror art is so simple you just add eyes and tentacles to a normal thing and you're done

Young man Lovecraft standing in an inch or so of snow. HPL had attempted to enlist in the military during WW1. His mother discovered this and was able to convince the recruitment authorities that her son could never survive life as any kind of soldier. He was released from his brash enlistment attempt as a result. Lovecraft would likely have been given a desk job with the military eventually, one in which his writing skills might have been suitable. However, Lovecraft's unusually complex communication style and the fact that he insisted in spelling words using British English, might have proved a problem. There are more than a few stories Lovecraft told over the years of his problems with authority. No branch of the military would have stood still for potential insubordination. Additionally, Lovecraft really never learned to type properly either. He admitted to using the laborious 'Hunt and peck' method while using a typewriter and often stated that he hated the noisy machines. Even though HPL might have found some useful position in the war effort sitting behind a desk, he still would have had to have taken basic training. If HPL had been forced to stand outside in temperatures below 40 degrees wearing fatigues he might very well have fallen into a coma. Lovecraft's extreme sensitivity to cold was a not feigned. Mom knew best! P. S. The photo below shows Lovecraft around the time he had put on considerable weight. He reached 200 lbs after his marriage to Sonia Greene and though he is obviously standing in snow it must have been on remarkably warm day when the white stuff was melting quickly. The photo also seems to support L. Sprague deCamp's claim that Lovecraft had rather small feet for his stature. Though Lovecraft made some absurd claims in letters that he was a heart some sort of hairy armed, Viking warrior, the truth beyond his occasional bluffs and bluster was just plain comical. One really never knows for sure if HPL was making such wild proclamations with tongue in cheek? His dry, New England, Yankee humor always has to be considered. (Exhibit 481)

The 1991, No. 19 issue of the magazine, NYCTALOPS. This would be the very last issue of this very important publication. NYCTALOPS was a product of the SILVER SCARAB PRESS which was edited and published by Harry O. Morris Jr. From its humble beginnings in the early 1970s, NYCTALOPS would become a leading platform for art, origional fiction, and scholarly evaluations of Lovecraft and other acknowledged masters of horror fiction. The front cover in full color was the work of German artist, Helmut Wenske. The ink rendering of Rhan-Tegoth from Lovecraft's ghost written story, THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM, was the work of David Pudelwitts. The photo collage of a man recoiling in horror from a multi-eyed tangled monster was the work of. H. E. Fassl. The origional tale, THE STRANGE FATE OF ALONZO TYPER, a story based on the origional Lovecraft 'revision', THE STATEMENT OF ALONZO TYPER, and was the creation of noted Lovecraft Scholar, Robert M. Price. (Exhibit 487)

Sonia's autobiography, Two Hearts That Beat as One, is now in Goodreads! Be sure to add it to be TBR list! 💜