So since I chose horror as my genre I'm starting with some of H.P. Lovecraft's shorter short stories to see how I like it. My dad is a huge fan so I've heard about a few of his stories and seen a few movie adaptations so I figured it was a good author to start with. I started off with The Statement of Randolph Carter, which was a short story about a cave expedition. I didn't expect it but I was actually a little creeped out when I read it just because it leaves a lot to the imagination. After that I read a few other stories and noticed a few re-accuring things that I thought were interesting. For starters he sets a lot of his short stories at Miskatonic University (which is this fictional university) In the edition I'm reading there's actually a illustration of Miskatonic, which I thought was interesting because he basically made up this whole little world. I also read a few other short stories and realized he seems to be big on the idea of other worlds (for lack of a better word).
I can also see how a lot of other books and movies borrow from Lovecraft especially when I finished reading The Unnamable which reminded me of a typical haunted house monster movie.
I will admit that Lovecraft isn't the easiest thing to read and even though I'm starting with his shorter works it's still taking me a while to get through each one.
I'm glad you're getting a sense of what he's good at. Can you elaborate on this "other worlds" point of yours? Just how fantastic [of/related to fantasy] are they?
ReplyDeleteWell from what I've read and from what my dad told me he almost always has some kind of other civilization or a group that's into sacrifices and other dimensions. Does that make sense? It's not in every story but it's definitely something I've noticed showing up a lot.
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