How H.P. Lovecraft Chose His Pens - Arkham Reporter

You can buy the book here (free worldwide shipping):

If you want to send me a couple bucks so I can have a couple beers or a cigar, well, I can't say no to that!

[ArkhamReporter]

Maybe this isn't (on face value) the most insightful video I've ever made but I loved the human way HPL is presented. This book is so far the only book where we see him in this very human way. Even in his letters he has this air of formality.
PS: I'm still alive and fine. I've just been very busy and had my time diverted to other avenues lately. I hope everyone is well. And, yes, I'm aware Lovecraft Country is out, and I will make ONE video on it.

[warlockofwordsreturnsrb]

Charming video, and nice drawing. There is a recent collection of writings by people who knew Lovecraft called Ave Atque Vale.' Hail and Farewell' edited by Joshi, which has pieces from a lot of the luminaries of Lovrcraftiana.

[stormbringerruneblade]

Excellent, a pilot metropolitan black crocodile with proper Iroshizuku Japanese ink. I have several each with it's own color of ink. Collecting fountain pens and antique straight razors are a very proper European style of eccentricity. I love that H.P. and I share an obsession that I never knew of before. A proper gentleman must have a proper writing utencil. Excellent work as usual sir.

[joharr]

Please more on Loveceaft's daily Life, it's interesting

[pbr-streetgang]

Would really like yo hear more. Love the 8 bit there at the end.👍🏼👍🏼

[DJ-egzg]

I've been looking into how to create a copy of Howards pen (Howard Philip Lovecrafts) without blowing the bank. So, we know he used a black Waterman, plain and understated -without any embellishments. A great model of Waterman to look at seems to be a Waterman 'Allure' in raven black. Its black throughout, without any metal bands even between the body and the grip. It is one of their cheapest models, but has a good weight and is very nice to write with.

Next for the ink -Howard would normally use black ink, for which you can take your pick. However, it appears that for more important pieces or to make notes stand out, he had a penchant for a 'petrol' coloured ink -which is something between a blue and a green. Like many men who are into their fountain pens he liked to have a signature colour.

I've had a look through some colour charts online and found what I think are the two best culprits. Diamines 'Aurora Borealis' and Noodlers 'Blue Nosed Bear'. My Waterman arrived and is a great little pen. Once I have the two inks I'll post an update if you guys respond and let me know if you're interested? The whole set up would be very cheap if you shop around online for a bargain.

If you want to know what I mean by his petrol ink there's a picture here:

[MistaGify]

A nice video Damien! It reminds me of the essays I read in the book "An Epicure in the Terrible: A Centennial Anthology of Essays in Honor of H. P. Lovecraft".

1 of the essays focused on the centrality of penmanship to Lovecraft's worldview and Cthulhu Mythos. Howard saw himself as a member of the dying class of landed gentry, too good for actual employment, writing and living for his own interests; beyond being literate, writing itself was an artform and a defining feature of his blueblood background. In life, as you've described in this video, he loved top-quality stationery, abhorring typewriters over writing with his own bare hands. In the Mythos, from the first story (The Call Of Cthulhu) to the last (The Haunter Of The Dark), his protagonists write because it defines them, a meagre mortal trait that is their only record of existing and of the terrible truths waiting to devour all mankind.

In The Shadow Out Of Time, the final horrifying reveal of Peaslee's own handwriting is 1 of the most unexpected and novel horror twists ever, a gentleman's distinguished writings is flipped on its head, becoming something awful because of the warped contexts under which it was originally written and then rediscovered.

In The Whisperer In Darkness, Akaley's original handwritten letters are truthful, the besieged man poured his heart and soul into writing his final days of struggles against the Mi-Go, whereas the forged typewritten one is deceitful, as aritifical and contrived as the machine which typed it.

Glad to know you're alive and well! I have finalised 60% of my manuscript's 30 chapters. I have sent the first few chapters to multiple publishers, hoping to at least hear a response from 1 of them by year's end!

[marieelena]

My grade school back in the 1970s still had those desks that had a hole for the students ink jar to go in. Since childhood I have always been facinated with journals and silver pens. I managed to find a nice replica of a ink well and pen from the 1890s in my visits to St.Augustine, Florida...a favorite city of H.P. Lovecraft!

[arturoluisrodriguez]

I would enjoy more videos like this. To see what the man behind the cosmic horror was would be awesome.

[HeirofAzaran]

Thank you! This was lovely. I'm sharing it to the Facebook group Where Authors Begin, and I'd LOVE to learn more. Please if you could, could you cover Robert E Howard too?

[dooddough]

Castlevania outro is so satisfying, dreaming of a Lovecraftian side-scroller clone..

[vaughanb]

I actually got pretty excited seeing this new video in my notifications. Glad to see you're still around and I hope you're doing well

[TheKulu]

I've read that book and I highly recommend it. It's such a good look at Lovecraft as a human being.

[alansmith]

I can quite see HPL's point (no pun intended). In the days before word processors, writing fiction was a real chore... it was so easy for your mind to outdistance your writing, and the quicker a fountain pen can write the less this effect will be. As someone who went to school in the 60s I for one am glad that cursive script with pens has died out, replaced by a much more art-friendly medium.

[nessiesearcher]

An excellent video. I especially loved watching the details of Cthulhu come alive as you spoke. One of the things I would like to hear about is Lovecraft's extensive travels. He made many trips and I think showed a more outward looking personality than his more usual inner looking gloom. Anyway thanks for all you do.

[aldomostert]

I really love this. It would be awesome if you would do a collection video of all of your books!

[nathanpatten]

Great video. I love little insights like this being shared.

I've yet to bite the bullet on a nice Fountain pen, but the link to the book has just been used to snag a copy.

[williamerickson]

Some artists go to painstaking lengths for their craft. Me, I just use whatever is at hand.

[micaylab]

Somehow I can see Lovecraft using a red waterman fountain pen as well as a black one.

[Alonne]

Now this is nice i would love to hear more about how he was when he wasnt writing