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Oh Lovecraft, I Never Knew You: The Platypus Reads Part LXXXVI

Now that Barnes and Noble is publishing all of the late, great H.P.'s works in a cheep and handy one-volume edition, I've been scanning back and forth through the cannon.  Doing so has produced a few new gems.

The Dunwhich Horror: The good guys win and no one goes insane (what the shoggoth!?!).  Also, this is the first time I tried reading Lovecraft through S.T. Joshi's suggested lens: science fiction.  Doing so lends a whole different texture to the work.  Worried that turning horror into sci fi will demystify and ruin it? -just think "Alien."

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath: H.P.L. channels Lord Dunsany for an entirlie differente flavour of ficktion.  This is also another chance to see Lovecraft the New England patriot (1st draft pick) hard at work.  Check also to see if anyone goes insane or gets eaten first.

Lovecraft, even at his best, is a bit goobish and easy to parody.  Beginning to read a little more extensively through his work, however, has been shifting some of my pre-concieved notions and bringing the "Lovecraftian Project" into sharper light.  

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