As for Lovecraft, I think the main issue is this: I totally get why you’re doing it—Lovecraft->‘sense of doom and hopelessness in a world governed by physics’. Therefore, you conclude, that the ritual should include Lovecraft. But the Lovecraftian sections that you actually use seem like they have been inserted because you decided you were going to use Lovecraft, not because they actually index the peculiar ‘sense of doom and hopelessness’ that justified their insertion. The two instances of this I’m seeing are the Fish Men song and Necronomicon.
With regards to No One Is Alone—I don’t think I really meant that it was out of place, but rather that it felt stilted and forced. Upon a second reading, though, I don’t mind it as much. It’s shorter than I originally thought and I’m not getting the same awkward feeling I did in the last reading, so I’ll retract my criticism. If other people have the same reaction, then perhaps give it another thought.
As for Lovecraft, I think the main issue is this: I totally get why you’re doing it—Lovecraft->‘sense of doom and hopelessness in a world governed by physics’. Therefore, you conclude, that the ritual should include Lovecraft. But the Lovecraftian sections that you actually use seem like they have been inserted because you decided you were going to use Lovecraft, not because they actually index the peculiar ‘sense of doom and hopelessness’ that justified their insertion. The two instances of this I’m seeing are the Fish Men song and Necronomicon.
With regards to No One Is Alone—I don’t think I really meant that it was out of place, but rather that it felt stilted and forced. Upon a second reading, though, I don’t mind it as much. It’s shorter than I originally thought and I’m not getting the same awkward feeling I did in the last reading, so I’ll retract my criticism. If other people have the same reaction, then perhaps give it another thought.