/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20889553]

I've been reading all of Lovecraft's work, it's excellent
Any similar authors/stories? I know of Clark Ashton Smith, I grabbed a few of his books

[Anonymous No.20889555]

>>20889553
Read Poe and Dunsany, his biggest inspirations.

[Anonymous No.20889574]

King in yellow by Robert W. Chambers, haven't read it yet myself but it's supposed to be good

[Anonymous No.20889587]

>>20889574
Oh I forgot to mention but I've read this too
It's also really fucking good

Its the only book I've read of Chambers, but its definitely around the peak of the genre
Lovecraft himself has a lot of really good stories that approach TKIY but TKIY is able to re-use that plot point it has and build on it further with each short story

[Anonymous No.20889718]

>>20889574
Unfortunately it's not much like Lovecraft and has a lot of dated sci-fi and cheesy romance. The Yellow Sign is a good story though, you can see its influence on later weird writers.

[Anonymous No.20889743]

>>20889553
william hope hodgson is an author he liked, and one of the most atmospheric writers. i read his 'house of the borderlands' in my early 20s and felt like a kid engrossed in an adventure story again

[Anonymous No.20889746]

Algernon Blackwood was a big influence too

[Anonymous No.20889749]

>>20889553
That's Ebola

[Anonymous No.20889755]

>>20889555
>>20889743
>>20889746
All these, and don't forget how much Lovecraft liked Arthur Machen too. Great God Pan and The White People (no, not the way you're thinking of, it's about fae) are both kino

[Anonymous No.20889769]

He wrote an essay Supernatural Horror in Literature where gives his opinion on his favourite authors. Maybe you should read it.

[Anonymous No.20890748]

>>20889718
I've read both and TKIY has a ton of similar themes

[Anonymous No.20891207]

>>20889553
Poe is the most similar, but I don't think anyone was as good as Lovecraft in this type of horror

[Anonymous No.20891230]

Frank Belknap Long, Thomas Ligotti, Ramsey Campbell, Robert W Chambers

[Anonymous No.20892459]

bump

[Anonymous No.20892484]

>>20889553
This guy filtered me hard, I don't get why he's so revered.

[Anonymous No.20892531]

Every story in the mythos is badly written, no idea how people can like him.

[Anonymous No.20893718]

>>20892484
>>20892531
I agree. He's overrated

[Anonymous No.20893762]

>>20889553
you can read the works of edward plunkett, aka lord dunsany
his works inspired the likes lovecraft as well as >>20889574

[Anonymous No.20893831]

>>20889574
First 3 stories of King in Yellow are really good.

Then the twist happens - Chambers wasn't actually a horror writer but a Romance writer who just decided to write a couple of horror stories one day. The rest of this book is a bunch of love stories of Americans in Paris in the late 19th century.

[Anonymous No.20893854]

>>20889553
Robert E. Howard
C.L. Moore
Their protagonists often encountered Old Ones-esque horrors
I dont know about Moore, but Howard was in contact with Lovecraft

[Anonymous No.20893868]

>>20893718
Nobody ever claimed hes a great stylist

[Anonymous No.20893877]

>>20889553
No man who owns a cat with the name Lovecraft's cat bore can be a cucked man.

[Anonymous No.20893878]

>>20889553
>Clark Ashton Smith
Great choice. He's a lot of fun, and good at making up colorful names, which I like.

Blackwood's "The Wendigo" is good, and shares a little DNA with Lovecraft, I think.

[Anonymous No.20893890]

>>20893877

[Anonymous No.20894053]

>>20893877
sweet old niggs. He was a good kot

[Anonymous No.20894067]

>>20894053
This post is the unholy fusion of 4chan edginess and Reddit “heckin pupper” speak.

[Anonymous No.20894071]

>>20889574
Do yourself a favour and stop after the first story. Read the Prophets Paradise and maybe The Yellow Sign if you particularly enjoyed the first one.
Other than that, this books and the stories within it are straight up shit.

[Anonymous No.20894078]

Horror’s Call. I think that’s even why the books are called “Call of the ____.” Become it sounds like Call of Cthulhu. Gardner does pretty much the same “dude this is so scary and I’m literally going insane” stuff that Lovecraft does.

[Anonymous No.20894110]

>>20889553
>and then the MC fell asleep and he woke up in some really crazy place man! it was indescribably weird because it had *proceeds to describe it* im telling you bro, indescribable!
im also going through all of lovecraft's works and so far every single story i've read pretty much feels like that

[Anonymous No.20894650]

>>20894067
theres nothing edgy about it, you dumb nigger

[Anonymous No.20895214]

>>20893854
This is a pretty interesting little essay about Howard's references to Lovecraft's writings in his work.
https://kingsofthenight0.tripod.com/mythos.htm

The Black Stone is probably the one story he wrote that's closest to a Lovecraft tale. It's basically his take on Lovecraft's shtick. Then there's stuff like Xuthal of the Dusk that has Conan go head to head with a freaky ambphibious tentacle monster. Not a very Lovecraftian story otherwise but the monster itself is.

[Anonymous No.20895243]

>>20894078

Begone unholy demon.

[Anonymous No.20895516]

>>20889553
picrel might be interesting if you already read the classics mentioned itt. Don't expect too much but it is quite well-written

[Anonymous No.20895550]

>>20889553
The Ceremonies and The Events at Poroth Farm by T.E.D. Klein
A couple of Ramsey Campbell novels like Midnight Sun and Ancient Images
Karl Edward Wagner's short stories, especially Sticks

[Anonymous No.20895630]

>>20895550
>>20895516
>>20893854
>>20893878
>>20889746
>>20889555
These are all great recommendations, I've been looking to absorb as much of this genre as possible!
Thank you all a ton

[Anonymous No.20896049]

Ligotti's short stories are excellent; try the collection Songs of a Dead Dreamer. I think he's better than Lovecraft.

[Anonymous No.20896060]

>>20889553
>Its excellent
I haven't cringed that hard in a very long time.

[Anonymous No.20896069]

>>20896060
What literature would you qualify as excellent?

[Anonymous No.20896088]

>>20896069
Laird Barron is better

[Anonymous No.20896100]

>>20896060
Saying that shit on 4chan of all places, thats rich

[Anonymous No.20896111]

>>20896088
What would you recommend of his to start?

[Anonymous No.20896132]

>>20896111
The Croning for novel. Occultation for short stories.

[Anonymous No.20896153]

>>20896132
Thanks. I'll check out Occultation.

[Anonymous No.20896177]

Frank Belknap Long is another good one. Robert Bloch seems to mostly write kitschy stories that don't take themselves too seriously, and I was seriously put off by a direct sequel he wrote to (I believe) the Color out of Space where the moral of the story was some Cold War nukes=bad thing.

I recommend browsing HorrorBabble and looking for minor Weird Stories authors similar to Lovecraft. Even if you don't like listening to audiobooks you can learn a lot of great stories and names. Also, go listen to Edward French's reading of The Night Wire. A rare story because a one hit wonder author.

[Anonymous No.20896212]

>>20895214
Wolfshead also has some more Lovecraft-esque stuff, but really it reminded me more of Clark Ashton Smith.

>>20893878
Seconding Blackwood. Blackwood is the greatest supernatural horror author of all time, but it isn't always straight scares, sometimes it's just his occult interests bleeding through and making him write a great story. His John Silence stories are my favorites.

If you like ghosts too, there's a lot of great stuff out there. M.R. James, Walter de la Mare, H.R. Wakefield, William Hope Hodgson, Benson (try The Upper Berth). The story "Gateway of the Monster" is one of my favorites. Bite Sized Audio Classics does a lot of great forgotten stories too. I really enjoyed Christmas on a Haunted Hulk recently.

[Anonymous No.20896327]

>>20892484

>It's a case of, "Seinfeld is unfunny" syndrome. When that story was written, audiences' idea of cults, monsters, gods mostly came from existing religions and folklore. They were familiar with stories of mortals making gods lose their temper, people getting devoured by giants or other mythical creatures, and all sorts of violence we associate with classic horror. The idea that you could ram an entire yacht into a god's head, tearing into its flesh only for the god to be mildly annoyed as its body effortlessly knits itself back together was more unsettling than anything else audiences back then could've imagined. Of course, such tropes are pretty common today thanks to Lovecraft's influence. Back then, the idea that humanity is utterly unimportant in the grand scheme was enough to make the masses deeply anxious.

[Anonymous No.20896661]

I like this thread.