Zwillinger's Call of (to?) Cthulu

I just look at it like a mountain road trip as compared to a supersonic jet. Why am I going to drive 400 miles out of my way, at a slower pace, to get to the same place?

Yeah, I think that's it. I've been a journalist too long to appreciate good writing.

/sadpanda

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

"Savage" and "insane" I will give you, but the rest of those green words completely alter the mental vision I have of the place.

"It was a grotto" does not have the same mental image of a twilit grotto. "A world of mystery and suggestion" does not conjure up the same feeling as with the adjectives. "A world of mystery and suggestion" sounds GOOD... put those adjectives back in there and you KNOW it's not good!

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Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Yeah, a lot of those bizarre "unnecessary" adjectives actually are very much necessary. As Aggelakis states, "a grotto" just doesn't set the same mood as "a twilit grotto." The latter implies strange shadows, the former does not. The words he used were supposed to imply the unusual and unnatural formations and features and beasts that his characters encountered... something truly alien to our mundane comprehension. Thus the reason why his protagonists always wound up insane in the end.

Lovecraft is a poet as much as a writer of fiction (in his day there was not so much separation between the two activities). When he is attempting to invoke horror, fear or suspense, he calls upon those skills to describe the things his protagonist is experiencing.

This is actually why I recommended _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_ and _The Colour Out of Space_. The former can get a bit dense with all of the history it needs to relate and with the regional speech of the characters, but each of them reads more like something a journalist would write because each of them is ostensibly grounded in the real world, with the hints of the mad things just outside of our ken remaining mostly safely outside of our ken. We see their effects but face-to-face encounters with them are brief and are treated as prosaically as the events themselves are.

Overall, though, Lovecraft is most appealing to people who enjoy words; quantities and varieties of them. If you prefer your narration terse then you'll find yourself at a disadvantage, heh.

Somewhat off-topic (I think?), but I strongly recommend Simon R. Green's Secret History series to anyone who enjoys the content and theme of Lovecraft's writing, if not his style. It doesn't pertain to the Cthulhu mythos at all, but it does deal with the same style of eldritch beings and forbidden knowledge that Lovecraft writes about. The books aren't dense and there's humor to boot!

Freitag, don't make me copy-paste my Pride & Prejudice drinking game.

Wanna impress me? Next invasion, have Deep One's attach the water boarded zone.

(and no, Corlax are in no way equal to Deep Ones)

It's 106 miles to Grandville, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing faceless helmets

... Hit it ...

UNDERWATER ZONE!

No wonder we had to gear up to be Incarnates... forget Arachnos, we're slugging it out with DEEP ONES!

*****

My first REAL experience with Lovecraft was playing the original ALONE IN THE DARK. (Ahhhhh, how many hours lost to playing that game...) Of course, I didn't KNOW it was Lovecraft at the time (or even years later).

Then I marry Bloodspeaker, who is a huge Lovecraft fan. And as he hears me talking about "this humongous multicolored molecule-looking thing that chases you through the house going WHOMMMWHOMMWHOMM," he knew EXACTLY who I was talking about. I then proceed to tell him about the game, and he nods the entire time, going, "Yep... yep... you did what? How fast did you die?"

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I'm also a Lovecraft fan. My first experience with Lovecraftian themes was through Metallica's two Lovecraft-inspired songs, The Call of Ktulu from Ride the Lightning and The Thing That Should Not Be from Master of Puppets. I first heard The Call of Ktulu when I was very young, after my older brother let me listen to some of his casette tapes, and it absolutely terrified me. So much so, that I came to think "instrumental" meant "really scary song" instead of just "no lyrics" and avoided instrumental songs on casette tapes altogether until I learned otherwise.

Fast forward to a few years later, and I decided to give the song another try now that I was older and braver, and I thought it was pretty awesome. A local radio station here had what they called "Mandatory Metallica" where they played a set of three Metallica songs every night at 10:00. One time they played The Call of Ktulu, and the DJ mentioned that it was based on Lovecraft's work, which prompted me to check it out. And so began my descent into madness, which manifests itself in the Rogue Isles in the form of a Mind Control/Psionic Assault Dominator named Ilithoth.

Lessons I Learned From The Lovecraft Mythos :

While many people were apparently seduced (or bludgeoned, perhaps) by Lovecraft's fondness for the bang sign and ripping off better authors, I was paying a more careful attention, wracking his tomes for the true mysteries of the cosmos. And therein, these eldritch secrets were revealed to me:

Non-white men are evil. Women are evil, although it may be because they are weak and easily possessed by the devil, rather than because of any inherent capacity to do wrong, mom. The best weapon to kill a god? Tugboat. Accreditation is over-rated. All ancient societies wanted to end the world. Anything you don't like is probably trying to kill you. Schizophrenia just means you're doing a good job. English food is disgusting.

As I lived according to these principles, I noticed the deluded and weak men of my acquaintance moving further from me and conspiring behind my back to chain me in an institution for those they claim are mentally unfit to be in society. But it is they who are unfit! They who have shackled society to the whims of dark and coptic spirits, who placate their black masters (TOTALLY NOT RACIST, GUYS) in the capitol houses (OKAY MAYBE A LITTLE) and halls of parliment, they who have -- BY ZEUS'S FLAMES, IT COMES FOR ME!!!!!!

(To be clear, the *mythos* is great. But basically everything great about it was invented by other people.

The Dream Key of Unknown Kadath was okay, I guess.

I will grant that most English food is pretty gross. It gets better the more alcohol it's made with and/or served with.)

Who lives in a lost city under the sea? *GREAT CTHULHU!*

Enormous and eldritch and squamous is he *GREAT CTHULHU!*

If dwelling in madness is somethin’ you wish *GREAT CTHULHU!*

Then head to R’lyeh and swim like a fish!