The Lovecraft Thread

[Elliott]

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

[DoomRulz]

What book from the Cthulu mythos would you suggest for someone who has never read anything from Lovecraft?

Pick up a collection of Lovecraft's works. I recommend this one: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-H-P-Lovecraft-P-S/dp/0061374601/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319422544&sr=1-1

[SM]

I recommend copying them onto your e-reader of choice.

[Ratchetcomand]

Did anyone know if J. R. R. Tolkien liked or read any of Lovecraft's work?

[AvatarIII]

dunno, but i found this article which talks about both authors, no mention of whether Tolkien ever read HPLs work, but by the sounds of it in the article it is unlikely. http://home.mindspring.com/~ahsturgis/id32.html

edit
http://hppodcraft.com/2010/07/14/episode-49-the-strange-high-house-in-the-mist/

While it's uncertain whether Tolkien read Lovecraft, he DID read Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. If there was a Lovecraft influence on Tolkien it may have been through Lovecraft's influence on Howard.

[Nightmare Asylum]

So I'm interested in reading some of Lovecraft's work. Any good (cheap) compilation books that anyone would recommend starting off with?

[SM]

I recommend copying them onto your e-reader of choice.

[AvatarIII]

Or if you'd prefer real books, the barnes and noble leather bound classics lovecraft collection is great and very comprehensive, or if you'd prefer paperbacks, penguin do a bunch that are edited and annotated by ST Joshi, which can come in handy with lovecraft's old fashioned style and love of obscure and archaic language, and any pop culture references we may not understand 80 years later.

[SM]

I'd love to get the Joshi ones.  Mine are all paperbacks I bought back in the 1980s.

But it's still worth reading a few online to see fi you want to spend the $$$ or not.

[AvatarIII]

I started lovecraft with the Joshi ones, definately worth it.

[Nightmare Asylum]

I saw that leather bound collection on their website, and its very tempting. Its cheaper online, so I'm actually considering maybe ordering it. I'll likely wait until I have a bit more money first, though.

If I were to read the ST Joshi edits, would that hurt the stories in any way? Because I feel like I would be better off reading them as they were meant to be read.

[SM]

In this instance I highly doubt 'Edited' means Joshi has made any changes.  It's more likely means he compiled and oversaw the books production.

[AvatarIII]

I saw that leather bound collection on their website, and its very tempting. Its cheaper online, so I'm actually considering maybe ordering it. I'll likely wait until I have a bit more money first, though.

If I were to read the ST Joshi edits, would that hurt the stories in any way? Because I feel like I would be better off reading them as they were meant to be read.

when it says "edited" it doesn't mean he changed the stories in any way, he's one of the worlds top Lovecraft scholars so he wouldn't change the stories like that, he is just the compiler, and made sure that there are no typos or spelling errors, and then there are little numbers every now and then which direct you to annotations in the back of the book, such as definitions of obscure or outdated words and things like that.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Ah, I get what you're saying I think maybe I might try to track down some of his versions, then.

Thanks, guys.

[Shasvre]

http://davepalumbo.deviantart.com/

Love it.