H.P. Lovecraft
dken...@mta.ca
concerning various horror movies before unsubscribing to this part
of the net, and was intrigued by finding people who would actually
read a book, instead of trying to watch its poor adaptation on film. (For those of you who enjoy tearing apart people who write long sentences, there is a
beaut for you).
However, I don't have the time or the patience to go through every file
and discover whether there are more fans of literary horror than visual, or
the opposite. (I must admit, when I first found evidence this net, I assumed it would deal with literature).
Therefore, I welcome anyone who is inclined to respond to this in
terms of what they read in the horror genre. I did my Extended Essay
for the I.B. (I'd explain what that is, but that would mean I would have to
spell it, and my editor doesn't have a spell checker) on H.P. Lovecraft,
one of the horror authors of the beginning of the century, and would
enjoy discussing him or any other author that people are interested in.
My tastes run more to the early to pre-twentieth centry, but I am
always open for suggestions.
Thanks, and for speed's sake, please reply to DKEN...@MTA.CA
DK
Michael Pearce
I'm not a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft but I have several of his works and
am fairly familiar with the Lovecraftian Universe...
I also have books that are Lovecraftian in nature, by other authors.
This includes Brian Lumley and Michael Shea.
I love the descriptive powers of Lovecraft, he had a huge vocabulary and
used it well. However, he left almost all of the truely horrific stuff
to the readers' imagination. In general, I don't have a problem with
this tactic, one's own imagination can often put to shame anything
written on paper. However, he wrote to lovingly about horrific and
blasphemous events that I wanted him to use his amazing descriptive
powers to describe a few atrocities as only he could, sadly, I've
encountered few instances when he waxed poetically graphic.
Michael Pearce
Charles James Allison
: I'm not a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft but I have several of his works and
: am fairly familiar with the Lovecraftian Universe...
: I also have books that are Lovecraftian in nature, by other authors. :
This includes Brian Lumley and Michael Shea.
Brian Lumley?!!! You've got to be kidding!
Granted, I've only read the (is it 4 or 5, I forget) Necroscope books, but
based on this series, Lovecraft is in another league entirely!
In my opinion, Lovecraft is the greatest writer of horror since Poe.
Lumley has a few nifty ideas, and the idea of a genderless parasite which
grafts itself to the human nervous system and causes vampirism is certainly
horrific, but...
It just can't compare to Lovecraft's Azathoth, a giant, mindless god in the
center of the universe, gibbering and shuddering to eerie flute pipings,
whilst other gods dance around.....
And, Lovecraft's world was so warped that it makes me shudder just thinking
about it. His major themes were humans involved in unholy magics, oftentimes
wielded by insane men and women, and that of the elder gods, whose prime
concern did not concern the well-being of humans in the least.
Lovecraft exploited the fine line in the human psyche between mental health
and mental derangement. His was a world which makes you feel unclean, unsafe,
and suspicious of everyone around you. In the roleplaying game based upon
his world, staying sane is nearly as hard as staying alive.
Well, that's enough for now :)
C.J.
Michael Pearce
Peterson personally, and he and I played that game before Chaosium
released it back in the early eighties. I, in fact, have the first
character ever created for that game, (I was a professor, who now is so
insane part of the game is breaking him out of the insane asylum before
the adventure can begin.) I haven't talked to him in a while, but Sandy
was a true lover of Lovecraft.
As to Lumley, I am referring to books he specically wrote as
tributes/sequels to Lovecraft stories, and feature Lovecraft entities.
"Spawn of the Winds" and "In the Moons of Borea" are two titles that come
to mind. These are CLEARLY LOVECRAFTIAN BOOKS. So wake up wienerdog,
and shut up about Necroscope you pin-head.
Lastly, Lovecraft is not the best Horror writer of this or any century.
He does have some superb stories, but he also has lame ones as well.
Some of his stuff is so unbelievably slow and turgid that it is difficult
to read. The greatest Horror writer ever...would not produce stories
that are hard to slog through...
Michael Pearce
Jef Bryant
Newsgroups: alt.horror
Subject: Great Old Short Horror
References: <1993Nov14.1...@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca> <2c6hdm$b...@news.u.washington.edu> <2ccomm$2d...@whale.st.usm.edu>
Okay all you horror fans, I have a couple of suggestions for you and a
question.
First, one of the greatest of the English Victorian Horror writers, IMHO,
was Algernon Blackwood. THere were two compilations of his work published
in the early seventies by Springbooks entitled "Tales of the Uncanny and
Supernatural" and "Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre." Blackwoods
horror is based around the deep mystery of nature. While not as
depressing as Lovecraft, he still views nature as a thing so outside of
the human experience that exposure to it will fill the (average) human
with dread. If you can get ahold of these books, they are a great
treasure. Anyone read them?
Two: I have a book published in the late forties by Bennet Cerf (anyone
remember him from "Whats My Line?" The title is something like "Greatest
Ghost Stories." I would be more specific but it is out on loan right at
the moment. There are some really good stories in this volume. One that
has stuck with me through the years is "The Beckoning Fair One." I do not
remember the exact year it was composed, though I think that it was
sometime in the mid MDCCC century. The author is Oliver Onions. It is a
wonderfully understated story about a man that falls in love with a
ghost. Has anyone read this one? Has anyone heard of Oliver Onions? Did
he wright anything else?
Question: I DESPERATELY want to get ahold of Arthur Machen's "Yellow
Book" Stories. I would pay well for an Old paperback that you may have
sitting around somewhere. If you want to part with one please e-mail me
and suggest a price. Also, I would like to find George MacDonald's
Fantasmagoria (?) and Lilith. Not quite the same kind of horror, but
pretty close.
Closing remarks: Best Lovecraft story- :The Strange Case of Charles
Dexter Ward." Just finished a book by Tigges called "Book of the Dead."
review, Okay. At least it was good enough that I wanted to finish it. (It
is an older book, published 1992 ;) ) Has anyone read any really good
horror published after 1950?
--
~ ~ cYBER
\_/ gHOST
Brad Cahoon
gets, IMHO. That tale and several other cool stories by Oliver Onions
(apparently he pronounced it oh-Ny-yons, I dunno) may be found in a
treacherous little volume called _Widdershins_, published in the teens
or early twenties of the present century ... check your local library.
Does anyone know if this book has ever been reprinted, or if there are
any other collections of Onions' horror in print?
Brad Cahoon
cah...@phoenix.cs.uga.edu
Vanessa A. Powell
Some one wondered if "Widdershins" by Oliver Onions has been reprinted. It
has. I don't have the volume in front of me, but I bought a (new) paperback
copy very recently at a Borders Book Shop here in Pittsburgh. Any book
store should be able to order it for you. I would venture to guess that the
publisher was Dover Books (goofy cover), but I can't recall for sure.
If you enjoy Blackwood and Onions, try out M R James, J S LeFanu, E F
Benson; The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories (or Victorian Ghost
Stories: An Oxford Anthology--I'm not sure), 1991, Michael Cox & RA Gilbert,
eds., contains loads of stories of the type.
Dover books has the works of LeFanu & James available, as well as some other
publishers. My favorite book of James' work is The Ghost Stories of M.R.
James / selected by Michael Cox, published in 1986 by Oxford University
Press--it's a beautiful book.
Since I like MR James, an author I especially like is A. N. L. Munby, who
wrote in the style of MR James. The only volume of ghost stories by him
that I know of is The Alabaster Hand and other Ghost Stories (I think it is
the only one that he published). It is not in print to my knowledge, but
available in libraries.
Another book that is no longer in print to my knowledge is Edward Gorey's
Haunted Looking Glass--has some classic stories with his neat illustrations.
Again, available in libraries.
Vanessa
Vanessa Powell
ECE Facilities
Carnegie Mellon University
JFEL...@delphi.com
Brian Lumley. Although his *Necroscope series is not exactly of the
myhos, you can't overlook his works for Arkham House, such as the *The Horror
at Oakdeene*. He brings the old mythos to life in a way that not even guys
like Stephen King can.
However, I think that the best "new" writer of cthulhu stuff is the famous
Robert Bloch. Although it's a bit old, his book *Strange Eons* really brings
out the Lovecraftian sense of total desolation and isolation.
:)
James Fellrath