by H. P. Lovecraft
Another
early collection of material as the master of horror began to manufacture the
Cthulhu Mythos. As you will see here, most of his collected universe began in
the Dreamlands then filtered out into the real world. Which is fine by me as
his Dreamlands setting was the best work he ever accomplished in my opinion.
Several movies have also been attached which have been based on his short story
The Lurking Fear. And as usual, links in to the full text of the story are included at the beginning of each story.
Hypnos
(originally
written in 1922, first published National
Amateur in 1923). Hypnos is the Greek God or personification of sleep. This
very short tale is of a man who travels into the dreamlands with a companion
“the only friend I would ever have”. Similar to Ex Oblivion they use a drug to crack through the unknown horizons
of sleep and learn secrets to rule the universe. Guess how it goes.
What the Moon Brings (originally written in 1922, first
published in National Amateur in
1923). This is more a piece of flash fiction than an actual story. Another
dream story of a man walking through an endless garden which becomes more and
more disturbing. Scenes of evil urge him on, until the monsters is revealed.
The story doesn't give a definite answer as to what happens to the protagonist,
but it doesn't take much to read between the lines.
Azathoth
(originally written in 1922, first published in Leaves in 1938). This was originally meant to be the beginning or
notes for a novel which Lovecraft never completed (though there are similar
themes which appears in The Dream Quest
of Unknown Kadath). It describes how magic and imagination has been stripped
from the world and how a man, who spent all day and night staring into space, manages
to bridge the gulf between worlds. His mind ascends out if his body into the
cosmos.
The Hound (originally written in 1922, first published in Weird Tales in 1924). At last, here is
the first story to mention the queen of Lovecraft’s fictitious books, the
Necronomicon. Nothing else is said beyond the name and its connection to the
mad Arab Abdul Alhazard. In this case, a pair of grave robbers stumble across a
jade necklace with alien shapes, which they recognize as described in the book.
It evidently has some connection to a “corpse-eating cult of Leng”. They take
it and bad things happen revolving around drumroll drumroll a hound.
The Lurking Fear (Originally written in 1922, first
published in Home Brew January to
April 1923). This was a serialized story by the same magazine which first
published Herbert West: Re-Animator.
As usual, we have an unnamed protagonist on the brink of a mental breakdown due
to the events he is about to relate. In this case, it deals with an ancient
abandoned Dutch mansion in the Catskills, an isolated family that disappeared
long ago, and a series of horrific murders in recent times. I’ll let you fill
in the blanks. One major plot hole exists in this tale. Why was the narrator
never killed, while everyone with him was? That's never explained and that
minor detail detracts from the rest of the story. The horror tale has been made
into a film three times: Dark Heritage in
1989, The Lurking Fear in 1994, and Bleeders in 1997. All of which are presented below. Enjoy and
Caveat Emptor.
Dark Heritage
The Lurking Fear
Bleeders
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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