#zealia bishop

[arcana-books]

[url-is-url]

I'm reading a cosmic horror anthology and I know it's supposed to be scary but. Monsterfucker brain go brrrrrrrr. I'm sure Zealia Bishop and H.P. Lovecraft are both rolling in their graves and I'm like

CAN I get taken to the amphitheater and experimented on for the titillation of the masses actually??? 😳 👉👈

[akanothere]

FULL VIDEO HERE

Modern/ Cthulhu AU

Surgeon Tom x Detective Harry

"⅄ıƃ ʍɐs ɐ ƃɹǝɐʇ ƃop. Hǝ ʍɐs qɐp ɯǝpıɔıuǝ. Hǝ pıp uoʇ ɟoɹƃǝʇ ʇɥıuƃs. Iu ʇɥǝ ɐnʇnɯu ɥıs ɔɥıןpɹǝu ʍǝɹǝ ɥnuƃɹʎ ɐup ʍıןp, ɐup ⅄ıƃ ʍɐs ɥnuƃɹʎ ɐup ʍıןp, ʇoo.”

— H.P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop, The Curse Of Yig

[hplovecraftmuseum]

Lovecraft and animals, Part 7: Snakes - Snakes did not become particularly important in Lovecraft's tales until fairly late in his career (since Lovecraft considered himself a gentleman amateur 'man of letters', using the term 'career' might have been distasteful for him). The 'Father of all serpents' first appeared in his ghost writing/revision work. THE CURSE OF YIG and THE MOUND, both featured references to 'Yig'. Though there was some uncertainty as to who really coined the name (Lovecraft or his client) in his letters to other writer friends Lovecraft claimed that he himself came up with the name and concept of Yig. Yig is never actually featured in any Lovecraft story in the same way as Great Cthulhu. We do not get a detailed discription of him either. We might assume that since the stories that carry his name most abundantly are connected to the American West and it's pre - Anglo inhabitants that Yig is perhaps the original entity around which all First Nations Snake-God myths were born. The Aztec diety Quetzalcoatl would be a prime example. A snake-like bundle of hair that can move about even after it is cut from a woman's head shows up in the particularly dreadful tale, MEDUSA'S COIL. Lovecraft penned this abomination for Zealia Bishop but the story did not see publication until after his death. (1940. Weird Tales) Of all Lovecraft works written for clients seeking to develop a career as professional writers, MEDUSA'S COIL has got to be one of the most rediculous! Still, Lovecraft injects references to Cthulhu - called Clooloo here, as well as Shub-Niggurath and R'lyeh. Interestingly Lovecraft also makes mention here of the author of the fabled book, Les Chants de Maldoror, also known as Maldoror by a young Frenchman who called himself 'Comte de Lautremont'. Les Chants de Maldoror was written between 1868 and 1869 and was highly influential for the Surrealist School of artists and poets of the 1930s. Lovecraft admitted in letters that he had read parts of Maldoror on several occasions. HPL also knew of Salvador Dali's early works. Apparently Lovecraft was not particularly impressed with Surrealism in general, however. Lastly Lovecraft makes a passing reference to 'the serpent-men of Valusia in one of his later tales. This brief mention was a tip of the hat to Lovecraft's writer pal, Robert E. Howard. Howard and Lovecraft never met, but they corresponded by mail for many years until Howard's death by suicide on June 11, 1936. Howard is best known today for his virtual 'invention' of the Sword and Sorcery genre of imaginative writing. He was the creator of the famed barbarian King, Conan. Lovecraft made mention of a number of his writer friend's fictitious gods and monsters as his own mock mythology/cosmic religion developed, most importantly Clark Ashton Smith's whom Lovecraft admired greatly. (Exhibit 415)

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: Great Pulp Interior Art, mostly.

1. The 1st piece reminds me of a much later HPL revision tale that was about soul stealing mosquitoes¹!!

I kid you not!

2. But, the 2nd seems to illustrate the dangers of 'outside' mental influences on mere human sanity²...

3. This bit of line work seems to be a modern imitation of the early pulp aesthetic.

Still a great bit of art. Very close to Lovecraft's original description of the Deep Ones³.

4. The secret origin of Aquaman's telepathic circle/thoughts?

Hardly.

It seems to be some type of torture device - which were in heavy demand in the early pulps & Wonder Woman comics!

Or, it could be that she's a spy - using a telephone type device.

Or...

5. What a great piece! This is truly 1 of the best pulp illustrations that I've ever seen!!

It's a busy little picture depicting rather obvious Egyptian Gods in a royal tomb - &, they don't look happy...

Would go best with Howard's ghost written tale of Egyptian horror⁴ - done for Harry Houdini⁵!!

Now that's a story that I'd like to see adapted to the big screen...

But, all of that is coming sometime in my future. So, let's drop the heavy hints for later...

1914: Poetic Output.

Intro: At this time, HPL is still writing poems - as Sarah (his mom) expected him to become a great poet...

"Gaudeamus⁶" is originally thought to have been written around 1914.

It was revised in 1922, for use in "The Tomb."

The existing version comes from a 1928 letter to (it's now known) Zealia Bishop.

She was 1 of Lovecraft's revision clients & later claimed to have solely written some of Howard's work⁷ for her...

But, more about that in its proper time...

The poem itself is a boisterous party piece - hardly what you'd expect from the future master of Cosmic Horror...

But, there's a morbid streak running thru it.

Work: Gaudeamus starts off with a rather friendly greeting -

"Come (nearer), my lads, with your tankards of ale⁸, And drink to the present before it shall fail⁹."

The poem continues in a good mood -

"Pile... on your platter a mountain of beef, For (it's) eating & drinking that brings us relief."

Now the fun & games turn serious -

"So fill up your glass, For life will soon pass; When you're (all) dead (you'll not) drink to your king nor your lass!"

Then, we have a small silly mention of Anacreon's¹⁰ red nose!

But, HPL makes things creepy with -

"God split me¹¹! I'd rather be red¹² while I'm (still) here, Than white as a lily¹³ & dead half a year!"

This is followed by the (as yet virginial) writer's attempt at writing drunken 'love craft' (Sorry couldn't resist!!) -

"... Betty, my miss, ...Give me a kiss; In Hell there's no inn keeper's daughter like this!"

Then, the funniest bit comes around -

"Young Harry, propped up... as straight as he's able, Will soon lose his wig¹⁴ & slip under the table."

Now, it's back to the (nightly?) party, mixed up with a bit of creepiness -

"But fill up your goblets & pass them around - Better under the table than under the ground!"

The party/creepiness pattern seems to be the dominant one thruout -

"So revel & chaff¹⁵; As you thirstily quaff¹⁶; (For) under 6 feet of dirt (it's) less easy to laugh!"

Then, Lovecraft (ever the teetotaler¹⁷) goes in for some comedic, drunken side effects -

"... Fiend¹⁸ strike me blue¹⁹! I'm (hardly) able to walk, ...Damn me if I can stand upright or talk!"

Now, the drunk asks "Betty to summon²⁰ a chair", though he wants to go home - since his "wife is not there!"

Oh, Howard. If only you knew how prophetic you were being...

Gaudeamus ends with a last mix of drunken weakness & creepiness -

"... Lend me a hand; (As) I'm not able to stand, But I'm (happy while) I linger on top of the land!"

Explanatory notes will follow with the next posting...

(HPL's works are getting longer... &, more complicated. When he returns to writing his stories, I'll be forced to return to quotations & smaller plot descriptions.)

[audiobooks535]

audiobook : The curse of Yig by Zealia B. Bishop and H. P. Lovecraft

[crepuscularpete]

Retro horror gems picked up at Fantastik Bokhandeln in Uppsala this weekend.

Cover art just isn't the same these days!

[kazoheen]

a serious case of bed hair

[louceph]

I'm a big Cosmic Horror nerd, so I'm just going to rattle off some creature names and sources, since I have my books handy. Any of these would provide a unique and visceral subject for you, I think. Hope I'm not overstepping by putting out so many suggestions at once.

Dr. Jean-Francois Charriere - "The Survivor" - August Derleth Unnamed Monster - "The Tree on the Hill" - Duane Rimel Star Vampire - "The Shambler From the Stars" - Robert Bloch Y'golonac - "Cold Print" - Ramsey Campbell Quachil Uttaus - "The Treader in Dust" - Clark Ashton Smith Rhan-Tegoth - "The Horror in the Museum" - Hazel Heald Marceline Bedard - "Medusa's Coil" - Zealia Bishop

Thanks for the ideas but I'm only taking suggestions for book, album, movie and podcast covers rn, not individual creatures, I need to bulk up my design portfolio because the only stuff I have is graphic design work I did when I was 14-17

[weirdletter]

Lovecraft Mythos New & Classic Collection (Gothic Fantasy). Foreword by Ramsey Campbell, Flame Tree Publishing, 2020. Info: flametreepublishing.com.

Featuring new stories specially commissioned for the collection this offering of H.P. Lovecraft's shared universe is a thrilling immersion into the world of Old Ones and the Elder Gods, an ancient race of terrifying beings. In Lovecraft's vision we live in a deep, but fragile illusion, unable to comprehend the ancient beings, such as the Cthulhu who lies dead but dreaming in the submerged city of R'lyeh, waiting to rise then wreak havoc on our realm of existence. Lovecraft used the mythos to create a background to his fiction, and challenged many writer companions to add their own stories. Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner were amongst the first but over the years many others such as Ramsey Campbell, Lin Carter and August Derleth added their voices to the many mythic cycles, developing themes and new fictional pathways for the town of Arkham, and the creatures Azathoth and Nyarlathotep. The Lovecraft Mythos is fertile ground for any writer of supernatural, horror, fantasy and science fiction, so for this edition we opened our submissions for brand new stories, many published here for the first time, to continue expanding the shared universe.

Lovecraft Mythos: Cthulhu-Seltzer by Hal Bodner Offspring by Evey Brett The Franklyn Paragraphs by Ramsey Campbell Foxfire Future by Helen E. Davis Grave Secrets by JG Faherty He Opens a Window by Cody Goodfellow The Innsmouth of the South by Rachael K. Jones The Damage by Scott R. Jones Black Ships Seen South of Heaven by Caitlín R. Kiernan Always a Castle? by Nancy Kilpatrick Let It Stand by N.R. Lambert Up from Slavery by Victor LaValle The Whisper of Stars by Thana Niveau My First Abomination by John Possidente By Any Other Name by John Llewellyn Probert A Gentleman from Mexico by Mark Samuels Usurped by William Browning Spencer Entirely Surrounded by Water by R.S. Stefoff Shed a Tear for Asenath by Jonathan Thomas Cloaca Maxima by Donald Tyson Tracking the Black Book by Douglas Wynne

New, recent and classic work by these authors will appear alongside stories by H.P. Lovecraft and the following: Ambrose Bierce, Robert Bloch, Robert W. Chambers, August W. Derleth, Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard, Henry Kuttner, Fritz Leiber, Frank Belknap Long, Zealia Bishop, Hazel Heald, Arthur Machen, Clark Ashton Smith.

[wouldyouliketoseemymask]

This is a compiled list of some of my favorite pieces of short horror fiction, ranging from classics to modern-day horror, and includes links to where the full story can be read for free. Please be aware that any of these stories may contain subject matter you find disturbing, offensive, or otherwise distressing. Exercise caution when reading. Image art is from Scarecrow: Year One.

PSYCHOLOGICAL: tense, dread-inducing horror that preys upon the human psyche and aims to frighten on a mental or emotional level. 

“The Frolic” by Thomas Ligotti, 1989

“Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, 1970

“89.1 FM” by Jimmy Juliano, 2015

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892

“Death at 421 Stockholm Street“ by C.K. Walker, 2016

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1973

“An Empty Prison” by Matt Dymerski, 2018

“A Suspicious Gift” by Algernon Blackwood, 1906

CURSED: stories concerning characters afflicted with a curse, either by procuring a plagued object or as punishment for their own nefarious actions.

“How Spoilers Bleed” by Clive Barker, 1991

“A Warning to the Curious” by M.R. James, 1925

“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” by Stephen J. Barringer and Gemma Files, 2010

“The Road Virus Heads North” by Stephen King, 1999

“Ring Once for Death” by Robert Arthur, 1954

“The Mary Hillenbrand Cassette“ by Jimmy Juliano, 2016

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, 1902

MONSTERS: tales of ghouls, creeps, and everything in between.

“The Curse of Yig” by H.P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, 1929 

“The Oddkids” by S.M. Piper, 2015

“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” by Richard Matheson

“The Graveyard Rats” by Henry Kuttner, 1936

“Tall Man” by C.K. Walker, 2016 

“The Quest for Blank Claveringi“ by Patricia Highsmith, 1967

“The Showers” by Dylan Sindelar, 2012

CLASSICS: terrifying fiction written by innovators of literary horror. 

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1843

“The Interlopers” by Saki, 1919 

“The Statement of Randolph Carter“ by H.P. Lovecraft, 1920

“The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Pierce, 1893

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, 1820 

“August Heat” by W.F. Harvey, 1910

“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1843

SUPERNATURAL: stories varying from spooky to sober, featuring lurking specters, wandering souls, and those haunted by ghosts and grief. 

“Nora’s Visitor” by Russell R. James, 2011

“The Pale Man” by Julius Long, 1934

“A Collapse of Horses” by Brian Evenson, 2013

“The Jigsaw Puzzle” by J.B. Stamper, 1977 

“The Mayor Will Make A Brief Statement and then Take Questions” by David Nickle, 2013

“The Night Wire” by H.F. Arnold, 1926 

“Postcards from Natalie” by Carrie Laben, 2016

UNSETTLING: fiction that explores particularly disturbing topics, such as mutilation, violence, and body horror. Not recommended for readers who may be offended or upset by graphic content.  

“Survivor Type” by Stephen King, 1982

“I’m On My Deathbed So I’m Coming Clean...” by M.J. Pack, 2018

“In the Hills, the Cities” by Clive Barker, 1984

“The New Fish” by T.W. Grim, 2013

“The Screwfly Solution” by Racoona Sheldon, 1977

“In the Darkness of the Fields” by Ho_Jun, 2015 

“The October Game” by Ray Bradbury, 1948

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison, 1967 

HAPPY READING, HORROR FANS!

[arcana-books]

[starrywisdomsect]

Cover art by Margaret Brundage for the November 1940 issue of Weird Tales, featuring The Last Waltz by Seabury Quinn. 

This issue also marked the first publication of The Mound, a short story ghost-written by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop.

[xweirdo101x]

The newest addition to this madness! (Yig, also known as The Father of Serpents or The Snake-God, is a Great Old One which appears in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.)

Description

Manifesting as a gigantic snake with the arms of a man, or sometimes a reptilian humanoid creature, Yig is considered to be the god of snakes and serpents everywhere. He feels a fierce devotion to his "children," emerging from his sleep every autumn to punish those who harm them. He does this either by turning them into serpents or serpent-like wretches themselves, or simply sending other snakes to kill them when they sleep.

History

In times long passed, Yig and his then-mate Coatlicue ruled the crimson cavern of Yoth beneath the subterranean land of K'n-yan, where the two were worshiped as gods by the denizens of Yoth, the Serpent Men. This arrangement came to an end when the Serpent Men transferred their veneration to Tsathoggua, and mighty Yig placed his curse upon them.

Yig is also thought to be the deity responsible for the legends of the Kukulcan and Quetzalcoatl worshipped by some tribes found deep in earth territory of Sornieth.

Yig is the one whom cursed Medusa into being a snake like demon for eternity for challenging him. Forever cursing her to slither across the earth, have snake as hair and no man can look at her with out turning to stone.

Family

Yig

Mappo no Ryujin, mother

Rokon, brother

Coatlicue, former mate

Ayi'ig, daughter by the Outer Goddess Yidhra

Voltiyig, son

Appearances

The Curse of Yig (1929), by Zealia Bishop and H.P. Lovecraft.

He also appears as an antagonist in Fantasy Flight Games' Arkham Horror board game.

[hplovecraftmuseum]

Regarding Lovecraft's 'revisions'. It should be noted that most of the tales that appeared in the original Arkham House volume as Lovecraft's Revisions were nothing of the kind, they were with few exceptions completely or nearly completely Lovecraft's own work. In some cases such as in the case of the Zealia Bishop story, THE MOUND, created by Lovecraft based on less than a vauge couple of sentences from Bishop. The tales supposedly authored by Hazel Harold were similarly 90-95% Lovecraft. It should also be clearified that wherever there was mention of anything even vaguely related to HPL's ever-developing mythology, that his 'revision' clients had NOTHING to do with it. When left to write tales of their own most of Lovecraft's ghost-writing clients had no inclination for weird or "cosmic" fiction. One of the real cases of a 'revision' tale was Adolphe Dr Castro's, THE LAST TEST. This story was a rewrite of deCastro's story 1893 short, A SACRIFICE TO SCIENCE. certainly anyone familiar with Lovecraft's own style will recognize at once that THE LAST TEST was not completely Lovecraft. Bobby Dee has produced an excellent essay exploring the evolution of this Lovecraft/deCastro product. Dee's DEEP CUTS IN A LOVECRAFTIAN VEIN is always worth exploring for anyone wishing to take more than a casual interest in HPL and his circle. Again calling most of the ghost written tales which Lovecraft created for others 'revisions' was misleading. One wonders why August Derleth - editor, director, and publisher of ARKHAM HOUSE PUBLISHERS chose that term. In part it may have manifested from the precieved threat of legal action that might have been instigated by any of Lovecraft's surviving 'revision clients'. In letters to Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft commented on the fact that many of his revision clients developed the fantasy that they had contributed far more to his ghost writing efforts for them than was real. The illustration of a female inhabitant of Innsmouth below was the work of the late Richard Corben. (Exhibit 431)

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: More Dark Horror Funnies.

Essay: "Lovecraft, Sexist & Racist." Part 2.

So, Howard was a white supremacist.

Even, a bit of a "nagging nanny" type of race baiter¹.

For, I can find no example of HPL ever doing something about his hatred - at least not physically.

Since Lovecraft was a writer, that be- came his main venue for denigrating other people.

But, Howard's early racism was still quite virulent - even by the lowest standards of his time.

HPL incorrectly considered himself an Aryan descendant² - so he hated all Jewish refugees & was unsympathetic towards Negroes.

When Black folk were lynched, Love- craft expressed compassion for their White murderers³!

Merely walking thru NYC's diverse crowds, caused Howard to "quiver with fury."

HPL never repented his racist ideas, regarding anyone who wasn't of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant stock⁴ to be "subhuman."

So, you may ask, why did Sonia Greene marry Lovecraft?!

Sonia was a Jewish immigrant who wrote, traveled, designed posh hats & even got to own a business.

Though Sonia didn't approve of his racism, she fell in love with Howard's mind & gentlemanly ways.

HPL had the gall to claim that Sonia's marriage to him was a renouncement of her Jewish heritage!!

This was something that Sonia rapidly disagreed with⁵!

Yet, even going thru such racial hate, Sonia kept her promise to Lovecraft.

She continued to send him a regular allowance - because he was too proud to look for work!

Now, Howard's bigotry was actually a disturbing facet of his personal beliefs - even when compared to his peers!

Most of his friends had surpassed such old ideas - yet, HPL clung to them all of his life.

No doubt, Lovecraft's love of ancient English culture had this 'side effect' on him.

Plus, Howard could also be selfish, unpleasant & bitter enough to blame others for his own personal faults...

HPL's treatment of Blacks was an un- wavering hatred that followed many different forms.

For instance, in Lovecraft's & Zealia Bishop's⁶ "Medusa's Coil", the main 'evil' is the stupid racial horror of a Black man 'passing' for White⁷...

In his review of a story by Eli Colter⁸, Howard states,

"The only decent thing in the issue (of Weird Tales) is "Last Horror"⁹, which is truly clever, though quasi-scientific."

"I have long planned something of that sort myself... thru psychic rather than physical means."

"An attempt (by) an educated Negro to project his personality... securing a White man's body thru... voodoo¹⁰!"

"HPL actually had 2 such entries in his 1923 Commonplace Book¹¹.

But, Lovecraft was beaten to the punch.

Still, Howard later used similar ideas in his stories "Thing on the Doorstep¹²" & "Shadow Out of Time¹³."

Now, after his marriage collapsed & HPL moved back to Providence, he wasn't any less bitter¹⁴.

But, Lovecraft did experience a re- newed burst of creativity!

It was at this time that Howard wrote most of his best tales.

HPL's finances, however, were another matter.

Lovecraft spent most of his life as a 'starving artist' - frail & malnourished.

A regular job remained beneath him...

So, Howard's diet became 1 of eating expired canned goods!

Sometimes HPL skipped food al- together, just so that he could afford postage of his famously long letters¹⁵.

Lovecraft would die at 36 years of age - of intestinal cancer.

Though, Howard cared about his stories, he fully expected to be for- gotten.

"I have no illusions (about) the... status of my tales & do not expect to be- come a serious competitor of my favorite weird (story) authors."

Once again, HPL was wrong.

Due to his surviving friends keeping his tales in print (thru Arkham House), Lovecraft is now more important & inspiring than ever before!

But, Howard's unreasoning racism has damaged his literary legacy.

HPL's bust was removed¹⁶ from the World Fantasy Award¹⁷ because his galling racial views made many of the other winners uncomfortable.

But, I think that Lovecraft's works still stand strong - as testaments to his xenophobia & the great fiction that it finally permeated...

Footnotes:

1. Race baiting now means "making verbal attacks against certain ethnic groups."

This term dates back to the 1920s, when it described the racial hatred that White people encouraged - in order to gain political advantages.

How petty, right?

2. The Aryans were actually Iranian & (Hindu) Indian peoples - NOT actual Caucasians.

And, Pre-Indo-European actually describes ancient languages in Asia Minor & Europe - not a White ethnic group!

In 1953, only 5 such language families were identified in Western Europe:

A. Eurafrican in North Africa, France, Italy & Spain.

B. Hispano-Caucasian from Northern Spain to the Caucasian Mountains.

C. Iberian in Southern Spain.

D. Libyan from North Africa to Sardinia.

E. Etruscan in Northern Italy.

The speakers of these languages moved to Old Europe (a Southeastern New Stone Age culture) from an area that now stretches from Ukraine to the North Caspian Sea.

This was in an area of flat grasslands from Eastern Europe to Southwestern Siberia.

These people are now identified as the Kurgan or Yamnaya ethnic group.

3. Howard went so far as to say that lynching was necessary - for Whites to 'protect' themselves!

HPL would, in later years, bemoan his earlier writings, saying that he would pay blackmail to forget they existed...

Lovecraft did get rid of some of his worst works - but, only from his early juvenile period.

4. A stock, in Howard's time, meant a subspecies of mankind differing due to physical characteristics - like dark skin...

Stock was once part of the so-called 'scientific' racism that began in the 1800s.

This led to measuring people's skulls to differentiate a person's attributes - like 1's intelligence.

Worse, stock became a way to rigidly divide different ethnicities & to some horrifying eugenic programs.

With the rise of genetics, however, this meaning of stock has become obsolete.

5. Sonia thought that HPL's aunts & his Providence surroundings were stunting his growth as a human being.

It took some doing, but, she finally convinced Lovecraft to marry her & move to NYC, where he could be close to many of his other friends.

Sonia basically payed Howard to be able to concentrate on his writing...

But, Lovecraft still struggled to sell his short stories & didn't help with their expenses!

It ended up with Sonia having to move out West alone, as HPL wouldn't go any further - not even for a magazine editorship in Chicago!!

Yet, Sonia still supported Howard while she was on the road - visiting him every month or so.

6. Bishop was an American romance writer, now remembered for the 3 horror stories that she collaborated with Lovecraft on.

These tales are "Medusa's Coil", "The Mound" & "Curse of Yig."

These stories were all extensively re- written by HPL.

In 2014, 36 letters from Howard to her were discovered & then, quickly published.

7. During the antebellum period, for a Black to pass as White was a means of escaping slavery.

Some used their 'masquerade' to uplift other Black folk via their education.

The reverse, "black fishing", was very common during the early days of making movies.

Whites passed themselves of as being Black - thru the 'magic' of blackface makeup.

"Race shifting" was used by Jews during WW2, except that they tried passing themselves of as Aryans to escape Nazi persecution.

There are also quite a few books, films, TV shows, songs & even the visual performances of conceptual artist Adrian Piper that continue to explore this theme...

8. Pen name of M.E. Frost, who wrote 100s of stories, serials & novels.

Frost adopted the byline in the early 1920s & became the 2nd most popular author - in Weird Tales - right behind Lovecraft himself!

Sadly, Frost never had a chance to get 1 of her stories featured on the Weird Tales cover...

9. This is a racebending tale that talks about racial discrimination directly.

In this sci-fi plot, a Black millionaire grafts White skin on his whole body!!

This is done with the help of a rogue doctor, kidnapping, bribery & murder.

The writer expresses the narrator's self-hatred thru the White prejudices that spark the murderous plot.

But, these words are coming from the mouth of the story's 'hero'...

So, while the moral might be self- acceptance, it's difficult to read the story as being well meaning.

Rather, the tale sounds like it's written by a White man - 1 who doesn't know how to portray the true experiences of Black life in the 1920s.

At the end of this story, with White superiority proven, the hero is shamed into committing suicide...

Not prize winning material.

10. Voodoo ("spirit, god") is a form of animism (belief that everything has a spirit) common in the Caribbean Sea area - especially in Haiti.

It's actually a mingling of the tribal religions brought by slaves from West Africa & European Christian practices.

Vodou (its correct spelling) is a monotheistic religion, believing in the supreme spiritual entity of Bondye.

And, it originated back in 1600s Haiti.

But, has spread out thruout the West Indies.

11. Commonplace books are ways to compile bits of knowledge & ideas.

With the intention of future use.

They were especially kept during antiquity, the Renaissance & the 1800s - so, perfect for Howard's taste.

12. "Thing on the Doorstep" (1933) is a short story about a man who kills a wizard that's survived death already.

Then, the shooter has to defend himself from a murder charge.

The shooter claims that the wizard changed bodies with his long time friend.

And, left said friend trapped in a fe- male's rotting corpse - which the doomed hero uses to convince his friend!!

The hero's friend then shoots the wizard possessed body.

But, now it's the friend that fears to be possessed...

13. "Shadow Out of Time" (1935) is about spacetime travel - via mental transfers!!

This is done by aliens who enjoy long lives - by trading places when their whole race is facing major any sort of catastrophe!

The narrator believes that the mind transfers are nothing more than some mental illness.

Then, he discovers other cases like his - spread thruout history...

So, he comes to believe that he's not really crazy after all.

In the end, the narrator finds out that the alien's last bodies died out eons ago.

And, that the body snatchers are now in the far future, inhabiting creatures that evolved long after humanity went extinct...

But, also still surviving - into the hero's time - are the monstrous beings that killed the aliens' last bodies...

14. When Howard found out that his wife wanted to make a new business - in Providence - he had his aunts keep Sonia away!

Why?

HPL was 'mortified' that his neighbors might find out that his wife was a 'common' businesswoman!!

Dude!

You're a poor fucking bastard - who needs your wife to keep you morally honest...

15. Lovecraft has actually become more famous for his letters than for his fiction!!

Howard would write up to 15 or 16 pages for each letter - utilizing every bit of space available!

Though he was once thought to have written some 100,000 missives, now- a-days the score is down to around 60,000.

But, new discoveries keep rising that score...

16. This loss of face occurred back in 2015. Lovecraft's head was replaced by... Ygdrasill?!

Well, a tree anyway.

17. This award has been running since it started back in 1975!

It's considered one of the three most prestigious speculative fiction awards.

Speculative, here, involves horror, sci- fi & fantasy stories.

So, this mega-genre explores both the possible & impossible alike...

Speculative fiction can occur at any time - so long as it contains some element that didn't, doesn't or won't really exist.

End.