BROADCASTS.com

b'S. T. Joshi is a leading authority on H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, \\nH. L. Mencken, and other writers, mostly in the realms of supernatural \\nand fantasy fiction. He has edited corrected editions of the works of \\nLovecraft, several annotated editions of Bierce and Mencken, and has \\nwritten such critical studies as The Weird Tale and The Modern\\n Weird Tale. His award-winning biography, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,\\n has already become a collector\'s item.\\n

\\n

\\nBut critical, biographical, and editorial work on weird fiction is only \\none aspect of Joshi\'s multifaceted output. A prominent atheist, Joshi \\nhas published the anthology Atheism: A Reader and the \\nanti-religious polemic, God\'s Defenders: What They Believe and Why \\nThey Are Wrong. He has also compiled an important anthology on race\\n relations, Documents of American Prejudice.
\\n

\\n

\\nIn this episode of Point of Inquiry, Robert M. Price talks with \\nJoshi about Lovecraft and how his writings were an impetus toward \\nJoshi\'s atheism. Along with discussing Lovecraft\'s views on religion, \\nJoshi shares his own views on the subject. He reveals his thoughts on \\nreligious writers as well as the "new atheism." He explains what horror \\nand fantasy literature have to offer the non-religious, and how it can in some ways take the place of religious writings.\\n