Non Serviam

There are only a couple of H. P. Lovecraft novels--"At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"--and I don't remember Cthulhu featuring in either.

Lovecraft mostly wrote short stories. Look for "The Call of Cthulhu".

Because all of Lovecraft's stuff written prior to 1926 is out of copyright in the US, it's available online.

The Call of Cthulhu

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Originally Posted by Olly Buckle The ways of the world are twisty and unknowable, the only way to be sure you are not caught out in something you regret is not to do things you may regret.

Balmarog

I love Lovecraft. My favorite story so far is The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
The 2001 film Dagon is based more on this story then the actual story it's named after. Not a bad movie (not great acting though...)

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Kira the wanderer

I see. I will take a look at for the short story then. Thanks.

I know that a Lovecraft based movie is being directed by Guillermo del Torro, not sure when its supposed to come out. I was thinking of reading that one then taking a look at the movie, if it looks good.

Balmarog

YES! He plans on doing a film adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness. I almost wet myself when I heard about it, I'm so excited! I know he'll do it some justice.

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knglerxt

I don't really see what's so great about him, either. I recently tried to read Shadow Out of Time by him, and I almost fell asleep reading it.

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SnipSnap

My favorite of his is the Music of Erich Zann

nacreous

not to worrry, H.P., I will not let this thread die out, not as long as I am still here. Your memory, if nothing else, shall be preserved here as far as I can keep it going.
I cant remember if I told you folks this before, but last summer on my way to cape cod I stopped by Providence for and early sunday morning of Lovecraft sight-seeing. Great googelymoogely, that is one pretty new england town. such class and dignity about each old victorian building. Lovecraft found much inspiration from those rickety eaves and green dormer window. Walking around the town, at six in the morning, with my dog, was such a rush, such a thrill, to be there among the pathways and trees which he saw and loved. I sat on the porch of the home where he did most of his work, and wrote a short commemorative poem to mark the occassion. Then I went to visit his grave, but swan point cemetary was closed at that time, and I was forced to simply walk the dog around the front gate for awhile. Still, it was a lovely time. Very pretty final resting place. Huge boulders of granite everywhere. Dogwoods and azaleas galore. I wont soon forget the experience.
Maybe there will be time to write more about Lovecraft later on.

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nacreous - a type of high-flying cloud which often reflects the setting sun back to the earth long after darkness has fallen on the land.

rumpole40k

Well thank Cthulhu another Lovecraft fan has joined the forums!

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A humble wolf with dreams of being on a stamp, releasing an autobiography, having a film made showing his daily struggles, having a world wide fan club... - Code Red

"Doing? You're doing what ANY sane man in your appalling circumstances would do. You're going mad." - The Killing Joke.

nacreous

Yeah, man, Lovecraft is true rock and roll. When he got those sentences rolling, you just cant shut your mind off to it.
Can you believe how many times Hollywood has ripped-off his ideas? God, those writers cant hold a candle to him. He invented the world of horror (not horror, but worlds of horror). By the way, he wrote another novel, I thinkhis longest work. :At the mountains of Madness" was his ultimate achievement. I am excited to hear about the movie plans for this wonderful work as well. Any Lovecraft fans out there, you really should read that book. I am particulary impressed with this work because here he was building on the specific work of his idol, Poe. Poe first wrote "The narrative of Gordon Pym" or something like that, and Lovecraft built upon that work. It is special because of the historical significance, as well as the brilliant descriptions of setting. I had such strong feelings for these two great works that I also joined the club, as it were, and wrote a long short story to bring the expedition up to date. I had to add the most modern adaptations, like those crawling tractors they use for antarctic research, and you know it had much to do with global warming.
sorry, I aint gonna post it.
But back to Lovecraft. He was nver rich. He was not quite poor, but he never had real financial success from any of his work. He lived with his mother and an aunt for a long time as an adult, and even once he began to work for the pulp magazines, they had to stay there. The house was not large at all, a very plain looking building set amongst such grandeur.
You know, looking back over the long history of horror, going back as far as the ancients, the first horror writer to make any significant money at all was Steven King. That is what we owe him (and little else) that is what he did for horror. Poe began the study, Lovecraft perfected it, and King made it mainstream.
comments?
anyone here ever been to Providence?

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nacreous - a type of high-flying cloud which often reflects the setting sun back to the earth long after darkness has fallen on the land.

Jusso

I would love to there. I love Lovecraft, he was an amazing writer, and as you said his stories hook you and you cant stop reading.

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"Horus was weak. Horus was a fool. He had the whole galaxy within his grasp and he let it slip away." -Abbadon The Despoiler

nacreous

Yeah, me too! What's your favorite story by him? Do you know any other great classical horror writers, besides Poe? There's not too much before Poe, thats for sure. I mean, Dickens could be scary, but it was not horror. Of course, if he wanted to, I'm certain Dickens could have written truly excellent horror. His level of descriptions was on a par with Lovecraft.
You should try to visit Providence. Its right on the way to Cape Cod, you cant miss Providence as you shoot down the Cape. It is really a stunning Victorian town. Almost every house in the town is a rambling Victorian palace. Truly unbelievable. Its as though every single resident was a millionaire there a hundred years ago.
I think you should go. Really. Do it now. Just quit work and visit Lovecraft's home town. I never saw it, but his grave says: "I am Providence" and I think its really true, too.
Providence looks intimidating as you drive past on the interstate, but once you get off the highway it is really a very quaint place. The food does not look too hot, but it would be a nice vacation spot, especially for us horror writers.
I spoke to a few of the people who live on his block. Two of them had heard the name, but didnt know that they were sharing his hallowed ground. A third women knew more about him, knew his work but had not read it. Frankly, I felt like sacrificing the lot of them (lol) to Cthuthu. (That laughing out loud, you robots who follow me)
His house, as I mentioned, was quite plain. I have photos of his house, several nice ones, in fact, but, alas, they are not in digital format. Perhaps, with my new computer, I can take a picture of the picture with the built-in camera, and then upload it to this site.
I shall try.

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nacreous - a type of high-flying cloud which often reflects the setting sun back to the earth long after darkness has fallen on the land.

nacreous

this is Lovecraft's house.

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nacreous - a type of high-flying cloud which often reflects the setting sun back to the earth long after darkness has fallen on the land.

moderan

*smiles*

You'll have to start with any truth. The list of people who have published widely using HPL's characters and settings is endless and contains such luminaries as Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Roger Zelazny, China Mieville, and Ramsey Campbell...true that few write in that style...but it has been done successfully. James Blish is one notable writer who has done so.
People have made entire careers based on interpreting or reprinting his work-S.T. Joshi is a prime example. hplovecraft.com gets hundreds of hits a day, according to its webmaster-I can well believe that because I was the webmaster of a Lovecraftian site that still gets 300 hits a month despite being dormant for seven years (Letters from Outside). Paul Berglund's Reader's Guide is an excellent compendium, recommended to aficionados-http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/
EP Berglund edited the Disciples of Cthulhu for DAW books back in the mid-70s and re-edited it in 2000. It sold well. Both times.
Necrology magazine publishes Lovecraftian fiction at professional rates. John Pelan and Benjamin Adams edited an excellent volume, the Children of Cthulhu, in 2002. It also sold well.
Here's a few really well-written and fairly recent examples of Cthulhu Mythos fiction:
Graham Masterton-Prey
Brian McNaughton-the Throne of Bones
Balak-Stephen Mark Rainey

There are many more. The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are a Vancouver-based hard rock band that plays Lovecraft-based tunes.

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lin

Actually there are Lovecraft ghettos where work like his is well-received. Of course it has to be really good and meet the criteria of people who are way into it. Sloppy pastiche won't do it.
Welcome to Arkham House Publishers! for instance

Welcome to the new look WildSidePress - is receptive


Not to mention HP Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror


People saying, "you'll never get it published" constricts THEIR world, not yours.

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Alex Kostin

The game Call of Chutlhu is really scary, so I suppose the novels aren't worse

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