Other things that we should be reading....

[old book]

Bradford's History of 'Plimoth Plantation'
available at Gutenberg

Also,
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land by Charles M. Skinner [1896]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ame/lol/

[semiosteve]

Thank you for highlight the Borges/Lovecraft connection. That connection can be expanded to include Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" and Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Club Dumas" which was made into the movie "The Ninth Gate" staring Johnny Depp and directed by Roman Polanski.

Borges, Eco and Reverte are writing about signs and semiotics and see parallels in Lovecraft's understanding of what lies beyond that which can be named.

These gentlemen are all very highly regarding literary figures of the late XX century. I am sure Lovecraft would be amazed to know his influence extended to this level.

For the Lovecraft fan, Foucault's pendulum is like a cross betwen a Lovecraft story and DaVinci's code (be prepared though - Eco is a real semiotician and a real scholar - DaVinci code reads like a grade scholl primer in comparison). The Club Dumas is a thinly velied Necronomicon-based story. Both are highly recommended!

semiosteve

[Deadhand]

Steve, we share some very similar tastes in literature.  The Club Dumas is one of my favorite books (both because of the mysterious atmosphere and because I'm a bibliophile).  One of the things that surprised me about it was the strength of the translation from Spanish.  The translator didn't follow the original verbatim, instead finding ways to use English to inject atmosphere and humor where a dry translation might have been inadequate.  For example, in the English version, in the scene were Baroness Ungern dies in what is obviously a murder/arson (same as the movie), the following exchange between the green-eyed girl and Corso:

"What about Baroness Ungern?"

She (the "girl") made a vague gesture, not exactly indifferent, but resigned, fatalistic.  As if it had been preordained.  "Her charred remains were found in the study.  That's where the fire started.  The neighbors say it must have been an accident.  A cigarette not properly put out."

"The baroness didn't smoke," said Corso.

"She did last night."

--

A good double entendre is hard to come by, but more so in a translation!

I need to revisit Foucault's Pendulum.  It's been twenty years since I first picked it up, and I hardly appreciated it at the time.  Thanks for the reminder!

[Kaelestes]

The Club Dumas is a thinly velied Necronomicon-based story.

Interesting, is there documentation of this? I didn't register any Necronomicon influence in The Club Dumas when I read it. There were many references to classical literature like Paradise Lost, The Divine Comedy, Malleus Maleficarum, and numerous others, but nothing in the story connected my brain to Abdul Alhazred in Pérez-Reverte's novel. The book certainly deals with unknown and unknowable quantities, but they're based in religious tradition rather than in the cosmic. Aristide Torchia, the character in the story who wrote De Umbrarum Regni Novem Portis (The Nine Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows), was loosely based on Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600 by the Inquisition. Bruno was not a Satanist, but his writings were the primary evidence against him during his prosecution and sentencing. As I understand it, this is where Pérez-Reverte found much of the inspiration for the fictional Torchia's Novem Portis and the lore behind Club Dumas, not the Necronomicon. Of course, I could be wrong. I will agree, however, that it's an excellent book and I'll be checking into Foucault's Pendulum if it's anywhere near as good.

[Paul Baack]

Absolutely agreed about The Club Dumas. Even at its base level, it can be enjoyed -- thoroughly enjoyed -- as a clever and spooky occult thriller. Beyond that, the more you've invested in educating yourself (i.e. read), the more dividends this novel pays.

I also highly recommend Eco's Foucault's Pendulum to everyone here, but with this caveat: The first 30 pages or so are pretty tough sledding. (Much as in the case of Frank Herbert's Dune,) I recommend to all that tackle it to just barrel through; all will be revealed, and you'll have a grand old time once the action kicks into gear. Fans of Robert Anton Wilson will, I think, especially enjoy this. I've read it three times now, and will unhesitatingly say that it's in my top five all-time favorite novels. I envy y'all's first experience with it. Have fun!

[Kaelestes]

When I read The Club Dumas it was suggested to me that I bring along a Latin dictionary, a copy of The Three Musketeers, and several other resources so I could keep up. Do those of you who have read Foucault's Pendulum have any similar suggestions?

[Paul Baack]

When I read The Club Dumas it was suggested to me that I bring along a Latin dictionary, a copy of The Three Musketeers, and several other resources so I could keep up. Do those of you who have read Foucault's Pendulum have any similar suggestions?

If you wanted to go to the effort, it wouldn't hurt to have a Hebrew dictionary at hand, but only if you really want to follow the small portions of the book that deal with Kabbalah (or to translate some of the epigrams that leadoff some of the chapters). Not 100% necessary, IMHO. On the other hand, you might want to brush up on your Knights Templar knowledge, as well as your familiarity with The Grail legends, if it's been a while...

Also, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have previously read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, or the Illuminatus! trilogy, or the Theosophical works of Mme. Blavatsky, or The Gnostic Gospels, or...     Even Anthony Burgess, no slouch he, publicly commented that he wished Eco's tome had come with an index!

Seriously, you can have enormous fun with it by just jumping in without your water wings. I had previously posted that fans of Robert Anton Wilson will especially enjoy the book. I suspect most of the people here have read something by Uncle Bob, and that really will suffice.

[Deadhand]

In a similar vain, any compilation of the Nag Hammadi texts makes for good reading if you find yourself in a conspiratorial mood.  It is so very easy to use your imagination and insert words, where words are missing due to a scrolls' age, to create your own personal conspiracy theory.

Going back a few posts, while the Club Dumas would probably not be considered Lovecratian insofar as the mythos go, Dumas's plot does include lots of book collections, arcane texts, symbols, codes, and mysticism, which were staples in Lovecraft's writing.  I'm thinking in particular of The Dunwich Horror, but there are other stories where secret books play an important role.   Books of unspeakable knowledge, lost knowledge, cyphers, etc., are intriguing, particularly when (as in the case of Dumas) there are plenty of pictures and woodcuts accompanying them! 

[MartinRonnlund]

I would like to reccomend From Death til Now. Hidden cults, tentacles, ancient cities, DOOM! - yeah, this webcomic has it all.

[Chris Lackey]

I just started reading The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. It's kinda about a spy/IT guy that works for a secret British Agency that uses science to fight against Cthulhu monsters. It's pretty cool so far!

[Chris Lackey]

Oh and I did read The Great God Pan and White People. Pretty cool stuff. All should read them.

[old book]

Twilight of the Gods—The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials, Erich von Daniken's new book, is supposedly a sort of Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath-type adventure leading the von up the side of a Bolivian mountain to Pumapunku where the gods once danced, and may again, when the stars are right. I haven't read it but heard the interview with him on Coast to Coast the other night, http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2010/10/07

In the latter half of the show, renowned author Erich Von Daniken talked about his research into ancient astronauts and how it relates to 2012. "It was a provocation, absolutely," he said, reflecting on the furor that surrounding the original publication of his book Chariots of the Gods in 1968. He recalled how the critics of the work failed to recognize the speculative nature of his research, noting "I had 238 question marks, but nobody mentioned the questions." On why the ancient astronaut theory has continued to gain popularity after all these years, Von Daniken credited the many other researchers who have helped to bolster his work. Additionally, he observed that the theory clarifies religious traditions by putting them into a modern framework. "We are looking at old stories with new eyes and an open brain," he declared.

Discussing his latest research into the ancient astronauts, Von Daniken addressed how the end of the Mayan calendar may fit into his theory. Based on his belief that ancient man mistook ETs for Gods, Von Daniken put forth the idea that the "returning Gods" prophesied by the Mayans are actually the ancient astronauts who created the human race. However, he was reticent to specify December 23, 2012 as the precise time for the return of these entities, because of the difficulty in synchronizing the Mayan calendar with our contemporary time keeping. "One thing is definitely correct," he asserted, "they will return, these extraterrestrials, but I will never fix on a date." Von Daniken also talked about mysterious discoveries found beneath the pyramids of Egypt, the ET connection to Stonehenge, and his investigation of the ancient Bolivian site Pumapunku.

[Paul Baack]

I just started reading The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. It's kinda about a spy/IT guy that works for a secret British Agency that uses science to fight against Cthulhu monsters. It's pretty cool so far!

It's neat stuff, isn't it?  A clever mash-up of Lovecraft and Len Deighton, with his hero/narrator filling in for Harry Palmer. The next novel in the series, The Jennifer Morgue, is even more fun: this is his tip-of-the-Mythos-hat to Ian Fleming.  James Bond tropes and monsters -- everything a boy could ask for! It also features the most fearsome application of MS PowerPoint ever conceived... Sorry, no spoilers.   

Stross also wrote a very scary modern Mythos story called "A Colder War," which concerns itself with the US and (former) USSR using Cthulhu as a weapon. It sounds goofy, but it's deadly serious. You can read it for free at Infinity Plus. Enjoy!

[helios1014]

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. There is a funny scen in this book where the title character confronts a dime-store Joseph Curwin and the results are laughable.

[old book]

I'd like to welcome Graham Hancock to the ranks of amateurdom with his first fictional offering, Entangled. It seems to be about time travel and Neanderthals, and a possible Holocaust by Homo sapiens against their Elder Brother that wiped him out.

Up until now Graham Hancock has done amateur journalism and made some great discoveries about ancient maps of Antarctica, showing rivers and coastlines, ancient Cyclopaean masonry, lost civilizations and many other things. This is his first weird tale. Although he seems to be a little bit excitable by nature, he seems genuinely excited by his new foray into fiction, and I wish him all the best. I lift my cup of Anamnesis muscaria to you, Graham.