Adventurous Liberation: H.P. Lovecraft in Florida

The Sunshine State was a favorite vacation spot of H.P. Lovecraft. Where did he visit? What did he see? How might his Florida haunts have inspired his eclectic prose? David Goudsward traces the author's footsteps across the southern tropics.

H.P. Lovecraft, the legendary author of horror fiction, gained a reputation for being a recluse. Contrary to that image, the author traveled extensively. His three visits to Florida are typical of his careful planning and limited finances. He would forego eating to afford postcards and postage, basking in the sun while writing letters. Lovecraft's observations of Floridian flora and fauna appear in copious correspondence to Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Bloch - and in stories such as 'The Shadow Out of Time.'

In Adventurous Liberation, David Goudsward explores the locations and people Lovecraft encountered in Florida, situating them in historical and geographical context. Also included are biographical sketches of the pivotal figures in these trips, such as Henry S. Whitehead, his Gulf Coast host, on the verge of transitioning from the pulps into the glossy magazines; and the most significant Floridian host, Robert H. Barlow, the teen who roiled the Lovecraft circle by being appointed Lovecraft's literary executor.

Advance praise for Adventurous Liberation:

"Adventurous Liberation is a microscopic deep-dive into the southernmost extent of Lovecraft country. Florida is the furthest HPL traveled from Providence, the ends of his little world, and those adventures and the people he met there had a profound impact on his life, fiction, and legacy." Bobby Derie, author of Sex and the C'Thulhu Mythos and Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard and Others

"Both highly entertaining and equally sepulchral, had Lovecraft chosen his future biographers, Goudsward would have topped the list." Bill Darmon, director of Strange Magick: Lovecraft and Crowley in New Hampshire

"Goudsward's painstaking research utilizes such primary documents as Lovecraft's correspondence and other sources to create a narrative of travel for the reader as Lovecraft may have experienced it firsthand." Marcos Legaria, author of L'affaire Barlow