H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos

I was first exposed to H.P. Lovecraft at the tender age of nine or ten when at summer camp listening to the scariest ghost story I had ever heard. Though I didn't know it was Lovecraft at the time (and neither did the story teller I suspect) but I was terrified at the tale of a skin flint undertaker trapped in a crypt with his sloppy coffin carpentry and the revenge of a corpse within. Roughly ten years later, I was reading a horror anthology when I came upon “In The Vault”, the very tale that so frightened me in my youth. From that day on, I read as much Lovecraft I could get my hands on and I've been an avid fan ever since.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890 – 1937) was an American horror & science fiction writer and poet who is credited with the creation of the “cosmic horror” genre in literary fiction which essentially focuses on mankind and it's insignificance in the universe. Although he is credited with this concept and advancing it in his work which, I might add, dozens of authors since have expanded upon, he is also known for some truly disturbing horror fiction. Considering the period in which he wrote when other's were essentially still writing in the so-called Gothic horror genre which primarily dealt with ghosts, vampires and the like, he was truly unique. Though there is nothing wrong with that kind of tale (and I still enjoy them very much to this day), Lovecraft took the craft (no pun intended) to new and frightening places that will stay with the reader more than a moaning spirit ever could.

H.P. Lovecraft's grave at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island.

Many books and articles have been written about the man and I'm not interested in rehashing them here but if the reader is, I might suggest starting here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft ) or reading some of the works of S.T. Joshi who has written extensively about the man. Lovecraft was a complex and damaged human being whose tragic life experiences with death, madness, disease, his antisemitism & bigotry and other not so admirable traits certainly don't inspire but his creativity did and still influences dozens of authors and filmmakers the world over to this very day.

Having said all that, this part of the site will deal primarily with the objects I have in my collection that relate to the man. Pass your cursor over the 'More" tab above and you will see a drop menu for the Lovecraft area focusing on specific Mythos 'charecters' in model form. Some are of my own creation, some are kits and some are out of the box figures which stand alone without any interference from yours truly. Hopefully, the images here will influence the visitor into exploring the vast and growing world known as Lovecraftian horror aka the Cthulhu Mythos.

Comments

16.05.2019 10:53

JOANNE

Very interesting Geof!