Lovecraftian horror - still a thing?

jmurray2112

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That's technology for you. In my literary reality, "read" is a one-to-one correlation with "listened to on audio-book", sadly. Can't remember the last time I read a book with my eyes.
Coincidentally, my son just recently urged me to get Lovecraft's catalog on audio-book. He absolutely loved it, so I think I might try it out.
 

Thomas Vail

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Who would you recommend as one of the best author's who took the ball of the Cthulhu Mythos and ran with it?
Charles Stross has already been mentioned, there's Ramsey Campbell as well. Cosmic horror is always going to be a 'thing.' If you're talking about Lovecraft's particular writing style, that I couldn't name off the top of my head, and honestly isn't something I feel needs imitating. The few times I've encountered someone trying to do it in contemporary publications has never jibed well with me.
 
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CalRazor

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That's technology for you. In my literary reality, "read" is a one-to-one correlation with "listened to on audio-book", sadly. Can't remember the last time I read a book with my eyes.
Coincidentally, my son just recently urged me to get Lovecraft's catalog on audio-book. He absolutely loved it, so I think I might try it out.

Sometimes the choice of narrator is spot on. I've been listening to Micheal C. Hall's narration of Pet Sematary, and his voice is basically perfect for the somber, reflective tone of the book.
 

blacbird

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I have just been reading some stuff by Clark Ashton Smith, a contemporary of Lovecraft, and someone whom Lovecraft loved the craft of. Smith evoked some of Lovecraft's milieu (ancient gods, some by name, such as Tsathoggua), but made a distinction with Lovecraft. Lovecraft loved to craft his stories in the "real" world, with the evil ancient ones having invaded and hung around as enormous horrific menaces. Smith wanted to create whole new worlds, outside our own familiar reality, and he was dang good at it. He was also a better writing craftsman than Lovecraft was.

I can't see any obvious reason why stories written well in this same vein would not be publishable today.

caw
 

Kjbartolotta

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I have just been reading some stuff by Clark Ashton Smith, a contemporary of Lovecraft, and someone whom Lovecraft loved the craft of. Smith evoked some of Lovecraft's milieu (ancient gods, some by name, such as Tsathoggua), but made a distinction with Lovecraft. Lovecraft loved to craft his stories in the "real" world, with the evil ancient ones having invaded and hung around as enormous horrific menaces. Smith wanted to create whole new worlds, outside our own familiar reality, and he was dang good at it. He was also a better writing craftsman than Lovecraft was.

I can't see any obvious reason why stories written well in this same vein would not be publishable today.

caw

CAS was a poet, a bon vivant, and a Californian. He can be, by turn, gory, sensual, and quite funny. I am a huge fan.
 

MindfulInquirer

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oh I'd say it's still very much a thing indeed. The horror movie scene as everything nowadays seems to be about commercial success and all but I constantly see references to Lovecraftian horror, maybe not in current new books but on album covers, stuff like that, and in pop culture I think he's more recognized than ever. I'd say his horror is timeless because it's so inherent to the human mind.
 

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There is absolutely a huge market for Lovecraftian horror! My brother is a huge fan. I know a couple of D&D style system based on Lovecraft. I also know friends who will eagerly snatch up any board game that so much as mentions "unknowable horror". If anything, Lovecraft's style has become a cultural touchstone. Cthulhu is a household name for a lot of people!
 

MindfulInquirer

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As I was hinting a couple posts higher here, it's all over pop culture. For whatever good but unknown reason, Lovecraft has arguably come back into fashion more than even before. I was just enjoying an album listen from some metal german band earlier today and their entire album is Lovecraftian in themes. I got offered some years ago by a good friend an adult/dark comic book version of a Lovecraftian story. Even the most book-phobic person today if he only hangs around the internet and mainstream social media knows who Cthulu is or at least what he looks like. Which is quite fantastic, to stop and think about this: what it means when a figure is recognized by even the ignorant. Especially when it's science fiction, everybody recognized a portrait of Hitler or Stalin but reality/human history are not the same.
 

Rick Albert

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I agree lovecraft was an expert in writing about horror. His work works on the belief that somethings should be left alone. There are things that should not be mentioned. You may summon it without even realizing it. He has a way with words, true he uses a lot of words to seek the story, but it works. I agree Lovecraft is definitely worth reading and writing like. He was a master with his words.
Keep on working with it.
 

MR. MACABRE

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My first message

I'm probably in the minority here, but LOVECRAFT is by far my favorite author. I started reading his stories in high school(a long time ago) and I've been re-reading them for 40+ years. I found this website because I've been looking for a place to communicate with other fans of horror literature. I don't know if I belong here because I'm not a writer, I'm just a fan of well written stories about the occult and the unknown. LOVECRAFT was so good at creating an atmosphere of dread. He can be hard to read at first, but if you go back and re-visit his stories, they stand alone in the atmosphere of horror literature. This is just my opinion, and I'm hoping to interact with others on this forum as a fan, not a writer.
 

pharm

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Who would you recommend as one of the best author's who took the ball of the Cthulhu Mythos and ran with it?

Probably the best piece of mythos lit I read last decade was Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom. Astonishingly good retelling of The Horror at Red Hook that surpasses the (honestly pretty terrible) original and transforms it into something rich and freshly terrifying while interrogating the racist politics at the heart of Lovecraft's original work.

I haven't read LaValle's other work yet but plan to as soon as I get the chance.
 

mschenk2016

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I swear I posted on this thread before? Lovecraft is one of my top three favorite authors, too. The others being Tolkien and Stephen King. I was introduced to him by an English teacher in high school. He had us read "The Festival", and then a story called "The Mangler" by Stephen King. Afterwards he asked by show of hands how many people liked which story better. Everyone in class raised their hands for the Stephen King story, I was the only one who raised my hand for the Lovecraft story. My teacher explained the Cthulhu mythos to the class and it just sounded so cool and so much creepier than anything I'd ever read. I've been a fan ever since. I own the Complete Fiction, and most movies. There haven't been a lot of good Lovecraft movies, unfortunately. The best are Color Out of Space, Dagon, Reanimator, Whisperer in Darkness, and In the Mouth of Madness.

Just a heads up there are two new movies coming out: The Thing On the Doorstep by the team behind Reanimator, and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has a kickstarter for another movie, Pickman's Model.
 
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dickson

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I have a few favorites: Jonathan Howard has written Lovecraftian novels: The Fear Institute as part of the adventures of Johannes Cabal, testy necromancer, and the two Carter and Lovecraft novels. I live in hope that Howard will complete that trilogy.

Then there is Oddjobs by Heide Goody and Ian Grant. Iā€™d have to describe this pentology as an apocalyptic Lovecraftian farce. I loved it. The Old Gods in Lovecraft were insane, but they would run screaming from the Venislarn. Not to worry, though, there is a ministry in the British government that is responsible for managing the End of the Universe.
 

Ashigara

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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!

Bruv, I don't know why people don't recommend the film, At the Mouth of Madness. Starring Sam Neill, it's perhaps one of the most unique horror experiences (relevant to this topic) which in my opinion makes the film wholly deserving of its cult classic status.
 

Fi Webster

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Bruv, I don't know why people don't recommend the film, At the Mouth of Madness. Starring Sam Neill, it's perhaps one of the most unique horror experiences (relevant to this topic) which in my opinion makes the film wholly deserving of its cult classic status.

Yes! I'm planning to rewatch At the Mouth of Madness as a R.I.P. tribute to the late great David Warner, who just recently died.
 
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Ashigara

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Anyway, video games like Dead Space and Mass Effect both have Lovecraftian inspirations (Mass Effect's Leviathan DLC is literally a space horror story).

I'd like to bring your attention to Lovecraft Lite on Tv Tropes, a lighter and softer version of Lovecraftian horror being less bleak in tone. From the page:

It may perhaps be objected that "Lovecraft Lite" is a bit of a misnomer, since the man himself actually wrote more than a few stories where the monsters can in fact be thwarted, sometimes even with mundane methods. But then again, Lovecraft is such a formative influence on Cosmic Horror that his name has become metonymous for the whole genre. See the Cthulhu Mythos for more.
 
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