|
Post by deepermagic on Oct 30, 2018 7:54:40 GMT -5
Earlier this year I finished "A Means to Freedom" which is the letters between Lovecraft and Howard. I don't currently have that with me so I'm working off of memory, but at some point Howard was commenting on some deaths after a tornado (I believe) and sort of off-handedly mentioned that it'd be interesting to write a story where vampires came in the midst of a storm, sort of alluding to the idea that the deaths were caused by the vampires while everyone would assume it was the storm. Like I said, an off-handed comment. But it was impactful enough of a suggestion that it stuck with me and so I see no reason why it wouldn't have stuck with Lovecraft.
Now I bring this up because just this morning I finished a story by August Derleth, published in 1939, called "The Drifting Snow" which essentially is a story about vampires who arrive only during snowstorms. Knowing that Lovecraft had a wide circle of writer friends and that one of them was Derleth, I can't help but wonder if Lovecraft, at some point, mentioned the idea of vampires in a storm to Derleth after reading Howard's comment. That, or perhaps Derleth discovered this idea among Lovecraft's notes. Of course it could all be coincidence, but the associations seem almost too close.
My gut says that "The Drifting Snow" whether known to Derleth or not, was inspired by Howard, if by way of Lovecraft.
I don't have the resources, but I think it would be fascinating to see if an actual link exists.
|
|
|
Post by ChrisLAdams on Oct 30, 2018 9:22:27 GMT -5
Earlier this year I finished "A Means to Freedom" which is the letters between Lovecraft and Howard. I don't currently have that with me so I'm working off of memory, but at some point Howard was commenting on some deaths after a tornado (I believe) and sort of off-handedly mentioned that it'd be interesting to write a story where vampires came in the midst of a storm, sort of alluding to the idea that the deaths were caused by the vampires while everyone would assume it was the storm. Like I said, an off-handed comment. But it was impactful enough of a suggestion that it stuck with me and so I see no reason why it wouldn't have stuck with Lovecraft. Now I bring this up because just this morning I finished a story by August Derleth, published in 1939, called "The Drifting Snow" which essentially is a story about vampires who arrive only during snowstorms. Knowing that Lovecraft had a wide circle of writer friends and that one of them was Derleth, I can't help but wonder if Lovecraft, at some point, mentioned the idea of vampires in a storm to Derleth after reading Howard's comment. That, or perhaps Derleth discovered this idea among Lovecraft's notes. Of course it could all be coincidence, but the associations seem almost too close. My gut says that "The Drifting Snow" whether known to Derleth or not, was inspired by Howard, if by way of Lovecraft. I don't have the resources, but I think it would be fascinating to see if an actual link exists. That sounds fascinating in that it reminds me of a little horror story I wrote that follows along those lines: In my story, similar to Derleth's, these creatures appear during blizzards. Derleth possibly knew of this conversation between HPL and REH. Speaking of Derleth's tale, I searched and found this comic adaptation from 1974.
|
|
|
Post by zarono on Oct 30, 2018 9:53:41 GMT -5
Very interesting question, I can't say if REH provided the inspiration but the idea sounds cool enough that I'm going to try and find Derleth's story Here's another vague Lovecraft cirle connection: Stephen King wrote a short story about vampires in a blizzard, "One for the Road" it appears in Night shift. This story is set after King's "Salem's Lot" and Night Shift also includes "Jerusalem's Lot" which is a Cthulhu Mythos story using Robert Bloch's arcane tome "De Vermis Mysteriis" as a prop. Since he was obviously a Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos fan I'm sure King read plenty of Derleth back in those days, makes me wonder if the subconscious seed for the story might have come from "The Drifting Snow"?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2018 10:06:15 GMT -5
Just thinking could it have something to do with the flood that devasted Lake Brownwood in 1932? I remember reading something like that in A Means to Freedom and Mark Finn's Biography. If I remember correctly it inspired the REH short western Wild Water (not read this one yet), I think, can't remember anything these days.
|
|
|
Post by deepermagic on Oct 30, 2018 11:17:28 GMT -5
Just thinking could it have something to do with the flood that devasted Lake Brownwood in 1932? I remember reading something like that in A Means to Freedom and Mark Finn's Biography. If I remember correctly it inspired the REH short western Wild Water (not read this one yet), I think, can't remember anything these days. You may be right about "Wild Water", but regarding his musings on vampires in a storm, I'm pretty sure it had something to do with a tornado. I feel like he mentioned something about some folks' heads more or less exploding because of the pressures. Unless someone finds it first, I'll check when I get home.
|
|