# H.P. Lovecraft Appreciation and Criticism Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469 "2008-08-18T20:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/21 "2008-08-19T21:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Was Lovecraft the first author to design an entire cosmology as a unifying background for his works? I can’t think of an earlier author who personally encouraged others to set their stories in the same fictional world. [/QUOTE] No. Edward, Lord Dunsany was first. And heavily influenced Lovecraft, too boot. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/22 "2008-08-19T22:26:18Z")
Lovecraft is as good a horror writer as there has ever been. As is the case with Poe, all that ponderous prose just crawls under your skin after a while and decays there. Stephen King is Beatrix Potter by comparison. The “Cthulhu mythos” really doesn’t exist; the supposed unity in Lovecraft’s work was something Derleth dreamed up. But Lovecraft did create a universe where the baddies are really creatures from another dimension, and not really supernatural at all. Or, to say it a different way, the supernatural becomes subject to its own (eldritch) natural laws. Personally, I think this is great existential stuff. All that said, I’m not sure I’d want Lovecraft being considered literature. I’ve sat through lectures on Poe; professors manage, against cyclopian odds, to make him boring. I hate it when that happens. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/23 "2008-08-19T22:33:20Z")
[Obligatory link to a fantastic Cthulu game](http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/453509) I finally caved in and bought _Call of Cthulu and other short stories_ last year but didn’t finish it, it really didn’t grab me. I think I was expecting a consistent mythos and actual novels and what I got was a lot of imagery and short stories, which tend not to work for me. Maybe I’ll give it a go again, I recall seeing either a Lovecraft or heavily Lovecraft inspired novel in the Sci-fi section whilst browsing recently. Any idea what that might be? It was a detective novel, I think. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/24 "2008-08-20T05:50:45Z")
I think HPL counts not just because of the Mythos (some of his best, like\* Cool Air\*, are not Mythos tales AFAICR), but also because of his central place in an entire genre, as editor, collaborator and sometimes just friend to other writers. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/25 "2008-08-20T17:19:27Z")
Lovecraft was uneven, but when he was on, he produced some great stories. I loved “The Color Out of Space,” and especially “The Rats in the Walls,” where he goes into this long tedious history of the place but which pays off brilliantly in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/26 "2008-08-20T17:54:50Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] I’d love to use “eldritch”, but the occasion just doesn’t come up very often. [/QUOTE] Well, there’s this way: > [@Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook](#): > > Warlock Class Features > > Eldritch Blast > All warlocks know the eldritch blast at-will power. This power can be used as a basic attack … > > Eldritch Pact > You have forged a pact with mysterious entities that grant you your arcane powers … 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/27 "2008-08-20T18:12:41Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Lovecraft was uneven, but when he was on, he produced some great stories. I loved “The Color Out of Space,” and especially “The Rats in the Walls,” where he goes into this long tedious history of the place but which pays off brilliantly in the end. [/QUOTE] I made the mistake of reading_The Color out of Space_ late one night. I had trouble sleeping… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/28 "2008-08-20T18:43:27Z")
[QUOTE=Skara\_Brae] I made the mistake of reading_The Color out of Space_ late one night. I had trouble sleeping… 😉 [/QUOTE] Absolutely one of the creepiest things I’ve ever read. The way that the color just makes it too hard for you to even _think_ about running, once it gets into you - that sort of parasitic ennui is just deeply chilling, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/29 "2008-08-20T20:11:38Z")
Lovecraft at his best (_The Shadow out of Time, The Hound, The Colour Out of Space_) was great. But he was very much a one-trick pony, and many of his stories are laughable in the amount of thesaurus-scraping he does in search of synonyms for “grotesque.” I find it strange that Lovecraft has become more celebrated than Robert E. Howard, who was an altogether superior writer, even in Lovecraft’s home genre. Sadly, he’s mostly remembered for Conan, who is mostly remembered for the Schwarzenegger movie of the early 80s. Read _Pigeons from Hell_ sometime, if you get the chance. That’s Howard in “Lovecraft” mode and, despite the title that seems comical to a modern audience, is actually a pretty horrifying short story. Or actually read a Conan book if you haven’t, as the movie doesn’t really do the character justice. Or Solomon Kane, or Kull … ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/30 "2008-08-20T22:18:36Z")
[QUOTE=Scupper] Read _Pigeons from Hell_ sometime, if you get the chance. That’s Howard in “Lovecraft” mode and, despite the title that seems comical to a modern audience, is actually a pretty horrifying short story. … [/QUOTE] I’ve always believed the title was imposed on Howard by an editor. And Howard could do more than _that_. His Westerns are among the best I’ve ever read. And he could do humor/comedy, too. Check this out– > **[The Riot At Bucksnort And Other Western Tales: Howard, Robert Ervin, Gentzel,...](https://www.amazon.com/Bucksnort-Other-Western-Robert-Howard/dp/0803273541)** > > The Riot At Bucksnort And Other Western Tales \[Howard, Robert Ervin, Gentzel, David\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Riot At Bucksnort And Other Western Tales ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469/31 "2008-08-20T23:15:21Z")
[QUOTE=Scupper] Read _Pigeons from Hell_ sometime, if you get the chance. That’s Howard in “Lovecraft” mode and, despite the title that seems comical to a modern audience, is actually a pretty horrifying short story. [/QUOTE] [Full text](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Pigeons_from_Hell). You’re right, that’s a pretty good one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/h-p-lovecraft-appreciation-and-criticism-thread/460469.md?page=1)