Lovecraft

[Gaelbert]

I'm going tot a bookstore in a few hours, and I've recently been interested in reading some of H.P. Lovecraft's writing. What would be a good book to start with?

[Larrin]

Read the short story "Call of Cthulu", you can find it for free on the net (its free liscence) its short and pretty much self contained, and conveys the basic jist of his works. If you like that, then move on to the longer stuff.

[Telonius]

I'd recommend "The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre." This was the first (and so far, only) book that has ever truly scared me. Welcome to the madness.

[Seatbelt]

Read The Haunter in the Dark. A lot of his stories give me the willies, but that one downright scared me.

[Semidi]

The following are what I consider his best work:

At the Mountain's of Madness, The Call of Cthulhu, The Colour Out of Space, Dagon (never read, I'm told it's good), The Dunwich Horror, The Outsider, and Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Lovecraft is one of my favorite bad writers. He has a tendency to repeat big words that he must have liked, I'm sure you'll notice his fetish with the words cyclopean and eldritch among others. However, the words you wont find in his stories much are ones such as “he said” because Lovecraft was totally adverse to writing dialogue (Stephen King explains that Lovecraft did it terribly and thus avoided it). Even rarer is “she said” because women are incredibly rare in his stories and are usually portrayed negatively.

His racism also shows up in many stories. He'll oh so casually mention the unsavory Jewish cab driver or the man with horrible negroid noses. His letters and poetry also show this to a much fuller extent. But my G-word, he had a wonderful imagination, he’s totally recommended.

[Shadow of the Sun]

The Rats In The Walls is an excellently frightening novel.

[....]

Don't read Dagon, its pretty boring.

Shadow Over Innsmouth is the absolute best Lovecraft story ever. Its one of the few where the protagonist actually acts instead of just watching things, and he avoids the worst of his long, complicated sentences. Its to bad he died before he could write more stories of that caliber.

And all of the Randolf Carter stories, the only one I can remember offhand is Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, although that one is pretty wordy, its an awesome twisted fantasy, and Nyarlathotep gets his "crawling chaos" line in it.

In The Walls of Eyrx (with Kenneth Stirling) is also very good. Not quite Lovecraft's usual forte, but very eerie and unnerving all the same. (As long as you accept that people can walk around Venus with just a oxygen mask and some leather armor)

[Semidi]

The Rats In The Walls is an excellently frightening novel.

Forgot that one, it's one of my favorites as well. One of Lovecraft's best purely gothic stories absent of science fiction.

[Rob Knotts]

For my money, The Statement Of Randolph Carter is the best crafted of his short stories, followed by Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (althought the Jermyn story has several telling hints about Lovecraft's racism).

Lovecraft's stories were by and large written primarly for effect, owing a lot to Poe's standards of length and unity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Philosophy_of_Composition#Length), but for real depth of meaning and symbolism, The Outsider is probably the best example of Lovecraft's short stories.

The best overall example of Lovecraft's work would have to be his short novel At The Mountains Of Madness, covers just about element of Lovecraft's wierd fiction aside from his dream stories (it involves mortals physically approaching a place where the real world and the Dreamlands seem to overlap).

P.S: The best Lovecraft-inspired movie I can recommend, outside of Alien, is The Resurrected(1992). It's an updated version of The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward that manages to stay a lot more loyal to the original than you would expect. One warning though, despite the overall quality of the story, the 4- or 5-layered flashback/exposition scene is incredibly goofy to watch.

[Delcan]

Seconded on "Call of Cthulhu" and "Dream-Quest". I must recommend two short stories of his, though, just for their sheer quality - these are two stories in which Lovecraft was actually, truly good.

The Colour Out of Space. (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space) Something grounds itself out in rural Hodunk-New-England country, and it's completely unidentifiable... very much a story about what the heck you do when something happens that's so totally alien to your understanding that you have nowhere to start. Which is a good theme to a lot of Lovecraft stories. This one also doesn't try so hard to get the THIS IS SCARY! point across; it just tells it like it is, and leaves the scares to the reader.

Celephais. (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Celephais) A down-and-out hobo slowly loses his grasp of the waking world, but gains a deeper and deeper hold in the world of dreams. Part of Lovecraft's "Dream Cycle", which is apart from the Cthulhu Mythos and includes stories like "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and others. Out of all Lovecraft's stories, this one is the most moving, and the most evocative of thought. It's also not frightening at all, which sets it apart from the intent of much of Lovecraft's writing.

'Celephais' is my favorite of all Lovecraft's works, by far, and 'Colour' a close second. I recommend both of these very strongly.

[Rob Knotts]

One thing we've been glossing over: just about every Lovecraft book you'll find will be an anthology of his stories, so don't look for any of these titles on the covers, just look for "Lovecraft" and then check the index to see what stories are inside.

[....]

"The Terrible Old Man" is funny in a creppy sort of way.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

It's a bit pricey ($31), but H.P. Lovecraft: Tales is a great book to get. It was edited by Peter Straub, who selected all 22 stories in the book himself, and wrote the notes for the edition too. On top of that, it's a Library of America book (a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving America's significant writings). While not the be all, end all collection for Lovecraft, it does include Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror, and many more.

[Belteshazzar]

I just read The Color from Space in that link you provided for the first time. The linguistics were somewhat clumsly overwrought and he usually has a habit of overemphasizing the indescribable but it was very good.

I could be afraid of the color from space. Especially the part where one of the Colors was hatching, or being born, or leaving the nest, or whatever it was doing when in shot back into space. Running though those writhing woods to escape the ground zero would be a great highlight of a terrifying computer game. That whole area's description however reminds me of the pictures I once saw of Centralina (the real life inspiration of Silent Hill is the site of a massive and long lived underground coal fire.)

[Seatbelt]

I think one of the best parts of Lovecraft is his use of language. It's 100% over the top, but authors just dont string together words like that anymore.

[Belteshazzar]

One the dificult things about Lovecraftian horror is that if one is not careful it simply seems ridiculous, and I suspect that some people are completely immune to its effects.

My good friend for example. He finds nothing at all scary about Cthuhlu, he broke out laughing after I was playing Dark Corners of the Earth and he saw the Yithians "Bee Bopping their way out of the portal," he even made a joke monster in his campaign called The Spot on the Carpet after I mentioned the Color from Space.

[Mysticaloctopus]

I've got a three-part Penguin edition here in the UK, under the titles

[The Call of Cthulhu / At the Mountains of Madness / The Thing on the Doorstep] and other weird tales, a tenner each or 7 quid on amazon, all quite good with plenty of nice bits in. If you're just after one, the Mountains of Madness part has both ATMoM and the Case of Charles Dexter Ward, both of which are very good. In fact, being raised on D&D, video games and suchlike, I was pretty much unfazed by the idea of necromancy, hell, I thought of skeletons as weak little cannon fodder and not at all useful, but then Charles Dexter Ward actually made me shudder.

Great author. As we say, "DO WANT".

[bosssmiley]

I think one of the best parts of Lovecraft is his use of language. It's 100% over the top, but authors just dont string together words like that anymore.

Lovecraft, a classic writer of good bad prose. It takes lot of practice to be that purple, but still so readable. :smallcool:

Best story: "At The Mountains of Madness". That's the one that sold me on Lovecraft as a writer. Just ignore the bit about the penguins. :smallannoyed:

[Gaelbert]

I finished the Call of Cthulhu. It didn't exactly scare me, which is odd becuaseI used to be terribly afraid of ghosts and vampires and men in black jumpsuits with shotguns and flash bang grenades (conspiracies), but I enjoyed it none-the-less. I definitely noticed the overusage of the word cyclopean. It was a little funny that in one sentence he said Cthulhu was indescribable and in the next said it was a mixture of squid and dragon. It also seems awfully conveniant that an earthquake would just happen to occur at the right moment in the right place and seal Cthulhu back up again, but overall, I enjoyed it.

[Mysticaloctopus]

Aha, found it.

The Complete Works of Lovecraft on Wikisource! (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:H._P._Lovecraft)

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

Don't read Dagon, its pretty boring.
I heard that Call of Cthulhu is a (heavily) revised and extended version of Dagon. If you think about it, you'll notice the similarities.

It also seems awfully conveniant that an earthquake would just happen to occur at the right moment in the right place and seal Cthulhu back up again

the stars weren't right anymore, so Cthulhu was sealed again. At least, that's how I understood it.

[RandomNPC]

I'd recommend "The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre." This was the first (and so far, only) book that has ever truly scared me. Welcome to the madness.

thats the first one i've picked up and its great. it's got

call of Cthulhu
rats in the walls (creepy)
thing on the doorstep
color out of space (creepy)
shoadow over innsmouth (mid read right now)
and about seven or eight others, it's got plenty of stories, i forget the name of the one with the guy who plays the fiddle (violin?) but i want to base a game on it.

have fun, and also, enjoy: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=-DsgZ4JXXB8)

hope i did that URL right....

[Mysticaloctopus]

the guy who plays the fiddle (violin?) but i want to base a game on it.

have fun, and also, enjoy: Also I have fixed your URL (http://youtube.com/watch?v=-DsgZ4JXXB8)

The story you mention is The Music of Erich Zann (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Music_of_Erich_Zann). Re-reading that, I think it, or an except from it, was in one of my primary school SATS tests (Note: They're minor progress tests, not like the american SAT). Wow, I've been a cultist longer than I thought.

All the Calls for Cthulhu are at callsforcthulhu.com (http://www.callsforcthulhu.com)

[Krelon]

One the dificult things about Lovecraftian horror is that if one is not careful it simply seems ridiculous, and I suspect that some people are completely immune to its effects.


this is so very true! Some of the horror is a lot like "it is scary, because it is sooo scary!". However, as it happens just a few days ago I read at the mountains of madness and after reading a lot of sentences like "it was so terrible" which were not scary, when H.P. finally got to describe the journey in the city and what was finally encountered there, I got the right impression how terrifying it could be for someone experiencing it-

If you ever stumble upon the role playing game Call of Cthulhu, give it a try but don't play the US-made adventures, they are a bit like D&D meets Cthulhu which doesn't mix well. Try some of the adventures from german authors.. they are really cool (less violence more plot and atmosphere).

[....]

[QUOTE='[Insert Neat Username Here];3060673']I heard that Call of Cthulhu is a (heavily) revised and extended version of Dagon. If you think about it, you'll notice the similarities.QUOTE]

Er... not really.

Call of Cthulhu is an adventure story involving several people who never meet each other helping one another to uncover the Cult of Cthulhu and do their best to stop the Old One from awakening. They fail, but hey, they tried their best.

Dagon is a very, very short story about a guy who crashes on an island. Sees a big monolith, and then seen Father Dagon rise up, hump said monolith, and then dive back into the sea.

Not very similar at all.

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

;3060673']I heard that Call of Cthulhu is a (heavily) revised and extended version of Dagon. If you think about it, you'll notice the similarities.

Er... not really.

Call of Cthulhu is an adventure story involving several people who never meet each other helping one another to uncover the Cult of Cthulhu and do their best to stop the Old One from awakening. They fail, but hey, they tried their best.

Dagon is a very, very short story about a guy who crashes on an island. Sees a big monolith, and then seen Father Dagon rise up, hump said monolith, and then dive back into the sea.

Not very similar at all.

I said there were slight similarities.

Summing up Dagon and tpart III of Call of Cthulhu: A man crashes on an island, sees impossible structures, and sees a terrible monster which then returns to the sea. A whole lot was added to Call of Cthulhu; The similarities to dagon only exist in part III.

I'm trying to find my source; I believe it was a note in "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories," though I'm not positive.

EDIT: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, page 393:


"The Call of Cthulhu" is manifestly an exhaustive rewriting of "Dagon," and could be said to begin a tendency found frequently in Lovecraft's later tales whereby he reworks (usually to much better advantage) themes and conceptions utilized in earlier stories

[Krelon]

btw, did you know, it's H.P.Lovecraft's birthday today. :smallsmile:

[Mysticaloctopus]

Ia! Ia! Lovecraft Fhtagn!
Happy Very Oldth Birthday Howard Phillips!

[Dr._Weird]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Lovecraft Providence, Rhode Island wgah'nagl fhtagn

Happy Birthday, Lovecraft!

[Sly Reference]

Lovecraft is one of my favorite bad writers. He has a tendency to repeat big words that he must have liked, I'm sure you'll notice his fetish with the words cyclopean and eldritch among others.

Ah, I hate when people try and get on Lovecraft for his vocabulary. He isn't a modern writer, people. What he wrote was popular at the time. Don't believe me? Go read some of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. You'd swear that they came from the same typewriter.

[blackout]

He was a racist jerk, but, yeah, he was one heck of a writer. Lovecraft was a literary Einstein.

[CharlieSmiles]

Just get any of the Del Rey collections they don't overlap and some have stories set in his world by other authors. Some of them are pretty good.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Ah, I hate when people try and get on Lovecraft for his vocabulary. He isn't a modern writer, people. What he wrote was popular at the time. Don't believe me? Go read some of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. You'd swear that they came from the same typewriter.

Doesn't mean he's a good writer.

[Sly Reference]

Doesn't mean he's a good writer.

Oh, you can hate him for a lot of reasons, including exposition overkill, repetitive plots and unbelievable action. Different strokes for different folks. But to bash him for writing in a pre-Hemmingway style is just a little unfair. I suspect it comes from hearing the Lovecraft fanatics moan about his stuff and then picking it up and wondering what the heck you're reading, and picking on only the most obvious characteristic.

I personally like him because I discovered him in high school and the stuff just sang to me. It leaves me a little less than rational about him. I haven't actually read any of his stuff in years, but I suspect I'd still enjoy it.

[Seraph]

Ah, I hate when people try and get on Lovecraft for his vocabulary. He isn't a modern writer, people. What he wrote was popular at the time. Don't believe me? Go read some of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. You'd swear that they came from the same typewriter.

not surprising, considering that Howard and Lovecraft were good buddies.

[Somebloke]

not surprising, considering that Howard and Lovecraft were good buddies.

Now there was a man who really dug his panther-like treads.

[Alfryd]

I'm gonna vote for The Rats in the Walls. Best short horror story I've read.

Lovecraft Story Plot Summary:
(A.) Evil will win.
(B.) There was never anything whatsoever you could possibly have done to alter the ultimate fact that it was always inevitable Evil will win.
(C.) It's all your fault.

[Mysticaloctopus]

I'm gonna vote for The Rats in the Walls. Best short horror story I've read.

Lovecraft Story Plot Summary:
(A.) Evil will win.
(B.) There was never anything whatsoever you could possibly have done to alter the ultimate fact that it was always inevitable Evil will win.
(C.) It's all your fault.

(D.) If, by some cruel stroke of fate, you are the one who survives, Enjoy your Padded Cell!

Also, love your sig Alfryd.

[WalkingTarget]

But to bash him for writing in a pre-Hemmingway style is just a little unfair.

Actually, Lovecraft really disliked the modernist literary movement and authors like Hemmingway, Ayn Rand, and James Joyce bugged the hell out of him (as did modern poetry, he wrote a parody of Eliot's "The Waste Land" titled "Waste Paper: a poem of profound insignificance").

He spent a lot of his life pining for the good old 18th century and his opinions on prose and poetical structure is largely based on that.

For the comparison of "Dagon" to "The Call of Cthulhu", the first was one of the very first stories he wrote to see print, while the latter was the beginning of the final stage of his development as a writer. The source of horror in both (as in quite a lot of his stories) is the idea that there are other civilizations/entities at work on earth and humanity isn't as important as it thinks it is.

"The Colour out of Space" is an excellent story, as is "At the Mountains of Madness" (despite the penguins). "The Shadow over Innsmouth" is also good and was the only book of his work to have been published during his lifetime (as a book, not just in magazines).

The story collections people have mentioned already are good ones, but I also will recommend the ones published by Del Rey since you can get the majority of his stories with very little overlap (I think 3 books with 1 story included twice). Anyway, as has been stated, welcome to the madness.

[....]

Ah, I hate when people try and get on Lovecraft for his vocabulary. He isn't a modern writer, people. What he wrote was popular at the time. Don't believe me? Go read some of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. You'd swear that they came from the same typewriter.

Not that popular.

He died poor.

[WalkingTarget]

Not that popular.

He died poor.

So did a lot of people during the depression.

While running on a (sometimes very)tight budget, between selling stories and running a revision/ghost writing service for other writers he wasn't as bad off as a lot of people.

He also seemed to have problems with rejection. If one publisher (usually the editor of Weird Tales) turned down a story, he'd go into a funk and wouldn't resubmit to other magazines and would stop writing for a while. Often the first person to turn him down would ask to see the story again at a later date.

[Sly Reference]

Not that popular.

He died poor.

And anyway, I was talking about the style being popular, and not the man. Writers of the time, even the popular ones, seemed to be writing more to each other than to the lay public, and used a much more advanced vocabulary and expected their readers to be more in tune with certain references than we're used to today. In particular, they seemed to read a lot more poetry, and were influenced by the broad choice of words used in them.

[....]

Lovecraft was a groovy writer, but not someone you'd want to hang out with.

Can you imagine if you locked him and Poe up in a room together, the crap that would spill out?