Horror legend H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) wasn't much of a ladies' man, as anyone knows who's read his ex-wife Sonia Davis's poignant account of their brief, doomed marriage. In this novel, an episodic alternative history in the form of a memoir anthology, Lovecraft scholar and Publisher's Weekly Forecasts editor Peter Cannon (Lovecraft Remembered) sympathetically explores his subject's vexed relationships with three women. Lovecraft gets the best of two (fictional) female admirers-a spunky teenager and a Barbara Pym-ish spinster, each of whom serves as his secretary-but meets his match in Lyda Long, the real-life bride of his old pal and fellow pulp writer, Frank Belknap Long. 

The three first-person narrations, sepia-toned portraits in words, exude period atmosphere and expertly capture Lovecraft's complex character. Borrowing giddily from Stella Gibbons, Charlotte Bronte and George Gissing, Cannon extends and reinvents his subject's life in ways sure to amuse (and provoke) serious Lovecraftians. It’s an imagined happy ending of sorts for Lovecraft, a world where the Old Gentleman found the financial success, acclaim, and health that this world (or maybe his own actions) denied him. Here we see Lovecraft receiving mainstream publication, Lovecraft going to Hollywood and acting on the silver screen, even Lovecraft going off to war. It’s a fan’s fervent wish for what might have been. 

Ultimately, The Lovecraft Chronicles is a pleasant read for Lovecraft fans interested in the man himself, as opposed to just his fictional creations. Those expecting tentacles, long strings of apostrophe-interrupted consonants and gibbering madness will be disappointed, but those interested in an exploration of what the man might have become given more time, more success, and more support will find the book enjoyable and, perhaps, preferable to the events of Lovecraft’s real life.

Jason C. Eckhardt's illustrations complement the text perfectly. Paperback, 192 pages.