H.P. Lovecraft's 119th Birthday

Today marks 119 years since the birth of H.P. Lovecraft. What more can one say about a titan of modern weird literature, a brilliant spark for artists delving in all mediums, and a godfather to sub-genres further afield like science fiction and dark humor? What else can be added to the hundred thousand plus sheafs of criticism and adoration that have rolled off the presses since the Old Gent's death in 1937? If the skyrocketing awareness and popularity of H.P. Lovecraft is any indication, plenty more.

Well over a century after he was born, lived, wrote, and died, contemporary minds are hard at work pumping out new scholarly observations on the work he left us, while others record new nightmares sprung from roots Lovecraftian. The fount of Lovecraft is deep, and his legacy as central to the new weird as his living presence was to the generation of talents he spawned. Not bad. Not bad at all--especially for a staunch materialist convinced he would sink into historical oblivion with physical death.

To mark the occasion, interested minds should check out Elizabeth Bear's "Shoggoths in Bloom." This hybrid between Cthulhu Mythos, historical fiction, and mainline literature perfectly illustrates the unlikely directions H.P. Lovecraft's ideas have taken since he wrote. It's also the recent recipient of a Hugo Award for Best Novelette, right alongside "Weird Tales" magazine and Neil Gaiman, both of which exhibit the mark of Lovecraft.

Happy birthday, old chap, and how far you've come!

-Grim Blogger