July 22, 2026

 Greetings Everyone!

I hope all of you will pick up a copy of my recent book:  Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, available at Amazon, Bloomsbury, and other online booksellers!

You can read all about Lovecraft’s theory of evolution, which reveals a fear on his part that degeneration is a stronger force than development; that human beings can more easily devolve than they can evolve. Lovecraft’s theory derives, in part, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), a book that Lovecraft was very familiar with.

Mr. Hyde is described by numerous characters in the novel as “deformed” or “degenerate.”  When  Jekyll transforms into Hyde, this can be interpreted as a devolution from a higher form of life into a lower one.  Over the course of Jekyll’s transformations, Hyde begins to dominate Jekyll, such that Jekyll finds it increasingly difficult to make the transition back to his integrated self.

Finally, in the climax, Jekyll cannot return to being Jekyll; frustrated, he commits suicide and dies.  Interestingly, however, Jekyll still cannot break free; the dead body that remains is Hyde’s body.  The transformation is permanent, even in death.

Here, Stevenson is making the same argument that Lovecraft makes in his hybrid, degenerative monster tales: devolution is stronger than evolution!

In my next two postings, I will examine two additional Victorian horror masterpieces that inspired Lovecraft’s evolutionary theories: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107690/

JLS

July 21, 2026

Greetings Everyone!

I hope all of you will pick up a copy of my recent book,  Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales!

In my last posting, I talked about Lovecraft’s racist, polygenetic theory of  evolution.  Lovecraft argues that  Anglo-Saxons and the other white races, who are genuine human beings, are descended from advanced types of apes.  In contrast,  blacks and the lesser races are descended from lower, less evolved apes. Therefore, blacks and whites are  separate species and blacks should not be considered as human beings.

In his fictional works, especially in the early works—the tales that I refer to as the hybrid, degenerative monster tales—Lovecraft carries this argument even further.

He suggests that when it comes to separate, but similar species such as blacks and whites, there is a built-in genetic barrier that excludes members of the “lower” species from becoming members of the “higher” species.  However, the reverse is not true— members of the higher species can move between the barriers  and de-evolve if they so desire, but this will force them to leave their “humanity” behind.

 You can read all about Lovecraft’s theory of de-evolution and how he uses it to justify his xenophobic political beliefs in Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft!

In my next posting, I will examine one of Lovecraft’s main sources for his views about de-evolution—Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107690/

JLS

July 19, 2026

 Greetings Everyone!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy of my recent book,  Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales!

In two of his earliest poems, “De Triumpho Naturae” (1905) and “On the Creation of Niggers”(1912), Lovecraft upends Darwin’s theory of evolution by proposing a theory of polygenesis, as opposed to genesis. 

According to this theory, humans, including the superior types of humans—white Anglo Saxons—evolved from some type of highly developed quadruped, complete with pointed ears and a tail, like their distant cousin the monkey. However, blacks evolved from different, lower quadrupeds. 

Thus, or so the theory holds, since white Anglo-Saxons and blacks are not descended from the same quadrupeds, they are separate species, and therefore, Lovecraft concluded, blacks should not be considered as human beings.

You can read all about Lovecraft’s theory of polygenesis in Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft, and how Lovecraft uses this theory to insist that blacks, like monkeys and apes, must be kept separate from humans—that they represent, in fact, a threat to the purity of the white race. 

JLS

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107690/

June 21, 2026

 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!

Carl H. Sederholm, Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at Brigham Young University, writes this about my book: 

“[It] offers a welcome commentary on what it means to encounter the Other under the most extreme possibilities.  It also provides an insightful—and sometimes even chilling—analysis of several works by H. P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, and William Gibson to suggest how each author imagines the human, the alien and the universe.  The result is an insightful and interesting read that offers a new perspective on each author while also focusing on what it means to be human in an increasingly strange world.”

Perhaps, you might feel a chill or two run up and down your spine when you read it! 

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

JLS

June 20, 2026

 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!

Nick Mamatas, well-known sf writer and author of such classics as Move Under Ground and Love Is the Law, writes this about my book:

“They say truth is stranger than fiction, but is truth stranger than Lovecraftian fiction?  John L. Steadman’s in-depth look at Lovecraft and the occult proves that it is!  A fascinating mix of literary criticism, subaltern history, and occult minutiae, even for non-occultists like myself.”

Is truth stranger than Lovecraftian fiction?  Decide for yourself after you read it!

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

JLS

June 13, 2026

Greetings Everyone!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy of my recent book,  Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales!

Lovecraft lost his privileged lifestyle in his teen years, when he and his mother were forced to move out of their  Providence Rhode Island mansion and live instead in rented rooms located just blocks from their former house. 

This was the most traumatic event in Lovecraft’s life and his racial hatred against non-whites intensified, for he could see that he and his mother weren’t as privileged or superior to these so-called inferior races as he had believed.

This event, also, triggered a pattern of loss and failure that characterized Lovecraft’s life from that moment onwards: whenever he faced a crisis, he would freeze up and be unable to act—thus, whatever he was trying to accomplish usually ended up in failure. 

The pattern of loss and failure is evident not only in the various personal crises that Lovecraft found himself having to face in his adult life, but we see this same pattern of behavior reflected in the lives and careers of the fictional protagonists in his major works.

You can read all about Lovecraft’s personal traumas and the psychological problems that plagued him in my book! 

All of these traumas and problems laid the foundation for most of his greatest tales especially “The Rats in the Walls,” The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” and “The Dreams in the Witch-House”.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107690/

JLS  

June 12, 2026

 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