Worth it?

What do you guys think about H.P Lovecraft? Is the Necronomicon worth reading?

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Great stuff if that's what you're into. I got it as a gift and love it.

>niggers xD

I like stuff like it but some of my friends have said bad things. Could you give me the run down?

When it comes to "Lovecraftian" stuff, it's a specific type of horror. The horror really comes from YOUR imagination, because Lovecraft is intentionally vague in what he writes.

He writes about things that are beyond human comprehension, so there are really no words that he can use to describe such things. Thus, the horror and images come from your own imagination.

For example, one story is about two guys who find some crypt. One guy goes down to explore and the other guy stays on the surface. They communicate through a telephone line. The guy exploring tries to explain all the things he is seeing, but he simply cannot put those thing into words. Eventually, something gets him.

It's scarier than I am making, but it's just to give you an idea of some of his works.

Some of his other works are more straightforward in their horror, but not necessarily WHY it happens.

That's a good way to think of Lovecraft, I think. Horror happens, but either the horror isn't explicitly explained or the reasons why they are happening are not.

i too hate niggers

otherwise yeah, a great read. Depends on a lot if you're into such stuff though, give it a try, should find out quickly

You can get his entire fiction on ebook stores for about $1

It's a good collection: all the published works as they appeared in Weird Tales, and a long bio-essay at the back. I'm sorry Gollancz abandoned their "big black books" at 6.

Wow thay actually sounds... really fuckin cool im gonna have to read that thank user!

I've read the entirety of Lovecraft's works and wouldn't recommend. Even out of genre fiction, it's nothing amazing. I'd honestly recommend Stephen King instead.

kek

Is it in chronological order?

Is that a good collection if I want to get into Lord Dunsany? WOuld he be an enjoyable author if I liked Lovecraft?

Good question. I'll check. [wanders all the way upstairs] Not entirely: poems are out of order, and a few minor bits, but largely the stories are in published order. It's not definitive texts (that would be the Joshi ones), but it's the stories as they first appeared, and a great collection.

Thanks! Just bought it. Jealous of that eldritch tales
>$360 on amazon

$360?? Holy Hell. I bought it in 2011 for $22 on amazon.

Not op, but I've done this and it's great. Haven't touched it in a bit, been busy reading other things but I'm itching to pick it back up soon once I have time.

Yeah it's a solid selection, good range. If you like Lovecraft's dreamier fantasy stuff (Iranon, White Ship, Silver Key, Dream-Quest) you will definitely like Dunsany.

If you do end up liking him, you can get a used copy of the Gollancz edition Time and the Gods online. It contains five complete story collections (The Gods of Pegana, The Sword of Welleran, A Dreamer's Tales, The Book of Wonder, The Last Book of Wonder).

you can get the best edition of the complete fiction for probably around the same amount: barnesandnoble.com/w/barnes-noble-leatherbound-classics-hp-lovecraft-h-p-lovecraft/1106658815

if you're just trying HPL out, try the Penguin collection The Call of Cthulhu

This is a really great selection. Kudos to whoever made it.

Can you post pictures of the text of "Night-Gaunts"? I don't think I've seen that piece. It must be from a letter or something.

Oh! I see now that it's just part of the Fungi from Yuggoth, nevermind!

I agree. There are a few things on the following contents page, but you can see them in the credits facing (Doorstep, Ward, Kadath, etc.). Eldritch Tales is much more obscure and miscellaneous, and even that's missing a few HPL pieces I like (that aren't in this either). But I have a lot of HPL things for research purposes: I managed to publish a book chapter on his dream-cycle work, and got a free pass to a NecronomiCon a few years back by presenting part of it.

I consider Lovecraft's original ideas interesting, but his prose is (subjectively) awful. In my opinion cosmic horror as a genre has been better served by his successors.