Today is the 122nd birthday of H.P. Lovecraft. An author I haven’t really paid attention to in quite a while, but whose works I used have almost memorized. I have very fond memories of getting into the Lovecraft thing...
I was in high school when I “discovered” Lovecraft. I’d been a Poe fan from an early age (big surprise there). I think I first tripped across the name in an essay by Stephen King (whose writings have never done much for me). Whatever it was, it hit home, because I wasn’t long till I was off on the quest to find the writings of the guy with the odd initials.
I remember going into a Cole’s Bookstore (remember those?) in the local mall, and asking at the counter if they had any books by Lovecraft. The clerk’s eyes widened, and she said, “OH! You mean that really scary stuff...” She pointed to the Sci-Fi/Horror section, which was along the main wall of the store. Off I went.
The Lovecraft stuff was along the bottom of the shelf, so I was crouched down, leafing through the whole one copy of short stories they had. (The Lurking Fear, in the Del Ray edition, with the cool Michael Whelan cover art.) Suddenly, I heard a charming female voice ask, “So, you’re a fan of Lovecraft?” Looking up, I saw a stunningly beautiful young woman, with the most stunning deep eyes I’ve ever seen, and wearing the strangest Egyptian-esque necklace...
Thus are high school geeks’ dreams made.
I’d say she was a college student, and she probably misjudged who I was. But, still, it was exceedingly unusual for very attractive, and obviously well-read, young women to start up conversations with me. (It’s even more unusual today.) But we had a charming talk that lasted quite a while, until she had to leave for some reason.
You will note that there is no mention here of obtaining names nor phone numbers. I prefer not to go on about that. Some things are best left unexamined, especially when pertaining to one’s own backwardness, denseness, and general dumbness. (I did come to my senses, and try to find her again before I left. But, mysteriously, she was nowhere to be found. Go figure...)
But, with visions of beautiful women and odd Egyptian necklaces in my head, I ran home and promptly dived into the world of Mr. Lovecraft.
And, for once in my life, proceeded to scare the living wits out of myself.
I had the house to myself that night, for some reason or other, so I settled down to read the story, “The Lurking Fear.” I won’t ruin the plot for anyone who hasn’t read it, but I will point out that the main plot drivers are thunderstorms. Well... Just as dusk fell, we had one of the worst thunderstorms we’d had in ages. The thunder literally rattled the house, the rain came down in barrels-full. And all I could see were... Well, go read the story. You’ll understand.
I was, naturally, hooked.
They say you’re a true Lovecraft fan when you have a collection of Necronomicon Press titles, and at least one edition from Arkham House, sitting on your self. And I have both. The Arkham House edition I have is a bit of a clunker, a collection of stories that Lovecraft rewrote for some of many proteges. The Necronomicon stuff, however, is golden.
I’m not sure if Necronomicon Press is even still going. I’ve had no contact with them for years, and I know they’d gone inactive for a while. A quick check around the ‘Net shows their website online, and a little background research shows that the founders had some rough personal times.
Those little paperbound editions that Necronomicon put out were wonderful. They published the odd stuff no one else gave much thought to, and also put out scholarly studies. (One of my favorites actually isn’t even Lovecraft, but is a collection of the late Clark Ashton Smith’s exquisite prose poetry.)
All of this brings back good memories. Though I am wondering if a certain young lady with the dark, deep eyes is still out there, still sporting that odd necklace, and still luring people into the world of weird tales.......
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