By David Goudsward

Back Cover Text

H.P. Lovecraft, the legendary author of horror fiction, gained a reputation for being a recluse. Contrary to that image, the author traveled extensively. His three visits to Florida are typical of his careful planning and limited finances. He would forego eating to afford postcards and postage to share his latest discovery or the newest location where he could bask in the sun while writing his letters.

Before his death in 1937, Lovecraft’s aversion to cold led him to admit that moving to St. Augustine was becoming more likely—despite his well-known declaration “I am Providence.” Each visit to the Sunshine State reinvigorated him, but Lovecraft was not a typical snowbird. His observations of Floridian flora and fauna appear in copious correspondence to Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Bloch—and in stories such as The Shadow Out of Time.

In Adventurous Liberation, David Goudsward explores the locations and people Lovecraft encountered in Florida, situating them in historical and geographical context. Also included are biographical sketches of the pivotal figures in these trips, such as Henry S. Whitehead, his Gulf Coast host, on the verge of transitioning from the pulps into the glossy magazines; and the most significant Floridian host, Robert H. Barlow, the teen who roiled the Lovecraft circle by being appointed Lovecraft’s literary executor.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Peter Rawlik
Introduction
 
01 – The Road to Florida
 
TRIP ONE – 1931
02 – Welcome to St. Augustine
03 – On to Tampa Bay
04 – Key West, Miami, and back to St. Augustine
05 – Between Trips – (1931–33)
 
TRIP TWO – 1934
06 – DeLand, 1934
07 – Back to St. Augustine
08 – Between Trips – 1934
 
TRIP THREE – 1935
09 – 1935: Back to Cassia
10 – St. Augustine, the Final Visit
11 – Paradise Lost
12 – Descension and Dissension
13 – Florida Persists
 
APPENDICES
01 – Sketch: John Russell
02 – Sketch: Dudley Newton
03 – Sketch: Henry S. Whitehead
04 – Sketch: Allan Grayson
05 – Sketch: Charles B. Johnston
06 – Sketch: R. H. Barlow
 
ENDNOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: David Goudsward

Bibliographic Information

Adventurous Liberation: H.P. Lovecraft in Florida. By David Goudsward. Sunrise, FL: Bold Venture Press; December 2025; ISBN 978-1-966085-39-3 (hardback) and 978-1-966085-38-6 (paperback); 376 pages.

Purchasing This Book

This book may be purchased in paperback from Amazon.com, in hardcover from Amazon.com, or directly from the publisher, Bold Venture Press.