Lovecraftian horror - still a thing?

PeteMC

@PeteMC666
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
3,002
Reaction score
363
Location
UK
Website
talonwraith.wordpress.com
Hey horror hounds, popping in from the SFF room to ask - is there still a viable market for novels in the Lovecraftian vein? More a "Shadow over Innsmouth" / horrors of the deep kind of thing than cosmic horror. Would that sort of thing even be marketed as horror these days, or straight historical fantasy (set around the time of WWI)?

Any wise words gratefully accepted!
 

Marissa D

Scribe of the girls in the basement
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
3,071
Reaction score
365
Location
New England but hankering for the old one
Website
www.marissadoyle.com
I've read two recent releases that were inspired by Lovecraft or plugged directly into the Cthulhu mythos--a novella, The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson (which read to me as horror-ish fantasy) and Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys, which borrows directly from Lovecraft but I would call historical fantasy with very little horror.
 

JetFueledCar

tiny hedgehog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
1,125
Reaction score
159
Location
Internet native
There's a series of anthologies released not long ago of authors actually writing about Innsmouth, but I don't know about other Lovecraftian horrors of the deep. Personally though, I say write it. If nothing else, I'll read it and pester you for more. :D
 

PeteMC

@PeteMC666
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
3,002
Reaction score
363
Location
UK
Website
talonwraith.wordpress.com
I've read two recent releases that were inspired by Lovecraft or plugged directly into the Cthulhu mythos--a novella, The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

Oh hell yes, that was just up for a Hugo!

There's a series of anthologies released not long ago of authors actually writing about Innsmouth, but I don't know about other Lovecraftian horrors of the deep. Personally though, I say write it. If nothing else, I'll read it and pester you for more. :D

Thanks guys - it's not me writing it btw, but I'm asking because Reasons I can't talk about until the results of something are announced ;)
 

JetFueledCar

tiny hedgehog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
1,125
Reaction score
159
Location
Internet native
Oh hell yes, that was just up for a Hugo!



Thanks guys - it's not me writing it btw, but I'm asking because Reasons I can't talk about until the results of something are announced ;)

I love Lovecraft and all his ilk and collect Cthulhu board games. If this "something" needs a first reader of any kind, you know where to find me. ;)
 

Shoeless

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,308
Reaction score
295
Thanks guys - it's not me writing it btw, but I'm asking because Reasons I can't talk about until the results of something are announced ;)

Well... NOW I'm curious...
 

underpope

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
262
Reaction score
32
Age
56
Location
Sacramento, CA
Website
www.underpope.com
I'm pretty sure Lovecraftian horror is still a Thing, but sometimes it's hard to recognize it as such. Someone already mentioned The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe, which is deeply rooted in the mythos, but there are others that are such only in how they evoke a Lovecraftian sense of a deep, ancient, unthinkable, undescribable, and ultimately uncaring universe. Sometimes with tentacles. I know I've read them, but none spring to mind. Usually I find modern Lovecraftian fiction forgettable, though Vellitt​ was brilliant.
 

kevincnorris

Registered
Joined
Aug 22, 2017
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Location
Los Angeles
I am utterly fascinated by Lovecraft, and yet I find it very difficult to really understand why. If I read a story that is basically Lovecraftian, that is, has all the beats and pervasiveness and verbal bulimia and yet is not expressly Lovecraft, I find it pedantic and distasteful. But add in anything from his canon, from fish-men to blind idiot gods to Nyarlathotep and I'm transfixed.

Dunno. He did his thing, wot?
 

Ancoelle

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 15, 2015
Messages
61
Reaction score
5
Goodness, I hope so! The last Lovecraftian book I read was Metro 2033, which was excellent. I wish more authors would incorporate Lovecraftian elements; they are so deliciously cool.
 

williemeikle

The force is strong in this one.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2005
Messages
3,728
Reaction score
664
Location
Canada
Website
www.williammeikle.com
There are literally hundreds of Lovecraftian anthologies published these past few years. ( I'm in many of them )

The old chap and his style are more popular than ever. And CHAOSIUM also recently opened submissions to Lovecraftian long fiction.
 

Shoeless

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,308
Reaction score
295
Well, at least know I know why Pete asked about the viability of Lovecraftian horror now. Hope things work out for your mentee.
 

Serddar

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 1, 2017
Messages
81
Reaction score
1
Location
Montenegro
More than ever I think or hope, the only problem being is that some do not understand what Lovecraftian horror is and that anything with tentacles gets titled Lovecraftian.
 

Scythian

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Messages
201
Reaction score
40
I think there are indie publishers and magazines and anthologies dedicated wholy to Lovecraftian fiction.
 

Scythian

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Messages
201
Reaction score
40
I'm pretty sure Lovecraftian horror is still a Thing, but sometimes it's hard to recognize it as such. Someone already mentioned The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe, which is deeply rooted in the mythos, but there are others that are such only in how they evoke a Lovecraftian sense of a deep, ancient, unthinkable, undescribable, and ultimately uncaring universe. Sometimes with tentacles. I know I've read them, but none spring to mind. Usually I find modern Lovecraftian fiction forgettable, though Vellitt​ was brilliant.

Can anyone please suggest more contemporary Lovecraftian titles, be they novels, novellas, or shorter works? They don't have to be brilliant--I'd love to check them out in any case. I know Ligotti and Campbell, but I'm not up to speed to the ...say last twenty years... in the scene:D So, anything from this missing 20 year chunk, please share!
 

Errant_Fragments

Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
48
Reaction score
7
Location
Beijing
Charles Stross - The Laundry Files (Lovecraftian horrors exist, but don't worry, the British Civil Service is on it - his mixing the mundanity of life as a civil service bureaucrat with all the chaos and insanity of inter-dimensional old ones is genius)
 

Feidb

Been Here A While
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
606
Reaction score
51
Location
Las Vegas
Website
www.fredrayworth.com
It's still around and as far as I know, people still hunger for Cthulhu and his/her kin. It's not always my personal taste, well the ones I've read haven't been, but I think good icky bug is good icky bug and the mythos has stood the test of time. If you want to pursue that angle, I think you'll find an audience.
 

Denevius

Banned
Flounced
Joined
Jun 26, 2016
Messages
2,474
Reaction score
337
Location
Seoul
I, too, see a lot of listings for these, so someone must be reading them.

I tried teaching some Lovecraft to high school students, and it did not go over well (his writing style is kind of verbose). A modernization of his tales may be exactly what’s needed.
 

Harlequin

Eat books, not brains!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,584
Reaction score
1,412
Location
The land from whence the shadows fall
Website
www.sunyidean.com
My current MS borrows heavily from Lovecraft. Cthulhu is even referenced a few times. But with modern writing. Agent very happy to flog it.

I think deep psychological horror will always sell.
 
Last edited:

Jimmy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 19, 2011
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Who would you recommend as one of the best author's who took the ball of the Cthulhu Mythos and ran with it?
 

jmurray2112

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
74
Reaction score
5
Location
Northern CA
I don't read a ton of horror, but Lovecraft pops up a fair amount even outside the genre. I suppose because it is such a well-established mythos, it can (in the right hands) lend its weight to a narrative, even if it's not strictly a "horror" story. I've read a few novels in the last couple of years that used it to good effect, I thought.
 

Noizchild

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 3, 2015
Messages
2,074
Reaction score
18
Location
Take a guess! :P
Website
noizchild.neocities.org
I don't read a ton of horror, but Lovecraft pops up a fair amount even outside the genre. I suppose because it is such a well-established mythos, it can (in the right hands) lend its weight to a narrative, even if it's not strictly a "horror" story. I've read a few novels in the last couple of years that used it to good effect, I thought.

Why not try audiobooks then?