Ia!! Yog-Sothoth!!!

I am still awaiting word that this is real rather than a photo-shop jest.  This is a cross-section in Providence that has been renamed in honour of HPL, as part of the huge Lovecraftian celebration beginning in Providence this month.  The bust, above, by Bryan Moore, cast in bronze, will have its official unveiling at the Providence Athenaeum at the convention's opening, following opening ceremonies with speeches by the city mayor and S. T. Joshi.  

I am standing, above, before the house where Lovecraft and his mother lived at the time he wrote "The Outsider."  I am holding all three of the Lovecraft volumes from Penguin Classics, and ye pb edition of Fungi from Yuggoth and Other Poems.  I carry'd those books with me everywhere when I walk'd ye streets of Providence during my four-day visit; & I will be carrying them again, for the five days I spend at NecronomiCon Providence 2013.  I find myself completely distracted as I contemplate this convention.  I think membership now is around 1,200 attending.  Four or five or my publishers will have tables there.  Got a feeling my signing hand is gonna be rather busy.  I'm trying to keep myself limited to only one suitcase, and that is such a dilemma for an old drag queen like me, having to fit all of my makeup and stuff in one wee rectangular space.  I look forward to hanging out with hundreds of Lovecraftians--but also to some quiet solitary midnight strolls in secret places of the city.  To drink the air of Providence is to drink an exquisite elixir that vibrates with the soul of this magnificent artist.  He shade haunts the city absolutely, and we feel that enchantment on our haunted eyes.  O---Providence!  O!