H. P. Lovecraft revolutionized the horror genre with his tales of cosmic terror, and the mythos that he created is one that has captured imaginations for generations. Lovecraft was also an undeniable racist, and much of the horror in his stories is rooted in his outright xenophobia. (Examples range from the extremely blatant racism in "The Horror at Red Hook" to slightly more subtle metaphors about the dangers of outsiders and miscegenation that pervade his works.) But just because the man was rather morally reprehensible doesn't necessarily mean that we can't enjoy his works or engage with his legacy. In fact, in recent years many writers have been using Lovecraft's own mythos to turn his bigotry on its head. Here are a few examples of books that bring a new perspective to Lovecraft's mythos and subvert its more problematic aspects:

1. Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

Talk about telling Lovecraft's stories from a new perspective. This book is told from the point of view of Aphra Marsh, an inhabitant of Innsmouth and a descendant of that town's notorious "fish-frog" people. While these folk are the villains in several Lovecraft's stories such as "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "The Thing on the Doorstep," making one of them the protagonist of this book gives it all a new meaning. Emrys sets her novel in the years after the end of World War II and draws clear parallels between the fear and prejudice directed at Aphra and the treatment of Japanese-Americans during the war. As Aphra seeks to reclaim the sacred texts of her people, she teams up with others who are fighting their own battles with discrimination and oppression, including a Jewish FBI agent whose loyalty is questioned by the government and several female students who are denied the guidance and resources that their male counterparts receive at Miskatonic University.

2. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

This novella retells the story of "The Horror at Red Hook" from a black man's perspective. The protagonist is Charles Thomas Tester, a jazz-age hustler living in Harlem, who is invited by the occultist Robert Suydam to play guitar at one of his underground soirees. The second half of the story switches to the point of view of Detective Malone—Lovecraft's original protagonist, and the man responsible for investigating Suydam's occult dealings. The juxtaposition of these perspectives pits the cosmic horror of elder gods against the day-to-day horror of pervasive racism.

3. She Walks in Shadows, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles hit upon a goldmine when they decided to put together a Lovecraft-inspired anthology with stories written entirely by women from around the world. Funded by an Indiegogo campaign, the collection grew to contain 25 different stories, each with a unique take on Lovecraft. Some stories focus in on the few female characters that make an appearance in Lovecraft's writing—Asenath Waite, Lavinia Whateley, and the eldritch goddess Shub-Niggurath—while others invent new, original characters to flesh out the world that Lovecraft created.

4. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

Returning to similar themes to those explored in The Ballad of Black Tom, Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country explores Lovecraftian horror in conjunction with anti-black racism. The story is set in the 1950s when Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation and discrimination throughout the country. Atticus Turner is a young black man who cannot be dissuaded from his love of science fiction, despite the fact that many of his literary heroes would have hated him based solely on the color of his skin. When Atticus's father disappears, leaving mysterious instructions to follow him to Massachusetts, Atticus joins his uncle and a family friend on a road trip. There, they are faced with a blend of supernatural occurrences and New England's particular brand of racism.

Have you read any of the books mentioned here? Do you have some other new takes on Lovecraft to recommend? Share your thoughts in the comments!



Written By: TheGothicLibrarian

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Michael Rockefeller wasn't just born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He also had golden spoons in both ears, a platinum soup tureen up his bum, and was probably physically fellated by fate itself. When you're the son of a future US Vice President and a member of the most ludicrously over-wealthy family in American history, you'd think that it would take a pretty impressive reversal of fortune to bring the lad to a sticky end, wouldn't you? Well, this is a "World of Weird" column, so just guess what happened?

It was 1961. Michael was 23 years old, and was paddling a dugout canoe a few miles off the coast of New Guinea. He had developed a keen interest in anthropology after seeing his father's extensive collection of tribal artworks, and was on an expedition to study the art and rituals of the Asmat tribe, alongside the Dutch anthropologist René Wassing. The Asmat lifestyle certainly presented a change of pace for the American college boy- their rituals included homosexual sex and urine-drinking, and they also pursued ritualistic warfare featuring headhunting and cannibalism. While I've heard those Frat Houses can get pretty lively, they probably fall some way short of bumming your mates while tucking into a brains'n'piss buffet.

So, November 17 1961 was when it all started to go wrong. The 40-foot dugout canoe in which he was travelling became swamped, and the two native guides swam off to fetch help. Rockefeller and Wassing stayed with the canoe and waited. And waited. Two days later they were still waiting, and getting desperate. Rockefeller was an athletic man (an excellent college wrestler) and a strong swimmer. Although they were drifting some ten miles off the coast, he was convinced that he could he could swim to the shore- so he set off, leaving Wasser behind.
A day later, Wasser was rescued. But there was no trace of Michael. In the days and weeks that followed, a huge search was launched by the Rockefeller family, with helicopters and ships scouring the area. Nothing was found, and eventually he was declared dead- presumed drowned or eaten by the huge salt-water crocodiles found locally. But rumours persisted that he had reached the shore and met a more colourful fate, and in 2014 a National Geographic investigation concluded that he had been killed and eaten by the local Asmats.

The Asmats might have been headhunting cannibals, but they weren't indiscriminate about it. They only chowed down on people where there was a serious grudge involved, so Rockefeller should have been safe. Unfortunately his timing was lousy- just three years earlier there had been a bloody clash between Asmats of Otsjanep village and Dutch colonial officials, which had left several Asmats dead. This meant they were severely pissed off with the White Tribe, and looking for vengeance. When Rockefeller staggered into their village he'd been promptly speared, his brain and flesh eaten, and his drained blood smeared over the warriors as part of their sexual rituals. Probably washed down with a refreshing glass of warm wee too.

So, in a hopelessly contrived attempt to round this lurid horror all off with some sort of moral, if you're planning your gap year and fancy some close encounters with uncontacted tribes, keep the sad story of Michael Rockefeller in mind and preach them the virues of veganism as if your bloody life depends on it. Who knows? It just might. And the sight of those wiry burnished warriors gobbing each other off with a feast of hummus, and drenched in almond milk would be just priceless.