I’m interested. I remember when I first discovered Lovecraft, nobody I knew was reading his work, so I had no one to discuss it with.

Well you've come to the right place, Khajiit. I'm a Lovecraft neophyte. Eager to learn.

What are you thinking about reading next?

Next in my real-life book is The White Ship. I read it the other day, but didn't have many insights. A man spies a ship which comes by the waterway near where he lives, and one day gets invited onto the ship. From there on the story gets pretty trippy & dreamlike. But I didn't feel inspired to discuss too deeply.

If you'd like, sure, you can provide any insights you might have!

One thing. Stephen King's Duma Key has a ghost ship which the protagonist enters several times if I remember correct. I believe King drew some inspiration from The White Ship because the main guy (an artist) in Duma Key also experiences dreamlike, trippy stuff in King's story. King goes way beyond what Lovecraft was able to write, but only because it's a novel versus a short story.

There is a map of Lovecraft's Dreamlands that was released in one of the Call of Cthulhu RPG supplements. You can find pics of it online. Here is a link to a picture of the areas that I believe are involved in the White Ship. It makes it feel a little less random and like stuff just thrown against the wall, when you can see it laid out on a map like this.Click on the map to zoom into it.

Here is the full map of the Dreamlands Again, you probably need to click to zoom in to full size.

A map! Yes, that helps a lot. So it's not just random names being picked out for locations then, there is a landscape where this all takes place.

In celebration of HP's birthday, the HP Lovecraft Historical Society is giving away a free copy of their audiobook of The Shunned House. Get it here! It is probably only free today, so don't wait.

Ooo! Yersh. Their stuff is good.

I read The Terrible Old Man yesterday, and it's a quick story. Just two or three pages in my book.

The Old Man is rumored to be really old. He's got coins from two centuries ago in his supposed possession, and it's implied (sort of) that he was around when these coins were actually minted, or so goes the rumors. He lives in the town of Kingsport, a typical small New England burg with lots of gossip. There are a rumors about the Old Man's prowess it seems, and after three robbers are found dead (they were trying to steal from the man, who didn't keep his wealth in banks) seems these rumors could be true. In the end, their bodies are all slashed up and stomped upon by bootheels, and it's assumed the Old Man is responsible.

I love how the robbers showed up in their "motor-car". Two words, joined by a hyphen. They couldn't just say "car" because at the time there were streetcars, trolley cars, train cars; they had to be specific, I guess. Motor-cars were still a new thing back then, the way graphics cards and all these gadgets we have are also new, in the broad spectrum of technological history, at least. We have seen the entire initial history of personal computers, numerous screens, tablets, cell phones, all within our lifetimes, is what I mean. Cars were the same way.

Anyway, this story just seems sort of ... I dunno. Not really as fleshed out as some others?
Lovecraft never actually describes what happens between the Old Man and the three robbers; the final moments of the perpetrators is shrouded in mystery.

Just as the tale gets going, it's already over, and maybe it's because Old Man appeared in an amateur publication called Tryout according to someone at Wikipedia. "It is notable as the first story to make use of Lovecraft's imaginary New England setting, introducing the fictional town of Kingsport." Hmm, interesting. So this it where it all began, wow.

I'm speculating here, but does it not seem as though Tryout contacted Lovecraft at some point in 1920. "We've got a slot needs to be filled.... just over a thousand words." Lovecraft gets to work. But he's (I'm guessing) busy with other writings all the time. Old Man is not really one of his top projects. Almost seems like filler.

I started to read The Crawling Chaos today, but it's a longer story involving some vivid opium hallucinations. Really am sinking my eyes into it.

This post has been edited by Renee: Feb 17 2025, 04:38 AM

There's a game with the same name on the GOG. It's also very, very short, I've played through it once, though the word "through" is a bit exaggerated in this case, because just like in the book, you're done with it within a few minutes.

The Terrible Old Man is one of Lovecraft's early writings. So I don't think it was written on demand. But I don't know. I believe it feels less polished simply because those were his early days, and he was still working out his style. It is not until The Call of Cthulhu in 1926 that he really hits his stride. Though you might put that earlier in 1923 with The Rats in the Walls.

He did do some other bespoke work. For example, The Moon-Bog is a story he wrote for the St. Patrick's Day edition of an amateur press that he was part of. It is set in Ireland you see. I think his only story to do that. It is also not really one of the good ones. Not a bad one, just sort of mid for him.

English people still use the term "Motor-Car" today. Historian and podcaster James Holland uses the term in documentaries.

I feel like “The Terrible Old Man” and the guy in “The Picture in the House” are what Lovecraft aspired to be had he reached an old age, lol

Maybe he succeeded. Maybe he is just waiting for the stars to be right to rise once more.

In his house in Providence, dead Lovecraft waits dreaming.