Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Happy Birthday, Howard P!


 Image©Lee Moyer

Yep, today is H. P. Lovecraft's birthday and ya gotta wonder what the ol' boy would have thought about his later influence on popular culture. Maybe this. And as an avowed nihilist he might have appreciated Why We're Here (pdf) and possibly even Who Will Be Eaten First, but the truth is all these things came too late As Joyce Carol Oates pointed out in "The King of the Weird," "{l}ike Poe, Lovecraft died believing himself an ignominious failure. In his most fantastical musings this artist of 'cosmic pessimism' could not have foreseen his posthumous fame."

But we of a certain...twisted...mindset can reap the benefits!



H. P. Lovecraft's Fried Seafood Cart by Todd Schorr




Cthulhu Escaping R'lyeh

6 comments:

Capcom said...

Fascintating. And a good birthday to know. :-)

JSaM said...

If it were a little later in the year I would celebrate by having a bowl of Boston baked beans and collapsing in the snow from hypothermia.

G. W. Ferguson said...

@jsam: And ice cream! Don't forget the ice cream to go with those baked beans!

And from the Oct. '79 Heavy Metal Lovecraft issue:

Robert E. Howard: "Your heroes faint at the slightest whiff of danger while mine make BLOOD AND THUNDER!"

...then later...

REH: Mother's dead, my career's in shambles, 'tis time for ME to make blood and thunder...WITH THIS PISTOL!"

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Yo, bro. I was lucky enough to have a poem in THE LOVECRAFTIAN, which celebrated Howard Phillips' 100th birthday. I wrote a kind of rhyming ditty whereas I forced myself to make a rhyme for Lovecraft. I diddled a bit, its not a great poem by any means, but it ends with my failure and tghe final line, a voice up above laughed. Get it? Lovecraft? Well, at least enjoy the bratwurst. I'm here through next weekend.

Anonymous said...

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leemoyer said...

As you have been clever enough to put Cyril's name to his work, perhaps you'd be good enough to put my "Image©Lee Moyer" next to the portrait that begins your piece?

Thank you!