H.P. Lovecraft.

[Arsen]

I think this man is the greatest horror writer of our time, although I have personally never been terrified by one of his stories. Love the madness, horror, and overall theme that there are primordial creatures out preying on us in forms and ways we cannot comprehend.

Favorite stories:

Call of Cthulhu
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
The Lurking Fear

(Short Stories/Poems)
Nathicana
Azathoth

 

[Vires Vox]

I heartily agree, I recently picked up the Necronomicon, a veritable bible of his stories, I recommend it to anyone, fans old and new and even people who've never heard of him, without Lovecraft we'd have no King.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I loooovee Shadow Over Innsmouth, Call of Cthulu and At the Mountains of Madness.

 

[Rezfon]

yeah I think he's a great author. I bought "The Call of Cthulhu, and Other Weird Stories" earlier on in the year.

Alot of them seem to link together imo. The Call of Cthulhu was good but I also liked The Statement of Randolph Carter. Still need to read the other half of the stories still.

 

[Arsen]

Despite it only being a page or two, depending on where you read it...

Azathoth is so beautifully done. I can't understand why everyone visualizes a demonic entity within the stars, the prose behind it took me away...

I double recommend that passage and Nathicana.

 

[goater24]

Has anybody found the H.P Lovecraft mission within Fallout 3 in Dunwich? An awesome nod in the direction of cthulhu

 

[ace_of_something]

I like his work it's really unique. But sometimes the racism distracts so badly it pulls me out of the story, I'd say "it was just the time period" but I get the feeling that his racism wasn't average.

Also anyone ever played the Arkham Horror Board game? it's complex but crazy fun.

 

[Arsen]

I like his work it's really unique. But sometimes the racism distracts so badly it pulls me out of the story, I'd say "it was just the time period" but I get the feeling that his racism wasn't average.

Also anyone ever played the Arkham Horror Board game? it's complex but crazy fun.

Oh come on, his racism was hilarious in that "damn...he was racist" way. In "The Rats in the Walls" the cat was actually named "Ni**er Man". I mean damn..I threw my head back laughing at the fact that he actually named his cat that.

But you have to admit...some tribes out there do partake in insane rituals, so in comparison to British expansion and American dominance...yeah, it is wierd.

 

[hellthins]

Has anybody found the H.P Lovecraft mission within Fallout 3 in Dunwich? An awesome nod in the direction of cthulhu

They had one in Oblivion, a Shadow over Hackdirt.

I like his work it's really unique. But sometimes the racism distracts so badly it pulls me out of the story, I'd say "it was just the time period" but I get the feeling that his racism wasn't average.

Also anyone ever played the Arkham Horror Board game? it's complex but crazy fun.

It wasn't average at first, specifically his one story about the 'white ******', but his later stories don't really have the horrific elements of racism like it, probably since he actually got married to a Jewish woman. Though there are still always going to be elements of his personal fear of other people present in his description of abominations of flesh, but perhaps he was partly aware of the silliness of it.

Just try not to read his poetry.

As for Arkham Horror, yeah. Played it. Have the Curse of the Dark Pharaoh expansion. Freaking awesome, we actually went up against and beat Azathoth. Well, before he woke up obviously. Just barely though. Also, good news! King in Yellow expansion came back into print! Probably in response to the Black Goat of the Woods expansion.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I like his work it's really unique. But sometimes the racism distracts so badly it pulls me out of the story, I'd say "it was just the time period" but I get the feeling that his racism wasn't average.

Yeah... Lovecraft was a crazy racist. Thankfully it doesn't show through in all of his works.

 

[Arsen]

I like his work it's really unique. But sometimes the racism distracts so badly it pulls me out of the story, I'd say "it was just the time period" but I get the feeling that his racism wasn't average.

Yeah... Lovecraft was a crazy racist. Thankfully it doesn't show through in all of his works.

With the exception of "The Rats in the Walls" it isn't even obvious. It's a fair representation of tribes worshipping darker entities.

 

[DangerChimp]

In high school, I read pretty much every single story of his that I could get my hands on. He's a terrific writer and one of the very few that can still to this day make my skin crawl with just the written word.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I like his work it's really unique. But sometimes the racism distracts so badly it pulls me out of the story, I'd say "it was just the time period" but I get the feeling that his racism wasn't average.

Yeah... Lovecraft was a crazy racist. Thankfully it doesn't show through in all of his works.

With the exception of "The Rats in the Walls" it isn't even obvious. It's a fair representation of tribes worshipping darker entities.

I seem to recall a lot of Social Darwinist Bullshit in At The Mountains of Madness and Call of Ctulhu but I haven't read those in a while.

A lot of it is vague racism in an imperialist, culture superiority sense.

 

[Cockney Weasel]

Umm, on the racism front I really can't find it funny Arsen. "Herbert West: Reanimator" is a little bit sickening for that reason alone and I can't remember the title but there's one story of his where he goes on at some length about the evils of the "squat yellow race" of eskimos. And there's a whole lot of nasty insinuations about Egyptians and Arabs throughout his work, especially when referring to Nyarlahotep. Racism was more common in his time but not to the level that he expressed it, he was a little extreme even then.

Lovecraft was an amazing writer but a white supremacist prick. If I had a time machine I would travel back, grab him by the lapels and bring him back to our time and show him how wrong he was, point out that his oh-so-saintly father's madness and death was most likely due to syphillis and then dump him back in his own shitty time period where his sort of racism was quietly tolerated.

 

[Arsen]

Umm, on the racism front I really can't find it funny Arsen. "Herbert West: Reanimator" is a little bit sickening for that reason alone and I can't remember the title but there's one story of his where he goes on at some length about the evils of the "squat yellow race" of eskimos. And there's a whole lot of nasty insinuations about Egyptians and Arabs throughout his work, especially when referring to Nyarlahotep. Racism was more common in his time but not to the level that he expressed it, he was a little extreme even then.

Lovecraft was an amazing writer but a white supremacist prick. If I had a time machine I would travel back, grab him by the lapels and bring him back to our time and show him how wrong he was, point out that his oh-so-saintly father's madness and death was most likely due to syphillis and then dump him back in his own shitty time period where his sort of racism was quietly tolerated.

It can be forgiven.

His writing was simply above his human flaws.

Edit - And sorry, but I find this rather unjustified within the same regards. If a black man were to call a white man "cracker' back then it would be considered fine "due to the time period", but because Lovecraft made a few generalizations here or there, which do not undermine his work on any level, than it becomes this huge catastrophe. Not saying it was right just saying that the modern generation has no basis to lay blame and scapegoat a previous generation.

Just simply choose to overlook a few key areas here or there and enjoy the story as a whole.

 

[xitel]

Umm, on the racism front I really can't find it funny Arsen. "Herbert West: Reanimator" is a little bit sickening for that reason alone and I can't remember the title but there's one story of his where he goes on at some length about the evils of the "squat yellow race" of eskimos. And there's a whole lot of nasty insinuations about Egyptians and Arabs throughout his work, especially when referring to Nyarlahotep. Racism was more common in his time but not to the level that he expressed it, he was a little extreme even then.

Lovecraft was an amazing writer but a white supremacist prick. If I had a time machine I would travel back, grab him by the lapels and bring him back to our time and show him how wrong he was, point out that his oh-so-saintly father's madness and death was most likely due to syphillis and then dump him back in his own shitty time period where his sort of racism was quietly tolerated.

And yet you make no mention of Mark Twain? A man regarded as one of the greatest American authors of all time, and he was outwardly, flagrantly racist.

 

[Arsen]

The problem is, the modern definition of racism. We think our modern society takes precedence over the former on the basis of our beliefs alone.

 

[cianer]

If you like Lovecraft check out the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company - they do audio plays-for-radio-type versions of his novels which are fantastic. They released "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" as a podcast. Check it out http://artcpodcast.org/index.php?post_year=2007&post_month=10 - its brilliant.

Unfortunately I find that a 3rd-level education combined with 21st century comforts has robbed Lovecraft of his ability to scare me, however the podcast linked above did put shivers down my spine 'cos of the sound effects. Nothing like some opressive music and a load of freaks chanting "Cthulhu fhtagn" in the background as the main actor gibbers insanely in the foreground to creep you out. =)

They are on iTunes and audible.com too I think. I presume the details are on http://www.artc.org (I got the CDs instead of downloading).

 

[Dudemeister]

I think this man is the greatest horror writer of our time, although I have personally never been terrified by one of his stories. Love the madness, horror, and overall theme that there are primordial creatures out preying on us in forms and ways we cannot comprehend.

Favorite stories:

Call of Cthulhu
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
The Lurking Fear

(Short Stories/Poems)
Nathicana
Azathoth

No "Mountains of Madness" ?
Still, Lovecraft <3

 

[hellthins]

The problem is, the modern definition of racism. We think our modern society takes precedence over the former on the basis of our beliefs alone.

Even for his time period he was horribly horribly racist.

He's a great writer and he understood horror, probably because he lived his life a lot in depression and fear, but don't defend his racism. It's indefensible, even by the standards of his own time.