S. T. Joshi
S. T. Joshi (2002 promotional photo)
Born	(1958-06-22) June 22, 1958 (age 54) Pune, India
Occupation	Critic, Editor, Historian
Nationality	United States since 1978
Subjects	H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, Fantasy, Atheism, Contemporary Politics, Women's Studies, H. L. Mencken
stjoshi.org

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Sunand Tryambak Joshi (b. 22 June 1958 in Pune, India) — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction. Besides having written what critics such as Harold Bloom and Joyce Carol Oates consider to be the definitive biography of Lovecraft, I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft (Hippocampus Press, 2 vols., 2010 [originally published in one volume as H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, 1996]),^[1][2] Joshi has prepared (with David E. Schultz) several annotated editions of works by Ambrose Bierce. He has also written on crime novelist John Dickson Carr and on Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood and M. R. James, and has edited collections of their works, as well as collections of the best work of several other weird writers. He is a significant bibliographer, having compiled bibliographies of Lovecraft, Bierce, Dunsany, Ramsey Campbell, William Hope Hodgson (forthcoming), Ray Bradbury and Clark Ashton Smith. He has been general editor of the Horror Classics series for Dover Publications. Most recently he has turned his attention to collecting and editing the works of H. L. Mencken. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

Literary criticism[link]

Joshi discovered Lovecraft when he was 13 in the public library in Muncie, Indiana. He read L. Sprague de Camp's biography of Lovecraft, Lovecraft: a Biography, on publication in 1975 and began thereafter to devote himself to the study of Lovecraft, guided in this by scholars such as Dirk W. Mosig, J. Vernon Shea and George Wetzel.^[3] He also wrote some Lovecraftian fiction such as the story "The Recurring Doom", which can be found in Robert M. Price's anthology Acolytes of Cthulhu.

Joshi elected to become a freshman at Brown University primarily because of the holdings of Lovecraft books and manuscripts in the John Hay Library.^[4] He later did graduate work at Princeton University. Appalled at finding literally 1500 textual errors in his favorite Lovecraft story, At the Mountains of Madness, he devoted years of research consulting manuscripts and early publications to establish the textual history of Lovecraft's works, in order to prepare corrected editions of Lovecraft's collected fiction, revisions and miscellaneous writings in collaboration with Jim Turner for Arkham House; they were published in five volumes between 1984 and 1995.^[4]

His literary criticism is notable for its emphases upon readability and the dominant worldviews of the authors in question. His The Weird Tale looks at six acknowledged masters of horror and fantasy (namely Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dunsany, M. R. James, Bierce and Lovecraft), and discusses their respective worldviews in depth and with authority. Aside from his biography of Lovecraft, Joshi regards this book as his most notable achievement to date.^[5]

A follow-up volume, The Modern Weird Tale, examines the work of modern writers, including Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein and others, from a similar philosophically oriented viewpoint.

The third of what amounts to a critical trilogy on the weird tale, The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004), includes essays on Dennis Etchison, L. P. Hartley, Les Daniels, E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, David J. Schow, Robert Bloch, L. P. Davies, Edward Lucas White, Rod Serling, Poppy Z. Brite and others.

Magazines edited[link]

In 1987 Joshi became the fifth Official Editor of the EOD amateur press association (see Esoteric Order of Dagon), an organisation devoted to the study of H.P. Lovecraft particularly but which also examines weird and fantasy fiction in all its forms. Joshi has maintained this role for over twenty years and is currently still Official Editor.

Joshi edited the journals Lovecraft Studies (1979–2001) and Studies in Weird Fiction (1986–2005), both published by Necronomicon Press; and Studies in the Fantastic (2008–09), published by the University of Tampa Press. He is also the editor of Weird Fiction Review (Centipede Press, 2010-), and Lovecraft Annual (2007-) and co-editor of Dead Reckonings (2007-), journals published by Hippocampus Press.

Editions of Lovecraft's letters[link]

Joshi and his editorial collaborator David E. Schultz have edited many volumes of Lovecraft's letters to individuals: for Necronomicon Press (including those to Richard F. Searight, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett); for Night Shade Books (Mysteries of Time and Spirit: Letters to Donald Wandrei) and Letters from New York; and for University of Tampa Press (O Fortunate Floridian: Letters to Robert H. Barlow).

Joshi and Schultz are now progressively issuing volumes of H.P. Lovecraft's letters to individual correspondents through Hippocampus Press. Volumes already issued include Lovecraft's letters to Rheinhart Kleiner, Alfred Galpin, August Derleth (2 volumes), Robert E. Howard (2 volumes) and James F. Morton. There may be twenty or more volumes of Lovecraft's letters in this series. The next issued are likely to be Lovecraft's letters to Clark Ashton Smith.

Other work including volumes forthcoming[link]

Joshi edited the five-volume set of Lovecraft's Collected Essays issued by Hippocampus Press from 2004-2007. He edited two annotated volumes of Lovecraft's best work for Dell books (the second with Peter H. Cannon).

Joshi and David E. Schultz edited the collected poetry of Clark Ashton Smith, issued by Hippocampus Press (3 volumes) (2007–2008). Joshi is working on the collected poetry of George Sterling.

Forthcoming works (some of which are discussed on Joshi's blog at his official website - see below) also include Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction (to be published in two volumes, 2011 & 2012 by PS Publishing); Encyclopedia of the Vampire (Greenwood Press); Horror Fiction Index; a three-volume edition of the letters of Ambrose Bierce; bibliographies of William Hope Hodgson (with Sam Gafford and Mike Ashley) and of Clark Ashton Smith; The White People and Other Weird Tales by Arthur Machen (for Penguin Classics); Essential Writings by Ambrose Bierce (Library of America, forthcoming 2011); a comprehensive bibliography of Ray Bradbury (with Jon Eller); a revised/updated edition of the Ramsey Campbell bibliography The Core of Ramsey Campbell; and an edition of the correspondence between Ramsey Campbell and August Derleth.

Joshi will also edit an exhaustively annotated edition of the stories that Lovecraft revised or ghost-wrote for others, for Bloodletting Press, to appear in two volumes (2011 and 2012).

Joshi is general editor of a new line of original Cthulhu Mythos works from Perilous Press, including works by Michael Shea and Brian Stableford. The first publication was Shea's Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales (2009), with Stableford's volume titled The Womb of Time (two Mythos novellas).

Joshi has been asked by film director Guillermo del Toro to act as a consultant on del Toro's long-mooted film project, a cinematic version of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. Del Toro will also contribute an introduction to Joshi's edition of Arthur Machen's tales for Penguin Classics.

Joshi is also working on editions of work by Robert Aickman (including Aickman's unpublished novel Go Back at Once), Maurice Level and John Metcalfe.

Social and atheist criticism[link]

In addition to literary criticism, Joshi has also edited books on atheism and social relations, including Documents of American Prejudice (1999), an annotated collection of American racist writings; In Her Place (2006), which collects written examples of prejudice against women; and Atheism: A Reader (2000), which collects atheistic writings by such people as Antony Flew, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, Gore Vidal and Carl Sagan, among others. An Agnostic Reader, collecting pieces by such writers as Isaac Asimov, John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Corliss Lamont, Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Westermarck, was published in 2007.

Joshi is also the author of God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, William F. Buckley, Jr., William James, Stephen L. Carter, Annie Dillard, Reynolds Price, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Guenter Lewy, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry Falwell, which is dedicated to theologian and fellow Lovecraft critic Robert M. Price.

In 2006 he published The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong, which criticized the political writings of such commentators as William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, David and Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving and William Kristol, arguing that, despite the efforts of right-wing polemicists, the values of the American people have become steadily more liberal over time.

In 2011, Joshi was named the editor-in-chief of The American Rationalist magazine, beginning with the July/August 2011 issue. The American Rationalist, billed as "The alternative to superstition and nonsense", is published by the Center for Inquiry.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Joshi formerly resided in New York City. He is a former senior editor at Chelsea House Publishers. Currently he lives in Seattle, Washington.^[5] Joshi married Leslie Gary Boba on September 1, 2001.^[5] They divorced in December 2010.^[7]

Bibliography[link]

Books written[link]

On H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos[link]

• H. P. Lovecraft and Lovecraft Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1981). This volume is now superseded by Joshi's completely updated/revised edition: H.P. Lovecraft: A Comprehensive Bibliography (University of Tampa Press, 2009).
• An Index to the Selected Letters of H.P. Lovecraft (Necronomicon Press, 1980; 2nd ed, 1991). (This indexes the five volumes of Lovecraft's letters published by Arkham House.)
• H. P. Lovecraft (Starmont Reader's Guide 13) (Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1982).
• H.P. Lovecraft and Lovecraft Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography: Supplement, 1980-84 (with Leigh Blackmore) (Necronomicon Press, 1984).
• H. P. Lovecraft: The Decline of the West (Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1990).
• H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1996). (Paperback, with a 250 copy limited hardcover printing). A condensed version was issued as A Dreamer and a Visionary: H.P. Lovecraft in His Time (Liverpool University Press, 2001). The Necronomicon Press edition was reissued in 2004 (paperback) with a new Afterword by Joshi. A new revised/uncut edition (as I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft) (2 vols, hardcover) has been issued in 2010 (Hippocampus Press); this restores 150,000 words cut for space reasons from the original edition, and is also thoroughly revised and updated in regard to new information on Lovecraft that has come to light since 1996. It may be considered^[who?] the last word on Lovecraft biography.
• A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft. (Wildside Press, December 1996). (A much revised and expanded version of Joshi's 1982 Starmont Guide on Lovecraft.)
• An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia (with David E. Schultz) (Greenwood Press, 2001).
• Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003).
• The Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos (Poplar Bluff, MO: Mythos Books, 2008). ISBN 0-9789911-8-4.

Other books[link]

• The Weird Tale (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990).
• John Dickson Carr: A Critical Study (Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1990). (Nominated for the 1991 Anthony Award for "Best Critical / Non-fiction work".)^[8]
• Lord Dunsany: A Bibliography (with Darrell Schweitzer) (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1993).
• Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995).
• The Core of Ramsey Campbell: A Bibliography & Reader's Guide (with Ramsey Campbell and Stefan Dziemianowicz) (West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1995).
• Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography (Arkham House, 1999).
• The Modern Weird Tale (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, [March] 2001).
• Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, [June] 2001).
• God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, [June] 2003). ISBN 978-1-59102-080-6.
• The Evolution of the Weird Tale (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2004).
• The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006). ISBN 978-1-59102-463-7.
• Gore Vidal: A Comprehensive Bibliography (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007). ISBN 0-8108-6001-5.
• Emperors of Dreams: Some Notes on Weird Poetry (Sydney: P'rea Press, 2008). ISBN 978-0-9804625-3-1 (paperback, 500 copies); ISBN 978-0-9804625-4-8 (deluxe hardcover, 25 numbered & signed copies).
• Classics and Contemporaries: Some Notes on Horror Fiction (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2009). ISBN 978-0-9814888-3-7.
• Junk Fiction: America's Obsession with Bestsellers (San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 2009). ISBN 978-1-4344-5713-4.
• The Unbelievers: The Evolution of Modern Atheism (Prometheus Books, forthcoming, Feb 2011).
• Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction (forthcoming; to be published in two volumes).

Books edited[link]

Editions of works by or about H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos[link]

• Uncollected Prose and Poetry by H.P. Lovecraft (with Marc A. Michaud) (3 vols, Necronomicon Press, 1978–1982).
• H. P. Lovecraft in "The Eyrie" (with Marc A. Michaud) (Necronomicon Press, 1979).
• H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism (Ohio State University Press, 1980).
• The Private Life of H. P. Lovecraft by Sonia H. Davis (Sonia Greene) (Necronomicon Press, 1985, 1993).
• Uncollected Letters by H.P. Lovecraft (Necronomicon Press, 1986).
• An Epicure in the Terrible: A Centennial Anthology of Essays in Honour of H. P. Lovecraft (with David E. Schultz) (1991). (New revised edition forthcoming, Hippocampus Press, 2011.)
• The H. P. Lovecraft Centennial Conference: Proceedings (Necronomicon Press, 1991).
• H. P. Lovecraft in the Argosy (1994).
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft [The Illustrated/Annotated H.P. Lovecraft] (Necronomicon Press, 1994; 2nd revised ed, 1997).
• Caverns Measureless to Man: 18 Memoirs of Lovecraft (1996).
• The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (Dell Books, 1997).
• More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (with Peter H. Cannon) (Dell Books, 1999).
• Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters by H.P. Lovecraft (Ohio University Press, 2000).
• The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature by H.P. Lovecraft (Hippocampus Press, 2000).
• The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H.P. Lovecraft (Night Shade Books, 2001).
• Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue (revised & enlarged ed., Hippocampus Press, 2002).
• The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft (with David E. Schultz) (Corrected text ed, Hippocampus Press, 2003).
• Collected Essays by H.P. Lovecraft (NY: Hippocampus Press, 5 vols, 2004–2007). Hippocampus have also issued a searchable CD-ROM version containing the complete 5 volumes of Lovecraft's essays on one disc.
• The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (2005).
• O Fortunate Floridian: H. P. Lovecraft's Letters to Robert H. Barlow(with David E. Schultz) (University of Tampa Press, 2007).
• Essential Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth (2 volumes) (with David E. Schultz, 2008).
• A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (2 volumes) (with David E. Schultz and Rusty Burke, 2009).
• Against Religion by H.P. Lovecraft. Introduction by Christopher Hitchens(Sporting Gentlemen, 2010).
• Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror (PS Publishing, 2010).
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: Annotated Edition by H.P. Lovecraft. (University of Tampa Press, 2010).
• The Annotated Revision and Collaborations of H.P. Lovecraft (forthcoming, Bloodletting Press, 2 vols.). Vol 1 is titled The Crawling Chaos.
• A Weird Writer in Our Midst (Hippocampus Press, 2010). ISBN 978-0-9844802-1-0. Collection of criticism about Lovecraft by writers contemporary with Lovecraft.
• Spawn of the Green Abyss: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos; (forthcoming, Mythos Books,2011).
• Black Wings II(forthcoming, PS Publishing).

Editions of works by others, reference works, etc.[link]

• Collected Poems by Donald Wandrei (1988).
• Nostalgia of the Unknown: The Complete Prose Poetry by Clark Ashton Smith (with Marc & Susan Michaud and Steve Behrends)(Necronomicon Press, 1988, 1993).
• The Count of Thirty: A Tribute to Ramsey Campbell (1993). (Critical appreciations of Campbell by various authors.)
• Best Ghost Stories by Bram Stoker (with Richard Dalby and Stefan Dziemianowicz) (1997).
• A Night with Mephistopheles by Henry Ferris (1997).
• The Line of Terror and Other Essays by Arthur Machen (Hobgoblin Press, 1997.)
• The Complete John Silence Stories by Algernon Blackwood (Dover Books, 1998).
• A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography by Ambrose Bierce (with David E. Schultz) (1998).
• Documents of American Prejudice (edited) (New York: Basic Books, 1999).
• Great Weird Tales (Dover Books, 1999).
• Collected Fables by Ambrose Bierce (2000).
• Civil War Memories: Lost tales of the Civil War (Rutledge 2000; Gramercy 2003).
• The Horror on the Stair and Other Weird Tales by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (2000).
• The Monster Maker and Other Stories by W. C. Morrow (with Stefan Dziemianowicz) (2000).
• The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (with David E. Schultz) (2000).
• The Yellow Sign and Other Stories: The Complete Weird Tales of Robert W. Chambers by Robert W. Chambers (2000).
• Atheism: A Reader (Prometheus Books, [October] 2000).
• The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires by Ambrose Bierce (with David E. Schultz) (2000).
• The Mark of the Beast and Other Horror Tales by Rudyard Kipling (Dover Books, 2000).
• From Baltimore to Bohemia: The Letters of H. L. Mencken and George Sterling (2001).
• The Three Impostors and Other Stories by Arthur Machen (2001).
• The Return of the Soul and Other Stories by Robert S. Hichens (2001).
• The Black Diamonds by Clark Ashton Smith (2002).
• Great Tales of Terror (Dover Books, 2002).
• H. L. Mencken on American Literature (2002).
• Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories by Algernon Blackwood (2002).
• H. L. Mencken on Religion (2002).
• Eyes of the God by R. H. Barlow (with Douglas A. Anderson and David E. Schultz) (2002).
• Ramsey Campbell, Probably by Ramsey Campbell (2002).
• The Place Called Dagon by Herbert S. Gorman (2003).
• A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters by Ambrose Bierce (with David E. Schultz) (2003).
• The Thirst of Satan: Poems of Fantasy and Terror by George Sterling (2003).
• The Pleasures of a Futuroscope by Lord Dunsany (2003).
• The White People and Other Stories by Arthur Machen (2003).
• Mencken's America by H. L. Mencken (2004).
• The Complete Jorkens (3 volumes) by Lord Dunsany (2004).
• In the Land of Time and Other Fantasy Tales by Lord Dunsany (2004).
• The House of Sounds and Others by M. P. Shiel (NY: Hippocampus Press, 2005).
• The Terror and Other Tales by Arthur Machen (2005).
• Closing Arguments: Clarence Darrow on Religion, Law, and Society by Clarence Darrow. (Ohio University Press, 2005).
• Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopaedia (with Stefan Dziemianowicz) (2005).
• Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James (2006).
• The Haunted Doll's House and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James (2006).
• In Her Place: A Documentary History of Prejudice Against Women (2006).
• Icons of Horror and the Supernatural (Greenwood Press, 2006, 2 vols).
• Warnings to the Curious: A Sheaf of Criticism on M. R. James (with Rosemary Pardoe, 2007).
• The Agnostic Reader (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007).
• American Supernatural Tales (Penguin Books, 2007).
• Barry Pain, An Exchange of Souls/Henri Béraud, Lazarus (Hippocampus Press, 2007).
• Francis Brett Young, Cold Harbour/Leland Hall, Sinister House (Hippocampus Press, 2008).
• What is Man? and Other Irreverent Essays by Mark Twain (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2009).
• The Great God Pan and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen (Arcane Wisdom/Bloodletting Press, 2009).
• Collected Poems by H.L. Mencken (Hippocampus Press, 2009).
• Mencken on Mencken: A New Collection of Autobiographical Writings (Louisiana State University Press, 2010).
• Potash and Perlmutter: Stories of the American Jewish Experience by Montague Glass (Borgo Press, 2010).
• Dear Dead Women:The Weird Stories of Edna W. Underwood by Edna W. Underwood (Tartarus Press, 2010).
• Encyclopedia of the Vampire (Greenwood Press, 2010).
• A Walk in the Wastes of Time by Lord Dunsany (forthcoming, Hippocampus Press).
• Dreams of Fear: Poems of Terror and the Supernatural (forthcoming, Mythos Books, 2011).
• Dead Titans Waken (early version of Web of Easter Island)/Invisible Sun by Donald Wandrei. (forthcoming, Centipede Press, 2011).

Books translated[link]

• Lovecraft: A Study in the Fantastic by Maurice Lévy (1988).

Foreign editions[link]

• Qu'est-ce que le Mythe de Cthulhu ? (Dir.) (La Clef d'Argent, 2007).

Novels[link]

• The Removal Company: An Historical Mystery Novel as by "J.K. Maxwell" (Borgo Press, 2009). The identity of Joshi as the author of this novel was revealed on W.H. Pugmire's blog on 1 Aug, 2010, and has since been acknowledged on Joshi's own Web site.^[9] The title has since been reprinted under Joshi's own name.
• Tragedy at Sarsfeld Manor/Conspiracy of Silence (Borgo Press, 2011)

Introductions and forewords[link]

• Leigh Blackmore. Spores from Sharnoth & Other Madnesses. (P'rea Press,2008, 2010; Rainfall Books, 2010).
• William F. Nolan & Jason V Brock, ed., The Bleeding Edge (Cycatrix Press, 2009) [signed/limited].
• Washington Irving. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (Tartarus Press, 2009).
• Voltaire God and Human Beings (Prometheus Books, 2010), the first translation of the work Dieu et les hommes (tr. Michael Shreve).

Magazines edited[link]

• Lovecraft Studies (1979–2004)(Nos. 1-41:Necronomicon Press; the double issue 42/43 was published by Hippocampus Press, after which rights reverted to Necronomicon Press, who published the final two issues, 44 and 45. Lovecraft Studies was replaced with Lovecraft Annual (see below).
• Studies in Weird Fiction (1986–2003) (Nos. 1-24 and 27: Necronomicon Press). (No. 25 published by Hippocampus Press.) Note: The Summer 2003 issue was erroneously numbered 25 (which had been previously used on the Summer 2001 issue). There was no Issue 26. The final Issue was No. 27, Spring 2005.
• Necrofile: The Review of Horror Fiction (1992–1999) (Necronomicon Press) (co-edited with Stefan Dziemanowicz and Michael A. Morrison). See also Necropsy under Reviews (below).
• Lovecraft Annual (2007- ) (Hippocampus Press).
• Dead Reckonings (2007- ) (first co-editor Jack M. Haringa; second co-editor Anthony J. Fonseca) (Hippocampus Press).
• Studies in the Fantastic (2008–2009) ( Nos. 1-2 (all published): University of Tampa Press).
• Weird Fiction Review (2010 - ) (Centipede Press).

Reviews[link]

Joshi has regularly reviewed in the horror field for the journals he has edited (see above). In addition he reviewed for Necropsy: The Review of Horror Fiction (edited by June Pulliam), the online sister journal to the print journal Necrofile (see above). Joshi's Necropsy reviews are archived at http://www.lsu.edu/necrofile/sindex_reviewers.htm.

Awards[link]

• Horror Writers Association – Bram Stoker Award for Nonfiction [1]
  1996 H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (Necronomicon Press) – Author
  
• British Fantasy Society – British Fantasy Award for Best Small-Press Publication [2]
  1997 H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (Necronomicon Press) – Author
  
• International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts – IAFA Distinguished Critic Award [3]
  2003
  
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America – World Fantasy Award for Professional Scholarship [4]
  2005
  
• International Horror Guild – Outstanding Achievement in Horror & Dark Fantasy for Nonfiction [5]
  2005 Supernatural Literature of the World (Greenwood Press) – Co-editor
  
• International Horror Guild – Outstanding Achievement in Horror & Dark Fantasy for Nonfiction [6]
  2006 Icons of Horror and the Supernatural (Greenwood Press) – Editor
  

References[link]

• Griffin, David. "Interview: S.T. Joshi". Carnage Hall No 4 (1993).
• Harksen, Henrik (ed). Out of the Shadows: An E.O.D. Tribute to S.T. Joshi. Odense, Denmark: H. Harksen Productions, 2004.
• Murray, Will. "S.T. Joshi: Re-editor". [interview] Comics Buyer's Guide (Nov 18, 1988); Dagon 24 (Jan-March 1989).

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• "Lurking Terror: H. P. Lovecraft's Socialism" - Interview with Dr. James Hughes (Changesurfer Radio)
• 2004 Interview with Joshi at Temple of Dagon [7]
• "YOG RADIO #29: Interview with S.T. Joshi" - Audio interview with Yog-Sothoth.com
• Interview with S.T. Joshi at AcidLogic
• Official S. T. Joshi Website
• S. T. Joshi at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Audio interview with Joshi at Agony Column [8]
• "Fright and Freethought - S.T. Joshi" - Audio interview with Joshi by Robert M. Price [9]
• Interview with Joshi by James McAlmont at Fruitless Recursion [10]

433 Eros, an example of an S-type asteroid

S-type asteroids are of a stony composition, hence the name. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of this type, making it the second most common after the C-type.

Characteristics[link]

S-types are moderately bright (with an albedo of 0.10 to 0.22) and consist mainly of iron- and magnesium-silicates. They are dominant in the inner asteroid belt within 2.2 AU, common in the central belt within about 3 AU, but become rare farther out. The largest is 15 Eunomia (about 330 km wide across its longest dimension), with the next largest members by diameter being 3 Juno, 29 Amphitrite, 532 Herculina and 7 Iris. These largest S-types are visible in 10x50 binoculars at most oppositions; the brightest, 7 Iris, can occasionally become brighter than +7.0, which is a higher magnitude than any asteroid except the unusually reflective 4 Vesta.

Their spectrum has a moderately steep slope at wavelengths shorter than 0.7 µm, and has moderate to weak absorption features around 1 µm and 2 µm. The 1 µm absorption is indicative of the presence of silicates (stony minerals). Often there is also a broad but shallow absorption feature centered near 0.63 µm. The composition of these asteroids is similar to a variety of stony meteorites which share similar spectral characteristics.

S-group asteroids[link]

SMASS classification[link]

In the SMASS classification, several generally "stony" types of asteroids are brought together into a wider S-group which contains the following types:

• A-type
• K-type
• L-type
• Q-type
• R-type
• a core S-type for asteroids having the most "typical" spectra for the S-group
• Sa, Sk, Sl, Sq, and Sr-types containing transition objects between the core S-type and the A, K, L, Q, and R-types, respectively.

This whole "S" assemblage of asteroids is spectrally quite distinct from the carbonaceous C-group and the mostly metallic X-group.

Tholen classification[link]

In the Tholen classification the S-type is a very broad grouping which includes all the types in the SMASS S-group except for the A, Q, and R, which have particularly strong "stony" absorption features around 1 μm.

See also[link]

• Asteroid spectral types
• L-type asteroid
• K-type asteroid
• X-type asteroid

References[link]

• Bus, S. J.; Binzel, R. P. (2002). "Phase II of the Small Main-belt Asteroid Spectroscopy Survey: A feature-based taxonomy". Icarus 158 (1): 146–177. Bibcode 2002Icar..158..146B. DOI:10.1006/icar.2002.6856. 

Jason V Brock
Jason V Brock in 2007
Born	Jason Vincent Brock (1970-03-01) March 1, 1970 (age 42) Charlotte, North Carolina
Occupation	Filmmaker, Editor, Artist, Writer, Musician
Genres	Horror, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Magic Realism, Poetry, Non-Fiction, Comics
www.jasunni.com

Jason V Brock, born March 1, 1970, is an American author, artist, editor and director. He is the CEO and co-founder (with his wife, Sunni) of JaSunni Productions, LLC, whose documentary films include the controversial Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man,^[1] The AckerMonster Chronicles!,^[1] and the upcoming Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic.^[1] He is also the author of Totems and Taboos, a compilation of his poetry and artwork, and an editor, along with William F. Nolan, of The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers and The Devil's Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier anthologies published by Cycatrix Press.^[2] Brock shares story credit (he was Story Consultant and lead Costume Designer) on the Logan’s Run: Last Day and related comicbook series from Bluewater Productions. In addition, he is also a writer for the comicbook/graphic novel, Tales from William F. Nolan's Dark Universe (also from Bluewater).^[2] He has served as Managing Editor/Contributor and Art Director for Dark Discoveries magazine.^[3] His novella, Milton’s Children, is being published by Bad Moon Books in 2012.^[4][5] His poetry, short stories, non-fiction articles, Introductions and essays have been widely published internationally online, in books and in numerous horror, science fiction and fantasy and scholarly print magazines (Fangoria, Dark Discoveries, Ethereal Tales, Calliope [Official Publication of the Writers' Special Interest Group (SIG) of American Mensa, Ltd], Comic-Con International's Souvenir Book, the Weird Fiction Review, American Rationalist [an organ of the Center for Inquiry], and others) and multiple anthologies (Butcher Knives and Body Counts, The Bleeding Edge, Like Water for Quarks, Animal Magnetism, and so on).^[6] With a large personality and gregarious nature, he is a popular panelist at many horror conventions (such as MythosCon, Orycon, Crypticon and others) and film festivals (including the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Buffalo International Film Festival, Lovecraft's Visions, etc.) and has been compared in intensity to Harlan Ellison and Charles Beaumont by his friends and colleagues.^[2][5]

Life and career[link]

American science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors William F. Nolan, Jason V Brock, John Shirley, and Frank M. Robinson.

Brock was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.^[2] His father was a freelance journalist and graphic designer. His stepfather, Danny Thomas, was a drummer for the 13th Floor Elevators. As a teenager, Brock led the Progressive Rock/Avant-Garde band ChiaroscurO in Charlotte.^[6] He also assisted his father, James Brock, in writing and design. He later worked for James Robert Smith (editor, and author, The Flock) at a comic book store where he met many like-minded individuals and honed his creative writing skills. After that, he worked as a graphic designer for Morris Costumes in their catalog department and also served as an artist’s apprentice for Pat Piro and as an audio engineer trainee at Reflection Sound Studio under Mark Williams.^[4][5] Brock has lived on the West Coast since 1993 spending time in Seattle, Los Angeles and Vancouver, WA. He was an award-winning Field Service Engineer and Regional Manager for several photo companies (Kits/Ritz Cameras, Konica Quality Photo West) before working as a Product Specialist for Fuji Photo Film; he left to form JaSunni Productions, LLC in 2005.^[2] Brock and his wife, Sunni, are longtime vegetarians (often vegan) and animal lovers/animal rights activists. They have several skinks, an iguana named “Liz” and four red-foot tortoises that roam their home wearing diapers. During filming of the Charles Beaumont documentary, he struck up a deep friendship with William F. Nolan who is also a vegetarian and very fond of animals. Nolan relocated to Vancouver, WA to be near the Brocks who are like an extended family.^[2]

Works[link]

Anthology Appearances[link]

• Animal Magnetism, poetry. Featured contributor. Edited by S.A. Parham & W. Olivia Race. P. R. Publishing, 2005.
• The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers, fiction. Contributor. Edited by Jason V Brock and William F. Nolan. Cycatrix Press, 2010.
• Like Water for Quarks, fiction. Contributor. Edited by Elton Elliott and Bruce Taylor. MVP Publishing, 2011.
• Butcher Knives & Body Counts, non-fiction. Contributor. Edited by Vince Liaguno. Dark Scribe Press, 2011.
• The Devil’s Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier, anthology. Contributor. Edited by Jason V Brock and William F. Nolan. Cycatrix Press, 2011.
• Black Wings II, fiction. Contributor. Edited by S. T. Joshi. PS Publishing, 2012.
• Night Terrors II, fiction. Contributor. Edited by Theresa Dillon. Blood Bound Books, 2012.
• Slices of Flesh, fiction. Contributor. Dark Moon Books, 2012.

Collections[link]

• Disorders of Magnitude, non-fiction. Writer. TBD.

Comics and Graphic Novels[link]

• Logan's Run: Last Day. Story/Costume Design. Bluewater Productions, 2009.
• Logan's Run: Aftermath. Story/Costume Design. Bluewater Productions, 2011.
• Tales from William F. Nolan's Dark Universe. Writer. Bluewater Productions, 2012.

Editor[link]

• Dark Discoveries, magazine. Managing Editor/Art Director. Dark Discoveries Publications, 2008–2012.
• [1] The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers, anthology. Editor (with William F. Nolan)/Contributor/Designer. Cycatrix Press, 2010. The anthology features previously unpublished material by Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson, Dan O’Bannon, Earl Hamner, Jr., Norman Corwin, John Shirley, and many younger authors, with a foreword by S. T. Joshi. The release was celebrated by an unprecedented signing event in Glendale, Ca at Mystery and Imagination Bookstore where a nearly 90-year-old Bradbury and nearly 100-year-old Corwin greeted hundreds of fans who waited hours to get their copies signed by the fourteen authors in attendance.^[7] The book went on to win an award for Book and Jacket Design from Pacific Printing Industries Association, as well as several Honorable Mentions and a main selection in The Best Horror of the Year, edited by Ellen Datlow.^[8]
• William F. Nolan: A Miscellany, chapbook. Editor/Designer. Dark Discoveries Publications in conjunction with Cycatrix Press, 2011.
• [2] The Devil’s Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier, anthology. Editor (with William F. Nolan)/Contributor/Designer. Cycatrix Press, 2011.
• Dead Man Walking and Other Shadow Tales (formerly titled The Blood Princess and Other Shadow Tales), fiction collection by William F. Nolan. Editor/Contributor. Arkham House or Centipede Press, 2013 (tentative).^[9][10]

Film[link]

• Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man, documentary. Director/Writer/Producer. JaSunni Productions, LLC, 2010. The film made its World Premiere at the Egyptian Theatre (American Cinematheque) in Hollywood, in March, 2010.^[11]
• The AckerMonster Chronicles!, documentary (about Forrest J Ackerman). Director/Writer/Producer. JaSunni Productions, LLC, 2012.

Novels[link]

• Milton’s Children, novella. Author. Bad Moon Books, 2012.

Other Appearances[link]

• Guest Writer -- September, 2011, online. Writer, two stories featured ("Red-Wat-Shod", "The Underground"). Paul Kane (writer)'s Shadow Writer website, 2011.^[12]

• The Gothic Imagination, interview collection by John C. Tibbetts. Interviewee. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Poetry[link]

• Totems and Taboos, illustrated chapbook. Writer/Artist. Cycatrix Press, 2005.

Influences[link]

Literary: Jorge Luis Borges, H. P. Lovecraft, Kafka, Rod Serling, Bataille, Kurt Vonnegut, W. S. Burroughs, J. G. Ballard, George Orwell, Dante, Percy Shelley, Homer, Poe, Robbe-Grillet, Richard Selzer, William F. Nolan, Ray Bradbury, George Clayton Johnson, Charles Beaumont, Dennis Etchison ^[4]

Visual: Hieronymous Bosch, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Ernst Fuchs, Botticelli, Wolfgang Grasse, Beksinski, Bocklin, Vesalius, EC Comics, Francis Bacon, H. R. Giger, Minor White, Helmut Newton ^[4]

Film: Dan O’Bannon (a personal friend and mentor),^[13] David Cronenberg, George A. Romero, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Kurosawa, Brakhage, Roger Corman, Oliver Stone, Dario Argento ^[4]

Music: David Bowie, The Beatles, King Crimson, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, Philip Glass, Rush, Segovia, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Yes, The Police, classical, jazz, soundtracks, John Coltrane, John McLaughlin

Works in Production[link]

• [NaMeL3ss] Magazine, magazine (twice yearly). Editor/Art Director. Cycatrix Press, 2012.
• (UnSub), novel. Author. TBD, 2013.
• The Kellen Diaries, novella. Author. TBD, 2013.
• Homunculus, novel. Author. TBD, 2013.
• Grotteschi, short story collection. Author. TBD, 2013.
• Strange Interlude: The Many Worlds of Charles Beaumont, bibliography. Editor (with William F. Nolan). TBD, 2013.
• Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic, documentary (regarding metaphorical imagery from Hieronymous Bosch to the present). Director/Writer/Producer. JaSunni Productions, LLC, 2013.
• "A Darke Phantastique": Encounters with the Uncanny and Other Magical Realities..., anthology. Editor/Contributor/Designer. Cycatrix Press, 2013.
• Logan Falls, novel (a new sequel in the Logan's Run series). Author (with William F. Nolan), TBD.^[14]

Affiliations and Awards[link]

• Active Member, Horror Writers Association (HWA).
• Member, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
• Member, Photo Marketing Association (PMA).
• Member, Certified Photographic Consultants (CPC).
• Member, Society of Photofinishing Engineers (SPFE).
• Award for Book and Jacket Design 2010, Pacific Printing Industries Association (PPI).

References[link]

External links[link]

• JaSunni Productions website
• Jason V Brock at the Internet Movie Database
• Jason V Brock on FaceBook
• Jason V Brock at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

This article may contain excessive, poor or irrelevant examples. You can improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (September 2009)

H. P. Lovecraft
File:Lovecraft1934.jpg H. P. Lovecraft, circa 1934.
Born	Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-08-20)August 20, 1890 Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Died	March 15, 1937(1937-03-15) (aged 46) Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Resting place	Swan Point Cemetery, Providence
Pen name	Lewis Theobold, Humphrey Littlewit, Ward Phillips, Edward Softly
Occupation	Short story writer, Editor, Novelist, Poet
Nationality	United States
Genres	Horror, science fiction, fantasy, weird fiction, Gothic fiction
Literary movement	Cosmicism, Weird fiction
Notable work(s)	"The Call of Cthulhu", The Shadow Out of Time, At the Mountains of Madness
Spouse(s)	Sonia Greene (1883-1972)
Influences Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Gertrude Barrows Bennett, Robert W. Chambers, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, A. Merritt, Oswald Spengler, Friedrich Nietzsche, William Hope Hodgson, Augustan literature
Influenced Stephen King, Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, August Derleth, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Jorge Luis Borges, Peter Straub, Clark Ashton Smith, Michel Houellebecq, Graham Harman, Rikki Ducornet, Robert E. Howard, Ramsey Campbell, Alan Moore, Gene Wolfe, China Mieville, George R. R. Martin, Guillermo del Toro, John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, Neil Gaiman, Brian Lumley, Caitlin R. Kiernan, S.T. Joshi
Signature

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) — known as H. P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction.^[1]

Lovecraft's guiding aesthetic and philosophical principle was what he termed "cosmicism" or "cosmic horror", the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally inimical to the interests of humankind. As such, his stories express a profound indifference to human beliefs and affairs. Lovecraft is best known for his Cthulhu Mythos story cycle and the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore.^[2]

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his lifetime, his reputation has grown over the decades, and he is now regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century. According to Joyce Carol Oates, Lovecraft—as with Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century—has exerted "an incalculable influence on succeeding generations of writers of horror fiction".^[3] Stephen King called Lovecraft "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."^[4][5] King has even made it clear in his semi-autobiographical non-fiction book Danse Macabre that Lovecraft was responsible for King's own fascination with horror and the macabre, and was the single largest figure to influence his fiction writing.^[6] His stories have also been adapted into plays, films and games.

Life and career[link]

Early life[link]

Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890, at 9:00 a.m. in his family home at 194 (later 454) Angell Street in Providence, Rhode Island. (The house was torn down in 1961.) He was the only child of Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals, and Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestry in America back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631. His parents married, the first marriage for both, when they were in their thirties, unusually late in life given the time period. In 1893, when Lovecraft was three, his father became acutely psychotic in a Chicago hotel room while on a business trip. The elder Lovecraft was taken back to Providence and placed in Butler Hospital, where he remained until his death in 1898. Lovecraft maintained throughout his life that his father had died in a condition of paralysis brought on by "nervous exhaustion" due to over-work, but it is now almost certain that the actual cause was paresis due to syphilis.^[7] It is unknown whether the younger Lovecraft was ever aware of the actual nature of his father's illness or its cause, although his mother likely was.

Lovecraft at approximately age nine

After his father's hospitalization, Lovecraft was raised by his mother, his two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his maternal grandfather, Whipple Van Buren Phillips, an American businessman. All five resided together in the family home. Lovecraft was a prodigy, reciting poetry at the age of three and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as The Arabian Nights, Bulfinch's Age of Fable, and children's versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey. His grandfather also stirred the boy's interest in the weird by telling him his own original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child. Due to his sickly condition, he barely attended school until he was eight years old, and then was withdrawn after a year. He read voraciously during this period and became especially enamored of chemistry and astronomy. He produced several hectographed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with The Scientific Gazette. Four years later, he returned to public school at Hope High School (Rhode Island). Beginning in his early life, Lovecraft is believed to have suffered from night terrors, a rare parasomnia disorder; he believed himself to be assaulted at night by horrific "night gaunts." Much of his later work is thought to have been directly inspired by these terrors. (Indeed, Night Gaunts became the subject of a poem he wrote of the same name, in which they were personified as devil-like creatures without faces.)

His grandfather's death in 1904 greatly affected Lovecraft's life. Mismanagement of his grandfather's estate left his family in a poor financial situation and they were forced to move into much smaller accommodations at 598 (now a duplex at 598-600) Angell Street. In 1908, prior to his high school graduation, he himself claimed to have suffered what he later described as a "nervous breakdown", and consequently never received his high school diploma (although he maintained for most of his life that he did graduate). S. T. Joshi suggests in his biography of Lovecraft that a primary cause for this breakdown was his difficulty in higher mathematics, a subject he needed to master to become a professional astronomer.

Lovecraft wrote some fiction as a youth but, from 1908 until 1913, his output was primarily poetry. During that time, he lived a hermit's existence, having almost no contact with anyone but his mother. This changed when he wrote a letter to The Argosy, a pulp magazine, complaining about the insipidness of the love stories of one of the publication's popular writers, Fred Jackson.^[8] The ensuing debate in the magazine's letters column caught the eye of Edward F. Daas, President of the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA), who invited Lovecraft to join them in 1914. The UAPA reinvigorated Lovecraft and incited him to contribute many poems and essays. In 1917, at the prodding of correspondents, he returned to fiction with more polished stories, such as "The Tomb" and "Dagon". The latter was his first professionally-published work, appearing in W. Paul Cook's The Vagrant (November, 1919) and Weird Tales in 1923. Around that time, he began to build up a huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were Robert Bloch (Psycho), Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian series).

In 1919, after suffering from hysteria and depression for a long period of time, Lovecraft's mother was committed to Butler Hospital just as her husband had been. Nevertheless, she wrote frequent letters to Lovecraft, and they remained very close until her death on May 24, 1921, the result of complications from gall bladder surgery.

Marriage and New York[link]

A few weeks after his mother's death, Lovecraft attended an amateur journalist convention in Boston, Massachusetts, where he met Sonia Greene. Born in 1883, she was of Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry and seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple relocated to Brooklyn and moved into her apartment. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement, as they were not fond of Lovecraft being married to a tradeswoman (Greene owned a hat shop). Initially, Lovecraft was enthralled by New York, but soon the couple were facing financial difficulties. Greene lost her hat shop and suffered poor health. Lovecraft could not find work to support them both, so his wife moved to Cleveland for employment. Lovecraft lived by himself in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn and came to dislike New York life intensely.^[9] Indeed, this daunting reality of failure to secure any work in the midst of a large immigrant population—especially irreconcilable with his opinion of himself as a privileged Anglo-Saxon—has been theorized as galvanizing his racism to the point of fear, a sentiment he employed in the short story "The Horror at Red Hook".^[10]

A few years later, Lovecraft and his wife, still living separately, agreed to an amicable divorce, which was never fully completed. He returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years.

Return to Providence[link]

Lovecraft’s final home from May 1933 until March 10, 1937

Original Phillips family gravestone bearing H.P. Lovecraft's name

Back in Providence, Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933. The same address is given as the home of Dr. Willett in Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. In that time he produced almost all of his best-known short stories for the leading pulp publications of the day (primarily Weird Tales), as well as longer efforts, such as The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and At the Mountains of Madness. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing, including "The Mound", "Winged Death", "The Diary of Alonzo Typer" and for Harry Houdini "Under the Pyramids" (also known as "Imprisoned With the Pharaohs").

Lovecraft considered himself a "New Deal Democrat", and was an ardent supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt. His political views can be considered as "moderately socialist."^[11]

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by his former correspondent Robert E. Howard's suicide. In 1936, Lovecraft was diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine,^[12] and he also suffered from malnutrition. He lived in constant pain until his death on March 15, 1937, in Providence.

Gravestone of H. P. Lovecraft

In accordance with his lifelong scientific curiosity, he kept a diary of his illness until close to the moment of his death.

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument (41°51′14″N 71°22′52″W / 41.8540176°N 71.3810921°W / 41.8540176; -71.3810921). That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of them raised the money to buy him a headstone of his own in Swan Point cemetery, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death, and the phrase "I AM PROVIDENCE", a line from one of his personal letters.

Themes[link]

This section may contain previously unpublished synthesis of published material that conveys ideas not attributable to the original sources. See the talk page for details. (February 2009)

Several themes recur in Lovecraft's stories:

Forbidden knowledge[link]

The central theme in most of Lovecraft's works is that of forbidden knowledge.^[14] Some critics argue that this theme is a reflection of Lovecraft's contempt of the world around him, causing him to search inwardly for knowledge and inspiration.^[15] In Lovecraft's works the search for forbidden knowledge drives many of the main characters. In most of his works this knowledge proves Promethean in nature either filling the seeker with regret from what they have learned, destroying them psychically, or completely destroying the person who holds the knowledge.^{[14][16][17][18][19][20]}

Non-human influences on humanity[link]

The beings of Lovecraft's mythos often have human (or mostly human) servants; Cthulhu, for instance, is worshipped under various names by cults amongst both the Eskimos of Greenland and voodoo circles of Louisiana, and in many other parts of the world.

These worshippers served a useful narrative purpose for Lovecraft. Many beings of the Mythos were too powerful to be defeated by human opponents, and so horrific that direct knowledge of them meant insanity for the victim. When dealing with such beings, Lovecraft needed a way to provide exposition and build tension without bringing the story to a premature end. Human followers gave him a way to reveal information about their "gods" in a diluted form, and also made it possible for his protagonists to win paltry victories. Lovecraft, like his contemporaries, envisioned "savages" as closer to the Earth, only in Lovecraft's case, this meant, so to speak, closer to Cthulhu.

Inherited guilt[link]

Another recurring theme in Lovecraft's stories is the idea that descendants in a bloodline can never escape the stain of crimes committed by their forebears, at least if the crimes are atrocious enough. Descendants may be very far removed, both in place and in time (and, indeed, in culpability), from the act itself, and yet, they may be haunted by the revenant past, e.g. "The Rats in the Walls", "The Lurking Fear", "Arthur Jermyn", "The Alchemist", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Doom that Came to Sarnath" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".

Fate[link]

Often in Lovecraft's works the protagonist is not in control of his own actions, or finds it impossible to change course. Many of his characters would be free from danger if they simply managed to run away; however, this possibility either never arises or is somehow curtailed by some outside force, such as in "The Colour Out of Space" and "The Dreams in the Witch House". Often his characters are subject to a compulsive influence from powerful malevolent or indifferent beings. As with the inevitability of one's ancestry, eventually even running away, or death itself, provides no safety ("The Thing on the Doorstep", "The Outsider", The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, etc.). In some cases, this doom is manifest in the entirety of humanity, and no escape is possible ("The Shadow Out of Time").

Civilization under threat[link]

Lovecraft was familiar with the work of the German conservative-revolutionary theorist Oswald Spengler, whose pessimistic thesis of the decadence of the modern West formed a crucial element in Lovecraft's overall anti-modern worldview. Spenglerian imagery of cyclical decay is present in particular in At the Mountains of Madness. S. T. Joshi, in H.P. Lovecraft: The Decline of the West, places Spengler at the center of his discussion of Lovecraft's political and philosophical ideas.^[21]

Lovecraft wrote to Clark Ashton Smith in 1927: "It is my belief, and was so long before Spengler put his seal of scholarly proof on it, that our mechanical and industrial age is one of frank decadence".^[22] Lovecraft was also acquainted with the writings of another German philosopher of decadence: Friedrich Nietzsche.^[23]

Lovecraft frequently dealt with the idea of civilization struggling against dark, primitive barbarism. In some stories this struggle is at an individual level; many of his protagonists are cultured, highly-educated men who are gradually corrupted by some obscure and feared influence.

In such stories, the "curse" is often a hereditary one, either because of interbreeding with non-humans (e.g., "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" (1920), "The Shadow over Innsmouth" (1931) or through direct magical influence (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward). Physical and mental degradation often come together; this theme of 'tainted blood' may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a syphilitic disorder.

In other tales, an entire society is threatened by barbarism. Sometimes the barbarism comes as an external threat, with a civilized race destroyed in war (e.g., "Polaris"). Sometimes, an isolated pocket of humanity falls into decadence and atavism of its own accord (e.g., "The Lurking Fear"). But most often, such stories involve a civilized culture being gradually undermined by a malevolent underclass influenced by inhuman forces.

There is a lack of analysis as to whether England's gradual loss of prominence and related conflicts (Boer War, India, World War I) had an influence on Lovecraft's worldview. It is likely that the "roaring twenties" left Lovecraft disillusioned as he was still obscure and struggling with the basic necessities of daily life, combined with seeing non-European immigrants in New York City.

Race, ethnicity, and class[link]

Racism is the most controversial aspect of Lovecraft’s works which “does not endear Lovecraft to the modern reader” and comes across through many disparaging remarks against the various non-Anglo-Saxon races and cultures within his work. Lovecraft did not seem to hold all White people in high regard, but rather he held English people and people of English descent above all others.^[24][25][26] While his racist perspective is undeniable, some critics argue that it does not necessarily detract from his ability to create compelling philosophical worlds which have inspired many artists and readers.^[12][26] In his writings and personal life he argued for a strong color line for the purpose of preserving race and culture.^{[12][24][25][27]} These arguments occurred either through direct statements against different races in his work and personal correspondence,^{[10][12][24][25][26]} or allegorically in his work using non-human races.^{[17][24][28][29]} Reading Lovecraft's work, his racial attitude was seen as more cultural than biological, showing sympathy to others who assimilated into the western culture and even marrying a Jewish woman whom he viewed as "well assimilated".^{[12][24][25][29]} While Lovecraft's racial attitude has been seen as directly influenced by the time, a reflection of the New England society he grew up in,^{[24][25][26][30][31]} this racism appeared stronger than the popular viewpoints held at that time.^[26][29] Some researchers note that his views failed to change in the face of increased social change of that time which invalidated many of his strongly held views.^[12][24]

Risks of a scientific era[link]

At the turn of the 20th century, man's increased reliance upon science was both opening new worlds and solidifying the manners by which he could understand them. Lovecraft portrays this potential for a growing gap of man's understanding of the universe as a potential for horror. Most notably in "The Colour Out of Space", the inability of science to comprehend a contaminated meteorite leads to horror.

In a letter to James F. Morton in 1923, Lovecraft specifically points to Einstein's theory on relativity as throwing the world into chaos and making the cosmos a jest. And in a 1929 letter to Woodburn Harris, he speculates that technological comforts risk the collapse of science. Indeed, at a time when men viewed science as limitless and powerful, Lovecraft imagined alternative potential and fearful outcomes. In "The Call of Cthulhu", Lovecraft's characters encounter architecture which is "abnormal, non-Euclidian, and loathsomely redolent of spheres and dimensions apart from ours".^[32] Non-Euclidean geometry is the mathematical language and background of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and Lovecraft references it repeatedly in exploring alien archaeology.

Religion[link]

Lovecraft's works are ruled by several distinct pantheons of deities who are either indifferent or actively hostile to humanity. Several, particularly those of the Cthulhu Mythos, indulge upon alternate mythic human origins in contrast to those found in the creation stories of existing religions, expanding on a natural world view. Protagonist characters are usually educated men, citing scientific and rationalist evidence to support their non-faith. Herbert West–Reanimator, reflects on the atheism common within academic circles. In "The Silver Key", the character Randolph Carter attempts after losing access to dreams to seek solace in religion, specifically Congregationalism, but does not find it and ultimately loses faith.

Lovecraft himself adopted the stance of atheism early in his life. In 1932 he wrote in a letter to Robert E. Howard: "All I say is that I think it is damned unlikely that anything like a central cosmic will, a spirit world, or an eternal survival of personality exist. They are the most preposterous and unjustified of all the guesses which can be made about the universe, and I am not enough of a hair-splitter to pretend that I don't regard them as arrant and negligible moonshine. In theory I am an agnostic, but pending the appearance of radical evidence I must be classed, practically and provisionally, as an atheist."^[33]

Influences on Lovecraft[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

Some of Lovecraft's work was inspired by nightmares of his own. As he studied many scientific advances of biology, astronomy, geology, and physics, Lovecraft was more and more confounded and fueled his skepticism on humanity. His interest started from his childhood days when his grandfather would tell him Gothic horror stories. The influence of Arthur Machen, with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil into modern times in an otherwise realistic world and his beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, looms large.

Lovecraft was also influenced by authors such as Gertrude Barrows Bennett (who, writing as Francis Stevens, impressed Lovecraft enough that he publicly praised her stories and eventually "emulated Bennett's earlier style and themes"), Oswald Spengler, Robert W. Chambers (writer of The King in Yellow, of whom Lovecraft wrote in a letter to Clark Ashton Smith: "Chambers is like Rupert Hughes and a few other fallen Titans — equipped with the right brains and education but wholly out of the habit of using them").

The biggest influence was Edgar Allan Poe. Lovecraft had many similarities with Poe; they both lost their fathers at a young age, loved poetry, and used archaisms (language pertaining to an earlier generation) in their writing. They both went against the contemporary styles and created their own worlds of fantasy.

Furthermore, Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of Lord Dunsany with their pantheon of mighty gods existing in dreamlike outer realms, moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a 'Dreamlands' setting.

Another inspiration came from a totally different kind of source; the scientific progress at the time in such diverse areas as biology, astronomy, geology, and physics, all contributed to make Lovecraft see the human race seem even more insignificant, powerless, and doomed in a materialistic and mechanical universe. Lovecraft's materialist views led his fiction to espouse his philosophical views; his fiction therefore consists of a stance or worldview which may be termed cosmicism. Lovecraft was a keen amateur astronomer from his youth, often visiting the Ladd Observatory in Providence, and penning numerous astronomical articles for local newspapers. His astronomical telescope is now housed in the rooms of the August Derleth Society.

This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate humanity, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The term "Cthulhu Mythos" was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, August Derleth, after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft jocularly referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery".

Lovecraft considered himself a man best suited to the early 18th century. His writing style, especially in his many letters, owes much to Augustan British writers of the Enlightenment like Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift.

He also cited Algernon Blackwood as an influence, quoting The Centaur in the head paragraph of The Call of Cthulhu. He also declares Blackwood's "The Willows" to be the single best piece of weird fiction ever written.^[34]

Among the books found in his library (as evidenced in Lovecraft's Library by S. T. Joshi) was "The Seven Who Were Hanged" by Leonid Andreyev and "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder" by James De Mille.

Lovecraft's style has often been criticised by unsympathetic critics, yet scholars such as S. T. Joshi have shown that Lovecraft consciously utilised a variety of literary devices to form a unique style of his own - these include conscious archaism, prose-poetic techniques combined with essay-form techniques, alliteration, anaphora, crescendo, transferred epithet, metaphor, symbolism and colloquialism.

Lovecraft's influence on culture[link]

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H. P. Lovecraft Memorial Plaque at 22 Prospect Street.

Lovecraft was relatively unknown during his own time. While his stories appeared in the pages of prominent pulp magazines such as Weird Tales (eliciting letters of outrage as often as letters of praise from regular readers of the magazines), not many people knew his name. He did, however, correspond regularly with other contemporary writers, such as Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth, people who became good friends of his, even though they never met in person. This group of writers became known as the "Lovecraft Circle", since they all freely borrowed elements of Lovecraft's stories – the mysterious books with disturbing names, the pantheon of ancient alien entities, such as Cthulhu and Azathoth, and eldritch places, such as the New England town of Arkham and its Miskatonic University – for use in their own works (with Lovecraft's blessing and encouragement).

After Lovecraft's death, the Lovecraft Circle carried on. August Derleth in particular added to and expanded on Lovecraft's vision. However, Derleth's contributions have been controversial, to say the least; while Lovecraft never considered his pantheon of alien gods more than a mere plot device, Derleth created an entire cosmology, complete with a war between the "good" "Elder Gods" and the "evil" "Outer Gods" (such as Cthulhu and his ilk), which the "good" Gods were supposed to have won, locking Cthulhu and others up beneath the earth, in the ocean etc. Derleth's Cthulhu Mythos stories went on to associate different gods with the traditional four elements of fire, air, earth and water - an artificial constraint which required justificatory contortions on Derleth's part since Lovecraft himself never envisioned such a scheme.

Lovecraft's fiction has been grouped into three categories by some critics. While Lovecraft did not refer to these categories himself, he did once write, "There are my 'Poe' pieces and my 'Dunsany pieces' – but alas – where are any Lovecraft pieces?"^[35]

• Macabre stories (approximately 1905–1920)
• Dream Cycle stories (approximately 1920–1927)
• Cthulhu Mythos/Lovecraft Mythos stories (approximately 1925–1935)

H. P. Lovecraft is now noted as a significant figure in 20th-century horror fiction. His writing, particularly the so-called "Cthulhu Mythos", has influenced fiction authors worldwide, and Lovecraftian elements can be found in novels, films, movies, music, video games, comic books (e.g. the use of Arkham Insane Asylum in The Batman comic book series), and even cartoons. Many modern horror and fantasy writers, including Stephen King, Bentley Little, Joe R. Lansdale, Alan Moore, Junji Ito, F. Paul Wilson, Brian Lumley, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and Neil Gaiman, have cited Lovecraft as one of their primary influences. Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound impact on popular culture and have been praised by many modern writers. Some influence was direct, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many of his contemporaries, such as August Derleth, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch and Fritz Leiber. Many later figures were influenced by Lovecraft's works, including author and artist Clive Barker, prolific horror writer Stephen King, comics writers Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola, film directors John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, and Guillermo Del Toro, horror manga artist Junji Ito, and artist H. R. Giger.^[36]

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote his short story There Are More Things in memory of Lovecraft. Contemporary French writer Michel Houellebecq wrote a literary biography of Lovecraft called H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life. Prolific American writer Joyce Carol Oates wrote an introduction for a collection of Lovecraft stories. The Library of America published a volume of Lovecraft's work in 2005, essentially declaring him a canonical American writer.^[37][38][39] French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari made reference to Lovecraft in A Thousand Plateaus and called the short story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" one of his masterpieces.^[40]

He has also been a significant influence on speculative realism, a recent continental philosophy movement,^[41] with admirers from Graham Harman (who has connected the cognitive style of Husserl to Lovecraft and has developed what he describes as "weird realism") to Iranian writer Reza Negarestani.^[42][43]

In music, examples of Lovecraftian influence include the psychedelic rock band H. P. Lovecraft (who shortened their name to Lovecraft and then Love Craft in the 1970s) who released the H. P. Lovecraft and H. P. Lovecraft II albums in 1967 and 1968 respectively. The drum and bass artist Zardonic has an album titled "Lovecraft Machine" ^[44] and a song named after the fictional monster Cthulhu. The metal band Metallica who recorded a song inspired by "The Call of Cthulhu", an instrumental entitled "The Call of Ktulu",^[45] a song based on The Shadow Over Innsmouth titled "The Thing That Should Not Be",^[46] and a song based on Frank Belknap Long's "The Hounds of Tindalos", titled "All Nightmare Long";^[47] Black Sabbath's "Behind the Wall of Sleep", which appeared on their 1970 debut album and is based on Lovecraft's short story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep"; The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets whose entire repertoire is Lovecraft-based; The Mountain Goats song called "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" on their 2008 album Heretic Pride; black metal band Nehëmah has songs inspired by Lovecraft including "Creeping Chaos", "The Great Old Ones", "Dead But Dreaming in the Eternal Icy Waste", and "The Elder Gods Awakening" on their 2004 album Requiem Tenebrae; melodic death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder also has produced several songs based on the Cthulhu Mythos, "Throne of Lunacy" and "Thy Horror Cosmic"; progressive metal band Dream Theater's song "The Dark Eternal Night" is based on the story "Nyarlathotep" by Lovecraft; Morbid Angel also features songs that uses the Mythos; Mark E Smith, lead singer of The Fall, is a known fan of Lovecraft's work, and the song "Spectre Vs Rector", a ghost story, contains the lyric "Yog Sothoth rape me lord"; and UK anarcho-punk band Rudimentary Peni make repeated references in their song titles, lyrics and artwork, including the album Cacophony, all 30 songs of which are inspired by the life and writings of Lovecraft.^[48] Doom metal band Catacombs has an album based on Lovecraft called In the Depths of R'lyeh. In the Iron Maiden album Live After Death, the band mascot, Eddie, is rising from a grave, where can be read "H.P. Lovecraft" and a quote from The Nameless City: "That is not dead which can eternal lie yet with strange aeons even death may die."