One of HP Lovecraft's last stories and his second novel ever published. Written during the winter of 1953 - 1954 when major snowfalls left much of the North East snowed in, the story is a very obvious refutation of Lovecrafts earlier racist views. Having been slowly converted from his elitist and racist views during the Great Depression showed the white elite's inability to solve the crisis like he imagined, Lovecraft shifted radically to the left. The swing from right to left had largely finished by the late 30s and about that time Lovecraft, angered at the public's lack of enthusiasm for his stories, ended his literary career, living a quiet life in Providence. However, the rise in popularity of pulp fiction during the late 40s and early 50s reinvigorated his long dormant career. Suddenly his stories were ready by thousands in pulp magazines and in standalone collections. Lovecraft, by now dying of what was later to be determined as intestinal cancer, was prodded by his friends into writing one last novel, the 400 page Sound of the Wind is Whispering in My Head.
The story details the life of Julius Arkham who lived at his home in Arkham, the last descendant of the founder of the city Alphonse Arkham. The book makes plain that Arkham is not a good man. He is a racist, misogynist, elitist, angry man who is prone to violence at the drop of a hat. All of this is because of The Voice, a disembodied voice in his head that everybody in the family suffers from. In the first chapters, during Julius's school life, he is expelled after punching another child in the face so hard he nearly killed him. The middle chapters detail Julius's life as an "ineligible bachelor" as he calls himself. Without the need for work (he lives off of the exorbitant trust fund left by his great great grandfather) Julius simply walks around Arkham and does nothing. That is until one day, while in the cavernous Arkham Library he finds a book written by a distant, ancient cousin of his. The book details that cousin's research into The Voice. As he reads it Julius finds out that The Voice is actually the voice of the demon Nyarlathotep and that he is not the only one who has The Voice. The later third of the book details Julius unfolding a grand conspiracy by Nyarlathotep to use The Voice to cause enough chaos and anger and hate in the world to strengthen his cult and bring about some unknown disaster. The book ends on a uniquely light-hearted note with Julius freeing himself of the Voice and marrying the love interest of the book, a woman named Mary.
The Book was recieved mixed reviews. Some liked it, praising it has a needed change in tone from the eternally dark and dreadful Mythos Lovecraft himself created. The novel sold well enough that Lovecraft was able to live in relative luxury for the last half decade of his life. However, the book also illicited some heavy critisim. Some criticized some of the more contrived plot points and the shallow characters but the most venemous critics came from his own fans. They derided the book for his light hearted tone and happy ending and for barely mentioning the Mythos until the book was over half-way through. They called it more Grimm than grim. In the end however history vindicated the books supporters. In the modern day most Lovecraft readers consider the book a critical part of the largely Mythos as it is and it is credited as the reason that the Mythos went in a lighter, more largely palatable direction.
The Starvin Marvins
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Legacy
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The Miku Revolution
