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Recommend me some HP Lovecraft
Steel Angel
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Looking at the man's collected works, even just the Cthulu mythos, yields a rather large pool to delve into and I could use some help picking and choosing. I read through The Reanimator some time ago and have mostly finished Call of Cthulu and could use some direction about where else to venture.
Now for some added twists: I'd also like to pick and choose a few of the mythos short stories as reading material for a few of the students I tutor. Very few of them read for leisure and I'd like to expose them to works beyond the standards of high school literature in hopes that something will strike their fancy. So I would also like some help cherry picking the stories that are both awesome but fairly quick reads as a way to get their toes wet. So you all have an opportunity to help me introduce young minds to the designs of the Great Old Ones.
Now for some added twists: I'd also like to pick and choose a few of the mythos short stories as reading material for a few of the students I tutor. Very few of them read for leisure and I'd like to expose them to works beyond the standards of high school literature in hopes that something will strike their fancy. So I would also like some help cherry picking the stories that are both awesome but fairly quick reads as a way to get their toes wet. So you all have an opportunity to help me introduce young minds to the designs of the Great Old Ones.
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http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm
The Rats in the Walls
The Dunwich Horror
Shadow over Innsmouth
These ones, particularly Mountains of Madness, are a bit on the long side for his stories, but still really excellent reads.
I would recommend that A: you try and get your hands on The Annotated Lovecraft and the sequel, More Annotated Lovecrafft. They contain the core mythos stories and a lot of nice extras. Plus, they're relatively cheap for what they offer.
From what I remember, Call of Cthulhu itself was only good. At the Mountains of Madness was better, and Shadow over Innsmouth is one of my favourites.
Stay far, FAR away from his Dream-Quest stories. Holy jesus are they dumb.
Strange Eons by Robert Bloch is my favourite non-Lovecraft Cthulhu work. You'll probably want at least a few of Lovecraft's stories under your belt before you tackle it, though. It's also, apparently, quite rare.
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As for stuff that's separate from his specific Cthulhu mythos, The Color Out of Space is fantastic. It might even mention the Elder Gods, but they're not central to the story by any means. I need to give it another read.
Alternatively, there are - legal - online archives of all his stuff that should be easily google-able. It might be up on Project Gutenberg now too, even.
I got the Necronomicon, which is a collection of a ton of his stories, and I also downloaded some 70 short stories onto my iphone, they're all free so you can get them for your computer or whatever if you like ebooks.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is probably his most modern-feeling story in pacing and style, and it's very interesting, though still probably not my favorite. They will probably get a big kick out of it, and there's actually rather a lot of symbolism and contextual meaning to it re: the blending of species so that the offspring are monsters (think diluting "pure" racial bloodlines and so forth). Lovecraft had very interesting views on race relations, and if you read his biography carefully you'll find that it's less a hatred of other races and more a desire to see all races kept pure to preserve cultures or some such. That's not to say the man was a peach and defend it, but rather that I find it to be an interesting distinction. The theory is apparently that when you "mix" cultures, one will have to win. In "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", the fishpeople race 'wins'. So there's a lot going on there, and aside from just being a cool story, there is a lot of depth to be found and definitely something to teach and something to discuss.
Edit: What, page, no.
And Disney World is nowhere in sight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon_(film)
Maybe not the best, but contains all the elements of that crazy story visually, including water, water and more water lol.
Lovecraft has seemed like a good way to get back into it, though. With short stories, I won't feel like it's taking me way too much time to get to the end, I hope. Also, the music I listen to, video games I play, web comics I read, and many movies I watch reference Lovecraft so I'd really like to be in on it rather than just have a vague cliffsnotes type knowledge.
Dream-Quest has its moments. But it's way too long and meandering to be worth anyone's time until they've read everything else. Especially if you're getting Lovecraft for the horror.
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Totally forgot about these ones, they're definitely up there.
Wish I had my Lovecraft book, I'd be able to recommend more stuff, but it's on loan to a friend currently.
Thirded. Also The Rats in the Walls is fairly short, from what I remember.
And you who shun the Dreamlands stories, shame on all of you silly geese! It's a lot different from HPL's other stuff, but it still has merit and fantastic imagery.
While you're at it, nobody has mentioned The Whisperer in the Darkness and The Thing on the Doorstep? Definitely check the pair of those out as well.
But the one that you have to read, no questions asked, is Nyarlathotep. Do it.
It was decent. I enjoyed it despite the relatively low budget. The special effects aren't bad. I wish someone like John Carpenter had adapted it though.
If you want to branch out a bit more, it's worth reading some of the fiction that Lovecraft himself was heavily inspired by. Robert W Chamber's The King in Yellow, William Hope Hodgson's House on the Borderland, Algernon Blackwood's The Willows, and Arthur Machen's The Novel of the Black Seal; and The Novel of the White Powder (short stories, despite their titles) were all very strong influences on the Cthulhu mythos, and Lovecraft even borrowed a few things directly, like Chambers's take on Hastur (who was originally created by Ambrose Bierce).
King in Yellow was good as well.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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