Cthulhu Mythos in Prose

H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos have had a significant influence on later works in a wide variety of media. The following is a non-comprehensive alphabetical list of written fiction that, while not direct adaptations of Lovecraft's works, contain references, allusions or themes that have their origin with Lovecraft, or appear likely to have been inspired by his writings.
*A Night in the Lonesome October (Roger Zelazny): Nyarlathotep and other gods are part of the main plot.
*A Song of Ice and Fire (George R. R. Martin): has several Lovecraftian elements in its lore.
**The Black Goat of Qohor is a nod to Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.
**The Drowned God is a nod to Cthulhu.
**Citizens of Carcosa are said to exhibit fish-like physical features much like those of the townsfolk in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".
**The Many Faced God could be equated to Nyarlathotep.
**Lord Dagon Greyjoy was ruler of the Iron Islands. The symbol of his people is a kraken and the chant of their baptism is "What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger", all references to the mythos.
** Martin published a short story pitting Jaime Lannister against Cthulhu on his blog.
*"The Adventure of Exham Priory"
*"The Adventure of the Death-Fetch" (Darrell Schweitzer): a short story featured in the anthology The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a mystery revolves around an expedition to the Plateau of Leng.
*Aliens: Labyrinth (S. D. Perry): a franchise tie-in novel which includes a ship named the Arkham and references senior officer Admiral Pickman.
*Andrew Doran by Matthew Davenport: An Indiana Jones-esque series of pulp adventures starring the titular character battling various mythos entities.
*The Arcanum: features a case involving Nyarlathotep and a witch cult in Arkham which is said to have been solved by Lovecraft himself.
*"At the Mountains of Murkiness" (Arthur C. Clarke): a parody of At the Mountains of Madness.
*Arkham Horror Fiction: The book series written by Fantasy Flight Games and Aconyte Books that takes place in their Arkham Horror setting.
*The Atrocity Archive (Charles Stross): it is implied that mutated and devolved descendants of the Elder Things, now little more than starfishes, inhabit the coast of England, off of Dunwich, one of the bases of the British Antarctic Survey is located over an Elder Thing city and is secretly involved in exploring it, and a philosopher is attracted to Arkham due to the "unique library" there.
*"At the Mountains of Murkiness" (Arthur C. Clarke) parody reprinted in George Locke's collection of the same name.
*Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (Wayne Barlowe): Elder Things (as Old Ones) were one of the species detailed; it retcons that the Elder Things' wings, instead of propelling them through the aether (a concept that had been discredited since Lovecraft's time), were foils that utilized solar wind, essentially transforming them into small solar sails. The appearance of them in the Guide was later used in the supplemental materials that came with the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society's At the Mountains of Madness audio production.
* "The Black Tome of Alsophocus" (1969), first published in New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, is an attempt by Martin S. Warnes to complete Lovecraft's fragment "The Book". Warnes turns the fragment into a tale of possession by Nyarlathotep.
* Books of Cthulhu: An anthology series about pulp heroes battling against supernatural horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos.
*"Boojum" (Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette): a short story featuring a living, sentient space ship (a Boojum) named "Lavinia Whateley" by her pirate crew.
*The Book of the SubGenius: briefly mentions an entity called "Nyardim Thothep".
*The Courtyard (Alan Moore): uses references to "The Horror at Red Hook".
*"Cthulhublanca" (Howard Waldrop as M. M. Moamrath): parody.
*Cthulhu Armageddon by CT Phipps: A series set in a post-apocalypse world where the Great Old Ones have risen and humanity has been driven to surviving in isolated communities.
*The Dark Tower series (Stephen King): the character Randall Flagg was known (among many other names) as Nyarlathotep. In the novel The Dark Tower, a fictional version of King himself mentions Nyarlathotep.
*Discworld (Terry Pratchett): The Light Fantastic, Sourcery and Moving Pictures feature parodies (of what?).
*The Eyes of the Dragon (Stephen King): Leng is mentioned in the novel, where it is described as the place where Flagg's spellbook was written by a man named Alhazred. This implies that Flagg's spellbook is the Necronomicon itself. Flagg may also be the same character as Randall Flagg, another of King's creations, who is implied to be an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
*Fear (L. Ron Hubbard) (connection?)
*The Fisherman (John Langan) (connection?)
*Forever Azathoth and Other Horrors (Peter Cannon): a collection of Lovecraft parodies, including:
**"Scream for Jeeves" (Peter Cannon): combines Lovecraft with P. G. Wodehouse.
*The Friendship of Mortals (Audrey Driscoll; 2010): expanding on Herbert West, primarily focusing on the relationship between West and the narrator, who is neither nameless nor a physician, but a Miskatonic University librarian named Charles Milburn. The plot roughly follows the original, and adheres to the premise that West is undone by his experiments.
*"The Genetics Lecture" (Harry Turtledove): Nyarlathotep is a student.
*Haiyore! Nyaruko-san (2009-2012): a series of Japanese light novels featuring Nyarlathotep, under the name Nyaruko. 
*"The Hanging Stranger": a short horror story by Philip K. Dick, features extra-dimensional insectoids which physically take over humans, leaving only a thin covering of skin, while generating an illusion of normal humanity. The invasion by a race of monsters from beyond, who travel to Earth through a dark portal, must surely be considered as Mythos adjacent, at least (tenuous).
*Hastur Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Michael Huyck Jr.): combines Lovecraft with Russ Meyer's trash-cinema classic Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
*"I, Cthulhu" (Neil Gaiman): a short story featuring a human slave/biographer referred to only as Whateley, possibly in reference to one of the characters in "The Dunwich Horror".
*The Illuminatus! Trilogy: Arkham appears in several scenes. It is mentioned that the Arkham Police Department often has to deal with local cults and disappearing professors from Miskatonic. Leng is mentioned as being the home of an order of cannibal priests.
**The Golden Apple (1975; Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson): book two, Tsathoggua made a cameo, where he was also referred to as Saint Toad.
*"Jerusalem's Lot" (Stephen King): De Vermis Mysteriis is featured.
*Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute: (Jonathan L. Howard): Nyarlathotep appears in the novel as a primary antagonist in the guise of Fear Institute member Gardner Bose.
*The Keep (F. Paul Wilson): De Vermis Mysteriis is featured.
*Kraken (China Mieville): the plot revolves around a preserved specimen of a giant squid, revered as a god by a doomsday cult. This echoes Cthulhu and his cult, which is also focused on the end of the world (tenuous).
*The Laundry Files series (Charles Stross):
**The Jennifer Morgue: the occult branch of the American intelligence community, code-named "Black Chamber", is headquartered in Arkham. Features an electronic device known as a "Tillinghast resonator", which allows the user to see otherwise invisible entities, referencing "From Beyond".
**The Jennifer Morgue, The Fuller Memorandum, The Apocalypse Codex and The Rhesus Chart: one of the characters has a violin made by an "Erich Zahn" which is made from human bones and, when played, eats the soul of the intended victim.
*"Leng" (Marc Laidlaw): Leng is a remote plateau in Tibet where the monks of a lone monastery serve what appears to be an ancient underground fungus and possible hive mind, similar to Ophiocordyceps sinensis, but which infects humans.
*Makai Shoujo R'lyeh Lulu (Kouichi Azakawa): an adult light novel series featuring the character R'lyeh Lulu, who is the daughter of Cthulhu. Many other Mythos entities are featured throughout the series, including Nyarlathotep appearing in the guise of Meikumi Urushibarao, an air-headed Japanese teacher.
*The Manitou (1976; Graham Masterton): reuses Misquamacus, a character from Lovecraft's "Of Evill Sorceries Done in New England, of Daemons in No Humane Shape" and Derleth's "The Lurker at the Threshold". Supposedly, the author discovered the name from a comic instead.
*"Maureen Birnbaum at the Looming Awfulness" (George Alec Effinger): parody (of what?).
*Miskatonic University Monographs (H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society)
**Archeological Interpretations of Myth Patterns in the Iconography of the Codex Beltrán-Escavy
**The Curious Sea Shanty Variants of Innsmouth, Mass.
*Needful Things (Stephen King): Mr. Gaunt gives Ace Merrill some cocaine said to be fabricated in "the plains of Leng", though no other explanations are given. The novel also contains other references to Lovecraft's work.
*The New Traveller's Almanac: Exham Priory is mentioned.
*"Nine Drowned Churches" (Harry Turtledove): set in Dunwich, England, which is eerily similar to the town in "The Dunwich Horror," right down to the family names. The protagonist is aware of the events of the Lovecraft story.
*Once Upon a Time in the Weird West (Edward M. Erdelac): the final book in the Merkabah Rider series features the elder Whateley.
*"Only the End of the World Again" (1994; Neil Gaiman): short story, Leng Avenue is a street in Innsmouth.
*"Paappana, nó Ceol Erkki Santanen", from Panu Petteri Höglund's collection of Irish Cthulhu Mythos stories An Leabhar Nimhe, several allusions to Erich Zann such as the name of the protagonist, Erkki Santanen.
*"Pimpf" (Charles Stross): the "Language of Leng" is inserted into the programming code of videos game Neverwinter Nights in order to ensnare the souls of players.
*Prey (Graham Masterton): adapts the story and characters of "The Dreams in the Witch-House" (adapts into what?).
*Revival (Stephen King) ().
*Rook Universe (Barry Reese): Nyarlathotep appears in "Kingdom of Blood" and "The Gasping Death". It also appears under the guise Mr. Blackman in the short story "The Great Work" which was printed in both Thrilling Adventures and the fifth edition of Startling Stories.
*"Saga of the Renunciates" (Marion Zimmer Bradley): a character refers to a road that goes "across the Plateau of Leng" as being "impassable and haunted by monsters".
*Samurai Cat (Mark E. Rogers): spoofs the Cthulhu Mythos.
*"Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" (1998; Neil Gaiman): a short parody which contains many similarities to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth": a student visits the coastal town of Innsmouth (in England rather than New England), he gets to talking to two drunks (parodies of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore), he sees horrors in the water, he passes out.
*"The Silence of Erika Zann" (1976; James Wade): a sequel to "The Music of Erich Zann" first published in The Disciples of Cthulhu.
*"Soho Golem" (Kim Newman): a Diogenes Club short story where an occultist and priest of Nyarlathotep holds the noble title "Lord Leaves of Leng".
*Stephen King's It (Stephen King): the books' antagonist is an ancient celestial entity capable of changing its appearance and with an insatiable hunger. These features are strongly influenced by the King's fondness for cosmic horror. Also, the Miskatonic River features as the backdrop to much of the children’s childhood.
*The Stand (Stephen King): see The Dark Tower series, above.
*Storm of the Century (Stephen King) (connection?).
*Strange Eons (1986-1990; H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society)
*The Taking of Planet 5 (Simon Bucher-Jones and Mark Clapham): a Doctor Who novel set in an Elder Thing city, though it is a fictional construct based explicitly on At the Mountains of Madness.
*"There Are More Things" (Borges): is dedicated to Lovecraft.
*"To Mars and Providence": from War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches. Equates the Elder Things with the Martians from The War of the Worlds.
*"Voluntary Committal" (Joe Hill): novella collected in 20th Century Ghosts. The song lyrics "The ants go marching two-by-two, They walked across the Leng plateau" are used.
*Warhammer 40,000 Universe: the Hall of Leng, believed to be a place where the Warp (a dimension filled with pure chaos) intersects with our own plane, is said to be located within the Imperial Palace on Earth. This palace covers the whole of the Himalayan mountains, including the former Tibet, where some accounts place the Plateau of Leng.
*Whisper in the Dark (Joseph Bruchac): children's horror novel in which an albino serial killer named Wilbur Whateley decapitates his own parents.
*The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost (Brad Strickland): children's horror which uses Nyarlathotep as the main antagonist.
Category:In Popular Culture