It was on this day in 1977 that Voyager 2 was launched by NASA to explore the planets of our solar system….It’s the birthday of a man who would have shuddered at the thought of the Voyager missions into space: H.P. [Howard Phillips] Lovecraft.

Keillor also notes that Lovecraft’s “work had a big influence on Stephen King,” but I think that’s probably an over-simplification, if not maybe even misleading. It’s unclear how much a real debt King’s work owes to Lovecraft, and, as
I’ve noted here before, King will be the first to point out some of the real weaknesses in Lovecraft’s work.