A new 10 minute trailer from HBO for Game of Thrones, the forthcoming television series based upon the novel A Game of Thrones (A Song of Fire and Ice Book 1) by George RR Martin.
Read MoreNovember, 2010 Monthly archive
‘You Don’t Read Fiction’
At secondary school we used to have library periods and at that time, the one thing I remember above all else was the teacher leading the class telling me ‘I didn’t read fiction’. The session was specifically for reading fiction. I was reading stuff about politics (I can’t believe it now, it’s the farthest thing from my mind) and other non-fictional stuff. If truth be known, I was probably choosing books by their covers, very magpie-like. The teacher in question advised I should read something fictional and suggested The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. From that moment on, I was hooked. I went on to read The Lord of the Rings. I bought the Pauline Baynes cover illustration paperback version and read it many times. I was reading it once a year for several years as a teenager. I still have that copy that is falling apart. I loved that yellow spine and its cover art. This was all a long time before the film trilogy was even thought about.
[I sit and write under a copy of the poster of Bilbo's Last Song, also illustrated by Pauline Baynes]
J R. R. Tolkien
- The Hobbit
- The Lord of the Rings
[ Tolkien Estate | tolkien.co.uk | The Tolkien Society | Tolkien's Oxford | The Tolkien Library | Tolkien Online | Planet Tolkien ]
—–
Reading The Lord of the Rings opened up a whole universe of stuff. I was already a big fan of classic rock and prog and there were images and sounds based heavily upon Tolkien’s world to be found here but there were also new worlds opening up. One such world was the world of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R Donaldson. Donaldson authored a world like Tolkiens but not. It was different. It had similarities which gave the reader a comfort, you could ease into the world but it was a very different imagining. There are some haunting moments in the books and the idea of the land being so achingly pure, without taint has always stayed with me. I remember buying the Paper Tiger book Realms of Fantasy which had a section on THE LAND of Thomas Covenant I loved the images by Mark Harrison but they couldn’t convey truly, the sense of what Donaldson was portraying, for me anyway.
Stephen R Donaldson
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
- The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
- Mordant’s Need
[ Stephen R Donaldson | The Land | Kevin's Watch | Wikipedia ]
—–
Probably the next thing I read was Neuromancer by William Gibson, quickly followed by Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. The opening line of Neuromancer – The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel embodied everything about the book. It took cyberpunk mainstream and nothing could ever be the same again. It must have been so cool being in the vanguard of something so new. The opening of a story is so important and I always strive to approach Gibson’s mastery (even if I fall a longways short).
William Gibson
- Neuromancer
- Count Zero
- Mona Lisa Overdrive
- Burning Chrome
[ William Gibson | Levity | project.cyberpunk.ru ]
—–
This period, encompassing these three sets of books was the formative period of my desire to write. To write, you have to read (George RR Martin says so, so it’s canonical law) and it was here that the seed was sown. All I can say is that it took a damn long time to germinate!
RP
Read MoreChapter 4 added 13 November 2010.
In chapter 4, Harold and his new companion, Bernard visit Jeremiah Nule, the author of Mingsport – Ritual and Custom. This is a short and playful chapter with a couple of bits I really like
I love the boxes – 1 Upper Cut – get it?
I love the way Jeremiah gets angry at the ‘door knock’ scene. It seems to me that an academic, so wrapped up in his own world wouldn’t have time for interruptions and would have little patience
Jeremiah’s name was invented to obtain the Leftcroft, Nule & Voyd name for the law firm. I use them all the time!
See you on the 13th December for Chapter 5.
RP
HP Lovecraft
Links: The HP Lovecraft Archive | Wikipedia | Arkham House | Chaosium | List of Lovecraft’s fiction | Wierd Tales | The Unspeakable Oath |
Notes: Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Born 1890. Died 1937. American author of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction. His work is classed in the sub-genre of Wierd Fiction and was published in the magazine Wierd Tales, in the 1920′s onwards. His works dealt with sanity in respect of cosmic horror; a character discovers/is pulled into the world of pre-existing beings, that populated earth, so terrible and horrific, that to glimpse of them risks insanity. The author himself lived in relative obscurity during his life but has risen to near reverence in popular culture today. He is not without controversy. Due to living in a time of racial segregation and antisemitism, along with other negative aspects of life, the reflection of these aspects are expressed in his writing. These negative expressions in some of his work cannot and should not be forgiven, they have to be taken in context of the place and time he was living in.
I first encountered HP Lovecraft by his influence and without knowing it was him. I bought Infocom‘s The Lurking Horror computer game for the Atari ST. It was a text adventure written by Dave Lebling (he co-authored the Zork text adventure) and released in 1987. I remember the vividly described locations, the Freshman Guide to the university and the G.U.E Tech student identification card. This was all in the theme of Lovecraft’s work but at the time I didn’t know it.
My next encounter was via Imagine magazine issue 13, April 1984 published by TSR UK Ltd (I bought it a lot later). It was a special thirteenth edition and celebrated the works of HP Lovecraft. There was a biography of HP Lovecraft by Paul Cockburn, it had a review of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game and associated scenarios. It had a poem entitled The Mirror of Nitocris and story called Queen Nitocris’ Mirror, both by Brian Lumley, with full page artwork. This set me on the path to discovering Lovecraft’s works. [Wikipedia - Imagine magazine]
I managed to purchase a few copies of The Unspeakable Oath whilst they were still available in UK shops. It is still going strong on issue #16/17. It is a good example of a tabletop roleplaying resource based upon Cthulhu and thus Lovecraft’s work.
I went on to read each of his stories, in various formats and it was Lovecraft’s work that inspired me to write The Rising Tentacle. Collectable Card Games provide a visual interpretation of his work and the The Art of H.P. Lovecraft’s the Cthulhu Mythos book from Fantasy Flight Games (Cover by Michael Komarck) is a great coffee table head-turner! There will always be some of his work in the horror section of local and virtual bookshops.
Today, there are many published versions of Lovecraft’s work including; free online ones (e.g. Manybooks.net). There are authors who are ‘inspired by’ him, there are many games based upon his works, there are thousands of images based upon his work (just google hplovecraft), bands and their songs are influenced by him, he literally pervades popular culture. August Derleth first published Lovecraft’s work and the Lovecraftian legacy is protected/looked after by Arkham House, a publishing company set up by Derleth and Donald Wandrei.
So what makes him so good?
- Unique approach – he was the first, others have followed. The idea of ancient beings, once treading the earth, now banished but just waiting to gain a foothold and no lack of cultists wanting to help them – genius!
- Doom – his work is doom-laden and we all like a bit of doom don’t we?
- Titles – every title is brilliant; At The Mountains of Madness, Dreams in the Witch House, The Rats in the Walls…
- The Dreamlands Cycle – another series of stories exploring a different story setting of dream
- His cross-media resonance – there isn’t an area of popular culture that hasn’t been influenced by Lovecraft’s work
- His descriptions are what keep bringing me back to his work
YOU MUST READ
- The Festival – Christmas horror story, my personal favourite
- The Call of Cthulhu – the big one!
- The Cats of Ulthar – Cats! I love the cats!
More Links
Chaosium: Mythos CCG |
Fantasy Flight Games: Call of Cthulhu LCG |
Atari: Atari | Atari.org | Atari Museum | Atari Legend |
Infocom: Infocom | Wikipedia | Infocom Homage Site | Infocom Documentation Project |
TSR Inc.: TSR History | TSR Inc Wikia | Wikipedia | TSR Products Catalog |
Bethesda Softworks LLC: Call of Cthulhu – Dark Corners of the Earth |
Focus Home Interactive: | The Adventure Games of Sherlock Holmes | Suite 101 |
AKLO: Listen to Lovecraft |
Just go to the horror section in any bookshop or punch in buy HP Lovecraft in any search engine you care to mention and read HP Lovecraft. Just don’t do it in the dark, alone.
RP
Read More