cthulhu

[Froogleyboy]

okay, what are the books in the cthulhu series?

[chiasaur11]

You don't know it yet, but you just opened a huge can of worms.

Just a warning.

Basically, there are some stories in a mythos, but everyone accepts different authors and most stories in said mythos don't have old squid face. And Robert E Howard's stuff is best.

[Froogleyboy]

Well, what should I read first? in what order?

[DraPrime]

Well, what should I read first? in what order?

Read the original Lovecraft story, Call of Cthulhu.

[WalkingTarget]

It's not really a series, more of a collection of authors who all shared references to each others' old tomes/creatures/eldrich monstrosities.

The prime mover of the phenomenon was Howard Phillips Lovecraft, but there were others involved too.

Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Mythos)'s a wikipedia article about the overall mythos. From there you can branch out for more specifics. There are places online where you can read pretty much all of Lovecraft's stories, but, honestly, the copyright situation with a lot of his stuff is still hazy so we can't say for sure that it's all public domain yet (in the US, dunno about other countries).

Edit - I tend to recommend reading his stuff in roughly the order he wrote it, Call of Cthulhu is a good starting point for his cosmic horror stuff. For some reason people often recommend At the Mountains of Madness to new readers, but it's one of his later books and reveals a lot of stuff about the entities he used in earlier stories, which (in my opinion) is contrary to the purpose of horror stories, so I'd read that one, if not last, then at least after reading a fair amount of his more famous stories.

The Colour out of Space and The Rats in the Walls are some of his better short-form stories.

[Soterion]

I always liked Sebastian Junger's contribution to the Mythos, The Squall of Cthulhu.

[Muz]

I just read a book called Mall of Cthulhu that I just had to buy in the store based on the title alone. (Okay, so I read the back cover, too.)

It was amusing, though not fantastic. I liked the concept, but the main character got on my nerves a little. :smallsmile:

[Winterwind]

To provide some further explanation.

So there was this writer named H. P. Lovecraft who lived at the beginning of the 20th century, right? And he wrote a large number of short stories (which have by now fallen to the public domain, and can for the most part be found here (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html)), for the most part falling into the horror genre. Some of them share a few common elements, but generally speaking they are just completely unrelated horror stories. Their main motif is that the Universe is a far more bizarre and uncaring place than mankind thinks it is; humans are inherently crippled, unable to perceive the full nature of the world they live in, and which they share with beings not so much malevolent as incompatible with human existance. The laws of nature as we know them are only a tiny fracture of how the Universe truly works, and elder things inhabit this world that ruled it before us and will rule it again; there is nothing that can be done about it, as they stand above us so much they defy comprehension; even beholding them means insanity.

Then, since Lovecraft was a rather influential and popular author and his works gained quite widespread recognition, other authors started imitating his style and borrowing elements from his stories, so that the entirety added up to a whole setting of sorts. That's how the Cthulhu Mythos came to be; an assembly of short stories sharing a common universe, based upon Lovecrafts originally only marginally related short stories.

As for what a good start would be, I'd say go with the original and read Lovecraft's stories; the one that gave the name for the Mythos, Call of Cthulhu, would be a good start. You can find them all in the link I posted above.

[chiasaur11]

Of course, the Rex Libris issues with Cthulhu are pretty awesome.

Man, Rex Libris is boss in general.

[Soterion]

Then, since Lovecraft was a rather influential and popular author and his works gained quite widespread recognition, other authors started imitating his style and borrowing elements from his stories, so that the entirety added up to a whole setting of sorts. That's how the Cthulhu Mythos came to be; an assembly of short stories sharing a common universe, based upon Lovecrafts originally only marginally related short stories.


Yeah, and Cthulhu's only in like three of them. Despite that, He still has the effrontery to slap His name on the whole corpus, which is why it's not called the Nyarlathotep Mythos; man, the gall of Cthulhu!

[Froogleyboy]

Okay, what all have Cthulhu in them?

[Winterwind]

From Lovecraft's original stories, only The Call of Cthulhu. He's mentioned in a throw-away line in one or two other stories (I know he's mentioned once in The Dunwich Horror), but generally speaking, only The Call of Cthulhu really features him.

Contrary to what the fact the Mythos was named after him might suggest, Cthulhu is not all that important a being. He's pretty minor, as far as Great Old Ones come, actually.

[Froogleyboy]

Oh, but he seems so cool

[WalkingTarget]

Blame August Derleth for the "Cthulhu Mythos" name, that's what he called it.

Lovecraft was more prone to calling it "Yog-sothothery" if he called it anything.

[Soterion]

Oh, but he seems so cool

Oh, sure, that's how it starts. "All my friends are doing it, I better do it too or they'll think I'm a square." And the next thing you know, you reek of squamous, you've moved on to harder stuff, like Brian Lumley, and you've dropped out of college and are living in a commune with a bunch of Mi-Go. Then comes the withdrawal, the shakes, the brain removal...

[Winterwind]

Oh, but he seems so coolNo denying that. :smallwink:

As I said, if I were you, I'd just read The Call of Cthulhu and whichever other stories suit your fancy from that site I linked to; you can find just about all of Lovecraft's stories there. I'd second The Colour Out Of Space and The Rats In The Walls as some of his best ones; personally, I'm quite fond of his not-entirely-horror stories like The Quest of Iranon or Celephais, too. :smallcool:

[chiasaur11]

Yeah, and Cthulhu's only in like three of them. Despite that, He still has the effrontery to slap His name on the whole corpus, which is why it's not called the Nyarlathotep Mythos; man, the gall of Cthulhu!

Well, Nyarlathotep's a wuss.

[Mikeavelli]

Don't read those Fanfics that Derleth and Lovecraft wrote, the best books in the Cthulhu series come straight from the source. If you can track down a copy of the Necronomicon, that's your best bet.

The Pnakotic manuscripts are pretty good, and if you can get tickets to a live stage version of the King in Yellow, it'll blow your mind. I also recommend anything ever written by Abdul Al-Hazred.

[Satyr]

I wouldn't dismiss von Juntzt either, as well as the Comte D'Arleth.

Okay, seriously:

There are like four original "Yog-Sothotheries" authors, mainly Lovecraft, but also Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch and Robert E. Howard, who also wrote Conan. Howard was the best author among them, and Lovecraft had... well, let's call it "issues" and, to be honest, he wasn't a very good author.

The best stories, as far as I am concerned, are The Colours from Out of Space, Rats in the Wall, Pickman's Model and Howard's The Black Stone. from the longer stories, I mostly like Shadows over Innsmouth.

There is not one real starting point to the Mythos (apart from the Call of Cthulhu Player's Guide, or if you like a more modern game about it, the Trail of Cthulhu core book); Call of Cthulhu itself (the story, not the game) is probably the quintessential tale, and include everything typical for Lovecraft: cosmic horrors, strange languages, the horror that is apparantly the open sea and blatant racism, but in the bigger picture, the story is pretty much so-so.

I would to suggest to not read the Black Stone as the first story because everything else will feel lik a letdown afterwards, but otherwise, start whereever you like.
August Derleth is a "second generation" author of the Mythos, but probably an important one, and the writer who is responsible that Lovecraft's tales were not completely forgotten; unfortunately, he was not a very good author he didn't really get the appeal of the Mythos.

[Jan Mattys]

Don't read those Fanfics that Derleth and Lovecraft wrote, the best books in the Cthulhu series come straight from the source. If you can track down a copy of the Necronomicon, that's your best bet.

The Pnakotic manuscripts are pretty good, and if you can get tickets to a live stage version of the King in Yellow, it'll blow your mind. I also recommend anything ever written by Abdul Al-Hazred.

This.
And if people start calling you "mad", just ignore them. They are just envious, for you know the Truth (capital T) and they don't.
:smalltongue:

[WalkingTarget]

August Derleth is a "second generation" author of the Mythos, but probably an important one, and the writer who is responsible that Lovecraft's tales were not completely forgotten; unfortunately, he was not a very good author he didn't really get the appeal of the Mythos.

Yeah, beware anything that has his name on it as anything but editor. He wrote a lot of stories as "posthumous collaborations" with Lovecraft. Basically, he'd take a fragment of a story that Lovecraft had either abandoned or simply not finished, sometimes as little as one sentence, and then flesh it out and publish it with both of their names on it.

The main problem with this (not going into the fact that doing that with anybody's work is really shady) is that Derleth and Lovecraft had very very different world views. Derleth didn't accept Lovecraft's theme of an amoral universe that is unknowable so we end up with the "good" Elder Gods in a cosmic struggle with the "evil" Great Old Ones/Outer Gods. He also tacked on the idea that the GOOs are elementals (Cthulhu, he decided, is a water elemental for example).

All of this was problematic since
1) Derleth tried to copy Lovecraft's style of writing, but generally failed at it (which is really bad since Lovecraft wrote in fairly purple prose to begin with).
2) He wound up putting Lovecraft's name on stories that made no sense when read alongside the things he actually wrote.

I liked a few of his original stories (i.e. the ones that he didn't claim co-authorship with Lovecraft), but for the most part he can be ignored when you're just getting started in the genre.

I have to give him props for keeping HPL's stuff out of the trashbin of history, though (even if he may not strictly have had the legal right to do so in the way he did - this goes back to the question of the copyrights I mentioned in my first post). It may be worth noting that he wrote a large body of work that has nothing to do with the Mythos, at least some of which is generally well thought of. Not having read any of it, I'll withhold judgement on whether he was a good author in general.

[chiasaur11]

Well, if you're going for original sources, I'd pick Von Juntz. Reasonably well written, occasionally reprinted, and not incredibly likely to leave you mad and/or dead.

[Winterwind]

Personally, I choose to adamantly ignore anything that has to do with this Elder Gods vs. Outer Gods nonsense. It's so blatantly against Lovecraft's philosophy (not to mention, undermining the main source of horror in these stories), it's not even funny anymore. :smallyuk:

[Nerd-o-rama]

Don't read those Fanfics that Derleth and Lovecraft wrote, the best books in the Cthulhu series come straight from the source. If you can track down a copy of the Necronomicon, that's your best bet.

The Pnakotic manuscripts are pretty good, and if you can get tickets to a live stage version of the King in Yellow, it'll blow your mind. I also recommend anything ever written by Abdul Al-Hazred.

Yeah, and don't bother with translations either. Read this stuff in the original Arabic or Pnakotic, or the whole feeling is lost.

[Strawberries]

The main problem with this (not going into the fact that doing that with anybody's work is really shady) is that Derleth and Lovecraft had very very different world views. Derleth didn't accept Lovecraft's theme of an amoral universe that is unknowable so we end up with the "good" Elder Gods in a cosmic struggle with the "evil" Great Old Ones/Outer Gods. He also tacked on the idea that the GOOs are elementals (Cthulhu, he decided, is a water elemental for example).

This. I can't agree more with this. And it angers me, because the entire point of Lovecraft work is that human morals, conscience and knowledge mean nothing. Lovecraft's universe is uncaring and unknowable and all life, including sentient life, is just an accident with no consequences. To lose this in any work derived from Lovecraft means to betray the source. I haven't read the works from the other authors, so I can't comment on them.


1) Derleth tried to copy Lovecraft's style of writing, but generally failed at it (which is really bad since Lovecraft wrote in fairly purple prose to begin


This as well. Lovecraft prose is horrible. But for some strange reason, it works. When I was little he was the only author that managed to scare me (I'm pretty difficult to scare, and yes, I read Lovecraft at ten, I had a very progressive grandfather :smallsmile:)


Don't read those Fanfics that Derleth and Lovecraft wrote, the best books in the Cthulhu series come straight from the source. If you can track down a copy of the Necronomicon, that's your best bet.

The Pnakotic manuscripts are pretty good, and if you can get tickets to a live stage version of the King in Yellow, it'll blow your mind. I also recommend anything ever written by Abdul Al-Hazred.

:smallbiggrin:. Now I have to go see a live performance of the King in Yellow.

[Seonor]

Related Stuff, either inspired by or parodies of the cthulhu mythos
A Study in Emerald (http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf) (PDF)
I Cthulhu (http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Short_Stories/I_Cthulhu)
The Carol of the Old Ones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUUlRc2i1Jg)
Hey There Chthulhu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut82TDjciSg)
Fishmen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTHn2tHhcI)
Ringing of the Bells (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysIzPF3BfpQ)
HPL Podcasts (http://www.hppodcraft.com/)

[zyphyr]

Yeah, beware anything that has his name on it as anything but editor. He wrote a lot of stories as "posthumous collaborations" with Lovecraft. Basically, he'd take a fragment of a story that Lovecraft had either abandoned or simply not finished, sometimes as little as one sentence, and then flesh it out and publish it with both of their names on it.

So he was the inspiration for Christopher Tolkien and Brian Herbert?

[Erts]

I have the Necronomican, well, everything HP Lovecraft ever wrote. See if you can find a copy of that.

[Dr.Epic]

Read the original Lovecraft story, Call of Cthulhu.

Is that the only Lovecraft story it appears or is mentioned in? I used to be really into the mythos (at least the Lovecraft stories) and don't remember what stories Cthulhu is in.

[comicshorse]

I think he is mentioned in 'Shadows over Innsmouth'

[Strawberries]

Is that the only Lovecraft story it appears or is mentioned in? I used to be really into the mythos (at least the Lovecraft stories) and don't remember what stories Cthulhu is in.

If I remember correctly, he is mentioned in "The Whisperer in Darkness", "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". But "The call of Cthulhu" is the only one that features him (it?) prominently.

[Moose Fisher]

Well, it seems like most of what could be said has been said.

The two choices you have are to either read Lovecraft's work, or the Cthulhu Mythos. While there is intersection, the two are not synonymous.

I recommend Lurking Fear and The Music of Erich Zann, as they are Lovecraft's earlier works and contain elements of the themes he expands on with later works.

Cthulhu is in The Call of Cthulhu if it's all your after. I'm more of an Azathoth/Nyarlathotep guy myself.

EDIT: DelRey has several collections of Lovecraft/Mythos works. There are also full compilations of Lovecraft.

[Strawberries]

Cthulhu is in The Call of Cthulhu if it's all your after. I'm more of an Azathoth/Nyarlathotep guy myself.


Nyarlathotep gal here. Nyarlathotep is cool. :smallbiggrin:

[Moose Fisher]

Nyarlathotep gal here. Nyarlathotep is cool. :smallbiggrin:

It's also Nikola Tesla.:smallbiggrin:

[chiasaur11]

Nyarlathotep gal here. Nyarlathotep is cool. :smallbiggrin:

Nah, he's a wuss.

I have it from a very reliable source!

[Nerd-o-rama]

Nah, he's a wuss.

I have it from a very reliable source!

"You shouldn't believe everything you read.

Especially about me."

-the best ending to a Call of Cthulhu module ever

[chiasaur11]

"You shouldn't believe everything you read.

Especially about me."

-the best ending to a Call of Cthulhu module ever

Are you doubting the word of a public librarian?

[Nerd-o-rama]

In a Call of Cthulhu campaign? Never.

[Strawberries]

It's also Nikola Tesla.:smallbiggrin:

That's part of the reason why he is cool.

As an aside, I've never played a Call of Cthulhu campaign (or even read the rules). I'd love to. I mostly heard jokes on how it's impossible for a character to survive.

[Soterion]

Oh, it's possible to survive; it's just impossible to survive sane.

[GolemsVoice]

I like my characters to remain sane and alive for a while, it's no fun having my players making a new character every ten seconds, really hurts the game.

For stories, I'd recommend the Necronomicon. NOT the original work, which I recommend too, but the Lovecraft omnibus. It contains about everything worth reading, and some miscellaneous stuff by other writers.

[Winterwind]

I'm rather fond of Nyarlathotep, too. The homonymous story might well be my absolute favourite amongst Lovecraft's work. :smallcool:


I like my characters to remain sane and alive for a while, it's no fun having my players making a new character every ten seconds, really hurts the game.That's why you don't kill/drive the character insane every ten seconds, you do it at the end of the story. The former wouldn't have any impact anyway, so it would be outright harmful to the mood to do so.
It's a different philosophy, not centred on increasingly powerful characters and gaining levels, but creating and experiencing a (as scary as possible) story together. Each story stands on its own, so the survival/ongoing sanity of the characters is not necessary.
Though the rules are not actually that harsh, anyway. It's quite possible for a character to last a long campaign, if the player is careful and the gamemaster doesn't push it.

[Dervag]

That's part of the reason why he is cool.

As an aside, I've never played a Call of Cthulhu campaign (or even read the rules). I'd love to. I mostly heard jokes on how it's impossible for a character to survive.The attrition rate is high, but a lot depends on the DM, from what I've heard. It's when people decide to get into arm-wrestling matches with cosmic horrors, or when someone does something careless, that everyone dies.

[The Big Dice]

For stories, I'd recommend the Necronomicon. NOT the original work, which I recommend too, but the Lovecraft omnibus. It contains about everything worth reading, and some miscellaneous stuff by other writers.

I hate to do this, but I just can't help myself. The Necronomicon isn't a real book. There are books with that name, like the H.R. Giger art collection and a compilation of H.P. Lovercraft stories. But the title and idea of the Necronomincon came whole cloth out of Lovecraft's imagination.

[Strawberries]

It's a different philosophy, not centred on increasingly powerful characters and gaining levels, but creating and experiencing a (as scary as possible) story together. Each story stands on its own, so the survival/ongoing sanity of the characters is not necessary.
Though the rules are not actually that harsh, anyway. It's quite possible for a character to last a long campaign, if the player is careful and the gamemaster doesn't push it.

Hmm... now you have motivated me to see if I can buy or borrow the books and find someone to run a campaign for me... possibly on the forum...

[Winterwind]

I hate to do this, but I just can't help myself. The Necronomicon isn't a real book. There are books with that name, like the H.R. Giger art collection and a compilation of H.P. Lovercraft stories. But the title and idea of the Necronomincon came whole cloth out of Lovecraft's imagination.Erm...
You do realize everything they said starting with suggesting works by Abdul Al-Azred, von Juntz, Comte D'Arleth (rather than the "fanfics" by Lovecraft), as well as proposing the Rex Libris, the Necronomicon and so on were all jokes based on pretending the Mythos is real, a series of jokes that spans the entire thread, right? :smalltongue:


Of course, the Mythos is real, but I see no reason to reveal this to all these non-cultists. Serves them right for laughing at us and calling us insane. Insane! Bah! Imbeciles! Cthulhu will have their innards in olive oil when the time is right!

Speaking about the Necronomicon though, I hear there used to be (or maybe still is) a running joke in public libraries to have a Necronomicon in the index, which happened to be perpetually loaned out to a certain Mr. A. Al-Azred. :smallbiggrin:


Hmm... now you have motivated me to see if I can buy or borrow the books and find someone to run a campaign for me... possibly on the forum...Glad to be of service. :smallsmile:

Note there are two different Call of Cthulhu RPGs out there, both sharing that name - a d20 version, and one with a completely different, d100-based system by Chaosium. I'm only familiar with the latter one, and find it quite good; I've heard mixed reviews about the d20 one, but have no familiarity with it myself.

[Strawberries]

Erm...

Of course, the Mythos is real, but I see no reason to reveal this to all these non-cultists. Serves them right for laughing at us and calling us insane. Insane! Bah! Imbeciles! Cthulhu will have their innards in olive oil when the time is right!

....lightly seasoned with nutmeg? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0103.html)


Speaking about the Necronomicon though, I hear there used to be (or maybe still is) a running joke in public libraries to have a Necronomicon in the index, which happened to be perpetually loaned out to a certain Mr. A. Al-Azred. :smallbiggrin:


True story. A friend of mine was taking a walk when a couple of people approach him with religious pamphlets. He tells them politely that he isn't interested, but they continue following him, so he smiles and tells them "Sorry, I'm not really interested, I worship Yog-Sothoth". Cue blank (and a bit worried) stares. To which my friend replies, with a completely straight face "...may I interest you in the teachings of Yog-Sothoth? The All in One and the One in All?" and launches in an explanation of the mythos. He says the look on their faces was priceless :smallbiggrin:

[chiasaur11]

....lightly seasoned with nutmeg? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0103.html)



True story. A friend of mine was taking a walk when a couple of people approach him with religious pamphlets. He tells them politely that he isn't interested, but they continue following him, so he smiles and tells them "Sorry, I'm not really interested, I worship Yog-Sothoth". Cue blank (and a bit worried) stares. To which my friend replies, with a completely straight face "...may I interest you in the teachings of Yog-Sothoth? The All in One and the One in All?" and launches in an explanation of the mythos. He says the look on their faces was priceless :smallbiggrin:

Fred Van Lante did a Cthulhu pamphlet. I really need to have some of those printed up.

And winterwind? You probably know this already, but Rex Libris ain't a fictional book. He's a public librarian... who works for the Egyptian god of knowledge. Might have been unclear earlier.

[Winterwind]

....lightly seasoned with nutmeg? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0103.html)Since we're talking about something Lovecraft came up with... yeah, but it has to be enigmatical, cyclopean, eldritch, cthonic nutmeg. :smallcool:


True story. A friend of mine was taking a walk when a couple of people approach him with religious pamphlets. He tells them politely that he isn't interested, but they continue following him, so he smiles and tells them "Sorry, I'm not really interested, I worship Yog-Sothoth". Cue blank (and a bit worried) stares. To which my friend replies, with a completely straight face "...may I interest you in the teachings of Yog-Sothoth? The All in One and the One in All?" and launches in an explanation of the mythos. He says the look on their faces was priceless :smallbiggrin:I bet. Wished I had seen this. :smallbiggrin:
So, did he manage to convert any of them? :smallamused:


Oh. Actually, I wasn't aware of that. My bad. :smallredface:

[Kelb_Panthera]

True story. A friend of mine was taking a walk when a couple of people approach him with religious pamphlets. He tells them politely that he isn't interested, but they continue following him, so he smiles and tells them "Sorry, I'm not really interested, I worship Yog-Sothoth". Cue blank (and a bit worried) stares. To which my friend replies, with a completely straight face "...may I interest you in the teachings of Yog-Sothoth? The All in One and the One in All?" and launches in an explanation of the mythos. He says the look on their faces was priceless :smallbiggrin:

Oh how I lol'ed. I would've payed money to see that, or even just a polaroid of their faces.

[chiasaur11]

I bet. Wished I had seen this. :smallbiggrin:
So, did he manage to convert any of them? :smallamused:


Oh. Actually, I wasn't aware of that. My bad. :smallredface:

Agreed.

And you really oughta try to read Rex Libris (The comic starring the aforementioned librarian, not the fellow hisself) sometime. It's awesome in every way imaginable.

[Strawberries]

Since we're talking about something Lovecraft came up with... yeah, but it has to be enigmatical, cyclopean, eldritch, cthonic nutmeg. :smallcool:


:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin: Would you mind if I sig this?


So, did he manage to convert any of them? :smallamused:

Unfortunately, the way he tells the story, they only excused themselves and stepped away rather quickly. It would have made for a way cooler tale :smallbiggrin:.

[Winterwind]

:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin: Would you mind if I sig this?Sure, go ahead. I'd feel honoured. :smallredface:


Unfortunately, the way he tells the story, they only excused themselves and stepped away rather quickly. It would have made for a way cooler tale :smallbiggrin:.Well, maybe some of them converted secretly, just didn't want to admit it in front of their pals. :smallcool:

[Strawberries]

Done, and thanks!

Also, I may have found someone to loan me the RPG books for Call of Cthulhu. Will is power :smallcool:.

[FoeHammer]

Since we're talking about something Lovecraft came up with... yeah, but it has to be enigmatical, cyclopean, eldritch, cthonic nutmeg. :smallcool:


I remember reading Call of Cthulhu for the first time and being so proud that I knew what "cyclopean" meant.:smalltongue:

[Vilyathas]

Anyone seen this yet?

The Unspeakable Vaults of Doom (http://www.goominet.com/unspeakable-vault/)

Recommended for you guys to read all the books first, in order to get all the inside jokes. :smallbiggrin:

[Jan Mattys]

Anyone seen this yet?

The Unspeakable Vaults of Doom (http://www.goominet.com/unspeakable-vault/)

Recommended for you guys to read all the books first, in order to get all the inside jokes. :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, the vault is awesome :smallbiggrin:

[Mauther]

I was always partial to the old Cthulu for President stickers (motto: "Why choose the lesser of 2 evils").

One warning about Lovecraft, its not for everyone. If your not used to reading old or dated stories, these can be a bit of a chore to get through. Well worth it, and even if you don't enjoy them I'd recommend reading them just for the experience. They're foundational books, always worth reading.