Congrats on your upgrade.
I didn't realize it was Foster's birthday but I celebrated it by purchasing the newly released Tarzan book published by Dark Horse.
And, as chance would have it, I bought a copy of this HPL biography the other day at a used book store.
I'll be curious of your take on the Lovecraft biography when you read it. DeCamp was a pulp writer as well; was he not? I don't recall what he wrote though.
So small world that is I looked up DeCamp on Wikipedia only to find out he received a Masters in Engineering from my alma mater, Stevens Tech in Hoboken, NJ. In the 31 years since I have graduated not one alumni publication has mentioned this!!
I will send them a note and recommend an article on Mr. DeCamps accomplishments. Now I really want to read the biography and some of his personal work.
Yikes! DeCamp's biographies of both HPL and REH are loathed by their respective fans for their innaccuracies and for DeCamp's tendency to push his own amateur psychological theories on the two men.
DeCamp is particularly anathema to REH fans as he was responsible for heavily editing the Conan stories and preventing the publication of the "pure" Howard texts for decades.
The biography of HPL that is considered the gold standard today is that of S.T. Joshi. the leading Lovecraft scholar. It was originally published in the 1990s as _HPL: A Life_, but just recently he released a revised and expanded 2 volume edition retitled _I Am Providence_. If you want to read the definitive bio of HPL this is the one I would recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Am-Providence-Times-Lovecraft-Volume/dp/1614980519/ref=pd_cp_b_0
http://www.amazon.com/Am-Providence-Times-Lovecraft-Volume/dp/1614980527/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
And while we're on the subject, the current definitive bio of REH, _Blood and Thunder_ by Mark Finn has just been released in a revised and expanded second edition as well and I highly recommend it:
http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/mark-finn/blood-and-thunder-the-life-and-art-of-robert-e-howard/paperback/product-21120799.html
(I say "current" because at some point it may be supplanted by a bio from our boardie Xaltotun )