When Ms Lally walked out into the cold night devoid of hope, hungry and penniless, she expected to find a quiet place to lie down and die. What she found was a benefactor, an academic with a mysterious passion and secret knowledge of a hidden world beyond the realms of known science. The Novel of the Black Seal is cited as one of the primary influences on H. P. Lovecraft and his tales. It does indeed carry many of the themes covered by such famous stories as 'The Dunwich Horror', 'The Whisperer in Darkness', and 'The Colour out of Space'.
