September 1, 2025

Greetings Everyone!

I hope all of you will check out my three books; you can get them at Amazon and other on-line book sellers. They are also available in book stores throughout the US and across the world.  In these books, I study H. P. Lovecraft  and his works, focusing on his extra-terrestrial, terrestrial and trans-dimensional alien entities. These aliens share much in common with the alien entities of other great science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov and William Gibson: they are malevolent and thoroughly incommensurable. 

Lovecraft’s aliens have had a profound influence on  contemporary magical practitioners and have become a legitimate basis for working magical systems, particularly the black magical systems. The images, the power and the effectiveness of these alien entities, also, are fueled by Lovecraft’s racism: a violently, vitriolic racism, in fact, which argued that western civilization is in decline and slavery is justifiable among “superior” civilizations, including the Great Race, the Elder Things and the Mi-Go.    

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

https://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Reality-Science-Fiction-Lovecraft/dp/178904510X

https://www.amazon.com/Lovecraft-Black-Magickal-Tradition-Influence/dp/157863587X  

JLS    

August 19, 2025

 Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, was recently published by Bloomsbury!  I hope that all of you will pick up a copy!

In a previous posting, I have described Lovecraft’s first racist narrative: the miscegenation narrative.  In his later fiction, Lovecraft develops a second racist narrative—the slave master/slave narrative, which is drawn from Lovecraft’s knowledge of the Atlantic slave trade in colonial times. 

Lovecraft  uses this narrative to  promote the practice of slavery.  He holds up the alien astronaut civilizations, the Mi-Go, the Elder Things and the Great Race, all of whom enslaved weaker races, as ideal civilizations — the highest, most advanced civilizations in the cosmos, in fact.  Since these civilizations kept slaves, or so the argument goes, the Anglo Saxon race should feel no compunctions about doing likewise.  

Check out my book for analysis of how Lovecraft uses his slave master/slave narrative in his great, science fiction masterpieces: “The Whisperer in Darkness,” “The Shadow Out of Time,” and  At the Mountains of Madness!

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

JLS

August 10, 2025

 Greetings Everyone!

Check out my second  book: Aliens, Robots & Virtual Reality Idols in the Science Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov and William Gibson.   You can get it in book stores, and on Amazon and other online sites throughout the US and the world.  I hope all of you will pick up a copy!

David Simmons, Lovecraft scholar, writes: “Steadman’s comprehensive guide wrestles with the concept of the ‘alien’, applying cutting edge theoretical and philosophical ideas to the work of some of the greats of Science Fiction to arrive at the set of exciting, new discoveries about what the genre says it means to be ‘human’.  Reading Aliens, Robots and Virtual Reality Idols guarantees that you will never look at the writing of Lovecraft, Asimov or Gibson in the same way again.”

Perhaps, you will look at the works of these writers differently after reading my book! 

https://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Reality-Science-Fiction-Lovecraft/dp/178904510X

John L. Steadman

August 2, 2025

 Greetings Everyone!

It’s Lammas now and the nights are getting longer and there is a feel of autumn in the air.  I looked up at the moon tonight; it was a Halloween moon, tinted orange.

Leo Spitzer, Edgar Allan Poe scholar, makes an interesting observation about Poe: "He is necessarily driven towards pure abstractions...And death represents the ultimate abstraction, the zero degree of concrete reality”

What do you make of that?

August 1, 2025

Greetings Everyone!

Check out my first book: H. P. Lovecraft & the Black Magickal Tradition! You can get it in book stores, and at various online sites throughout the US and the world, including Amazon and Red Wheel /Weiser LLC.  I hope all of you will pick up a copy!

Richard Lupoff, renowned sf author, writes: “Was Lovecraft merely a writer of horror stories or was there something more to his works?... In H.P. Lovecraft and the Black Magickal Tradition, John L. Steadman addresses this question head-on...Steadman’s scholarship is impressive and the revelations in his book may well be as shocking to skeptics (including me!) as they are reassuring to believers.  I recommend this book unreservedly to any admirer of Lovecraft, whichever camp the reader may belong to.”

Perhaps, you may find some revelations of your own when you read it! 

https://www.amazon.com/Lovecraft-Black-Magickal-Tradition-Influence/dp/157863587X

John L. Steadman 

July 14, 2025

Greetings Everyone!

I hope all of you will pick up a copy of my most recent book: Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales! You can get  it online from Bloomsbury and of course, from Amazon and other booksellers in the US and around the world. 

H. P. Lovecraft, in his hybrid, degenerative monster tales, makes use of  the miscegenation narrative, which holds that sexual liaisons or intimate, non-sexual associations between members of different races, or species, pose a threat for Anglo Saxon whites.  

In Lovecraft’s view, miscegenation always debases the white partner — male or female — and it can lead to the production of mixed race children, which are, in effect, not only an abomination against natural law, but also a threat to the longevity of the white race and to the survival of western civilization in general.

As a further elaboration of the miscegenation narrative, there are two types of miscegenation narratives in Lovecraft’s fiction.  First, there is miscegenation by blood; in these cases, the relationship between the two parties is always sexual, and hybrids are produced.  Second, there is miscegenation by association; in these cases, no sexual contact occurs; the danger, thus, arises merely from the contact between the partners.

Check out my book for analysis of how Lovecraft uses his miscegenation narrative  in some of his most popular tales: “Herbert West—Reanimator,” “The Lurking Fear,” “The Rats in the Walls” and one of  his greatest tales: “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”!

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

JLS 

June 18, 2025

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, was recently published by Bloomsbury; I hope that all of you will pick up a copy!

Lovecraft makes extensive use of racist images in both his early and later works.   These images are drawn from Lovecraft’s observations of members of the non-white race that he most despised and abhorred,  African Americans,  especially as he observed them in the slums of his hometown Providence, Rhode Island and at close quarters during his brief residence in the Red Hook district of New York.

Lovecraft focuses on the simian and ape-like characteristics that he insisted on seeing in the faces and forms of  the locals and then simply projects these onto his monsters.  He does this in a very conscious and deliberate manner in order to enhance the horror and the repugnance that these creatures inspire in the minds of his readers (or at least, so Lovecraft presumed).

Check out my book for analysis of how Lovecraft uses these images creatively in some of his most popular tales: “Arthur Jermyn,” “Herbert West—Reanimator,” and “The Rats in the Walls”!

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

JLS