I’ve managed to corrupt an online friend. I’ve been a cultist since forever and have sent my friend links to Cthulhu songs and jokes. I’ve shared pics of my plushy Cthulhu toy, my Cthulhu fish (stuck on the fender of my daily driver while I was posing next to it in my Arkham Asylum Patient Shirt.
We talk about books a lot and I’ve mentioned that some of the books he enjoyed had Lovecraft influences. I sent him this work safe linkand he told me that he would like to read some of Lovecraft’s work, but didn’t know where to start. Nobody corrupts the way I do.
Now I’m stumped. :smack: I don’t want to toss him into the novels right away, they are too dark for a noob and he’s not really a reader anyhow.
Which short story would you folks suggest that he reads first? I’m thinking he should read the Call of Cluthlu first, but its pretty long. I’ve never managed to corrupt anyone before, so I want to do this right.
A Shadow Over Innsmouth – has more action than your typical lovecraft opus, with a hero who doesn’t seek oblivion by fainting, with the ending in italics shortly thereafter. One of his best. If you can find the Annotated edition, with notes by S.T. Joshi, all the better.
Here’s a MAP of Innsmouth, by the way, which clarifies the actions in the story: http://baharna.com/cmythos/innsmap.htm
Pickman’s Model – a really good short story, which shows Lovecraft’s love of Art and Place. Adaptations on TV and comic books have thrown all that out and reduced this to a quick “twist ending” story, whivch it’s much more than. Not a lot of action, but great mood-setting.
The aforememntioned Call of Cthulhu is, of course, Ultimate Lofvecraft.
And it’s not a short story, but an entire short novel, but I recommend The Case of Charles Dexter Ward – you can read it without knowing any other Lovecraft. It stands on its own, and has a cute twist iin it that’s not essential to the story.
I’ll second The Shadow Over Innsmouth. I’m still shaking. Have your friend listen to the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre version as well. It’s very well-performed.
Senegoid Thank you so much for that link. I am going to send it to my friend after he reads enough to get the parodies. That was FUNNY
How could I possibly have forgotten Pickman’s Model? That was one of my favorites. Its not part of the mythos, but excellent Lovecraft.
I appreciate all of the suggestions. I emailed him today with a link to the “Call of Cthulhu” to start him off.
I agree that The “Shadow Over Innsmouth” needs to be next on his list and will suggest it. Does anyone have suggestions to stories from other writers who used the same concept? Stories like “The Dweller in the Darkness” by August Derleth? There is a Stephen King story that is a tribute, but I can’t seem to find it.
I’m more excited than I should be over this. I’ve never managed to corrupt a Lovecraft virgin before. He’s a family man, so will share my (our) teachings with his children, who will share with their friends.
When the stars are right, I will be eaten first because I’ve brought the Elder Gods so many belivers
BrainGlutton, thank you for that link. Its the one I sent him when he asked about it. Lovecraft was a very prolific writer and my friend didn’t know where to start. Hence this thread.
Chuck, for some reason, I don’t want to suggest the Colour Out of Space right away. Its probably because it disturbed me so much and not because it was so wonderfully terrifying.
FWIW, just the other day, I bought, “The Complete Works of HP Lovecraft” from Amazon for 99 cents. I’m sure most or all of it’s available for free elsewhere, but I’ve noticed some freebies have problems - missing blocks/pages of text, bad optical character recognition resulting in incorrect letters, formatting issues, etc. This volume, while I haven’t read much of it yet, seems to not suffer from any of that, and I figure having a good copy of (nearly?) everything Lovecraft ever wrote for the princely sum of 99 cents was well worth it.
There have been quite a few stories that take TSOI as their starting point, especially in recent years. Unfortunately, I can’t get at my collections tonight. Check out this page:Lovecraft Country - Wikipedia and the anthology Shadows Over InnsmouthShadows over Innsmouth - Wikipedia
I think you should toss him into the novels right away, specifically The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I had no interest in Lovecraft at all, but had an opportunity to lead a reading group with some new RISD students during their orientation and this was the book. While lacking in Cthulu,it does have implied monstrosities o’ plenty, suspense, grave robbing, blurred lines between the dead and living and an almost lyrical love letter to our most beloved city of Providence.
Not Lovecraft, but for good homages, I recommend Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald” (.pdf) as a mash-up of Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu mythos. I found it originally in Shadows over Baker Street. The Gaiman story was the best, IMHO, but some of the others were alright too. Agree with CalMeacham that Shadows over Innsmouth looks interesting too, particularly the Gaiman story. I Cthulhu is a quick, funny read.
Charles Stross has written a few stories, dealing with Cthulhu-like creatures, that are worth your time; his Laundry Series is excellent, as is his short story, “A Colder War.”
You want to introduce someone to Lovecraft, but do it gently? Where’s the mind-gnawing gibbering madness going to come from, then?
Seriously, though. My father read The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath to me as a child (a wee one, like around 5…:eek:…explains a lot, now that I think of it). That and The Cats of Ulthar are two of my favorite Lovecraft stories, and the ones that I recommend first to people I’m trying to…initiate, depending on if they’re more long-format or short-format people.
That’s the first e-book I bought for my new kindle that I got for Christmas. What’s interesting about it is the fact that the stories are presented in chronological order by the date of original publication (or maybe the date of writing, I’m not sure about that). Reading them this way, you can get an impression of the increasing eeriness (and IMHO quality) of his stories and the gradually building of the whole myth. I’d guess that I’ve known about 20 % of his work before, but this is a different experience than reading the stories in an unrelated order. Yesterday, I started “The Call Of Cthulhu” (which I’ve read before), so the best is yet to come.
