Name: Richard Baron

Author of: “The Cry in the Darkness”

Age: 39

Geographic Location: Peterborough, England

Twitter:@DrVollin

Website: http://rbbaron.co.uk/

Past publications: ‘The Lake” published in the anthology Caught by Darkness and the forthcoming Something in the Doorway anthology.  ‘The Painted Path” published in the October issue of Dark Gothic Resurrected magazine.

What’s your favorite H.P. Lovecraft story or other Mythos story? “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. I love the description of Innsmouth with its empty houses and strange townsfolk. Whenever I hear of Lovecraft, I envision that place.

What comes to mind when you think “Lovecraft” + “Erotica”? Suppressed desires. Things we perhaps wouldn’t entertain in waking life can become natural occurrences in our dream state where physical reality has no grounds.  A large amount of what stimulates us sexually is in the mind not the flesh. Lovecraft’s writings though devoid of erotic prose walk a similar line… Places and beings that we feel are real but which lie just beyond our physical perception.  He may give us the Gods upon the page but it’s up to us to take them to our beds at night.

How did you hear about Cthulhurotica? I believe it was on the Duotrope website; a must for budding writers.

What inspired your story? I’ve always liked stories in which the female has the upper hand so when thinking about what to write for Cthulhurotica this was my starting point. I had just read ‘The Dunwich Horror’ and remember thinking to myself ‘How did these events effect the people there?’ The story grew naturally out of that.

What music or movies helped you to write this story? I like total silence when writing but watched the film Dagon the night before I started work. Though very loose with the source material, it captures the atmosphere of Lovecraft’s writing more than any other adaption (in my view).

How many rewrites did you do before submitting? Two drafts, an edit then final polish.

What is your favorite bit?

As the nights drew in, melancholy seemed to befall our home. The bright wildflowers that Mamie had earlier that summer picked to decorate our bedroom now lay shriveled in their vases. Dust lay undisturbed upon each surface where I now laid my hand.