4 ms·

The Edge of Horror

30 points by wormold 11y ago

tptacek 11y ago
Neato. May read. I have a weird (to me) affinity for the tropes of Lovecraft horror, but I can't get past the writing. I'd be happy for other recommendations, besides Sloane, of things that touched on the same theme but with tighter writing.
- arethuza 11y ago
  Charlie Stross has done a series of books, the Laundry Series, that are a combination of Lovecraftian horror and Len Deighton style Cold-War spy novels. I'm also rather fond of Charlie's novella "A Colder War" - which features items from the Cthulhu mythos as Cold War WMDs - it has a seriously creepy ending.
- lackbeard 11y ago
  If you're interested in graphic novels, Fatale by Brubaker and Phillips is a noir/Lovecraft tropes mashup. Really well done.
- ZeroGravitas 11y ago
  "Resume with Monsters" by William Browning Spencer is kind of like a slacker version of Carlie Stross's Laundry Files novels. And Alan Moore did a lovecraftian graphic novel set in the current era called Neonomicon
  - kevinmchugh 11y ago
    Fair warning, Neonomicon has Moore's...usual uncomfortable fascinations turned up to the max.
YeGoblynQueenne 11y ago
"One chapter of To Walk the Night is titled “Cras Amet Qui Numquam Amavit,” which means—loosely translated—“Let him love tomorrow who has never loved, and let him who has loved, love tomorrow.” It’s interesting to me that the English translation is eleven words longer than the Latin, speaking to that language’s admirable brevity." Well, not quite. That chapter title is only half of the latin phrase, the whole of which constitutes "the opening lines of an anonymous Latin lyric titled The Vigil of Venus (3rd century A.D.)". The whole phrase goes: cras amet qui numquam amavit quique amavit cras amet Taken from here: http://www.fowlesbooks.com/ourjohn.htm http://www.fowlesbooks.com/ourjohn.htm Which also says that it's used as the last line in a book called "The Magus" by one John Fowles. (Honestly no idea who the chap is) And of course, as these things go, "the English translation" can be as long or short as the skill of the translator makes it; there is no one translation that is exactly right. Someone's Google-fu let them down on this one, mefears.
- theoh 11y ago
  John Fowles wrote the very famous book "The French Lieutenant's Woman". At least it's famous in the UK. It was made into a successful film in 1981. The Magus appears to have been filmed as well, but in the 60s. This goes beyond a failure of google-fu, surely. Most European languages have about the same information density as Latin so I have no idea where the idea that Latin is particularly concise came from.

30 points by wormold 11y ago

Neato. May read. I have a weird (to me) affinity for the tropes of Lovecraft horror, but I can't get past the writing. I'd be happy for other recommendations, besides Sloane, of things that touched on the same theme but with tighter writing.

arethuza 11y ago
Charlie Stross has done a series of books, the Laundry Series, that are a combination of Lovecraftian horror and Len Deighton style Cold-War spy novels. I'm also rather fond of Charlie's novella "A Colder War" - which features items from the Cthulhu mythos as Cold War WMDs - it has a seriously creepy ending.
lackbeard 11y ago
If you're interested in graphic novels, Fatale by Brubaker and Phillips is a noir/Lovecraft tropes mashup. Really well done.
ZeroGravitas 11y ago
"Resume with Monsters" by William Browning Spencer is kind of like a slacker version of Carlie Stross's Laundry Files novels. And Alan Moore did a lovecraftian graphic novel set in the current era called Neonomicon
- kevinmchugh 11y ago
  Fair warning, Neonomicon has Moore's...usual uncomfortable fascinations turned up to the max.

YeGoblynQueenne 11y ago

"One chapter of To Walk the Night is titled “Cras Amet Qui Numquam Amavit,” which means—loosely translated—“Let him love tomorrow who has never loved, and let him who has loved, love tomorrow.” It’s interesting to me that the English translation is eleven words longer than the Latin, speaking to that language’s admirable brevity." Well, not quite. That chapter title is only half of the latin phrase, the whole of which constitutes "the opening lines of an anonymous Latin lyric titled The Vigil of Venus (3rd century A.D.)". The whole phrase goes: cras amet qui numquam amavit quique amavit cras amet Taken from here: http://www.fowlesbooks.com/ourjohn.htm http://www.fowlesbooks.com/ourjohn.htm Which also says that it's used as the last line in a book called "The Magus" by one John Fowles. (Honestly no idea who the chap is) And of course, as these things go, "the English translation" can be as long or short as the skill of the translator makes it; there is no one translation that is exactly right. Someone's Google-fu let them down on this one, mefears.

theoh 11y ago
John Fowles wrote the very famous book "The French Lieutenant's Woman". At least it's famous in the UK. It was made into a successful film in 1981. The Magus appears to have been filmed as well, but in the 60s. This goes beyond a failure of google-fu, surely. Most European languages have about the same information density as Latin so I have no idea where the idea that Latin is particularly concise came from.