Cthulhu Newbie

[dominic]

Hi guys,
I'm a Cthulhu newbie :oops:
Can anyone recommend some good Lovecraft books to read so I can catch up with the rest of you guys?
I've started reading "The Call of Cthulhu and other weird stories" compiled by Penguin books.  What other books should I read?

Thanks!

[PeteMurray]

You really only need to read Call of Cthulhu and a handful of stories to quickly get Lovecraft's style and viewpoint. Lovecraft, like REH, really only wrote six or seven stories over and over and over.

When you're reading him, pay attention to how the supernatural works. It's always beyond mortal comprehension, it's never benign or beneficial, and it may not even take note of human beings, except as insignificant irritations. Ignore the race stuff.

[Ricco]

At the mountains of madness. Dagon and other Tales

[dominic]

Is there some kind of Cthulhu primer where I can catch up at least on the different types of monsters, what they look like, and what they are supposed to be?

[Prof.Witchheimer]

http://www.hplovecraft.com/creation/bestiary.asp

[dominic]

Thanks Prof, that was useful.

What were those 2 things that we played with at your place in July?  The monster that chased Doc Thompson in Cairo - was that a ghoul?

And what is that zombie monkey thing that we used in the Pirate game?

[Hammers]

Wikipedia has a surprisingly large set pf articles on the Chtuhlu mythos.

I have a a couple of Radio show recordings I could copy and send you. The first is 'The Rats in the Wall' which is of the expedition type. I found it rather scary. The second is "The Statement of Randolph Carter" which is, if I remember correctly, about cultists.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Thanks Prof, that was useful.

What were those 2 things that we played with at your place in July?  The monster that chased Doc Thompson in Cairo - was that a ghoul?

that was a dimensional shambler

And what is that zombie monkey thing that we used in the Pirate game?

monkey? can't remember. Maybe a sand dweller? a pic?

[dominic]

Hi Prof, this guy:

[Ricco]

The gallery at Bob Murch's Pul Figures, has Bob's Cthulu figs on it. All close to how I "saw" them in my minds eye.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Dominic, that's a sand dweller

[dominic]

Thanks Prof!

Now, where can I read up about all these Miskatonic expeditions to Egypt, the Mekong and the Amazon?

[P_Clapham]

Lovecraft didn't write those stories actually.  Quite a bit of that can be attributed to Chaosium the company that produces the Call of Cthulhu rpg.  As far as expeditions go.... it's "At the Mountains of Madness' in Antartica and "The Shadow out of time" which has some action in Australia.  As far as Egyptian stories go... read "Imprisoned with the Pharohs", Lovecraft ghost wrote it for Hodunni.

[dominic]

Thanks!  Just started reading Mountains of Madness and it's fantastic!!  Much better than the short stories collected in "Call of Cthulhu and other weird stories"

[meninobesta]

Lovecraft is THE Cthulhu reference, but there are other writers that take the mythos as a base for their work!

one of those is Brian Lumley! I've read a couple of short stories by him and liked a lot, he delves a little deeper in the mythos than Lovecraft (usualy HP only gives hints on the terror that lies beyond, it is a way to add mystery to his tales)

this extra information Lumley adds to his stories is great, I remmember that in one of his stories the "hero" reads parts from De Vermis Mysteriis, and I was reading the "actual" pages like a kid, wondering to myself "mmmmmm so! this is it!" , Surely I lost some sanity in the process, but it was worth it

see his homepage:
http://www.brianlumley.com/

and if you need to find something in the web you can always use:
http://www.cthuugle.com/