Despite the fact that he's been dead for over seventy years and his prose considered purple and overwrought by many, H.P. Lovecraft's work is still widely read and has remained influential for generations.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm not a huge Lovecraft fan as far as that goes; I think there are some stories of his that are really quite wonderful, but for the most part, I have great difficulties with his prose - and the more you know about the man, the harder it is to separate him from the work in many ways.
'The Ballad of Black Tom' was written, in part, during the latest round of arguments about H. P. Lovecraft's legacy as both a great writer and a prejudiced man. I grew up worshipping the guy, so this issue felt quite personal to me.
I tend to look way back for my inspiration: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe.
I read H.P. Lovecraft. I also like Sword and Sorcery stuff, Arthurian legend.
I wanted to write a story set in the Lovecraftian universe that didn't gloss over the uglier implications of his worldview.
Shakespeare and his work will always be relevant. He wrote those pieces hundreds of years ago and we haven't really changed as humans, have we? We have to deal with love, honour and adultery now - people were the same then, too - that's what's so wonderful and powerful.
'Warcraft' is going to be a period of my life I treasure and loathe at the same time.
My thoughts fly to the old Icelandic storytellers who created our classics, whose personalities were so bound up with the masses that their names, unlike their lives' work, have not been preserved for posterity.
Now, after 18 years, not a sign of Lovecraft in my work.
Shakespeare's stories are still very strong. He structured fantastic stories about things that were fundamental to the human being and psyche.