H.P. Lovecraft:

Hardened rationalist

Radical atheist

Strong interest in philosophy

Hard-headed sceptic

Wrote for the masses

Loved cinema

Took inspiration from popular media

Fascinated by science and men of science

‘Exiled’ from England

Loved cats

Wrote science fiction

Emotionally restrained protagonists

Protagonists at odds with the established social order

Fiction depicts lurking monstrosities that threaten humanity

Author lived in/near New York

Felt that society/civilisation was in sharp decline

Disdain for ‘primitive’ ways of life

‘Man is everything in the world’

‘Man is insignificant in the cosmos’

Yearned for an aristocracy based on manifest talent, not blood or race

Ayn Rand:

Hardened rationalist

Radical atheist

Strong interest in philosophy

Hard-headed sceptic

Wrote for the masses

Loved cinema

Took inspiration from popular media

Fascinated by science and men of science

Exiled from Russia

Loved cats

Wrote science fiction

Emotionally restrained protagonists

Protagonists at odds with the established social order

Fiction depicts lurking monstrosities that threaten humanity

Author lived in/near New York

Felt that society/civilisation was in sharp decline

Disdain for ‘primitive’ ways of life

‘Man is everything in the world’

‘Man is insignificant in the cosmos’

Yearned for an aristocracy based on manifest talent, not blood or race