I have been searching and searching, but have been unable to find a simple answer to this simple question:
If I am interested in reading stories in the Cthulhu mythos, what stories should I read? What are the best Cthulhu books by Lovecraft and by others?
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
That's because it isn't a simple question or a simple answer.
Posted by Alucard... (Member # 4924) on :
Good question...but I have no answer. It has been years since I read The Dunwich Horror, and I cannot remember much beyond that of the works of Lovecraft.
Good Luck! Many Hatrackers are more well-read than I.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
There is no correct answer, especially since other authors -- mainly bad ones, however -- have ALSO added to the "Cthulhu mythos."
You couldn't do wrong by reading everything Lovecraft ever wrote, though. Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
I agree with Tom as far as reading all of Lovecraft's work. It would not surprise me in the least if he was correct about the other authors, but as I have not read any of them I reserve judgment.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Yeah, read HPL's stuff first (or even only).
His Dreamland stuff is even better. IMO.
-Bok
[ December 28, 2003, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Bokonon ]
Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
I've been reading a compilation of "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories" ... it's a great overview of the Cthulhu-related short stories, and I'd recommend it highly.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Maybe there isn't ONE TRUE ANSWER, but could somebody give me *AN* answer? So far, the only answer I've gotten amounts to "All of HPL's books, except for some of them"
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
Didn't Geoff just do exactly that? Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
[ December 29, 2003, 05:58 AM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I'd look for the S.T. Joshi annotated Penguin Classics compilations (there's a couple of them). There are also the "Annotated" and "More Annotated" series with Joshi. These are great in order to learn interesting facts about the context HPL was writing in.
The reason why it's so hard mention a single book is that HPL only had one book of his own work pubblished during his own lifetime, and was largely a short-story author. So many different publishers have created compilations, it's hard to pick one. For starters avoid any that include author's not named HPL, and even one's that do say HPL, but also have August Derleth attached.
-Bok
Posted by ae (Member # 3291) on :
Yeah. Really, I think you'll be fine if you just stick to stuff that was actually written by Lovecraft. Pick anything. Everything Lovecraft ever wrote is all of a piece, IMHO.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
I'd recommend stopping by your local library and see if they have an anthology of stories - most of the ones I'm finding on Amazon are anthologies with modern writers.
"Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft "The Dunwich Horror" "The Shadow over Innsmouth"
I didn't care for Lovecraft's novels - "The Mountains of Madness" and so on because he tended to run on to the point of boredom.
The short stories were better for my interest and it generated the right amount of creepy versus ick.
What's with the interest in Cthulhu? Thinking of converting?
-Trevor
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
plaid, those are excellent.
Would it be wrong for my son to carry around and sleep with a stuffed Nyarlethotep rather than a stuffed duckie?
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Depends on whether or not he knows what the stuffed thing is, beyond "it's a soft, cuddly thing".
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