H.P. Lovecraft nerds...er, fans?

[Gordar]

What Lovecraft stuff would you recommend? As I said, the Cthulu stuff sounds really interesting to me, but so do all the other themes that I read he was fond of. So I'm open to anything really.

Cthulhu does Dallas
No man's land - Cthulhu edition 1
I Screwed Cthulhu's Wild Mom
Cthulhu gets off alone
Cthulhus do it too

& last but not least

hard core Cthulhus

 

[calpoon]

Is there any sort of order to his stuff? I have a few story collections but I'd like to read the Cthulu stuff in order, if possible.

All of his stuff is just short stories. They only connect to each other through references to people, places, books and the pantheon of monsters. Some of the Dream Cycle stories contain the same characters, and so could be said to follow each other based on that. But otherwise the stories don't really connect to each other in plot. If there was any order it would just be the order in which they were published, in which case the stories usually take place around the same time that they were written, with maybe a few exceptions.

The Nameless City (1921) is the first Cthulhu story. It is about the author of the Necronomicon. The next story, The Hound (1922) first mentions the actual book, which is the basis for most of the connections between the stories. If there could be said to be one reoccurring story it would be that in each successive tale we learn a little bit more about the book and about the Great Old Ones. The Call of Cthulhu (1926) is the only story in the Mythos written by Lovecraft that actually features Cthulhu, although I think he is mentioned in a couple others.

It's funny because the Necronomicon is supposed to be this rare book that there is only like 2 or three copies of, yet somehow no one seems to have a problem getting a hold of one in every story.

 

[Moonchild22]

All of his stuff is just short stories. They only connect to each other through references to people, places, books and the pantheon of monsters. Some of the Dream Cycle stories contain the same characters, and so could be said to follow each other based on that. But otherwise the stories don't really connect to each other in plot. If there was any order it would just be the order in which they were published, in which case the stories usually take place around the same time that they were written, with maybe a few exceptions.

The Nameless City (1921) is the first Cthulhu story. It is about the author of the Necronomicon. The next story, The Hound (1922) first mentions the actual book, which is the basis for most of the connections between the stories. If there could be said to be one reoccurring story it would be that in each successive tale we learn a little bit more about the book and about the Great Old Ones. The Call of Cthulhu (1926) is the only story in the Mythos written by Lovecraft that actually features Cthulhu, although I think he is mentioned in a couple others.

It's funny because the Necronomicon is supposed to be this rare book that there is only like 2 or three copies of, yet somehow no one seems to have a problem getting a hold of one in every story.

Wow. Gay.

 

[calpoon]

Wow. Gay.

Some have speculated that H.P. Lovecraft was a homosexual on account of his fondness for younger men and his short, cold marriage which was his only real relationship with a woman. It was more likely that he was just asexual and anti-social. His most intimate relationships were with his correspondents, most of whom he never even met in person.

It's safe to say that if he lived in the modern era, Lovecraft probably would have spent a lot of time on Freeones.

 

[Patrick_S]

It was more likely that he was just asexual and anti-social.

You can add racist to that. The one thing i don´t like in his stories is his extremely degratory way of describing black people.

 

[calpoon]

You can add racist to that. The one thing i don´t like in his stories is his extremely degratory way of describing black people.

Well I don't know about that. He wasn't really anymore racist than most people on here- in that he was pretty xenophobic against immigrants. But his attitudes were pretty much common for the period. He did use racial expressions that would be out of line today, but were not necessarily intended to be insulting. The N word was just what people referred to blacks as, even white people that were their friends and had no animosity.

HPL was really into the Victorian Era (he even talked that way to the puzzlement of his friends and family) and his attitude against immigrant culture was really a problem with modernism replacing the New England culture that he loved, and not rooted in racial prejudice.

Don't get me wrong the guy seemed like an asshole for more than just that reason, but I think it is also important to understand where he was coming from and not judge him too harshly based on a different social code of today.