Stephen Fabian, as I’ve pointed out before, is a living legend in the fantasy art community. His output from the 1970s to the 2000s—both in quality and quantity—can only be called astounding. I covered some of that in my three-part series on his Robert E. Howard-related art. However, Bill Thom recently brought Fabian’s artwork for In Lovecraft’s Shadow to my attention. That book, in some respects, may be Stephen’s greatest sustained work.

In Lovecraft’s Shadow was a collection of August Derleth’s Lovecraftian fiction published in 1998 through a joint venture by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box and Mycroft & Moran. Joseph Wrzos (pronounced roughly like “Ross”), a former editor at Amazing Magazine, was in charge of the project. He brought in Stephen Fabian to illustrate it. Here is the story from Mr. Fabian himself:

“[I]t was a labor of love for Joe Wrzos, and me, and Helen de la Ree, and my wife Dorothy. Helen helped with her experience in the publishing business, while my wife helped me with the artwork by doing much of the inking. As the 'project' evolved we all met periodically at my home to review and comment on the progress of my artwork and the overall design of the book. Until one day, the big boss Joe Wrzos said 'Done' and off it went to the printer. That's as good as it gets folks.” 

"It was a labor of love" appears to be a good way to summarize Fabian's work on this book. As I noted in a post here, Stephen had more-or-less "retired" from commercial illustration by the mid-'90s. During the previous decade, he had done a huge amount of work for TSR/Wizards of the Coast, especially for their "Ravenloft" books. The Ravenloft setting was TSR's attempt to do Gothic Horror somewhat within the bounds of the AD&D ruleset.

Coming off Ravenloft, plus all of his years doing macabre art for Whispers and Arkham House, Fabian was primed to create some of the best horror art of his entire career. 

That should be enough background--for now. Let's get to the art that amazed me when I first saw it a little over a month ago. I won't be going with my usual carousel art gallery for this one, because I have comments to make and I feel the art is best appreciated in a "stacked" format.

After the wraparound cover painting--see above--Fabian hits you immediately with one of the best images of August Derleth I've ever seen. Fabian's endpaper rendering of Augie, along with the Victorian interlace border, is excellent.  Stephen’s innovative and evocative border designs for his black-and-white pieces do not get the attention they deserve.

Did I say that the endpaper drawing was one of the best-ever images of Derleth? Fabian comes right back with another top contender with his frontispiece illo. Augie at the typewriter--while a triptych of demented pipers and cosmic weirdness cavort behind him--is also first-rate. Nothing near that quality was done for Derleth in his lifetime.

Joe Wrzos chose one panel from the frontispiece triptych for the next illo. Is it just me, or does the eldritch piper recall Kelly Freas’ first cover for Weird Tales? It is by no means a “rip-off” of any kind, but “homage” would be justified, in my opinion. Fabian has stated he is a fan of Freas.

A stylized rendition of Cthulhu. Drawings like this are rarely seen from the pen of Mr. Fabian.

On page iii—i.e., the third page of text before the actual stories begin—Wrzos begins his “Introduction”. The accompanying illo masterfully combines the images of Lovecraft, Derleth and Cthulhu.

This atmospheric illo of Easter Island moai is from page xi.

On page xiii, Wrzos begins his essay, “A Few Short Words About the Artist”. The drawing above—possibly depicting a denizen of Innsmouth—is reproduced on page xiv.

The actual book begins, fittingly enough, with page one and this excellent composition. Once again, Fabian combines depictions of Derleth, Lovecraft and Poe into a unified whole.

The next two pages feature “Providence: Two Gentlemen Meet at Midnight”, a poem Derleth wrote for The Arkham Sampler in 1948. It imagines a ghostly meeting betwixt Edgar Allan Poe—who spent part of his life in Providence—and Lovecraft, a lifelong devotee of Poe and Providence.

Another great example of Fabian’s beautiful border artwork. There is also the continuity of images from page one to tie it all together.

That’s all for now. I hope I’ve whetted your appetite to see more of Fabian’s incredible artwork for this rare edition. We are only up to page three…

As always, hundreds of scans of Stephen Fabian’s art can be found at his website.

Scans courtesy of Bill Thom and the Steve Fabian Fan Facebook Group.