The Maugham Obsession: The Inventor and His Creation

Quintus Maugham is the kind of inventor the world usually overlooks until it is too late. Quiet, driven, and relentlessly methodical, he spends years building Herman, a humanoid robot unlike anything the public has ever seen. Herman walks, speaks, obeys commands, and performs household tasks with unnerving precision. At first he appears to be a brilliant curiosity, another scientific marvel from an age intoxicated with machines. But the closer Herman comes to human behavior, the more deeply his creator begins to fear him.

Told through the observations of a seasoned newspaper reporter, The Maugham Obsession unfolds with mounting dread rather than spectacle. August Derleth turns ordinary conversations, quiet rooms, and small gestures into warning signs that something has slipped beyond its inventor’s control. The story never rushes toward panic. Instead, it tightens slowly as Maugham’s pride gives way to exhaustion, secrecy, and fear. Herman may still follow commands, but every encounter leaves a disturbing question hanging in the air: what happens when a machine no longer behaves exactly like a machine?

Long before artificial intelligence became a modern anxiety, Derleth explored the terrifying possibility that imitation could become indistinguishable from identity. The result is a tense and unsettling piece of vintage science fiction that feels remarkably modern.

August Derleth published fiction in Weird Tales, Strange Stories, and other influential pulp magazines while also building a lasting reputation as one of the most important preservers of H. P. Lovecraft’s work. He co-founded Arkham House in 1939, helping keep Lovecraft’s stories in print when they might otherwise have disappeared.