Other-Writer Lovecraftian Recs

[eytanz]

Well, what is core and what is preipheral, of course, is a matter of interpretation, and so it's quite sensible that people will disagree. But from where I sit, I think the core notion to Lovecraft's writing is the fact that you can't fight back. You may think you can - and some characters in his stories do, but that will just make things worse. Whether onscreen action or offscreen description, that doesn't matter so much. But if there's one thing all Lovecraftian stories share is that horror is not something that can be defeated, and that ignorance is the only protection.

[gelee]

Well, what is core and what is preipheral, of course, is a matter of interpretation, and so it's quite sensible that people will disagree. But from where I sit, I think the core notion to Lovecraft's writing is the fact that you can't fight back. You may think you can - and some characters in his stories do, but that will just make things worse. Whether onscreen action or offscreen description, that doesn't matter so much. But if there's one thing all Lovecraftian stories share is that horror is not something that can be defeated, and that ignorance is the only protection.

Precisely.  Think of Al's outro for "Love Like Thunder."  Much of HPL's work references this enourmous, horrible world just a smidge beyond ordinary perception.  This world operates on totaly different rules, and, if it notices you, you're FUBAR.  Heck, just noticing it might be enough to do you in.

[friendlybohemian]

I know this is a little late in the game but I must mention Shadows Over Baker Street which is a Sherlock Holmes meets The Great Old Ones short story collection. It also includes a wonderful story by Neil Gaimen.  http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Over-Baker-Street-Terror/dp/0345452739/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275685672&sr=8-1

[Millenium_King]

Here it is from me:

Clark Ashton Smith
The Treader in the Dust
The Seven Geases
The City of the Singing Flame
The Abominations of Yondo
The Eternal World
Xeethra
The Coming of the White Worm
The Dark Eidolon
The Dweller in the Gulf
The Epiphany of Death
The Return of the Sorcerer
A Star-Change
Ubbo-Sathla

Robert Bloch: Notebook found in a Deserted House, Terror in Cut-throat Cove, The Shambler from the Stars

Robert E. Howard:  The Black Stone, The Devil in Iron, The Scarlet Citadel

Robert W. Chambers: The Repairer of Reputations, The Yellow Sign, The Mask, In the Court of the Dragon

Lord Dunsany: The Gods of Pegana

Here on Psuedopod:

Story #191: Acceptable Losses
Story #156: Leviathan
Story #171: Napier's Bones
Story #048: The Disciple
Story #050: Everyone Carries a Shadow

And, because you all know I couldn't resist: Story #186: Ankor Sabat.

[teprngr]

Everyone are welcome to their own opinions of what they like – whether it be
movies, books, drama or whatever The point here is that it should be tasteful
(though that again depends on individual tastes) and acceptable to all So
we have to accept Lovecraft just he has always been with all his supernatural
and horror and all the other weird stories he has written which to this day is popular
reading among book lovers especially lovers of horror stories

[snap-hiss]

The first few stories in The King in Yellow are well worth a look.

[Meh_Sweet]

See also China Mieville's story "Details" in Children of Cthulhu and in his collection Looking for Jake, which itself also has other fine examples of capturing the spirit as opposed to the trivial specifics -- "Different Skies" is a favorite of mine, although there are plenty others in there.  In fact, I have attempted to contact Mieville's agent regarding these but never heard back; so if anyone runs into Mieville, please put in a good word for sending submissions to Pseudopod!

Hey, Ben, any chance we'll ever hear some of Mieville's stuff on PP?

Hey - I saw the Mighty Mur Lafferty met China over at World Con maybe she can pull some strings with her new buddy, after all, getting a picture taken with someone is just like being their best friend, right? 

[MCWagner]

I'll add another vote to Robert W. Chamber's four "The King in Yellow" stories, especially "The Yellow Sign" which, IIRC, Lovecraft called the greatest weird tale ever written.  Chamber's work pre-dated Lovecraft's, and counts as a pretty strong influence on Lovecraft.  Similarly, I'd look up Arthur Machen's "The Great God Pan" for another influence.

Kudos to the person who suggested "The Courtyard."  Moore's crazed interest in magical thought is well served in this foray into HPL's worlds, though the excessive winking at the audience (nearly every line has an HPL reference in it) may put one off.  He's just started an explicit sequel to "The Courtyard" called "Neonomicon" though I'm uncertain how long it's supposed to run, considering where the first issue ended.  (Also, warning for explicit sex & violins.)

"Religion is still useful among the herd - that it helps their orderly conduct as nothing else could. The crude human animal is in-eradicably superstitious, and there is every biological reason why they should be.
Take away his Christian god and saints, and he will worship something else..."
H.P. Lovecraft, 1929

(Just a side note... notably absent from the occasions when I see this quoted is the following passage where he says that (from memory) "However, only a fool would argue that religion has not, in the balance, benefitted mankind...")

If memory serves Bloch was one of the youngest of the lovecraft circle I think he was 15 when he started corresponding with Lovecraft.
and also I think Clark Ashton Smith and Lovecraft actually included each other in some of their stories.  Something like Klarkash Tonsmith or something and Louve Keraph. 

Right on both counts.  For a long time, I think Bloch was the sole surviving member of the Lovecraft circle, having been the youngest to actually participate.  I don't recall if Lovecraft ever included it in any of his stories, but some of his letters he addressed to Klarkash-Ton.

[Sgarre1]

Much like Jefferson's oft-quoted "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." is rarely preceded by the lead in "The clergy...believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for ..."

[Millenium_King]

I should have also added The Three Imposters by Arthur Machen and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman if no one has mentioned them yet.

[Umbrageofsnow]

All the Machen, Howard, Smith, and Chambers (my favorite of the era) stories are good recommendations.

Howard had quite a few horror stories, Black Stone is one I remember as particularly Lovecraftian, but there is a volume of the Collected Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard that is certainly worth checking out in the more general sense.

One of my favorites isn't so much pure Lovecraftian, but Pigeons From Hell is like Faulkner meets Herbert West.  Howard could be an interesting writer.

For old-school writers, I'm surprised no one has brought up William Hope Hodgson.  House on the Borderlands is a novel (predating Lovecraft) that strikes me as particularly Lovecraft like, in the best way.

And some of his ghost stories are pretty good too.  Carnacki the Ghost Finder is rightly Fantasy found on PodCastle, but other ghost stories are excellent.

[Umbrageofsnow]

In contemporary fiction, Michael Chabon's In the Black Mill, originally published in Werewolves in Their Youth is an excellent Lovecraft-inspired but non-mythos story.  It is actually one of my favorite horror stories, and Chabon is not the sort of author you see bandied around on Lovecraftian fiction lists much, but the influence is definitely there.

And I see, googling to finde the title of the anthology I own, that it was recently reprinted in an anthology called Lovecraft Unbound edited by Datlow. 

Selections range in tone from the darkly humorous to the sublimely horrific, and all show the contributors to be perceptive interpreters of Lovecraft's work. Readers who know Lovecraft s legacy mostly through turgid and tentacled Cthulhu Mythos pastiches will find this book a treasure trove of literary terrors.

Which I haven't read, other than that one story, but seems to fit what you're looking for.  I also notice Lavie Tidhar, Nick Mamatas, and Marc Laidlaw in the collection.  I haven't read their stories, but they are all quality writers.

Regardless of that collection though, find one or the other and read Chabon's Mill story in a book store or something, I think you'll like it.

[DKT]

In contemporary fiction, Michael Chabon's In the Black Mill, originally published in Werewolves in Their Youth is an excellent Lovecraft-inspired but non-mythos story.  It is actually one of my favorite horror stories, and Chabon is not the sort of author you see bandied around on Lovecraftian fiction lists much, but the influence is definitely there.

And I see, googling to finde the title of the anthology I own, that it was recently reprinted in an anthology called Lovecraft Unbound edited by Datlow. 

Selections range in tone from the darkly humorous to the sublimely horrific, and all show the contributors to be perceptive interpreters of Lovecraft's work. Readers who know Lovecraft s legacy mostly through turgid and tentacled Cthulhu Mythos pastiches will find this book a treasure trove of literary terrors.

Which I haven't read, other than that one story, but seems to fit what you're looking for.  I also notice Lavie Tidhar, Nick Mamatas, and Marc Laidlaw in the collection.  I haven't read their stories, but they are all quality writers.

Regardless of that collection though, find one or the other and read Chabon's Mill story in a book store or something, I think you'll like it.

Gotta second everything UmbrageofSnow said about the Chabon story. It's been...maybe 7-8 years since I've read it, but it's one that's stayed with me.

(There's actually a few in Chabon's collection that had that effect on me, but In The Black Mill is the only that's Lovecraftian.)

[Anarkey]

My best professional recommendation in this area is Caitlín R. Kiernan.  I would begin with her novel "Threshold".  It's got style and environment in scoops.  She is a paleontologist, so she has an comprehension of geologic time that works (if you'll excuse the pun) cuboid deeply.  It really reveals in her composing. 

I'm pretty sure this is spam, since it's a mangled, mistranslated version of an upthread comment of mine.  Kind of amused by it, but still spam.

[eytanz]

Hmm - good point. All the other posts by the same poster are similar - on topic but meaningless, apparently taken by either a person or an algorithm constructing them by incomprehensible paraphrases of previous posts.

To honour the clever spammer, I'm leaving Anarkey's response to it as a testament, but I'm killing all the actual spam. Since the spam links are in the signature, there's no harm in that.

[Fenrix]

It's worth posting in this thread, if you're looking to experience most of the Lovecraft oeuvre, but don't want to commit to the mediocre portions, The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast at http://hppodcraft.com/ is a pretty great 'cast. They're working through his entire catalog with analysis and commentary. They tend to make the good stories great and the mediocre stories entertaining.

[Red Dog 344]

I second the recommendation that you have a look at Ligotti.  I also remember enjoying the stories in the collection _Cthulhu 2000_ from Arkham House.

In the spirit of HPL:

Leonid Andreyev, "Lazarus," you can read it online at http://www.classicreader.com/book/2158/1/

Darrell Schweitzer and Jason van Hollander, “The Throwing Suit”

[Sgarre1]

Leonid Andreyev, "Lazarus,"

possibly have something coming from Andreyev late in the year (walks away with hands in pockets, whistling)