A note left from his father, Montrose, and rumors of a mysterious white man and a black sedan sends Atticus and his uncle haring off after his dad. It begins with ex-soldier Atticus heading to Chicago and experiencing disturbing–but not unexpected–racist incidents on the way.

Lovecraft Country –titular story is the longest, and yet it felt like it wandered too much to be a self-sufficient story. Part of it is because the ‘action’ is usually equally distributed between the race conflicts and the Lovecraftian/otherworldly ones. Still, despite expecting shorts, something about most of them felt more fragmented and less complete than I wanted. Which is, after all, no doubt what Ruff intended: just like in the zombie apocalypse, it’s always the other people that are the most dangerous. I think I 100% felt more anxious and concerned about the race-based conflicts than any supernatural ones. There’s an interesting blend of Lovecraft and race awareness that sort of works, but sort of doesn’t. I had heard this was a collection of short stories, so I went into it with fair expectations, I think. So, drum roll please… I present to you….Read December, 2021 Recommended for the Lovecraft-curious ★ ★ ★ 1/2 The librarian in me could not help but notice the numerous written and musical works within the series and since the final episode left us all clutching our pearls and chest for more, it just seems appropriate to create a Reading Recommendation List as we await season two! Perhaps best known for his story 'The Call of Cthulhu,' and novels The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and The Whisperer in Darkness, his work has left an indelible mark in the science fiction and horror genres.īecause I would never judge a book by its author, I gave Ruff and Lovecraft Country a read, and surprisingly, it made me a fanatic for the TV show. Sprinkle the injustice of the Jim Crow era, The Tulsa Race Massacre, and the lynching murder of Emmet Till and you get a whole lot of intense feelings and the harsh reality of living while Black in the land of the free.īut there would be no Lovecraft Country story to tell without the written works of Howard Phillips 'H.P.' Lovecraft whose virulently racist views came through in much of his writing. Written by Matt Ruff, Lovecraft Countryis a 2016 dark fantasy novel that takes its readers to 1950s America, when prevalent racism, gender inequality, and suppression of sexual freedom are used to remind non-whites how much they don’t look like the others.

(Haven't seen the show? You can view the trailer here.) This extreme supernatural, yet historically relatable story gives us everything we need to temporarily ignore our own modern-day reality.

Monsters, ghosts, magic, secret societies, the Book of Names and don’t forget The Safe Negro Travel Guide are just a few of the many eerie goodies brought to life in HBO’s original Lovecraft Country series executive produced by Misha Green, Jordan Peele, and J.J.

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