Lovecraft vs. Poe vs. King vs. Barker

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Prof_Pretorius
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09 Mar 2008, 11:36 pm

DocStrange wrote:

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

DocStrange wrote:

I'll have to go with my fellow Rhode Islander, Lovecraft.

Doc, have you ever been to his grave??

"I am Providence"

Yes, I have. I have a small jar with dirt from his grave.

DOC ! !! You Rock ! !! All Hail Lovecraft ! !!

DUDE ! !! !

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DocStrange
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11 Mar 2008, 9:55 am

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

DocStrange wrote:

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

DocStrange wrote:

I'll have to go with my fellow Rhode Islander, Lovecraft.

Doc, have you ever been to his grave??

"I am Providence"

Yes, I have. I have a small jar with dirt from his grave.

DOC ! !! You Rock ! !! All Hail Lovecraft ! !!

DUDE ! !! !

The people at Swan Point Cemetary basically EXPECT people to take dirt from his grave. Me and a few of my friends went there over the summer. Actually another one of my friends took some dirt too, he scooped some into an old Gerber jar, and I brought a similar (but new) small jar and filled it (the jar's only about 2 inches in height). A while ago - at least according to my dad's friend - there was so much topsoil missing the owners of Swan Point added some more. Me and my friend smuggled the jars out immediatly after we took them. It currently sits in a locked cabinet in my house (because my girlfriend thought it would be disrespectful to put it in my safety deposit box)

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D1nk0
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11 Mar 2008, 5:30 pm

Icheb wrote:

To me, the scariest Lovecraft story is "The Thing on the Doorstep". There's an excellent sequel to it by Peter Cannon called "The Revenge of Azathoth". Other fine stories by Lovecraft acolytes are "The Voice of the Beach" by Ramsey Campbell and "Fat Face" by Michael Shea. I've read somewhere that Stephen King's "The Mist" (one of his finest stories) was an attempt to show what would happen to the earth if Lovecraft's Great Old Ones ever succeeded in dragging it off to another dimension.

Oh, and while we're on the subject: Other (non-Lovecraftian) horror stories that scared the sh** out of me were "The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham" by H.G. Wells, "The Scythe" and "The Emissary" by Ray Bradbury, "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag" by Robert Heinlein, "The End of the Party" and "A Little Place off the Edgware Road" by Graham Greene, "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby, "Sleep Is the Enemy" by Anthony Gilbert and "The Jaunt" by Stephen King.

The MOST Scary story by H P Lovecraft by far is "The case of Charles Dexter Ward".
Two more of the horror-frought tales of all are "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood; and Arthur Machen's "The Novel of the White Power".

It doesnt do justice to compare Poe to H P Lovecraft because Lovecraft spanned several genre's whereas Poe's work was most consistantly classic gothic fiction. Now what about Bram Stoker? Besides Dracula he wrote a fabulous decadent gothic horror novel called The Laire of the White Wyrm.

Prof_Pretorius
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12 Mar 2008, 12:30 am

DocStrange, this is a first.
I'm actually jealous ! !!
Do people pose beside the headstone, and take pics?
Can I come visit you?
Perhaps we could get an international trading thing going, eh? I get a bit of dirt from Bram Stoker's grave to trade with you ! !!

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DocStrange
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14 Mar 2008, 12:14 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

Wait, wait, wait. You've never been to gravestones of famous people?
I'm not interested in dirt from Bram Stoker's grave, but that graveyard in Providence is usually open to the public (if you ever come down there).

The other friend of mine who collected dirt has collected dirt from other famous people's gravesites. It's kinda his hobby. I just collected some because its HP Lovecraft, whose basically one of the most famous Rhode Islanders (aside from Gilbert Stuar and maybe the Talking Heads). This friend is also going to Gary Gygax's grave (was he cremated? I dunno, FindAGrave says nothing)

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Prof_Pretorius
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14 Mar 2008, 12:18 pm

Actually, I have been to the Gravestones of famous people, but only when they were in an area where we were vacationing. I've never made a pilgrimage for that purpose only. (The Missus would have words to say about that sort of thing.)

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Prof_Pretorius
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29 Mar 2008, 2:14 am

"I am Providence"

Has anyone really looked into HPL's life, and found out why he wanted this as his epitaph ????

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Icheb
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29 Mar 2008, 12:30 pm

D1nk0 wrote:

The MOST Scary story by H P Lovecraft by far is "The case of Charles Dexter Ward".

You're right, I forgot about the novel-length "Ward" and was only thinking of his short stories. "Ward" is definitely his best story.

Quote:

It doesnt do justice to compare Poe to H P Lovecraft because Lovecraft spanned several genre's whereas Poe's work was most consistantly classic gothic fiction.

That's not quite true. While Lovecraft's writing bridged science fiction and horror fantasy, Poe also invented the detective story, and wrote some humourous fiction. His style is a bit too turgid for me, though.

DocStrange
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29 Mar 2008, 1:41 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

"I am Providence"

Has anyone really looked into HPL's life, and found out why he wanted this as his epitaph ????

I dunno but It's still one of the best epitaphs all time

This is findagrave's article on the site
HP Lovecraft on Find A Grave

This is a pic of the grave from Findagrave, and I think is before Swan Lake tolerated the taking of dirt from his grave.

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Sora
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29 Mar 2008, 1:47 pm

I'm a vivid fan of Poe's works.

Prof_Pretorius
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22 Jun 2009, 12:31 pm

Has anyone ever portrayed Lovecraft in a movie ??

Not his writings, but the man himself.

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Prof_Pretorius
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08 Jul 2009, 12:18 am

I just had to go to Youtube, and play "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", it's a hoot.
Only Rod Serling could send up HPL in such a manner.
With Carl Reiner as Professor Peabody, no less ...

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Veresae
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08 Jul 2009, 1:04 am

I need to read more of all four authors. Lovecraft I've read a lot of and while I love his mythology I hate his writing style. I've read a little King and have liked what I've read. I haven't actually read much Poe or Barker, but I've read a little here and there.

Really, none of these 4 have ever SCARED me. Lovecraft is awesome, but not scary. Stephen King is entertaining, but I've yet to be scared by him--and really, he and Barker seem to do more fantasy than horror. Believe it or not, I got more scared reading Darren Shan's childish, crappily-written "Demonata" series than anything I've read by them. It feels really weird, because they are MUCH more competent writers. I do also want to read Necroscope, but the library doesn't have the first one, just the sequels, and I'm waiting to buy it, lol.

Prof_Pretorius
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09 Jul 2009, 12:14 pm

Veresae wrote:

I need to read more of all four authors. Lovecraft I've read a lot of and while I love his mythology I hate his writing style.

Really, none of these 4 have ever SCARED me. Lovecraft is awesome, but not scary. .

A common complaint, yet I can't imagine his stories written in modern prose.
Perhaps HPL never scared you, but what about surprise? Fascinate??

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10 Jul 2009, 1:44 pm

I have never really read any Lovecraft, but am familiar with some of the movies they made based on his works. Like The Dunwich Horror and The Prince of Darkness. I actually haven't seen The Prince of Darkness but would like to. I'm intrigued by the plot. I love horror and science fiction that deals with other dimensions and things from beyond.

Can anyone recommend a Lovecraft novel to me?

Veresae
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10 Jul 2009, 2:18 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:

Veresae wrote:

A common complaint, yet I can't imagine his stories written in modern prose.
Perhaps HPL never scared you, but what about surprise? Fascinate??

Oh, I can't imagine them modern either...not unless they were written by someone with a very classy writing style, like, say, Michael Cox. But he died in March, so that won't happen.

They have a great atmosphere to them, though. Just gets boring after a while. I certainly do find him fascinating, though. So I don't hate him, not at all. I just don't unquestionably love him.

The thing with Lovecraft is that because his stories are all about how we humans are so puny and meaningless, the human characters are never given any detail or depth, and are usually completely interchangeable. They're just the eyes through which you witness the horror. This is both a good and a bad thing.

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