H. P. Lovecraft - Astronomer!

[Dog Star]

Don't know if anyone here is familiar with the writings of H. P. Lovecraft?
He was a short story horror/fantasy writer in the '20's and '30's who was published in Weird Tales.
Stumbling about the web the other day I found some biographical information about him that caused me a little surprise.
It appears that besides writing, his two other passions were astronomy and chemistry. It appears that he suffered something of a nervous breakdown whilst studying the higher mathematics required to fulfill his goal of becoming a professional astronomer, an event which caused him much personal pain and embarresment.
Some excerpts from his articles appear here
http://www.hplovecraft.com/life/interest/astrnmy.asp
A list of his articles can be found here
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/science/
Anyone familiar with his stories concerning Elder Gods and beings from other dimensions and galaxies and his creation of the "Cthulu Mythos" as well as his creation of the (fictional) black magic grimoire, "The Necronomicon of the mad Arab, Abdul Al Hazred":scared: may be a little surprised to learn that Lovecraft was a scientific rationalist of the first order.
I must admit that I was a little surprised.
His published fiction, now in the public domain, can be read here
http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

I did not know this about him, and at one time I was reading his stories one after another. I always thought many of his supernatural beings seemed very passive, almost comatose lumps exuding unrealised menace.

Then again others were not. Creatures which crawl ashore from the black waters when the moon is down, or are heard scratching in the walls on certain dark nights in winter, they are less so.

What of his shapes which can only be seen from the corner of your eye? The candles which blow out, and then when you relight them you find that the room has gone quite cold in spite of the fire?

Stephen King acknowledged the great influence which Lovecraft had on him. I reckon you can easily find that in King's writings.

I'd like to think that Lovecraft examined the heavens looking for the star from which the Great Old Ones came and founded R'Lyeh here.

Maybe George W Bush is really Azathoth or Nyarlathotep?

Cheers

[Dog Star]

Jeez Geoff, I got the shivers reading your reply.:scared::thumbsup:
You're not Lovecraft's reincarnation, are you?
Thanks for your reply.:thumbsup:

[Jen]

:hi: Hi Phil you got me curious :P so i turned to google :google:
check out the wikipedia interesting read :thumbsup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

[Dog Star]

Ta for that Jen.:thumbsup:
A most interesting read about a most interesting chap.
Follow the last link in my first post to access some of his fiction.
I haven't read him since my early 20's, but I'm re-reading him now and gaining a whole new appreciation for his work.

[Jen]

Your welcome Phil ;) happy reading :thumbsup: i should really start to read more they sound interesting specially if Stephen King was a fan of his :D

[TrevorW]

Reading is the road to reasoning, I try and get in a book a month or more if I can.

I'm not familiar with this writer but you've ticked my interest to follow up.