HP Lovecraft fans?

OK, seriously. I'm a fan. I've loved his work for many years. I think The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward is probably my favourite, partially for the actual story, and partly because of the vivid descriptions of the location (although for the life of me I still don't know what a "gambrel roof" looks like).

I once bought an anthology of his poetry, but I left it on the windowledge during a rainstorm and it went a little mouldy. I thought that was very appropriate. I don't know where it is now.
 
arth, I have Charles Dexter Ward tied with Pickman's Model and the Whisperer in Darkness. Or I just can't decide which I like better.

In the case of Dexter Ward, there's actually some black wizard versus impromptu militia action which is part of the backstory, but especially that bit is told masterfully vaguely, through the reports of people who weren't even there. Last time through, I read that passage multiple times, and it's both hard to determine exactly what's going on, and makes for a great set up for the following reveals. Really creepy and shows how well it can work when he held back on the adjective soup.

Here's a link to the mentioned (rather decent) radio adaptation of the Colour out of Space.

There's something appropriate about discussing HPL in a thread this much back from the dead.
 
I have always liked The Colour out of Space. It's a lovely exploration of a non-standard source of horror. What is the colour? Is it a lifeform of some kind? An occult influence? No-one knows!
 
Keziah Mason said:
Say, has anyone seen Stuart Gordon's Dagon? It's a moderately faithful adaptation of Shadow Over Innsmouth. It's set in Spain, not Massachussetts, and the Deep One look is a bit different than I generally picture, but overall I really enjoyed it. The town of Imboca has got the perfect look for Innsmouth and there's a lot of general creepiness going on. There's a great flashback to an Obed Marsh character bursting into the local church trying to convince the townfolk to start worshipping the god who brings gold and fish.
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Yeah, I have to admit I only watched it once and found it quite disturbing, it really caught the HPL atmosphere of hopelessness. I found the skinning scene particually unpleasant, I like horror movies, but I'm no fan of the torture-porn genre and that was a little close (although I would argue it was justified by the plot).

Used to ref a game of CoC. Great fun. Almost had one player in tears once through sheer confusion (it was an on the fly adaptation of the Shining).
 
arthwollipot said:
OK, seriously. I'm a fan. I've loved his work for many years. I think The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward is probably my favourite, partially for the actual story, and partly because of the vivid descriptions of the location (although for the life of me I still don't know what a "gambrel roof" looks like).

I once bought an anthology of his poetry, but I left it on the windowledge during a rainstorm and it went a little mouldy. I thought that was very appropriate. I don't know where it is now.
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Now you can know: http://www.buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/g/gambrel.html
 
cambion said:
The problem with Lovecraft is that his racism was even considered excessive in his time. Some of his correspondence and poems are particularly cringeworthy ("On the Creation of *******" is one of the most vile things I've ever read). He even remained a staunch anti-Semite when three of his best friends AND HIS WIFE were all Jewish. It's bizarre.

But at the end of the day, I forgive the guy. His writing makes up for that one personality flaw.
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Thanks for the tip. I found The Creation of *******, notably this analysis of it, very enlightening.

I like Lovecraft's fiction, not his beliefs. But it's interesting to see how his beliefs affect his fiction.

Heck, the Old Ones seem to be actual gods from various pantheons, twisted into a whole new form... Shub Niggurath, for instance, uses all the fertility symbols (trees, goat-like creatures, etc.) He also seemed to have a few other interesting beliefs, including that crimes of your ancestors can pass down and corrupt you (if I'm not mistaken), and a few other things.

EDIT: Ah, here's a good bit from the above link.

This brings up another common Lovecraftian theme: that people can never escape the sins of their ancestors (one of these great sins being to mingle blood with one's social and racial inferiors).
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"Behind The Wall Of Sleep" was good.
I've always thought of his work as comical,and I'm always surpised to come across people who take it seriously.
 
ParrotPirate said:
I think that's going to be next on my list. Never actually read any HPL. I did get to hear a pretty good adaptation of The Dunwich Horror over Halloween weekend,though. The public radio station in my area plays old radio drama shows on Satuday and Sunday nights,and that was run.
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If you're looking for a first book, I would suggest H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America) .
It has a great selection of stories, in a great order.
 
arthwollipot said:
(although for the life of me I still don't know what a "gambrel roof" looks like).
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Like a barn roof.

Or, more visually, like this.

"The Thing on the Doorstep," "The Shadow Out of Time," and "The Lurking Fear" are three of my favorites.
 
Mark A. Siefert said:
A big Lovecraft fan here. If you've got a local Barnes & Noble, stop by and look into a copy of H. P. Lovecraft: The Fiction where you will find EVERY story by HPL penned for the princely sum of 13 bucks!
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Seriously?!
Watch out Barnes & Noble, here I come!!
 
Guess i'm a Lovecraft fan, or even semi-pro, in that I have edited a fanzine, written a few mythos cycle short stories and also books for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu rpg and material for Fantasy Flight Games Cthulhu Live. I have a rather vast collection of Lovecraft related books, that I should add to Library Thing. Somewhere I also have some amusing pictures of the year of my life I dedicated to live roleplaying Lovecraftian Horror in the 1920's with a couple of dozen good friends, in costume - 2000 it was, a great year, but I probabaly can't afford the time or money to do it again just yet. Maybe 2012. :)

Hey, I never do things by halves. :)

cj x
 
madmonk76 said:
Seriously?!
Watch out Barnes & Noble, here I come!!
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If you don't find it you might want to wait a few months. The first edition had TONS of errors in it, and it already went out of print anyway. BUT, I happened to bump into the person who's revising it on a different message board. They posted all the stuff they're fixing, and said the new addition would be out later this year.
 
Hand Bent Spoon said:
What's with his racism? "Degenerate Eskimo"? :rr:

Quite an excellent writer, though.
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The narrator's cat in "The Rats in the Walls" had a...colorful name.

Lovecraft is great. I first picked up an old compilation based around "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" after reading about him in Danse Macabre, figuring that anybody who could creep out Stephen King went to the top of my list.

Seems H.P. was a big influence on the creators of Silent Hill, to my endless gratitude, and "Innsmouth" and the movie Dagon* ** (inspired by that story, and another one of the same name) was a heavy influence on Resident Evil 4 (killing murderous, former-human peasants in rural Spain). Could be a coincidence, but at one point in the latter game there was a well you pass by with a spire of color coming out of it (from an item to grab).

Once in a while when I'm driving around, I'll see a "Miskatonic University" bumper sticker on a car.

*Probably the most faithful Lovecraft film adaptations (notoriously hard to do), and maybe the only one to use the famous chant. Great nude scene too, but the latter half of the movie is not for the squeamish.
 
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