With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I’d get into the mood with a H. P. Lovecraft pastiche. Dan Carter is a former policeman who is now a private eye. He inherits a bookstore in Providence, RI run by Emily Lovecraft, an African-American woman. Her uncle disappeared seven years ago. He’s been declared dead and his will gives the bookstore to Carter. Carter had never met Emily’s uncle and has no idea why he now owns a bookstore. Then, a college professor calls Carter, but before Carter can respond, the professor is found dead in his car. He drowned, but there’s no water. Yes, we’re in H. P. Lovecraft territory here. At 306 pages, this pastiche is a little too long. A good editor could have made this a better, tighter book. But if there’s a sequel to Carter & Lovecraft I’ll read it. GRADE: B-
Sounds interesting but I’ll pass. Maybe I should go back and read some real Lovecraft again. I think I went through nearly all of his books in the early 1970s.
Jeff, there’s a couple Lovecraft pastiches published every month now. Most of them, like Sherlock Holmes pastiches, are dreadful. But CARTER & LOVECRAFT is entertaining if a tad too long.
It’s been a while since I read Lovecraft. Maybe this would be a good way to revisit – which will undoubtedly start me rereading.
Beth, I was a huge Lovecraft fan back in the Sixties. Then I read a lot of Other Things. But in the past five years or so, Lavecraft has become a very Hot Author. And the Lovecraft pastiches have become a cottage industry.
Of the many “hot” topical story trends running these days (and for the last 5 years or so), Lovecraft, zombie vampire, Holmes, YA Harry Potter wanna-be, and the rest, the only one I’m at all interested in are some of the better Holmes pastiche collections. I read some Lovecraft in the mid to late Sixties, and while I found some of it enjoyable, most seemed too strenuous in it’s attempt to be bazaar and strange. But then I’ve never been a big fan of horror.
Rick, Lovecraft has captured the imaginations of a lot of young writers. And readers.