Ken Hite's Top 20
John Goodrich
published a list of his favorite Mythos stories on his LiveJournal
http://princeofcairo.livejournal.com/143404.html
10 Best Stories About Cthulhu Not By H.P. Lovecraft
“Nethescurial,” by Thomas Ligotti
“Worms of the Earth,” by Robert E. Howard
“The Deep Ones,” by James Wade
“The Terror From the Depths,” by Fritz Leiber
“Recrudescence,” by Leonard Carpenter
Strange Eons, by Robert Bloch
“Only the End of the World Again,” by Neil Gaiman
Move Under Ground, by Nick Mamatas
An Evil Guest, by Gene Wolfe
“Final Draft,” by David Annandale
10 More Best Cthulhu Mythos Stories, Not By H.P. Lovecraft, Not
Necessarily Involving Cthulhu
“Sticks,” by Karl Edward Wagner
“Than Curse the Darkness,” by David Drake
“Details,” by China Miéville
“The Franklyn Paragraphs,” by Ramsey Campbell
“Black Man With a Horn,” by T.E.D. Klein
Résumé With Monsters, by William Browning Spencer
“The Seven Geases,” by Clark Ashton Smith
“The Courtyard,” by Alan Moore
“The Perseids,” by Robert Charles Wilson
“The Thing That Walked on the Wind,” by August Derleth
It's a good list.
John Goodrich
icarp...@aol.com
> Ken Hite, author of TOUR DE LOVECRAFT
OK, this persuaded me to buy Tour de Lovecraft, which I was sort of
avoiding because I prefer fiction to criticism.
Everyone's list will be different, but this one was surprising to me.
First of all, there are so many I have not yet read, which I never
thought I'd say!
I have not yet read (or else I read them, like I know I must have read
the Howard and Leiber works, but don't recall them). This gives me
some stories to track down.
> “Nethescurial,” by Thomas Ligotti
> “Worms of the Earth,” by Robert E. Howard
> “The Terror From the Depths,” by Fritz Leiber
> “Recrudescence,” by Leonard Carpenter
> Strange Eons, by Robert Bloch
> Move Under Ground, by Nick Mamatas
> “Than Curse the Darkness,” by David Drake
> “Details,” by China Miéville
> “The Courtyard,” by Alan Moore
> “The Perseids,” by Robert Charles Wilson
Some I like but they aren't in my top 10
> “The Deep Ones,” by James Wade
> “Only the End of the World Again,” by Neil Gaiman - I read this in comic book form; liked the story but not the art
> “The Franklyn Paragraphs,” by Ramsey Campbell - I like this but there are other stories by Mr. Campbell I like better
> “The Thing That Walked on the Wind,” by August Derleth
Some, frankly I didn't like at all
> An Evil Guest, by Gene Wolfe - this novel was plain disjointed and only got any credence because of the reputation of the author
One I thought was a dark and grand work but I thought it used HPL's
creatures as a device that was not at all Cthulhu mythos or really
Lovecraftian
> Résumé With Monsters, by William Browning Spencer
And some are just brilliant:
> “Final Draft,” by David Annandale
> “Sticks,” by Karl Edward Wagner
> “Black Man With a Horn,” by T.E.D. Klein
> “The Seven Geases,” by Clark Ashton Smith - which I guess is mythos due to the presence of Tsathoggua, but I view it through a different lens
Alas, no Charlie Stross or Brian McNaughton or half a hundred others I
would not be without!
Matt
Magister
Interesting! I haven't read all of them, but those I have read are
pretty good (although "The Thing That Walked on the Wind" is a bit of
a surprise -- no Derleth story would appear in MY top-10 non-Lovecraft
Cthulhu stories, except maybe "The Lamp of Alhazred").
Yrs
Martin
Magister
> On Jul 5, 6:59 pm, John Goodrich <J...@qusoor.com> wrote:
>
> > Ken Hite, author of TOUR DE LOVECRAFT
>
> OK, this persuaded me to buy Tour de Lovecraft, which I was sort of
> avoiding because I prefer fiction to criticism.
Ummm... For entertainment, you may want to read S. T. Joshi's review
of TOUR DE LOVECRAFT in DEAD RECKONINGS #5. "Unimpressed" doesn't
cover half of it.
The funny thing -- but I guess you already know this -- is that even
though CAS invented Tsathoggua, it was HPL who mentioned him in print
first.
>
> Alas, no Charlie Stross or Brian McNaughton or half a hundred others I
> would not be without!
Alas indeed!
Yrs
MArtin
Evans
> Ken Hite, author of TOUR DE LOVECRAFT and other fine works, has
> published a list of his favorite Mythos stories on his LiveJournal
Sorry for being really ignorant John but what is Tour De Lovecraft
exactly? Hite has been mentioned quite a bit recentaly.
John Goodrich
TOUR DE LOVECRAFT is a book of "light" literary criticism of Lovecraft
by Ken Hite. He offers commentary, speculation, and ideas concerning
Lovecraft's stories. Ken's an excellent and witty writer, known
mostly for his RPG work.
John Goodrich
Evans
Thanks John
He was invovled in the Trail of Cthulhu game wasn't he? I saw his
Lovecraft blog mentioned on Yog-Sothoth.com a time ago.
John Goodrich
He wrote TRAIL OF CTHULHU, which is brilliant, as well as parts of
CALL OF CTHULHU d20, and a lot of stuff for UNKNOWN ARMIES. His Tour
de Lovecraft started as a series of blog entries, which he sold to
WEIRD TALES and eventually collected in the book.
John Goodrich
james ambuehl
I suspect you have read all or most of these, but they simply didn't
"stick". Here's details on where they can be found:
"Nethescurial," by Thomas Ligotti
Sort of a riff on "Call of Cthulhu,"
it was first published in a Ligotti issue of WEIRD TALES, then reprinted
in his collection GRIMSCRIBE. Come to think of it, I don't think I've
ever seen you discuss Ligotti's work, and you may be mostly unfamiliar
with it. If so, seek out the books GRIMSCRIBE and NOCTUARY especially,
some fine Lovecraft-reminiscent (though mostly Ligottian) tales like
"The Last Feast of Harlequin," "The Mystics of Muelenberg," "The Sect of
the Idiot" and so on.
"Worms of the Earth," by Robert E. Howard
A non-Mythos Bran Mak Morn tale, it contains a few offhand Mythos
references.
"The Terror From the Depths," by Fritz Leiber
This was in THE DISCIPLES OF CTHULHU. Great story.
"Recrudescence," by Leonard Carpenter
This was in THE CTHULHU CYCLE. Great tale.
Strange Eons, by Robert Bloch
Bloch's latter-day return to the Mythos and a riff on Lovecraft, a
novel, and more of a tribute than an actual Mythos novel. Published
first in hardcover by Whispers Press in 1979, then reprinted by Avon
Books shortly thereafter.
Move Under Ground, by Nick Mamatas
Jack Kerouac 'On The Road' to meet Great Cthulhu. A novel. I've not
yet read it.
"Than Curse the Darkness," by David Drake
This was first published in Arkham House's NEW TALES OF THE CTHULHU
MYTHOS, then later reprinted in Drake's collection FROM THE HEART OF
DARKNESS. The terrors of the Mythos in the dark heart of Africa.
"Details," by China Miéville
This was the lead story in the anthology THE CHILDREN OF CTHULHU. There
were many better stories in there, I think, but Mieville is a bit of a
literary giant thanks to his New Corbuzon series of books so that
probably helped to single him out here.
"The Courtyard," by Alan Moore
This was first in the STARRY WISDOM anthology, then reprinted as its own
book by he fellows that did the YUGGOTH CREATURES comics, Avatar. A
modern Mythos detective story invovling the secret of the Aklo drug.
"The Perseids," by Robert Charles Wilson
Was this in ETERNAL LOVECRAFT? I think it was. I read it as a
Mythosian tale too, though it may not actually be. But it is a
fascinating tale concerning astronomy, at least.
Hope this helps! ;-)
-- Jim
"When the Big Sleep ends, the Nightmares begin!" -- HARDBOILED CTHULHU:
TWO-FISTED TALES OF TENTACLED TERROR, edited by James Ambuehl and out
now from Elder Signs Press! Available from Clarkesworld Books,
Shocklines, Amazon, and Elder Signs Press itself!
icarp...@aol.com
As always, I am in awe.
Thanks Jim. I'll review these and get back to you
Matt
PS - you owe me an email
Evans
There is an audio recording of Nethescurial online at http://www.ligotti.net/index.php
if its any help.