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Topic:
The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft: Del Toro to adapt "At the Mountains of Madness"?
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sword_of_raditz
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 12:47am
Subject:
The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft: Del Toro to adapt "At the Mountains of Madness"?
- Date Edited:
2/24 11:01am (5 edits total)
Edited By:
Zaz
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The works of H.P. Lovecraft have often been hailed as master of horror fiction, and range from the pure masterpiece of The Call of Cthulhu to some personal favorites of mine such as The Whisperer in Darkness and The Hound. What I want to know is what you think of his work in general, and your favorite story (besides the Call of Cthulhu, amazing as it was, it's often more widely read then anything else he wrote). My personal favorite would probably be The Whisperer in Darkness, as it shows purely Lovecraft going off in his cosmic horror, and quite adaquately phrasing up his not-as-famous work. My least favorite would probably be The Street, as it lacks most of the coherency a plot usually entails. Perhaps the one he made that frightened me the most was The Picture in the House.
Thoughts?
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 9:11am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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I'll admit that I've never read any Lovecraft at all.
I'd be interested if you could give some background on his life, and maybe recommend the the best book to start with and why.
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StarDude
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 11:01am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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I'm in the same boat as Zaz. I bought a bunch of his stories last Summer but haven't read any. What should I start with?
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sword_of_raditz
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 11:13am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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Well, first off, he's a short story writer, and you can find his complete works here: http://dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html
Personally I'd suggest you start out with The Call of Cthulhu. It's probably his best work, and is definately a good way to enter into Lovecraft.
And here's a little background on the man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft#Biography
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"Anyway there's a difference between joking around and outright flaming." - NaboosPrincess
"Yeah, the former gets you banned." - Lightwarden
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JediTrilobite
Registered:
Nov '99
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 11:40am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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I've got a collection of stories that I bought for my gothic literature class last semester - he's really a fantastic author, very suspensful, although a little wooden. His strengths are building the suspense, but at times, it's a little bit of a let down at the conclusion. Still, he's pulled me into horror writing.
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dizfactor
Registered:
Aug '02
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 1:41pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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I think the ideal starter story for Lovecraft is "The Rats in the Walls."
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JediTrilobite
Registered:
Nov '99
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Date Posted:
4/9/07 2:20pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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That's the first story in the book that I have, which is called The Best of HP Lovecraft: Bloodcurling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. The entire book is a good introduction. I'd also recommend The Outsider, that's a good one.
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
4/10/07 4:51pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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Okay; I'll give it a try.
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Zaz
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
12/12/07 3:47pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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Upped at the request of snap-hiss...
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snap-hiss
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
12/12/07 4:10pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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Thanks Zaz.
I picked up a short story collection of Lovecraft at a very young age because the titles sounded interesting. As it turns out I was a bit too young for the writing style, and only more recently have I picked it back up.
Needless to say I was enthralled. Stories like Whisperer in the Dark, The Dunwich Horror, The Thing on the Doorstep, ect are like nothing I've read before. Given Lovecraft's reputation I'm quite surprised more of his work has not found it's way into mainstream film.
I've since purchased 3 more of his collections, here are my favorites thus far...
The Thing on the Doorstep - Possibly my favorite of his work, the end is simply amazing
The Dunwich Horror - very interesting and creepy, some excellent imagery
Whisperer in the Dark - like a top notch episode of the X-Files meets Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Haunter of the Dark - quite scary
The Call of Cthulhu - Considered his best work by many. I enjoyed it, but expected much more
The Shadow Out of Time - More of a science fiction/fantasy epic than his normal gothic horror
The Shadow Over Innsmouth - Another story which reminds me of the X-Files, great suspense
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SCOTSSITHLORD
Registered:
May '02
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Date Posted:
12/12/07 4:25pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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The grandaddy of horror writers, a fantastic ideas man, let down by his inability to write dialogue. Very influential writer, he seamlessly merged sci fi with out and out horror, e.g Beyond the mountains of madness, he seemed to have that rare ability to accurately describe and catalogue his own nightmares and share them with readers.
I love the Color out of space and Herbert West- Reanimator. For anyone who else who is a fan I would urge them to read British author, Ramsey Campbell, either his short story collections or early novels, as he is, in my opinion, the heir to Lovecraft's air of paranoia and creepiness.
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snap-hiss
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 3:46am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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I wonder who if anyone owns the rights to make films from his work.
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whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
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Chancellor_Ewok
Registered:
Nov '04
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 5:21am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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snap-hiss posted:
I wonder who if anyone owns the rights to make films from his work.
There's an adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness in the works. I haven't heard anyting about it though, only that its happening.
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snap-hiss
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 6:51am
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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Chancellor_Ewok posted:
snap-hiss posted:
I wonder who if anyone owns the rights to make films from his work.
There's an adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness in the works. I haven't heard anyting about it though, only that its happening.
I see this as being one of those things that could really take off, like what happened to comic book franchises, or Japenese horror in the US. If the first mainstream film made from his work is well recieved, every studio will rush to buy up the rights to his other works.
!snap
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whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
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Emperor_Time
Registered:
Aug '07
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 1:03pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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I heard that he wrote most if not all of the Necronomicon book. 
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snap-hiss
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
12/13/07 3:03pm
Subject:
RE: The Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
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Emperor_Time posted:
I heard that he wrote most if not all of the Necronomicon book.
Well it's a fictional book which Lovecraft came up with and wrote about, mainly in brief allusions to passages or it's author, but the book doesn't exist.
!snap
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