H. P. Lovecraft

[Fausto]

Just recently, I've gotten into stuff by Lovecraft. I always liked the stuff inspired (or loosely inspired) by his work, such as Evil Dead and Re-animator, but I never bothered to look at his actual writings. After seeing MOH's Dreams in the Witch House and reading up on the writer himself, I'm staring to get into his style, which blurs the lines between sci-fi and the occult - witch's spells being based in mathematical geometry, interdimensional worlds, the difference between gods, demons and aliens not quite defined. I've only read a couple of his stories, and I want to read more, so if anybody has any suggestions (of stories, books, movies, etc) I'm all ears. 

[Zapranoth]

_At the Mountains of Madness_

And you must, must read "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

And "The Thing on the Doorstep."

And "Pickman's Model."

=)  Lots of other good ones but those are a great start.  Buy or borrow a copy of _The Best of HP Lovecraft:  Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre_ and you'll be well on your way.

[Mr. DS]

And you must, must read "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

Still the most terrifying story I've ever read til this day.  I've read that Lovecraft hated fish to the point of fearing them so just imagine the terror of that story from his standpoint.  The town that inspired Innsmouth is in the NE regions of MA I've never been through it but I've been to several places in my area that have reminded me of that story. 

[nshumate]

For my money, Lovecraft's most effective story is also one of his shortest: "The Statement of Randolph Carter."

[evildeadchick187]

 beyond the wall of sleep. I'm not sure if it is a book or not but i saw the movie and it was great.

[RapscallionJones]

And you must, must read "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

The town that inspired Innsmouth is in the NE regions of MA I've never been through it but I've been to several places in my area that have reminded me of that story. 

It has never been officially established which town Innsmouth is based on, but the popular opinion is Ipswitch, MA.  I am not of that opinion and am convinced that he based the story on a coastal New Hampshire town I grew up near called Seabrook which is in the same area that he describes, neighboring Newburyport, MA.

Seabrook is this rundown old town with a sordid past.  Lovecraft describes a mutated community that spoke a strange, almost-English language which describes Seabrook to a T.  The local dialect is a lot like the deepest, most remote Apallachian villages where the older residents still use Thee and Thy when speaking.  The accent, at its worst, is nearly indecypherable.  I can imagine that any ordinary person passing through that area at the time would wonder how such a backwards community managed to survive for so long being unable to communicate with nearby towns and being openly hostile to outsiders.

Lovecraft also describes a couple of locations that are very similar to central Seabrook locations.

I'm convinced of this.

[nshumate]

And you must, must read "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

The town that inspired Innsmouth is in the NE regions of MA I've never been through it but I've been to several places in my area that have reminded me of that story. 

It has never been officially established which town Innsmouth is based on, but the popular opinion is Ipswitch, MA.  I am not of that opinion and am convinced that he based the story on a coastal New Hampshire town I grew up near called Seabrook which is in the same area that he describes, neighboring Newburyport, MA.

Seabrook is this rundown old town with a sordid past.  Lovecraft describes a mutated community that spoke a strange, almost-English language which describes Seabrook to a T.  The local dialect is a lot like the deepest, most remote Apallachian villages where the older residents still use Thee and Thy when speaking.  The accent, at its worst, is nearly indecypherable.  I can imagine that any ordinary person passing through that area at the time would wonder how such a backwards community managed to survive for so long being unable to communicate with nearby towns and being openly hostile to outsiders.

Lovecraft also describes a couple of locations that are very similar to central Seabrook locations.

I'm convinced of this.

MUST VISIT.

[Mr. DS]

Seabrook, I've been around that area.  Isn't there a nuclear plant there?

[RapscallionJones]

And you must, must read "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

The town that inspired Innsmouth is in the NE regions of MA I've never been through it but I've been to several places in my area that have reminded me of that story. 

It has never been officially established which town Innsmouth is based on, but the popular opinion is Ipswitch, MA.  I am not of that opinion and am convinced that he based the story on a coastal New Hampshire town I grew up near called Seabrook which is in the same area that he describes, neighboring Newburyport, MA.

Seabrook is this rundown old town with a sordid past.  Lovecraft describes a mutated community that spoke a strange, almost-English language which describes Seabrook to a T.  The local dialect is a lot like the deepest, most remote Apallachian villages where the older residents still use Thee and Thy when speaking.  The accent, at its worst, is nearly indecypherable.  I can imagine that any ordinary person passing through that area at the time would wonder how such a backwards community managed to survive for so long being unable to communicate with nearby towns and being openly hostile to outsiders.

Lovecraft also describes a couple of locations that are very similar to central Seabrook locations.

I'm convinced of this.

MUST VISIT.

Trust me.  No, you don't.

Most of Seabrook exists on Route 1 heading south into Massachusetts where it's nothing but chain restaurants, Home Depot and Walmart.  It's chief exports are fireworks, discount beer and cigarettes, bad tattoos and pornography.

The real Seabrook exists down by the marshes, heading toward the coast on a desolate strip called South Main Street which is pockmarked by houses that look like no one lives in them yet expensive SUVs and huge pickup trucks sit in every driveway.  Every other house is home to a retired old guy who only technically speaks english because of the seabrook accent.  Approach his house and he'll threaten you in that stacatto dialect and point a rifle at you.  The other houses all manufacture crystal meth.

Head down Lower Collins Street and for the love of god, don't slow down for anything.  Stop sign?  f**k it.  Blow right through it.  I attended a funeral down that way once and found a crowd of them forming around me like Night of the Living Dead, pushing the car and threatening me because I wasn't local until my old-school Seabrook mother in law got out and vouched for me but not before throwing up the old accent and threatening to "stave them all in the face".

That place is screwed.

Seabrook, I've been around that area.  Isn't there a nuclear plant there?

Yeah.  They shut down one of the reactors a few years ago and put half the town on unemployment. 

Good times.

[nshumate]

You're not dissuading me, but I think I won't take the kids.

[Mr. DS]

Most of Seabrook exists on Route 1 heading south into Massachusetts where it's nothing but chain restaurants, Home Depot and Walmart.  It's chief exports are fireworks, discount beer and cigarettes, bad tattoos and pornography.

Ah yes its all coming back to me.  Its been over 5 years since I've been in that area.  Isn't there a plaza in town with all those places in it or is that Portsmouth?  I recall stopping by a place with a 24 hour porn store, a tattoo parlor, firework shop and a comic book store.  I haven't really gone deep into Seabrook luckily.  I usually keep to the Hampton Beach area. 

I think there was a dog track in town too. 

[Dave M]

That sounds a little like one of those Irish Traveler communities, except that the accent would be different, I guess.

[Zapranoth]

Karma each to Rapscallion and to nshumate. 

To Rapscallion, for the "chief exports" sentence, which had me and my wife both laughing hard, and to nshumate for the "you're not dissuading me" post, which would have had me blowing Coke out my nose if I had been drinking in the moment.   

You guys are something else.   I love this board.    Y'all can come by my place anytime.  =)   

And, I've got to echo:

MUST VISIT.

[Fausto]

Thank you for the suggestions, right now I'm in the middle of reading "The Shadow over Innsmouth" (great story so far, but incidentally I'll have to take a pass on visiting a place like Innsmouth). I didnt even need to go to the library to read it - its all right here: http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/
I'm even thinking of getting my own Miskatonic University t-shirt.

[Mofo Rising]

Modern day Shadow Over Innsmouth with methheads and satellite television junkies? Sounds like a winner to me. I mean I've heard some paranoid meth ranting in my day, but throw in some Old Ones and you've got a winner of a meltdown.  Especially if the methhead was losing his teeth and developing a fish-like sheen on his skin.  An entire town of people with bodies breaking down and piping Azathoth from on high directly to their television set.

I smell a short story.