A coworker who I thought was pretty "normal" (ie. not interested in nerdy things like discussions of how to survive the zombie apocalypse) recently revealed that she is, indeed, a bit nerdy. In fact, she did this by commenting on my copy of the Zombie Survival Guide that waits on my desk in case of emergency, and starting up a conversation about how to survive the zombie apocalypse.
A couple days ago she asked if I knew the name of that one author... she'd heard him recommended as a good horror writer, but couldn't remember the name. He wrote like weird stories or something. Like Cthulhu or something like that?
LOVECRAFT!
So, I just finished typing up an email and sending it off to her so she can dabble in HPL. Hopefully I suggested some good ones to cut her teeth on and not get turned off by Howie's occasionally archaic writing.
Here's the list I sent:
My Favorites (in no particular order)
Pickman's Model - nice quick short story, super creepy, and the ending is great
The Rats in the Walls - man moves into his family's ancestral estate, discovers rats in the walls and ...
The Statement of Randolph Carter - This is a good one, too. I also did an audio drama version of it with some internet friends, but you have to find that on your own if you want to embarrass me by listening to it ;-)
The Cats of Ulthar - be nice to cats ... or else!
Herbert West: Reanimator - HPL's spoof of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (which he did not think very highly of). There's also a super super cheesy 1980's movie adaptation of this story, but it's not that great.
Canonical works - these are ones true devotees and Lovecraft scholars insist are the best examples of his work.
The Call of Cthulhu - considered by many to be the epitomy of Lovecraft's work. It's a good story, but not my absolute favorite
Dagon - quick story, has a great ending that always gives me chills
Nyarlathotep - very bizarre. Like many stories, based off of Lovecraft's dreams
The Shadow Over Innsmouth - Longer story, but pretty good
The Dunwich Horror - don't tell the Lovecraft people I haven't read this one yet!
At the Mountains of Madness - a novella and kind of a long read. It's a great antarctic horror story full of mystery, exploration, and bizarre horror. I'd only recommend this one if you read
It's exciting to be able to share my favorite author with someone.
