MODEL BEHAVIOUR

Andy Pearson likes a bit of Lovecraft, as do we all. Here he talks about making models from an HP source - and we don’t mean a bottle of ketchup!

Above: An Elder Thing from ‘At the Mountains of Madness’

Above right: The creature from ‘The Dunwich Horror’

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an odd chap, an observation that may qualify for a small prize in an understatement competition. Fortunately for those of us with a taste for uncanny literature, much of his oddness manifested itself in the written word, although not by any means exclusively there.

He was something of a recluse, although a prolific correspondent who went to great lengths to encourage the written work of his acolytes both professional and amateur.

On the negative side he was something of a racist, which aspect of his personality has received increasing attention in recent years as more people became aware of his personal proclivities and as such attitudes have received increasing and justified criticism.

Mr Lovecraft was also a man of contradictions for, despite his apparent opinions of those he considered foreign to his domestic circle and lifestyle, and what appeared to be a confirmed bachelorhood (although not in the euphemistic sense that the phrase is sometimes used), he married a Jewish woman. He was also a man of considerable erudition with interests in science, particularly astronomy.