Spawned from the thread where I was looking for a decent horror book. This is, hopefully, where people can talk about H.P. Lovecraft. Maybe if a lot of people are into his writings, everyone could read a story a week, then post opinions/copmments/reviews on it. Just an idea, would be fun too if anyone is up for it.

Can anyone suggest the 1st H.P. Lovecraft story to be read?

Steven

Does anyone have any interesting facts about Mr. Lovecraft?

Steven

I was amazed to discover that he wrote an awful lot of poetry, as well as some philosophical thoughts and the odd piece of satire. He also reminded me a little of James Thurber, in terms of his voluminous correspondence.

Fearless

Wasn't he asked to write a right wing fascist manifesto? Something rings a bell about his writing being linked to early Nazis.

Colin M

Colin, NO WAY! Surely not. Although if that info. came from the autobiographer, Charles Highman, who writes BOGUS biographies, such as that Howard Hughes one, and the one where he said Errol Flynn was a nazi. Oh yeah...sure, sure. Ballyhoo I reckon.

Although, do you know WHY his early work was linked? Though it is true that most of his early work was burned by himself...so...you never know. No, surely not true lol

Any suggestions for the first Lovecraft short story to be read? How about, everyone reads a story every two weeks, comments, discusses it, then moves on to the next one. His writing is much more remarkable and scary than people think. It would be great fun.

Steven

I've still never completed The Mountains of Madness - kept getting bored. I was only thirteen or something though. Think I might pick them up again.

The Nameless City always gave me the creeps.

Hiya!

Just found this thread, may be a little late but...

H P Lovecraft:

1. At the Mountain of Madness

2. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

The Dreams in the Witch House

The Statement of Randolph Carter

The Dream Quest of Unkown Kadath

The Silver Key

Through the Gates of the Silver Key

1 and 2 should be read first!

Is this thread still going?
I agree with the pics..At the Mountains of Madness is my favorite and probably his best work.
Also for those interested there is a great new indie Lovecraft documentary called the Eldritch Influence..that has interviews with Neil Gaiman, Brian Lumley, and Ramsey Campbell..as well as Lovecrafts Biographer S.T. Joshi
available at
http://www.hermeticproductions.com/

That's great, thanks for that, I really enjoyed that site!

XXXInniXXX

You opened a whole can of the 'worms Orubos' with this Lovecraft thread, because as much as you can enjoy his stories, his fiction goes far beyond this.

What about the medievil and ancient texts of lore which inspired them, as Lovecraft had a notorious passion for the occult(some say he met Crowley, but it has not been proved to my knowledge) such as the Necronomicon, the Sacred Texts of Blatvisky and other tomes which represent the forbidden gospels and teachings which underpin the Bible, Koran, and Tora; from the legend of Lilith to the Nephilim who brought Noah's flood down upon the earth(funny how they talk so much about Noah and the flood, and never 'why a flood?' - too scarey?)

Or, is this all a hoax, an eleborate fiction in itself, as Lovecraft was fond of saying, great writing should be indecipherable from a perfect hoax. Does this mean, in the same way Tolkien created the mythology of middle earth, Lovecraft also crafted the Necronomicon mytholody of Abdul Alhzrad, which would make him and even more remarkable writer than anybody realises.

A good first short story of H.P.'s, The Color from Out of Space

Just some ideas, and cheers
Ian




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And I think this thread is dead, ain't it, ooops.

I wouldn't say that!

XXXInniXXX

I've never read any of Lovecraft's novels, yet since totally misunderstanding one of Ian's short stories I seem to have encounted him at every turn. The following article seems well-informed and answers many questions as to the existence or otherwise of the Necronomicon. It's well worth reading all the way through, and the para near the beginning as to how the very best horror works is revealing and useful.

Nell.

Necronomicon Hoaxes

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The other articles on the site are equally fascinating.

Hi Nell,

thanks for this ,brilliant, although I think I am going to have to read it over to get a real fix on it. The stuff where HP keeps rearing his head is odd, synchronicity or what, I don't know. Hm. Around the time all this started I purchased a second hand sci-fi anthology which just happened to have The Color from Outer Space printed in it, and then I was reading On Writing by Stephen King, and he actually quotes from The Color from Outer Space, and come to think about it now, I watched the marvellous film He Walked Alone about Robert E. Howard(creator of Conan) around the same time and he mentioned HP as well. Does Cthulu have a hand - sorry, hideous tentacle - in all this? Damn, now I creeped myself out. And nooooo, I realise I just bought the Transition of Titus Crow, a book dedicated to and based upon the writings of, you guessed it, HP, he whom I will no longer name.[CUE SOUND: clatter of key board bouncing off floor, running footsteps and door slamming] And faint cry in the distance; is this all because he is better on a bacon sandwich than any other writer?(get it, the sauce?)

Ian, I'm working on a sequel to The Golden Web and the synchronicity is unsettling. It seems that no sooner have I written a section and come to a pause for research or confirmation of facts/actual practice (as opposed to fictional practice), that names crop up that I've only just selected for my characters - names that I couldn't have known. Other things too. A sort of hidden/genetic knowledge, evidence of past lives? (Cut to spooky music.)

Nell.

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I love the sauce, but I dare not read HP until I've finished the sequel at least. And one of my characters (I wasn't going to tell you this) is Adam Crowhurst (Crow for short!)