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Post by cw67q on Nov 29, 2010 16:34:03 GMT
A tooting: should have arrived by now
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 29, 2010 18:20:44 GMT
I do believe I heard something.
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Post by cw67q on Nov 29, 2010 21:22:33 GMT
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 3, 2010 19:44:58 GMT
Hi John, "Haunter of the Dark" is indeed a sequal to Bloch's "the Shambler from the Stars", many years later Bloch wrote a story as a sequal to tHotD called "the Shadow from the Steeple". I like Haunter more than you do John, but I agree that the climactic passage is probably the worst case of "help I'm been eaten alive, I type this with my last remaining digit" in HPL's work (and I think the insane namedropping in the same paragraph doesn't help the ending much either. But I think there are aome very atmospheric scenes in this one, and a pretty good plot too. Hi Chris - I'm a big fan of both Bloch's Shambler From the Stars and Shadow From the Steeple and Haunter of the Dark may benefit from yet another re-read as part of a trilogy with those works. If I do that the Vault will be the first to hear my thoughts! In the meantime: The Shadow Over Innsmouth - I've just finished reading this for the umpteenth time and I still love it. Despite being a pulp writer Lovecraft couldn't really crank it up when it came to pacing the action (even in the midst of the most dire peril we get detailed ruminations on which door our lead character thinks is best to take a run at to escape the fishy hell that's trying to get into his room) but never mind. This is seriously classic stuff that is part of the reason why HPL's work has endured. There are so many brilliantly scary and unpleasant things in this. Everything, from our hero's journey into rotting, diseased Innsmouth, to the hideous atrocities implied in Zadok Allen's backstory to the final pursuit where for a change HPL doesn't pull any punches and describes these horrible bloody things in all their slimy, fishy, hopping glory is spot on, right down to the ending that hints of darker and more eternal horrors. Really, really splendid. Can you tell how delighted I am that this story still works for me?
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Post by cw67q on Dec 3, 2010 21:59:57 GMT
I look forward to any future posts from you as eagerly as ever, John. And I couldn't agree more with you on Innsmouth a story that has never failed to work for me even on the umpteenth visit. Easily one of Lovecraft's best.
- chris
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Post by lemming13 on Dec 4, 2010 12:38:14 GMT
Yes indeed, Innsmouth is one of the best. I do have a problem myself with the apparent ability of HPL's heroes to continue writing or typing while being overwhelmed by monsters from beyond, melting, or strapped into straitjackets - and so often, his imitators and disciples fall into the same habit. Innsmouth has no such foolishness, and the ending is splendid. One reason I love the Fishmen song so much is that it encapsulates the entire story into one jolly festive outing.
Mind you, I think I prefer At the Mountains of Madness, giant albino penguins and all. The scene where the explorers come back to camp and find their own people and dogs have been treated as scientific specimens and food sources is one of the best in pulp horror.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 4, 2010 14:31:41 GMT
I do have a problem myself with the apparent ability of HPL's heroes to continue writing or typing while being overwhelmed by monsters from beyond, melting, or strapped into straitjackets - and so often, his imitators and disciples fall into the same habit. it's called 'dedication', lemmy. possibly one of the most meticulous diarists of all time is the doomed hero of Basil Copper's Dr. Porthos who gamely keeps scribbling away even as the physician is whacking a stake through his heart with a mallet. *sigh* they just don't write 'em like that anymore.
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Post by doug on Dec 4, 2010 16:56:37 GMT
I do have a problem myself with the apparent ability of HPL's heroes to continue writing or typing while being overwhelmed by monsters from beyond, melting, or strapped into straitjackets - and so often, his imitators and disciples fall into the same habit. it's called 'dedication', lemmy. possibly one of the most meticulous diarists of all time is the doomed hero of Basil Copper's Dr. Porthos who gamely keeps scribbling away even as the physician is whacking a stake through his heart with a mallet. *sigh* they just don't write 'em like that anymore. Has any one ever listed how many Mythos stories actualy ended that way? April 31st, 11:59 P.M. 1926. Tuesday. Dear Diary, I should have never evicted that strange old woman from the basemen..... Whaaa? Oh my god!! They're breaking through the dimensional portal!! I can feel their slimy probing psued-tentacles dragging me to my doom! Must keep writin.... AAAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!!! Thud!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Dec 5, 2010 22:38:08 GMT
And here are my thoughts on the rest of the stories in this volume:
Cool Air - Much shorter than I remembered it, this tale of a dead doctor keeping himself going by resorting to low temperatures but finally succumbing to the perils of his own faulty air-conditioning machine was still fun to read again.
The Whisperer in Darkness - This one on the other hand I thought was a bit overlong. The isolated setting is splendid and the whole alien communication things is great, though.
The Terrible Old Man - A slight story but I liked it. What on earth is going on with those lead weights suspended in jars?
The Thing on the Doorstep - We know HPL wasn't necessarily too fond of women, and here's a great story where our evil magician has managed to live on the body of Asenath Waite (the character apparently being named after A E Waite - oh the things you learn on these library awaydays!) but that's just not good enough and he wants a proper man's body to house him.
The Shadow Out of Time - A long story and an odd one to finish the volume with - Nathaniel Peaslee gets his body stolen by an alien from the past and his own mind gets transplanted into one of their own ten foot high cone-shaped bodies. When he finally becomes himself again he finds himself plagued with dreams about his past life, culminating in a trip to Australia to investigate some very Cyclopean-looking remains. I actually find some of Lovecraft's prolonged dream-account stuff a bit difficult to get through, and the aliens in this are of a slightly less than practical build for the wonderful abilties they are meant to possess. I'd have finished the book with Innsmouth myself.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Dec 9, 2010 11:11:06 GMT
it's called 'dedication', lemmy. possibly one of the most meticulous diarists of all time is the doomed hero of Basil Copper's Dr. Porthos who gamely keeps scribbling away even as the physician is whacking a stake through his heart with a mallet. *sigh* they just don't write 'em like that anymore. Has any one ever listed how many Mythos stories actualy ended that way? April 31st, 11:59 P.M. 1926. Tuesday. Dear Diary, I should have never evicted that strange old woman from the basemen..... Whaaa? Oh my god!! They're breaking through the dimensional portal!! I can feel their slimy probing psued-tentacles dragging me to my doom! Must keep writin.... AAAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!!! Thud! (Now followed the section which horrified me more than anything else. My friend most have been preparing the telegram by writing it on the page while outside unspeakable shamblers made their way towards him—as became hideously evident as the writing progressed.) To Richard Dexter. Come at once to Kingsport. You are needed urgently by me here for protection from agencies which may kill me—or worse—if you do not come immediately. Will explain as soon as you reach me . . . But what is this thing that flops unspeakably down the passage towards this room? It cannot be that abomination which I met in the nitrous vaults below Asquith Place . . . IA! YOG-SOTHOTH! CTHULHU FHTAGN!But that ended the notes in this stack of my friend’s. Whatever he had seen slithering through the doorway in that last moment of horror had carried him away without trace. And I was left with an unexplained affair of half-revealed hideousness.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 9, 2010 12:56:39 GMT
Lovecraft, how much we owe you for our teenage angst.
I was recently reminded of Charles Baudelaire's French translations. I know poetry is a bit of a no no here but Baudelaire would be well worth a Vault appraisal. Totally brilliant poet.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 9, 2010 14:11:27 GMT
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Post by Dr Strange on Jan 12, 2011 14:54:06 GMT
Here is a short animation based on The Terrible Old Man -
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julieh
Crab On The Rampage
One-woman butt-kicking army
Posts: 70
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Post by julieh on Jan 12, 2011 19:12:33 GMT
I've seen a number of adaptations of the terrible old man over the years (mostly at the Lovecraft Film Festival), ranging from OK to pretty darn good. It's a very adaptable story, since nothing overtly happens. There was a terrific adaptation of The Vault at the FF last year - done with almost no spoken dialog at all, and hinging entirely on one actor, who was superb. If anyone is interested, I've done a number of audiobook versions of various HPL stories, as well as full dramatized adaptations of a few. Not just here to blow my own horn, but never hurts to put it out there. Obviously I'm a fan, since I go to the effort. My favorite HPL story is The Picture in the House, though despite being a great creepy atmospheric story, it's one with the most unsatisfying ending of all, basically boiling down to "Then lightning hit the house and all went black" - WTF? (I fixed that in my dramatization, btw...) The biggest problem with ever adapting Lovecraft for visuals is that his language doesn't translate - either people speak it, and sound silly, or they don't and it's missing entirely. Two other awesome Lovecraft-inspired things, in case they haven't been mentioned enough here: The Call of Cthulhu (movie came out a couple of years ago, done BEAUTIFULLY as a silent-era black and white film - MUST SEE) The Shadow out of Tim - Music album by a Lovecraft themed rock band "The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets" out of Canada. really fun (modernized) version of the Shadow out of Time done as a concept album. Some great tracks in there - really cool lyrics. Well it's taken ten long months to do but I think I've finally gotten through a bewildering quagmire of clues finally got something I can use - whoah So the crew demanded money down Said the doc had moved to crazy town But I've got to find out what is true If it is the last thing that I do - whoah ["Return to Melanesia"] [sorry - I know I'm a distressingly multi-media person for a chiefly text-oriented fan site. My apologies!!!]
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Post by David A. Riley on Jan 12, 2011 20:22:54 GMT
There's really only one way to appreciate HPL at his best and that is through reading the original stories. Everything else is just a pale shadow at best.
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