H. P. Lovecraft

[RCMerchant]

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.

Sounds like Decatuer,Michigan...which is about 8 miles from where I live in Lawton. I'ts full of back woods meth heads and inner bred rednecks. Ever see GUMMO? That's Decatuer. Buncha low-lifes. Creepy half retart,no toffers,cross eyed, speed freak burn-outs!

[RapscallionJones]

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. 

Oh yeah.  That's Seabrook.  The comic store is Chris' Comics which is where I used to buy all my books when I was still buying comics.  The porno store is Leather and Lace which used to be owned by a guy who was involved in the local organized crime scene.  Believe it or not, there was, indeed, a Seabrook mafia.  A bunch of bad-ass local biker guys who dealt drugs, ran illegal poker games and video poker machines and had a hand in local prostitution.  All of these activities were run out of Leather and Lace.  The head of the group got busted in Florida a couple of years back with a very large quantity of heroin in his possession and is now in jail.  I'm related to him in a not-too distant way by marriage.

The Fireworks store is still there, somehow, the tattoo shop is one of the worst in town and that's saying something.  There's also a pawn shop and a place to buy marijuana paraphenalia that is connected to the porno store.  The guy who opened the head shop also opened one in nearby Portsmouth only to have it shut down after a couple of months because of employees selling weed from behind the counter.

I could go on and on about this place but it doesn't have much to do with Lovecraft, so I'll just take a bow.

[AndyC]

I co-worker got me reading Lovecraft back in the mid-90s. I was hooked. His stories are amazing, simply for the fact that they were so far ahead of their time, and have, as someone mentioned, a unique blend of horror, occult and science fiction. He also largely gave up the standard horror settings of the time for something that was more distinctly American. And once you read his stories, you really appreciate how much HPl influenced the horror and sci-fi that followed.

Best of all is his style. Although a bit heavy on description sometimes, its something we need more of these days. His best stories stimulate the imagination rather than just outright showing and telling. He writes about feelings and reactions to horrors more than the horrors themselves, and some of his most frightening descriptions are of just how much those horrors defy description. He makes you think, and there's probably no better way to unsettle a person than to get his mind working.

As for favourite stories, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and At the Mountains of Madness are definite must-reads, as is the Call of Cthulhu. An early work, by a teenage HPL, that I like is The Beast in the Cave.

The works that have been adapted to the screen are particularly interesting to read. Whether the movies were good or bad, they do take licence with the source material  which is very difficult to adapt. The Unnameable, The Colour out of Space, From Beyond, The Dunwich Horror and Herbert West, Reanimator, among others.

But the story that always comes to mind when I think of a simple, effective Lovecraft story is The Picture in the House. This is one of the first of his New England-based horror stories, and the first set in the fictional Miskatonic region. A very short story in a very simple setting, the simplest of plots, but utterly creepy and memorable.

[Mr. DS]

Lovecraft's grave is in Providence RI and its one of those sites I hope to visit some day.  Its only around a half hour from my house so if I go I'll take some pictures.  The man has inspired so much in horror and sci fi.