340 replies to this topic

[AMRA_thelion]

I was strolling through the internet when I was work...I mean err...at lunch and found this site Dagonbytes It's got alot the writings of H.P. lovecraft, Edgar allen poe, and a few others. Looks like theres some goth stuff on the site, but I really didn't go into that. Check it out, I've been reading some H.P. lovecraft stuff I haven't read in years!

[Mikey_C]

I wonder what HP Lovecraft would have made of Goths? There appears to be much dispute over how many of his works are in the public domain:

* Those of Lovecraft's works that were published before 1923 are clearly in the public domain.

* Works published after 1922 may be in the public domain because they were not properly renewed. It is up to the contributor to review renewal records and to certify that he has done so, and to report what, if anything that he found there. For The Call of Cthulhu this means looking at the renewal records for 1953, 1954 and 1955. Failure to do this may inspire an impatient sysop to delete the material because you failed to do your homework.

* According to S.T. Joshi's "H.P. Lovecraft: A Life" (pp. 640-641): Much of Lovecraft's work is in the public domain. This is unquestionably so in terms of the tales, essays, and poems published in the amateur press. As for stories published in "Weird Tales", the six that the magazine owned outright should have had their copyrights renewed after twenty-eight years, but repeated searches in the Library of Congress have turned up no renewals of any kind. Of the stories Lovecraft himself controlled, by law only he, his heirs, or his executor could have renewed the rights, but this was never done.

* The University of Pennsylvania has posted a page with scans of copyright records at http://onlinebooks.l....upenn.edu/cce/. These may be reviewed from the convenience of your home, when looking for renewals. Chris Karr has reviewed these documents and has published a report of his findings at http://www.aetherial...ft_renewals.pdf . In short, there are no copyright records that reference any of Lovecraft's original stories (only the Arkham House compilations), but the copyrights to "Weird Tales" were renewed properly, and works published prior to 1926 (when Lovecraft is thought to have sold full rights to "Weird Tales") in that magazine may be subject to protection IF they were published in "Weird Tales" for the first time. Joshi identifies thirteen works and believes that seven of those thirteen had been published elsewhere previously.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:H._P._Lovecraft

[deuce]

Wow, Mikey! Thanks for doing the homework.

[AMRA_thelion]

I'm not feeling a bit guilty reading. Its great stuff. His use of Bas-relief is kind of annoying though.

[Tohr]

He was originally racist but became a non-racist Liberal latter in life regretting his ignorant attitude.

[willowman]

according to fiction writers in Greece Salonica who publish a well known magazine and are major Lovecraft fans Lovecraft's letters are propably the most intresting stuff they have read

Without a doubt, Lovecraft's letters are the most interesting things by him that I have read. I'm a huge fan of his fiction and have read all of it(more than once) and most of the non-fiction out there about or by him.
He wrote an insane amount of letters in his lifetime, most of which were insane in length. He was a fascinating character all around and biographical work on him is always engrossing(though not always factual).

[Doug]

Hey all!
I hope that I'm not playing dime store psychiatrist here, but as my mom would say "HPL" had "issues"
Lots of his monsters are slimy, tentacled, have huge maws and stink like fish.
His only marriage was a very very short one. Hmmmm? Am I the only one who sees maybe a little connction here? :-)
take care
Doug

[Mikey_C]

Hey all!
I hope that I'm not playing dime store psychiatrist here, but as my mom would say "HPL" had "issues"
Lots of his monsters are slimy, tentacled, have huge maws and stink like fish.
His only marriage was a very very short one. Hmmmm? Am I the only one who sees maybe a little connction here? :-)
take care
Doug

According to his wife, he was an adequately good lover, or words to that effect. I don't go for the Freudian stuff. He just had a phobia about a seafood.

A friend of mine has a phobia about plants with big leaves. What's going on there, Herr Doktor?

[Doug]

Hi!
I didn't really want to be Freudian either. But HPL just makes it so darn easy!!
take care.
Doug

Hey all!
I hope that I'm not playing dime store psychiatrist here, but as my mom would say "HPL" had "issues"
Lots of his monsters are slimy, tentacled, have huge maws and stink like fish.
His only marriage was a very very short one. Hmmmm? Am I the only one who sees maybe a little connction here? :-)
take care
Doug

According to his wife, he was an adequately good lover, or words to that effect. I don't go for the Freudian stuff. He just had a phobia about a seafood.

A friend of mine has a phobia about plants with big leaves. What's going on there, Herr Doktor?

[Mikey_C]

You've just made me think that a Mythos tale involving Lovecraft and Freud would be a great proposition: "Zeeez tentacles you imagine, Mister Lovecraft, are clearly a projection of ze oedipal urge to ... ArghHHHHHH!!!!!....... IA, IA CTHULHU PHTAGN!!!" (dies)

Edited by Mikey_C, 12 December 2006 - 11:21 PM.

[PaulMc]

You've just made me think that a Mythos tale involving Lovecraft and Freud would be a great proposition: "Zeeez tentacles you imagine, Mister Lovecraft, are clearly a projection of ze oedipal urge to ... ArghHHHHHH!!!!!....... IA, IA CTHULHU PHTAGN!!!" (dies)

Well, to paraphrase "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Sometimes a story is just a story.

[PainBrush]

And sometimes a slimy tentacle is just a slimy tentacle .

[Nick Morbius]

and sometimes Lovecrafts stories are just, erm... crumby. The good stuff is great (esp the later cthulhu stuff) but it is a world away from the rubbish he wrote.

[Kane]

Anyone interested in getting some insight into the type of person HPL was might want to pick up Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography In Letters.
Edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, this is a selected collection of Lovecraft's letters on his own life. In addition some of the letters go into HPL's stands on politics, religion, science, society, race, and a wide range of other subjects.
Well worth the time and money.

[RichardS]

As I get older I think more and more that Lovecraft was onto something. Forget the squiggly-faced gods, the stilted dialogue and the absurd plots. At the core of all of his stories is one premise: the only thing that allows us to remain sane is that we can't comprehend what the universe is really like. Time after time, his characters get just a tiny glimpse of the real cosmos and are driven insane. Every new discovery of physics and cosmology convinces me that he was right.

A scary thought, John.

I remember seeing a Canadian film, I think it was, back in the early 80's. It was animated and in black and white. It started with the camera in a playground or something and then drew back, bit by bit, increasing in speed rising into the air, then away from the earth but pointing back at it. Then it continued it's journey out across the galaxy, then further on, further and further out into the cosmos . I'd never felt as small and insignificant as I did after watching it. Maybe they'd read HPL as well.

I'd love to find that film again, incredibly haunting.

Richard

[Pontifex]

As I get older I think more and more that Lovecraft was onto something. Forget the squiggly-faced gods, the stilted dialogue and the absurd plots. At the core of all of his stories is one premise: the only thing that allows us to remain sane is that we can't comprehend what the universe is really like. Time after time, his characters get just a tiny glimpse of the real cosmos and are driven insane. Every new discovery of physics and cosmology convinces me that he was right.

A scary thought, John.

I remember seeing a Canadian film, I think it was, back in the early 80's. It was animated and in black and white. It started with the camera in a playground or something and then drew back, bit by bit, increasing in speed rising into the air, then away from the earth but pointing back at it. Then it continued it's journey out across the galaxy, then further on, further and further out into the cosmos . I'd never felt as small and insignificant as I did after watching it. Maybe they'd read HPL as well.

I'd love to find that film again, incredibly haunting.

Richard

I watched an Imax movie on DVD the other day called Cosmic Voyage. Watch a trailer here.

Anyway, they do something similar. they start out in some place in Italy I think with a hoola hoop. They then extend the radius of the hoop by powers of 10. they just keep going and going until you're out of our galaxy and way further beyond.

Also, John's comment about not really seeing things we can't comprehend reminds me somewhat of Terry Pratchett's Discworld and his comments. Strange things are always happening but people aren't used to seeing them or don't think its possible so they just put it out of their minds. Sorta like "did I just see a pink elephant ride by on a unicycle? nah, not possible." meanwhile, the pink elephant on the unicycle continues his journey down the street.

[TroceroQuijas]

"What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men."

Read the story, watch the silent movie, listen to the song, carve one for yourself, or dream a little dream (and/or nightmare). Keep Him close; the Black Winged Ones are ALWAYS watching.

Edited by TroceroQuijas, 29 March 2007 - 02:36 AM.

[Pontifex]

I started reading some H.P. Lovecraft yesterday. I got Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories.

Good stuff. Some is a bit confusing though, like The Outsider (I think thats the one I'm thinking of).
If anyone can explain that one to me, I'd appreciate it.

[deuce]

Hey Pontifex! I think the general opinion is that "The Outsider" is some sort of "lich/zombie" that doesn't know he's dead. There are a lot better HPL tales than that one. Keep readin'.

[Pontifex]

Hey Pontifex! I think the general opinion is that "The Outsider" is some sort of "lich/zombie" that doesn't know he's dead. There are a lot better HPL tales than that one. Keep readin'.

So far I've read:
Dagon
The Statement of Randolph Carter
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
Celepha?s
Nylarhotep
The Picture in the House
The Outsider


I'm in the middle of Herbert West - Reanimator right now.

As for The Outsider, yeah, I was thinking mummy at the end because Lovecraft mentioned some Egyption names (or at least they sounded Egyptian). I think he mentioned a pyramid too, but the rest didn't really make sense. Based on the story, he was living underground, but it kept mentioning trees and how he would try to run away but always came back. It also made it sound like he was a child too. I remember something about the subject of the story remembering an old man too, so all that combined really confused me.


Also, while reading, there are numbers next to some words, like you would see for footnotes, but there are no footnotes. If anyone else has this book, what are they for?