Lovecraft - Which Story?

[desertwomble]

As a Brit, I'm not too familiar with H.P. Lovecraft's work.

Can someone recommend a good story or two to give me an inkling of what the man was about?

There's a Historical Lovecraft anthology (closes on 3 January, 2011) seeking submissions, by the way.

http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?p=7050

I would cut and paste the guidelines, but my computer wasn't too happy last time I tried it.

DW

[desertwomble]

"This Lovecraft fan site gives an idea of what could be Lovecraft's 'best' work," said DW, answering his own question.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/1192

DW

[Geoff_N]

I noticed the second of the Lovecraft best reads is Shadow Out Of Time. Like you, DW, I have not read any of this fantasy icon's work so gave it a try last week. I enjoyed the intro in which I learnt that he was rejected many times by publishers; a fact that bonded me to him immediately. However, I couldn't find his writing comfortable reading. It's probably all this urging and training over the last 10 years for me to be tight with my writing, avoid Tell and info dumps, etc. This work was so rambling and full of Tell I worried that it would affect my own writing so stopped. I will return to it because so many readers and writers of SFF tell me to, but I'm not convinced.

[desertwomble]

Must agree with you Geoff. I tried reading 'The Dunwich Horror' and gave up.

Lovecraft was terrible at dialogue, too, and I reckon good dialogues usually an integral part of good writing.

I noticed, on the fan site, two of the most popular stories are on the short side - 'The Rats in the Wall' and 'Pickman's Model'. I might give those two a read and see where to go from there.

DW

[jsorensen]

Pickman's Model is definitely a good one.  The classic pieces I would argue would be Call of Cuthulu, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, At the Mountains of Madness...but my personal favorite is The Music of Eric Zahn.

Readability?  No, he wasn't a smooth writer and his use of dialect was more rascist in intent than the development of story.  But, he is a cornerstone of American horror and I would reccomend reading his material for that alone.  His style is dry, wordy, and predictable (especially by today's standards). 

Oh well, I love the man's work, but I've always said it was his ideas that were intriguing and not his actually writing.  Besides giving us the Necronomicon, he gave us the new horror (for that time) of complete meaningless existence...his universe bordered on fantasy, sci-fi, and supernatural horror where going insane was the only saving grace to be found...the truth of "nothing but swirling chaos" at the center of existense is truly horrific...

He was also very good at developing theories on the purpose, need, and development of dark fiction...good reading indeed.

However, his views on culture and equality are distasteful, so be careful...

[desertwomble]

All these stories can be reda / cut and pasted, from the link below:

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/

DW

[jsorensen]

If anyone is interested:  Barnes & Noble released a complete Lovecraft hardbound for around $20--has all the shorts and Mountains--arranged in order of publication dates with some minor info for each story...but if you can cut and paste for free, go for it.

[Rev. Austin]

The Color Out of Space.  Utterly perfect, in my opinion.  Creepy, imaginative, excellent ending...If I could marry this story I would.

[jsorensen]

The Color Out of Space is definitely great, but all the sci-fi horror ones are.  Some of his dream cycle pieces, however, I question.

[Robert Essig]

"In the Vault" is my favorite Lovecraft story.  "Pickman's Model" and "The Colour out of Space" are great as well.  Sometimes he's too wordy which can tend to cause my mind to drift, but I enjoy his work when I read it.

[delph_ambi]

I read 'The Color Out of Space' when I was about 11 and absolutely loved it. It was in an anthology called 'Terror' which included all sorts of gems. I've never read any other Lovecraft, as his work simply hasn't come my way.

[starktheground]

I agree about The Color Out of Space. One of my favorite short stories, not just my favorite by Lovecraft.

I started reading Lovecraft around age 13, and understandably had to reread a lot of it more than once. It was well worth the effort, I love his writing, but I wouldn't recommend it for an easy, casual read.