From: cje@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Cthulhu's Jersey Epopt)
Newsgroups: alt.horror
Subject: Re: Lovecraft/Barker
Date: 13 Apr 92 17:26:26 GMT
Organization: Miskatonic U. Computer Operations & User Services

Some discussion of various "Lovecraftian" anthologies preceded this.

brackney@author.ecn.purdue.edu (Larry J Brackney) writes:

>>the Arkham volume: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft and Divers hands.
>>Although the names of individual contributors in that volume do not come to
>>mind, stories like "The Space Eaters" and "Sticks" are incredible.  They 
>>really retain the "look and feel" of Lovecraft's work, but are executed
>>in a much more accessible style.  Opinions?

I'd agree with Larry that the best "Lovecraftian" stories are those written in
the author's own style but using HPL's themes/creations.  What I find
interesting is the space of about 50 years between the writing of the two
stories named above.  During HPL's lifetime, he let aspiring writers use his
ideas (cf. Bloch and Long) but encouraged them to develop their own styles.
Bloch, for example, began writing in HPL's style then slowly moved to his own.

It was August Derleth who somehow gave the impression that a "Lovecraftian"
story had to be written in a Lovecraftian style, an impression that lasts to
this day.  It was understandable when Derleth did it after HPL's death: he was
trading on HPL's name with his "posthumous collaborations" in order to raise
the money to publish HPL's own works in hardcover.  What boggles me is that he
continued doing HPL pastiche in stories under his own name (whereas he had not
been anywhere near so imitative in his Mythos fiction written while HPL was
alive).  He was also writing the (excellent) Sherlock Holmes pastiches with
Solar Pons at the time.  From that, and from comments made in HPL's letters
about Derleth keeping his pulp fiction and serious lit sides separate, I can
only conclude that he found it easier to write pulp fiction in something other
than his normal writing voice, and found *that* easier by borrowing other
people's voices.

Unfortunately, Derleth encouraged young authors to continue with HPL pastiche
(or, rather, he didn't encourage them to find their own voices as actively as
HPL did).  This led to the early efforts of Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.
Campbell started finding his voice even in that first pastiche anthology, THE
INHABITANT OF THE LAKE, but Lumley took much longer, making detours to
Howardian pastiche first.  And then there's poor old Lin Carter, who pastiched
everyone in sight and never sought a voice of his own.

It's good to see more modern HPL admirers, turned off by the bad pastiches (and
not all pastiche is bad, folks), using their own styles more confidently.
"Sticks" is indeed a fine example of that.  Wagner's "Howardian" work (Kane)
isn't Howard pastiche, either (though he's also done that).

Coming out in paper soon will be LOVECRAFT'S LEGACY, an anthology of modern
horror authors who acknowledge HPL's influences.  It's pretty good; keep an eye
out for it.  It'll be from Tor.

kemnitz@netcom.com (Greg Kemnitz) writes:

>BTW, I read somewhere (maybe here) that there was an additional volume
>out titled *New* tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.  

As AH's address has already been reposted, I'll just mention that this is a
very good volume, much better than TALES in terms of content (though TALES is a
beautifully designed book).  I'll give high marks to King's "Crouch End" and
David Drake (yes, David Drake)'s "Than Curse the Darkness".

>I really do love to read new Mythos stories, though, even if I like
>H.P.'s best, an am always looking for ones that I haven't read.  I've
>read some of the "collaborations" with Derleth,and "The Lurker at the
>Threshold" seems to be about the best--and not nearly as good as most of
>the stories in "Tales...."

You might also look into AH's NAMELESS PLACES, edited by Gerald Page.  This was
the first post-Derleth attempt to do an anthology like Derleth did, and it
contains many good Mythos stories (and some bad ones, too).

If you can find it in a used bookstore, DAW's THE DISCIPLES OF CTHULHU is an
excellent anthology of original Mythos stories.  I especially like those by
Fritz Leiber, Walter C. de Bill, and Brian Lumley (yes...).