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Temple of Set Reading List
"Temple of Set Reading List:
Category 7 - H.P. Lovecraft" (3/6/86CE)
Reprinted from: _The Crystal Tablet of Set_
© Temple of Set 1989 CE
Weirdbase file version by TS permission
by Michael A. Aquino, Ipsissimus VI* Temple of Set
Electronic mail: MCI-Mail 278-4041
The novels and short stories of Howard Phillips Lovecraft are famed for
their horrific imagery. To the Setian, however, their importance lies in
their success in capturing emotion, motives, and patterns of behavior long
suppressed to near-extinction by conventional civilization. These qualities
may be effectively employed in Black Magical operations. Collectively the
Lovecraft writings illustrate the concept of "genetic memory", also a key
magical principle. [See also #6L and #6N.]
7A. _Lovecraft: A Biography_ by L. Sprague de Camp. NY: Doubleday & Co.,
1975 (paperback edition available). (TS-3) MA: "This is the definitive
biography and psychological profile of HPL, with detailed analyses of the
philosophical principles he incorporated into his writings. In contrast to
the sanitized image portrayed by August Derleth, de Camp covers all aspects
of HPL's personality, socially-acceptable and otherwise. Consequently this
biography has been criticized by some HPL fans who want to see their idol
exemplify and reinforce their own social ideologies. Its objectivity,
candor, and thoroughness nevertheless make it indispensible for a correct
understanding of HPL the man, the writer, and the philosopher."
7B. _The Dunwich Horror & Others_ / _Dagon & Other Macabre Tales_ / _The
Mountains of Madness & Others_ / _Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos_ (four
volumes) by H.P. Lovecraft. Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1963+. (TS-
3) (OT-1) MA: "The first three volumes contain the bulk of HPL's principal
works, and the fourth contains both HPL material and selected stories by the
most prominent writers of the 'Lovecraft Circle'. The magical philosophies
and techniques illustrated herein were experimented with by the Church of
Satan and are currently applied effectively by the Temple of Set."
7C. _The King in Yellow_ by Robert W. Chambers. NY: F. Tennyson Neely, 1895
(Dover paperback available). (CS-5) (TS-5) AL: "First on my list, as it is
the work of a writer of cheap romances who became daemonically possessed
after being involved in espionage work of a delicate nature, the
implications of which are still cycling. Chambers, in his literary emergence
from the Impressionists of his day, cast a die for Lovecraft, Orwell,
Huxley, and many others. Yes, the reading of _The King in Yellow_ in its
entirety CAN drive one mad, if one realizes the insidiousness of the thing."
MA: "This is the book at the core of HPL's mythos and the model for his
fictional _Necronomicon_. It constitutes the beginning of a type of Black
Magic unknown prior to this century - at least in traditional esoteric
circles. It may be read by the non-Initiate with consequences no worse than
confusion, but to the Adept this book is exceedingly dangerous if
misapplied."
7D. _The Necronomicon_ by George Hay (Ed.). London: Neville Spearman, 1978.
(TS-3) MA: "The fame of HPL's fictional _Necronomicon_ inevitably inspired
other authors to produce books purporting to actually be that terrible tome.
Some are good-humored tributes; some appear to be deliberately fraudulent.
This Hay version, which is both a collection of commentaries and a
'translation' of the _Necronomicon_, is both the most entertaining and the
most scholarly of the good-humored types. Included are essays by Colin
Wilson (#4A, #7E, etc.) and David Langford (#21D), with 'translation' by
Robert Turner [from the 'John Dee Edition' - which was invented by Frank
Belknap Long for one of his Cthulhu-mythos stories!]."
7E. _The Mind Parasites_ by Colin Wilson. NY: Bantam Books #F-3905, 1967.
(TS-3) MA: "When Wilson criticized HPL in _The Strength to Dream_, August
Derleth challenged him to write a better HPL-style novel. Wilson's response
was this book, the writing of which increased his respect for HPL and caused
him to embark on his own series of related novels and short stories. This
Bantam edition contains a preface by Wilson explaining this. Other novels in
the series include #19A and _The Space Vampires_ (sequel to _Parasites_ -
later made into the science-fiction movie _Lifeforce_ - which in my opinion
is more interesting than the _Space Vampires_ novel)."
7F. _Selected Letters of H.P. Lovecraft, Volume V_. Sauk City: Arkham House,
1976. (TS-4) MA: "The fifth and final volume in this _Letters_ series, this
one is recommended because it encompasses the period 1934-37, when HPL's
personal philosophy had reached its greatest maturity and complexity. Many
of the letters are far more revealing of his thought than are even the most
ambitious of his stories. Arkham House [and various paperback licensees]
make a deliberate effort to keep the #7B books more or less continuously in
print, but other Arkham works, such as the HPL Letters series, tend to be
limited editions, infrequently reprinted if at all. Hence if you are
interested in specialized Arkham works and see what you want in a used or
specialty bookstore, you are advised to snap it up without delay if the
price is reasonable."
7G. _Lovecraft at Last_ by HPL and Willis Conover. Arlington, Virginia:
Carrollton/Clark, 1975. (TS-4) MA: "This is a beautifully presented and
bound account of HPL's correspondence with Conover, containing some unusual
insights into the Cthulhu mythos and some rare photographs of HPL himself.
Many HPL letters are included in both photo-facsimile and typeface -
including one in which HPL recounts the history of his mythical
_Necronomicon_ in great detail, to include its inspiration by #7C."
7H. _The Man Who Lived in Inner Space_ by Arnold Federbush. NY: Bantam Books
#Q8794, 1973. (TS-5) MA: "In this beautiful, ethereal, occasionally chilling
novel, a man whose body and lifestyle are shattered by the surface world and
its inhabitants becomes more and more enchanted by the sea, first watching
it, then studying it, then living near it, then living in a permanently-
submerged habitat, then finally adapting his body to an amphibian existence.
HPL treated a related theme in his _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_, but the only
horror to be found in Federbush's account comes from the savagery of the
surface world and its inhabitants. This is not a superficial novel, but one
which looks carefully into human anatomy and oceanography. A powerful
'genetic memory' statement, it ranks with #7C and #22G as a magical text. An
excellent non-fictional bibliography is appended for those who wish to
pursue this area further."
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