art copyright John Cebellero
Just saying his name, H.P. Lovecraft, evokes all kinds of immediate imagery. Here we are, about a week from Halloween, and I felt his induction into the Thor's Day Heroes was most timely. He's an author, alongside Edgar Allen Poe, some say one of our first proto-horror writers, but what he put down on paper was so much more.
I can't claim to have "love Lovecraft since high school" or some such, in fact it wasn't until the last couple of years that I really started reading his near hundred year-old work in earnest. Sure, it's horror, but it's also science fiction, and it's an imagination the likes we've not seen since. It's funny, sometimes reading one of his short stories you can easily predict where it is going and 'call it' pages before the big reveal, since it's been done so many times already. The catch is, he was the first one to do it.
It goes without saying his rich, otherworldly mythos that he crafted is just as stark and chilling today as it was alien back when he crafted it. It makes for good reading, makes for good gaming, it's just all around Elder goodness. Welcome aboard Howard!
Hooray for Lovecraft!
ReplyDeleteCthuzzah!
DeleteI am in the same boat, having only read his works last year. HP is a very interesting read in his historical context both in a literary sense and as a gamer growing up in the 80's, when Mythos fetishism by geeks took off thanks to Chaosium. He was buds with Robert Howard too, how awesome! Fascinating guy.
ReplyDeleteHe can be a bit racist though on occasion.
He does have some jarring moments where you're reminded rather sharply the differences in culture and political correctness a hundred years makes. But he also writes about elder gods from beyond time and space, which kind of glosses it over.
DeleteDare i say, that i enjoy the culture of HP Lovecraft and Cthulhu and all that more than the Zombie culture. Not hating on zombies, but there is something behind Lovecraft's work...
ReplyDeleteI like a good modern horror genre, especially in a gaming context, but I myself am not gaga for zombies all that much either. I enjoy mythos done right hands down over zombpoc any day of the week.
DeleteI listened to an audio book of the Dunwich Horror and the Cult of Cthulu driving down to Orlando last weekend. Awesome sauce.
ReplyDelete