Celebrating the 127th birthday of the incomparable horror fantasy writer, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, more commonly known as H.P. Lovecraft.

An admirer of Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft spent countless childhood hours reading his books, due to tragic situations regarding both his parents, who were both committed (at different times) to insane asylums in Providence, Rhode Island.

Other than reading and writing horror fiction, Lovecraft was fascinated with Astronomy; However, he was unable to finish his schooling due to a nervous breakdown he suffered before his high school graduation.

Lovecraft lived a solitary life, and rarely ventured outside his home. Despite this, he had a large number of literary friends and admirers, and wound up writing close to 100,000 letters to them throughout his relatively short life.

Of all his works, he is most known for his “Cthulhu Mythos”, a series of stories regarding an ancient chthonic water deity. So fascinating was the first story he wrote about the creature, that his admirers started adding their own versions and continuations through the years.

Some of his friends, admirers and students include some of the greatest writers of the last century, including Robert Bloch (writer of the classic, “Psycho”), and Robert E. Howard (“Conan the Barbarian”), and fantasy writer and poet, Clark Ashton Smith.

Although Lovecraft has inspired many modern films, I personally feel that none have really done his work justice, as his tales are so filled with subjective horror, they really can’t be put to film.

The following links will take you to free versions of several of my personal favorites:

“The Call of Cthulhu”, (the story that started it all.)

“The Shadow Out of Time”, (this one will seriously blow your mind.)

“The Dreams in the Witch House”, (incredibly horrifying!)

“At the Mountains of Madness”, (John Carpenter’s film, “The Thing”, was inspired by this story.

— and Lovecraft’s epic masterpiece …

“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”

If you’ve never heard of Lovecraft, I encourage you to read his works, and discover his dark genius for yourself. Below is a link to more information about him, and his writings.

Oh, and when you’re reading his stories, it might be best to leave the lights on… not that it will help.

HP Lovecraft on Wikipedia

The Strange Lore of the Grave of Howard Phillips Lovecraft

~Voxx~