Recently, there was a sale at Barnes and Nobles for "classics" and I snagged myself some H.P. Lovecraft. Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in 1890, in Rhode Island. He wrote his first story,
The Beast in the Cave, at the tender age of 15. He later wrote
The Shadow Out of Time in 1833, when he was 28.
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| "Man! Look at that archway." |
For his first story,
The Beast in the Cave was rather impressive. Today's teenagers wouldn't have been able to write anything that would come close to rivaling Lovecraft's short story. The scene was set and the mood was well established. An over zealous tourist gets separated from the group and gets lost in a complex cave system. His torch burns out and he has no other choice but to accept his fate. As a last ditch attempt to save himself, the narrator yells and shouts to attract attention. And attract attention he did, of some beast that had been living in the cave.
The Shadow Out of Time is considerably larger and more detailed. It is more or less a 19th century take on
Inception. The story is based around an ancient race of creatures who quest for knowledge. Their society is based around the library and knowledge. As time wears on and their bodies fail, they project their minds into other creatures, effectively having a mass exodus of the entire race, hijacking another species' body. This cycle continues on and on until it affects the protagonist of the story. As a way of gaining knowledge, the creatures send probes into the minds of people in other planets and races. They stay in the body for as long as they need and research the civilization.
All-in-all H.P. Lovecraft is a pretty nifty writer. His stories are short, but have a lasting effect.
I've never read anything from H.P. Lovecraft, but his story lines seem intriguing and make me want to go out and buy a book.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you get straight to the point and don't beat around the bush. You go straight to telling the audience about Lovecraft's stories.
However, I think a main fault in this blog post is that you started off talking about Lovecraft's style and technique as a writer, but then you suddenly immerse the audience in pure summaries. As much as they did set a background for what I think you were trying to write, there should be something to tie it back to how he's an amazing writer and more about what you think of him.
On the other hand, I think your summaries are well-written and draw then reader in so that they will want to go out and buy an H.P. Lovecraft novel after reading your post.