Necromondicon

I read some of this book, or atleast the beginning, some of the "spells" seemed crazy and im a fan of lovecraft's work (cthulhu) Was the mad arab and actual man, who actually did that, or is he just insane, and I looked at the order of the watchers thing, hopefully some of the "watchers" can enlighten me on this?

This is kind of a literary equivalent of the ol' "chicken and egg" conundrum: did H P Lovecraft invent the Necronomicon and its history; or was he aware of the existence of this accursed tome, and incorporated its legend into his fiction?

Most Lovecraft fans, including myself, along with the general run of literati, assumed that our boy Howie invented it all from whole cloth. The appearance of a published Necronomicon in bookstores, available for purchase to anyone, seemed to be merely a literary joke or fan-boy homage. Certainly no serious occultist, with any knowledge of popular culture, would make anything of it, so from both a literary and occult standpoint, it was just a goofy curiosity.

Now, things aren't so 100% clear. In the past couple of decades, several occultists have laid claim to the authenticity of the Necronomicon. I don't want to name names, because I think these jokers are ripping people off, but sufficient doubt has been cast to at least crack open the door a bit in the discussion of its real existence and its efficacy.

I'm not one to hand out unsolicited advice, but if I were, I would say to simply enjoy the fiction of HPL on its own simple merits, and not muck about with real-world occult applications allegedly contained in the mass-market published version of a paperback Necronomicon. At worst, that way lies madness; at best, it's a guaranteed girl repellent.

Be safe,
Baack