The Appeal of Lovecraft

We’re back and we’ve made it to 100! There’s no sign of our telegram from the Queen yet, but it will surely be here any minute. We have spent countless hours sitting around in a drafty shed or clustering around a microphone perched on a teetering pile of books to get here. Much of that time was spent in helpless laughter or streams of virulent profanity, but Paul has done an excellent job of editing around this to leave you with something resembling a podcast. And now we have 100 episodes to show for it (or 102, if you count the specials, which we are choosing not to). We could scarcely be more excited! To celebrate our centuried status, we thought we’d tackle a big topic. As Call of Cthulhu writers, it’s no exaggeration to say that Lovecraft plays a central role in our lives. He is a larger presence than many people we actually know in person and who aren’t dead. But why is this the case? What is it about the man and his work that exerts such a hold on us? Lovecraft was a complex figure, and while this episode is largely a celebration of what we love about his work, we try not to shy away from his negative aspects, most notably his racism. We hope the result is a balanced, reasonable discussion. The latter part of the episode is given over to an interview with Sandy Petersen, creator of Call of Cthulhu, in which he discusses the influence Lovecraft has had on his own life and work. Unsurprisingly, he has some deep and fascinating insights to share. And, once again, there is singing. We have a large number of Patreon backers to thank, including several at the $5 level. Regular listeners will know that this means that we create aural nightmares to thank these brave and generous people. We actually tried to sing this time instead of just making strange, gibbering noises. I’m not convinced the result is any less disturbing. Once again, to limit the damage done, we have restricted ourselves to two songs. This means that there are still several people waiting for us to sing our thanks to them, and we will share them over the next few episodes.