Why haven’t I read him? //shrugs// There are an absolute shit-ton of great storytellers out there and I do actually delve into other styles on occasion. Yes, even when there are no scary monsters (or super creeps), space ships or aliens waiting in the wings.
So, having never read the man and knowing close to fuck-all about him, why did I pick up Matt Ruff’s book Lovecraft Country?
Firstly, I truly enjoyed Ruff’s Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy
The world of Sewer, Gas & Electric includes such characters as eco-terrorist Philo Dufresne, an environmentally conscious pirate who stalks the East Coast shipping lanes in a pink-and-green submarine designed by Howard Hughes; Philo’s daughter Seraphina, who lives in the walls of the New York Public Library; newspaper publisher Lexa Thatcher, whose Volkswagen Beetle is possessed by the spirit of Abbey Hoffman; Kite Edmonds, a one-armed, 181-year-old Civil War veteran who joins Joan and Ayn in their quest for the truth; and Meisterbrau, a mutant great white shark running loose in the sewers beneath Times Square—all of whom, and many more besides, are caught up in a vast conspiracy involving Walt Disney, J. Edgar Hoover, and a mob of homicidal robots. The story also has lemurs in it. (source)
The second reason?
The story sounded fascinating. Set in the ‘50s, the Black heroes experience the daily horrors of racist-as-fuck, white America as well as the, so far unseen, Lovecraftian monsters. At this point, and I bet this’ll come as no surprise, the monsters, though murderous, are a shitload less scary than the white supremacist, midget dicked, fuckwadian bigots.
Yeah, I’m solidly on Team Scary Monster.
In pre-cell phone vid days, brutality and assholian criminality was virtually invisible. The micro-brained, entitlement rocking dumpster fires among us are now less able to cover up their barbarity with “good, white, christian” bullshit frosting.
Back to the book though, Lovecraft Country ain’t perfect (I’d like more, deeper character development of Atticus and Letitia but maybe that’ll unfold farther down the tale’s road) but it’s riveting. I def want to check out the show but, at this point, it’s not a free-to-view on Jen and Oni’s teevee plan.
What we’ve hit upon, in terms of new tea time escapist entertainment is Killjoys – intergalactic bounty hunters and Roswell – yeah, they live among us and shit. My only complaint about Roswell is the budding and. doubtless, star-crossed love affair between a human and an alien. Why does there always have to be a problematic, ill-fated romance? Can’t we either have happily ever afters or straight up buddy shows where the heroes are chums who just happen to have different plumbing? Oh yeah, life’s all deeply complicated and shit. Plus, I’m not watching Disney.
OK, FINE!
Later today Jen, Oni, Ten and I will fire up Childhood's End, the mini-series based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel. Dunno if there are any big, steamy romances in it but, ya know, we’ll see.
The series is fantastic although shockingly graphic in one scene. Loads 'o fun.
ReplyDeleteOK, now I'm utterly tantalized – thank you!
DeleteI'm approaching this viewing with a bit of trepidation. At Childhood's End is the penultimate of the fifties classics, never made into a movie. I fear what a 21st century made-for-television adaptation would do. I'm not gonna' spoil it, but looking back on the dozen or more times I've read it over the last fifty years, there's not a lot there necessarily "scifi", probably in the opener that becomes background but otherwise for a series little more than soap-opera material. The big eye-openers aren't until the end of at least the first book/season, if not the series.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to checking it out but good to know this going in. I won't expect Star Trekian ships and battles.
DeleteKinda' surprised to read no past Lovecraft reading. With Lovecraft's use of Providence in his stories, I would have guessed that you had walked past his house on Prospect Street, visited the cemetery of the Cathedral of St John on North Main Street (character names), maybe even visited a few of the houses and rooms along Benefit Street. Jen must have surely told you of some of those Lovecraft haunts.
ReplyDeleteWOW, I didn't know about the Providence/Lovecraft connection – yes, that's how ignorant I am of his work.Despite how close we are to Providence, I've only been there a few times since living there (when I was 8 years old). Now I want to do a Lovecraft tour :-)
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