65 replies to this topic

[B Jenkins]

I always prefer the creepy ambience of Arthur Machen to H.P. Lovecraft.

[Ninhursag]

I Started Off With Lovecraft By Reading The Necronomicon .. He's Awesome

[Insanity]

A majority of Lovecraft's works are short stories, some are almost small novels, however they do not belong together in any sense as an ordered series.
There are commonalities between them, such as characters, places, and sometimes events, but you do not really need to read a particular one before another.
Some of his work is poetry, but poetry his style.

Some of his best work or most popular have already been mentioned, and they all are good.
A few of my personal favorites are;

• The Dunwich Horror
  
• The Call of Cthulhu
  
• At The Mountains of Madness
  
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
  
• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
  
• The Whisperer in Darkness

I have a rather large collection of his works as audiobooks, read by various narrators.  The Atlanta Radio Theater Company has done a few radio dramatizations of a few, and I believe they might be available for free downloads still.  The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has done a series title 'Dark Adventure Radio Theatre' of several in the style of old radio broadcasts.

My first reading was of a collection of short stories, I believe it was 'Dreams of Terror and Death'.

Barnes & Noble has his complete fiction published in a single leather bound volume, and for a reasonable price of $20 or so, ISBN-13: 9781435122963.
Lovecraft did help other authors rewrite some of their work, or co-wrote with them, and even did some ghost writing under other names.  These will not be in that collection, but there is a book title 'The Horror in the Museum' published by Delrey, which is a collection of most of these other stories.  From this collection, a few good ones are 'The Mound', 'The Curse of Yig', and 'The Horror at the Museum'.

[MiskatonicGrad]

I would start with 'the statement of Randolf Carter'. I just like the way it gets it's point across in so few words and is a good intro to the way HP writes.

[Moon Dog]

Excellent reading. Below is a link to the Complete works.
Start anywhere.
http://www.dagonbyte...rary/lovecraft/

Enjoy!

[fadedface]

Start with the Outsider

[Emin]

Ambush Bug, on 30 May 2012 - 06:28 AM, said:

I always prefer the creepy ambience of Arthur Machen to H.P. Lovecraft.

Interesting, I shall look for his works to read.

[B Jenkins]

Insanity, on 05 December 2012 - 03:39 AM, said:

Barnes & Noble has his complete fiction published in a single leather bound volume, and for a reasonable price of $20 or so, ISBN-13: 9781435122963.
Lovecraft did help other authors rewrite some of their work, or co-wrote with them, and even did some ghost writing under other names.  These will not be in that collection, but there is a book title 'The Horror in the Museum' published by Delrey, which is a collection of most of these other stories.  From this collection, a few good ones are 'The Mound', 'The Curse of Yig', and 'The Horror at the Museum'.

This volume is a steal. It offers you all 74 of H.P. Lovecraft novels, novellas, and short stories for a mere $20 in their brick and mortar stores and $18 in their online store.

But here's the catch, buyer beware of the 2008 version with the gold book ribbon because it is full of typos.

Barnes & Noble proofread their volume properly in the 2010/11 version with the purple book ribbon because it has corrected all of the typos.

Gold ribbon (2008) = bad
Purple ribbon (2010/11) = good

But I doubt they have any of the gold ribbon volumes in their brick and mortar stores or online available anymore.

Emin, on 27 December 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

Interesting, I shall look for his works to read.

I suggest reading these 7 short stories in this order:

The Great God Pan
The White People
The Novel Of The Black Seal
The Shining Pyramid
Out Of The Earth
The Terror
The Novel Of The White Powder

These seven alone represent the very best of Machen horror, and also not all of Machen's stories are horror either.

Some find The White People challenging because it relies on images seen through the eyes of a adolescent girl. One has to read between the lines and remember Machen was a master at early decadent horror.

EDIT: Forgot Out Of The Earth!

Edited by Ambush Bug, 28 December 2012 - 12:35 AM.

[B Jenkins]

Here are free etexts of these Arthur Machen stories.

THE GREAT GOD PAN

THE WHITE PEOPLE

THE NOVEL OF THE BLACK SEAL

THE SHINING PYRAMID

OUT OF THE EARTH

THE TERROR

THE NOVEL OF THE WHITE POWDER

Enjoy.

[Insanity]

Ambush Bug, on 27 December 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

This volume is a steal. It offers you all 74 of H.P. Lovecraft novels, novellas, and short stories for a mere $20 in their brick and mortar stores and $18 in their online store.

But here's the catch, buyer beware of the 2008 version with the gold book ribbon because it is full of typos.

Barnes & Noble proofread their volume properly in the 2010/11 version with the purple book ribbon because it has corrected all of the typos.

Gold ribbon (2008) = bad
Purple ribbon (2010/11) = good

But I doubt they have any of the gold ribbon volumes in their brick and mortar stores or online available anymore.



I suggest reading these 7 short stories in this order:

The Great God Pan
The White People
The Novel Of The Black Seal
The Shining Pyramid
Out Of The Earth
The Terror
The Novel Of The White Powder

These seven alone represent the very best of Machen horror, and also not all of Machen's stories are horror either.

Some find The White People challenging because it relies on images seen through the eyes of a adolescent girl. One has to read between the lines and remember Machen was a master at early decadent horror.

EDIT: Forgot Out Of The Earth!

Correct, the purple book ribbon and silver leafed pages is the correct edition.  I happen to own both due to this problem, but I am certain you are correct as well that the old print is no longer available.  B&N has several books along the same, nice collections of good authors in same style books for around $20, I have one that has several works of H.G. Wells.

I shall have to look up Arthur Machen.
China Miéville is another author of similar to Lovecraft that was recommended by a friend and I yet have to read his works.

[B Jenkins]

Insanity, on 28 December 2012 - 03:38 AM, said:

Correct, the purple book ribbon and silver leafed pages is the correct edition.  I happen to own both due to this problem, but I am certain you are correct as well that the old print is no longer available.  B&N has several books along the same, nice collections of good authors in same style books for around $20, I have one that has several works of H.G. Wells.

I shall have to look up Arthur Machen.
China Miéville is another author of similar to Lovecraft that was recommended by a friend and I yet have to read his works.

Yes, they have alot of classic authors such as Asimov, Austen, L. Frank Baum, Bradbury, Lewis Carroll, Dickens, Arthur Conan, Doyle, Gaiman, Hemingway, Poe, Stoker, Twain, Verne, Wells, Wilde,  etc. They are called Barnes & Noble leatherbound classics.

The Island Of Dr Moreau is my favorite Wells story btw.

I have read two of China Mieville books years ago, yes, one could say he has Lovecraft elements meets steampunk otherworlds. I think he may be just up your alley.

They have a Stephen King volume that contains Carrie, Salem's Lot, and The Shining that represent some of his best work ever.

[B Jenkins]

Not necessarily a piece of weird fiction but what was dubbed by Lovecraft himself as the best horror story ever written:

ALGERNON BLACKWOOD'S THE WILLOWS

The atmospheric creep factor is through the roof with this story!

[B Jenkins]

Dont me to spam or move the thread off topic:

Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics Series A Classic Offer: Buy 2, Get a 3rd Free!

Stock up on the classics you've always meant to read. Between now and January 29th, buy two B&N Classics from a selection of more than 200, and get your third free.

I am eyeballing that Bradbury volume and some other selections!

[B Jenkins]

[Urisk]

Jenkins, thank you for the links to Machen's work. I'm trying to remember if I've read any of his stuff... I've got a couple compilations that have stories like Tindalos, Surtsey, Notebook Found in a Deserted House etc, there might be one by him in there.

Anyone else got the Cthulhu 2000 compilation? Some pretty good stories on there!