The Science Fiction Novel - H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft

I'm going to include H.P. Lovecraft in my look at the Science Fiction novel. He may be better categorized as horror and weird fiction but I think there are elements of the alien invasion aspect of Sci-Fi in his writings. Lovecraft was born in Providence Rhode Island in 1890 and died there in 1937.

I have only been peripherally aware of Lovecraft's writing until the past few years. I have enjoyed Alan Moore's graphic novel series about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and began to explore others of his works. The pictured novel, Providence, deals with Moore's take on Lovecraft's views of the happenings in his home town; a community obsessed with an alien culture that lives beneath the town. It is horror at its core but at the same time, as I mentioned above, there are definitely Sci-Fi elements to it, weird fiction at its best. The synopsis of the book is below.




"Alan Moore's quintessential horror series has set the standard for a terrifying examination of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. It is being universally hailed as one of Moore's most realized works in which the master scribe has controlled every iota of the story, art, and presentation. The result has been a masterpiece like no other, unparalleled in tone and content, and a true must have addition to his essential works in the field. For a limited one-time run, Avatar Press is presenting a collected Providence Act 1 Hard Cover edition that contains Providence issues #1-4, and all the back matter, which is limited to 6,666 copies. This edition will not be reprinted, there will not be a softcover edition, and this material will not be printed again until the complete collection is available in the far distant future. Don't miss your chance to enjoy the first piece of a true horror masterpiece and enter the creeping world of Providence."

My review is below.

"Providence 1-4 by Alan Moore contains the first 4 chapters of one Moore's latest graphic novels. It is related to two previous series, Alan Moore's The Courtyard and Alan Moore's Neonomicon, all of which explore the H. P. Lovecraft visions.

In the first four chapters of Providence we find newspaper reporter, Robert Black, leaving his job as a reporter for the New York Herald (time frame early 1900's) to gather materiel to write the Great American novel. He finds himself getting deeper into a cult of 'Outsiders' as he leaves New York behind and moves up North further into the hinterland. He sees strange things, his dreams become riddled with strange images. The graphic novel is a mixture of comic style, which follows the story itself and pure novel, in the form of Blake's journal, where he expounds on what he sees during his travels and also presents possible ideas for the great novel. (4 stars)"

At the same time I began to look for books by H.P. Lovecraft and discovered they were hard to come by. Luckily for me, each year our local Rotary Club has an annual book sale and in 2013 I discovered 4 of his books; The Tomb and Other Stories, The Lurking Fear and Other Stories, The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward and Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (I traded it in after another later purchase). As I mentioned in my beginning, Lovecraft focuses on horror (creepy rather than terrifying) and weird tales. But I still feel there is a Sci-Fi element to the stories. My reviews of three books are below.

a. The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1941). 

"This was my first experience with H.P. Lovecraft. I've read graphic novels by Alan Moore, specifically Neonomicon which reflected Lovecraft's Cthulhu myth. My interest in his stories has been piqued for awhile and the continued difficulty I've had in finding any of his book just added to my interest. I finally found four books at a local Rotary Club Book Sale and bought them all. I decided to start with The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It took my a little while to get into the story, to get a feel for Lovecraft's writing style, which seems quite unique. The story had an oppressive, menacing feel. The analysis of Ward's descent into insanity is well-crafted and the glimpses of the alchemical, horrific research in which he is involved is very interesting. I enjoyed the story very much, was somewhat relieved at the ending. It does draw you in, especially as Willet and Ward's father discover more and more of what Ward was involved with and the impact of their discoveries on their own sensibilities. I look forward to reading more Lovecraft.. (4 stars)"

b. The Lurking Fear and Other Stories (1923). (synopsis only as I didn't really write a review)

"Twelve soul-chilling stories by the master of horror will leave you shivering in your boots and afraid to go out in the night. Only H.P. Lovecraft can send your heart racing faster than it's ever gone before. And here are the stories to prove it.

Contents:

1 · The Lurking Fear · Home Brew Jan ’23 (+3); Weird Tales Jun ’28
23 · Dagon · The Vagrant Nov ’19; Weird Tales Oct ’23
29 · Beyond the Wall of Sleep · Pine Cones Oct ’19; Weird Tales Mar ’38
41 · The White Ship · The United Amateur Nov ’19
49 · Arthur Jermyn [“Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family”] · The Wolverine Mar ’21 (+1); Weird Tales May ’35
59 · From Beyond · The Fantasy Fan Jun ’34; Weird Tales Feb ’38
67 · The Temple · Weird Tales Sep ’25
81 · The Moon-Bog · Weird Tales Jun ’26
91 · The Hound · Weird Tales Feb ’24
99 · The Unnameable · Weird Tales Jul ’25
107 · The Outsider · Weird Tales Apr ’26
115 · The Shadow Over Innsmouth · Visionary Press: Everett, PA, 1936; Weird Tales Jan ’42" (4 stars)

c. The Tomb and Other Tales (1965).

"This book contains a series of short stories by HP Lovecraft. I can't say that they were fantastic but it was interesting to read more of Lovecraft's work. The book is broken down into some of his classics, some of his work that he wrote as a late teen to his 20's and then some fragments of dreams he had that were never ultimately turned into stories. He does have a pretty basic theme, that being stories of creatures/ beings that come from some primordial past and infect or debase the minds of people who choose to explore the Satanic or even older beings and religions. Lovecraft never seems to go into great detail about these beings/ creatures, rather he leaves it for the reader to come up with his own images. The characters in the stories often start off by saying something like fearing to go into detail as what they have witnessed is too horrible to describe. There are a couple of different stories in the midst, one involving Harry Houdini in Egypt, which I found quite interesting and one involving an incident on the planet Venus which was nicely different. All in all, I think it's worth trying to find and read Lovecraft's work. This is the third book of his stories, two of short stories and one novel that I've read and his style and story - telling are quite unique. 3.5 stars."

In 2015, Jo and I took a trip back East to Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario. In Kingston I found a fantastic used book store, Berry and Peterson and inside a pretty complete collection of Lovecraft's short stories and novellas called Necronomicon. There were some repeats of stories I'd previously read but it did provide an excellent look into Lovecraft's unique mind. My review of this book is below.

"An excellent collection of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, from Dagon, originally published in 1919 to The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, 1943. There are themes throughout, the Old Ones, the area of Arkham, Mass, the Miskatonic University, the Cthulu, etc. The stories are creepy, more so than outright terrifying, but still, leave you feeling nervous and chilled. Some are excellent; the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror, the Haunter of the Dark, the Thing on the Doorstep. Excellent to be provided the opportunity to explore Lovecraft's worlds and stories under one book. (5 stars)"

So over the past couple of years I've been able to take a pretty complete look at his work. Borrowing from Wikipedia, these are some of the themes that Lovecraft incorporated into his stories;
- the search for forbidden, often dark, knowledge and the catastrophic results
- ancient beings of superior power (e.g. the Cthulhu) and their human followers / servants
- inherited guilt, descendants living with guilt of their predecessors and often succumbing to similar issues
- fate, protagonists not being in control of their actions, being controlled by other beings / creatures
- civilization under threat by superior beings, civilization battling dark barbarism, often interbreeding with non-humans.

He had strong feelings about race and religion, not necessarily acceptable today. I think it's worth including Lovecraft in my look at Sci-Fi as he is one of the influential authors of the beginnings of the Sci-Fi period.