For several weeks I have wandered through an anthology of Lovecraft’s short stories and novellas. I can honestly say that Lovecraft is far from my favorite author, but he does prove entertaining in a dark and twisted Dickensian sort of way.

I admire the bridge between the old and the new he built while stepping up the levels of fear and unease in the reader.

There are probably biographies and analytical dissections of his works, but I haven’t taken the time to search them out. I’m in it for the sheer pleasure of reading.

However, I’ve stumbled across a few tidbits that make me question my own writings and how people perceive them. The two items that jump out at me about Lovecraft are the fact that in every piece the word ‘eldritch’ is used at least once and he seems to find a lot of scary creatures and scenes ‘indescribable’ through words.

I don’t know that repeating a word is bad, especially when the theme of most of his writings are tied together through the ‘old ones’ and the pursuit of elder horrors. However, the inability to describe something seems to defeat the purpose of being a writer. I understand that snippets and glimpses of the horror add to the overall fear. Alien, for instance, is a prime example of less is more in terms of fear. The fact that the creature is never fully revealed until the end of the movie, and even then only in stark, shadowy glory, makes the movie a sci-fi/horror masterpiece.

Lovecraft helped create this. I have no doubts on that matter, but I think he could have done without the ‘indescribable’ theme.

Which leads me to examine myself as an author. Do I overuse words? Do I run a continual theme through my collection of short? Are there ideas that I try to cram through a reader’s eyes?

I’m not sure, but I think I might go back and check it out.

***

To all those who have bought Atom & Go: Genesis, I want to send a heartfelt thank you. I’m not in this to make millions, but every time I get a little note about the book I get a little giddy. If you have bought it and enjoyed it, please leave a review on Amazon. That helps me out more than you know.

Thank you all. I’m working on a sequel at the moment and have a short in the pipeline for publication here on The Busker in the near future.