Lovecraft at Last

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Summary: Some touching correspondence between icon and fan...
Review: In reading this book, we see the enthusiasm of Willis Conover at fifteen years old, as he starts the Science Fiction Correspondence Club with some penpal fans. When interest in that dwindles, he and another boy from the group decide to refocus their efforts onto producing a good fan magazine. Conover starts by soliciting material from several science fiction and fantasy writers in order to fill the early issues of it, the Science Fantasy Correspondent. Little does he know that his letters to H.P. Lovecraft are taken very seriously by the great writer. As this becomes more apparent, we see Willis cautious at first, then more and more open and exuberant. Lovecraft at Last is an in depth look at their correspondence, with letters arranged chronologically so we can see the flow of their conversations. Within its pages, we get a fascinating view of a relationship between two unlikely friends.

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Summary: Informal Look At The Master of the Macabre
Review: This book consists of a series of letters exchanged by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Willis Conover, a 12-year-old boy at the time, in 1936 and 1937. It gives us a surprisingly relaxed and informal view of Lovecraft. Included is one of Lovecraft's poems, Homecoming, which was later published in his "Fungi From Yuggoth", his ideas on how the short story must be written, and a general discusssion of topics that interested him. He syas bluntly here the the Necronomicon was a book that he made up, and he goes to a great deal of trouble to answer Conover's questions in an intelligent and mature manner (I wonder how many other writers would have shown as much consideration to a 12-year-old child?). Also, he discusses his economic situation, "Weird Tales" magazine, his love of the eighteenth century, his critical view of his own work, and various topics that other writers have talked to him about. included are several pictures as well as the letter that Lovecraft's aunt wrote to Conover upon his death of stomach cancer. A very intimate look at the father of modern horror literature.