Lovecraft and Cosmic Horror - He is Providence.

[Lone MacReady II]

I see no dedicated thread to discussing the providential son H.P. Lovecraft, his works, and his unique brand of horror. So I'll make one.

Howard was a man who died ill, destitute, and generally unknown - but now lives eternally as the father of modern horror. From John Carpenter's "The Thing", to FromSoftware's "Bloodborne", Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos have crawled up from the depths of obscurity into global cult-like recognition. From American movies and cartoons to Japanese anime and tabletop RPGs, his influence is clear. Lovecraft's terror is the fear of the unknown, the things in the deep, and the dark void of space, meaning his brand is that of the final frontier. His influence will continue long into the future, especially as man journeys further into the cryptical stars.

Lovecraft's influence has grown so popular in recent years that (((the usual suspects))) have taken to trying to sever his cultural root the only way they know how; shoving sub-saharans into it. That is the proof of Lovecraft's rise right there. But, you cannot defeat the Ultimate Cosmic Horror - A White man who says the word nigger.​

 

[Meat Target]

 

[A Useless Fish]

The Haunter of the Dark is my choice, but my personal favorite has been The Color Out of Space. There's a million readings out there, but this first one I found years ago, read by an Irish guy of all people, is still my favourite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoCG8CJlvVo

Oddly enough, I never really knew about Lovecraft until after I was out of college. I saw The Necronomicon collection on sale for $20 on Amazon when I was twenty five, maybe? I barely knew the surname, but there was something about that title, and that strange golden creature on the black leather that drew me in. When it arrived, it was summer, and the weekend. I started reading it, not knowing anything about the man, or the Mythos he made.

I wish I could repeat that summer. It opened up so many new things for me.

 

[Meat Target]

0:50

 

[Butterschmalz]

Big fan of course. Describing the decline of Western Civilization in an entertaining way: Cosmic horror. Whatever horror movies are out there are all inspired by him. Truly a master, with a vision.

 

[Jewthulhu]

I was halfway through starting a thread for this myself (probably was a bit TLDR).

I really like Lovecraft's stories (hence my username). He wasn't always the best writer, but he had some really original ideas. What I'm not a fan of is what I guess you could call his legacy. The Cthulhu Mythos itself is a big one. Lovecraft was never that interested in building an overall "mythos." He would put references in his stories to his own works, the works of his "circle," and the works of other authors he liked, but they were never really intended to be that deep. Then Derleth and other authors decided to make it a mythos with lore and making a bunch of shit cannon and adding a bunch of bullshit elements that don't fit Lovecraft's original stories.

"Cosmic Horror" itself is a mess. It's the big buzzword that's slapped on everything and that every horror author nowadays wants to write. But none of it feels like Lovecraft's original stories.

Anyway, if anyone wants to read Lovecraft's original works, there's an online archive for that (link). If audiobooks are more your thing, I'd recommend "Horrorbabble" on YouTube. He's narrated most of Lovecraft's major works.

 

[Dfackt0]

I would recommend the Dark Worlds of HP Lovecraft collection for anyone, Wayne June doesnt have as wide a catalog as Horrorbabble but he was a personal friend of mine in life and his readings are nothing short of fantastic personal bias aside, Nobody makes Chapter 7 of At the Mountains of Madness sound as good as he did

 

[Core Theorist]

I really liked the one about that Alchemist (was it just 'the alchemist'...?) where it's just some isolated blueblood dork's entire family line getting harassed by an immortal wizard.

 

[King Metalia]

I was halfway through starting a thread for this myself (probably was a bit TLDR).

I really like Lovecraft's stories (hence my username). He wasn't always the best writer, but he had some really original ideas. What I'm not a fan of is what I guess you could call his legacy. The Cthulhu Mythos itself is a big one. Lovecraft was never that interested in building an overall "mythos." He would put references in his stories to his own works, the works of his "circle," and the works of other authors he liked, but they were never really intended to be that deep. Then Derleth and other authors decided to make it a mythos with lore and making a bunch of shit cannon and adding a bunch of bullshit elements that don't fit Lovecraft's original stories.

"Cosmic Horror" itself is a mess. It's the big buzzword that's slapped on everything and that every horror author nowadays wants to write. But none of it feels like Lovecraft's original stories.

Anyway, if anyone wants to read Lovecraft's original works, there's an online archive for that (link). If audiobooks are more your thing, I'd recommend "Horrorbabble" on YouTube. He's narrated most of Lovecraft's major works.

Horrorbabble readings of Dagon and The Color out of Space were my introduction to Lovecraft back in 2020.

 

[Meat Target]

Personal faves are Dunwich and Colour Out of Space. But Cthulhu is undisputed as the most iconic one. He's the mascot of cosmic horror because he's the one with the most fleshed out image.

Horrorbabble readings of Dagon and The Color out of Space were my introduction to Lovecraft back in 2020.

I also like Tenbond's (formerly Creepswork, if you know him) narrations of Lovecraft. He's great at audiobook production.

 

[millais]

When he moved to NYC and had to live around non-Anglos, non-whites, and immigrants, his disgust and fear of them increased and he wrote some NYC-based stories inspired by his newfound cultural experiences, like "The Horror at Red Hook", "He", "Cool Air", etc.

But at some point he mellowed out enough to marry a Jewess, so who knows.

Of the options in the poll, I think that "At the Mountains" and "Whisperer" most perfectly capture the essence of the Mythos and the cosmic horror genre. There is an unimaginably ancient and arcane malevolence, that man attempts to better comprehend through the latest scientific and technological development, which ultimately proves insufficient and futile.

But I think that of the options in the poll, "Haunter" is the scariest story.

I like the odd snippets of future history lore that are mentioned in "Shadow", like how a Chinese-descended empire comes to dominate the world thousands of years in the far future, or how Australia becomes the leading light of the Anglosphere in a few centuries.

It's kind of pricey to buy, but at some point, I'd like to read the travelogue Lovecraft wrote to document his tourist trip to Montreal. It was his only trip abroad or outside the American Northeast for that matter, and apparently he loved exploring the historical old part of Montreal, being much enamored by the Old World charm and visiting all the historical places he had read about.

 

[Constellationzero]

I have a copy of The Shuttered Room.

This is a collection of Lovecraft's unfinished stories that were finished by August Derleth. So let's not forget Derleth and Arkham Press for also getting Lovecraft out there.

The Temple is hands down one of my all-time favorite stories. It's a bit like Alien with the crew getting picked off until one guy remains.

 

[oldTireWater]

The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and The Mound were always my favorites. I think Lovecraft is a little overrated as horror. He created interesting concepts, but the execution could be lacking. He would often rely on the narrator saying something was horrifying rather than actually making it so. Novel for his time however.

I think Clark Ashton Smith (one of his contemporaries) did a slightly better job with the genre.

 

[millais]

I have a copy of The Shuttered Room.

This is a collection of Lovecraft's unfinished stories that were finished by August Derleth. So let's not forget Derleth and Arkham Press for also getting Lovecraft out there.

The Temple is hands down one of my all-time favorite stories. It's a bit like Alien with the crew getting picked off until one guy remains.

I like The Temple as well. It highlights young Lovecraft's advanced and well-informed racism. The Prussian main character is not just racist against the Perfidious Englanders and Yankees. He is also racist against the Rhinelanders and other inferior German nationalities that are represented among the crew members of the submarine.

 

[Jewthulhu]

He created interesting concepts, but the execution could be lacking. He would often rely on the narrator saying something was horrifying rather than actually making it so.

I 100% agree. I think the most annoying thing he would do is make the big story reveal incredibly obvious, while structuring the story as if it had a surprise ending.

I think "The Shadow out of Time" is the best example of this. The concept of the story is incredibly unique and fascinating, and the story being told had a lot of potential. But the actual structure of the story is:

- Set up mystery
- MC has a dream that explicitly and exactly lays out the solution to the mystery
- MC starts to find clues that start to uncover the mystery
- MC finds a final piece of the puzzle that just confirms that the solution from the dream was correct (the horror!)

 

[Lone MacReady II]

I have recently read some of the new darkhorse adaptations of a couple of Lovecraft's most famous works. The artwork I think is the biggest draw, it's kindov Berserk-esque specifically when it comes to the mass scenes of monsters. It naturally cucks out on some of the based language used (you won't hear them calling Castro a Mestizo), but I blame that on the pussies at darkhorse rather than the mangaka who adapted it, Gou Tanabe. Generally the translation is word for word, and the visuals add a lot to the grit of the stories.

It stirs the imagination and makes me feel even more for characters like Zadok Allen because you see him as a kid in Innsmouth living through the horror that takes place there. I would give them a look if you want to get a little more out of the classics.

 

[Meat Target]

I think Lovecraft is a little overrated as horror. He created interesting concepts, but the execution could be lacking. He would often rely on the narrator saying something was horrifying rather than actually making it so. Novel for his time however.

One hang-up for modern audiences (as pointed out by Tenbond here) is his verbosity. Pulp writers like Lovecraft got paid by the word, and so they had to stuff their stories with lots of purple prose.

11:15

 

[GunCar Gary]

The Rats in the Walls is his best story because it features my boy Nigger-Man

 

[Constellationzero]

How 'bout some great Lovecraft art?

Let's start with Seargent's bus!

 

[Meat Target]

How 'bout some great Lovecraft art?

Let's start with Seargent's bus!

Ver archivo adjunto 8233827

Ver archivo adjunto 8233833

Ver archivo adjunto 8233848

I have to mention that Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is the jankiest, shittiest, most broken game I've ever played. And it's just Innsmouth with some character names changed.

I gave up on it when I got soft-locked thanks to a game-breaking bug. A scripted event didn't happen, then got autosaved over so I couldn't go back.