H.P. Lovecraft

[GrayMouser]

Yay, HP

Lovecraft's narrators routinely rave about the "hideous," "monstrous" and "blasphemous" nature of their revelations. Wilson went on, again quite reasonably, to observe, "Surely one of the primary rules for writing an effective tale of horror is never to use any of these words -- especially if you are going, at the end, to produce an invisible whistling octopus."

http://dir.salon.com/story/books/fea.../12/lovecraft/


http://www.hello-cthulhu.com/?date=2003-11-30
The Misadventures of Hello Cthulhu

[Morwen]

Currently reading Lovecraft's Call of the Cthulhu. It's wonderful <3

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Most recent of his was Mountains of Madness. I got a used copy of a book called the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath; I still haven't gotten around to reading it, but the point is that this copy had very arcane markings in it, scribblings in the margins, underlining the materials used in various occultic ceremonies, etc. These scribblings and underlinings grew in number throughout, until eventually entire chapters were underlined, and finally the margins were witness to an explosion of epiphany, which it took some five or six pages to record, and finally ended with the phrase: "Real illusion or illusioned reality? The Gate holds the answer."

Probably the funniest second-hand book I've ever had.

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Most recent of his was Mountains of Madness. I got a used copy of a book called the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath; I still haven't gotten around to reading it, but the point is that this copy had very arcane markings in it, scribblings in the margins, underlining the materials used in various occultic ceremonies, etc. These scribblings and underlinings grew in number throughout, until eventually entire chapters were underlined, and finally the margins were witness to an explosion of epiphany, which it took some five or six pages to record, and finally ended with the phrase: "Real illusion or illusioned reality? The Gate holds the answer."

Probably the funniest second-hand book I've ever had.

So that's what happened to that old copy of mine....

Actually, during my brief occult/esoteric phase at age 15 (anyone remember Lobsang Rampa and the Third Eye?) the "Dream-Quest" was one of my greatest influences.

Not typically "Lovecraftian", it's been described as "Lord Dunsany meets John Carter of Mars" though it has it's fair share of Elder Gods and Unspeakable Horrors. A short read, but well worth it.

[GrayMouser]

In fact, I recall we used to use it as our Sacred Book during our home-made ceremonies.

My mom had played an Amazon Queen in one of her Little Theatre group's productions, so she had an actual metal theatrical sword that had broken in half that was one of our major props (the Sword That Was Broken), and we used some statues, tapestries and brass candle-holders and plates that my dad had brought back from India back when he was a ship's captain.

We'd light the candles and incense in my basement and perform incantations to try to open the Gates to the Seventy Steps to the Dream World....

Never got anywhere, IIRC, but it was a great way to pick up girls.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Actually, during my brief occult/esoteric phase at age 15 (anyone remember Lobsang Rampa and the Third Eye?) the "Dream-Quest" was one of my greatest influences.

Really? I'd always assumed that it was just one fellow out there who saw it that way. There must have been at least two, it looks like. That intrigues me, though; I wonder how common such a use of the Dream-Quest is?

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Never got anywhere, IIRC, but it was a great way to pick up girls.

Was it? I would have thought shenanigans like that would rank somewhere around Dungeons and Dragons on the chick-o-metre.

[Rían]

Gwai and Gray -

*munches popcorn*

[brownjenkins]

One of his scariest stories ever...

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary...witchhouse.htm

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Really? I'd always assumed that it was just one fellow out there who saw it that way. There must have been at least two, it looks like. That intrigues me, though; I wonder how common such a use of the Dream-Quest is?

Well, there are plenty of people out there looking for the "genuine" Necronomicon. Our effect was somewhat spoiled by having a cheap paperback...I think we used to sometimes substitute a more impressive-looking fake-leather copy of Reader's Digest Limited Edition reprints. We're probably lucky we didn't summon up the spirit of Dear Abby.

Was it? I would have thought shenanigans like that would rank somewhere around Dungeons and Dragons on the chick-o-metre.

We were fifteen...and it was the late 60s...plus it was more Ouija boards, seances and such-like mumbo-jumbo, which females tend to appreciate more.

And 'metre'? Looks like you might be getting brainwashed by your stay in Canuckistan... you'll be saying 'Zed' and 'leftenant' next

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Our effect was somewhat spoiled by having a cheap paperback...I think we used to sometimes substitute a more impressive-looking fake-leather copy of Reader's Digest Limited Edition reprints.

Now, that's a suitable focus of eldritch powers.

And 'metre'? Looks like you might be getting brainwashed by your stay in Canuckistan... you'll be saying 'Zed' and 'leftenant' next

Say rather, I now have an excuse for my long-existing penchant for British/Canadian spellings; I don't see Zed or Leftenant happening any time soon, though, except in parody.

[Bombadillo]

I bought a book called HP Lovecraft Goes to the Movies a few years back, looking to expand my horizons. I've not read much horror, but I knew he's a titan in that field.

Wow! "The Statement of Randolph Carter" is... just wow. I never thought that reading prose could produce a jump-scare! Phenomenally impressive.

Of course it would sometimes take me twenty minutes to finish one page of his thick, thick writing, and no other writer has sent me to the dictionary so very much. (Michael Chabon takes second place in the vocabulary competition in my experience, incidentally.) However, I bet that he'd defend his style as a way to produce an effect. It's tiring! and that's an effect. It's kind of mesmerizing, like a war drum, which softens the reader for the "AAAAAH!"

[Earniel]

I have recently discovered Lovecraft and enjoyed his work very much, despite NOT being a horror reader. I initially started to read because I kept encountering the Cthulhu mythos and wanted to know the origin.

I quite liked At the Mountains of Madness. For some reason white underground penguins struck me as such an intriguing idea and that was just a tiny idea in the whole story.

[The Gaffer]

Got given a massive tome of a collection recently. There's some really interesting and unique stuff in them, for sure. The non-Euclidean spaces and Old Ones and all that. To be honest I found them samey, as if each were a rough draft of the other. He was clearly off his rocker.

[Earniel]

Yeah, you can tell how some of stories clearly were forerunners to other stories. You can see the emergence of ideas that get build on in later stories. But that's part of what I like, if you read in a certain order you can sort of see the writer in the process of building a mythology.

Not sure if he was off his rocker, but he certainly had a vivid imagination.