As Halloween looms large, and NaNoWriMo looms larger, I find myself thinking … H.P. Lovecraft, of course!






Often called the “Father of Modern Horror,” Lovecraft was not a towering success in his own lifetime. His particular brand of nihilistic cosmic horror, coupled with his classically-informed (i.e. wordy) style were hard-sells for the pulp markets of the 1920s and ‘30s. When most everyone else’s story ended with the brawny Hero trouncing the Bad Guy and getting the Girl, Lovecraft’s tales usually concluded with the less-than-brawny protagonist going mad in the face of whatever cosmic evil he had confronted; oftentimes with said cosmic evil unaware that there had even been a confrontation. And there are very few Girls in Lovecraft stories.

But I did not come to Lovecraft and his Mythos by a traditional literary route. I did not stumble upon his stories in some long-lost cache of Weird Tales magazines or a box of forgotten small-press paperbacks hidden in the basement or attic; nor even find them on a shelf in a library or a bookstore. No, it was a game that introduced me to the man and the horrors of his imagination – which is ironic when you consider how trifling he found all manner of games and sports to be. The game in question was Sandy Petersen’s Call of Cthulhu role-playing game published by Chaosium; specifically the 4th edition. That was almost thirty years ago, and I believe they are now on the 7th or 8th edition. Even today, in my dotage (ahem), I am fond of a board game based on Lovecraft’s stories, called Eldritch Horror and published by Fantasy Flight Games. Just because the “heroes” rarely win in his tales doesn’t mean we as players can’t try.






Since discovering him in high school, I have read almost all of Lovecraft’s published stories – several multiple times, “The Colour Out of Space” and “The Lurking Fear” are two of my favorites – and even a few of his correspondences with fellow writers. Lovecraft wrote far more extensively about writing weird fiction than he actually wrote weird fiction. Among his coterie of pen pals were Robert E. Howard – creator of Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane – and Robert Bloch – author of Psycho – just to name two. He was also an accomplished ghost writer, even penning a story for Harry Houdini in 1924.

But his impact reached far beyond his contemporaries. Any list of modern authors who cite Lovecraft as an influence on their writing and love of weird fiction will find Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Peter Straub at the top. I’m somewhere near the bottom of that list, but you can bet I’m on it.

So, if you’ve watched all the horror movies you can stomach with two days to go to Halloween, or you need some inspiration for your NaNo project, pick up a copy of some of Lovecraft’s tales, or get together with a group of intrepid friends and enjoy losing Sanity while trying to save the world from unspeakable horror.

I promise, you’ll have fun.