kiwistar
Creeper
Through the looking glass
Posts: 7
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Post by kiwistar on Apr 4, 2009 19:32:00 GMT
Some of you may remember my unending Terry Pratchett kick. Now sixteen Discworld novels (alongside other books of course) and still going strong. Currently on Soul Music. Also a huge Pratchett fan, and Soul Music is one of the best! I've got all of them up to the 25th one, cant remember what that ones called. Havent read any of them in ages, think I will start on them again starting with The Light Fantastic very soon Currently reading Dan Brown, Angels & Demons (I refuse to see the film as the Da Vinci Code film sucked!)
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Post by alx on Apr 5, 2009 10:39:27 GMT
I'd like to publicly apologize if I've unintentionally insulted or offended anyone in my never ending campaign to end the misuse of the Cthulhu Mythos. Unauthorized crossovers never fail to infuriate me and I don't mean bad fanfics... I feel the same way about a certain team up that some Final Fantasy fans felt about Kingdom Hearts. The way some Silent Hill fans would feel about the inclusion of Pokemon in the next installment
But simply because I feel strongly about something doesn't give me the right to bash everyone else over the head with it. If you didn't appreciate my rabid views on the subject, please accept my sincere apologies...
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lemex
Mumbler
SHF Scribe '11[/b
Posts: 94
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Post by lemex on Apr 5, 2009 21:49:13 GMT
Have you sussed who killed Joseph Curwen the first time?You mean the ghost at the end? It appears to be Merlin of the legend of King Arthur; given the little hints Lovecraft gave. And don't worry about it. I'm a fanatical H.P. Lovecraft fan too and completely understand what you mean. The Mythos Is something that should not be spoilt like it is by some of the newer writers. I'm wanting to write my own Mythos stories that is totally faithful to HPL's original vision. Hell I'm such a fan one of my goals in life is to lay flowers at his headstone in Providance.
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Father Vincent
Lying Figure
What's wrong? You don't trust me?
Shuwatch!
Posts: 367
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Post by Father Vincent on Apr 8, 2009 2:28:13 GMT
Some of you may remember my unending Terry Pratchett kick. Now sixteen Discworld novels (alongside other books of course) and still going strong. Currently on Soul Music. Also a huge Pratchett fan, and Soul Music is one of the best! I've got all of them up to the 25th one, cant remember what that ones called. Havent read any of them in ages, think I will start on them again starting with The Light Fantastic very soon Yeah, I love the spoofs of real band names, it was fun to try and figure them all out. Of course, as a huge They Might Be Giants fan, my favorite was "We're Certainly Dwarfs".
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lemex
Mumbler
SHF Scribe '11[/b
Posts: 94
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Post by lemex on Apr 8, 2009 14:57:33 GMT
Just finnished The Dark Half by Stephen King, starting Whistleblower by Tess Gerrritson tomorrow.
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Post by alx on Apr 9, 2009 7:31:40 GMT
Glad to hear that you didn't take my post the wrong way, I'd hate to brown you off unintentionally... Especially not another HPL fan
Yes, I was referring to Merlin but you're right- it was at the end, not the first time around (tis been a while since I read CDW)
So did you find King's use of psychopomps a shameless attempt to prop up a weak plot by stealing a page from Dunwitch Horror, or is it only me?
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lemex
Mumbler
SHF Scribe '11[/b
Posts: 94
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Post by lemex on Apr 9, 2009 12:44:52 GMT
So did you find King's use of psychopomps a shameless attempt to prop up a weak plot by stealing a page from Dunwitch Horror, or is it only me? Not only that, can think of more than a few King stories that shamelessly ripped off Lovecraft. For example- The Tommiknockers by Stephen King and The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft (I don't need to explain that one). N. By King - this seems to be a rip off of both The Dunwich Horror and The Wisperer in Darkness (my favourite tale) for example; in N. the entity is named Chun; remarkably close to Cthulhu AND Cthun (spelt Kthun) is a name mentioned in The Wisperer in Darkness. The circle of stones in the story also reminded me of Sentinel Hill in The Dunwich Horror and saved exactly the same purpose. Randolph F'agg(tell me this does not also scream Randolph Carter) is just a bad copy of Nyarlathotep. Lisey's Story - Boo'ya Moon was just a bad copy of The Dreamlands tales I thought, and especially The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and The White Ship. I don't mean to say Stephen King isn't a bad writer, I think he is rather good and entertaining and that's why I buy his works, but I find he does tend to take a lot from other writers and Lovecraft in particular. But when he does his own stuff, things like Misery and Salem's Lot, I find him to be an absolute joy. I don't mean to lay bad eggs to any King fans here, these are just my observations.
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Father Vincent
Lying Figure
What's wrong? You don't trust me?
Shuwatch!
Posts: 367
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Post by Father Vincent on Apr 9, 2009 21:03:43 GMT
@lemex: Stephen King runs kinda hot and cold, I think. Clive Barker is the only living author who can actually scare me. I've just finished reading his short story The Forbidden (scared the hell out of me, especially since I already have a certain aversion to bees) and tonight I'm gonna rent the film version, Candyman.
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Post by alx on Apr 10, 2009 5:36:59 GMT
Amusingly enough, King's earlier work shows a massive Lovecraft influence but he hadn't yet resorted to outright plagiarism. Look at the short stories Graveyard Shift and Jerusalem's Lot- heavily inspired by HP but indisputably with original style. Even stories like the Mist and Pet Semetary are well informed by HP yet clearly remain outside the mythos
And then we have the gamut running from unforgivably clumsy references like the Yog-Sothoth Rules! graffiti in Needful Things to the blatantly plagiarized Grandma...
Clive Barker? Now there's a man who knows how to weave a mythos which is brilliantly unique and yet somehow as familiar as the Brother's Grimm. Don't ask me, I still don't know how he does it! If only he would do less Abarat and more of his adult titles... I don't even consider the man to be a horror writer (although he does it better than anyone else) but more of a humanist. The way he can get inside his characters and breathe life into them is damn unnatural
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lemex
Mumbler
SHF Scribe '11[/b
Posts: 94
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Post by lemex on Apr 10, 2009 9:47:13 GMT
Look at the short stories Graveyard Shift and Jerusalem's Lot- In Jerusalem's Lot the evil worm is implied to be Yog-Sothoth itself. So I count it as part of the Lovecraft Mythos (I don't want to call it the 'Cthulhu Mythos' as I just don't like August Derlith's work, Derlith never wrote an original story in his entire life, and his 'Post-humous collaborations' are just crap. He is the Dan Abnett of yesteryear). Clive Baker is a man I have respect for. I can see Poe him him - like he must have gone to bed with a copy of The Fall of the House of Usher and other writings tucked under his arm - but he is still a damn good writer. He can set the scene and keep the readers attention throughout, building the tension like a deamon. The Hellbound heart is a modern classic.
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Post by alx on Apr 11, 2009 2:39:29 GMT
Yog-sothoth is a worm? Not according to HPL he wasn't. If King thinks that it is a super giant worm then he's an even bigger idiot than previously thought
Although it occurs to me that Robert E Howard wrote a story with a giant worm in it so I guess I must retreat to my previous stance of having nothing nice to say about King
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lemex
Mumbler
SHF Scribe '11[/b
Posts: 94
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Post by lemex on Apr 11, 2009 8:30:09 GMT
And Robert Block's fictional grimore was called De Vermis Mysteriis which translates as 'The Mysterous Worm'; the book the characters in Jerusalem's Lot use to banish the creature.
Sides, King has done some good things. Misery is a personal favourte, as is his short story I Am The Doorway found in the Night Shaft collection.
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Post by alx on Apr 12, 2009 9:13:36 GMT
I liked the Doorway but absolutely hated Misery... That book was so relentlessly depressing. I think Pet Semetary was his last good book but that's only my opinion
BTW- Currently reading The Funhouse by Koontz, after polishing off a grip of Conan books
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lemex
Mumbler
SHF Scribe '11[/b
Posts: 94
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Post by lemex on Apr 12, 2009 13:29:44 GMT
I didn't like Pet Sematary myself. I just didn't like the plot.
I'm considering dropping Whistleblower in favour of Americana by Don Delillo. Whitleblower is just bad.
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Post by Vaco Deus on Apr 13, 2009 0:32:33 GMT
I just started The Road by Cormac McCarthy and God's BALLS is it good.
It paints a bleak, dreary, utterly depressing picture of post-apocalypse America. Here is the plot synopsis:
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food, and each other.
Maks me wanna play Fallout 3 again ;D
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