# HP Lovecraft Advice



## Moses_Scurry (Aug 22, 2008)

I've decided I want to give Lovecraft a try. I've never read anything, so what would be the recommended starting point? I know a lot of his stories/books and characters intertwine, so I don't want to just pick a random book and not know who everyone is. Thanks.


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## moderan (Aug 22, 2008)

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a short dark fantasy novel that most of his pieces jump off from. You can find it in a number of his collections. The one entitled The Dream Cycle has other related work from that early period. From there you can get to any of his other fiction, which is all in related collections.
Lovecraft is best-known for his Cthulhu Mythos stories, but he didn't refer to them as such.


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## moderan (Aug 22, 2008)

You can read his fiction at dagonbytes if you're inclined toward online reading.


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## deviger (Aug 23, 2008)

I would grab any of the many short story collections of HP's work.  Any bookstore probably has several.  They all give a decent overview of Lovecraft's work.  When buying multiple collections beware.  Many contain the same tales.


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## Kinbote (Aug 24, 2008)

Like deviger said, your best bet is to pick up a short-story collection; I read the penguin modern classics one (Call of Cthulu and other stories I think it was called), where the stories were ordered chronologically, so that would be a good bet. The only major story missing from that collection (I think) was At the Mountains of Madness.

And good choice with Lovecraft, some of his stories are genuinely creepy. 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth', 'The Colour from Outer-Space' and 'Reanimator' are all good. My favourite is still 'The Picture in the House', check that one out.

K.


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## Kira the wanderer (Sep 19, 2008)

Thanks for that link I've been looking for Call of Cthulhu forever!

I love Lovecraft, though the writing at times can be teadious. Certain times I really enjoy the writing style, other times I just kind of mush through it. Some stories I can't even read, but only because I'm exceedingly picky. But I mostly enjoy him, the ideas presented are creepy or mystifying.


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## WriterDude (Sep 22, 2008)

I have The H. P. Lovecraft Omnibus Volume 1-3. They collect pretty much everything he ever wrote (including Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow over Innsmouth, Dagon, Herbert West: Re-animator, The Unnamable and At the mountains of madness).

As a fun side note, I even own a book called Necronomicon. :mrgreen:


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## moderan (Sep 24, 2008)

There are _several_ books called Necronomicon, most of them by someone called _Simon_. I have a couple too. They're not much fun. Robert M. Price edited an anthology of stories about the Necronomicon, which are by name writers and are mostly decent. There's also the Harms and Gonces book The Necronomicon Files and the associated website NecFiles. Dan Harms is the author of the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, which is used as source material in a lot of CoC RPG and in a good portion of today's Lovecraftian fiction.
There's also an annual convention called the NecronomiCon, held in Providence. I've been to a couple. Very silly affairs, but fun if you look at it the right way.


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 24, 2008)

You know what this Lovecraft thread needs?   A SOUNTRACK.
Does anybody here know of any cool Cthulu cult music?????


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## moderan (Sep 24, 2008)

Sure. My cd or the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Pick one. The first is the only place you can get a free download. Excuse the pluggery
Here's more: ectoplasmosis
Lauridsen
and there's always HP Lovecraft, even though they were horrible.


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 24, 2008)

> Excuse the pluggery


It would have been inexcusable for you to miss a straight like that one, dude.   I was listening to some of your music last night.     Some very cool stuff.   Including the "music to creep out over Lovecraft with".


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## WriterDude (Sep 24, 2008)

I didn't say Necronomicon was written by Lovecraft (or that arab) or any good, but it's pretty cool to have one next to my Lovecraft books. :mrgreen:

You could watch some of the (crappy) movies based on his work if you want to see what it's all about. I suggest starting with this one: Amazon.co.uk: The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Vol. 1: Cool Air [2004] region 1 (NTSC) (REGION 1): DVD

It's a collection of low-budget fan-made movies based on his work and supposedly pretty good. I think. Haven't seen it myself, but really want to.


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## moderan (Sep 25, 2008)

lin said:


> It would have been inexcusable for you to miss a straight like that one, dude. I was listening to some of your music last night. Some very cool stuff. Including the "music to creep out over Lovecraft with".


 
*nods* I can recognize an eephus pitch when I see one...thanks, Lin. I'll get back atcha when the final version and associated texts and graphics are released.
Why watch _bad _Lovecraft adaptations? E.g., Stuart Gordon, et al. Get something by Aaron Vanek, who knows what he's about.


> I didn't say Necronomicon was written by Lovecraft (or that arab) or any good, but it's pretty cool to have one next to my Lovecraft books.


Writerdude, I wasn't sitting in judgement, just conveying information. Here are a few more links to Lovecraftian fun:
Mike Minnis, one of the most accomplished of the "new" breed of Lovecraftian fictioneers.
James Ambuehl, much more of a traditionalist than Minnis, with a sometimes satirical slant on the material.
Letters from Outside, no-longer-operating Lovecraftian ezine with a wide sampling of fiction and nonfiction, headed up by yt.
the Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos. A listing of Cthulhu Mythos stories online, maintained by editor E.P. Berglund.


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

No need to read big heavy books... here's a nice cartoon.


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

And.... from Playboys,  "Girls of the Cthulu Mythos"


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

And don't forget the political ramifications


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

And worth keeping in mind....


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

Is it just me, or have depictions of the crawling chaos gone through a Geiger,"Alien" phase and are now showing more influence of Davy Jones from the "Pirates of Caribbean" movie?


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)




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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

Hope this doesn't kick off another religion debate.


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## moderan (Sep 25, 2008)

Cthulhu is the example I used to use when 7th day Adventists would come to the house and want to buttonhole me with their beliefs. I would explain how much better it was that I could actually communicate with my deity IRT via telepathy, and knew he existed. Granted, he had the same aim, Armageddon, but then what self-respecting deity doesn't have that as an ultimate goal?
I would let them play with my plush Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep, examine my graven images, and deliver the whole spiel without cracking a smile, every time. Eventually I would see them crossing the street to avoid my house and I would smile mysteriously, stroke my writerly goatee wisely, and draw another espresso. I had this painting up on the back wall of the porch:






The original is long gone but it was about eight feet tall by three and a half wide. I prefer the Giger-style illos to the LOLCthulhu style but as you can see I don't work in either, and yes, it's black-light reactive


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

LOL

I got the same results by just answering the door naked when I saw Jehus coming up the stairs.


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## moderan (Sep 25, 2008)

I suppose that would have the same effect of seeing their eyes bug out


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 25, 2008)

Your way sounds like more fun, though.   I need some graven images around the place.


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## moderan (Sep 25, 2008)

Sculpey clay is around six bucks a pound. X-Acto kits are about ten bucks. I make em myself


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 26, 2008)

Well, I usually grave with a dremel tool on bone and such.    But I might not get around to doing any Cthulu pendants right away.


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## moderan (Sep 26, 2008)

Hmm. Here's a couple of links cthulhu statues, doodlemonkie to ones I didn't do. I notice the second is on Etsy.com where we have our yarn store. I have a whole lot of clay right now because I'm doing some models for the Hear Me Out site. I might be able to help you out with the graven image thing. My lady and I have been discussing the odd instances of Cthulhu invading the knitting/stitching world, and wondering how to take advantage of that given my predilection for things Cthulhuoid, and that may be an entree of sorts. Who knows what might be next, if that gets over?
It's food for thought anyway. I haven't done any painting in years, and I'm gonna need a book cover next year. Was gonna see about working with Dave Carson but he's expensive. Good, but expensive. Definitely gonna self-publish as I need complete creative control of that one, and it occurs to me that I likely don't _need_ an artist.
She's thinking along the lines of cultist shawls and cross-stitch patterns and I'd have to do some pictures to make those out of. Wouldn't cost much to get the materials for silkscreening either, and we could do tshirts. Wow...you might have sparked something, Lin. At the very least, they'd be good advertising materials for my book and cd. At best, a cottage industry.


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## Linton Robinson (Sep 26, 2008)

Nicely grotesque.


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## moderan (Sep 27, 2008)

Grotesque is the new black


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