Question about the Lovecraftian stuff Mr. Cleavinger uses.

[Monstructor]

Note that I probably spelled "Cleavinger" wrong. If that actually is Brian's last name. I don't know, I forget, my memory is like a 200 year old's.

Anyways, where exactly does he get this stuff? Is there an actual book or story by H.P. Lovecraft that describes Illithid/Mind-Flayer like guys who worship Cthulhu or some other unspeakable alien water god from beyond the depths of time and space? Plus, as for the human sacrifice stuff, what of it? Did Lovecraft put that in his works too? Especially the thing about using the human sacrifices to summon Z'plunargfartnotgehsundheit (or whatever his name is)? Plus, as for the thing about cutting ppls' heads off and sticking evil larvae in their necks to turn them into more of those Mind-Flayer dudes, where did that come from? Is Mr. Cleavinger actually taking stuff from Lovecraft's works or the works of guys who wrote stuff based on, connected or related to or similar to Lovecraft's or that are a part of the Lovecraft setup, or is he actually creating this stuff himself? Because if it's the latter then I'd have to say that he's pretty creative, even if this stuff is the kind that's typically categorized as what you'd think H.P. Lovecraft would put into his works (I'm just assuming it is, but I'm not sure of exactly how much of a culture is built up around the Lovecraft mythos anyways). So thanx for any answers, fellas.

[Amake]

It's Clevinger. Think of clementines, not cleavage. But I'm afraid that's the only thing I can help you with. Why not look up Lovecraft and his monsters at Wikipedia or something?

[Tiako]

Read "The Best of HP Lovecraft" and "The Mountains of Madness."

Lovecraft was a short story author in the early 20th century who is essentially responsible for the creation of the modern American horror story.

[Fifthfiend]

This entire chapter is actually an extended adaptation of the Simpson's episode "Treehouse of Cthulian Monsters Who Lay Eggs In People's Necks And Then A Cadre of Hapless Heroes Kill Them All."

[Kurosen]

Thanks, jackass. Now everyone knows!

[Massacre]

Thanks, jackass. Now everyone knows!

When was it a secret?


By the horrific pods of Yog-Sothoth, where have you been, Mon-man? Look it up! I'll give you some terms to play with. Hope you like having your eyeballs implode.

Cthulhu
Shub-Niggurath
Yog-Sothoth
Hastur
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra
Star Children
Shoggoth
Nyarlathotep


*Waits for peculiar squelching sounds of brain-fastering explosions from a writhing corpse*

[Amake]

By the way the word "niggurath" does not have anything to do with "ziggurath". It's related to the other word it reminds you of. Yeah, Lovecraft was a bit of a racist. :x

[Corporate Evil]

I thought he just watched Hellboy.

[Akamaz]

Yeah, Lovecraft was a bit of a racist. :x


Yeah, but remember, that was the way the world was back then, (as in that was how folks talked)

not that i'm defending it, but it was

[Massacre]

By the way the word "niggurath" does not have anything to do with "ziggurath". It's related to the other word it reminds you of. Yeah, Lovecraft was a bit of a racist. :x

Somehow, I just don't make the darky connection with a horrifying abomination of propagation and creator of gigantic goat-like spawns. Also, there is the fact that the Cthulhu Cult is worldwide and knows no boundries of race. Just simply...you're in if you respond to the call of the Old Ones. I think we can assume same for the rest of the hordes. Nyarlathotep never played favorites. He's got 1,000 forms for all circumstances.

[Piedmon Sama]

Somehow, I just don't make the darky connection with a horrifying abomination of propagation and creator of gigantic goat-like spawns. Also, there is the fact that the Cthulhu Cult is worldwide and knows no boundries of race. Just simply...you're in if you respond to the call of the Old Ones. I think we can assume same for the rest of the hordes. Nyarlathotep never played favorites. He's got 1,000 forms for all circumstances.

Yeah, but really.... he was. Stories like The Shadow over Innsmouth basically play off the time's fears of a "degenerate" race interbreeding with our own "pure" stock and devolving us. His portrayal of Polynesians, Arabs and Mexicans are stereotyped. One of his stories features a black cat named "Nigger-Man."

And Akamaz is right. That's just the way most Americans viewed the world back then. You can get all huffy about it, or you can just accept that and enjoy the stories for what they are: pulp fiction. I enjoy Lovecraft's works immensely, even if it's modeled by the prejudices of its day.

[Heliomance]

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/Heliomance/Thread%20Bombs/ORLYEH1.jpg

[Attila]

Piedmon, I'd have to say you're right about the fears of degeneracy based on interbreeding with those less pure being one aspect, but HPL's work also featured repeatedly horrific results of in-breeding, which doesn't immediately strike one as something that was a widespread prejudice in the same way as matters of race. More often the focus of the horror is just as much the raw unfamiliarity and strangeness of either death or more often the sea. The horrors of the interbreedings come from the fact that these creatures cannot help what they are, that their descendants become like them not only mentally but physically as well, that at some level who one's ancestors are has chosen one's own future. Transformation isn't half as horrifying now as it was then, but imagine the effect on a 1930's mind of a tale depicting one actually becoming the sea-depths horror of his own nightmares. Yes, he was horribly and unspeakably prejudiced, but I'd have to say he wasn't particularly beyond other, non-horror writers of his day. Trying to make a connection between n... and Niggurath seems tenuous at best.

Interestingly, the story featuring the cat "Nigger-man" (The rats in the walls) featured a white-as-porcelain protagonist who nonetheless falls into degeneracy due to "getting back to his roots" in a sordid family history to the extent of renouncing his modernized last name and even (implied) snapping and engaging in cannibalism. This could be compared to the final segment of Shadow over Innsmouth as a character is forced to become something he rejects, though in SoI the character embraces his fate instead of remaining in denial.

......
Ok, I have now exceeded the FDA's recommended Lovecraft exposition and philosophy per post guidelines.

[Massacre]

Yeah, but really.... he was. Stories like The Shadow over Innsmouth basically play off the time's fears of a "degenerate" race interbreeding with our own "pure" stock and devolving us. His portrayal of Polynesians, Arabs and Mexicans are stereotyped. One of his stories features a black cat named "Nigger-Man."

And Akamaz is right. That's just the way most Americans viewed the world back then. You can get all huffy about it, or you can just accept that and enjoy the stories for what they are: pulp fiction. I enjoy Lovecraft's works immensely, even if it's modeled by the prejudices of its day.

No one's getting huffy. I just don't share the entire view. Us writers know a thing or two about provoking reactions. It could've been as you say, but it could also have been deliberate to prove a point, like the fact that this is just not our world. Ya never know.

[Particleman]

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/Heliomance/Thread%20Bombs/ORLYEH1.jpg
Oh god. I can't decide whether you deserve to be slapped for that, or if that's one of the greatest things I've ever seen.

[Fifthfiend]

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/Heliomance/Thread%20Bombs/ORLYEH1.jpg

For the win.

Aaaaaaand, closing.