FrenchMovieTheme
Member
i read a couple of his short stories a few years back and enjoyed them. so today i bought a few more of his books from the store. anyone like lovecraft that can recommend some of your favorites of his?
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anybody like H.P. Lovecraft?
- Thread starter FrenchMovieTheme
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First Lovecraft story I read was Call of Cthulu. I suppose I liked it. Then I read Rats in the Walls, or whatever it's called. I liked it too, but then I read a couple others, and noticed a pretty familiar formula throughout all of them. Maybe I just haven't read enough of his stuff, but all the stores I've read of his just seem too similar. And while they were probably very innovative for his time, I thought some of his stories were kind of silly.
Not bad, though. Still waiting for the fucking Call of Cthulu game. What's it been, like five years now?
Not bad, though. Still waiting for the fucking Call of Cthulu game. What's it been, like five years now?
Last summer, while a friend was watching me play through Eternal Darkness, he suggested I read some of his Lovecraft compilations. I was getting a little tired of gaming during all my free time anyway, so I did a little reading, and really liked it. I read about 8 or so of his stories, but crap if I can remember the name of any of them. One was about a small New England town invaded by mermen I remember. Something that struck me in particular was the way he ended some of his stories, leaving you completely hanging on the edge of a particular situation, wondering what happened next. With some authors that would cause nothing but frustration, but with him I was just left with a grin, and having to assume what happened next.
Virgin Wii
Banned
Yes, yes, yes; very much. Drop all your clothes then I guess we can fuck.
"The Rats In the Walls"
"The Rats In the Walls"
dynamitejim
Member
I have a couple of the Del Rey collections and like them a lot. I haven't read them in a long time though (and this thread makes me want to go back to them).
I like the theory behind HP Lovecraft's work, but the execution is unequivocally turgid, histrionic, and completely humorless. I ate the stuff up when I was a teenager, and I'm excited about the upcoming game (I have a feeling it will be a Red Dead Revolver-type affair. . .filled with imperfections, but a gem to those that enjoy the source material).
There's a few stories I reread every so often, and I have everything he put to paper, including letters. I also have a fair bit of crit concerning his work.
If the whole theory thing is confusing: If someone explained to me what Lovecraft's work was about, thematically and plotwise, without ever having read any of it, I'd rush to the bookstore and pick up whatever was recommended.
There's a few stories I reread every so often, and I have everything he put to paper, including letters. I also have a fair bit of crit concerning his work.
If the whole theory thing is confusing: If someone explained to me what Lovecraft's work was about, thematically and plotwise, without ever having read any of it, I'd rush to the bookstore and pick up whatever was recommended.
The Take Out Bandit
Member
I was prodded here in another thread.
I'm a horror fan, and I have to admit I've never read any Lovecraft. I'll have to give it a shot at some point. Maybe borrow Mrs. Sea Manky's compilations, but I enjoy Sea Manky's Cliff's Notes versions of all H.P. Lovecraft's work. To paraphrase:
The horror! The thing that could not be, but is. So horrible, I can't possibly begin to describe it; but it will assuredly drive you mad! :lol
Once I finish up my this:
and. . .
(Yeah, someone snuck me the young readers copy at Half Priced Books; still it's full of decapitations and badassery - so it's worth chugging through.)
The Cleveland Butcher book is great. Full of police archive photos that you really don't need to see; but are compelled to look at anyhow, and grisly details of the murders - WHICH WILL MOST ASSUREDLY DRIVE YOU MAD! And it's just good to know some really terrible bastard walked the streets I walk and will probably emasculate me and leave my head at a Starbucks at some point - because they never caught him. WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
But anyhow . . . Lovecraft - yeah, Lovecraft and him god damned tentacle porn.
I'm a horror fan, and I have to admit I've never read any Lovecraft. I'll have to give it a shot at some point. Maybe borrow Mrs. Sea Manky's compilations, but I enjoy Sea Manky's Cliff's Notes versions of all H.P. Lovecraft's work. To paraphrase:
The horror! The thing that could not be, but is. So horrible, I can't possibly begin to describe it; but it will assuredly drive you mad! :lol
Once I finish up my this:
and. . .
(Yeah, someone snuck me the young readers copy at Half Priced Books; still it's full of decapitations and badassery - so it's worth chugging through.)
The Cleveland Butcher book is great. Full of police archive photos that you really don't need to see; but are compelled to look at anyhow, and grisly details of the murders - WHICH WILL MOST ASSUREDLY DRIVE YOU MAD! And it's just good to know some really terrible bastard walked the streets I walk and will probably emasculate me and leave my head at a Starbucks at some point - because they never caught him. WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
But anyhow . . . Lovecraft - yeah, Lovecraft and him god damned tentacle porn.
Willco said:
When you take what he offers at face value, you're left with a library of stories that tell similar tales using different serpentine, bastard son-of-Poe language. If you read one Lovecraft story. . .it's pretty good once you struggle past the stupid language. If you read a hundred, you get pretty frustrated that this dude's been milking the same set of a half-dozen ideas for so much material.
Also, Take Out Bandit, I may have to order that Cleveland Butcher book.
EDIT: Hell, GAFits, give me "intelligent" horror recommendations.
The Take Out Bandit
Member
Dan Simmons!
Song of Kali
The Hollow Man
Carrion Comfort
I'll read pretty much any horror by Dan Simmons, but that's the ZOMG stuff.
In the Wake of the Butcher is good thus far. I haven't read far enough to be qualified on giving a recommendation, but it doesn't hurt to live in the area where this took place.
White Man said:
I never said he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but some of the concepts he came up with are just fantastic. There will always be criticisms about his writing style, but it's not as if the stories are impossible to digest. I'm just really fond of his creations, even if some happen to be tweaks on older stories.
You'd probably laugh at mine.
After stumbling over reference after reference to his work, I finally tracked down a collection of his short stories and began to read them... anxiously awaiting something odd and interesting.
After reading 3-4 short stories, I was painfully aware that he was the equivalent of a comic book writer... he has neat ideas (sometimes), but isn't a good writer at all. One thing that I really hated was that he was generally very predictable; once you read the first few paragraphs, you can generally predict the remaineder of the story. This got annoying after a bit.
He had some very interesting ideas (many of which were later stolen and turned into far better works by other authors), but I can't get past thinking of him as a writer of one-dimensional comic books (which isn't far from the truth, given that most of his tales appeared in comics and their equivalents).
After reading 3-4 short stories, I was painfully aware that he was the equivalent of a comic book writer... he has neat ideas (sometimes), but isn't a good writer at all. One thing that I really hated was that he was generally very predictable; once you read the first few paragraphs, you can generally predict the remaineder of the story. This got annoying after a bit.
He had some very interesting ideas (many of which were later stolen and turned into far better works by other authors), but I can't get past thinking of him as a writer of one-dimensional comic books (which isn't far from the truth, given that most of his tales appeared in comics and their equivalents).
Lovecraft is as much the inspiration for modern horror works as Poe is, and in many cases even more so.
Looking at Poe, his writing definitely had an eerie sense to it. It got under your skin, and there is no doubt that he was the better writer. The thing about Poe though was that at the end of the day, he didn't write about anything more gruesome than had been in the papers or been suggested in one form or another in other writings. We will call Poe the Halloween of early horror writers. Nothing too shocking, but done in such a way that it unqeustionably creeped you out at the time.
Lovecraft to me has always been more graphic. He definitely had many ideas that were unthinkable at the time, and presented them in a pretty vivid detail. You guys say he had some concepts that were ok. IMHO he had many concepts, and even styles of his writing that would later be taken to heart by various authors. You could almost call Lovecraft the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of horror.
While what Poe was writing was new and shocking, what Lovecraft was doing was unheard of. The two camps to Lovecraft basically said he was either putting out filth or gold, but either way both acknowledged that nothing like it came out before.
If you look at most modern authors' interviews, most will cite without provocation Lovecraft as a source of inspiration, but most do NOT cite Poe usually. I think Poe verbalized the side of horror that everyone subconsciously wanted to have verbalized. The "safe yet shocking" horror". In that sense everyone has some Poe in them. Lovecraft I think verbalized a side of horror that only few had inside them, most didn't know existed, and many didn't want to know existed.
I do agree that he abused some of the same themes over and over, and never carried most of his stories beyond similar climaxes and resolutions, but I think that can be attributed more to the sheer volume of work in the relative short time he created it than him just being a hack writer. Someone pointed to him being the equivalent of a comic book writer. Well, to a degree that was certainly true. He was putting out many different stories a year in the pulps and thus was under pressure to finish. I believe he only came out with a few (one or two?) novellas, the rest were all pulp short stories.
but his contribution can't be denied. He unquestionably put the "mainstream face" on graphic horror, and is arguably the godfather of modern horror moreso than anyone else.
Looking at Poe, his writing definitely had an eerie sense to it. It got under your skin, and there is no doubt that he was the better writer. The thing about Poe though was that at the end of the day, he didn't write about anything more gruesome than had been in the papers or been suggested in one form or another in other writings. We will call Poe the Halloween of early horror writers. Nothing too shocking, but done in such a way that it unqeustionably creeped you out at the time.
Lovecraft to me has always been more graphic. He definitely had many ideas that were unthinkable at the time, and presented them in a pretty vivid detail. You guys say he had some concepts that were ok. IMHO he had many concepts, and even styles of his writing that would later be taken to heart by various authors. You could almost call Lovecraft the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of horror.
While what Poe was writing was new and shocking, what Lovecraft was doing was unheard of. The two camps to Lovecraft basically said he was either putting out filth or gold, but either way both acknowledged that nothing like it came out before.
If you look at most modern authors' interviews, most will cite without provocation Lovecraft as a source of inspiration, but most do NOT cite Poe usually. I think Poe verbalized the side of horror that everyone subconsciously wanted to have verbalized. The "safe yet shocking" horror". In that sense everyone has some Poe in them. Lovecraft I think verbalized a side of horror that only few had inside them, most didn't know existed, and many didn't want to know existed.
I do agree that he abused some of the same themes over and over, and never carried most of his stories beyond similar climaxes and resolutions, but I think that can be attributed more to the sheer volume of work in the relative short time he created it than him just being a hack writer. Someone pointed to him being the equivalent of a comic book writer. Well, to a degree that was certainly true. He was putting out many different stories a year in the pulps and thus was under pressure to finish. I believe he only came out with a few (one or two?) novellas, the rest were all pulp short stories.
but his contribution can't be denied. He unquestionably put the "mainstream face" on graphic horror, and is arguably the godfather of modern horror moreso than anyone else.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
I think I've read pretty much every significant story he wrote, and liked couple of them quite a bit. I can agree both with his critics and fans, because the stories are all pretty simillar in a way (and not just because they share the common mythos), and follow the same thread - hardly anything in storys plot can surprise you after you've read couple of them.
However, they have that child-like naive and often confusing way of presenting characters emotions, and various gruesome horrors, that resonates nicely with me. You can actually see how much that style has inspired other writers of the genre, like Clive Barker, and I can only assume back in his time, Lovecraft's works have been a lot more novel and awe-inpiring than they can be today after the genre has been so overexposed.
Having said that, I think "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is his best work (I'm surprised has noone mentioned it yet, which also happens to be the first thing I read from him. There's also a movie made by this book, which I've heard is actually pretty good, it's called "The Resurrected". I also liked Rats in the Walls, The Colour out of Space, In the Mountains of Madness and probably some others that I can't think of now.
However, they have that child-like naive and often confusing way of presenting characters emotions, and various gruesome horrors, that resonates nicely with me. You can actually see how much that style has inspired other writers of the genre, like Clive Barker, and I can only assume back in his time, Lovecraft's works have been a lot more novel and awe-inpiring than they can be today after the genre has been so overexposed.
Having said that, I think "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is his best work (I'm surprised has noone mentioned it yet
, which also happens to be the first thing I read from him. There's also a movie made by this book, which I've heard is actually pretty good, it's called "The Resurrected". I also liked Rats in the Walls, The Colour out of Space, In the Mountains of Madness and probably some others that I can't think of now.Duck of Death
Member
I'm a big fan of Lovecraft's works. Some of my favorite stories are The Rats in the Walls, The Shadow Over Insmouth, At the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror, and The Lurking Fear.
borghe said:
Fun fact: In academia over the past decade or so, it's become the trend to mostly replace Poe's place in the short story canon with Lovecraft. I may've been putting down HP above, but for the love of god is he ever better than Poe (at short stories. HP's poetry is just. . .uh).
Poe did sort of invent the form though, so he'll be drilled into poor students' heads indefinitely.
bob_arctor
Tough_Smooth
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth" is great stuff, probably my favorite (and you can see shades of this tale and Lovecraft himself all over the Carpenter flick "In The Mouth Of Madness").
"The Thing On The Doorstep" is also another fave, though not as well known.
"The Festival" is a nice, creepy short tale.
Aside from the archaic style of prose (which I love, actually, for the same reason I loved that flick "The Others"), it's always fascinating to catch the subtle racism in some of his work---the black cat in "The Rats In The Walls" named Niggerman for example.
Lovecraft's influence is far-reaching. Grant Morrison's "The Incredibles" owes a lot to the Cthulu mythos overall but specifically the tale of the butler that has to feed this demonic creature every night who walks into our dimension through a mirror. Totally Lovecraftian.
"The Thing On The Doorstep" is also another fave, though not as well known.
"The Festival" is a nice, creepy short tale.
Aside from the archaic style of prose (which I love, actually, for the same reason I loved that flick "The Others"), it's always fascinating to catch the subtle racism in some of his work---the black cat in "The Rats In The Walls" named Niggerman for example.
Lovecraft's influence is far-reaching. Grant Morrison's "The Incredibles" owes a lot to the Cthulu mythos overall but specifically the tale of the butler that has to feed this demonic creature every night who walks into our dimension through a mirror. Totally Lovecraftian.
bob_arctor said:
Shadow over Innsmouth was my favorite. One of my other favorites was. . .the one where 2 dudes hole up in a cabin in the woods looking for details about their missing mentor/whatever? ANd then there's some big shadowy demon.monster in teh sky with tendril-like things that come to the ground.
I also liked Shadow out of Time, although I can't for the life of me remember what story it was. I remember liking it. Maybe it's that one I just described
SteveMeister
Hang out with Steve.
Willco said:
It was being shown in our booth this year, too. I'm not sure what the projected release date is right now.
I'm a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe, so at some point in time a friend of mine suggested I should read some stories of HP Lovecraft, although he concentrates on Gothic-Horror. Well ,long story short, I bought a Best of collection and...was hooked!
rats in the walls or mountains of madness (nobody mentioned that one!) are really great, scary stuff. although i have to admit, that some of his stories are rather funny than scary
rats in the walls or mountains of madness (nobody mentioned that one!) are really great, scary stuff. although i have to admit, that some of his stories are rather funny than scary
Blackace
if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
The Take Out Bandit said:Dan Simmons!
Song of Kali
The Hollow Man
Carrion Comfort
I'll read pretty much any horror by Dan Simmons, but that's the ZOMG stuff.
In the Wake of the Butcher is good thus far. I haven't read far enough to be qualified on giving a recommendation, but it doesn't hurt to live in the area where this took place.
the summer of night makes IT look like crap...
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
That's one thing I've noticed, but just assumed it might have been in the spirit of times his story was describing. i.e. it was common in the time the story is describing to name a cat like that (for the racists reasons), but that wouldn't mean Lovecraft himself was racist. It is also interesting how rare is to find any significant female characters in his work (and by significant I mean any female character with a designated first and last name).
At least five people before you did
Noone mentioned Charles Dexter Ward though. Did you guys not read it, or just didn't like it that much?
The Take Out Bandit
Member
Cool! That's in my "To Read" pile and I accidentally read the sort of sequel before Summer of Night. D'oH!
I really don't care for King's writing style. Too heavy handed on the product placement.
I slogged through the first Dark Tower book though, and can say it's one of the most grossly over rated pieces of fiction I know of. :X
The Invisibles, god damn it!
Marconelly said:
Lovecraft was a die-hard Anglophile and a casual believer in the superiority of the white race, by several accounts and judging by a few comments in his personal letters. Really not unusual for an educated New Englander of the time, but you do see some of that in his writing from time to time.
I've read just about everything he wrote, and I like most of it. My favorite stuff is probably his Dream Cycle, which is centered around The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (in fact, when I first heard "Dreamcast," I associated it with "Dream-Quest," therefore the DC is the "Lovecraftian" system in my mind), one of his longest stories. As said above, his influence on horror cannot be understated, and while some of his prose is difficult to get through for modern readers, it's worth hacking through a few Lovecraft stories to see the roots of the stuff we grew up watching on the big and small screens.
bob_arctor
Tough_Smooth
The Take Out Bandit said:The Invisibles, god damn it!
This is what happens when you're 2 kids make you watch The Incredibles at least 8 times a week. *Shakes head* Next thing you know I'll be confusing Alias with Kim Possible.
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