# H.P. Lovecraft!



## caelum (Sep 3, 2009)

*H.P. Lovecraft*

FIIIIIIGAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO


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## Tom88 (Sep 5, 2009)

Definitely on my list. I'm still ploughing through a couple other things, but I'm eager to check this guy out. I might pick up The Outsider, since you seem so smitten with it.


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## Leyline (Sep 5, 2009)

I can only handle Lovecraft in very small, infrequent doses. He is, however, great fun to parody. I've written several and Lovecraft fans seem to love 'em. I'm scribbling on one now, poking fun at the fact that Lovecraft's heroes were mainly a bunch of wimps. This dude is driven mad by an edited-for-television presentation of _Hellraiser_ (and the commercials!) 

If you can find it, read the Lovecraft bio by L. Sprauge DeCamp. He was a fascinating, strange, sometimes tragic guy. He would have been far more prolific if not for two things: his obsessive correspondance with anyone who would write to him (and some of his letters were 50-75 pages long! His biggest non-necessity expense was postage!) and his hatred of typing. On several occasions, Robert E. Howard felt sorry enough for him to actually type his handwritten manuscripts for submission. The editor of _Weird Tales_ eventually just told him to go ahead and send the handwritten versions.

Try Arthur Machen for similar stuff. He was one of Lovecraft's influences:

*"Such forces cannot be named, cannot be spoken, cannot be imagined except under a veil and a symbol, a symbol to the most of us appearing a quaint, poetic fancy, to some a foolish tale. But you and I, at all events, have known something of the terror that may dwell in the secret place of life, manifested under human flesh; that which is without form taking to itself a form. Oh, Austin, how can it be? How is it that the very sunlight does not turn to blackness before this thing, the hard earth melt and boil beneath such a burden?"*

-- from _The Great God Pan_


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## caelum (Sep 5, 2009)

FIIIIIIGAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO


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## zadokomega (Sep 23, 2009)

*BIO Blurp!!!*

“In 1914, when the kindly hand of amateurdom was first extended to me, I was as close to the state of vegetation as any animal well can be...With the advent of the United I obtained a renewal to live; a renewed sense of existence as other than a superfluous weight; and found a sphere in which I could feel that my efforts were not wholly futile. For the first time I could imagine that my clumsy gropings after art were a little more than faint cries lost in the unlistening world.”  *H.P Lovecraft*

A sad but interesting chap. Greatly influenced by his grandfather. He was considered a highly Autodidact of his time, which began at the tender age of...2. A very stimulating, compelling biography to read.


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## moderan (Dec 18, 2009)

Please refer also to the previous thread Lovecraft, which has much information not contained in this short series of responses.


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## caelum (Dec 25, 2009)

Will do, kind sir.  One of these days I shall learn to use the search function.


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## caelum (Dec 25, 2009)

On a random tangent, one of my favourite gamecube games was Eternal Darkness.  I played that game to death and unlocked, like, the hidden ending thingy.  Sometime after that I got into Lovecraft and I remember thinking "this seems familiar...", and then I looked it up and, yeah, Eternal Darkness was heavily Lovecraft inspired.  That game ruled so much, it had the Necronomicon and everything.


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## moderan (Dec 25, 2009)

Never played it but I'm not surprised. Lovecraft's creations have bolstered a lot of popular culture.


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## LionofPerth (Jan 15, 2010)

caelum said:


> On a random tangent, one of my favourite gamecube games was Eternal Darkness.  I played that game to death and unlocked, like, the hidden ending thingy.  Sometime after that I got into Lovecraft and I remember thinking "this seems familiar...", and then I looked it up and, yeah, Eternal Darkness was heavily Lovecraft inspired.  That game ruled so much, it had the Necronomicon and everything.



Also having the game and taken the design apart somewhat, Lovecraft is one of the primary sources for the game. As I don't have a vast knowledge of his work I can't point to any particular stories, but the general tone and style of it is very close. 

Did you ever get the ones with the flies on the screen? That one got me, mind you Australian summer tends to equal lots of flies and I did end up smacking the TV screen.


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## caelum (Jan 17, 2010)

Haha, the insanity effects?  Those were sweet.  I remember I walked in a room and the chick's head fell off and I was like _wtf is going on?_  There was some trippy stuff in that game, like the tower of collapsed corpses.  I remember books flying around if you went too insane and portraits staring at you.  I loved the spells, especially the summon ones.  Ahh, the memories.


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## Ashton Lee (Apr 6, 2010)

Unspeakable Vault

Classic. :smile: Also the reason I can't take those Eldritch Abominations seriously.


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## moderan (Apr 6, 2010)

Then you missed the point in the first place.


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## Leyline (Apr 8, 2010)

Ashton Lee said:


> Unspeakable Vault
> 
> Classic. :smile: Also the reason I can't take those Eldritch Abominations seriously.



1) What's the point in mis-spelling 'Cthulhu'? It's not a trademark.

2) If you can't draw a face, don't do a comic strip.


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## moderan (Apr 10, 2010)

Another one who thinks that tvtropes is reality. Eldritch Abominations! *chuckles* I _wrote_ some of that text.


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## caelum (Apr 11, 2010)

FIIIIIIGAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO


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## moderan (Apr 11, 2010)

Cthulhuporn isn't new. Your joke isn't funny.


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## caelum (Apr 11, 2010)

Cthulu porn isn't new, you say?  Now I really am excited.  Google search commencing.


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## moderan (Apr 11, 2010)

Helps if you spell it right.


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## caelum (Apr 11, 2010)

There isn't a person in the world who spells it better than me.  Check this out, modderang: it it it it it.  Just can't touch these writing skills.


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## moderan (Apr 11, 2010)

Your comedic skills are equally legendary.


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## caelum (Apr 11, 2010)

Although I do love it when my fans kiss my ass, that's the only thing I permit them to do to my ass, so don't get excited.


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## Like a Fox (Apr 11, 2010)

*rolls eyes*

(Damn eye-rolly emoticon failed me again)

*Edit* - Yay -----


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## moderan (Apr 12, 2010)




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## Bagit (Apr 22, 2010)

For those of you that like Lovecraft, try some Clark Ashton Smith. You can find a short story compilation of Clark's at Barnes or Borders. Check online though, because I have not seen it lately at the stores. It's called The Return Of The Sorcerer.

These guys (along with Robert E. Howard) shared ideas freely through letters to each other in the late 1920's and early 30's. Some of these letters you can still find, if you search for them hard enough. Google Clark Ashton Smith. 

There was a forth person that contributed to the pulp writing scene at the time also. Her name is C.L. Moore. It is likely Lovecraft had an influence on her also.


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## moderan (Apr 22, 2010)

There were more than four people contributing in a major way to the pulp scene at the time...Catherine Moore is certainly deserving of mention though, as is Smith. 
Moore's husband Henry Kuttner was a part of the so-called Lovecraft Circle and penned a number of stories within the Mythos-he'd be your connection between Moore and the three previously-named writers. There were also writers like Frank Belknap Long, Fritz Leiber, and a young Ray Bradbury who were involved to greater or lesser extent with the "Circle" and with pulps in general, plus people like Jack Williamson and Doc Smith.
This is just talking about the sf/fantasy/horror pulps and not the detective/mystery pulps which featured another galaxy full of excellent scribes.


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## Bagit (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes, of course Moderan. I didn't intentionally mean there were only four. You are right, all of them are deservedly in need of mention. There was definately something special about the Lovecraft circle.


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## moderan (Apr 22, 2010)

The "Circle" was very influential. Most of them were writers of talent and their work has continued to reach people. Their period of ascendancy was just ending as the dawn of the "Golden Age of Science Fiction" was beginning, with holdovers Bradbury, Leiber, and Williamson, and the members of the "Futurians" group began to take a toehold on the pulps.
Bradbury to this day has continued the atmospheric scenesetting techniques he learned at Lovecraft's behest and mastered soon afterward. The pulp science fiction of the day had persisted in the movies and tv, while work patterned on the Futurians' work has remained a staple of the magazines and book-form science fiction.
Lovecraft's work is still in print, and publishing houses that profit from sales of his work, such as Chaosium, issue volumes of his influences and correspondents' work. I have handsome volumes of Smith, of Dunsany, of Machen, of Robert W Chambers, from that house.


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## Bagit (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm intrigued by your knowledge (and possessions) of that era. I would like to get my hands on some of the letters, especially anything between Howard/lovecraft. For now though, I've only seen what is online, and haven't dug really hard into the internet. 

It's nice to meet you Moderan. Talk of the pulp heroes and their works always intrigues me. I may even have a few pages of prose devoted to one of Howard's greatest warriors, but that's another story...


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## moderan (Apr 23, 2010)

There's a lot out there on that subject. The letters have been collected in book form (pricy though) and have been discussed in a few specialist forums.
I've been unable to find any of Lovecraft's letters online, but am looking.


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## Bagit (Apr 23, 2010)

There are a few on Smith's site, Moderan (at least there used to be). Haven't been there in a while.


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## moderan (Apr 23, 2010)

This one? There's correspondence between Smith and Lovecraft there...I'd like the whole of the letters though. I had them and lost them in a move.


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## caelum (Apr 23, 2010)

FIIIIIIGAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO


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## moderan (Apr 24, 2010)

I like REH myself, though the mightily-thewed adventure isn't what I take away-it's the ability to describe exotic locations, evoke the power and the mystery of the environments he thrusts his heroes (and heroine) into. He was fantastic at inserting telling little details into his things, that one notices later as being linchpins of his story. He's under-rated as a writer because of the bulging biceps bit, but that definitely wasn't the entirety of his ability.


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## caelum (Apr 24, 2010)

Yeah, I agree, very underrated.  At least his great invention, Conan, stands world-famous as the archetypal loin-clothed barbarian.


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## moderan (Apr 24, 2010)

Definitely, and he single-handedly created the "sword-and-sorcery" subgenre that others have so ably played around in. Without Conan, no Elric or anyone like that.


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## Leyline (Apr 24, 2010)

Howard is pure, in a way. Purest pulp. It didn't come any more concentrated. What people forget in the Conan stories is their sense of humor and Conan's actual personality. This bit from _Queen Of The Black Coast_ sums it up perfectly for me:



> "Well, last night in a tavern, a captain in the king's guard offered violence to the sweetheart of a young soldier, who naturally ran him through. But it seems there is some cursed law against killing guardsmen, and the boy and his girl fled away. It was bruited about that I was seen with them, and so today I was haled into court, and a judge asked me where the lad had gone. I replied that since he was a friend of mine, I could not betray him. Then the court waxed wrath, and the judge talked a great deal about my duty to the state, and society, and other things I did not understand, and bade me tell where my friend had flown. By this time I was becoming wrathful myself, for I had explained my position.
> 
> "But I choked my ire and held my peace, and the judge squalled that I had shown contempt for the court, and that I should be hurled into a dungeon to rot until I betrayed my friend. So then, seeing they were all mad, I drew my sword and cleft the judge's skull; then I cut my way out of the court, and seeing the high constable's stallion tied near by, I rode for the wharfs, where I thought to find a ship bound for foreign parts."


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## Leyline (Apr 24, 2010)

BTW,I heartily recommend the _Breckinridge Elkins_ stories by Howard. Hilarious, and the fight scenes are fantastic.


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## Bagit (Apr 24, 2010)

Yes, the feel of Howards atmosphere during his tellings is unmatched, yet closely immitated by only a few in the circle.


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## Bagit (Apr 28, 2010)

I also feel that REH's mother may have had a direct influence on his prose. Sometimes when I read his stuff, I sense there is another writer there, helping and guiding. Somebody outside the circle it feels like. Maybe it's just my imagination.


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## moderan (Apr 30, 2010)

You have quite an imagination, Bagit. I'm not quite sure who in the circle imitated Howard's writing, though. It's been widely imitated since, and the characters especially have been imitated ad nauseum. A quick glance at Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal or the work of such artists as Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, or Simon Bisley would tell you that.


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## caelum (May 1, 2010)

FIIIIIIGAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO


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## moderan (May 1, 2010)

A really long time ago, they started issuing graphic novels. Those had the storylines that the magazine didn't. I have a couple-Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human is one.
In October 1978, they had a special issue. I have the European version:





That had a couple of well-plotted stories.


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## caelum (May 1, 2010)

FIIIIIIGAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoO


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## moderan (May 1, 2010)

That was the second Lovecraft story I ever read (The Outsider). I was eight. Heavy Metal has run a number of HPL's stories as graphic adaptations. Berni Wrightson has done a few, and his style is admirably suited to the material.


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## Steerpike (Jun 28, 2010)

Leyline said:


> 1) What's the point in mis-spelling 'Cthulhu'? It's not a trademark.
> 
> 2) If you can't draw a face, don't do a comic strip.


 
Chaosium has a few trademarks with Cthulhu in them. Doesn't appear as though the comic strip really comes close to any of them, so I doubt it's an issue, but maybe people are just overly-cautious.


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## garza (Jul 1, 2010)

I've not been paying attention to this forum, and only now noticed the thread on H-P Lovecraft. Near the top was a response by Leyline who said, quote, 'I can only handle Lovecraft in very small, infrequent doses...', unquote.

That is also me approach. I first read a few sentences of a Lovecraft story when I was ten or 11. At around age 35 I finished the paragraph. Somewhere around my 55th birthday I started on the second paragraph, but got bogged doswn halfway through the first sentence. I plan to continue reading the story some time in the next decade, and hope to finish the second paragraph before I die.

Speaking of dying, a local station apparently broadcast a news flash this morning that I had died on Tuesday. The station's news director called my house to find out about funeral arrangements and was surprised when I was the one who answered.


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## Like a Fox (Jul 1, 2010)

garza said:


> Speaking of dying, a local station apparently broadcast a news flash this morning that I had died on Tuesday. The station's news director called my house to find out about funeral arrangements and was surprised when I was the one who answered.


It's a shame you're not a fiction writer. That's a great catalyst for a story, in my mind.


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## garza (Jul 2, 2010)

Do you think old H-P could have made something out of it? All I've gotten is a lot of kidding.

'If you look up from where you are, can you see the oil spill?'


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## Olly Buckle (Jul 5, 2010)

A missed opportunity to quote Mark Twain, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".


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## webdancer (Jul 24, 2010)

I love Lovecraft.  No pun intended.  Even though is prose can be a little rough in the dialog, but I think his overall creativity in the general horror area is outstanding.  I was initially driven to read his stories after getting Iron Maiden's album Live After Death and it has a quote from Call of Cthulhu.  I try to include stuff about him in any project or paper at school.


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