Shrine to Ib, and Lovecraft
Ok, I made this pages ages ago, after reading Lovecraft when I was maybe 28 or so. I then borrowed every book from the library. I finished up with Mountains of Madness, read online, which is incredible. May as well leave this page up!
"To myself I pictured all the splendours of an age so distant that Chaldaea could not recall it, and thought of Sarnath the Doomed, that stood in the land of Mnar when mankind was young, and of Ib, that was carven of grey stone before mankind existed."
---"The Nameless City", 1921.
Lovecraft is AWESOME
His words are really addictive
When I first started reading lovecraft I was quite perplexed as to why his books were so popular. To me he seemd like the worst author ever. After one set of short stories I was sure I would not read another, but I did. Then I thought I may as well get another book. I had to force myself to read them. Then it became easier and easier to read them and I read them faster and faster and they became more interesting. Somehow the style grows on you! Eventually it dawned upon me... it's not the plot that is important. It's the words! The words and phrases trigger some kind of adrenaline rush which is amazing! Phrase after phrase, the reader gets bombarded by an unresolved horror! There is horror in the words and phrases themselves! I seem to have saved the best for last, completing his works with
At the Mountains of Madness. The ultimate antarctic expedition gone wrong! I'd have to say that Charles Dexter Ward and At the Mountains of Madness, as well as the Shadow Over Innsmouth, are probably his best works.
He also comes across as a frightened butler type in regards to the way he writes with a healthy case of aspbergers---constantly going on about various architectural details. This simply adds to the ultimate dose of the 'unknown'. Lovecraft wrote that man's ultimate fear is fear of the unknown so his method of therefore making his books as scary as possible is to pile one spooky word with connotations after the unknown, after another. Therefore after hours of reading of the squamous eldrich things which can only be mentioned in mad whispers after midnight under an eldrich moon and a triple gothic architrave, and comparable only to the ramblings found in the lost book of the mad arab al hazred...u get the picture.
My favourite work:
*
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
That is followed by
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Although it reads like several short strories stiched together---a series of adventures, it's really good! It was the way he knew how to write and it's the ultimate case of black magic gone wrong.
I have to add that the
Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath is the most creative fantasy I have ever read! It makes the regular fantasy movies look like watching someone sitting in an office cubicle!
A favourite band which is seemingly inspired by Lovecraft is Cirith Ungol. They have quite an epic feel and appeal to a certain taste.
If you've read all the Lovecraft and want more, just get started on reading Machen's short but good 'Great God Pan' (if you can find it), and especially H.G. Wells' short stories which are probably the most similar to Lovecraft's themes. I would suggest that Lovecraft is an extreme development of aspects of the narrative style, as well some of the themes found in H. G. Wells' stories.
If there were no H.G Wells, there would be no Narnia, no Out of the Silent Planet, no Lord of the Rings, no Lord of the Flies, no Ballard, no nothing, and certainly no Lovecraft. I would say H.G. Wells is one of the best authors in history. Everyone looked to emulate him in their own way. So go for it and read up!
Thanks for some of the best reads ever!