H.P. Lovecraft

[lacesmcawesome]

So, i know a little about Lovecraft, having read a bit about his books and his friends' books on wiki. I'm interested in reading some of his books.

So my question is:
what book[s] should I read? Which should I read first?

I'm really interested in his mythology and stuff (the Great Old ones and such)

So yea, any advice on the matter would be nice. :smallbiggrin:

[Flabbicus]

I recently picked up The Best of HP Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre from Barnes and Noble, and it is very interesting. I would definitely recommend it for an introduction to Lovecraft. It has Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, The Whisperer in the Darkness, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth which gave me an understanding of the Cthulhu Mythos. It does not have a section on Nyarlathotep though, so I might pick up another anthology to read some more about the Cthulhu Mythos.

[Gygaxphobia]

The mythos is great, but Lovecraft can be a hard and unrewarding read if you pick the wrong story. They are all quite different though, so it's worth persevering.

Personally I prefer Edgar Allan Poe, very similar atmosphere and much more readable.

[MandibleBones]

Neil Gaiman does good Lovecraft as well, IMHO. Check out "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" and "Just The End of the World Again" in Smoke and Mirrors (one of his short story anthologies), and if you like Sherlock Holmes as well, try "A Study in Emerald" out of Fragile Things.

I'd say "Shadow Over Innsmouth," personally, though it's the only Lovecraftian story I've read that was actually Lovecraft, so I may be biased.

[JabberwockySupafly]

Hmmm...books & stories to read by Lovecraft...



The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (a compilation of all the Randolph Carter stories melded into a cohesive story), The Lurker At The Threshold (my personal favourite), The Doom That Came to Sarnath, Call of Cthulhu (obviously), The Shadow Over Innsmouth, & Pickman's Model (also an episode of Night Gallery) are all ones I suggest right now. In terms of Lovecraft being unrewarding is more of an opinion than anything, as I can sit down and read anything by him (including his essays) and find it very enjoyable. But, unlike a lot of fanboys, I will not say he is the best writer. In terms of authorship, he's actually crap when compared to the likes of Robert Bloch, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman :D but his stories can be disturbing and quite a joy to read if you really like the surreal and the macabre.

For information about the Mythos and Lovecraft, I suggest checking out http://cthulhufiles.com/

Also, a very awesome short animation that will give you feeling of what the Cthulhu Mythos is in terms of atmosphere is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYrQRcy45RQ&mode=related&search=)

for a good giggle about HP Lovecraft & The Cthulhu Mythos, I suggest visiting the HP Lovecraft Historical Society which is http://www.cthulhulives.org/ I suggest checking out their Winter Solstice Carols. They're mock-ups of Christmas Carols but the lyrics are all replaced with Lovecraftian references, Like "It's Beginning to look a lot like Fishmen" (youtubage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFo4jbqe_2Y))
and "Carol of the Old Ones" (youtubage part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ftld7Ohojg&mode=related&search=))


Annnnyways, I've bombarded you with enough Lovecraft for now. Hope it all helps :D


Cheers
JS

[Gygaxphobia]

Don't forget to buy one of these, they're so cute :)

http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/images/cthulhularge.jpg

[lacesmcawesome]

Don't forget to buy one of these, they're so cute :)

http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/images/cthulhularge.jpg

d'awwwww

It's such a cute adorable world-crusher!

[lacesmcawesome]

While following some links around, I actually came across this:

www.callsforcthulhu.com

It's really funny, and I haven't even read the books.