Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lovecraft

Z????

leotrotsky — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:55:41 -0800

Can't believe I'm blowing a question on this: what lovecraftian two syllable unicode font mangling word, starting with a Z, was posted on this site a little while back? reinterpreted comics were involved

Looking for more details of Salem-as-Arkham

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:37:38 -0800

I'm looking for details about H.P. Lovecraft's visits to Salem, MA. Thanks to Google Books and Scholar, I know HPL visited the Salem area pretty routinely (1923, 1929), basing his fictional towns of Arkham and Kingsport off of Salem and Marblehead respectively. I'm looking for details of his visits - where he went, where he stayed, etc. Being a true 'man of letters' I'm pretty sure he would have written about his visits in some of his correspondence.

However, the sheer volume of correspondence (and surprisingly high cost of bound editions of his selected letters) is pretty daunting. So before I unleash the dogs of ILL, I was hoping that there was some sort of online guide or resource I could consult first in order to better target my interlibrary loans.

An Index to the Selected Letters of H.P. Lovecraft by Joshi seems like a place to start, but my best source for the volume is prying it from Harvard's cold, dark vaults and I'm a'feared of the hound, so I'm looking for other options.

The eventual goal is to produce a pamphlet and/or podcast walking tour of Salem-as-Arkham, sort of a ghost walk through a bit of Lovecraft country. It would combine details from his fiction ("Here's where Carter sat in The Unnamable, watch out for shoggoths."), his life ("Lovecraft slept here."), and city sites that are evocative of the Mythos ("This building is not Arkham Asylum - that's in Danvers - but it is architecturally similar." or "The Peabody-Essex has a vast collection of items imported from the Orient by Salem merchants. What dread stone idols lie moldering in its basement, whispering their secrets to the empty air?").

I've got all the references from his tales that I need (although more are always welcome) and my fertile imagination can produce enough eldritch symmetry between the Mythos and Salem. It's the hard biographical data that I need a leg up on.

The Fungi from Yuggoth, on the Internet

Caduceus — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:38:29 -0800

Can anyone point me towards online collections of H.P. Lovecraft's poems? I used to be able to find some, but my old sources seem to be gone and my Google-fu is failing me tonight. I figure there are enough Lovecraft fans around that someone might have link handy. It's stupid that I don't have a print collection, and I plan to remedy that soon, but in the meantime I need to look through some of his poems. Thanks.

Lovecraftian Lawsuits Pt II

Artw — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:56:28 -0800

This is a bit of a follow up to this question. I'm contemplating a small comics project staring a fictionalised version of HP Lovecraft (something I've done before but thsi will be slight higher profile) and the title will be something along the lnes of "H.P. Lovecraft's World of Weirdness". Is the use of his name in the title like that, which might imply some kind of authorship or endorsement or somesuch, likely to bring the Lovecraft estate down on me like a ton of bricks?

You're my mommy. Know what today is? Today is Mommy's Day.

Durn Bronzefist — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:47:49 -0800

Great Lovecraft-inspired movies? Well I used the search mechanism, and wow are there a lot of Lovecraft threads. And also somewhat inexplicably "Posts tagged with food by Astro Zombie". I will enjoy reading those. But I didn't see an answer to my question there, my question being:

What great Lovecraft-inspired movies are there? I saw In The Mouth of Madness in the theatre in '95 and hated it. Since then I've become both a huge Lovecraft and John Carpenter fan, and watching it again tonight, well, it blew me away. One reviewer said it captured the Lovecraft atmosphere better than any other film. I've seen some straight adaptations -- From Beyond and Re-Animator, of course. I could start hunting down everything on the wiki list. But ITMOM isn't on there because it isn't an adaptation per se. So any other great Lovecraft-inspired movies out there?

Lovecraft monsters destroying cities?!

kookywon — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:23:36 -0800

I'm looking for an online story about modern warfare and lovecraftian monsters. Can you help me find it again? I found a link to this story awhile ago. The main premise was that there was a secret project to develop a super weapon. The Russians (?) had been on a similar path and were the first to unleash the weapon. I didn't get to read it all, but I think the secret super weapons were lovecraftian type monsters who were under some sort of control. It was written in the style of debriefing documents. It may have been written sometime in the late 80's.

Cthulhu fhtagn! Now feed me!

Astro Zombie — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:44:32 -0800

H.P. Lovecraft-themed foods? Am Going to a party on Friday where we shall be watching the silent version of Call of Cthulhu and playing some Lovecraft-themed board game. Would like to bring appropriate food. Please suggest. Vegetarian options very welcome.

Because that's how I roll with the Elder Gods, yo.

Most unspeakable Call of Cthulhu RPG scenarios.

Anything — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:56:03 -0800

Most unspeakable Call of Cthulhu RPG scenarios. This summer I intend to get some old friends together to play some Call of Cthulhu. I'd like you to suggest some really good scenarios and tell me why you've liked them; describe the premise, perhaps give some creepy anecdotes from your own play, etc.

Scenarios with lots of readily usable detail are particularly welcome, as are ones that are freely downloadable, from fan sites and such, as long as they are well written.

If I infringe Lovecraftian copyrights will my soul be eaten?

Artw — Wed, 24 May 2006 15:29:55 -0800

What is the copyright status of works derived from the Cthulhu Mythos? more specifically, could someone just put out their own book, movie or comic extending the Mythos (and using shared characters) or would they have to get permission and pay someone first? I found some information on the existing works here but I'm more interested in what happens when someone creates new ones.