The Lovecraft Thread

[OmegaZilla]

Reading Lovecraft stories skipping entire pages is pointless - mind you not reading the ending, which, usually, is the best part (The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow out of time); and sometimes, like in The Call of Cthulhu, the climax is an incredibly powerful and terrifying scene. The stories can give the impression to go nowhere (?), but in reality they go deep.

[Sharp Sticks]

Been reading a lot of Howard's old Conan stories lately. They're a great companion to Lovecraft's stuff, and the little references make me chuckle.

[Aeus]

Weren't Howard and Lovecraft buddies?

[SM]

He was part of the Lovecraft Circle, yes.

[Aeus]

I remember reading that they argued a lot.

[Sharp Sticks]

I imagine. The Conan stories feel like a retort to Lovecraft's stuff, which was usually about crusty old civilized people getting one whiff of the Id and subsequently losing their tiny, fragile minds. Conan, faced with the supernatural unknown, will just chuck a sword at it and run as fast as he can in the opposite direction.

Barbarism > Civilization.

[SM]

I don't know much about their relationship.  If Wikipedia and this bio of Howard is accurate, then Howard was initially a fanboy, but once he got a bit older and more confident would disagree with some of HPLs more extreme political and racial views.

[Ratchetcomand]

Weren't Howard and Lovecraft buddies?

Yep. Here is a fun fact, the Marvel comic book villain Shuma-Gorath came from the "Kull" short story "The Curse of the Golden Skull," which was unpublished until 1967. Marvel used the name and re-create the character, Shuma-Gorath design was inspire the Elder God from Lovecraft stories if I'm not mistaken.

[AvatarIII]

Abdul Alhazred was also a villain in Marvel Comics, first apprearing in Tarzan (1978) and later fighting wolverine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alhazred_(comics)

[DoomRulz]

Reading Lovecraft stories skipping entire pages is pointless - mind you not reading the ending, which, usually, is the best part (The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow out of time); and sometimes, like in The Call of Cthulhu, the climax is an incredibly powerful and terrifying scene. The stories can give the impression to go nowhere (?), but in reality they go deep.

A person definitely needs a lot of patience for Lovecraft's work. I read everything a loud and with Lovecraft, it's no different. Helps me to pay attention.

[Deathbearer]

Barbarism > Civilization.

Hell yeah

[DoomRulz]

Well it is a form of civilisation, whether we admit it or not.

[Sharp Sticks]

That wasn't really Howard's point.

[DoomRulz]

Just throwing it out there.

[OmegaZilla]

Y'ai 'ng'ngah Yog-Sothoth h'ee-l'geb f'ai throdog Uaah!!


...Erm. In other words I've finished yesterday to read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Although of Lovecraft's 'long' works I prefer At the Mountains of Madness, this one is another great, great addition to the mythos. The progression of the story is solid and mysterious, and it makes you think constantly throughout, with all the factors to link, to arrive to the final twist, which, in all honesty, I expected to be different.

Dissolve Allen in acid!