While the storyline and rich worldbuilding inherent in the series make it a classic sword and sorcery tale, Delany’s dense prose defies the fantasy genre, reminding you more of Tolstoy than Tolkien. At times, the prose is lyrical and lush as any fantasy should be. At other times, it becomes analytic and introspective, creating space for the reader to reflect and break down the themes of the story. And let’s make no bones about it. Lovecraft was an avid, loud, horrific racist — suffice it to say you’ll probably fail this “Hitler or Lovecraft?” quiz — and on top of his frequent racist rants in letters and discussions with friends, his racist fears infuse and inform nearly all of his work. Famous Lovecraft short stories like “ The Shadow over Innsmouth” (about a seaport town of murderous cultists who are secretly mating with terrifying fish people) and “ The Horror of Red Hook” (a story full of textual xenophobia and horror at New York’s immigration influx and the “primitive half-ape savagery” of nonwhite New Yorkers) may be beloved and hugely influential, but they’re also built on overt racist metaphors. Often these metaphors involve his deep fear of miscegenation (race-mixing), hereditary evil, and his concern that he himself might have an impure bloodline, which all takes his “monster is me” trope in a terrible direction. Cats are not racist, you only need a better understanding of your cat’s behavior and the factors that determine their reactions and preferences. Nobody but you and your vet clinic will know about the creative spelling you utilized for this name. It’s better to just go with Percy. 16. Shadow

Think of this as a kind of “what not to name your cat” guide, and instead choose from one of the million other appropriate names! Wrap-Up The same goes for Fluff or Puffy, which are just synonyms for Fluffy.It is a name which has been used time and time again, so try to choose something more interesting. 4. Mittens What that means is talking about things, shedding light on things, and beginning to teach the genre as a whole as a way to talk about things that are wrong or broken or outdated. And being able to say, ‘We can talk this thing through and then keep the best of it and identify the worst of it.’” Both examples show us that the act of disavowing racism in all forms in the UK is not morally universal, but contextual, mitigated and dependent on what side you are on. Put simply, being anti-racist is something that is up for debate. Now contrast all this with the public’s near total and uniform reaction to Zouma’s abhorrent abuse of his cat. No context required here. No mitigation. No debate. No redemption. It is wrong, plain and simple. We can understand where the inspiration came from, which is Puss in Boots , but it is a name people shouldn’t use.Maybe it’s because of Garfield the cat, or maybe it’s because people just seem to know more orange cats (whether they’re straight-up orange or orange tabby) and associate them with good experiences, but lots of people think ginger kitties make the ideal family pet. As a writer, Lovecraft was extremely generous. He frequently mentored and encouraged other writers, and fostered among his devoted cult of acolytes a “share and share alike” mentality that turned his stories into a kind of giant sandbox where everyone was invited to play. He freely gave every writer around him permission to write fanfiction of his works, be they remixes of his stories or new stories with crossover elements. Countless other horror writers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries have set their own stories within the fictional universe Lovecraft created, often referred to as the Cthulhu Mythos or simply “the Mythos.” The good news, though: the cat itself probably wasn’t racist. 10 Other Weird Fiction Books to Read Instead of HP Lovecraft

On the same day, Tumblr user robloxgf responded, "what was his name," later adding "oh no." The conversation (shown below) received over 204,800 likes and reblogs in two years. For those who saw the meme and couldn’t help but google it, HP Lovecraft’s cat has stirred up much controversy, despite being dead for the past 120 years. For those who haven’t seen the meme, the gist of it is that the godfather of weird fiction had a dearly beloved cat who he “affectionately” called N-word Man. The cat with the racial slur for a name was his childhood pet who went missing in 1904 when he was 14 years old, the first of a series of tragic events that would beset the struggling author. In giving vent to his bigotry, he taps into a larger fear that I think we all have of people who are different from us and mean us no good,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons you can take his stories and repurpose them. ... He may not have realized the universalism of some of what he was writing about, but I can take that away from his work.”If you want a Winnie-inspired name, why not choose one of the lesser-known characters such as Roo, the baby kangaroo? 3. Fluffy