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Necronomicon
The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story " The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in Lovecraft's "The Nameless City". Among other things, the work contains an account of the Old Ones, their history, and the means for summoning them. Other authors such as August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith also cited the ' in their works. Lovecraft approved of other writers building on his work, believing such common allusions built up "a background of evil verisimilitude." Many readers have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for it; pranksters have listed it in rare book catalogues, and a student smuggled a card for it int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of The Necronomicon
"History of the ''Necronomicon''" is a short text written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1927, and published in 1938. It describes the origins of the fictional book of the same name: the occult grimoire ''Necronomicon'', a now-famous element of some of his stories. The short text purports to be non-fiction, adding to the appearance of "pseudo-authenticity" which Lovecraft valued in building his Cthulhu Mythos oeuvre. Accordingly, it supposes the history of the ''Necronomicon'' as the inspiration for Robert W. Chambers' '' The King in Yellow'', which concerns a book that overthrows the minds of those who read it. Text The text tells how the ''Necronomicon'' was penned by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred under the title ''Al-Azif''. Alhazred died after being devoured by invisible demons in front of a terrified crowd. His work was subsequently suppressed, though survived. No original Arabic copies survive, nor any Greek translations. Only five Greek to Latin translations (retitled the ''Necrono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Eibon
Many fictional works of arcane literature appear in H. P. Lovecraft's cycle of interconnected works often known as the Cthulhu Mythos. The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoterica (knowledge that is unknown to the general populace). However, in some cases the works themselves serve as an important plot device. Thus, in Robert Bloch's tale "The Shambler from the Stars", a weird fiction writer seals his doom by casting a spell from the arcane book '' De Vermis Mysteriis''. Another purpose of these tomes was to give members of the Lovecraft Circle a means to pay homage to one another. Consequently, Clark Ashton Smith used Lovecraft's ''Necronomicon'' (his most prominent creation) in Smith's tale "Ubbo-Sathla". Likewise, Lovecraft used Robert E. Howard's '' Nameless Cults'' in his tale "Out of the Aeons". Thereafter, these texts and others appear in the works of numerous other Mythos authors (some of whom have a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small amount of science fiction. His writing career lasted 60 years, including more than 30 years in television and film. He began his professional writing career immediately after graduation, aged 17. Best known as the writer of '' Psycho'' (1959), the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock, Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft, who was the first to seriously encourage his talent. However, while he started emulating Lovecraft and his brand of '' cosmic horror'', he later specialized in crime and horror stories working with a more psychological approach. Bloch was a contributor to pulp magazines such as '' Weird Tales'' in his early career, and was also a prolific sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
August Derleth
August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the cosmic horror genre, as well as his founding of the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK), Derleth was a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography. A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious ''Sac Prairie Saga'', a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing. Life The s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
''Unaussprechlichen Kulten'' (also known as ''Nameless Cults'' or the ''Black Book'') is a fictional book of arcane literature in the Cthulhu Mythos. The book first appeared in Robert E. Howard's 1931 short stories " The Children of the Night" and "The Black Stone" as ''Nameless Cults''. Like the ''Necronomicon'', it was later mentioned in several stories by H. P. Lovecraft. Name The book was originally called ''Nameless Cults'' by Robert E. Howard in his stories " The Children of the Night" and "The Black Stone" published in ''Weird Tales'' in 1931. It is not clear whether the book is a complete invention by Howard, or if he based it on an enhancement of a real book. H. P. Lovecraft gave it a German title more in keeping with the German name of the fictional author, von Junzt, when he started using it in stories set in the Cthulhu Mythos. Not being a German speaker, Lovecraft asked his protege August Derleth for a translation. ''Unaussprechlichen Kulten'' was Derleth's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hound
"The Hound" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in September 1922 and published in the February 1924 issue of ''Weird Tales''. It contains the first mention of Lovecraft's fictional text the ''Necronomicon.'' Plot The story opens with the unnamed narrator preparing to commit suicide. Lamenting his fate, he reflects upon the events which led him to this moment. The narrator and his friend, St. John, are a pair of loners who both have a deranged interest in robbing graves. They constantly defile crypts and often keep souvenirs of their nocturnal expeditions. Since they reside in the same house, they have the opportunity to set up a sort of morbid museum in their basement. Using the objects collected from the various graves they have robbed, the two men organize a private exhibition. The collection consists of headstones, preserved bodies, skulls, and several heads in different phases of decomposition. It also includes statues, frightful paintings, and a locked portfolio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grimoire
A grimoire ( ) (also known as a "book of spells" or a "spellbook") is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities, and demons.Davies (2009:1) In many cases, the books themselves are believed to be imbued with magical powers, although in many cultures, other sacred texts that are not grimoires (such as the Bible) have been believed to have supernatural properties intrinsically. The only contents found in a grimoire would be information on spells, rituals, the preparation of magical tools, and lists of ingredients and their magical correspondences. In this manner, while all ''books on magic'' could be thought of as grimoires, not all ''magical books'' should be thought of as grimoires. While the term ''grimoire'' is originally European—and many Europeans throughout hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn". Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures". Smith was one of "the big three of '' Weird Tales'', with Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft", but some readers objected to his morbidness and violation of pulp traditions. The fantasy critic L. Sprague de Camp said of him that "nobody since Poe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cthulhu Mythos Deities
American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career. These entities are usually depicted as immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans who can barely begin to comprehend them, though some entities are worshipped by humans. These deities include the "Great Old Ones" and extraterrestrials, such as the "Elder Things", with sporadic references to other miscellaneous deities (e.g. Nodens). The "Elder Gods" are a later creation of other prolific writers who expanded on Lovecraft's concepts, such as August Derleth, who was credited with formalizing the Cthulhu Mythos. Most of these deities were Lovecraft's original creations, but he also adapted words or concepts from earlier writers such as Ambrose Bierce, and later writers in turn used Lovecraft's concepts and expanded his fictional universe. Great Old Ones An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of humanity in the face of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Book
A fictional book is a text created specifically for a work in an imaginary narrative that is referred to, depicted, or excerpted in a story, book, film, or other fictional work, and which exists only in one or more fictional works. A fictional book may be created to add realism or depth to a larger fictional work. For example, George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' has excerpts from a book by Emmanuel Goldstein entitled ''The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism'' which provides background on concepts explored in the novel (both the named author (Goldstein) and the text on collectivism are made up by Orwell). A fictional book may provide the basis of the plot of a story, a common thread in a series of books or other works, or the works of a particular writer or canon of work. An example of a fictional book that is part of the plot of another work (in addition to ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'') is Philip K. Dick's ''The Man in the High Castle'', in which resis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willis Conover
Willis Clark Conover, Jr. (December 18, 1920 – May 17, 1996) was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and television. By arranging concerts where people of all races were welcome, he is credited with desegregating Washington, D.C., nightclubs.Robert McG. Thomas Jr."Willis Conover Is Dead at 75; Aimed Jazz at the Soviet Bloc", ''New York Times'', May 19, 1996. Retrieved February 4, 2010. Conover is credited with keeping interest in jazz alive in the countries of Eastern Europe through his nightly broadcasts during the Cold War. Youth As a young man, Conover was interested in science fiction, and published a science-fiction fanzine, ''Science Fantasy Correspondent''. This brought him into contact with horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The correspondence between Lovecraft, who was at the end of his life, and the young Conover, has been published as ''Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Vermis Mysteriis
''De Vermis Mysteriis'', or ''Mysteries of the Worm'', is a fictional grimoire created by Robert Bloch and incorporated by H. P. Lovecraft into the lore of the Cthulhu Mythos. Creation Ludvig Prinn's ''Mysteries of the Worm'' first appeared in Bloch's short story "The Secret in the Tomb" (''Weird Tales'' May 1935). Lovecraft coined the Latin title, ''De Vermis Mysteriis.'' This analogue to Lovecraft's ''Necronomicon'' also features strongly in Bloch's story "The Shambler from the Stars" (1935), in which a character reads a passage from the book and accidentally summons an extradimensional horror. Bloch, then a teenager, corresponded with Lovecraft about the story prior to its publication, in part to get permission to kill off a character based on the older writer. While giving his enthusiastic blessing, Lovecraft also provided Bloch with a bit of Latin to use as an invocation from the book: "Tibi, magnum Innominandum, signa stellarum nigrarum et bufoniformis Sadoquae sigillum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
