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tripleclown:

sounddesignerjeans:

tripleclown:

tripleclown:

2018 is the year where everybody recognizes the fact that h. p. lovecraft was really bad at writing

instead of reading something he’s written perhaps read some of these lovecraftian novels…

the ballad of black tom by victor lavelle (can’t recommend this one enough)

lovecraft country by matt ruff

southern gods by john hornor jacobs

little heaven by nick cutter (complete with some supremely disturbing illustrations!)

the fisherman by john langan

@tripleclown I’m interested to hear any critiques you have of his writing (as well as to pass on these recs to my followers if they’re interested), because I’ve been making my way through a collection of Lovecraft’s stories and so far I’ve really enjoyed them. “The Colour Out of Space” legitimately gave me chills.

his work is really dense and pretentious in my opinion. i’m sure some people enjoy it, but the only reason he really stands out nowadays is because of how his mythos and basic writing style has inspired other authors. he had some very good concepts, which is the only reason why i enjoyed his stuff to begin with.

also he was absurdly racist and antisemitic, even for his time, and it bleeds through in a LOT of his work. shadow over innsmouth, for example. the ballad of black tom is actually an answer to one of his more overtly racist short stories.

as someone who hates him, thinks he’s a bad writer, and still legitimately enjoys some of his work, the writing side of the discourse surrounding hpl is mostly about recognizing where his craft is lackluster even for its time. doesn’t make it unreadable or worthless, just means it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

and of course the rabbit hole of hpl’s racism and how it’s pretty much synonymous with his writing is a deep one

agreed @ all of this. 

he is also known for his cartoonish misogyny, so here are some other suggestions for lovecraftian-not-written-by-lovecraft fiction written by women.

A Pretty Mouth by Molly Tanzer

Experimental Film by Gemma Files–her other work, especially her short stories are also supremely terrifying in the cosmic way, see “Little Ease” and “The Emperor’s Old Bones”

The Red Tree by Caitlyn R. Keirnan–same as Files, though she is way more prolific, almost overwhelmingly so

Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror