Some of you may be scratching your heads at this point. "Alex," you ask, "why are you posting a review of a work of fiction in the product reviews section of a magic site? Are you just being pushy and preachy with your opinions again? Is there a point to this? Have you finally drunk yourself stupid?"
In order, to shake things up, yes and no, yes, and not yet.
I post this here because Lovecraft is on my list for essential reading when it comes to learning how to tell a really good story. Let me illustrate. The following is the first paragraph from the story, "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" published in 1921 and then again in 1924.
Life is a hideous thing, and from the background behind what we know of it peer daemoniacal hints of truth which make it sometimes a thousandfold more hideous. Science, already oppressive with its shocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species - if separate species we be - for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world. If we knew what we are, we should do as Sir Arthur Jermyn did; and Atrhur Jermyn soaked himseldf in oil and set fire to his clothing one night. No one placed the charred fragments in an urn or set a memorial to him who had been; for certain papers and certain boxed object were found, which made men wish to forget. Some who knew him do not admit that he ever existed.
Have you ever read that story? If you haven't, are you curious and want to read it now? That's the deft touch of a storyteller.
The compilation I describe in this review is the complete collected works of Lovecraft through his career. It's part of a series from Barnes & Noble to collect classic and modern literature for posterity. The stories are printed in their original format and in chronological order of publishing.
Lovecraft was an author who was ahead of his time. In the words of Neil Gaiman, Lovecraft presented us with a worldview. With an "impossibly inhospitable universe in which... you are screwed." He deftly wove folklore with science while at the same time creating a setting of horror that alternated with the secluded, Gothic motifs such as the cursed family blood line and the mind-blowing scope of cosmic horror to which there are few parallels in fiction today.
To aid in this construction of world view, Lovecraft created numerous recurring elements to his world, such as the New England towns of Arkham, Innsmouth, and Dunwich. Books such as the dreaded Necronomicon made frequent and repeated appearances alongside such volumes as the Pnakotic Manuscripts. And there were also recurring characters such as the enigmatic Randolph Carter.
Lovecraft is the most well-known for his Cthulhu Mythos, named posthumously by August Derleth. These were the stories that spoke of godlike beings from beyond the stars including Cthulhu, Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep. It was from these works that the cosmic horror was derived. Lovecraft also created a number of stories involving an alternate reality based on the collective dreams of man, known to critics as his Dream Cycle.
The lesson to be learned here for magicians is in the creation of a believable story and one that connects with others through a unifying mythos. Especially to those who want to learn bizarre magic, this skill is essential. The hook, pacing, and climax are of supreme importance. And despite Lovecraft's obvious flaws as a writer (his use of archaic language, for example), his narrative abilities and the consistency of the world he had created have actually led some to believe that he was receiving visions of how the universe truly was. You read that righ! There are people out there who actually believe in Cthulhu!
The book costs $13 American and has over a thousand pages and includes an essay by Lovecraft titled "Supernatural Horror in Literature" along with a few early drafts. That's a bargain! So what are you waiting for? Stop reading this review and go out and buy the bloody thing!
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtaghn!
In order, to shake things up, yes and no, yes, and not yet.
I post this here because Lovecraft is on my list for essential reading when it comes to learning how to tell a really good story. Let me illustrate. The following is the first paragraph from the story, "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" published in 1921 and then again in 1924.
Life is a hideous thing, and from the background behind what we know of it peer daemoniacal hints of truth which make it sometimes a thousandfold more hideous. Science, already oppressive with its shocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species - if separate species we be - for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world. If we knew what we are, we should do as Sir Arthur Jermyn did; and Atrhur Jermyn soaked himseldf in oil and set fire to his clothing one night. No one placed the charred fragments in an urn or set a memorial to him who had been; for certain papers and certain boxed object were found, which made men wish to forget. Some who knew him do not admit that he ever existed.
Have you ever read that story? If you haven't, are you curious and want to read it now? That's the deft touch of a storyteller.
The compilation I describe in this review is the complete collected works of Lovecraft through his career. It's part of a series from Barnes & Noble to collect classic and modern literature for posterity. The stories are printed in their original format and in chronological order of publishing.
Lovecraft was an author who was ahead of his time. In the words of Neil Gaiman, Lovecraft presented us with a worldview. With an "impossibly inhospitable universe in which... you are screwed." He deftly wove folklore with science while at the same time creating a setting of horror that alternated with the secluded, Gothic motifs such as the cursed family blood line and the mind-blowing scope of cosmic horror to which there are few parallels in fiction today.
To aid in this construction of world view, Lovecraft created numerous recurring elements to his world, such as the New England towns of Arkham, Innsmouth, and Dunwich. Books such as the dreaded Necronomicon made frequent and repeated appearances alongside such volumes as the Pnakotic Manuscripts. And there were also recurring characters such as the enigmatic Randolph Carter.
Lovecraft is the most well-known for his Cthulhu Mythos, named posthumously by August Derleth. These were the stories that spoke of godlike beings from beyond the stars including Cthulhu, Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep. It was from these works that the cosmic horror was derived. Lovecraft also created a number of stories involving an alternate reality based on the collective dreams of man, known to critics as his Dream Cycle.
The lesson to be learned here for magicians is in the creation of a believable story and one that connects with others through a unifying mythos. Especially to those who want to learn bizarre magic, this skill is essential. The hook, pacing, and climax are of supreme importance. And despite Lovecraft's obvious flaws as a writer (his use of archaic language, for example), his narrative abilities and the consistency of the world he had created have actually led some to believe that he was receiving visions of how the universe truly was. You read that righ! There are people out there who actually believe in Cthulhu!
The book costs $13 American and has over a thousand pages and includes an essay by Lovecraft titled "Supernatural Horror in Literature" along with a few early drafts. That's a bargain! So what are you waiting for? Stop reading this review and go out and buy the bloody thing!
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtaghn!
