This post will drive you mad... MAD!

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Ok, after hearing so much about Lovecraft I finally got the book 'Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos' which is basically just a bunch of short stories. Though I'm not horror fan its been quite interesting (completely unlike the Dream Cycle which I tired of within a dozen or two pages).

Is there anything like a book actually done by this man? Something more than a passing short story?

And in a way I'm actually kind of disapointed. The way I had heard it, this was basically about powers outside our universe, that cared so little about man in his little civilization with the fragility of a soup bubble that we were beneath notice.

However, as I read this it seems that man does indeed matter, that we actually could destroy these things if we 'didn't kill ourselves off first' and got our technology up to snuff. And these things are indeed from our universe, just completely alien. If we matter so little why do they go to such links to destroy anyone from spreading the word of their existence?

As I said, its still a very interesting series (and oddly coincides with many of my own dreams I've written down over the years), but its certainly not as fearful a concept as one would be made to believe from hearsay... that is, unless there is a book or something that goes into more detail that I've missed.

[JellyPooga]

Lovecraft originally posted his short stories in a monthly magazine. Call of Cthulhu was his first "big story", so to speak. He did a couple of others that were of similar length, but I believe he didn't do any that were novel length.

On the subject material...I always got the impression that the ancient ones didn't give a squat about humanity, it was the fanatics and dabblers in dark arts that were going round killing people off.

The whole scariness thing...well, you know how films from the 60's that were banned from cinemas that just aren't scary (Exorcist anyone...?)...think of these stories a bit like that. Remember that they were written at or around the turn of the century...people weren't desensatized by the media and this stuff was scary back then. If you ignore your inbuilt horror-filter from years of watching movies and think about some of the concepts whilst reading the stories, they can actually be quite scary. (lose yourself in the story kind of thing - put yourself in the characters' shoes)

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit so I'll shut up now.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

On the subject material...I always got the impression that the ancient ones didn't give a squat about humanity, it was the fanatics and dabblers in dark arts that were going round killing people off.
Except that it was the fanatics and dabblers that were used as fingers and toes for the things. And if these guys told too much they were killed off. In one story it made mention that some of the creatures were a little worried with the advances we had made in our speck of time on earth. Another was that humans were going to be the ones to awaken them.



And I wouldn't say I'm desensitized (considering how I don't often watch spooky anything), I just found the stories to be different than what was expected. Instead of nameless 'things' outside the universe, you have primordial aliens sleeping underground and causing horrible things.

Also, there is a difference between creepy and gross. If its in the 'horror' genre, it generally just means lots of blood, which I won't have anything to do with.

Anyways, we are in a 'very' sheltered society despite the movies. If you read anything in past centuries you'll see we aren't half as bad. Everything back then seemed to be mordant, from bedtime stories to children's songs.

I mean, do you know what the Ring Around the Rosy rhyme is about? The bubonic plague.

Ring around the rosy (sign of the plague was a boil with a red ring)

Pockets full of posies (they thought these flowers would defend against the disease)

Ashes to ashes (advanced symptoms included your skin becoming an ashen grey)

We all fall down (RIP)

Blech.

[JellyPooga]

Oh yeah, I'm well aware of the morbid side of most of what we now regard as being nice and fluffly like fairy stories and such (cinderella was the worst one I always thought, with the step-mother being forced into red hot shoes and robins pecking out the eyes of the ugly sisters and more. blech too.)

However, the point was that what is scary now isn't the same as what was scary then. (Oh, and if you associate Horror films with just being gory, you're watching the wrong horror. Admittedly, there is a lot of horror that's like that, but have a look around, there is some good stuff out there.)

[storybookknight]

In general, I find that H.P. Lovecraft writes like... a 14-year old goth girl.There are many better horror writers; I recommend Tanya Huff for some nifty horror/fantasy with a touch of dark humor. Read the Blood series.

[JellyPooga]

Tcha! You have no culture storybookknight! ::) (not really! ;D)

No, I agree with you for some of his stories, cos they are just a bit rubbish, but you have to admit that he dos write some good stuff too - notably my favourites, The Outsider, Rats in the Walls and...damn, what's it called?...I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's the one where the undertaker gets trapped in the mausoleum with the coffins. (Do you know the one?).

Anyway, they were my fav. ones and some of the others were quite good (though I haven't actually read any of his longer stories other than Call the Cthulhu - only the short ones)

I've only ever read classic horror (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.) and the one modern horror that I read was pathetic, so I kind of like Lovecraft, because it is something different to the classics.

Anyway, that's what I think

[Poison_Fish]

However, as I read this it seems that man does indeed matter, that we actually could destroy these things if we 'didn't kill ourselves off first' and got our technology up to snuff. And these things are indeed from our universe, just completely alien. If we matter so little why do they go to such links to destroy anyone from spreading the word of their existence?

And thus, the beauty of the game Cyber-Cthullhu was born.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

(Oh, and if you associate Horror films with just being gory, you're watching the wrong horror. Admittedly, there is a lot of horror that's like that, but have a look around, there is some good stuff out there.)
Naw, if its not bloody it's pretty much a 'suspence' film.

What would you classify The Village as for instance?



In general, I find that H.P. Lovecraft writes like... a 14-year old goth girl.There are many better horror writers; I recommend Tanya Huff for some nifty horror/fantasy with a touch of dark humor. Read the Blood series.
*guffaws*

In parts I think he did at that, those others less so. and I 'really' don't have much interest in horror... though despite this Dracula was one of my favorite books. Thing is, it wasn't exactly 'dark' per se. It was full of best of humanity.


And thus, the beauty of the game Cyber-Cthullhu was born.
Ugh...

[Poison_Fish]

Aww.. Call of Cthullhu set in the Cyberpunk realm is pretty good.

[Elrosth]

Ring around the rosy (sign of the plague was a boil with a red ring)

Pockets full of posies (they thought these flowers would defend against the disease)

Ashes to ashes (advanced symptoms included your skin becoming an ashen grey)

We all fall down (RIP)

Blech.


Another reason for the "ashes to ashes" was that they'd burn the bodies so the plague wouldn't spread.

[Dhavaer]

Isn't the line 'ashes to ashes' part of the Last Rites?

[Arian]

And besides, in the version I know, it isn't "Ashes to ashes". It's "Atishoo, atishoo".

[Beleriphon]

Naw, if its not bloody it's pretty much a 'suspence' film.

What would you classify The Village as for instance?


Neither horror nor suspense. Rose Red is a Stephen King horror TV miniseries that is scary, without being a slasher flick. In the Mount of Madness is another one that is quite good. Bizzare to the extreme but very good, and based on a Lovecraft story. Ultimately Lovecraft's own works aren't the best of the genre, what they did leave what a rather broad mythos that has spread into most modern horror writing and movie making at some level.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Ah, once again "inspiring and genre setting" != best of its genre...

[Were-Sandwich]

I like HP Lovecrafts works. I've read Call of Cthulhu, at the Mountains of Madness, The terrible old man, and am 1/4 of the ay through the Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Having never read anything written by a 14 year old Goth chick, I am unable to comment on the matter.

[DEMONhunter]

Me and were-sandwich did a project on Lovecraft back in June. I stumbled on this site while researching.
http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/
Okay, it looks all gothic when you enter. And it doesn't get any better if you stay there. but don't let it put you off, it has most of lovecrafts books there online for free. I recommend Call of Cthulhu, it explains a lot about the big guy/thing and has the kind of feel VT mentioned he was hoping for in the first post.

[Malus_Black]

The Amazon listing confirms my suspicions - Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos primarily contains non-Lovecraft Mythos stories. The thing about the Mythos is that there is a vast amount of very different interpretations, nearly as many as there are authors who've written Mythos stories (and believe me, there's quite a lot of them). Take August Derleth's "great war between the Old Ones (bad guys) and the Elder Gods (good guys)" which has pretty much nothing to do with Lovecraft's original intentions, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

For good, all-Lovecraft books, I recommend the Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories books (there's three of them), complete with footnotes to explain Lovecrafts more arcane references. The Dagonbytes site is also a good resource.

And Lovecraft's body of work (not including his freakish amount of letters) consists entirely of short stories and poems. Three of these stories (At the Mountains of Madness, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath) are long enough to be considered short novels. Also, some of his other short stories are quite long.

Enjoy your journey into the sanity-shattering world that is the works of HP Lovecraft!

...sorry, I just felt like finishing off with something dramatic.

[Mr Croup]

The Amazon listing confirms my suspicions - Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos primarily contains non-Lovecraft Mythos stories.

Yeah, not the best book to gauge Lovecraft by, as it doesn't contain more than (if I recall correctly) one of his stories.

As others have said, Lovecraft never published any novels, the closest being the novellas people have already mentioned. Lovecraft, more than any of his followers, collaborators, or hanger-on's, wished to keep the Great Old Ones less anthropomorphic in terms of motivations and actions. However, as Lovecraftian fiction grew a number of writers began to diverge from this, even going so far in Derleth's case to impose a structure of good versus evil between the Elder Gods and the Old Ones. In their infancy, Lovecrafts creations were far more protean, and far more alien than they have become over time.


I mean, do you know what the Ring Around the Rosy rhyme is about? The bubonic plague.
I'm a bit dubious about this, as are the good people at Snopes.com evidently. (http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm)

[Malus_Black]

Speaking about Cthulhu, here's (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=72168 9973&n=2) a mind-blasting gem from the 80s.