So I am just curious...who has heard of Lovecraft?
How many have read his stuff?
Enjoyed it?
Written stories in a similar style/vein/subject matter?
Anyone else
However, Lovecraft has been often imitated; never duplicated. When mimicking a writer's style, particularly that writer's, there are going to be people who notice the archaism of the prose, or that the plot elements are overused.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited May 12, 2008).]
I uncovered the "Collect call of Cthulhu" episode of the Ghostbusters cartoon on youtube a few days ago. So I'm feeling Lovecraftian and just want to see who else around here are fans.
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Lovecraft was, for his day, a genius.
Still is. the "day" doesnt really make much difference, to me at least.
I think the thing I love most about Lovecraft is he is one of few writers who when reading their stuff you feel like they truly loved and believed in the stories they told.
The other authors of the Lovecraft circle worked in his mediums with his support, successfully I think.
And I've seen recent Lovecraft homages that worked well, in many different media.
I think its a matter of degrees. I'm not talking about precise imitation, I'm talking about a different writers own version of that voice.
Has anyone read the Brian Lumley novels that are directly Lovecraftian? I should really pick those up.
I would give the Dream Realm books a rating of "pretty good"; but because Lumley's prose is distinguishible from Lovecraft's.
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I would give the Dream Realm books a rating of "pretty good"; but because Lumley's prose is distinguishible from Lovecraft's
Of course. No one can exactly imitate another person's writing. I'm talking spirit as much as form.
I've read through a collection or two. I guess I can see how he might have once been chilling. I think he's rather silly, personally, but then I find a lot of horror hard for me to get into. I've imitated his style, but when purposefully writing in an affected style evocative of that era and that genre.
Even tho he gets put in that section, I dont think of Lovecraft as horror...at least, not in the sense most people think of it...at all. Really, to me, he's a genre of his own. He called it "terror" of course. He was out to evoke a sense that to me is more like awe or dread than like personall fear.
"horror" is just anything meant to be scary. I think in the literary/publishing/literature retail community almost anything with supernatural elements that are...antagonistic and/or are set in something other than the distant past get slapped with "horror."
Its also weird to me that hatrackers seem to put "horror" (meaning Stephen King-esque supernatural tales set in the present) so far seperate from sci fi/fantasy. To me stories come in 2 types: those with "unusual" (or speculative or whatever) elements, and those without
For a Lovecraft neophyte, what do you recommend as the best story to start with?
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An adequately educated person could probably identify him as "an author" after some thought, he's not exactly a household name.
What?!?!?! Lovecraft not a household name? You've probably watched movies based on his work. Just curious: is Robert E. Howard a household name to you? Bram Stoker? Isaac Asimov? Robert A. Heinlein? J.R.R. Tolkien? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? John D. MacDonald? Patrick O'Brian? (A fair mix of genres...)
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For a Lovecraft neophyte, what do you recommend as the best story to start with?
Thats a tough one, as I love them all. Theres a couple different ways people classify his stuff...there Cthulhu Mythos, and Dream Cycle, and I also some times think in terms of his earlier stuff (a lot of which is also Dream Cycle) and later stuff.
His work is mostly collected in volumes of short stories. The Dunwhich Horror and Others is always good. The Road to Madness (The transition of H.P. Lovecraft) is a favorite of mine and contains early works.
As far as individual stories...well theres The Dunwhich Horror, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dreams in the Witch-house, The Haunter of the Dark,The Music of Erich Zann, The Whisperer in Darkness....those are some of the iconic Cthulhu Mythos stories.
Favorites of mine also include The White Ship, the Horror at Red Hook, The Festival, The Temple and The Shunned House.
Ohh do be aware though, he was a child of his times and the earlier stuff especially contains descreptions that are racist in nature. He also does not write in the modern "transparent" style.
[This message has been edited by Merlion-Emrys (edited May 12, 2008).]
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What?!?!?! Lovecraft not a household name? You've probably watched movies based on his work. Just curious: is Robert E. Howard a household name to you? Bram Stoker? Isaac Asimov? Robert A. Heinlein? J.R.R. Tolkien? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? John D. MacDonald? Patrick O'Brian? (A fair mix of genres...)
With the possible exceptions of (recently) Tolkien and maybe Bram Stoker, for the average person none of those are household names. Most people read very little, and even less do they read "genre" stuff.
Now most of those are household names for people like us, but we're not like most people. I'd be willing to guess virtually everyone I work with wouldnt recognize...possibly any of those names, definitely not more than 1 or 2
Heck, Cthulhu's head is buried in one of the Night Elf areas in World of Warcraft :-)
Metallica had a song called "Call of Ktulu", supposedly inspired by Lovecraft's story. This may have been the first time I heard of Lovecraft. (and speaking of influences, mention "Budgie" to a typical headbangin' Metallica fan, and you'd probably get a blank stare).
Thanks for the suggestions Merlion.
He's all over Dungeons and Dragons...especially the Psionics stuff of Bruce Cordell.
Lots of action in video games too...and a good bit in television. Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer all have Lovecraft references and influences. I just read the Wikipedia pag for Yog-Sothoth...it mentions some Buffy fans think Dawn might actually be a manifestation of Yog-Sothoth. :-) that makes me oddly happy.
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Ah, it's a sad fact of life that most of those authors you mentioned, IB, as being influenced by Lovecraft are actually more widely known than Lovecraft. Happens all the time -- the innovators either don't get the credit, or get recognized waaay after the fact.
The authors I listed were not necessarily inspired by Lovecraft, though Howard might have been to a degree since they were friends. They had something in common with Lovecraft: they were all innovators in their genres.
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Metallica had a song called "Call of Ktulu", supposedly inspired by Lovecraft's story. This may have been the first time I heard of Lovecraft.
Metallica also had The Thing That Should Not Be in reference to Cthulhu. Metallica cites a plethora of artists (Chief among the King Diamond) as major influences, but that's another subject entirely.
The crowds I hang with know all of the names--rarely does someone not--if all they know are the names. And almost everybody knows their major products. Who hasn't heard of Conan the Barbarian? Master and Commander? Sherlock Holmes? Dracula? The Puppet Masters/Starship Troopers? I, Robot? Okay, so Travis Magee may not be as well known nowadays, but Stephen King used MacDonald's Alexis Machine in The dark Half and credited it.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited May 12, 2008).]
I don't find it all surprising that his name is not a "household" name for most people. For those for whom he is/was, count yourselves lucky.
It is interesting though how many people have probably seen or read something heavily influenced by Lovecraft but don't know it.
I found them very much 'of the period' in which he wrote them, ie underlying themes, prejudices and assumptions that continued to jolt me out of the story.
Similarly, the old master, M.R.James' stories are great too, but have an underlying attitude of english upperclass privilege that can hoist me out of the story and into doing the dishes or watching TV.
But the anachronisms are one (of the more minor) things I enjoy about his work.
I enjoyed Hounds of Tindalos immensely. (Frank Belknap Long -- Cthulu mythos).
It is one of those stories that emerges from the backrooms of my brain, covered in dust-bunnies and lint, blinks in the light and looks at me like it wants to say something.
I would love to get a hold of The Hounds of Tindalos.
It's hard to find a good group because most GM's don't know enough about psychology, but I recently had the amazing luck of meeting a psychiatric crisis clinician who's also a gamer, and whose everyday life can rather resemble a session of Cthulu.
The Cthulhu RPG interests me because its neat seeing Lovecraftian stuff given game stats. I'm not so sure about playing it though...since your pretty much doomed from the getgo.
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I'm not so sure about playing it though...since your pretty much doomed from the getgo.
We always used to play to see who could get the most intersting kind of crazy before they died.
Lovecraft has been a major influence on my writing (though perhaps not in his style!). Ramsey Campbell - who I consider to be one of the greatest stylists in ANY genre - has called this 'type' of fiction 'visionary horror' which maybe isn't quite accurate, because there is as much awe and wonder as there is fear and loathing...though Mr Campbell is so good that I don't really want to argue with ANYTHING he says!
I've written my fair share of Lovecraft-inspired pieces, but I've always used my own writing style, rather than imitating his. That said, I do enjoy reading work from an earlier period, and I also love MR James and Poe. I do think that, as writers, we should read anything and everything that grabs our interest, regardless of when/where/how/why it was written, or whatever genre it may end up being ascribed to.
Cheers,
Paul
Who here owns a plush Lovecraftian creature of some kind?
My plush Cthulhu lives on top of my desk by the printer.
Paul
I'd recommend his work to any aspiring horror or fantasy writer---though beware that others build upon what Lovecraft did, to the point where they really don't do it like Lovecraft did.