Edited by Robert M. Price

From the Introduction

It will be noticed immediately that Black Forbidden Things showcases the work of a handful of today’s prominent Lovecraftian researchers, S.T. Joshi, Will Murray, David Schultz, William Fulwiler, and myself. These tortured souls have contributed much of the splendid scholarly analysis that has distinguished Crypt of Cthulhu from other fanzines during its decade of existence. Two items here did not appear in the pages of Crypt. One is my study “Randolph Carter, Warlord of Mars,” which forms a sequel of sorts to Fulwiler’s essay, “E.R.B. and H.P.L.” My essay first appeared in Tekeli-li #1 in 1991. Similarly, I have also taken the liberty of borrowing (from the second issue of the same magazine) my controversial essay “Cosmic Fear and the Fear of the Lord: Lovecraft’s Religious Vision,” as a natural adjunct to my earlier “‘Lovecraftianity’ and the Pagan Revival.”
A similar scholarly purpose is served by the inclusion here of three draft stories Lovecraft received from the hands of his revision clients. De Castro’s “The Automatic Executioner” became HPL’s “The Electric Executioner,” while “A Sacrifice to Science” became “Clarendon's Last Test” or simply “The Last Test.” William Lumley’s “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” turned out surprisingly well as Lovecraft’s rewrite of the same name. Here, then, are three of his revision tales in the case of which we may be precisely sure what role Lovecraft had.

Contents

• Introduction by Robert M. Price
• Who Wrote “The Mound”? by S.T. Joshi (Crypt of Cthulhu 11)
• H.P. Lovecraft and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by S.T. Joshi (Crypt of Cthulhu 37)
• The Sources for “From Beyond” by S.T. Joshi (Crypt of Cthulhu 38)
• Lovecraft and the Regnum Congo by S.T. Joshi (Crypt of Cthulhu 28)
• Tentacles in Dreamland: Cthulhu Mythos Elements in the Dunsanian Stories by Will Murray (Crypt of Cthulhu 76 as “Dunsanian Influence on Lovecraft Outside his ‘Dunsanian’ Tales”)
• Self-Parody in Lovecraft’s Revisions by Will Murray (Crypt of Cthulhu 17)
• The First Cthulhu Mythos Poem by Will Murray (Crypt of Cthulhu 20)
• Prehuman Language in Lovecraft by Will Murray (Crypt of Cthulhu 23)
• H.P. Lovecraft’s Fungi from Yuggoth by David E. Schultz (Crypt of Cthulhu 20)
• Lovecraft’s New York Exile by David E. Schultz (Crypt of Cthulhu 30)
• E.R.B. and H.P.L. by William Fulwiler (Crypt of Cthulhu 66)
• Randolph Carter, Warlord of Mars by Robert M. Price (Tekeli-li 1)
• The Pseudo-Intellectual in Weird Fiction by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 5)
• August Derleth: Myth-Maker by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 6 as “August Derleth: Myth Maker”)
• “Lovecraftianity” and the Pagan Revival by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 18)
• Cosmic Fear and the Fear of the Lord: Lovecraft’s Religious Vision by Robert M. Price (Tekeli-li 2)
• Chariots of the Old Ones? by Robert M. Price and Charles Garofalo (Crypt of Cthulhu 5)
• The Necronomicon: The Origin of a Spoof by Colin Wilson (Crypt of Cthulhu 23)
• The Diary of Alonzo Typer by William Lumley (Crypt of Cthulhu 10)
• A Sacrifice to Science by Adolphe de Castro (Crypt of Cthulhu 10)
• The Automatic Executioner by Adolphe de Castro (Crypt of Cthulhu 10)
• The Tower from Yuggoth by Ramsey Campbell (Crypt of Cthulhu 43)
• The Ringer of the Doorbell by Jim Cort (Crypt of Cthulhu 61)
• The Slitherer from the Slime by Lin Carter (Crypt of Cthulhu 28)
• Limericks from Yuggoth by Lin Carter (Crypt of Cthulhu 12, 18, 51, and 53)
• Mildew from Shaggai by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 61)
• Shards from Shaggai by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 75)
• Famous Last Words by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 8)
• Screwtape’s Letter to Cthulhu by Robert M. Price (Crypt of Cthulhu 13)
• Mail-Call of Cthulhu

Bibliographic Information

Black Forbidden Things: Cryptical Secrets from the “Crypt of Cthulhu”. Edited by Robert M. Price. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House; 1992; ISBN 1-55742-248-6; paperback; 204 pages.

Purchasing This Book

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