Well here is a page that has been *long* underconstrution (and it still hasn't been Spell Checked). I think I promised you this one about a year ago! I'm a bad, bad, Web Mistress! I guess that whole College thing and trying to be a vet keeps getting in my way. Oh well, that's all in the past.
This page is going to mainly focus on tid-bits about Lovecraft's writting. You can hunt down a Bio anywhere, here you will get the 'inside scoop'. By now you're asking yourself, since when did Tigeress become the authority on Lovecraft. I'll tell you, ever since I found two books called "Annotated H.P. Lovecraft" by S.T. Joshi and Peter Cannon. For more info I suggest you get both of their books (Annotated and, More Annotated Lovecraft).
I will be adding to this page for the next few months so give the facts time to grow.
The fictional town of Arkham is first mentioned in the short story "The Picture in the House". This story is a great quick read about cannibals. Arkham is a small town somewhere in New England that is the setting for many of Lovecraft's tales. The most well known in the Jeffery Combs circle being "Re-Animator". Another popular fictional town in Lovecraft is a little place called Bolton, however there is a real Bolton in both New England and England proper.
Miskatonic Valley is also mentioned in "The Picture in the House", but first mention of Miskatonic University happens in the six tales of "Herbert West- Reanimator". Miskatonic became a sensation in the horror world and I've seen several other movies (for exsample "Brain Dead" with Bill Pullman) pay tribute to Lovecraft by having thier characters graduates of Miskatonic University. In fact I have a degree at Miskatonic University in Medical School that I got off thier web page for a small fee. At the Miskatonic University web page you can enroll and get stuff from them, but it is still a fictional college.
The original Herbert West was a six part tale that Lovecraft had always disliked personaly. I'm not sure what he had against them I think they are great. You can find the tales in several Lovecraft books and in a comic book version. The whole story is told through the eyes of Herbert's best friend, however there is no mention of this person's name. So I'm afraid to say that they made up the name of Dan Cain. However if you read the stories you can see where they got names such as Dr. Allan Halsey, Hill, Sefton Ward, and much more. It is a lot of fun to see where the screen writers came up with some of this stuff.
By the way in the tales Herbert West is a slight, blonde haired, blue eyed, young man. Not quite the 'West' we know, but you can't ask for everything in this world.
I hate to break all of your souls out there, but the Necronomicon was invented by none other than Lovecraft. The first mention of this Forbidden Tome is in the short story "The Hound". Later he goes into more detail of the book in "The Dunwich Horror" where he quotes passages. Lovecraft was asked offten about the tomes mentioned in his stories including: Book of Eibon, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and the Necronomicon. He stated in a letter: "I'm forced to say that most of them are purely imaginary. There was never any Abdul Alhazred or Necronomicon, for I invented these names myself."
This is a large list of Lovecraft's works that I got mostly from a wonderful Lovecraft Archive. The Bold ones are stories that have been made into movies staring Jeffrey Combs. The italic ones are stories that have been made into moives (I'm sure I missed some, but these are the ones I know about) that for some reason do not have Jeffery Combs. The ones with the ** behind them are ones that I personaly suggest you read and ones with **** are ones that I *realy* loved. If you go to the Archive page they have many of his stories written out on-line so you can read them RIGHT NOW! Heehee.
· The Alchemist · Ashes · At the Mountains of Madness(Sam Neil) **** · Azathoth · The Battle that Ended the Century · The Beast in the Cave · Beyond the Wall of Sleep ** · The Book · The Call of Cthulhu ** · The Case of Charles Dexter Ward · The Cats of Ulthar ** · Celephaïs · The Challenge from Beyond · Collapsing Cosmoses · The Colour Out of Space **** · Cool Air(Part of Necronomicon) **** · The Crawling Chaos · The Curse of Yig · Dagon · Deaf, Dumb, and Blind . The Deep(Part of Necronomicon) · The Descendant ** · The Diary of Alonzo Typer · The Disinterment · The Doom That Came to Sarnath ** · The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath · The Dreams in the Witch House · The Dunwich Horror(Dean Stockwell) ** · The Electric Executioner · The Evil Clergyman · Ex Oblivione · Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family · The Festival · From Beyond **** · The Ghost-Eater · The Green Meadow · The Haunter of the Dark · He · Herbert West--Reanimator ****! · History of the Necronomicon · The Horror at Martin's Beach · The Horror at Red Hook ** · The Horror in the Burying-Ground · The Horror in the Museum · The Hound **** · Hypnos · Ibid · In the Vault ** · In the Walls of Eryx . Innsmouth Clay **** · The Last Test · The Little Glass Bottle · The Loved Dead · The Lurking Fear **** · The Man of Stone · Medusa's Coil · Memory · The Moon-Bog · The Mound · The Music of Erich Zann · The Mysterious Ship · The Mystery of the Grave-Yard · The Mystery of Murdon Grange · The Nameless City · The Night Ocean · Nyarlathotep · Old Bugs · The Other Gods · Out of the Aeons · The Outsider · Pickman's Model **** · The Picture · The Picture in the House **** · Poetry and the Gods · Polaris · The Quest of Iranon · The Rats in the Walls **** · A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson · The Secret of the Grave · The Secret Cave or John Lees Adventure · The Shadow Out of Time **** · The Shadow Over Innsmouth ****! I LOVE this one! · The Shunned House **** · The Silver Key · The Statement of Randolph Carter · The Strange High House in the Mist · The Street · Sweet Ermengarde · The Temple ** · The Terrible Old Man · The Thing in the Moonlight · The Thing on the Doorstep **** · Through the Gates of the Silver Key · "Till A' the Seas" · The Tomb ** · The Transition of Juan Romero · The Trap ** · The Tree · The Tree on the Hill · Two Black Bottles · Under the Pyramids **** · The Unnamablen ** · The Very Old Folk · What the Moon Brings · The Whisperer in Darkness (part of Necronomicon) **** · The White Ship · Winged Death