On the 14th of July, PulpFest 2009 made its final programming announcement. For those people who hated to see a convention’s nightly programming come to an end, PulpFest decided to offer a presentation that would run until midnight. What better topic to explore than the work and legacy of the great H. P. Lovecraft, whose stories for Weird Tales and other pulps have inspired scores of authors since they were first published.

Lovecraft for the Night Owls

For those who like to burn the midnight oil, Ian Lohr, editor of Howling Wolf’s Lost Pulp Classics series, will explore the life and legacy of H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft and His Circle: Yog-Sothery and Its Influence on Writing and the Universe will take place on Friday, July 31, beginning at 11 PM.  

Today recognized as a master of supernatural fiction, during his lifetime Lovecraft was an impoverished writer who subsisted on canned pork and beans while spinning what would become some of the most widely respected tales to emerge from the pulp market. In such stories as "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Colour Out of Space," and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," Lovecraft combined the elements of Gothic horror with the emerging field of science fiction to create some of the most unique fiction of his day or any day.

In his voluminous correspondence, Lovecraft encouraged other writers to develop further the ideas he was exploring in his own fiction. Soon, Frank Belknap Long, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard and others were refining their colleague’s "Yog-Sothery," now better known as the Cthulhu Mythos.

Lovecraft’s influence is felt even today in the fiction of Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and others as well as in other areas of popular culture such as film, comic books, role-playing games, Scandinavian heavy metal music and a wide array of contemporary mythologies.

So join Ian as the witching hour approaches for an evening of cosmic horror, pop culture and philosophy.