H.P. Lovecraft wrote quite a number of science fiction short stories between the end of World War I and his death in 1944. His work, in the genre of the macabre and weird, is as remarkable as his troubled childhood, which leads to the subject of this article.
Childhood literature, as is commonly accepted these days, is mostly fanciful and gay on the surface, but with darker messages about life, religion and the unknown just below. Good examples are Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, and, of course Harry Potter. Young readers are exposed to these stories at an early age and they, along with religion, form the foundation of modern culture. As children grow up and become more aware of the forces that rage for control of their minds and their literary interests, now influenced by exposure to these early Fairy Tales, comic books, anime, video games, and music become the well-spring of knowledge, despite the dire warnings of parents and teachers.
H.P. Lovecraft and the pulp fiction publishers of the age, capitalized on the science-fiction aspect of this adolescent age of confusion.His stories are a blend of ancient mythology and an apocalyptic world view sprouting from strange lands, creatures, ghosts of the long dead, old gods and monsters. Unlike Asimov, who wrote great stories with a rational starting point, Lovecraft’s stories reflect real torment, fear, and horror. For example, The Tomb, is a story about what happened to a boy about the age of 10 who discovers an tomb which he immediately feels some mystical connection to.
Lovecraft’s The Tomb isn’t representative of his most acclaimed short-stories, but it does give the reader an idea of the dark places where his imagination roamed. Compared to today’s adolescent short-stories and violent videos, The Tomb may not seem very frightening, but in 1922, it attracted a enough attention to get it published. the story and its theme have inspired other writers and sci-fi plots.
