Frank
Belknap Long was a friend and colleague of H.P. Lovecraft. The two first met as members of an amateur
press association sometime around 1920.
S.T. Joshi notes that the two were different in temperament and in world
view—these differences often formed the basis for friendly debate between the
two. That spirited conversation
continues in Frank Belknap Long’s The
Space-Eaters, originally published in Weird
Tales in 1928.
Not coincidentally, the two
principle characters are ‘Howard’ and ‘Frank’.
The story opens with a dialogue between the two regarding the “ultimate
horror”. This is something Howard is
trying to render in his latest story, which he is trying to work on as the two men
talk. They are sitting in a rustic house
not far from the bay, near farms and the mysterious Mulligan Woods. “…I mean the horror that transcends everything”, Howard says, “that is more
terrible and impossible than everything.” This horror is wholly unknown and
undetectable by ordinary human perception.
But
the problem then becomes: how can the author
convey this to the reader or as Frank reasonably asks: “…how can he describe it
if he doesn’t know its shape—or size or color?”
Logically, can one be frightened by something that cannot be observed
through the five senses? This conundrum
is the underlying theme of the story, which is essentially a thought experiment
that speculates about what form an ultimate horror could take. Reading this conversation between Howard and
Frank, one can imagine similar ‘shop talk’ between Lovecraft and Long.
Howard
and Frank go on to discuss what amounts to a theory of horror criticism. Howard rattles off the names of a number of
authors, starting with gothic writers (Poe, Maturin, Radcliffe) and working his
way through to his contemporaries, (Blackwood, Wells). He dismisses them all as being too
preoccupied with ‘prosaic horrors’: sin,
fear of death and decay, and primordial memories of being captured and eaten by
predators. Howard wants to write instead
about “that thing from another universe,” alien entities that can be “…felt in
a new and strange and unspeakable way.”
Howard’s hunch is that these aliens, possibly multi-dimensional in form,
would be detectable as a kind of pain.
Helpfully,
one of these entities is in nearby Mulligan Wood, and has just attacked a
neighbor of Frank’s, a man named Henry Wells.
The unfortunate Wells was driving his horse drawn wagon through the
woods when something dropped on him from above—what may be a bit of liver, or
calf’s brain, or something else. He also has a small round hole in his head,
through which the other two can peer inside his skull. While in the woods, Wells had experienced
unusual pain inside his brain—some of which is now missing. His symptoms suddenly return, and he flees
back outside, thinking that whatever attacked him has returned.
Hearing
terrible screams coming from Mulligan Woods, Howard and Frank rush to find
Wells crumpled under a tree. A
mysterious droning sound announces the predatory nearness of the alien. It is clear all three are now being pursued. The trio takes shelter in a nearby farmhouse
where there is a lull in the danger. A
doctor is called—finally!—but Dr. Smith is frightened about what he detects in
Wells’ brain during some improvised surgery, and he also flees.
Wells,
now mostly brainless, viciously attacks Howard.
The two leave him behind and run to Frank’s boat. Relatively safe out in the bay, they can
dimly perceive the alien entity hovering over Mulligan Woods, which are now
inexplicably on fire. Amazingly, Howard
and Frank use bits of flaming cotton to make repeated signs of the cross—this effectively
wards off the evil that is seeking them.
Three
weeks later, Howard is trying to incorporate their experience into the new story
he is writing. The two are now in
Manhattan, where Howard evidently has an office. Frank peppers him with questions, thinking
that his friend is concealing important information. It turns out that Wells was the second victim; it was that person’s brains that had fallen on
him in his wagon.
But
the question that bothers both Howard and Frank is why the horror has not
spread much beyond the locale of Partridgeville. Frank recommends that Howard not write about
the horror in his story, but his friend is adamant—his egotistical goal is to “…surpass
Poe…I shall surpass all the masters.”
Not much later, Howard has accomplished his goal, and shows his finished
story to Frank in his Manhattan office.
But
there is a catch: in creating an effective image of the alien entity in his
fiction, Howard has also invoked it—and he realizes that he has “become a
priest of the Devil.” The entity has
singled him out and finds him in the big city.
The sign of the cross will no longer save him, though it saves his
friend Frank at the climax of the story. In response to Frank’s desperate prayer, “a
white and cleansing flame” purifies Howard’s office and vanquishes the evil entity.
But his friend Howard is left dead and
presumably consumed by the alien.
Frank
Belknap Long’s story is interesting in revealing the person of H.P. Lovecraft,
as seen through the eyes of one of his admiring colleagues. The
Space-Eaters is mostly about Lovecraft, and several vignettes seem intended
as sketches of his physical appearance, personality quirks, and
psychology. That making the sign of the cross turns out to be the only effective
defense speaks volumes about another likely subject of debate between Long and
his older friend: the possibility of salvation through Christian religion.
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