The cthulu mythos

[Mr.lucifer]

Anyone read anything by hp lovecraft or anything in the cthulu mythos? In my opinion ,hp lovecraft is a classic author and is considered the second greatest horror wirter since poe.

[Dark Muse]

I have read several stories by Lovecraft including the cthulu mythos. He is an interesting writer though I have to admit I prefer Poe over Lovecraft. I would not say that I dislike Lovecraft but I do not find his stories as truly frightening. They are more for me dark fantasy than horror. He goes too over the top in making his stories too much beyond reality that they are not truly scary because they do not play on any actual real life fear, they are too extreme.

But I enjoy his writing and surrealism of it, and it is interesting the way in which he does play upon the basic general idea of "fear of the unknown." And I think reading them under the right circumstances might give them an eerie effect, but while his stories are macabre in nature, they are not going to make it hard to sleep at night.

I also find that some of his stories are rather predictable, the way he sets them up, you can see a mile away where it is going and what is going to happen, and I think surprise or shock is part of what makes horror good, but with Lovecraft, the endings of his story lack a certain power because he made it clear from the start where it was going.

[Leland Gaunt]

I love HP Lovecraft, though, I have to spread reading his stories over a fairly large period of time. If I read too many in a row the phrase "to horrible to describe" crops up more times than I feel is necessary.

[Lokasenna]

I'm very fond of Lovecraft - I would even rate him above Poe. As a masterful horror writer, I think his use of inferrence rather than straight description is highly effective.

[Mr.lucifer]

I think some think of him as a canonical arthur because of his influnce.

[PeterL]

Lovecraft was an excellent writer; alas, he was not widely recognised as great until decades after his death. Especially in his later writings he showed great skill in creating tone through the language, which is difficult, and most writers don't even try it.

[Lokasenna]

I think some think of him as a canonical arthur because of his influnce.

I'm inclined to agree! That said, I'm no modernist...