James L. Cambias's Blog, page 22

Lewis and Lovecraft

This post is about a common thread I've noticed in the works of two very different writers: Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Clive Staples Lewis. (One of their few similiarities is that both are known by their first two initials.)

C.S. Lewis, of course, is famous as the author of the Narnia series and numerous works of Christian popular theology and apologetics. However, between 1938 and 1945 he wrote a trio of science fiction novels, known generally as his "Space Trilogy." In the first, Out of the Silent Planet, an Oxford linguist named Ransom is kidnapped to Mars by an arrogant scientist named Weston who has constructed a spaceship, and a greedy upper-class bounder named Devine, who wants to get rich off the project. On Mars Ransom meets several species of Martians and finally has an interview with the ruler of the planet, Oyarsa (later on we learn that's a title rather than a name). Oyarsa explains that Earth is called "the silent planet" because its ruling spirit has rebelled against the Creator, and the planet is a kind of celestial pariah state.

The second, Perelandra, takes Ransom to Venus where he faces off against Weston, who is acting as the Serpent in a new Garden of Eden, trying to tempt the first sentient beings on Venus into falling from grace the way humans did on Earth. Eventually Ransom realizes Weston is the vessel for a demonic intelligence, and the two men battle across the surface of the planet and through a nightmarish underworld.

The final novel, That Hideous Strength, blends three strands. It chronicles the crumbling marriage of Mark and Jane Studdock, two academics at fictional Bracton College; it tells of a (literally) unholy alliance between materialist science and demonic evil; and it depicts a major battle between the forces of cosmic good and the evil power controlling Earth.

Some readers don't classify Lewis's trilogy as science fiction, since it has God and angels and Satan and demons in it. When I first read it forty years ago I probably would have agreed, but now I see it as a sincere attempt to write science fiction in an explicitly Christian universe. Surely if we can suspend our disbelief for faster-than-light travel or psionic powers we should be able to imagine a universe where God is real.

H.P. Lovecraft's work is probably more familiar to science fiction fans, so I won't summarize his stories. Suffice to say that he reinvented the horror genre by jettisoning the old paraphenalia of ghosts, vampires, and family curses, substituting his own mythology of ancient alien species, cosmic entities as powerful as gods but lacking any compassion for mere humans, and beings so alien that humans are driven mad by the sight of them.

I don't know if either man read the other's work. Lovecraft died before Lewis published any of his fantasy or science fiction, so it's doubtful that HPL ever heard of C.S. Lewis. But Lewis did read a fair amount of popular literature in his own day, so it's at least possible that he ran across some Lovecraft stories in anthologies or magazine reprints. "The Colour Out of Space" or "The Dunwich Horror" are the most likely candidates. If some scholar of Lewisiana knows of any record of Lewis reading Lovecraft I'd love to hear of it.

Now that I've gotten all that introducing out of the way, here's the thread I've become aware of in their work. Both Lewis's Space Trilogy and the bulk of Lovecraft's work were attempts to grapple with the notion of humanity's place in the universe as revealed by 20th-Century science: a place inconceivably vast, ancient, and hostile to humanity.

For Lovecraft, informed by Neitszchean pessimism, the primary reaction to that vision of the universe was fear. In all of his greatest stories, the horror is simply the crushing reality ��� suitably reified in monstrous form ��� that humans aren't the pinnacle of creation, aren't the center of God's attention, aren't the hub of the universe. We're not even the masters of the Earth, really.

"The Shadow Out of Time" shows that humans are ephemeral, doomed to be replaced by beetles. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" suggests that our control of the Earth is limited to the dry land bits, and a vaster civilization waits patiently under the sea. "The Colour Out of Space" paints a vivid picture of just how alien the universe beyond the sky may be. And At The Mountains of Madness reveals we were created accidentally by ancient plant-beings from space.

What's interesting is that Lewis, the Christian convert "surprised by joy" as he put it in the title of his autobiography, reaches many of the same conclusions as grim atheistical Lovecraft, in the Space Trilogy.

Humans aren't the pinnacle of creation in Lewis's trilogy. In Perelandra it's pretty explicit that the children of Venus will be the ones to fill the role that humans on Earth failed to achieve. They will be the bridge between mortal and divine, and part of their task will be the rescue of humanity from our "silent planet" occupied by evil. Humans will be supporting cast in the Venusian epic.

Nor, for Lewis, are human concerns especially important. As Tor ��� the "Adam" of Venus ��� explains to Ransom, the biblical Apocalypse and the "end of the world" is supposed to be a new beginning ��� the correction of a trivial mistake before humans and Venusians can get started on the real divine plan. All our history, even the Incarnation of Christ and the Crucifixion, are a footnote.

Lewis can even create some pretty Lovecraftian beings. It's notable that they aren't the demon-possessed villains, or even the giant creepy-crawly which makes a brief onstage appearance in Perelandra. No, it's the angels. There's one scene in which the tutelary spirits of Mars and Venus ask Ransom's help in choosing appropriate forms for them to take as they pay homage to the Adam and Eve of Venus. Their first couple of attempts overwhelm Ransom's senses and shake his sanity because his brain simply cannot comprehend them. And in That Hideous Strength the invisible presence of an angel distorts the spatial perceptions of humans nearby. Since the angels impose their own absolute frame of reference on their surroundings, humans suddenly become aware that they're standing on the surface of a spinning ball whirling around the Sun.

In the other direction, Lovecraft's Fungi From Yuggoth from "The Whisperer in Darkness" could almost be Lewisian examples of the future of a fallen, demon-ruled species obsessed with material power and scientific knowledge. Weston or the scientists of N.I.C.E. would find them very congenial, and consider their habit of carrying brains around in metal jars a clever idea.

Interestingly, both men also appreciate the creepiness of stupidity: Lovecraft's ultimate Elder God is the "blind idiot" Azathoth. While in Perelandra the demon possessing Weston only uses intelligence as a tool, reverting to mindless malevolence when there's no advantage to be gained by argument.

But of course despite these similarities, I don't think anyone else has ever used the adjective "Lovecraftian" to describe Lewis's work. And the reason, of course, is the infinitely big elephant in the room: God.

Lovecraft was a diehard atheist. For him, humanity and the fate of the Earth really were irrelevant in the cosmic scheme of things. There is no resurrection after death, no afterlife. Fame is fleeting, as is civilization. Nothing matters. Hence his reaction of horror.

By contrast Lewis ��� after a difficult and reluctant conversion from unbelief to devout Christianity ��� could take comfort in the idea of an infinitely compassionate God. So that even in a vast and ancient universe the inhabitants of one fallen world are still worthy of His aid. There is a purpose to it all, somehow, even if that purpose is far too big for a mere human mind to understand. We may not be the center of the universe, but something is, and our mayfly lives do matter to somebody.

Personally I'm more in line with Lovecraft than Lewis. I lack belief. But as I've grown older I've come to realize that it is a lack. Feeling smug and superior to mere believers is at best immature, and is certainly without any foundation in fact. Atheists have managed to beat all religions quite handily in the realm of bloodshed and oppression, but I haven't seen them produce anything to match Chartres Cathedral or Mozart's Requiem. In an irony that even Lovecraft might have found amusing, it may turn out that unbelief is not an "adaptive strategy" as the biologists would say, and that brute Darwinian selection will favor the believers.

Comparing the works of Lewis and Lovecraft does make me wonder what the two men might have made of each other, had they somehow met or exchanged letters. I have no doubt that the Anglophile Lovecraft would have been vastly impressed by a real live Oxford don, even if he wasn't convinced by Lewis's religious arguments. I'm less sure that Lewis would have had much patience with Lovecraft. Pedantic self-taught know-it-alls can be rather tiresome (or so I'm told). At the very least the two of them could have shared a laugh at the false piety and boosterism of some of Lovecraft's ghost-writing clients.

 

For a look at my own take on demons and people who traffick with them, check out The Initiate, on sale next week!

Book Launch Party February 6!

My new novel The Initiate comes out in two weeks from Baen Books. In this modern dark fantasy thriller, Samuel Arquero fights alone against the Apkallu, the ancient and secret order of wizards who rule the world. But what price must he pay?

Join me and special guest Suzanne Palmer, author of the upcoming novel Driving the Deep, for a book launch party at Book Moon bookstore (86 Cottage Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts), 6:30-8:00 p.m. on February 6, 2020. The event features readings, book signing, and refreshments.

Great Moments In Gaming

This table anecdote by Daniel J. Davis is one of the greatest examples I've seen of player-characters being player-characters. I love this stuff. It's why I love roleplaying games: seeing other people be clever (and, occasionally, horrifying).

 

 

For more clever, horrifying acts, check out The Initiate, from Baen Books. It will be in bookstores February 4, and is available for pre-order right now!

Arisia 2020 Report, Day 3

Sunday was my final day at the con. Most conventions are three-day affairs: show up Friday afternoon, do stuff Friday night and Saturday, maybe a few things Sunday morning, then head home after lunch. Not Arisia. Taking advantage of the MLK Day weekend, it stretches into Monday. That means Sunday is a busy full day rather than the tag end. 

I started my day moderating a panel on "Ringworld at 50," celebrating half a century since the publication of Larry Niven's landmark novel Ringworld. Opinions of the book among the five panelists varied, but we all agreed it's one of the most influential books of that era ��� not to mention a turning point in Mr. Niven's own career.

Slight pause after that, while I busied myself getting checked out of the hotel and finding a place to stash my stuff. Arisia may be a four-day convention, but I had prior commitments on the 20th and so couldn't stay to the end. 

I did manage to sit in on a couple of panels. The first was on book to film adaptations, and how one's impression of a work is affected by which version one experiences first. There are some cases where the film is actually better than the novel ��� my personal example is Carl Sagan's book Contact, which is full of plot holes the movie version avoids.

Another very useful panel was about crowdfunding and tabletop games. I may be dipping a toe into the Kickstarter world with an upcoming roleplaying game project, so it was all very informative. Watch this space for more information!

At 5:30 I participated in the panel "Writers React to Bad Writing," which might well have been called "Writers Forget Their Homework." We were all supposed to bring examples of bad prose to pick apart, but a minority of the panelists actually accomplished that simple task. I had selected a passage from Dan Brown's thriller Inferno, but cleverly left my copy at home so I had to reconstruct it from memory.

During the empty slot between that panel and my final event I taped an interview for Tyromag TV, which will probably appear in a few weeks. I don't think I picked my nose on camera.

I wound up my participation in convention programming by moderating the panel on "Hacking D&D," in which five panelists suggested rules tweaks or entire game mechanics from other games which can be ported into the most popular roleplaying system. In most cases they can probably be used in just about any game system without much tweaking. At least a couple of the examples are things I plan to use in games from now on.

With that done I could drop my name card into a recycling bin and join some other CSFWites at the ongoing "House of Toast" party. I had kind of assumed "Toast" was a euphemism, or maybe an acronym for something, but no, it was a party with about half a dozen toasters working full time popping out bread, and tables of exotic stuff to spread on them. We crunched down our toast and left the con. I got a lift to where my car was parked, and drove through a cold night back home.

 

A secret order of wizards rules the world, and one man has vowed to destroy them. The Initiate arrives in just two weeks!

Arisia 2020 Report, Day 2

Saturday the 18th was a light-duty day for me, which meant I got to enjoy the con as a member rather than as one of the dancing monkeys. 

Still fighting off my cold, I slept in on Saturday morning, starting my day by having brunch with my CSFW colleague Alexander Jablokow at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Many things of great import were discussed, though I can't quite recall any of them at the moment.

In early afternoon I sat in on a Meetup for gamemasters, discussing techniques, best practices, and resources. I had hoped to find some other gamers from western Massachusetts, but no luck. 

After that I took a turn about the dealer room and the Art Show. The quality of the artwork on display at Arisia is the highest I've seen at any convention since the Worldcon I attended in the summer of 2018.

In the late afternoon I watched a fascinating talk by David Shaw about the future of food. Unlike most studies of this topic, which focus on production, he concentrated on how new technologies and methods are affecting the art of cooking. Nor was this just theory: the talk was illustrated by slides of amazing dishes he himself had prepared. 

Following that I met with author Walter Hunt, chiefly in order to gush about his new novel Harmony in Light, and hear super-secret details of the upcoming sequel. 

After a rest to recharge my batteries, I put on my dancing-monkey costume and led a meetup for writers at 10:00 p.m. They were a great bunch, and I hope to see some of the works-in-progress they talked about during the session. 

And then off to bed and out like a snuffed candle.

 

A secret order of wizards rules the world. One man has vowed to destroy them. The Initiate by James L. Cambias is coming to a bookstore near you February 4. 

Arisia 2020 Report, Day 1

I drove out to Boston on a sunny but cold January afternoon, left the car at the disintegrating Alewife garage, and rode the T to the good old Westin Waterfront hotel.

Various delays en route and long lines at the hotel meant I barely had time to get my room, get my Arisia badge, and get my Participant Packet before it was time for my first event. But despite the crowds the hotel and convention staff were very efficient, so I was able to slide into the Independence room with a few minutes to spare.

"Stories From the Cities" was the title for a session of three readings by Andrea Hairston, W.B.J. Williams, and myself. Dr. Hairston read a couple of rousing chapters from her upcoming fantasy novel, Mr. Williams shared part of an urban fantasy work-in-progress, and I read an excerpt from (of course) The Initiate. All three seemed well-received by the half-dozen attendees ��� not a bad crowd for the very first time slot at 5:30 on Friday afternoon.

Immediately after that, conveniently in the same room, we had the panel on "Not With My Intellectual Property, You Don't." The panel included Diane Martin, Kristin Janz, Emperor Joey 1, Mark Painter, and myself. It became a very lively and thoughtful round-table discussion, touching on the effect of corporate ownership on works of art, the role of pastiche, fan fiction, and reimaginings; and kindred topics.

Then I hustled all the way across the hotel for a very fun panel about the Bone Wars between Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. With a peerless panel of experts including Mark Amidon, Ken Gale, and Jeff Hecht, we filled the hour with fun paleontology history. The four of us dovetailed nicely in our knowledge areas, so we had excellent "chemistry" and energy.

I paid a visit to the Art Show, hobnobbed with the convention's Guest of Honor, Cadwell Turnbull, and then . . . I went to bed. I'd been fighting a cold all afternoon, and didn't really think it would be wise to spread viruses around the hotel and just make myself sicker in the process.

Con Impressions: a big crowd, lots of young people. Fewer hall costumes than I recall from past years, but the brutally cold day might have something to do with that. Convention management ran extremely smoothly. The 75-minutes time slots with 15-minute breaks in between gave everybody time to get around and the panelists could spend a full hour in discussion. I think I prefer the longer time slots.

 

A secret order of wizards rule the world. One man has vowed to destroy them. The Initiate arrives February 4, 2020!

Three Weeks Until THE INITIATE

My new novel The Initiate officially comes out on February 4 ��� although I've already got a box of copies, so it seems likely that some bookstores will get theirs in the next couple of weeks. 

Booklist will review it February 1, and the advance word is good. I'm allowed to quote a little snippet:

"Cambias' energetic prose and grim take of the idea of a secret wizard community should please most urban fantasy readers."
��� Booklist
 
I couldn't ask for a fairer description of The Initiate.
 
We're still setting up promotional events, but I can list what's already scheduled.
 
January 17: At 5:30 p.m. I'll be reading a selection from The Initiate at Boston's biggest SF convention, Arisia, at the Westin Waterfront hotel.
 
February 4: Official publication date.
 
February 6: Book launch party at Book Moon bookstore, 86 Cottage Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Begins at 6:30 p.m., and features readings by me and by fantasy star Suzanne Palmer. I am trying to find a recipe for Kykeion to serve at the event, but we may have to settle for cake and ice cream.
 
February 8: Reading at Annie's Book Stop, 65 James Street, Worcester, Mass. I'll be reading and signing in the store at 6:00 p.m.
 
February 23: Reading and signing at Flights of Fantasy Books and Games, 381 Sand Creek Road, Albany, New York. Event starts at 3:00 p.m. 
 
I'll post other events as we add them.

 

Arisia 2020 ��� The Initiation Begins

This year's Arisia convention will be back at the Boston Westin Waterfront, January 17-20. I'll be there Friday the 17th through Sunday the 19th, and it's going to be a busy weekend.

Friday 5:30 p.m.: "Stories From the Cities" ��� A joint reading with myself, Andrea Hairston and Walter Jon Williams. All three stories are connected with cities; my own will be an excerpt from my upcoming book The Initiate.

Friday 7:00 p.m.: "Not With My Intellectual Property, You Don't" ��� A panel discussion about the legality, morality, and practicality of writing continuations of other people's fiction. (I'll be moderating.)

Friday 8:30 p.m.: "Cope vs. Marsh ��� The Bone Wars" ��� Pretty much what it says on the tin: a panel discussion about how the personal rivalry between two 19th-century scientists transformed paleontology. (I'll be moderating and plugging the hell out of my card game.)

Saturday, 10:00 p.m.: "Late Night Writers Cafe" ��� A meetup for writers and those learning the craft. I'll be one of the two co-hosts.

Sunday, 10:00 a.m.: "Fifty Years After Ringworld" ��� Larry Niven's novel Ringworld is one of the field's enduring classics. What makes it so great? (I'll be moderating this one as well.)

Sunday, 5:30 p.m.: "Writers React to Bad Writing" ��� A panel of writers will bring in examples of bad writing in published work, and explain what makes them so bad.

Sunday, 8:30 p.m.: "The Hacker's Guide to D&D" ��� Ways to tinker with the mechanics of everyone's favorite roleplaying game in order to make it easier or more fun. (I will, inevitably, be moderating.)

 

The tyranny of the sorcerers must end! The Initiate arrives in bookstores February 4, from Baen Books.

Fencing News

Yesterday was the Upper Valley Holiday Open fencing tournament in Sharon, Vermont. Diane Kelly and Robert Cambias attended. 

Robert went in an Unrated fencer, trounced all comers, and emerged with not just a USFA E rating but a D. 

In game terms, he went up two levels in one session.

Congratulations!

Why The Initiate?

My upcoming novel The Initiate (now available for pre-order) marks a big change for me. My three previous books have all been science fiction, mostly on the "hard-SF" side of the spectrum. The Initiate is a modern-day noir fantasy, with magic and demons and a secret society of wizards in Manhattan.

Why the change?

A couple of reasons. First, blame my education. I got my degree from the University of Chicago in the History of Science, with a focus on the scientific revolution of the 17th century. For thousands of years, science and magic were close siblings ��� almost conjoined twins ��� so studying one naturally meant gaining a solid grounding in the other. I wanted the chance to use my knowledge of the occult.

My second reason is a bit more personal. Like pretty much every other literate person in the Anglosphere, I've read Rowling's Harry Potter series. And apparently unlike pretty much every other literate person in the Anglosphere, I found the Potterverse a little . . . problematic.

To me, Rowling's Potterverse shares the same problem as Stan Lee's X-Men: they are power fantasies of self-pity. If you get invited to Hogwarts or Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youth, it means two things. First, you're better than everybody else, because of your magical or mutant superpowers. And second, you're part of a secret hidden group and get to feel sorry for yourself because the Muggle majority are jealous of your specialness.

The concept of a secret self-pitying elite is kind of contemptible.

The X-Men, at least, do have a public service mission. When they're not pitying themselves for being oppressed, they do at least go out and fight other self-pitying super-powered mutants with more totalitarian tendencies.

Rowling's secret wizards are a lot less public-spirited. They fight practitioners of the "Dark Arts" ��� but mostly to protect themselves, rather than others. If the Dark Lord Voldemort hadn't kept up his Wile E. Coyote campaign against Harry Potter, it's not obvious that Harry would have done anything against Voldemort in return.

Now, one can write any number of 'blog posts about this, but I decided to take the next step. I wrote a novel about a secret society of wizards in the modern world ��� and how they're a bunch of selfish jerks and psychopaths. My "Apkallu" wizards conceal themselves from the ordinary folk they disdain as "Subur" simply for the sake of convenience, because it's easier to be parasites on normal human civilization if the normal humans don't know you exist.

If you want to find out what happens when one man turns against the Apkallu, you can read The Initiate when it comes out February 4.