In Search of Stories Comparable to H.P Lovecraft's 'Dagon'

[Vaal]

Hey there. I'm 17 years of age, living in the UK and currently studying English Language at AS level. For my assignment I have been asked to write a creative piece of literature influenced by the writing styles and techniques applied by authors I have studied. As my primary piece to evaluate I have chosen 'Dagon', a short cosmic horror piece written by H.P Lovecraft, however we are advised to avoid using multiple pieces written by the same author, and so I am in search of a literature piece that falls into the horror genre. The piece also needs to appear within the first or third-person, and be in a narrative format.

Thank you in advance, and please forgive any formatting errors or lack of forum etiquette as it is my first time posting here.

P.S I shall post the finished writing piece when it is complete, if that interests anyone.

[Calidore]

I'll be looking forward to reading it.

Re. other pieces: What other authors have you studied?

[PeterL]

You might look at stories by Robert Howard, Fritz Leiber, and L. Sprague de Camp, ll of whom were influenced by Lovecraft. There have been occasional stories by others. What features of Lovecraft are you trying to capture?

[McGrain]

Here's the thing:nobody writes like Lovecraft. Absolutely nobody. The main themes of this story (Which i picked up for the first time in about ten years last night, weirdly enough) are isolation and alienation, but they are entirely cosmic in nature (note the way Lovecraft totally skips the escape from the German submarine...a story on its own for almost any other writer).

You can find stories and novels a penny about isolation that are on the right side of the "classic" line but most of them are about social isolation and all that ****. They don't really fit.

Try "Survivor Type" by Stephen King for some of the similar themes, if it will fly academically (it might not).

http://www.krypta-smierci.neostrada.pl/ebooks/Stephen%20King%20-%20Survivor%20Type.html

Frankenstien is a great fit if you have the time, or have already read it.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a fit

http://www.poemuseum.org/works-fall.php

Good luck.

[PeterL]

It is true that there has been nothing quite like Lovecraft's writing published since, and I doubt that many editors would accept his writing, if it were submitted now. The custom has become to publish what looks familiar.

[McGrain]

Does anybody remember Gould's Book Of Fish? I thought we'd turned a bit of a corner with that one.

[Vaal]

You might look at stories by Robert Howard, Fritz Leiber, and L. Sprague de Camp, ll of whom were influenced by Lovecraft. There have been occasional stories by others. What features of Lovecraft are you trying to capture?

I'd like to thank you all (in particular PeterL for introducing me to Robert Howard, whose writings I have developed more of a personal interest in) for the suggestions you have offered. After speaking to my teachers and researching the course a little more in-depth I have chosen to use Nyarlathotep, focusing on imitating the Lovecraft style of writing which I do understand to be a difficult task indeed. I did previously plan to post the finished piece, which is now done, but I have chosen to avoid any controversy stemming from plagiarism prior to the marking of my assessment and so now I'm not so sure that this will be the case.

[PeterL]

I'd like to thank you all (in particular PeterL for introducing me to Robert Howard, whose writings I have developed more of a personal interest in) for the suggestions you have offered. After speaking to my teachers and researching the course a little more in-depth I have chosen to use Nyarlathotep, focusing on imitating the Lovecraft style of writing which I do understand to be a difficult task indeed. I did previously plan to post the finished piece, which is now done, but I have chosen to avoid any controversy stemming from plagiarism prior to the marking of my assessment and so now I'm not so sure that this will be the case.

I modelled a story after Lovecraft a few years ago. The story is fairly good, but editors have not jumped at it.

I still wonder parts of Lovecraft's writing did you try to imitate? If you regularly try to mimic sstyles, then I would suggest that you read Styles and Structures by Charles Kay Smith.

[ralfyman]

Some references are given here:

http://suite101.com/article/hp-lovecrafts-dagon-a316657

[Vaal]

Since I'm unable to post my 'actual' piece, I decided I could perhaps share another piece within which I attempted to copycat Lovecraft's approach to Nyarlathotep. I just began writing this piece earlier this day, and so even though you may imagine this to be a short excerpt, it is actually the literature in its entirety as of now (lol)

"Most queer of all things was the ineptitude I felt on that day. There hung loosely a state of hysteria in the air which would appear insurmountable; if not for the drape of stillness which had nulled entirely the dismay that otherwise would have encapsulated the city. The many hierophants, magi, tarot readers and various other spiritual figures of the city had sensed this change, as had I, yet no man dared contemplate the severity of the overhanging darkness. It was, if I recall, in the month of March, a period within which local agriculture typically flourished, but no more. This year carried with it unforeseen weather fluctuations, so that even the most adept of astronomers could only stargaze in parallels of absolute wonder architected by the reaches of intrigue and folk superstition. This deviance was reflected too in the political face of the city, the leaders conducted their businesses inundated the whole time by a peculiar fear, a fear inimitable by any known work of fiction or mythological account.

The clouds wept with uncertainty during the short days, and each night the waning moon reached out only to be raped by the solemn grasp of the hollow night. This obscurity knew no subtlety nor did it display any appreciation of the intricacies of mercy. To even the greatest of minds there was now a concern. No known scientific hypothesis could begin to delve into the realities of what it was that the people of Cairo faced. A reality beyond words, beyond imagery and perhaps even beyond itself."

I welcome and encourage all criticism and/or feedback. I'm young, and have much to learn :)