hui, looks like there are some Lovecraft stories published :-D

I think he was the best, Jamo.:adore:

And I believe Paul would be the first to second me on that. I don't believe any modern horror fictioneer can escape his influence anymore than a science fiction writer can escape Robert Heinlein's.:adore::adore:

Seems to be a great guy^^
Normally I am not the biggest fan of horror stories. I wil l try one of them when i have time between the many other books I want to read ^^

My usual recommendation to someone just starting out with Lovecraft is the story "The Rats in the Walls". Although "Pickman's Model" can also be a good intro for a virgin.

My usual recommendation to someone just starting out with Lovecraft is the story "The Rats in the Walls". Although "Pickman's Model" can also be a good intro for a virgin.

Fine choices both. How about THE TERRIBLE OLD MAN?

The Dunwich Horror

"He took after his father more than his brother did".

A chilling line in the light of what went before!

It's not a classic Lovecraft story - it has really nothing to do with Elder Gods or their ilk - but the story "In the Walls of Eryx" always chills me deeply. It's about an astronaut who finds himself trapped in an invisible maze, and the way Lovecraft writes, you would swear that those walls just might be moving...it's creepy, creepy stuff.

My usual recommendation to someone just starting out with Lovecraft is the story "The Rats in the Walls". Although "Pickman's Model" can also be a good intro for a virgin.

Yup, I just reread them over at DagonBytes. Along with "The Picture in the House" which I think is the first Lovecraft story I ever read, it being first in that Lancer anthology I started with over forty years ago.

It's important to remember that Lovecraft was the first author with a "shared universe". He invited every writer he corresponded with (and he wrote more letters than fiction) to come and play. And a bunch of other "Weird Tales" writers answered the call. It continues into this century. For instance, Brian Lumley writes incredible horror stories from his own twisted brain, but he also writes better Lovecraft than Lovecraft did. Lovecraft was never really a professional writer, merely an extremely gifted amateur who sold a few of his stories to magazines that were barely above amateur status at the time. More of his work was published posthumously than during his unfortunately short lifetime. (As with Robert E. Howard, who lived an even shorter span, but was a real professional writer during his brief career in numerous genres -- Howard was one of the contributors to the Cthulhu Mythos, but of course he is best remembered for his heroic fantasy stories set in the Hyborean Age).

For instance, Brian Lumley writes incredible horror stories from his own twisted brain, but he also writes better Lovecraft than Lovecraft did.

That is so true! Lumley can write some twisted stuff. Lumley is responsible for my fascination with vampires.....or should I say Vamphyri.

I'm going to get back onto the subject of this thread...right after I give my take on Lovecraft. He was a genius, and his writing is so full of atmosphere. In his writing it is not what you SEE but what is lurking and threatening to "break through". I actually believe that the Universe is much like Lovecraft obviously thought it to be. I also believe that the most merciful thing is that we cannot correlate the contents of our minds. It's hard to pick a favorite but "The Dunwich Horror" is great, and I also like ATMOM as well.

NOW to the "Otherness". The Otherness, I believe is not a place or dimension but an adjective to describe things and happenings which originate "outside" our dimension/Universe and which affect our dimension/Universe. It could be that the originating place IS a dimension in and of itself, but I'd rather think of it in a Lovecraftian way as being in the spaces between spaces and thus it would be anything NOT of our reality, and possibly also NOT of the same "reality" that the "Ally" occupies. Though I think it likely that the "Ally" could occupy the same reality where the Otherness comes from. My own view on the issue of the "Otherness" and the "Ally" is that there is an entity behind each of the machinations and they are like Locraftian entities.

That is so true! Lumley can write some twisted stuff. Lumley is responsible for my fascination with vampires.....or should I say Vamphyri.

I read all related books because... I was fascinated by the leech life cycle