Editing H.P. Lovecraft

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Howard Phillips Lovecraft (20 August 1890–15 March 1937) was a writer of horror fiction for 1920s pulp magazines. He pioneered the idea of ''cosmic horror'', in which the horror arises not from prosaic fears of death and dismemberment but from the idea that the universe itself is utterly alien and indifferent to us, full of unguessable horrors that our minds are ill-equipped to cope with.

This idea replaced the traditional spooks, werewolves, vampires and psychos with tentacled monstrousities from beyond space and time, dark gods sleeping beneath the ocean and secretive cults carrying out terrible rites to bring their masters back to the world of the living. His influence can be felt throughout our culture - Mind Flayers in D&D, the insidious cults and corrupting influence of the gods of Chaos in Warhammer, and of course [[Call of Cthulhu]].

Lovecraft himself was a shy, gentlemanly soul, and a prolific writer of letters. He corresponded with many of the other authors of the time, including Robert E. Howard (Conan), Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, and even a young Robert Bloch (Psycho). Many of his correspondents wrote pastiches of his distinctive style of horror. In fact, Bloch and Lovecraft each wrote stories in which the other made an appearance - and died in a suitably gruesome way.

Lovecraft was profoundly racist, believing jews to be overly excitable and inferior, blacks to be plain stupid, and not being especially keen on asians or homosexuals either. (He ended up marrying a jew regardless.) It's important to realise that this isn't the domineering, brutal racism of the Mississipi klansman, but the fearful, neurotic racism of the skinny white nerd. Many of his stories draw their sense of terror from this sense of corruption, of unholy interbreeding and miscegenation.