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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Lovecraft
The Plague of the Living Dead, by A. Hyatt Verrill
One of the best things about studying history is the serendipitous discoveries one can make. This post is about one of those: while tracking down various stories about invisibility, I learned of the story “The Plague of the Living Dead,” … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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The People of the Pit, by A. Merritt
Getting close to the end of my run of invisibility in fiction posts! Hope you’ve been enjoying them! Here we take a quick look at a story by one of my favorite weird fiction authors: Abraham Merritt, who went by … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Invisibility, Lovecraft
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Halloween Treats 2021: Invisibility edition
Every year since starting this blog, I’ve done a post near Halloween linking to a bunch of public domain horror stories to read to get into the season. It so happens this year that I also just finished the draft … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Horror Masters, Invisibility, Lovecraft
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A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny
So, just before October began, I declared my plan to read Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October (1993) in the way that a lot of dedicated fans do: one chapter per day. This post is a summary of … Continue reading
H.P. Lovecraft and the phantom planet
Science and science fiction go hand in hand, so to speak… but science and horror fiction? There are, in fact, more connections than one might think. A lot of modern science can be quite scary at first glance, and knowledgeable … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Lovecraft
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The Last Revelation of Gla’aki, by Ramsey Campbell
I haven’t blogged about any of his books recently, but I have said many times before on this blog that Ramsey Campbell is my favorite horror author of all time. As I noted in a recent post, his novella Needing … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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Basil Copper’s “From Evil’s Pillow”
It is always a great joy to discover the works of an author that I’ve previously been completely unaware of. Recently, I started reading the works of Basil Copper (1924-2013), thanks to the Valancourt Books re-release of his 1974 novel … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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Halloween Treats 2013
Every year since I started this blog back in 2007, I’ve been posting a collection of “Halloween Treats”: classic short stories of horror that are freely available to read on the internet. You can read my previous editions: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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The Challenge from Beyond, with Moore, Merritt, Lovecraft, Howard, and Long
No matter how much classic weird fiction I read, there is still plenty out there that I have not read, or even heard about. Recently I was surprised to learn about a five-part tale of weirdness, The Challenge from Beyond … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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Basil Copper’s The Great White Space
H.P. Lovecraft not only introduced a fundamentally new genre of horror — “cosmic horror” — but inspired generations of writers who have built on his ideas and taken them in interesting new directions. Valancourt Books recently released a new edition … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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