An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

A thief (of Italian ancestry) who meets a bad end when, in “The Terrible Old Man,” he attempts to rob an old sea captain of his reputed hoard of Spanish gold and silver.

Rice, Professor Warren.

In “The Dunwich Horror,” a professor at Miskatonic University who, with Henry Armitage and Francis Morgan, leads the party that exterminates Wilbur Whateley’s monstrous twin brother. Rimel, Duane W[eldon] (1915–1996),

author of weird and fantasy tales and correspondent of HPL (1934–37). In his letters HPL wrote expansively to Rimel about numerous subjects, offering constant assistance in matters of literary technique. In a letter dated June 17, 1934, HPL includes a segment called “Notes on Writing a Story,” one of several different versions of the essay “Notes on Writing Weird Fiction” (1933). HPL read many of his early stories and revised some of them, including “The Tree on the Hill” (1934; Polaris, September 1940) and “The Disinterment” (1935; WT,January 1937), and perhaps also “The Jewels of Charlotte” ( Unusual Stories,May–June 1935). Rimel published many other stories in fanzines and semi-pro magazines. His poem cycle “Dreams of Yith” ( Fantasy Fan,July and September 1934) was revised by HPL and perhaps by Clark Ashton Smith. In his so-called death diary, HPL mentions revising Rimel’s story “From the Sea” in January 1937, but the story apparently is unpublished and does not survive. Rimel briefly spearheaded the HPL fan movement in the 1940s, luring Francis T.Laney back into fandom and coediting The Acolyte(1942–46). He went on to write westerns and soft-core pornography under pseudonyms. See his memoir, “H.P.Lovecraft as I Knew Him” ( CryptNo. 18 [Yuletide 1983]: 9–11). Much of his weird short fiction and poetry has now been reprinted in The Forbidden Room(Moshassuck Press, 1988), The Many Worlds of Duane Rimel(1988), The Second Book of Rimel(1989), and To Yith and Beyond(Moshassuck Press, 1990).

< previous page page_227 next page > < previous page page_228 next page >

Page 228

Robbins, Maria.

In “The Shunned House,” a woman from Newport, R.I., hired by Mercy Dexter in 1769 to be a servant at the house. Although her health declines markedly, she stays until 1783, when the Harris family moved out of the house.

Robinson, Buck.

In “Herbert West—Reanimator,” a semi-professional boxer (nicknamed “The Harlem Smoke”) who is killed by “Kid” O’Brien in an informal bout in Bolton, Mass. He is taken to the office of Dr. Herbert West, who hopes to revive him from the dead, but West believes he has failed, since the solution he injected into Robinson (an African American) was “prepared from experience with white specimens only.” Later West learns otherwise.

Rogers, George.

In “The Horror in the Museum,” the curator and chief artist of a wax museum in London who has a penchant for teratological monstrosities and who goes mad after he captures a strange “deity.” His latest creation in wax—a depiction of himself mutilated by the deity—proves to be no wax effigy at all.

Romero, Juan.

In “Transition of Juan Romero,” a Mexican peon who is actually a descendant of the Aztecs. When he and the narrator explore the vast cavern uncovered in the Norton Mine, where they are employed as miners, he witnesses something frightening in the great abyss, and the next day is found dead in his bunk.

Romnod.

In “The Quest of Iranon,” the boy from Teloth who helps Iranon seek his homeland, Aira. They come to Oonai, “the city of lutes and dancing,” where they stay, and there Romnod indulges in strong drink, from which he eventually dies.

Ropes,———.

In At the Mountains of Madness,a student and a member of the Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition of 1930–31.

Roulet, Etienne.

In “The Shunned House,” a Huguenot who flees from France to East Greenwich, R.I., in 1686. Roulet is somehow connected with Jacques Roulet of Caude, who in 1598 is accused of lycanthropy. The land on which the Shunned House was built had been leased to Roulet and his wife in 1697. Rufus, L[ucius] Caelius.

In “The Very Old Folk,” a provincial quaestor in the Roman province of Hispania Citerior (Spain), who accompanies a cohort of the Roman army to investigate reports of peculiar events in the hills above Tarraco. In the dream inspiring this story, HPL himself was Rufus.

Russell, John,