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

May 11, 2026

 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 from Bloomsbury, Amazon and other online sources, and, of course, in bookstores.    

H. P. Lovecraft, in his hybrid, degenerative monster tales, as I refer to them, 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: “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

May 10, 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!

Lovecraft makes extensive use of racist images and racist narratives in both his early and later works—I will identify the racist narratives in the next posting; here, I am discussing the racist images.  

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 Horror at Red Hook”!

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

 JLS 

April 29, 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!

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 

April 28, 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!

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, in fact, 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