For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week to get through it.
All kinds of things were hinted at or alluded to, throughout many pages of diary excerpts, old newspaper clippings, conversations with rustics, and so on. But, all that was ever described was "somebody disappeared and his mangled body turned up months later." Since these disappearances all happened a century or more before the main narrative, they didn't really put a lot of terror into the story for me.
Dewart goes into the tower that supposed to be left alone and removes the stone that's not supposed to be moved. What happens? Nothing much. His cousin, Baxter, comes to stay with him. What does Baxter observe? Dewart's kind of bipolar.
Dewart pleads for help from some folks at Miskatonic U. They sit around in their office talking, and the juior prof gets a reading assignment.
<spoiler>
Finally, on the last two or three pages, Baxter gets killed, and they kill the possessed Dewart and seal up the hole. They succeed with relative ease.
Where's the suspense? Where's the terror? Did descriptions of frogs croaking really do it in an earlier age?
I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
Michael Stemper wrote: > For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the > shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week > to get through it.
<snip>
"Lurker at the Threshold" is not really a Lovecraft book, it was written by August Derleth after HPLs death based on a story he never finished. Being a Lovecraft fan I found Lurker deeply disappointing. Better try something else, written by Lovecraft alone if you want to find out if you "get" Lovecraft.
On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:34:51 +0000 (UTC), mstem...@walkabout.empros.com
(Michael Stemper) wrote: >For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the >shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week >to get through it.
It's mostly by August Derleth, rather than Lovecraft. Derleth wasn't a very good writer.
Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote: > On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:34:51 +0000 (UTC), mstem...@walkabout.empros.com > (Michael Stemper) wrote:
>>For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the >>shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week >>to get through it.
> It's mostly by August Derleth, rather than Lovecraft. Derleth wasn't > a very good writer.
Didn't he also write a sequel to Chtulhu, where they finally nuked R'Lyeh? Or was that by someone else? I know I got the book somewhere...
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:34:51 +0000, Michael Stemper wrote: > For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the > shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week > to get through it.
> All kinds of things were hinted at or alluded to, throughout many > pages of diary excerpts, old newspaper clippings, conversations with > rustics, and so on. But, all that was ever described was "somebody > disappeared and his mangled body turned up months later." Since > these disappearances all happened a century or more before the main > narrative, they didn't really put a lot of terror into the story > for me.
> Dewart goes into the tower that supposed to be left alone and removes > the stone that's not supposed to be moved. What happens? Nothing > much. His cousin, Baxter, comes to stay with him. What does Baxter > observe? Dewart's kind of bipolar.
> Dewart pleads for help from some folks at Miskatonic U. They sit > around in their office talking, and the juior prof gets a reading > assignment.
> <spoiler>
> Finally, on the last two or three pages, Baxter gets killed, and > they kill the possessed Dewart and seal up the hole. They succeed > with relative ease.
> Where's the suspense? Where's the terror?
They _stopped_ the Opening of the Gate and thus the advent (which would've been lurid, to put it mildly) of Yog-Sothoth . . . .
> Did descriptions of frogs croaking really do it in an earlier age?
They were the alarms; whenever they really started carrying on, it was time to look to that damned tower.
_Lurker_ is really a very nicely- and tightly-written Mythos novel, IMO.
(Michael Stemper) wrote: >For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the >shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week >to get through it.
>All kinds of things were hinted at or alluded to, throughout many >pages of diary excerpts, old newspaper clippings, conversations with >rustics, and so on. But, all that was ever described was "somebody >disappeared and his mangled body turned up months later." Since >these disappearances all happened a century or more before the main >narrative, they didn't really put a lot of terror into the story >for me.
>Dewart goes into the tower that supposed to be left alone and removes >the stone that's not supposed to be moved. What happens? Nothing >much. His cousin, Baxter, comes to stay with him. What does Baxter >observe? Dewart's kind of bipolar.
>Dewart pleads for help from some folks at Miskatonic U. They sit >around in their office talking, and the juior prof gets a reading >assignment.
><spoiler>
>Finally, on the last two or three pages, Baxter gets killed, and >they kill the possessed Dewart and seal up the hole. They succeed >with relative ease.
>Where's the suspense? Where's the terror? Did descriptions of frogs >croaking really do it in an earlier age?
>I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my >younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for >fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
At the Mountains of Madness is fine as long as long you don't expect to be horrified by it because it isn't particularly horrifying. It's just a rundown of the Mythos universe's prehuman history, more valuable for explaining a bunch of things only vaguely referred to in other works than for its narrative or mood.
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:20:50 +0000, David Johnston wrote: > At the Mountains of Madness is fine as long as long you don't expect > to be horrified by it because it isn't particularly horrifying. It's > just a rundown of the Mythos universe's prehuman history, more > valuable for explaining a bunch of things only vaguely referred to in > other works than for its narrative or mood.
HPL's objective in writing it was to insert a sense of (to him horrifying) time-- long time-- long long time-- geological time-- cosmic time-- into a work of, er, I guess that one is really SF.
He tried the cosmic time theme again with _The Shadow Out of Time_.
I don't really think _Mountains_ is really drawn on all that much by the rest of the Mythos, is it? even the highly-promising (YKWIM) shoggoths are conspicuous by their absence elsewhere.
--
Time was by ill luck arrested hereabouts on a Thursday evening,
and so the maid is out indefinitely.
>> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:34:51 +0000 (UTC), mstem...@walkabout.empros.com >> (Michael Stemper) wrote:
>>>For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the >>>shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week >>>to get through it.
>> It's mostly by August Derleth, rather than Lovecraft. Derleth wasn't >> a very good writer.
>Didn't he also write a sequel to Chtulhu, where they finally nuked R'Lyeh? >Or was that by someone else? I know I got the book somewhere...
That's probably _Strange Eons_, which was by Robert Bloch.
-- David Goldfarb |"Bagels can be an enormous force for good or goldf...@ocf.berkeley.edu | for evil. It is up to us to decide how we goldf...@csua.berkeley.edu | will use them." | -- Daniel M. Pinkwater
mstem...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) wrote in news:hd1mnr$77v$1 @news.eternal-september.org:
> I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my > younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for > fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
FWIW, I read "Mountains of Madness" as a fully adult cynic and consider it the best thing Lovecraft ever wrote. (Okay, maybe jostling elbows with "Shadow over Innsmouth.")
Back when Philip Jose Farmer was working on his Grand Unified Fan Theory he declared that the narrator of MoM was one of Doc Savage's assistants, whichever one was the skinny geologist/engineer. I don't know if anyone else bought that particular link.
Louann Miller wrote: > mstem...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) wrote in news:hd1mnr$77v$1 > @news.eternal-september.org:
>> I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my >> younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for >> fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
> FWIW, I read "Mountains of Madness" as a fully adult cynic and consider it > the best thing Lovecraft ever wrote. (Okay, maybe jostling elbows with > "Shadow over Innsmouth.")
I consider MoM to be one of his best, though "The Colour Out of Space" is one of the only stories to ever SCARE me. You want horror, that's his best horror work, IMCGO.
I also liked "The Shunned House" -- it fits more with my modern sensibilities and is something of an anomaly compared to his usual fare. "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" was good, too.
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:48:48 -0500, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
> "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" was good, too.
ISTR rating that one a little lower because it seemed a little too much like standard gothic to me, out of Poe's "Case of M. Waldemar", or "Valdemar", or whatever.
--
Why cannot these miserable hypocrites say "drunk" at once and be done with it?
In article <66p8f552024om52suuksnhadcb4r7d2...@news.eternal- september.org>, Lawrence Watt-Evans (l...@sff.net) says...
> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:34:51 +0000 (UTC), mstem...@walkabout.empros.com > (Michael Stemper) wrote:
> >For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the > >shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week > >to get through it.
> It's mostly by August Derleth, rather than Lovecraft. Derleth wasn't > a very good writer.
I'll never even look at his Mythos stuff again, but I must confess I'm rather intrigued by "The Telephone in the Library", even though it will probably be better left to my imagination. "The House in the Valley" likewise. (In my mind's eye they are parts of a series, followed by "The Wind from the River".)
He wasn't very good with titles either, I suppose.
-- Juho Julkunen "The pale fingers of moonlight slid along the yellowing wallpaper and the shelves filled with curious volumes of forgotten lore. Apart from the occasional creaking of ageing timbers all was still in the house. Suddenly, the telephone didn't ring!"
> Louann Miller wrote: > > mstem...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) wrote in news:hd1mnr$77v$1 > > @news.eternal-september.org:
> >> I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my > >> younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for > >> fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
> > FWIW, I read "Mountains of Madness" as a fully adult cynic and consider it > > the best thing Lovecraft ever wrote. (Okay, maybe jostling elbows with > > "Shadow over Innsmouth.")
> I consider MoM to be one of his best, though "The Colour Out of Space" > is one of the only stories to ever SCARE me. You want horror, that's his > best horror work, IMCGO.
> I also liked "The Shunned House" -- it fits more with my modern > sensibilities and is something of an anomaly compared to his usual fare. > "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" was good, too.
I found "The Lurking Fear", though not terribly good, surprisingly modern, in horror sense. "The Rats in the Walls" quite creeps me out.
I don't generally read HPL to be scared, but I suspect many of the stories are the scarier the more you apply your imagination. He generally leaves it plenty of room.
On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:08:59 +0200, Juho Julkunen wrote: > I found "The Lurking Fear", though not terribly good, surprisingly > modern, in horror sense.
I found it alright, and a little Biercean.
But, yeah, see _The Hills Have Eyes_, _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre_, _Lucky Stiff_, _Deliverance_, etc.:
Jukes are always good.
Although those were _extraordinarily_ degenerate examples.
Lovecraft bores me as well. But horror bores me unless it has some other attraction besides just trying to scare me.
It's my loss that I don't get the pseudo-scare that people love. Maybe if I ever experienced something scary, things would change. I certainly got much more sentimental when I almost lost my wife in an automobile accident.
-- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
On Nov 6, 10:34 am, mstem...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) wrote:
> I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my > younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for > fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
As has been noted, the book you read was by August Derleth.
I enjoyed "At the Mountains of Madness", having read it more recently... but as far as being scary and frightening, either Lovecraft wasn't all that good at pulling that off - or he was so good that the devices he used have all become cliches, and so you can see the surprise shock ending coming a mile away.
His appeal, instead. lies in the atmosphere of the background he created, in his vivid imagination. Here, he seems to have been unequalled.
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:53:02 -0500, mimus <tinmimu...@hotmail.com> wrote: >ISTR rating that one a little lower because it seemed a little too much >like standard gothic to me, out of Poe's "Case of M. Waldemar", or >"Valdemar", or whatever.
... Valdemar as a gothic horror setting. I See A Great Need.
Dave "hired as a governess for three Herald children, Maxwella slowly comes to realize that not all is well in the ducal household" DeLaney -- \/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK> http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
>On Nov 6, 10:34 am, mstem...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) >wrote:
>> I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my >> younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for >> fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
>As has been noted, the book you read was by August Derleth.
>I enjoyed "At the Mountains of Madness", having read it more >recently... but as far as being scary and frightening, either >Lovecraft wasn't all that good at pulling that off - or he was so good >that the devices he used have all become cliches, and so you can see >the surprise shock ending coming a mile away.
>His appeal, instead. lies in the atmosphere of the background he >created, in his vivid imagination. Here, he seems to have been >unequalled.
>John Savard
It was my impression that ATMOM reflected Lovecraft's increasing bent toward straight science fiction.
On Nov 6, 7:34 pm, mstem...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) wrote:
> I seem to recall liking "At the Mountains of Madness" in my > younger years, but now I hate to go back and reread it, for > fear that it was more of a "golden age" kind of enjoyment.
I think it was the most effective of Lovecraft's stories mainly because it was written with a dispassionate, objective-scientist voice, instead of the usual (for Lovecraft) oh-my-god-something-awful- is-about-to-happen-oh-wait-it's-so-terrible-I-can't-describe-it.
David Goldfarb wrote: > In article <7lj6rqF3cjr8...@mid.individual.net>, > Malygris <Highlander2...@gmx.de> wrote: >>Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
>>> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:34:51 +0000 (UTC), mstem...@walkabout.empros.com >>> (Michael Stemper) wrote:
>>>>For a Halloween read, I pulled _The Lurker at the Threshold_ off the >>>>shelves. Despite its being a relatively thin book, it took me a week >>>>to get through it.
>>> It's mostly by August Derleth, rather than Lovecraft. Derleth wasn't >>> a very good writer.
>>Didn't he also write a sequel to Chtulhu, where they finally nuked R'Lyeh? >>Or was that by someone else? I know I got the book somewhere...
> That's probably _Strange Eons_, which was by Robert Bloch.
No, it isn't! I actually found the book I was thinking of, "The Trail of Cthulhu" by August Derleth. Reading a few pages again left me wondering: Do I have a particularly bad translation (the real Lovecraft stories are quite good to read in German) or was Derleth that bad?
On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:25:47 +0100, Malygris <Highlander2...@gmx.de> wrote:
>No, it isn't! I actually found the book I was thinking of, "The Trail of >Cthulhu" by August Derleth. Reading a few pages again left me wondering: Do >I have a particularly bad translation (the real Lovecraft stories are quite >good to read in German) or was Derleth that bad?
Derleth certainly wasn't good, but I'd never try to judge any writer based on a translation.
|
