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How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 1

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

One of my job-alert mailing lists has turned up the following exciting opportunity for writers:

The Lovecraft EZine is compiling an anthology entirely devoted to the subject of 'Cthulhu Autumn'.

The imagination reels, as it so often does when confronted with all that Nameless Dread and Necronomicon erudition. Frankly, the urge is immediate and overwhelming...

...to make mock. Loudly and often.

Therefore, I apologise in advance for having written the issue a theme song. Apologies, also, to Billie Holliday, who probably wasn't a Lovecraft fan.

Tune: Autumn in New York

CTHULHU IN THE FALL

Cthulhu in the fall,
Why does it seem so appalling?
Cthulhu in the fall,
Out of the void the Dark God is calling...

Tentacles writhing and slithering, I feel
The strange urge to kneel
He'll make me his meal
I fear...

Cthulhu in the fall
That brings the nameless terror,
Cthulhu in the fall
Is definitely mingled with pain

Dreamers with time on their hands
May sigh for Tolkien lands
But it's Cthulhu in the fall,
It's good to see him again

Weirdos that bless the dark
In Miskatonic Park
Find Cthulhu in the fall,
They're sorry to see him again...

smiley - dragon


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 2

KB

Lovecraft is one of the few writers who I just can not read. I've never managed to get to the end of a paragraph of his. And I've honestly tried, quite a few times, but I just end up incredibly bored. smiley - laugh


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 3

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork We just had that exact experience over here. I was reading Elektra a passage from 'Imprisoned with the Pharoahs' - a story Lovecraft ghostwrote for Harry Houdini - and when I got to the phrase 'vermeil holocaust' tp describe and Egyptian sunset, we lost it...

Our reaction was, 'Stop that. Stop it NOW.' smiley - rofl


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 4

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

In case anybody WANTS this story, also called 'Under the Pyramids', here's a link:

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/up.aspx

The best part of this story isn't on the page. Lovecraft wrote it, and then lost the manuscript on a train on his way to his wedding. He spent his honeymoon retyping it from memory in a Philadelphia hotel...

Which adds to the list of creepy Stuff written in Philly, as Poe wrote some of his best work there. In a very depressing house, not a hotel.


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 5

KB

Ah, Poe's different, in that as well as being creepy, he could at least write. When I try to read Lovecraft, I last for around half a minute before my mind wanders to things like:

"I wonder if I need to get milk before the shop shuts. Hmm, was that bluish spot on the wall always there? Polyurethane, now isn't that a nice word? I wonder is that rowan seed from last year still viable..."

And I exert willpower and drag myself back to the page, and it's STILL all the pulsating thral of heretofore unspeakable dread beneath the malevolent sentience...

I concluded long ago that HP Lovecraft's prose is a faith you either buy into, or you don't.smiley - laugh


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 6

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl Thank you - it is so reassuring to find out that this is a shared experience.


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 7

ITIWBS

I've always thought that James Blish's story in which the play "The King In Yellow" is embedded, indeed forming the main body of the story, admirably captures that spirit of 'the brown-out of the spirit' so strongly evoked by the Lovecraft canon.

It would be an amusing exercise in production, all shadow play and shadow puppets and deep chirascuro with accompanying dialogue (so as not to spoil the surprise) until the lightning bolt moment when the king and the all black cast, representing various black racial types from all around the world, stand revealed and the chirascuro brightens (slightly) for the finale; the opening scenes, interjections and conclusion filmed in late Victorian settings and styles, 'brown-out' to the play, all that and a truly worthy musical background, under billing like "The Ultimate In Shock Horror!".


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 8

ITIWBS

Aftetthoughts on the H.P. Lovecraft legend: According to legend, H.P. Lovecraft starved to death writing voluminous letters to his fans, while living on a declining income from rental properties he owned.

Have you ever given thought to what that must have meant to his tenants?


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 9

KB

smiley - laugh I'm sure they wished he made more money from his writing.


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 10

ITIWBS

Setting the scene a little, a damp and cold and overcast New England morning, not too far from the sea, substantial bodies of billowing mist on the ground and only barely enough stirring in the musty smelling air to make them undulate slightly, without moving them appreciably...

Reminds me of a life-long New Englander I met once, suffering from seasonal affective disorder, seeking a change of climate in the Palm Springs area. ...on first arrival, really did look as though they'd just crawled out from under a rock... ...sometimes I think that one of the things driving New Englanders to go to sea is hopes of catching more than an occasional glimpse of the sun...


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 11

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Good point. smiley - laugh The reason Maine is spooky may be the weather. smiley - rofl


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 12

KB

Florida is a bit spooky...between the humidity, the lightning, and all the alligators trying to eat you. smiley - yikes


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 13

Florida Sailor All is well with the world

The humidity is mostly outside, you can avoid it with air conditioning, or just learn to get used to it.

Lightning is definitely outside and must be avoided at all costs.

Alligators are fascinating animals, I have watched them for hours on end, you should avoid the urge to pet them or visit their nest.

Now the Tourists smiley - yikes they are spooky smiley - ghost

F smiley - dolphin S


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 14

TRiG (Ireland) A dog, so bade in office

I've never read Lovecraft, but I have read some of Neil Gaiman's takes on Lovecraft. By all accounts, Gaiman is an excellent parodist, so he's probably evoking the writing style as well as the horror.

I wouldn't consider myself a fan of horror, but I am a fan of Neil Gaiman, and he certainly strays into that territory from time to time.

TRiG.smiley - booksmiley - monster


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 15

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Okay, talk about your synchronicity...

This evening, we stumbled across an old TV movie on Youtube. From the 1990s, I believe. Called 'Cast a Deadly Spell'.

Now, what if HP Lovecraft had written like Raymond Chandler? This one's really funny...not only that, but you get David Warner using the Necronomicon to summon Yug Suggoth in 1940s Los Angeles. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhKio_WCDWI


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 16

ITIWBS

By the way, DG, I ran "Imprisoned With The Pharoahs" on my speed reading widget, one word at a time, at 600 wpm, the other night, fell asleep halfway through.

That brownout effect from the James Blish parody again.


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 17

ITIWBS

smiley - evilgrin ...come to think of theres a germ of an idea there, H.P. Lovecraft pitted against a Vogkn in a poetry reading contest, perhaps in context of a Dr. Who adventure...smiley - zen


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 18

KB

smiley - laugh I never thought of the comparison, but yep! That's what he is! HP Lovecraft is a Vogon!


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 19

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork

We should have an HP Lovecraft write-alike contest. Like the Bulwer Lytton one...smiley - whistle


How's Your Lovecrafting?

Post 20

ITIWBS

...as H.P. Lovecraft drones his recital, the camera pans to his Vogon opponent, who starts to rise, but then subsides slowly into his chair and slumps, unconscious.

H.P. Lovecraft's shadow on the wall behind appears to twist in the flickering firelight and grow taller.

The camera turns to him again as he completes his recital and he stands transformed and revealed, a Vogon.

Dr. Who, aghast, having turned pale and his jaw dropped open, steps back, arms spread wide, guiding on his companions behind him...


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