# H. P. Lovecraft



## Vos (Jun 24, 2005)

I suppose he would be concidered "classic literature".  Writing in the 1920s and influenceing an entire genre. Man, did this guy know how to create atmosphere or what? I have only read a few of his short storys and poems, but...wow. My faveroit story by him so far is Imprisened With The Pharos with Harry Hudini (sp?). I haven't read any of the so called "Cthulhu Mythos" . What does everyone think of him.

Sorry about the poor quality of this post, I'm in a hurry and I got side tracted.


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## Eve (Jun 24, 2005)

I love his stories!

Here is a website with his stories, and a lot of other fun stuff about the macabre.

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/

Enjoy


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## horror_fan90 (Jun 24, 2005)

He is great, but he takes a little getting used to in my opinion. A first time reader is probably going to get extremely bored quick of his extremely large amounts of descriptive prose.


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## Eve (Jun 24, 2005)

His poetry is a little easier to read. The website does not have his poetry.


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## The Thing (Jun 25, 2005)

As has been mentioned before Lofecraft's work can be a bit heavy on description. I've only read 'At the Mountains of Madness', and from what I remember there's very little, if any, dialogue.

Good story though.


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## Vos (Jun 25, 2005)

I love how decriptive he was, it's part of what makes his stories have good atmosphere. Amittedly though, there are people who would find this boring.

H.P Lovecrafts poem Despair is the best poem I've ever read. I know it by heart because I choose it for a poetry reading in lit class. Haha I was one of two who got 10/10, the other went to someone who read a poem by Poe.


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## Eve (Jun 25, 2005)

I was trying to find some of his poems on the net, so I could post them here (copy & paste). But I could not find any. I have his whole collection of writings in a book, but they are long, and I'm feeling too lazy today to write anything long.


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## Vos (Jun 25, 2005)

Hopefully there is no legal issue here. 


Despair
H. P. Lovecraft




                    O'er the midnight moorlands crying,    
                    Thro' the cypress forests sighing,    
                    In the night-wind madly flying,        
                      Hellish forms with streaming hair;  
                    In the barren branches creaking,      
                    By the stagnant swamp-pools speaking,  
                    Past the shore-cliffs ever shrieking,  
                      Damn'd demons of despair.            

                    Once, I think I half remember,        
                    Ere the grey skies of November        
                    Quench'd my youth's aspiring ember,    
                      Liv'd there such a thing as bliss;  
                    Skies that now are dark were beaming,  
                    Bold and azure, splendid seeming      
                    Till I learn'd it all was dreaming --  
                      Deadly drowsiness of Dis.            

                    But the stream of Time, swift flowing,
                    Brings the torment of half-knowing --  
                    Dimly rushing, blindly going          
                      Past the never-trodden lea;          
                    And the voyager, repining,            
                    Sees the wicked death-fires shining,  
                    Hears the wicked petrel's whining      
                      As he helpless drifts to sea.        

                    Evil wings in ether beating;          
                    Vultures at the spirit eating;        
                    Things unseen forever fleeting        
                      Black against the leering sky.      
                    Ghastly shades of bygone gladness,    
                    Clawing fiends of future sadness,      
                    Mingle in a cloud of madness          
                      Ever on the soul to lie.            

                    Thus the living, lone and sobbing,    
                    In the throes of anguish throbbing,    
                    With the loathsome Furies robbing      
                      Night and noon of peace and rest.    
                    But beyond the groans and grating      
                    Of abhorrent Life, is waiting          
                    Sweet Oblivion, culminating            
                      All the years of fruitless quest.


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## Eve (Jun 25, 2005)

Like it! I was going to post "The Power of Wine"


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## Eve (Jun 26, 2005)

I believe Lovecraft studied the accult especially the Necronomicon, and that inspired his writings.


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## Sir_Satoshi (Jun 26, 2005)

I headed out to th' local library to see if I could fine anythin' by this Lovecraft guy.

Nothin', unfortunately. I'm still tryin' t' find some of his stuff, but it's hard around here. Hard t' believe, too, since I've heard so much about him. 

Mhm...

How do you pronounce Cthulhu anyway?


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## LensmanZ313 (Jun 26, 2005)

The books in the Cthulhu Mythos are _fictional_. Yes, you can buy some of those books in the Occult/New Age section at any major bookstore--but they are hoaxes.

Lovecraft. He was a great writer, along with the other Mythos writers, especially Robert E. Howard, Robert Block and Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft was something of a racist and anti-Semitic--unfortunately, many people were back in that time.

But, damn, the man could _write_!


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## Eve (Jun 26, 2005)

There is a lot on the net on Lovecraft. The only thing I could not find are his poems on the net. I found a website that said it had his poems, but I could not get in the website for some  reason.

A book that talks about him a lot is "The R'Lyeth Text" by Robert Turner. This book also has Hidden Leaves From The Necronomicon.


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## Sir_Satoshi (Jun 26, 2005)

Yeah, m'friend Casey was tellin' me about that. That book... The... Grimoire, or something, was made into a real book by someone...


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## LensmanZ313 (Jun 26, 2005)

http://www.locksley.com/cthulhu/ this is the best site . . . . _EVER_!


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## Eve (Jun 26, 2005)

LensmanZ313 said:
			
		

> The books in the Cthulhu Mythos are _fictional_. Yes, you can buy some of those books in the Occult/New Age section at any major bookstore--but they are hoaxes.
> 
> Lovecraft. He was a great writer, along with the other Mythos writers, especially Robert E. Howard, Robert Block and Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft was something of a racist and anti-Semitic--unfortunately, many people were back in that time.
> 
> But, damn, the man could _write_!




This is something interesting that is written in the book by Robert Turner:

"Through dreams such as Lovecraft's, contact is established with ancient sources of wisdom forbidden  to man. Perhaps his premature death at the age of 47 was precipitated by the fear of what would happen to humanity if certain gates were opened. He knew the secret calls and knew also that one day they would be used again."

The writer of the present commentary would not of course agree that Kenneth Grant was on the right track in his assumptions that Lovecraft's 'revelations' regarding the Necronomicon and Mythos entities were purely based on contacts established through dreams. Readers of our earlier work on the Necronomicon will recall our contention that the young Lovecraft was directly influenced by a manuscript which passed to him from his father. The content of this manuscript in  turn inspired the Mythos tales, and gave rise to the astonishing series of dreams which long haunted the writer.

Magical books referred to by novelist are often assumed to be fictitious, purely on the basis that they are included in a work of  fiction. If Lovecraft had written serious works on magic instead of horror stories, occultists would have been moved to investigate the implications of the Necronomicon earlier and perhaps been able to trace the book on which his unusual concepts were based.


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## Sir_Satoshi (Jun 26, 2005)

LensmanZ313 said:
			
		

> http://www.locksley.com/cthulhu/ this is the best site . . . . _EVER_!



I don't need a heart attack at 15, boyo! o.o;;


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## Eve (Jun 26, 2005)

Lensman I got booted from that site just now.


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## LensmanZ313 (Jun 26, 2005)

It's up and running . . . maybe you pissed off 'Tulhu . . . .


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## Eve (Jun 26, 2005)

LOL, maybe I did. LOL This happens to me once in a while. I would like to find out why. Many complain about this in computer forums in the hopes of getting some answers. Oh well.


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## LensmanZ313 (Jun 26, 2005)

My wife--who's a witch, yes a real witch--assures me that Lovecraft's "source materials" are fictional. Like Bush and his "WMDs" . . . .


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## PaPa (Jun 26, 2005)

I've been reading a compilation of his short stories over the past week or so, and I've found them almost uniformly superb.  I read 'The Colour of Space' late last night and it scared me so much that I got worried about moving into the darker areas of the house to get to bed...


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## Sir_Satoshi (Jun 26, 2005)

Mhm.

I'm sure H.P. Lovecraft would love the horror movies of today. Y'know, with their bastardizing of the horror genre, lame characters, and really, really stupid plots/ideas/everything.

=D Sarcasm.


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## Vos (Jun 26, 2005)

The Necronomicon is a fictional book created by H.P Lovecraft. A few years after his death a magic store wrote "The Necronomicon" to make money. 


http://www.hplovecraft.com/creation/necron/

As for Lovecraft being racist, he was a product of his time. Most people back then were racist, I don't think it makes his writing any less great than it is.


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## _Nyx_ (Jun 26, 2005)

H.P. Lovecraft is the only horror writer that has successfully made me break into a cold sweat and drink an entire jar of coffee in order not to fall asleep. And then I did fall asleep. I had nightmares for a week.

Call of Cthulu and Rats in the Walls are the best. They scared me to death


Nyx


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## Kane (Jun 26, 2005)

LensmanZ313 said:
			
		

> My wife--who's a witch, yes a real witch--assures me that Lovecraft's "source materials" are fictional. Like Bush and his "WMDs" . . . .



try not to be a dumbass.  Bush claimed there were WMD's because the intelligence he relied on said there were.  I'm no more of a Bush fan than most, but he's just a figurehead.  All of Lovecraft's ideas were fictional, you see, he was a fiction writer.  It doesn't take a "witch" to figure that out.


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## Eve (Jun 26, 2005)

Thanks for the link vos


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## LensmanZ313 (Jun 27, 2005)

To quote _Team America_:



> That was bad I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E., very bad I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.



And . . . .



> INTELLIGENCE is down! Repeat, we have lost our INTELLIGENCE!



See, Kane, many people . . . especially in occult circles . . . think these books are real. They are not. I asked my wife on her opinion. That's all. Lighten up.

Lovecraft:

I agree with you, Vos. Lovecraft's racism and anti-Semitism were, at that time, encouraged by society. He was married to Sonia Green, a Jew, albeit briefly.

I don't agree with his views; I still consider him to be a great writer and a very important influence on SF, fantasy and horror.


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## Krim (Jun 29, 2007)

> How do you pronounce Cthulhu anyway?


 
I always pronounced it 'Ca-thul-who'. There's also just 'thul-who'.


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## Funwriter (Jun 29, 2007)

H.P Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors. I love his descriptive tales and the lack of dialog makes them even better.


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## Truth-Teller (Jun 30, 2007)

This is the exact reason why the majority of horror readers hate his guts. This man can not tell a story, and bogs you down with superfluous descriptions and setting, and writes horrible, stilted dialouge that goes nowhere, and creates pacing a fucking slug can outrun. What action? What characterization? This man should not recieve the praise he recieves. He's like Herman Meville and Mary Shelly.

He's a speck of dust compared to Edgar Allen Poe--the poineer of horror, mystery, and sci-fi. The poineer of short story fiction.


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## Truth-Teller (Jun 30, 2007)

:twisted:


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## Truth-Teller (Jun 30, 2007)

Other overrated authors include Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oscar Wilde. These two should've never even dappled in horror stories. Horrible, atrocious, and utterly boring.


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## Truth-Teller (Jun 30, 2007)

It's simple:

Those who try to copy HP Lovecraft style of writing will _never_ be published.

No one will read it. No readers will be interested. No agents will hire you. And no publishers will ever publish your blathering drivel, because it's BORING. How much more truth can I spout?


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## Strotha (Jul 3, 2007)

The cthulhu is the single greatest antagonistic octopus-like creature in history.


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## J.S.S (Jul 3, 2007)

Truth-Teller said:
			
		

> It's simple:
> 
> Those who try to copy HP Lovecraft style of writing will _never_ be published.
> 
> No one will read it. No readers will be interested. No agents will hire you. And no publishers will ever publish your blathering drivel, because it's BORING. How much more truth can I spout?



Oh how very ignorant you are, there are almost thousands of authors who replicate and are inspired by his writings. His mythos never died for others kept expanding on it and still continue to do so...


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## Lemex (Jul 4, 2007)

I for one LOVE H.P. Lovecraft.

My favourte story has to be, The Colour out of Space.
That's a very good story.


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## jesterscourt (Jul 4, 2007)

I am a big fan of Lovecraft.  I have his _Tales_ compilation from the Library of the Americas (the people that put out those great library quality complete versions of certain authors)... It has nearly all the stories/novellas of his that you'd ever want to read, lovingly edited and fixed up by scholar S.T. Joshi.
Mr. Joshi also updated his biography, "Lovecraft: A Life" which is on the shelf with _Tales,_ and is a must read if you wanted to know... anything about the man.  A word of warning, it is long and a bit stilted in places, much like the author himself.  The reason the other person couldn't find the poetry online is probably because they recently (last ten years) released his complete poetry as _The Ancient Track_.  His fiction for the most part is better, but he even wrote a play, which is included in the book.  As for his work and copyrights, I believe the high majority of his short stories, novellas, etc. are in the public domain as so far as the original versions, however the newly edited versions (by S.T. Joshi) are under copyright, so be careful what you are sharing about, if it was transcribed directly out of a pulp from the 20's, you are probably safe, but otherwise, step carefully.

Some people pan him as being a pulp writer of the 20's, but he was writing in a style more akin to the 1870's or so.  It was archaic back then is what I am saying.

He has influenced a ton of writers, for better or worse.  As others have stated, he was a product of his times, not to condone racism, misogny, or anything else that would be put against him, but people must take into consideration that was the de facto standard for people in his class at the time. And for the record, he hated moving pictures, according to most sources.  He would have been a firm believer of the "book was better than the movie" argument.  What an amazing character he was though, he was trying his best to be the renaissance man, with all his interest in science, chemistry, philosophy, politics, etc.  And he wrote 100,000 letters in his lifetime, some of them 40 pages long.  Yes.  You read that right.  And around 1/5 of them are still around.  Crazy stuff.


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## Truth-Teller (Jul 4, 2007)

J.S.S said:
			
		

> Oh how very ignorant you are, there are almost thousands of authors who replicate and are inspired by his writings. His mythos never died for others kept expanding on it and still continue to do so...


 
Without Poe, there would be no HP Lovecraft.

Without Poe, there would be no Sherlock Holmes.

And without Poe, there would be no _Stephen King_.


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## Kane (Jul 5, 2007)

Truth-Teller said:
			
		

> Without Poe, there would be no HP Lovecraft.
> 
> Without Poe, there would be no Sherlock Holmes.
> 
> And without Poe, there would be no _Stephen King_.



So what?  Poe wasn't the first author.  So, without ______ there would be no Poe.  You either like Lovecraft, or you don't, but millions do, and the guy is dead, so you're in here talking crap, why?  What have you had published?


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## jesterscourt (Jul 5, 2007)

I can't speak for Arthur Conan Doyle, but I can say that Lovecraft influenced Stephen King heavily as well as Poe.  And yes, Lovecraft was inspired by the writings of Poe, but other authors as well, such as Lord Dunsany, I'd argue he had more influence from Dunsany than Poe, but they were both huge figures in shaping HPL's writing style and genre.


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## Uriah (Jul 6, 2007)

Apparently Cthulhu has risen people. The Elder Beings are hungry for blood.
http://starbulletin.com/2007/07/05/news/story03.html


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## Ore-sama (Jul 6, 2007)

Truth-Teller said:
			
		

> This is the exact reason why the majority of horror readers hate his guts. This man can not tell a story, and bogs you down with superfluous descriptions and setting, and writes horrible, stilted dialouge that goes nowhere, and creates pacing a fucking slug can outrun. What action? What characterization? This man should not recieve the praise he recieves. He's like Herman Meville and Mary Shelly.
> 
> He's a speck of dust compared to Edgar Allen Poe--the poineer of horror, mystery, and sci-fi. The poineer of short story fiction.



What are you talking about? Where do you get that the majority of horror readers hate his guts because that is not in the slightest bit true. And what do you mean he can't tell a story? His Dagon/Cthulhu stories are among the best horror stories ever written, even better then any of Poe's. H.P's "Rats in the Wall" was also very good. Sure he's had stinkers but every author has, including Poe(his mysteries in paticular)


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## danny_lammas (Jul 29, 2007)

I am personally a major fan of Mr. H.P.Lovecraft, have been for a few years now.  My personal favorite has to be, perhaps surprising being one of his 'minors', What The Moon Brings and Nyarlathotep.

Danny.


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## red lantern (Jul 29, 2007)

I haven't read any of his stuff but I am going to try some on for size, all the pictures of the man himself he looks so bookish and not at all like a horror writer would look like (can you imagine Steven King or Clive Barker first thing in the morning they would look like the walking dead)


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## danny_lammas (Jul 29, 2007)

Actually on that note lantern, I think and some members of my Call of Cthulhu table top roleplay community would agree that there is something sinister, about the standard Lovecraft picture.

Danny.


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## kenewbie (Aug 2, 2007)

I have never seen a 4 page thread with this little content before.

And I just made it worse!

k


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## ClancyBoy (Aug 8, 2007)

I just stumbled on this.


*"The Kraken" (1830)*

*Alfred Lord Tennyson*

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, 
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; 
And far away into the sickly light, 
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.


Inspiration for the Cthulhu mythos?  They look remarkably similar.

...except that Cthulhu dreams and this kraken doesn't.


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## Dabnorfish (Aug 9, 2007)

One of the central points, in my opinion, to much of Lovecraft's work is the idea of how utterly insignifcant we, as a race, are.  That's the scariest part of it all.


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## Linton Robinson (Aug 9, 2007)

Nyarlethotep, the crawling chaos.
I ran into HPL in school and read them at night in bed.  It's the only stuff I ever read that I considered scary.  Monsters are one thing, even if you beleive in them.  But the Old Gods and Cthulu shit...it's unprovable, vast, and utterly utter.    Aiyeeeee!


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## ClancyBoy (Aug 9, 2007)

Dabnorfish said:


> One of the central points, in my opinion, to much of Lovecraft's work is the idea of how utterly insignifcant we, as a race, are.  That's the scariest part of it all.



That, and "degenerate Eskimos."

I will _never _get tired of saying or typing that.


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## Linton Robinson (Aug 9, 2007)

I think of it everytime I hear a mechanic say, "You just blew a seal."


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## Thoth (Sep 26, 2007)

Lovecraft is my favorite author. Some do not like his verbiage but there is no dispute he knew how to create atmosphere.
The film adaptations have been less than stellar. 
I am waiting for Cthulhu to come out soon.

Currently, I am working on a series of short tales inspired by his imagination.


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## WriterDude (Nov 9, 2007)

I'm a big fan of Lovecraft and have all three of the H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus books which collect pretty much all he wrote from "At the mountains of madness", "Re-animator", "Shadows over Innsmouth, "Rats in the walls", "Call of Cthulhu", "The Thing on the doorstep", "The Unnamable" and so on. I know it's slow, there's not much dialogue at all and he could perhaps have cut down a bit on the descriptions. But on the same time, he creates a certain mood no other author have ever managed to get close to. Unlike other authors, Lovecraft's work feels much more _real _than theirs. If I were to compare it to movies, I'd say his work is like Blair Witch Project. In many ways it's a slow, boring movie where nothing really happens, but at the same time it feels quite real all the way. Besides, because you don't actually see what happens to the three students, your mind makes up it's own ideas that's far more terrifying than what's possible to show in a movie. The worst part isn't what you see, but what you _don't _see. Lovecraft nailed it spot-on.

And how can you say most horror fans hate the most influental horror writer the entire last century? Do you realize how stupid that sounds? Everyone is inspired by him, and no one likes him? Riiiight. And what about all the movies based on his work? There's even a sweet silent, black and white fan-made movie based directly on "The Call of Cthulhu", and it's brilliant. I recommend it to everyone, fan or not. And then there are the games, both tabletop and computer games.

As for Necronomicon, the short version is it's one of the most wanted non-existant books there is. It doesn't exist. Lovecraft made his entire Cthulhu Mythos and based all books on it, so he needed a way to contact them and release ancient spells and things like that. The result was the Book of the Dead, aka Necronomicon. It was made by human flesh and written in blood, and contained spells to resurrect demons and things like that. But _it does not exist_. Sure, you can buy it in pretty much any decent bookstore (I have copy right next to the Lovecraft Omnibuses), but it's a fake. It looks and feels like the actual Necronomicon, but it's fake, fake, fake. It isn't real any more then the Necronomicon in the Evil Dead movies are real. It is sweet to have it in the bookshelf, though.


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## Czar Nosferatu (Dec 9, 2007)

horror_fan90 said:


> He is great, but he takes a little getting used to in my opinion. A first time reader is probably going to get extremely bored quick of his extremely large amounts of descriptive prose.


I agree. I loved his writing but it got so damn boring, and I normally don't care if a book is like that, but I still couldn't take how slow it was. However he is pretty creepy. I read the Rats in the Walls and it frickin scared me.


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## Czar Nosferatu (Dec 9, 2007)

Eve said:


> I believe Lovecraft studied the accult especially the Necronomicon, and that inspired his writings.



The Necronomicon was an invention of Lovecraft's. He didn't study it, he created it.


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## Linton Robinson (Dec 9, 2007)

That's what you people believe.


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## Linton Robinson (Dec 10, 2007)

You;ll think different when the Old Ones are gobbling up your family tree and Nyarlethotep is wearing your guts for garters.


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## Non Serviam (Dec 10, 2007)

Listen up, sunshine.  Which part of "[SIZE=-1]ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" don't you understand?
[/SIZE]


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## Kira the wanderer (Dec 10, 2007)

I've been trying to start Lovecraft, but am unsure which comes first. I want to read the story of Cthulhu, yet I know that he is in several Lovecraft stories. Which is the first novel that has him in it?


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## Non Serviam (Dec 10, 2007)

There are only a couple of H. P. Lovecraft novels--"At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"--and I don't remember Cthulhu featuring in either.

Lovecraft mostly wrote short stories.  Look for "The Call of Cthulhu".

Because all of Lovecraft's stuff written prior to 1926 is out of copyright in the US, it's available online.

The Call of Cthulhu


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## Balmarog (Dec 10, 2007)

I love Lovecraft. My favorite story so far is _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_.
The 2001 film _Dagon _is based more on this story then the actual story it's named after. Not a bad movie (not great acting though...)


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## Kira the wanderer (Dec 11, 2007)

I see. I will take a look at for the short story then. Thanks.

I know that a Lovecraft based movie is being directed by Guillermo del Torro, not sure when its supposed to come out. I was thinking of reading that one then taking a look at the movie, if it looks good.


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## Balmarog (Dec 11, 2007)

Kira the wanderer said:


> I see. I will take a look at for the short story then. Thanks.
> 
> I know that a Lovecraft based movie is being directed by Guillermo del Torro, not sure when its supposed to come out. I was thinking of reading that one then taking a look at the movie, if it looks good.


YES! He plans on doing a film adaptation of _At the Mountains of Madness_. I almost wet myself when I heard about it, I'm so excited! I know he'll do it some justice.:thumbr:


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## knglerxt (Dec 27, 2007)

Truth-Teller said:


> This is the exact reason why the majority of horror readers hate his guts. This man can not tell a story, and bogs you down with superfluous descriptions and setting, and writes horrible, stilted dialouge that goes nowhere, and creates pacing a fucking slug can outrun. What action? What characterization? This man should not recieve the praise he recieves. He's like Herman Meville and Mary Shelly.
> 
> He's a speck of dust compared to Edgar Allen Poe--the poineer of horror, mystery, and sci-fi. The poineer of short story fiction.




I don't really see what's so great about him, either.  I recently tried to read Shadow Out of Time by him, and I almost fell asleep reading it.


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## SnipSnap (Jan 1, 2008)

My favorite of his is the Music of Erich Zann


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## nacreous (Apr 24, 2008)

not to worrry, H.P., I will not let this thread die out, not as long as I am still here.  Your memory, if nothing else, shall be preserved here as far as I can keep it going.  
I cant remember if I told you folks this before, but last summer on my way to cape cod I stopped by Providence for and early sunday morning of Lovecraft sight-seeing.  Great googelymoogely, that is one pretty new england town.  such class and dignity about each old victorian building.  Lovecraft found  much inspiration from those rickety eaves and green dormer window.  Walking around the town, at six in the morning, with my dog, was such a rush, such a thrill, to be there among the pathways and trees which he saw and loved.  I sat on the porch of the home where he did most of his work, and wrote a short commemorative poem to mark the occassion.  Then I went to visit his grave, but swan point cemetary was closed at that time, and I was forced to simply walk the dog around the front gate for awhile.  Still, it was a lovely time.  Very pretty final resting place.  Huge boulders of granite everywhere.  Dogwoods and azaleas galore.  I wont soon forget the experience.
Maybe there will be time to write more about Lovecraft later on.


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## rumpole40k (Apr 24, 2008)

Well thank Cthulhu another Lovecraft fan has joined the forums!


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## nacreous (Apr 26, 2008)

Yeah, man, Lovecraft is true rock and roll.  When he got those sentences rolling, you just cant shut your mind off to it.  
Can you believe how many times Hollywood has ripped-off his ideas?  God, those writers cant hold a candle to him.  He invented the world of horror (not horror, but _worlds_ of horror).  By the way, he wrote another novel, I thinkhis longest work.  :At the mountains of Madness" was his ultimate achievement.  I am excited to hear about the movie plans for this wonderful work as well.  Any Lovecraft fans out there, you really should read that book.  I am particulary impressed with this work because here he was building on the specific work of his idol, Poe.  Poe first wrote "The narrative of Gordon Pym" or something like that, and Lovecraft built upon that work.  It is special because of the historical significance, as well as the brilliant descriptions of setting.  I had such strong feelings for these two great works that I also joined the club, as it were, and wrote a long short story to bring the expedition up to date.  I had to add the most modern adaptations, like those crawling tractors they use for antarctic research, and you know it had much to do with global warming.
sorry, I aint gonna post it.
But back to Lovecraft.  He was nver rich.  He was not quite poor, but he never had real financial success from any of his work. He lived with his mother and an aunt for a long time as an adult, and even once he began to work for the pulp magazines, they had to stay there.  The house was not large at all, a very plain looking building set amongst such grandeur.  
You know, looking back over the long history of horror, going back as far as the ancients, the first horror writer to make any significant money at all was Steven King.  That is what we owe him (and little else) that is what he did for horror.  Poe began the study, Lovecraft perfected it, and King made it mainstream.
comments?
anyone here ever been to Providence?


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## Jusso (Apr 26, 2008)

I would love to there. I love Lovecraft, he was an amazing writer, and as you said his stories hook you and you cant stop reading.


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## nacreous (Apr 27, 2008)

Yeah, me too!  What's your favorite story by him?  Do you know any other great classical horror writers, besides Poe?  There's not too much before Poe, thats for sure.  I mean, Dickens could be scary, but it was not horror.  Of course, if he wanted to, I'm certain Dickens could have written truly excellent horror.  His level of descriptions was on a par with Lovecraft.  
You should try to visit Providence.  Its right on the way to Cape Cod, you cant miss Providence as you shoot down the Cape.  It is really a stunning Victorian town.  Almost every house in the town is a rambling Victorian palace.  Truly unbelievable.  Its as though every single resident was a millionaire there a hundred years ago. 
I think you should go.  Really.  Do it now.  Just quit work and visit Lovecraft's home town.  I never saw it, but his grave says: "I am Providence" and I think its really true, too.
Providence looks intimidating as you drive past on the interstate, but once you get off the highway it is really a very quaint place.  The food does not look too hot, but it would be a nice vacation spot, especially for us horror writers.
I spoke to a few of the people who live on his block.  Two of them had heard the name, but didnt know that they were sharing his hallowed ground.  A third women knew more about him, knew his work but had not read it.  Frankly, I felt like sacrificing the lot of them (lol) to Cthuthu.  (That laughing out loud, you robots who follow me)
His house, as I mentioned, was quite plain.  I have photos of his house, several nice ones, in fact, but, alas, they are not in digital format.  Perhaps, with my new computer, I can take a picture of the picture with the built-in camera, and then upload it to this site.
I shall try.


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## nacreous (Apr 27, 2008)

this is Lovecraft's house.


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## moderan (Jun 27, 2008)

Truth-Teller said:


> It's simple:
> 
> Those who try to copy HP Lovecraft style of writing will _never_ be published.
> 
> No one will read it. No readers will be interested. No agents will hire you. And no publishers will ever publish your blathering drivel, because it's BORING. How much more truth can I spout?


 
*smiles*

You'll have to start with _any _truth. The list of people who have published widely using HPL's characters and settings is endless and contains such luminaries as Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Roger Zelazny, China Mieville, and Ramsey Campbell...true that few write in that _style...but it has been done successfully. _James Blish is one notable writer who has done so.
People have made entire careers based on interpreting or reprinting his work-S.T. Joshi is a prime example. hplovecraft.com gets hundreds of hits a day, according to its webmaster-I can well believe that because I was the webmaster of a Lovecraftian site that still gets 300 hits a month despite being dormant for seven years (Letters from Outside). Paul Berglund's Reader's Guide is an excellent compendium, recommended to aficionados-http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/ 
EP Berglund edited the Disciples of Cthulhu for DAW books back in the mid-70s and re-edited it in 2000. It sold well. Both times.
Necrology magazine publishes Lovecraftian fiction at professional rates. John Pelan and Benjamin Adams edited an excellent volume, the Children of Cthulhu, in 2002. It also sold well.
Here's a few really well-written and fairly recent examples of Cthulhu Mythos fiction:
Graham Masterton-Prey
Brian McNaughton-the Throne of Bones
Balak-Stephen Mark Rainey

There are many more. The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are a Vancouver-based hard rock band that plays Lovecraft-based tunes.


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## Linton Robinson (Jun 27, 2008)

Actually there are Lovecraft ghettos where work like his is well-received.   Of course it has to be really good and meet the criteria of people who are way into it.  Sloppy pastiche won't do it.
Welcome to Arkham House Publishers!  for instance

Welcome to the new look WildSidePress - is receptive


Not to mention  HP Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror


People saying,  "you'll never get it published" constricts THEIR world, not yours.


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## Alex Kostin (Jun 27, 2008)

The game Call of Chutlhu is really scary, so I suppose the novels aren't worse


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## moderan (Jun 27, 2008)

lin said:


> Actually there are Lovecraft ghettos where work like his is well-received. Of course it has to be really good and meet the criteria of people who are way into it. Sloppy pastiche won't do it.
> Welcome to Arkham House Publishers! for instance
> 
> Welcome to the new look WildSidePress - is receptive
> ...


 
Well, sure. Your points there are inarguable...and since the member I responded to is "banned" (at least theoretically), it's fighting a battle of wits with the unarmed. Or at the very least the literary equivalent of a seance. 
The point of the thing was to say that there are markets for such fiction...and not to have others be discouraged by such negativity.


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## Linton Robinson (Jun 27, 2008)

> it's fighting a battle of wits with the unarmed.



Same as before he was banned.


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## moderan (Jun 28, 2008)

lin said:


> Same as before he was banned.


 
So I've gathered. Not the first, the last, or the only one of those, I'm sure.
And yes, HPL pastiches are a cottage industry...and mocking the critters and settings is as well. I see there is a lolzcthulhu site, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
Certainly Lovecraft had some problems as a human-but who doesn't? He had some problems as a writer also...his style is wordy and prone to digression, the pacing is determinedly Victorian, and a goodly percentage of the characters are cardboard cutouts. He certainly wasn't making a living selling pieces to Weird Tales, and spent far more time writing letters than he did working on salable text.
Still, the characters, concepts, and scenes he created have a certain resonance, and have managed to survive a number of interpretations of varying quality. His short book Supernatural Horror in Literature has moments of insight and is recommended reading for any aspiring horror writer.


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