A little off-topic, but I have never read any of the stories and books that concern themselves with the Cthulhu Mythos. My knowledge of it comes almost entirely from games (CoC, Arkham Horror, and so forth). If I wanted to dive into reading some of the Mythos authors, where should I start? Keep in mind, I have actually read a little bit of H.P. Lovecraft and found it to be a bit dry. I’m open to trying him again, but I know there are authors who came after him who might be better choice.
Thoughts?
The Annotated HP Lovecraft. It’s a good read and has footnotes everywhere to help guide you through the culture references that are now outdated.
The Annotated HP Lovecraft. It’s a good read and has footnotes everywhere to help guide you through the culture references that are now outdated.
“14” by peter clines
“14” by peter clines
Stephen King’s short story “The Mist”.
Stephen King’s short story “The Mist”.
The End of the Story : Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Book 1 of 5
The End of the Story : Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Book 1 of 5
I think i have collections of Livecraft’s work I could give you if you wanted them.
I think i have collections of Livecraft’s work I could give you if you wanted them.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, I find the longer H.P. Lovecraft stories to be less dry and easier to get through; “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” particularly.
Outside of that, I’ve heard that both Clark Ashton Smith and the weird tales of Robert Howard (i.e. The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard or Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors) are more action-y versions of Lovecraft stories, though I haven’t gotten to them myself (Daniel Fowler I have The End of the Story on my to-read list).
Somewhat counter-intuitively, I find the longer H.P. Lovecraft stories to be less dry and easier to get through; “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” particularly.
Outside of that, I’ve heard that both Clark Ashton Smith and the weird tales of Robert Howard (i.e. The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard or Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors) are more action-y versions of Lovecraft stories, though I haven’t gotten to them myself (Daniel Fowler I have The End of the Story on my to-read list).
I enjoy weird horror, though I recognize a lot of it is not well written. For my money (and I’ve read them all), the pithiest, shortest, most readable, best HPL stories are:
The Call of Cthulhu
The Colour Out of Space
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Thing on the Doorstep
If you read those four, you could probably feel like you know what HPL is about without reading any further. If you only read two, read the last two (Innsmouth/Doorstep). They are awesome and pretty fucking creepy. They are also loosely related.
Of more recent vintage in the HPL vein, but with an espionage twist, you might try the novels Lumley’s Necroscope or Tim Powers’ Declare.
If you are going to read Clark Ashton Smith I would recommend something from the Zothique cycle, like The Dark Eidolon or Xeethra. I love Smith, but he isn’t for everyone. I suspect YOU might like him. He is very trippy, fantastic, and way more fantasy oriented than HPL. The Tale of Satampra Zeiros is like a straight up OSR, “metal” fantasy game write-up.
I enjoy weird horror, though I recognize a lot of it is not well written. For my money (and I’ve read them all), the pithiest, shortest, most readable, best HPL stories are:
The Call of Cthulhu
The Colour Out of Space
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Thing on the Doorstep
If you read those four, you could probably feel like you know what HPL is about without reading any further. If you only read two, read the last two (Innsmouth/Doorstep). They are awesome and pretty fucking creepy. They are also loosely related.
Of more recent vintage in the HPL vein, but with an espionage twist, you might try the novels Lumley’s Necroscope or Tim Powers’ Declare.
If you are going to read Clark Ashton Smith I would recommend something from the Zothique cycle, like The Dark Eidolon or Xeethra. I love Smith, but he isn’t for everyone. I suspect YOU might like him. He is very trippy, fantastic, and way more fantasy oriented than HPL. The Tale of Satampra Zeiros is like a straight up OSR, “metal” fantasy game write-up.
Oh, and if you are going to PLAY anything CoC inspired, I highly recommend using Chtulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley. There is a nice 1-page version available: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5618075/cd1p.pdf.
Oh, and if you are going to PLAY anything CoC inspired, I highly recommend using Chtulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley. There is a nice 1-page version available: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5618075/cd1p.pdf.
Ray Otus Yeah, we have actually played and quite enjoyed Cthulhu Dark.
Ray Otus Yeah, we have actually played and quite enjoyed Cthulhu Dark.
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. Scott Owen I’ll take you up on that.
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. Scott Owen I’ll take you up on that.
Check out August Derleth’s work as well.
Check out August Derleth’s work as well.
There’s a ton of mythos fiction and mythos-adjacent fiction out there, and the quality can vary pretty severely. This goes for Lovecraft proper, as a lot of his juvenilia is still in print and he could, as you noted, be dry at the best of times. As for HPL stories, start with “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” It’s the best. After that, go with “The Call of Cthulhu.” If you aren’t sold after those, abandon ship.
Robert E. Howard, of Conan and Solomon Kane fame, wrote a fair amount of mythos fiction. His protagonists tended to be a little more action-oriented, so there’s less of Lovecraft’s introspective hand-wringing about the horror and how horrible it is and what to do about all the horror??! I’ll try to remember to bring a book of his more mythos stuff Sunday.
On a side note, Hellboy always struck me as a protagonist with a very Howardian attitude making his way through a very Lovecraftian world, which is probably why I love it.
Robert W. Chambers wrote a few stories that I’d refer to as proto-mythos, as they predate HLP’s fiction, but they introduce several elements that made their way into mythos lore. RWC is responsible for the King in Yellow and the yellow sign, and for repurposing Ambrose Bierce’s Carcosa, Hali, and Hastur. Also, some of them (especially “The Repairer of Reputations” and “The Yellow Sign”) are pretty great. If you can get your hands on a copy of Chaosium’s reprint of The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, it’s well worth it.
Others I especially remember enjoying:
*Ramsey Campbell, “Cold Print.” (Campbell’s also responsible for the earlier creation of the Shan, which did a pretty good job murdering us in the game Sunday, but I haven’t read those stories.)
*Michael Shea, “Fat Face.”
*China Miéville’s “Details,” which I’d have to revisit to confirm but might be my favorite mythos story.
*Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos.”
*Pretty much anything T.E.D. Klein.
*Charles Stross’s “A Colder War” (http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm) and novel The Atrocity Archives, the latter of which posits a British secret service agency with a feel that’s part mythos and part James Bond, with the bureaucracy and some of the feel of Dilbert.
*Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald,” which combines the mythos and Sherlock Holmes. It’s from a collection of other stories that combine mythos/Sherlock in inevitably less interesting manners.
*The Dark Horse collection Lovecraft Unbound, which features a host of cool stories that are not quite mythos, but often share thematic similarities with Lovecraft’s stuff. Caitlin Kiernan, Joyce Carol Oates (with a story right out of a session of The Shab Al-Hiri Roach), Laird Barron, and many more.
*The Delta Green short stories I’ve read are actually surprisingly good, too. There are a few collections out.
*Robert Bloch, who later went on to write Psycho, got his start writing for Weird Tales. His early stuff is Lovecraftian pastiche, but once he, well, grew up (he was first published at 17), he began incorporating mythos themes into more mature stories, which are pretty good.
*Plenty I’m forgetting, I’m sure.
Booby prize to the two worst I’ve read. One’s entitled “Pickman’s Modem,” about which enough said. The other, James Wade’s “The Deep Ones,” features an unholy alliance between deep ones and earth’s two most sinister groups: dolphins and hippies. The fins! The patchouli! The horror!
There’s a ton of mythos fiction and mythos-adjacent fiction out there, and the quality can vary pretty severely. This goes for Lovecraft proper, as a lot of his juvenilia is still in print and he could, as you noted, be dry at the best of times. As for HPL stories, start with “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” It’s the best. After that, go with “The Call of Cthulhu.” If you aren’t sold after those, abandon ship.
Robert E. Howard, of Conan and Solomon Kane fame, wrote a fair amount of mythos fiction. His protagonists tended to be a little more action-oriented, so there’s less of Lovecraft’s introspective hand-wringing about the horror and how horrible it is and what to do about all the horror??! I’ll try to remember to bring a book of his more mythos stuff Sunday.
On a side note, Hellboy always struck me as a protagonist with a very Howardian attitude making his way through a very Lovecraftian world, which is probably why I love it.
Robert W. Chambers wrote a few stories that I’d refer to as proto-mythos, as they predate HLP’s fiction, but they introduce several elements that made their way into mythos lore. RWC is responsible for the King in Yellow and the yellow sign, and for repurposing Ambrose Bierce’s Carcosa, Hali, and Hastur. Also, some of them (especially “The Repairer of Reputations” and “The Yellow Sign”) are pretty great. If you can get your hands on a copy of Chaosium’s reprint of The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, it’s well worth it.
Others I especially remember enjoying:
*Ramsey Campbell, “Cold Print.” (Campbell’s also responsible for the earlier creation of the Shan, which did a pretty good job murdering us in the game Sunday, but I haven’t read those stories.)
*Michael Shea, “Fat Face.”
*China Miéville’s “Details,” which I’d have to revisit to confirm but might be my favorite mythos story.
*Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos.”
*Pretty much anything T.E.D. Klein.
*Charles Stross’s “A Colder War” (http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm) and novel The Atrocity Archives, the latter of which posits a British secret service agency with a feel that’s part mythos and part James Bond, with the bureaucracy and some of the feel of Dilbert.
*Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald,” which combines the mythos and Sherlock Holmes. It’s from a collection of other stories that combine mythos/Sherlock in inevitably less interesting manners.
*The Dark Horse collection Lovecraft Unbound, which features a host of cool stories that are not quite mythos, but often share thematic similarities with Lovecraft’s stuff. Caitlin Kiernan, Joyce Carol Oates (with a story right out of a session of The Shab Al-Hiri Roach), Laird Barron, and many more.
*The Delta Green short stories I’ve read are actually surprisingly good, too. There are a few collections out.
*Robert Bloch, who later went on to write Psycho, got his start writing for Weird Tales. His early stuff is Lovecraftian pastiche, but once he, well, grew up (he was first published at 17), he began incorporating mythos themes into more mature stories, which are pretty good.
*Plenty I’m forgetting, I’m sure.
Booby prize to the two worst I’ve read. One’s entitled “Pickman’s Modem,” about which enough said. The other, James Wade’s “The Deep Ones,” features an unholy alliance between deep ones and earth’s two most sinister groups: dolphins and hippies. The fins! The patchouli! The horror!
I’d suggest Ramsey Campbell, Fred Chappell and Thomas Ligotti. Linky:
http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Dreamer-Grimscribe-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/0143107763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431489142&sr=8-1&keywords=thomas+ligotti
http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Print-Ramsey-Campbell/dp/0747240590/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1431490395
http://www.amazon.com/Dagon-Voices-South-Fred-Chappell-ebook/dp/B004RDOLYC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0VR7VZ7CKH5A116N3W5T
I’d suggest Ramsey Campbell, Fred Chappell and Thomas Ligotti. Linky:
http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Dreamer-Grimscribe-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/0143107763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431489142&sr=8-1&keywords=thomas+ligotti
http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Print-Ramsey-Campbell/dp/0747240590/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1431490395
http://www.amazon.com/Dagon-Voices-South-Fred-Chappell-ebook/dp/B004RDOLYC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0VR7VZ7CKH5A116N3W5T
A favorite of mine is Liseys Story by Stephen King. While it is not directly related to per say mythos, it strikes me as inspired by it. But I am biased to King, and Liseys story is actually Kings own favorite book he has written.
If you are looking for a good book that hits the beats of lovecraftian mythos, written in pulp style, this is a good one. If you are looking for source material, probably want something more directly Mythos related.
A favorite of mine is Liseys Story by Stephen King. While it is not directly related to per say mythos, it strikes me as inspired by it. But I am biased to King, and Liseys story is actually Kings own favorite book he has written.
If you are looking for a good book that hits the beats of lovecraftian mythos, written in pulp style, this is a good one. If you are looking for source material, probably want something more directly Mythos related.
A bit of an oddball, http://www.kongregate.com/games/gregoryweir/silent-conversation is a different way to read “The Nameless Desert”. There’s a bit of a hoop to jump through but I thought it was an interesting presentation of the story via making the text into the landscape.
A bit of an oddball, http://www.kongregate.com/games/gregoryweir/silent-conversation is a different way to read “The Nameless Desert”. There’s a bit of a hoop to jump through but I thought it was an interesting presentation of the story via making the text into the landscape.