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I, Cthulhu
"I, Cthulhu" is a short humorous story by fantasy author Neil Gaiman featuring H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, who is dictating an autobiography to a human slave named Whateley. The story reveals much about Cthulhu's 'birth' and early life. Originally published by the short-lived Lovecraft fanzine ''Dagon'' in 1987, it was reprinted for free by Tor.com in December 2009. Since then, the website - as part of a general tradition celebrating Lovecraft's works over the holiday season - has reposted the story every December. It is also available for free on Gaiman's website, under a small sampler collection of his short fiction. Plot Narrated to his dedicated servant Whateley, Cthulhu tells the story of his birth on the planet Khhaa'yngnaiih ("No, of course I don't know how to spell it. Write it as it sounds.") to a father who was eaten by his mother and a mother who was subsequently eaten by Cthulhu himself. For a few thousand years, young Cthulhu, "the colour of a young trout and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series '' The Sandman'' and novels '' Stardust'', '' American Gods'', ''Coraline'', and '' The Graveyard Book''. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, ''The Graveyard Book'' (2008). In 2013, ''The Ocean at the End of the Lane'' was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London, England that ''The Independent'' called "...theatre at its best". Early life Gaiman's f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dagon (short Story)
"Dagon" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in July 1917 and is one of the first stories that Lovecraft wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919 edition of ''The Vagrant'' (issue #11). ''Dagon'' was later published in ''Weird Tales'' in October 1923. It is considered by many to be one of Lovecraft's most forward-looking stories. Plot The story is the testament of a tortured, morphine-addicted man who relates an incident that occurred during his service as an officer during World War I. In the unnamed narrator's account, his cargo ship is captured by an Imperial German sea-raider in "one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific". He escapes on a lifeboat and drifts aimlessly, south of the equator, until he eventually finds himself stranded on "a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about imin monotonous undulations as far as ecould see.... The region was putrid with the carcasses of dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward
''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' is a short horror novel (51,500 words) by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927, but not published during the author's lifetime. Set in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, it was first published (in abridged form) in the May and July issues of ''Weird Tales'' in 1941; the first complete publication was in Arkham House's ''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'' collection (1943). It is included in the Library of America volume of Lovecraft's work. The novel, set in 1928, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits. Ward physically resembles Curwen, and attempts to duplicate his ancestor's Qabalistic and alchemical feats. He eventually uses this knowledge to physically resurrect Curwen. Ward's doctor, Marinus Bicknell Willett, investigates Ward's activities and is horrified by what he finds. Plot summary Charles Dexter Ward is a you ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yog-Sothoth
American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career. These entities are usually depicted as immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans who can barely begin to comprehend them, though some entities are worshipped by humans. These deities include the "Great Old Ones" and extraterrestrials, such as the "Elder Things", with sporadic references to other miscellaneous deities (e.g. Nodens). The "Elder Gods" are a later creation of other prolific writers who expanded on Lovecraft's concepts, such as August Derleth, who was credited with formalizing the Cthulhu Mythos. Most of these deities were Lovecraft's original creations, but he also adapted words or concepts from earlier writers such as Ambrose Bierce, and later writers in turn used Lovecraft's concepts and expanded his fictional universe. Great Old Ones An ongoing theme in Lovecraft's work is the complete irrelevance of humanity in the face of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tale Of Satampra Zeiros
"The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" is a short story written in 1929 by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Hyperborean cycle, and first published in the November 1931 issue of ''Weird Tales''. It is the story in which Smith created the Cthulhu Mythos entity Tsathoggua. Plot The story is narrated by the thief Satampra Zeiros, who says he is writing with his left hand because he has lost his right. Zeiros and his companion Tirouv Ompallios are thieves living in the city of Uzuldaroum. They are short on money, so Zeiros suggests they plunder Commorium, the abandoned former capital city of Hyperborea. In Commorium, they stumble upon an ancient temple of the elder god Tsathoggua. The building is perfectly preserved except for a damaged lintel. A vast bronze basin stands in the middle of the temple, and a stone idol is on the far side. To their disappointment, the idol has no inset jewels. The basin contains a stinking, viscous, sooty liquid. The liquid rises out of the basin an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsathoggua
Tsathoggua (the ''Sleeper of N'kai'', also known as Zhothaqquah) is a supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of American writer Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle. Tsathoggua/Zhothaqquah is described as an Great Old One, Old One, a god-like being from the Pantheon (religion), pantheon. He was introduced in Smith's short story "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", written in 1929 and published in the November 1931 issue of ''Weird Tales''. His first appearance in print, however, was in H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Whisperer in Darkness", written in 1930 and published in the August 1931 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Description The first description of Tsathoggua occurs in "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", in which the protagonists encounter one of the entity's idols: Later, in Smith's "The Seven Geases" (1933), Tsathoggua is described again: Robert M. Price notes that "Lovecraft's Tsathoggua and Smith's differ at practi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath is a fictional deity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. She is often associated with the phrase "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young". The only other name by which Lovecraft referred to her was "Lord of the Wood" in his story ''The Whisperer in Darkness''. Shub-Niggurath is first mentioned in Lovecraft's revision story "The Last Test" (1928); she is not described by Lovecraft, but is frequently mentioned or called upon in incantations. Most of her development as a literary figure was carried out by other Mythos authors, including August Derleth, Robert Bloch, and Ramsey Campbell. Lovecraft explicitly defined Shub-Niggurath as a mother goddess in ''The Mound'', where he calls her "Shub-Niggurath, the All-Mother".H. P. Lovecraft writing as Zealia Bishop, "The Mound", ''The Horror in the Museum'', pp. 144–145. He describes her as a kind of Astarte in the same story. In ''Out of the Aeons'', she is one of the deities siding with humanity against "host ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyarlathotep (short Story)
"Nyarlathotep" is a prose poem by H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in 1920 and first saw publication in that year's November issue of ''The United Amateur''. The poem itself is a bleak view of human civilization in decline, and it explores the mixed sensations of desperation and defiance in a dying society. Background "Nyarlathotep" was based on one of Lovecraft's dreams. The first body paragraph of the poem was written "while he was still half-asleep". The poem, which stands as the first appearance of the titular Cthulhu Mythos entity Nyarlathotep, was described by Lovecraft as "a nightmare". In the inspiring dream, Lovecraft read a letter from his friend Samuel Loveman that contained an invitation, which is as follows: Plot The story is written in first person and begins by describing a strange and inexplicable sense of foreboding experienced by humanity in general, in anticipation of a great unknown evil. The story proceeds to describe the appearance in Egypt of Nyarlathot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyarlathotep
Nyarlathotep is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft. The character is a malign deity in the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared universe. First appearing in Lovecraft's 1920 prose poem "Nyarlathotep", he was later mentioned in other works by Lovecraft and by other writers. Later writers describe him as one of the Outer Gods, an alien pantheon. Appearances In the works of H. P. Lovecraft In his first appearance in "Nyarlathotep" (1920), he is described as a "tall, swarthy man" who resembles an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. In this story he wanders the Earth, seemingly gathering legions of followers, the narrator of the story among them, through his demonstrations of strange and seemingly magical instruments. These followers lose awareness of the world around them, and through the narrator's increasingly unreliable accounts, the reader gets an impression of the world's collapse. Fritz Leiber proposes three interpretations of the character based on this appearance: the universe's mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert W
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first novel, ''The Carpet People'', was published in 1971. The first ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Colour of Magic'', was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Shepherd's Crown'', was published in August 2015, five months after his death. With more than 85 million books sold worldwide in 37 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for ''The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'', the first ''Discworld'' book marketed for children. He received the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Omens
''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. There are attempts by the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to sabotage the coming of the end times, having grown accustomed to their comfortable surroundings in England. One subplot features a mixup at the small country hospital on the day of birth and the growth of the Antichrist, Adam, who grows up with the wrong family, in the wrong country village. Another subplot concerns the summoning of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, each a big personality in their own right. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 68 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. Plot summary Aziraphale, an angel (originally a guardian of the gates of Eden), and Crowley, a demon (originally the serpent who tempted Eve) have lived on Earth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
