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March 28, 2024, 11:57:57 AM

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Lovecraft and Presence

Started by Hey, Punk!, November 14, 2018, 09:02:02 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

I finished The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath yesterday and it's my favourite work of his so far, there's a little bit of filler in the middle but as a whole it's a really fun ride and Randolph Carter's a very likeable lead, and the bits with the cats made me laugh a few times which surprised given how bleak the material normally is.

In other Lovecraft news Nicholas Cage is going to be making an adaptation of "The Colour Out Of Space" which I've yet to read so have no idea how good an idea that is, but it might not actually happen as Richard Stanley is to direct it. I hope it does though as I'm fond of Stanley's work (and he makes for a great talking head in Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau) and it'd be great to see him working regularly again.

https://news.avclub.com/nicolas-cage-is-teaming-with-a-very-unexpected-director-1831986657

NoSleep

I haven't read The Colour Out Of Space for years but recollect it was rather good and ahead of its time, with beings from outer space hiding in the backwoods or some such. It might not seem so remarkable as a movie now because there's been plenty similar over the years. It isn't the most Lovecraftian of tales.

BlodwynPig

No no no. Color Out of Space does not have "beings" in it at all.

It's my second favourite story after Dreams in a Witch-House (and maybe Beyond the Wall of Sleep). I won't spoil it, but its as close to Dawn of the Dead eeriness as he gets I think.

Pingers

Cheers for the update SMBH. It's always a bit frustrating when it's announced that a film is going to be made, because it often means it won't be out for 3 years, if at all, such is the glacial pace of concept to release. I hope it does get made, not least because it would probably make it more likely that At the Mountains of Madness will get made.

Will have to re-read The Colour out of Space, it's been ages.

NoSleep

Quote from: BlodwynPig on January 24, 2019, 01:52:11 AM
No no no. Color Out of Space does not have "beings" in it at all.

Just read a precis and stand corrected. Having been reminded, it was no mistake that I recalled it was one of the best. I must have added the creatures (some lizard men living in caves out in the backwoods?) from another story of his that I read around the same time.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: NoSleep on January 24, 2019, 10:29:41 AM
Just read a precis and stand corrected. Having been reminded, it was no mistake that I recalled it was one of the best. I must have added the creatures (some lizard men living in caves out in the backwoods?) from another story of his that I read around the same time.

Whisperer in the Darkness?

NoSleep

Seems likely that those two stories might have been in a compilation together. Still wondering where the lizard/reptilian connection comes into my recollection as Whisperer has fungoid beings.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: NoSleep on January 24, 2019, 02:57:20 PM
Seems likely that those two stories might have been in a compilation together. Still wondering where the lizard/reptilian connection comes into my recollection as Whisperer has fungoid beings.

Can't think of any reptilian stories - Deep Ones are of course fishy.

Pingers

Just re-read The Colour Out of Space, it is excellent, a good brooding, lurking horror story.

Small Man Big Horse

The AV Club have run a great article today about the animated film Howard Lovecraft And The Undersea Kingdom which sounds horrendous. So obviously I'm downloading it right now. https://film.avclub.com/maybe-dont-turn-real-life-racist-h-p-lovecraft-into-th-1831995499

Pingers

That sounds truly awful, I look forward to your report back.

NoSleep

Quote from: BlodwynPig on January 24, 2019, 03:09:34 PM
Can't think of any reptilian stories - Deep Ones are of course fishy.

I'm pretty sure it's the fungoid beings from Whisperer In The Darkness now, as I found a passage describing them as "crustacean" in appearance, the ravages of time on my memory doing the rest.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: NoSleep on January 29, 2019, 05:14:54 PM
I'm pretty sure it's the fungoid beings from Whisperer In The Darkness now, as I found a passage describing them as "crustacean" in appearance, the ravages of time on my memory doing the rest.

Yes, it was my first thought, quickly dismissed when you said Reptilian. A good read that. Sort of X-Files-y isn't it.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Pingers on January 29, 2019, 11:28:56 AM
That sounds truly awful, I look forward to your report back.

Annoyingly it stopped at 10% and I haven't been able to obtain it yet. But it is now my life's mission to track it down.

Small Man Big Horse

I've finished the first omnibus now after reading The Silver Key and Through The Gates Of The Silver Key, the former was fun but I struggled a bit with the latter, the mid-section describing Carter's various states of being got a bit dull, though the ending was enjoyable at least. I do plan to read the second omnibus but will have a bit of a break now, it's rare that I enjoy two books by the same author back to back for some unknown reason.

Does Lovecraft ever use metaphors, out of interest? I've noticed he uses a hell of a lot of adjectives, and the occasional simile, but can't remember him using a metaphor at any point (though it's more than possible I glossed over it). Overall I do like him a lot, he creates really unsettling atmospheres and his ideas are brilliant, but I wish he was a bit more playful when it came to use of language.

BlodwynPig

I'll let his publicist know.

"Like a frumpy jellied eel in labour pains, Dagon rose menacingly from the Sarcosian lake"

NoSleep

"The awful squid-head with writhing feelers came nearly up to the bowsprit of the sturdy yacht, but Johansen was out of there like a trout."

NoSleep

There's me taking the piss by editing one of his sentences, but the one that followed has a couple of metaphors:

QuoteThe awful squid-head with writhing feelers came nearly up to the bowsprit of the sturdy yacht, but Johansen drove on relentlessly. There was a bursting as of an exploding bladder, a slushy nastiness as of a cloven sunfish, a stench as of a thousand opened graves, and a sound that the chronicler would not put on paper.

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: BlodwynPig on February 02, 2019, 08:13:51 PM
I'll let his publicist know.

"Like a frumpy jellied eel in labour pains, Dagon rose menacingly from the Sarcosian lake"

See that's both erotic and disturbing and his short stories would definitely have been improved by such a thing.

Quote from: NoSleep on February 02, 2019, 09:04:24 PM
"The awful squid-head with writhing feelers came nearly up to the bowsprit of the sturdy yacht, but Johansen was out of there like a trout."

Quote from: NoSleep on February 02, 2019, 10:25:23 PM
There's me taking the piss by editing one of his sentences, but the one that followed has a couple of metaphors:

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx

Thanks for that, I haven't read that story yet (hopefully it's in the second omnibus I've got) but I'm pleased he did at least use them occasionally rather than describing everything as "horrendous". Not that I don't like his writing style, but he definitely overuses certain words.

Also, does anyone know if there was much discussion of Lovecraft in the Twin Peaks The Return thread? As I definitely felt Lynch was influenced by him, especially when it came to Cooper falling through the void, but also the occupants of the black lodge are somewhat Lovecraftian in feel at times.

Mister Six

Aren't they similes? The only metaphor there is "drove", I think.

NoSleep

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on February 02, 2019, 10:53:34 PMAlso, does anyone know if there was much discussion of Lovecraft in the Twin Peaks The Return thread? As I definitely felt Lynch was influenced by him, especially when it came to Cooper falling through the void, but also the occupants of the black lodge are somewhat Lovecraftian in feel at times.

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,34376.msg3148286.html#msg3148286

Quote from: NoSleep on June 01, 2017, 04:57:04 PM
Twin Peaks is becoming more Lovecraftian this season.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: NoSleep on February 03, 2019, 10:59:02 AM
https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,34376.msg3148286.html#msg3148286

Thanks for that, glad I wasn't the only one having such thoughts, will have to have a read through of the thread later on. Ignoring Shoulders' mad comments about it not being very good of course.

daf

Quote from: Mister Six on February 03, 2019, 05:01:47 AM
Aren't they similes? The only metaphor there is "drove", I think.

Might be missing something obvious here, but isn't 'drove' is a verb? *

Similies and metaphors are quite similar in that two things are compared in both of them, but a quick way (for me) to tell them apart is the use of 'like' or 'as' - eg :

Love is a battlefield = metaphor
Love is like a battlefield = similie

So you are correct in identifying all three as similies :
Quotebursting as of an exploding bladder,
a slushy nastiness as of a cloven sunfish,
a stench as of a thousand opened graves

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* (not getting on my grammatical high horse here - I had to google it as I'm always mixing up my nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives)

BlodwynPig

OK

"Dagon, the indomitable jellied eel of the underworld, rises once more to terrorise the populace of Dummitsville"

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: BlodwynPig on February 03, 2019, 03:25:24 PM
OK

"Dagon, the indomitable jellied eel of the underworld, rises once more to terrorise the populace of Dummitsville"

Needs more penis or vagina action, something like: "Carter, the unstoppable sex machine, mounted the greasy beast and despite the sickening stench ejaculated in seconds."

Mister Six

Quote from: daf on February 03, 2019, 12:45:17 PM
Might be missing something obvious here, but isn't 'drove' is a verb?

Yes, metaphors can be nouns, adjectives and verbs. Since (AFAIK) you don't drive ships, the guy driving on is doing so metaphorically..

Although I can't be bothered to double check whether it actually does apply here.

BlodwynPig

Dagon, the penis-like God penises his penis in perpetuity.

Similie and metaphor?

daf

Quote from: Mister Six on February 03, 2019, 11:34:27 PM
Yes, metaphors can be nouns, adjectives and verbs. Since (AFAIK) you don't drive ships, the guy driving on is doing so metaphorically..

Ah, I see - totally missed that one!

NoSleep

"To drive" has a lot of definitions, so it works validly just as a verb. You can drive cattle and all manner of things.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/drive

mothman

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on December 11, 2018, 03:34:44 PM
I discovered that it was adapted in to graphic novel form a few years ago and was interested to see how they'd portray events, but unfortunately the art is ludicrously bad.




Scene from 1980s French (secret-) historical TV series Once Upon A Time... Thing there.