[Zsinj16]

In the sci-fi and fantasy section of my local bookstore, I found some books by this guy named H.P. Lovecraft. When I picked up one of the books they looked sort of gross because they had thoroughly decapitated bodies hanging and lying everywhere. Another one looked less gross and had some zombie-type guys on the cover. My question is, what genre are these books under exactly? If they are under horror, which I suppose they are, why are they in the sci-fi and fantasy section of the bookstore and not in the horror section? And what is the storyline/plot of these books?

[Rob B]

I haven't read him yet, but I plan to.

He is considered the grandfather of Horror/gothic/dark fantasy. I've seen his books in both Horror and Fantasy/SciFi sections of the bookstore. Check here for more about him:H.P. Lovecraft topic in Horror Forum (http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/Forum11/HTML/000002.html)

[bookfreak13]

Most of H.P. Lovecraft's books are made up of his short stories, which is most of what he wrote. He wrote in two basic categories, "Dreamlands" and "Cthulhu Mythos" The "Dreamlands" is more fantasy than anything, people with quests wandering through a land of dreams, and things connected with that. The "Cthulhu Mythos" is more sci-fi/horror, dealing with big, squid-like, immortal elder gods from the depths of outer space.
Overall, H.P. Lovecraft, is pretty good, although some of his stuff is quite crazy.

[Zsinj16]

I've heard that some of Lovecraft's novels can drive people insane. How could that be true? What's in it that could drive someone insane? I mean, they're just books! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Bardos]

So, that is what thou thinks, eh?

[deep, diabolic laughter] Haa-haa-haa-haa-haa-haa...! Puny mortal...! Haa-haa-haa-haa... [/deep, diabolic laughter]

[Ntschotschi]

Lovecraft is very goog at creating a believable athmosphere of horror. I'd rather see him as godfather of horror than fantasy.
He has a lot of satanistic elements, dark magic, demons and so on.

[Zsinj16]

Well, so does fantasy. The LOTR Trilogy and the MS&T Trilogy has demons and dark magic in it too.

[bookfreak13]

Lovecraft was a historian, and so that is how he wrote his books, lots of facts, not much speculation...until something creepy happens, and even then, he still writes from a dry point of view, which makes it seem real. And he collaborated with other authors, all of whom incorporated his "Cthulhu Mythos" into their own stories. Having more than one author write about the same elder gods made them much more believable.
Don't think people are insane? Here are a few Lovecraft links so you can decide for yourself...
Cthulhu for President! (http://www.cthulhu.org)
the NetherReal (http://www.netherreal.de)
CthulhuNET (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/4550)
Insane yet?

[Kierk Soren]

I have not read him...yet, from what I've looked up I think I will start with " The Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath" . I definitely have a Lovecraftian side to me.( I adore Poe and his ilk) The funny thing is I just made the connection today between a t-shirt i have and the cover of this book which I looked for, and found, but did not buy. Don't ask!

[bookfreak13]

"The Dream Qeust of Unknown Kadath" is one of Lovecraft's better works, but you may want to read that until later. It incorporates MANY elements/characters from previous stories, and ties them together, so if you read it first, it may just confuse you. Here are my reccomendations for which books to start with:

-"the Statement of Randolph Carter"- "Dream Quest" uses the same character from this story, and also makes references to what happened here.

-"Nyarlathotep"-Again, one of the characters from this story pops up in "Dream Quest"

-"the Cats of Ulthar"-one of the cities mentioned in "Dream Quest, along with a bunch of cats also in it.

-"the Doom that came to Sarnath"-"Dream Quest" mentions events from here, too

-"The Other Gods"-it is mentioned as well

That should give you a good backround to understand what is going on in "Dream Quest"