Lovecraft Country - A Novel by Matt Ruff - 2016 - 400 pages
Lovecraft Country is an intriguing dark fantasy work which combines the potential horrors experienced by African-Americans travelers in the southern American states in 1951, in the Jim Crow Era, with creatures drawn from the work of the American master of horror H. P. Lovecraft (1890 to 1937). Lovecraft was deeply racist. He was horrified by any notion of “mixing of races”. His stories are full of weird creatures.
- Atticus Turner, a veteran of the Korean War, an avid reader of science fiction, is on drive from Jacksonville, Florida to Chicago when we first encounter him. His father, Montrose Turner, has sent him a letter asking him to come. The father Is in Ardham, Massachusetts where he says he may have found information on the family of Atticus’s mother, previously unknown
Atticus, his uncle George, and his childhood friend Letitia come along on the drive to Ardham to find Montrose. They are chased, accosted, and later nearly murdered by racists on the way. George edits The Safe Negro Travel Guide which lists safe places. When the get to Ardham they find Montrose a prisoner of Samuel Braithwhite, a white man, lodgemaster at Ardham sorcerers' cove. It is part of a national consortium of racist lodges.
The lodge is dedicated to white supremacy and deeply into the occult. It will turn out Atticus is a descendant of the lodge founder from slavery days who raped the great grandmother of Atticus. Caleb Braithwaite, son of Samuel, will play a big part once his father dies.
There eight intertwined plot lines. Just as Atticus and his family is about to be shot by a racist sheriff weird monsters descend on him and his deputies.
I found this an interesting work. It turns out there was really something like The Negro Safe Travel Guide. The characters are well realized and it real fun to see all the references to science fiction read by Atticus.
“I m the author of the novels Fool on The Hill (1988), Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy (1997), Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls (2003), Bad Monkeys (2007), The Mirage (2012), and Lovecraft Country (2016).
My lastest novel, 88 Names, was published in March 2020. You can learn more about it here. And check out the 88 Names podcast!
Lovecraft Country is now a New York Times bestseller! The HBO series based on the novel premiered on August 16, 2020.” From http://www.bymattruff.com
I really enjoyed this series and was sorry to hear that it will remain as a single-season production (although it did have a suitable ending, so no cliffhanger or anything, as if someone suspected it might not be renewed). Matt Ruff I've not yet read, but I keep meaning to!
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