fortean times ♥ cthulhu

Fortean Times es una revista mensual de noticias, crítica y análisis de fenómenos extraños, curiosidades, prodigios y portentos. En junio de 2004 le dedicó un número especial a LC donde Daniel Harms, autor de la Enciclopedia cthoniana, escribió Dreamer of the Dark. La preciosa ilustración de David Carson iba con él.

Harms describe LC como un escéptico iireductible y cuenta la siguiente anécdota, que incluye a otro escéptico heróico de su tiempo, Harry Houdini:

Lovecraft’s scepticism was so vehement that, at one point, it almost brought him a book deal. The celebrated stage magician Harry Houdini was known as a debunker of spiritualists and quacks. Lovecraft revised a fictionalised account of one of Houdini’s adventures, in which the conjuror escapes bandits and far worse things in the tunnels beneath the Great Pyramids ("Imprisoned with the Pharaohs"). Houdini was happy with the rewrite, and the two exchanged letters discussing future collaborations. Along with Providence author C M Eddy, they decided to write a book called The Cancer of Superstition, which they thought would strike a final blow against credulity. Houdini’s death in 1926 put an end to the project; if what survives is anything to go by, 2 it was no great loss, the authors’ names being the book’s most interesting feature.

Sobra decir que no estoy nada de acuerdo con esta sentencia última. Creo que habría sido un libro muy interesante.