Conan and Cthulhu

[Tristan]

If anyone happens to have an Xbox, they've just released Call of Cthulhu for it and apparently it's quite true to the mythos. Might want to check it out.

Also, I believe a PC version is forthcoming but not for awhile.

 

[toothill man]

please keep us informed sounds great 8)

 

[Raven Blackwell]

August gets a hard time but for such a long time he was the lone voice in the wilderness and so deserves a few chips on both shoulders :wink: :lol:

Without August Dereleth holding Lovecraft's torch through the 50's and 60's we'd likely never have heard of the man so he deserves praise as an editor. But it wasn't altruism in play- Lovecraft's stories were his bread and butter. Even though a great deal of Lovecraft's stuff was public domian by that time he'd charge people to use it- immoral if not illegal. He also created the 'Cthulhu Mythos' idea of connecting all the stories, not Lovecraft, which is okay- but he embellished and added things that Lovecraft never put there to the point where it's hard to tell where HPL ends and Dereleth begins. His own writing in the 'Mythos' was a pale imititation of HPL and he'd neglect the advice of better Lovecraft scholars than he in creating it. He was a hack- a talented hack mind you, but a hack. So like most men he did good and evil in his life so I expect he hasn't climbed up the karmic ladder mucht. 8)

Of course I am guilty of using the Mythos work of others for my own work on the Tomes here but I am not charging anyone to see it so I think I avoid any stigma myself. And speaking of that I just recalled during my Silent Hill fanatic stage I wrote the first draft of a pastiche that linked the two together and starred the man himself. If anyone's interested I can drag that out of the desk and clean it up. It's be good for a laugh anyway. 8)

 

[toothill man]

why not :wink: if in a fit state to view please post 8)

 

[toothill man]

august was a hack and yes he did sometimes say lovecraft did more than we think he did but he did hold the torch during the graveyard shift were his work could have easliy been lost :evil: .Also it is easy to tell the two apart even when lovecraft is ghost writing which he did like horror in the museam for the first book of pan horror stories :twisted: august never got close which is sad 8)

 

[Raven Blackwell]

why not :wink: if in a fit state to view please post 8)

Post it? Here? It's not exactly Conan material. I'd probably add it to the Raven's Gate Press mailing list and send it via e-mail to anyone else who wanted it, but after looking it over I know I'd have to go over it again before it was ready.

In other more relevant news- director Stuart Gordon is releasing a movie version of Dreams in the Witch House for Showtime upcoming "Masters of Horror" series. No date yet for exavtly when it is going be playing but being Showtime I am sure it will be repeated endlessly enough that everyone can see it once it is released. How good is it? Don't know- I've seen one article and two movie stills. Stuart did promise that the non-Euclidean geometery will be cool, so I think it will be worth the time spent watching it a least. 8)

 

[The King]

Without August Dereleth holding Lovecraft's torch through the 50's and 60's we'd likely never have heard of the man so he deserves praise as an editor. But it wasn't altruism in play- Lovecraft's stories were his bread and butter. Even though a great deal of Lovecraft's stuff was public domian by that time he'd charge people to use it- immoral if not illegal. He also created the 'Cthulhu Mythos' idea of connecting all the stories, not Lovecraft, which is okay- but he embellished and added things that Lovecraft never put there to the point where it's hard to tell where HPL ends and Dereleth begins. His own writing in the 'Mythos' was a pale imititation of HPL and he'd neglect the advice of better Lovecraft scholars than he in creating it. He was a hack- a talented hack mind you, but a hack. So like most men he did good and evil in his life so I expect he hasn't climbed up the karmic ladder mucht.

I read his Trails of Cthulhu and Mask of Cthulhu and liked them. As he wrote his tales later he decribes the first time an attack on Cthulhu himself rising from the deep with an A-bomb and I love the quite Lovecraftian conclusion.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

I read his Trails of Cthulhu and Mask of Cthulhu and liked them.

Yeah, but like all pastiche writers- myself included- it's the same old same old. Once you limit the palette to someone else's work you can only create a lesser work than the original. All of the post Lovecraft pastiches ring flat in my ears. It was the genius of the man that made his work, not the tenacled things and Things Man Was Not Meant To Know (tm)or just mentioning the Necronomicon. I respect those who use him as a influence in their works as opposed to just trying to replicate it themselves.

As he wrote his tales later he decribes the first time an attack on Cthulhu himself rising from the deep with an A-bomb and I love the quite Lovecraftian conclusion.

Wasn't that where Cthulhu put himself back together but was no radioactive? 8) Point is though that after the A-bomb large transdimensional invaders don't scare us anymore. Mankind is the greater horror by far.

 

[The King]

Yeah, but like all pastiche writers- myself included- it's the same old same old. Once you limit the palette to someone else's work you can only create a lesser work than the original.

You hit the point. One can't paint whiter than white (this is just an expression).

Wasn't that where Cthulhu put himself back together but was no radioactive? 8) Point is though that after the A-bomb large transdimensional invaders don't scare us anymore. Mankind is the greater horror by far.

:lol: This is part of a joke. In the book, the narrator is puzzled as he thinks he sees Cthulhu put himself back after the deflagation. Thus we know not if this comes from his imagination or if it's the truth.

Of Course I don't believe Lovecraft would have written this if he had lived enough because he made Cthulhu only appear in dreams. But I liked this originality.

It should be mentioned that Derleth also wrote "the thing beyond the threshold" which is partially retold in the 1992 movie "The Resurrected" (the famous and excellent case Charles Dexter Ward) where the angry mob attack the house of the sorcerer.

 

[toothill man]

must amit have more time for lumley than august and his books including the titus series which is a favourite has lovecrafts flavour but seems to have avoided the traps august fell into :twisted: if you havent tryed them I do recommend them strongly :twisted:

 

[The King]

I never read Lumley because of his Titus Crow series (just heard about it).

 

[toothill man]

about the crow series it is good a cross between lovecraft and howards writing ie by being more than human you can win but the prize means your exile and even combined the old ones will win 8) but as a human you do not give in :wink:

 

[Raven Blackwell]

Lumley? I've heard the name but never read anything by him. What would be the best titlR¢Š† start with?

 

[toothill man]

for lovecraft vibes try burrowers beneath followed by any of the other titus novels :twisted:

 

[VincentDarlage]

Lumley? I've heard the name but never read anything by him. What would be the best titlR¢Š† start with?

I started with "The Horror at Oakdeene", then read his "The Clock of Dreams", "Mad Moon of Dreams", "The Whisperer and other Voices" and "The House of Cthulhu."

 

[toothill man]

so vincent what your view on the old boy

 

[VincentDarlage]

I've enjoyed his Cthulhu stories immensely. Some of the stories in "The Horror at Oakdeene" (Arkham House Edition) really impressed me.

"The Clock of Dreams" provided me with about a year's worth of adventures in my old 3E DnD campaign. I think that was the last cycle of DnD games I played before I switched to Conan.

 

[toothill man]

must amit I used so many plots in the books of his :roll: reading these books became my most used bits of the mythos in my long running much missed CoC campain

 

[VincentDarlage]

I have used a lot of his plots also, both in CoC and DnD. Lumley probably comes to second place (after Howard) for plots I have stolen for a DnD game.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

Well with this resounding responce I will have to start reading a few...let you know what I think when I finish a few.