Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone here might be kind enough to help me out with something. What do you know about H.P. Lovecraft and his stories relating to Cthulhu? Just recently I've been inspired to do some reading. As you know, after watching 'I, Robot' the film, I was inspired to get myself a copy of 'The Complete Robot' - a book containing a collection of robot short stories by Isaac Asimov. I've also got myself a copy of the first in 'The Dark Tower' series by Steven King (which I plan to read after I've finished my robot book - I'm currently about 2/3rds of the way though). Anyway, seeing as I'm close to completing the robot book, and that the first of the dark tower books is very short, I've been on the look out for something else to sink my teeth in to.. and I think I've found it in the form of H.P. Lovecraft. Now I know very little about Lovecraft or his works at the moment. The only thing that's drawing my attention is the computer game 'Eternal Darkness' - eternal darkness is set in a world of ancient gods and great evils, and it's a theme that I found very interesting... After a bit of research I found that it was an theme inspired by Lovecraft and his Cthulhu stories. Due to this, I want to read some of his works, but I don't know where to start... OK, that's a slight lie, it's been suggested that I read 'Call of Cthulhu' first (which I've found online and printed out), but once I've done that (which won't take long, it's only short) I don't know what to read next. So, to try and cut a long story short (too late), Can anyone suggest a book for me to read? Maybe a collection of stories based around the Cthulhu Mythos or something? Thank you.
I live in the UK and there are different collections here from over there but some of my favourite individual stories are...The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Haunter of the Dark, Statement of Randolph Carter, The Tomb, The Colour Out of Space, Whisperer in Darkness, HE, etc.
Thank you for your suggestions. It's been suggested that I get Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos which looks like as good a place as any to start. If I like the stories then I might look for more, but I think that maybe for the moment I'll stick with that.
He's a weird one. Even some of his hardcore fans would admit that some of his stories are a bit weak. But don't let that put you off because when he's good he's really fucking good. It's more in the atmosphere than in the actual plots. Like in The Tomb. Not a lot happens and it's only a few pages long but it still creeps me out somehow.
Oops...just noticed you're in England too. I always assume people are from the states on this board. Sorry bout that. In that case, if you do decide to read more by him try "Call Of The Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories" from Penguin books. It's a good collection of his stuff.
I don't think I'm quite so interested in his stories so much... more the universe in which they are set. The ideas of aincents and 'flash and blood gods' really appeal to me, and so that's why I'm looking into Lovecraft.
Kirk Hammet was a huge fan of Lovecraft...ever heard metallicas version "Call of Ktulu"? As a mediocre metal fan i truly enjoy this instrumental work which brings back the feeling of the book quiet good in fact it´s a great musical effort.
I know that HPL is one of the writers who inspired Stephen King. I've just ordered some myself Dan and I'll let you know if I recommend them, or not, once I've had a read. I don't know if anyone's read on his life story, but it's worth having a look. He was a loner, but a very well read individual. he wrote many short stories that were accredited to others and HPL afficionadoes are now tracing the style in which they were written back to him. 'Dagon' is one of his earliest works and worth reading, but you can see how his writing powers develop in later novels. In life, this humble man considered himself an AMATEUR in the truest sense of the word: Someone who loves art. Not someone who makes a living out of art and turns out anything for a buck, but someone that truly cares about what he/she creates. My thumbs up for starting a thread on this writer, because I'm fascinated by him, too and can't wait to see what information we find about him.
You would do well to delve into H.P. Lovecraft's works. He was an amazing writer, and horror/weird fiction writers are still judged by his measure. And yes, he certainly did inspire Stephen King. When I lived in NY as a kid, there was a book of his stories on the shelves in our basement, but I found his writing too dense and academic for me at the time. (I had been hoping for pure scary horror.) Years later, I decided to pick up a small anthology at a bookstore, to try him again. I don't know what inspired me to do that, actually. Oddly enough, right around that time, I ended up seeing a newspaper article about him -- I think it might have been because someone had just done a biography on him or something. He was kind of a withdrawn, mama's-boy kind of guy. The fact that he led a relatively reclusive life makes one wonder how he grew worldly enough to write anything convincing or even remotely entertaining. The first story I ever read in full was "The Horror at Red Hook," which I selected in the middle of my anthology simply because the title "hooked" me. It was a funny and strange coincidence that the story was set in Red Hook, a section of Brooklyn, New York! (Those boroughs of NYC are broken down into named neighborhoods.) I had never been aware of a place called Red Hook; I found the selection of that story coincidental because I was conceived in Brooklyn, and grew up on Long Island (an hour away). I stumbled through Lovecraft's work with no one to guide me as to a sensible approach and path through the canon. It hasn't harmed my enjoyment, I think, to have read it in an odd jumble of order. I do recommend the following, to give you a background and a basis for further reading: - The Call of Cthulhu - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (a short novel, and an excellent one!) - The Shadow Out of Time - The Colour Out of Space - The Dunwich Horror - The Dreams in the Witch House Those are my favorites of what I've read so far. Bear in mind that I have not read all of his works, though. I read them in an anthology series by DelRey books (there are several small anthologies and one larger one, all with similar covers in paperback). The large one is the best, and is called, The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. I highly recommend it. ISBN 0-345-35080-4 Enjoy. -Jeffrey
I started a thread on H.P. Lovecraft not too long ago and noone replied lol. I suppose I'll join in on this one. I love H.P. Lovecraft. He happens to be my favorite writer of any genre. I would have to totally disagree with the statement someone said above about his stories being "weak". I personally don't think that Stephen King or Dean Koontz have half the talent that Lovecraft had. Even Steven King has admitted that Lovecraft was the greatest horror writer of the 20th centur. He was mostly inspired by Lord Dunsany and Edgar Allan Poe. Like someone said above, he always considered himself to be an amateur. He refused to even submit most of his stories because he didn't think that they were good enough. Fortunately some of his friends thought different and would submit his works without his permission or knowledge to magazines so that they could be published. He gained most of his fame long after he was dead. If it hadn't been for several of his close friends who did all they could to see that the rest of the world knew who H.P. Lovecraft was then we probably wouldn't be writing in this thread now. If you ever get a chance I would recommend reading his "Miscellaneous Writings". It is out of print now and pretty hard to find, but I managed to find a copy at the library.
I had to add this. For anyone who might be interested in reading Lovecraft here you go. http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ This website has most of his stories available for you to read. I would recommend checking out The Shadow out of Time, The Colour out of Space, At the Mountains of Madness, and The Call of Cthulhu for those who have yet to read Lovecraft. Those are a few of my personal favorites. Let us know what you think.
Whilst H.P Lovecraft may appear a shade difficult for the average reader, I can honestly say that having recently read Call of Cthulhu, I have been irreversibly seduced by his writing. Not only does he create an atmosphere that bridges a gothic style with an uncertain future, but he displays knowledge of arcane worlds coupled with the theorem of chaos. I found myself re-reading sentences, discovering words no longer in common use and marvelling at the creativeness and substance. I had a big dictionary as a bedside companion and blessed my knowledge of Greek in helping me decipher some of his more cryptic terminology. It may be worth noting that the Greek word for amateur is erasitechnis. It literally means : one who loves art; and that, I believe is what HPL was all about. He wasn't a struggling scribe trying to make two dimes to pay his overdue rent. What he did, he did with the utmost passion and that was to write. You will see quite clearly how his almost inimitable style has influenced writers of many later generations and it is a great pity that he was taken from this world at such an early age. Who knows where he would have reached had he continued? A big thank you to Zero II for providing more information on this inexhaustible subject.
I believe H.P. Lovecraft is the originator of the Necormemricon. The book used to revive the dead. Bound in the skin of female virgins. Also the Old ones or as Milton call them the gods of Chaos in "Paridise Lost".
Necronomicon even I just love the way that book looks in the Evil Dead series of films... and yeah HP Lovecraft is amazing..he creates an incredible atmosphere the way he writes, it takes you back 100 years or so
Howard Philips will always have a place on my book cases. I have been reading his stories since middle school. His intense attention to detailed imagery, more than likely reinforced by his being a recluse, still amazes me. Especially his dream-world stories, i.e. The Doom that came to Sarnath. Though dialogue is generally tedious to the point of silliness in many places...lol The Dunwich Horror is amazing as well...
Necromonicon was written by Abdul Alhazred, a mad Arab who died in 738AD. The original title was Kitab-al-Azif. Its first recognition from another civilization was not by an American, but by a Greek, Teodoro Fileta, hence its name which literally means: 'pictures(icons) of the dead(necro, as in necrophilia )'. A Dane called Olaus Wormius later translated it into Latin, in 1228. The Latin version, however, is not accurate and it is hindered by language barriers leading to omissions and erroneous renderings(to quote Clark Ashton Smith,1931), therefore you can imagine what happens when it is further translated into our modern Eurasian tongues. No, HPL was not the originator of the Necronomicon, but he procured a way of bringing it to the general public's attention when the only people that knew about it at the time were scholars of linguistics and high level occultists, ie. Aleister Crowley. Lovecraft was an extremely well read man, his thirst for knowledge was only bettered by his skill for writing. Although he was shunned by the majority of the public in his days, for their ignorance prohibited them from understanding the wisdom of his words, his legacy continued through the intelligentsia who protected his books so that we can enjoy them today. Anyway, for your benefit if you would like to research a bit more for yourself you can find a bit about Abdul Alhazred at http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=75220 If you type in his name in a search engine you can find tons more if you're really interested, of course! More knowledge of the Necronomicon's origin and location can be extracted from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/9310/english1.htm There is also an English translation of the Necronomicon at http://homepages.pavilion.co.uk/glyng/necronomicon.html BUT!!!! HEED THE WARNING! It may seem gobbledegook, but I'm sure there's good reason not to dabble in the rites described. Protect your precious minds, please, so I can continue to enjoy your comments in this forum. With Platonic love, Scorpion PS If anyone has knowledge of the Arabic original and its whereabouts, please let me know
Errata On my previous entry I mistakenly gave the translation of the title Necronomicon. Having had discussion with Greek theosophists, I realized that my interpretation would have been appropriate for the word, necroicon. In fact the second part of the title Necronomicon relates closer to the law: 'nomicon'. It stems from 'nomos':law and nomika:legal matters. So, perhaps it may refer to the laws regarding the dead. But don't quote me on it I hope I'm forgiven.
