An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

Bierce, Ambrose [Gwinnett] (1842–c. 1914).

American short story writer and journalist. His best tales are collected in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians [In the Midst of Life](1891) and Can Such Things Be?(1893), the former containing

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his Civil War tales (many filled with moments of terror and grue) and tales of psychological horror, the latter his weird fiction. HPL first read Bierce (at the instigation of Samuel Loveman) in 1919. HPL discusses Bierce’s work in “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” where he quotes from Loveman’s preface to Bierce’s Twenty-one Letters of Ambrose Bierce(1922), published by HPL’s friend George Kirk. The invisible monster in “The Damned Thing” is a likely influence on “The Dunwich Horror.” Clark Ashton Smith felt that “In the Vault” had “the realistic grimness of Bierce” (letter to HPL, March 11, 1930; ms., JHL). HPL discusses the authorship of The Monk and the Hangman’s Daughter (cotranslated with Adolphe de Castro [later a client of HPL] from the German of Richard Voss) in SL 1.203–7. Frank Belknap Long revised de Castro’s Portrait of Ambrose Bierce(1929) after HPL declined.

See Carey McWilliams, Ambrose Bierce: A Biography(A. & C. Boni, 1929); M.E.Grenander, Ambrose Bierce(Twayne, 1971); Roy Morris, Jr., Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company(Crown, 1995). Birch, George.

The undertaker of Peck Valley (state unknown), who is the subject of “In the Vault.” His carelessness and unprofessionalism not only cause him to be imprisoned in the local cemetery’s receiving tomb but also exact the revenge of one of the corpses temporarily stored there.

Bishop, Mamie.

In “The Dunwich Horror,” the “common-law wife” of Earl Sawyer, who is one of the first to see Wilbur Whateley after he is born. She is the confidante of Wilbur’s mother, Lavinia. Mamie’s relationship to Seth Bishop is unspecified. Seth’s cattle suffer bizarre wounds from Wilbur’s twin brother. Silas Bishop is merely said to be “of the undecayed Bishops.”

Bishop, Zealia Brown Reed (1897–1968).

Revision client and correspondent of HPL. Samuel Loveman introduced her to HPL around 1928. She wished to write romantic fiction, but HPL attempted to steer her toward weird or serious mainstream work. HPL ghostwrote “The Curse of Yig” ( WT,November 1929) in 1928 from a plot synopsis and a questionnaire pertaining to the Oklahoma setting for the story; “The Mound” (December 1929– January 1930) and “Medusa’s Coil” (May 1930) were written from brief plot-germs (HPL’s synopsis for the latter survives in AHT). WTrejected “The Mound” when it was submitted by Frank Belknap Long, who was acting as Bishop’s agent; Long then abridged the text, but it was again rejected. The stories, having been rewritten by August Derleth, appeared in WT (“The Mound” in November 1940; “Medusa’s Coil” in January 1939). The corrected texts were not published until HM . The three stories were published in The Curse of Yig(Arkham House, 1953), for which Bishop wrote an error-filled memoir, “H.P.Lovecraft: A Pupil’s View” (rpt. LR).

Blackwood, Algernon [Henry] (1869–1951).

British author whose work HPL praised highly: he considered “The Willows” (in The Listener and Other Stories[1907]) the best weird tale in all literature. “The Wendigo” (in The Lost Valley and Other Stories[1910]) probably influenced “The Dunwich Horror” in its use of anomalous footprints to indicate the presence of a supernatural entity. Oddly

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