HPL (1890-1991) by Roland C. Wagner

[Hendryk]

Has anyone read that novella? The title says it all: Lovecraft's cancer is taken care of in time, and he lives on until 1991.

According to the reviews I've come across, it's very much an exercise in wishful thinking, not that it's necessarily a bad thing. Lovecraft eventually gets the public recognition that in OTL eluded him in his lifetime; he falls out with Derleth over the latter's interpretation of the Mythos; he matures out of his youthful racism; he even collaborates with a young Philip K. Dick... the butterflies beyond the literary world aren't mentioned in the reviews and I have no idea if they're touched upon in the story, but that's a TL many of us would like to live in.

 

[BlackWave]

Looks interesting. Thought it seems, as you sort of noted, like a Sueification of Lovercraft to an extent. Does it say anywhere how the author has him abandoning his famous prejudice?

 

[Hendryk]

Does it say anywhere how the author has him abandoning his famous prejudice?

It just seems to be a side-effect of maturity. Perhaps also revulsion at the horrors of Nazism.

I've ordered the book, I'll let you know if it's any good. We're talking about a pretty short work anyway.

 

[Hendryk]

Okay, I've read it. Barely even a novella, more of a glorified short story. It's a pity because this alternate biography had potential and several passages could have been fleshed out. Lots of questions remain unanswered, such as what HPL does with the Mythos--it seems he leaves it aside altogether to focus on mainstream SF. Nor is his ideological evolution satisfactorily explained.

I confirm what the reviews hinted at: it's very much an exercise in literary wish fulfilment. The author even lampshades this by having the older Lovecraft write a time travel story in which a man from the future goes back in time to allow an artist who died young to live a longer life.