Howard Phillips Lovecraft

[Guybrush]

As you probably know, H. P. Lovecraft (1890 - 1937) was an American author known for his horror shorts that may have ended up in the magazine Weird Tales.



Despite being a pulp writer, his writing often feels ambitious and he was inspired by authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Chambers.

His most famous creation is the great old one Cthulhu, a giant winged tentacle faced godlike being sleeping at the bottom of the sea in the sunken city of R'lyeh. Other inventions are outer gods with names like Azathoth and Yog-sothoth, humanoid fish people often referred to as deep ones and various other horrors. He is considered the father of the subgenre Cosmic horror in which humanity is living, often unknowingly,  under the threat of monsters from space, deep caves or perhaps trying to break through to our world from an alternate reality. To learn too much about these creatures may not be wise for one's mental or physical health.

Cosmic horror and Lovecraft only seems to grow in popularity over the years. More adaptations are being made into movies, games and tv shows while his influence is also often obvious elsewhere.

I consider myself a fan and have read most of his stories. I believe The Colour Out of Space may be my favourite. Favourite movie adaptations, although that definition hangs by a thread, is probably the first two Re-Animator movies starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.

What about you guys? 🐙

[Rubber Soul]

There was also a late sixties band known as HP Lovecraft

[Janszoon]

I've loved Lovecraft since I was a kid. A few years ago I read all of his Cthulhu stories and all of his dream stories. It was a fun thing to do, though after a while I felt like I could have written a script to autogenerate Lovecraft descriptions.

[Toy Revolver]

lovecraft was racist af - anyone who's read him should know that - obviously this thread should be killed or people will think we're nazis

https://www.vox.com/culture/21363945/hp-lovecraft-racism-examples-explained-what-is-lovecraftian-weird-fiction

https://newrepublic.com/article/161588/hp-lovecraft-racist-lovecraft-country-matt-ruff

https://library.brown.edu/create/lovecraftracialimaginaries/

[Janszoon]

Yep, he was quite racist, even for his time. I was under the impression that was common knowledge.

[Nimbly9]

Clark Ashton Smith was my favorite of the old school horror/sci-fi pulp writers personally, but I still go back to Lovecraft every so often.

[Guybrush]

Yep, he was quite racist, even for his time. I was under the impression that was common knowledge.

Yes, rather common knowledge. It might be worth mentioning that I haven't come across much overt racism in his stories. It's my impression his racist views were mostly expressed in his private letters, of which there of course is lots. The risk for a casual reader to be very offended should be relatively low, I think.

[Toy Revolver]

Yep, he was quite racist, even for his time. I was under the impression that was common knowledge.

Yes, rather common knowledge. It might be worth mentioning that I haven't come across much overt racism in his stories. It's my impression his racist views were mostly expressed in his private letters, of which there of course is lots. The risk for a casual reader to be very offended should be relatively low, I think.

unless you actually read his work and don't just watch the movies

it's drenched with the idea that blacks are weird supernatural spooks

[Guybrush]

it's drenched with the idea that blacks are weird supernatural spooks

No, it isn't because his stories don't even contain many black characters. I can't remember any.

I think you're more likely to be offended watching Animal House or an 80s John Hughes comedy.

edit:

I've loved Lovecraft since I was a kid. A few years ago I read all of his Cthulhu stories and all of his dream stories. It was a fun thing to do, though after a while I felt like I could have written a script to autogenerate Lovecraft descriptions.

Cool, do you have any favourites?

[Toy Revolver]

black people in general are an outlying goulish fog throughout his work whether the characters were black or not

it's a big part of his literary universe

[Guybrush]

There was also a late sixties band known as HP Lovecraft

During christmas time, or rather yuletide, I like to occasionally put on the hilariously bad seasonal albums by The HP Lovecraft Historical society. There's two of them

[Janszoon]

I've loved Lovecraft since I was a kid. A few years ago I read all of his Cthulhu stories and all of his dream stories. It was a fun thing to do, though after a while I felt like I could have written a script to autogenerate Lovecraft descriptions.

Cool, do you have any favourites?

The one I remember the best was At the Mountains of Madness. Lots of creepy, desolate imagery involved and it's set in Antarctica, which is amazing and terrifying all on its own.

[Guybrush]

The one I remember the best was At the Mountains of Madness. Lots of creepy, desolate imagery involved and it's set in Antarctica, which is amazing and terrifying all on its own.

Yes, it is good and may just have the best title of any story ever published.

I do remember it is very specific about the long list of things you need to bring with you on an antarctic expedition It's kinda funny because being a pulp writer, I'd think they'd generally want to be be a bit quicker to get into the thick of things.

Still, the antarctic ruins and the monster in the cave etc. is great. Too bad Guillermo Del Toro's movie didn't happen although they could still be trying to get it made for all I know.

[Janszoon]

Yes, it is good and may just have the best title of any story ever published.

I do remember it is very specific about the long list of things you need to bring with you on an antarctic expedition It's kinda funny because being a pulp writer, I'd think they'd generally want to be be a bit quicker to get into the thick of things.

Still, the antarctic ruins and the monster in the cave etc. is great. Too bad Guillermo Del Toro's movie didn't happen although they could still be trying to get it made for all I know.

I didn't realize he was trying to make a movie of it. If there's one person who could actually pull it off, it's him.

[Guybrush]

I didn't realize he was trying to make a movie of it. If there's one person who could actually pull it off, it's him.

I think they started on it and it spent some years in development hell before they maybe pulled the plug 🤔

His Cabinet of Curiosities series on Netflix has a few Lovecraft adaptations, among them Dreams in the Witch House and Pickman's Model (which had Crispin Glover in it). Well worth checking out for the Lovecraft fan, I think 🙂