Knights & Knaves Alehouse

I don't expect any author to bat 1.000. Any author I read completely, or nearly so, will hopefully have a lot that I enjoy a bunch. They'll also probably have some I simply like, some I don't like, and some I detest.

Liking every word or story ever written by an author shouldn't be the discriminating factor as to whether one is a fan in the common usage of the word, however, it might be in the original sense, as a fan(atic).

I meant the "I'm not an H. P. Lovecraft fan" as rather tongue-in-cheek.

Geoffrey wrote:I meant the "I'm not an H. P. Lovecraft fan" as rather tongue-in-cheek.

Sorry man! Its been a helluva a day, and I was in "serious business" mode earlier.

“The Nameless City” is another obscure one that I really love.

matthulhu wrote:It's been a few years since I really chewed off a big hunk of ol' Howie, but if I was going back I'd want to seek out first, I think, "The Music of Erich Zann," which has always stuck in my brain like a wiggly wedge of hot mercury.

I'm in the same boat on this one. For some reason, I felt that story more than the others.

Something about the image of Zann, I think.

Today someone asked me for recommendations of Lovecraft stories. At this moment, my favorites are:

Dagon
The Cats of Ulthar
The Temple
Celephaïs
Nyarlathotep
The Nameless City
The Other Gods
The Music of Erich Zann
The Hound
The Rats in the Walls
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman’s Model
The Silver Key
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Colour Out of Space
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Anyone seen this:
http://www.blastr.com/2013-8-31/image-d ... ess-sketch

That's a pretty funky sketch.

I have read some Lovecraft just to keep up with the references flying around the game table, but I prefer Clark Ashton Smith. And haven't even read most of the Lovecraft stories, I listened to them on Libervox or something like that, where as I've actually read CAS.

Silk Spectre wrote:I have read some Lovecraft just to keep up with the references flying around the game table, but I prefer Clark Ashton Smith. And haven't even read most of the Lovecraft stories, I listened to them on Libervox or something like that, where as I've actually read CAS.

CAS is great, too. In my opinion, I think his level of writing and story-telling is generally better than HPL. But as far as enjoying the stories as entertainment, I think the best 4 or 5 HPL stories are slightly better than the best 4 or 5 CAS stories.

Keep in mind, I'm no literary genius. Just opinion, here.

francisca wrote:

Silk Spectre wrote:I have read some Lovecraft just to keep up with the references flying around the game table, but I prefer Clark Ashton Smith. And haven't even read most of the Lovecraft stories, I listened to them on Libervox or something like that, where as I've actually read CAS.

CAS is great, too. In my opinion, I think his level of writing and story-telling is generally better than HPL. But as far as enjoying the stories as entertainment, I think the best 4 or 5 HPL stories are slightly better than the best 4 or 5 CAS stories.

Keep in mind, I'm no literary genius. Just opinion, here.

I think CAS was the better writer, but HPL had the bigger ideas. They're both superb in their own ways and they (along with REH) complement each other quite nicely.

Welleran wrote:

francisca wrote:

Silk Spectre wrote:I have read some Lovecraft just to keep up with the references flying around the game table, but I prefer Clark Ashton Smith. And haven't even read most of the Lovecraft stories, I listened to them on Libervox or something like that, where as I've actually read CAS.

CAS is great, too. In my opinion, I think his level of writing and story-telling is generally better than HPL. But as far as enjoying the stories as entertainment, I think the best 4 or 5 HPL stories are slightly better than the best 4 or 5 CAS stories.

Keep in mind, I'm no literary genius. Just opinion, here.

I think CAS was the better writer, but HPL had the bigger ideas. They're both superb in their own ways and they (along with REH) complement each other quite nicely.

I've read one of Howard's stories. It had the elephant guy in it, but I don't recall the name.

Silk Spectre wrote:I've read one of Howard's stories. It had the elephant guy in it, but I don't recall the name.

The Tower of the Elephant

TRP wrote:

Silk Spectre wrote:I've read one of Howard's stories. It had the elephant guy in it, but I don't recall the name.

The Tower of the Elephant

Yea that was it.

You guys might want to check my blog: It's Lovecraft month at Samuel Taylor Coleridge's.

I don't delve all too deep into the matter, but I present some stuff that might not be known to everyone. So, have a look, if you like!

http://samueltaylorcoleridge.me/

It's tough to read Lovecraft anymore since I now understand so much of his "horror" was an expression of the "horror" of having to see blacks and Jews in his beloved New England.