An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

enough, HPL did not care for Blackwood when he first read him in 1920 (see HPL to the Gallomo, [January] 1920; AHT); but when HPL read “The Willows” in an anthology in late 1924, he was convinced that, despite his unevenness, Blackwood was among the leading authors of supernatural fiction, particularly in his suggestions of cosmicism. Blackwood was a mystic with a fascination for Eastern thought; his novel The Centaur(1911) is his spiritual autobiography. John Silence—Physician Extraordinary(1908) popularized the use of the “psychic detective”; it was imitated by William Hope Hodgson and others. Blackwood also wrote fantasies for and about children, including Jimbo: A Fantasy(1909) and The Education of Uncle Paul(1909). HPL praised Incredible Adventures(1914), a collection of four long stories, in “Supernatural Horror in Literature” and elsewhere (see, e.g., SL 5.160). Late in life Blackwood became popular on BBC radio and television. See Selected Tales (1938), Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural(1949), Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre(1967), and his autobiography Episodes Before Thirty(1923).

See Mike Ashley, “Lovecraft and Blackwood: A Surveillance,” CryptNo. 51 (Hallowmas 1987): 3–8, 14; Mike Ashley, “The Cosmic Connection,” CryptNo. 57 (St. John’s Eve 1988): 3–9; Mike Ashley, Algernon Blackwood: A Bio-Bibliography(Greenwood Press, 1987); S.T.Joshi, “Algernon Blackwood: The Expansion of Consciousness,” in Joshi’s The Weird Tale(University of Texas Press, 1990). Blake, Richard.

In “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind,” the author-poet from Boston who rents a country cottage near Fenham, thinking it will provide imaginative stimulus for his work. While there, he becomes aware of an unseen presence and later is found dead.

Blake, Robert.

In “The Haunter of the Dark,” the writer of weird tales from Milwaukee, Wis., who moves to Providence, R.I., for inspiration. He keeps a diary of his investigations of the Free-Will Church, which he had first observed from his window but then sought out across town. He unwittingly disturbs the unseen presence residing in the abandoned church and, in the end, dies from his encounter with the avatar of Nyarlathotep.

Blake is loosely based on Robert Bloch, to whom the story is dedicated. (Blake’s Milwaukee address was Bloch’s real address at the time the story was written.) However, he also embodies attributes of HPL himself. The view from Blake’s room in Providence is exactly that which HPL saw. The titles of the stories attributed to Blake are parodies of HPL’s and Bloch’s own stories.

Blandot.

In “The Music of Erich Zann,” the “paralytic” landlord of the boarding house on the Rue d’Auseil where Zann and the narrator reside.

Blish, James (1921–1975).

Pioneering American science fiction writer who corresponded briefly with HPL (1936). Blish and his friend William Miller planned to issue a fanzine, The Planeteer,and in the spring of 1936 asked HPL for contributions. HPL sent them the poem “The Wood,” which was to appear in September 1936; although the pages containing the poem were printed, the issue

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was never completed. HPL continued to correspond with Blish and Miller (apparently writing to them jointly) until the summer. Three of his letters to them were published in the fanzine Phantastique/Science Fiction Critic(March 1938); rpt. HPL’s Uncollected Letters(Necronomicon Press, 1986). Blish went on to become a distinguished science fiction writer, with such landmark novels as A Case of Conscience(1958), Black Easter(1968), and Doctor Mirabilis(1964; rev. 1971). See David Ketterer, Imprisoned in a Tesseract: The Life and Work of James Blish(1987). Bloch, Robert (1917–1994).