American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

In this episode, I dig deeper into THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH. We get a walking tour of the city, in classic H. P. Lovecraft style.

In this episode I give my thoughts on the early pages of THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH by H. P. Lovecraft. One of his most important stories, for many reasons.

The finale of my coverage of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. So what did Danforth see? That is the most compelling mystery at the close of this epic story. Next up, SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH.

So glad to be back with a volume of The Library of America. This episode will begin a one-month series exploring THE GUNS OF AUGUST and THE PROUD TOWER, beginning with the opening chapters of GUNS. The warnings of the Great War speak to the Cold War in rather direct ways.

This episode is part 3 of my coverage on AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H. P. Lovecraft. Much of this section deals with the history and society of the Elder Things and brings us right up to the climax of the story.

In this episode I dig deeper into AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, which as Lovecraft tries to warn us is a bad idea. Part 2 of 4.

One of the more popular H. P. Lovecraft stories is AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. It may really be the best example of Lovecraft's later style. The opening pages focus on science and exploration. I give my thoughts on these early sections.

The finale of my review of THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS by H. P. Lovecraft. Things get nice and cosmic and strange in the final chapters of this story, but for me the early chapters contain the most interesting elements.

This episode is the second of three covering my thoughts on THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS. Fun with letters from a crazy friend.

THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS begins a new phase in Lovecraft's career and a new series in this podcast. The rich look at folklore, skepticism, and conspiracy make this story lots of fun. I just get started reviewing this tale in this episode.

The second part of my review of FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH by H. P. Lovecraft. Also, plenty of evidence on why I should not be doing too much with Lovecraft's poems.

My thoughts on the first half of FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH by H. P. Lovecraft. This is a cycle of sonnets exploring various of Lovecraft's themes, vistas, and questions.

We wrap up our look at the third volume of the "Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft" with the later part of 1931. During this period, Lovecraft was writing THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH. He begins to write with increasing frequency to J. Vernon Shea, a young weird fiction writer.

Lovecraft was not writing too much fiction in the summer of 1931 (the exception being the collaboration "The Trap" with Henry Whitehead), but as always was busy with his penpals. Included in this period is a letter to Elizabeth Toldridge in which Lovecraft explores the causes of the Great Depression. For my money, this is the highlight of this set.

In the first half of 1931, H. P. Lovecraft was writing AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, but he was also also writing some substantial letters. A highlight here is on to Frank Belknap Long one cosmic isolation, race, and machine culture. Another fascinating letter is to Henry George Weiss on socialism and ethics. This episode explores these and more.

In the winter of 1930-31, H P. Lovecraft wrote about time travel stories with Clark Ashton Smith, Asian poetry with Elizabeth Toldridge, Quebec with James Morton, and atheism with August Derleth. There is more but you will need to listen to this episode.

In this podcast, I talk about the letters H. P. Lovecraft wrote to his friends and colleagues in the autumn of 1930. Topics include: "The Whisperer in Darkness, Quebec, Lovecraft's fictional world-building, witches, and the importance of dynamite in horror tales.

What do dinosaur bones, "clock-slavery", Charleston, and Hart Crane have in common? They all are discussed in H. P. Lovecraft's letters in 1930 (specifically February through August). I talk about this and more in this episode of this podcast.

H. P. Lovecraft's letters from the winter of 1929-1930 were written around the time he wrote "The Mound". So we should not be surprised to see him reflecting on civilizations, art, and geography. These letters also speak to his thoughts about erotic art. Highlight is a massive letter to Woodburn Harris.

So we are back to the "Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft" in this episode. Features correspondents include Maurice Moe, Elizabeth Toldridge, and James Ferdinand Morton. Topics include poetry, lost cultures, and machine culture

In this second revision of a Adolphe de Castro story, "The Electric Executioner", we explore the supernatural power of electricity in a Mexican setting. A fun story, worth checking out. 

"The Last Test" is by Adolphe de Castro, as revised by H. P. Lovecraft. I rather liked this story, with its exploration of deep history and hidden traditions. It is framed as a story about experiment and outbreak in the prison, although the truth is much more chilling.

So this story is based on a dream, detailed in a letter by Lovecraft to Donald Wandrei in 1927. Wandrei later revised this account into a the published story "The Thing in the Moonlight".

The second and final part of my review of CONFIDENCE by Henry James. This puts an end to this series on James' early novels.

This short story, "Two Black Bottles", was written by Wilfred Blanch Talman, with an assist by H. P. Lovecraft. While not one of the revisions that is mostly done by Lovecraft, let's read it anyways. It is a pretty good story. Published in WEIRD TALES in 1927

Like THE EUROPEANS, CONFIDENCE is a light and somewhat comedic novel about Europeans in America or Americans in Europe, or something. Another early novel by James that I found underwhelming but still probably worth checking out.

After a long wait, I am finally looking at "The Very Old Folk", the published version of Lovecraft's dream of ancient Rome. It hits many of the themes Lovecraft was interested in at this time of his career, especially vernacular traditions and their dangers.

In this short comedic novel, THE EUROPEANS, Henry James follows two Europeans-a soon to be divorced woman seeking a new start and a free-spirited young man--in their encounters with a wealthy American family. Decent entertainment.

The second part of my review of "The Dunwich Horror" by H. P. Lovecraft. What is the danger of ignoring the backcountry? What is the blowback to burying the horrible things deep? I think this story gives some of Lovecraft's answers.

Part three and finale of my review of THE AMERICAN by Henry James. It is a highly recommended novel with some real drama and wonderful character growth. Our hero becomes an American while confronting European aristocratic culture.

Part two of my review of THE AMERICAN by Henry James. For much of the middle part of this novel, the hero pursues his courtship with a French aristocrat while learning more of the gap between his world and that of the woman he hopes to marry.

"The Dunwich Horror" is another of my favorite H. P. Lovecraft tales that has a bit of everything; intentional amnesia, folklore, outer gods, body horror, class tensions, and the geography of horror. Part one of my analysis.

"The Color Out of Space" was Lovecraft's favorite story and it is indeed one of his best. The combination of body horror, science, and classic Lovecraftian themes makes for a fascinating, if bleak tale.

Part one of my review of THE AMERICAN by Henry James. It is by far my favorite of the five early novels I will look at in this series. It explores the attempt of a rich American to court a French widow from an aristocratic family.

Part three of my review of RODERICK HUDSON by Henry James. It is his first strong novel but a bit repetitive and banal in the end. I guess the lesson is Americans should stay away from Europe.

The final part of my review of THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD by H. P. Lovecraft. The final chapter is an epic story of the conscious eradication of memory.

We go back to the present in chapter 3 of THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD and witness the consequences of Ward's exploration into his family history. Some strange mysteries are revealed and the horror begins again.

Let's start over with Henry James by looking at his first decent novel, RODERICK HUDSON. In this novel, an aimless rich man adopts a poor artist and brings him to Europe for fame and adventure. What they find is that Europe is a bad place for anyone, especially artists, to be.