H.P. Lovecraft fans?

[rjt65]

Read some Lovecraft years ago. the Yog-Sototh grafiti in needful things got me thinking about the wholeCthulhu Mythos

So reading some Lovecraft now any other fans? what are your favorite stories?

[henrythomasgirl]

*raises hand*

I'm new to Lovecraft so no idea yet what my favorite story is.

[rjt65]

Prob. most famous as it is a horror classic- Re-Animator.

I have not read in long time..so will read and see!

[GravemakersAndGunslingers]

I'm a huge fan. 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' and 'The Call Of Cthulhu' are two favourites in particular. 'The Whisper In The Darkness' and 'At The Mountains Of Madness' are also very good stories. I love the whole Cthulhu Mythos and I'm pretty sure Sai King linking so many of his works together is a result of being inspired by Lovecraft doing so with his own works.

He was an absolute master and I urge anyone who loves weird/Horror stories to check his stuff out.

[GravemakersAndGunslingers]

Here's a taster:

'The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.'

[Nero]

I only just picked up The Call of Cthulhu and other weird stories. I haven't started reading it yet, but I'm anxious to get into that mythos!

[staropeace]

I find his writing horrid and totally off the wall.....why use all these names that nobody can pronounce.....he goes on and on and on. He is the epitome of a bad writer....in my opinion. But for folks who like him....read on and enjoy

[GravemakersAndGunslingers]

I love Lovecraft's imaginative descriptive narrative style...I think it really brings the stories home; some won't like his works and consider them wordy...either way I urge anyone who likes horror stories to give his works a try.

[Sepia and Dust]

Lovecraft was not a great writer. He knew that and made no pretentions otherwise--several volumes of his private letters have been published, and Lovecraft was quite clear that he considered himself to be a hack. One of the better hacks, but a hack nonetheless.

His main contribution was not what he wrote, but what he wrote about. He wrote about the things that most of us try very hard not to think about--utter alienation; the insignificance of human life; our brief, pointless, doomed battles against eternity.

Sure, he couched the despair in the trappings of horror and science fiction--realistically, beasties from other planets and dimensions probably would have names unpronouncable to humans... it's not like the shape of our vocal apparatus is a universal constant. But the core of his mythos is simply this--nothing we strive to build or save has any meaning, except as fleeting, temporary successes. We are not alone, but we are too insignificant to be noticed. Through all the long aeons amid the illimitable gulf, we simply don't matter.

[GravemakersAndGunslingers]

His main contribution was not what he wrote, but what he wrote about. He wrote about the things that most of us try very hard not to think about--utter alienation; the insignificance of human life; our brief, pointless, doomed battles against eternity.

While I agree with your points, I believe Lovecraft was a very reserved modest man...IMO he was great...at what HE did.