Azathoth and Other Tales

A book written by the character Edward Pickman Derby. Oddly, Lovecraft himself was going to write this in 1922. Lin Carter notes in his 'Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Mythos,' (page 32): "For the first time [HPL] set to work on a novel, experimenting with the opening pages. It would be called "Azathoth" and would be written like "Vathek," without division into chapters. The theme, he wrote in a letter to Frank Long, dated June 9, 1922, would be "imagination is the great refuge." He confided to Long that he had planned the novel long ago but "only began work-or play- on it a few days ago. Probably I'll never finish it-possibly I'll never get even a chapter written-but it amuses me just now to pretend to myself that I'm going to write it." Carter's footnote reads: "Nor did he; however, an experimental draft of these opening pages survives in a fragment titled "Azathoth," dated circa 1922, which was found at Lovecraft's death among his papers. The fragment consists of about five hundred words."

[The Thing on the Doorstep - H.P.L.]