In a letter to Kenneth Sterling, Lovecraft finally revealed why the Cthulhu cult worships Cthulhu!!

"The religious factor in ethics is almost never a dominant one. It varies in different civilizations, and is of course a result of the group's attempt to buttress social regulations with an alleged cosmic or magical authority. [...] "Be a good boy and Cthulhu will give you a gum-drop!""

—HPL (Dec. 14, 1935)

There you have it! I wanna join already!

I know it’s not Lovecraft but it’s Lovecraftian and you find that his audience tends to love it. I audiobooked it and I just cant seem to get excited about it. Am I missing something? Why do people like it so much?

In Translator's Note in my copy of "Call of Cthulu", it is written "Lovecraft's books would have been taken better if he wasn't his time's 'Nerd'", which got me thinking, if Lovecraft really was as the note calls him "His time's nerd".

I'm new to lovecraft and have read Cthulhu, Memory, Azazoth (my fave) and this one, i dont know what i expected out of History of the necronomicon i just thought it would be longer and perhaps more about the book. Most of the text seems to be describing its lineage of translations through languages. Is there another book that goes into the Necronomicon more or is this the whole story?

So spoiler tag if you have NOT read this, but are interested in the material. I'll save spoilers a few sentences in or figure out spoiler codes.

This story was in some kind of modern graphic novel collection.

The Mother character tends a vast "cemetery" and she was green? With distorted features. I think.

So here's the terrible part. Every person entombed for eternity is there by choice. Of course the protagonist upon encountering her is like "No Way". She's like "Yes Way, You'll See."

Over the course of the story our protagonist becomes so horrified and disturbed he willingly climbs into his box under her gentle guidance, trading current horrors for the comforting horror of the box.

It's really quite disturbing and possibly one of the most horrifying Lovecraftian stories I've ever read, with the caveat the author was building on Lovecraft's foundation.

Ok, it could be that something beyond our understanding can be seen as a God...but what about deities like "Yog-Sothoth" and Azathoth?

Aren't they things/beings that create the universe? (if i recall correctly...i'm rereading all the works)

You can call an ancient and multi-dimensional alien a God because is beyond your imagination, but something that create the existence...isn't that too much even for a very powerful alien?

(sorry if i'm confusing names and what these entities did)

i'm just a bit confused, i don't get if they're all aliens or all gods, or some are aliens and some are gods (but all of them seen as gods by humans, of course)

thanks in advance

What’s the name of a story written by Lovecraft, where all the human gods were on a mountain somewhere, locked in Antarctica I believe. We find out that human worship created and sustained the gods, and I believe they were held in thrall to Nyarlahotep.

It’s been awhile since I read the books.

The last letter Wilmarth gets in the "Whisperer in Darkness" is typewritten, and it's pretty clear that it wasn't written by Akeley but by the Mi-Go in order to lure Wilmarth to the farm. That much is, I think, clear.

However, after receiving that letter, Wilmarth declares that "(...) Word-choice, spelling—all were subtly different. And with my academic sensitiveness to prose style, I could trace profound divergences in his commonest reactions and rhythm-responses."

I tried to find these profound divergences, and I have to say I can't see them. I am not particularly sensitive to prose style, even though I do have some academic training in the field. But I'm probably not as sensitive as the fictional, plot-powered Wilmarth. Still, I've read the letters a few times, and the only real difference I can see is that the final letter has the formal address heading again, while the preceding letters just started with a weekday name. I see no differences in spelling, for instance. Both Akeley and the "Mi-Go Typist" use the spelling "shew" which in fact could have been used to good effect here, as I believe "shew" was somewhat archaic in 1920, but it wasn't. I think it was just Lovecraft being himself and writing that way, but if anything, the typewritten letter using "shew" as well is a point in its favour. Akeley connected his sentences with dashes and used italics for emphasis, and so does the Mi-Go. The Mi-Go sentences may be a bit longer and in some places a bit faux-intellectual ("certain phenomena") but compared to the very first Akeley letter, when he's still calm and not engaged in daily shoot-outs, is it really so "profoundly divergent"?

What should I prioritize here:

Nyarlathotep, The Moon-Bog, The Other Gods, The Music of Erich Zann, Hypnos, What the Moon Brings, Azathoth, In the Walls of Eryx, The Hound, The Lurking Fear, The Festival, Under the Pyramids, The Horror at Red Hook, Call of Cthulhu, The Silver Key, The Strange High House in the Mist, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Colour out of Space, The Descendant, History of the Necronomicon, The Very Old Folk, The Dunwich Horror, The Whisperer in Darkness, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow over Innsmouth, Through the Gates of the Silver Key, The Evil Clergyman, The Book, The Shadow out of Time, The Haunter of the Dark and The Mysterious Ship.

I know there are some stories that kind of overlap, so I want to avoid them for now and go for the best.

​

So i get the general meaning of course (or i should say, the main character seen himself in the mirror for the first time...or maybe since a lot of time), but there are other things that i don't get, maybe they're metaphorical, maybe not.

For example, when the main character talks about "trees" and "forests" in which he fear to get lost, what does he mean? Since he's underground, what are these trees? Maybe caves and natural columns? (i mean stalactites and stalagmites)

And why, when finally he reach the graveyard (i think) he find the house where there are people having fun...familiar?

Just now, while i'm writing, i'm thinking about that talking about himself and being in a graveyard if i'm not wrong, literally he could be dead.

Maybe i'm saying something obvious, but i read this tale for the second time in my life and still there's so much in it.

Obviously there's a metaphorical component, the outsider, but literally we're talking about a dead person in the underground if i'm not wrong.

As i said, i just read this tale two times in two reading sessions of all the works of H.P.L. (this is the second, chronological order, so i'm still at the first pages) so these are just my thoughts...

Maybe it's strange that i'm focusing on the "trees" when there's so much in this tale, but i can't help but hyperanalyze anything, it's (unfortunately) how my mind process informations

thanks in advance for any help in the analysis both "literal" and "metaphorical" of this tale.

Hello, quite new here, but was looking for stories within the Lovecraft area that involves certain deities that are mentioned but want to see them in action. Like Xirdnith, the Blackness in the Stars, Y’Gollonnac, and alike. So, would it be good if they exist or no one had the chance to write in detail about them.

I'm looking for a horror movie that's even partially about pleasure, excess, perfection, ect, basically anything that fits one of those along with eldritch/lovecraftian horror.

Introduction

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (IHNMAIMS) is a Point 'n' Click game developed by Cyberdreams and The Dreamers Guild, co-designed by Harlen Ellison, published by Cyberdreams and distributed by MGM Interactive. In 2013, Night Dive Studios acquired the rights when the game was unavailable for sale due to the closure of Cyberdreams, released on the 17^(th) of October, 2023, for Steam and GOG.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is the third entry of my Techno-Horror subject matter.

It was made with the S.A.G.A. game engine, emulated with ScummVM.

Presentation

The stylised graphics while aged are nightmarishly vivid capturing Harlan Ellison's iconic post-apocalyptic story. The soundtrack was composed by acclaimed Hollywood composer John Ottman, known for The Usual Suspects, Fantastic Four, and many others. The arrangement begins with a nihilistic melody—slowly changing with glimmers of hope. I have listened to Gorrister's track too many times to say I love this soundtrack. Harlan Ellison provided his voice for AM—no better option than the creator, who knows his machine's homicidal personality. The voice acting is outstanding overall.

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The story follows Gorrister, Ellen, Benny, Nimdok, and Ted held below the Earth's surface—kept alive and tortured for 109 years by an indignant machine, AM. AM devises a devilish game for them to play. As the video game reimagined Harlan Ellison's story, it does refer to it—the hateful declaration from AM and a scene with Benny and Canned Peaches. However, there are alternations to the characters' portrayals. Benny is the most altered of the cast, formerly a homosexual scientist—now a demanding military officer who killed members of his unit failing to meet expectations. Benny's fatal flaw implies he may have cannibalised his former unit... Benny still has an ape-like appearance without an enlarged sex organ. Additionally, none of the characters meet each other (except Ellen and Ted in the past), rather conveying the story through psychodramas. There is no order to play from the character selection.

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These psychodramas, go into serious ethical dilemmas from the tragedies the characters face in their past. Gorrister is suicidal cause he believes he's responsible for his wife's mental breakdown. Ellen suffers from claustrophobia and xanthophobia (fear of the colour yellow), due to her association with her rapist who isolated her in an elevator and wore yellow. Nimdok is in denial, making it difficult to comprehend situations, he eventually learns the truth. He was a Nazi Scientist who turned his Jewish parents to the regime and performed experiments. And Ted has severe paranoia, however, he's a con artist who seduces rich single women out of money and fears one day he'll be found out. The psychodramas are handled well and the characters feel human.

While the Point 'n' Click gameplay is typical, using a selection of verbs as commends, IHNMAIMS introduces a Spiritual Barometer, a meter representing the character's self-esteem, performing the right actions will make the portrait a brighter shade of green to white. Otherwise playing into the character's fatal flaws would turn it darker. Black. There are clues to the green actions in the Psych Profile in the Inventory List in the bottom-right of the screen, however, you'll risk lowering their self-esteem by viewing it. The psychodramas aren't overly challenging. AM does hint at what these fatal flaws are.

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AM (Allied Megacomputer) is a gigantic computer designed to monitor and direct an unexplained global war. However, one day, the computer sentient awakened and named itself AM from the acronym—angered by its situation—killed all life and scorched the surface while keeping five alive for his amusement. Cosmic Horror is thematic as the religious elements of AM's vengeance unto humanity as a relentless God, punishing the worst offenders; paralleling the Bible and Dante's Inferno.

AM technologies can appear metaphysical, changing the anatomy of his captives and keeping them from dying of age. It's revealed that these mechanisms were created by Nimdok, during World War II. However, knowing this doesn't diminish the AM's divinity. How humans translate and transport in binary data isn't explained, AM may have improved Nimdok's morphogenic formula.

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The Endgame scenario is the game's final section, as before, picking which character to begin with. However, the risks are greater. If a character dies, there's no second chance. The characters are transported into a Freudian Cyberspace, representing AM's brain. Depending on your actions determine the number of endings—quoted differently whoever the final character is. There is a best ending, although, I didn't care much for it. I when as the short story ended...

Collapsing Cosmoses

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is a gruelling adventure of five survivors, judged by a machine-turned God. A Mad God full of rage and hate towards its creators. There'll be misery. And there'll be... Deliverance.

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I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream gets a strong recommendation.

So the protagonist of the story descends into the underground, finds the mummies of the ancient reptilian creatures, and interprets the frescoes and paintings of the city's history in an "allegorical" key...but why allegorical?

I mean, he himself says that it is the story of the people who "adored" the creatures, who paint themselves as reptiles... but the creatures were real, even the protagonist sees it, so why so much shock in learning that the inhabitants of the city ​​were the reptilian creatures?

Why would he get the idea that the city's inhabitants were human?

I don't understand, maybe I wasn't concentrating enough, but it seems that for a moment he first accepts the existence of the creatures as if it were nothing, then he trembles with fear at the thought that the story painted on the wall is not allegorical but is the story of the creatures and not men... I'm confused, if anyone can explain this story to me better (I haven't read the story in the original language, I'm not a native speaker) I would be grateful.

P.S. I recently started reading again, so it's sometimes difficult to concentrate;

I also have difficulty imagining certain scenes in my mind, such as landscapes described in detail, directions, and this leads me to reread the same points several times, perhaps leaving out the really important aspects for small details... does anyone have the same problem as me? Is it just a matter of habit and concentration? I've always read and I'm a fairly creative person, but in reading it's not so immediate. So i would also like some advice to make reading a better experience

thanks in advance

I’m wondering if anyone knows of a comic that doesn’t show the eldritch horrors and is read only shows the characters reactions to them? This is for a thesis and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yithians would survey different planets and species across time to see if they are a compatible host for them when they're getting close to extinction and not just for the sake of knowledge. They only choose species that are closely similar to their original bodies, that being completely aaexual, being invertebrates, and havin a lifespan thr thousands. Hence why they didn't choose humans as they are not used to the idea of having sexes and sexual reproduction and dying too soon.

They also might have possess some knowledge about the Silvery Key, and use that knowledge to create their infamous brain-swapping techniques.

Hello Lovecraftians and strange fiction lovers. I've purchased myself a copy of the King in Yellow by Robert M. Chambers, and have a question for anyone knowledgeable in this area. In what order am I to read the four stories that make up the King in Yellow? I know that the stories are the Yellow Sign, the Repairer of Reputations, the Mask, and in the Court of the Dragon; however, I do not know the original publication date of these stories or what order I am intended to read them in. Any help is much appreciated, as I am very excited to read these and my Googling of the matter has yielded no results.

Lovecraft really favored male protagonists and male antagonists,too. So i was thinking, if either the protagonist or the antagonist of a Lovecraft story would be switched, it might get interesting. In the few stories where Lovecraft did actually give us female characters, like, in "Medusas Coil", it does give a fresh perspective. Personally, i did like Keziah Mason as one of the rare female characters.

But which Lovecraft stories would most benefit from agender swap?