So, this H. P. fellow...

[black lincon]

To be honest I'm not the biggest fiction reader. I can count the number of good fiction books I've read on both hands, and it's very rarely that a fiction book peaks my interest. If you couldn't tell from the title the person I'm inquiring about is H. P. Lovecraft. I've done a little research into his works but have been left with a slew of similarly titled books listed in some arbitrary order, or a list of short stories and poems published in the 20's, all depending on where I look. Whenever I start a series I like to start at the beginning so the arbitrary order and short stories from the 20's don't help very much. Since there seems to be plenty of Lovecraft fans on this site, I'd like to ask you; where do I start?

 

[Kabutos]

Call of Cthulhu.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Yeah, Cthulu

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

At The Mountains of Madness is probably my favorite of his.

 

[samsprinkle]

Cthulu for sure!

 

[FrankDux]

Isn't there a Lost tie with him that was proposed a long time ago? Seems like it's certainly possible that Abrams spins the series in that way..

 

[DangerChimp]

The Dunwich Horror is an especially creepy Lovecraft tale that I plan to re-read once I finish this anthology of Sherlock Holmes I'm currently enjoying. The Call of Cthulhu is definitely a solid story as well.

 

[black lincon]

Call of Cthulhu.

Is that the title of the book? because I don't want to be looking for it and find out it's not the title.

At The Mountains of Madness is probably my favorite of his.

And at both of these; will I need to know any random aspects of the story beforehand? I don't want to find myself in a situation where a random character comes along and your expected to know him/her.

 

[Kabutos]

Yes, that is the title.

 

[FalloutJack]

Call of Cthulhu to begin with, and then just branch out, yes. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is also a good start, delving into the Dreamlands and all. Hmmm... Let's see. Also...

The Dunwich Horror,
The Beast in the Cave,
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,
The Colour Out of Space,
The Doom That Came to Sarnath,
From Beyond,
The Shadow Out of Time,
Nyarlathotep,
and The Other Gods.

I've read these, personally, and they appeal to my tastes in the macabre, the horrific, and the creepy. The choice is yours, naturally.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

If you can get a copy of "The Call of Cthulu" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_Cthulhu_(film)] as well, it's well worth a watch.

Trailer

"Dark Corners of the Earth" [http://www.callofcthulhu.com/] is also a must.

 

[DamienHell]

CTHULU!!

 

[AntiAntagonist]

H.P. Lovecraft wrote short stories and had them published in monthly magazines IIRC.

Collections of his work are easily found at nearly every bookstore.

 

[black lincon]

Thank you all, but due to overwhelming support of The Call of Cthulu, I'm going with that.

Once again thanks, but know that I have my answer I won't be reading anything else here so mods can lock this if they so choose.

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

didn't they make a cthulu video game?

 

[Jamash]

At The Mountains of Madness is probably my favorite of his.

That's one of mine too, possible because it was the first story or his I read, being the 1st story in the 1st book of a collection of his works.

I also like Dagon (short but terrifying), The Shadow Over Innsmouth (and as an extension, the film Dagon [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/]), The Colours Out Of Space(?), From Beyond, and many more that I can't remember the titles of at the moment.

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

wow turns out they made alot of lovecraft games...
The Lurking Horror (1987) An interactive fiction computer game produced by Infocom inspired by the Lovecraft Mythos.
Alone in the Dark
Shadow of the Comet (1993)
Prisoner of Ice (1995)
Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness (2001) An investigative/survival horror game set in 1927, released for the PC and Playstation. The game's packaging states "inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft". Developed and published by Cryo and Wanadoo.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) Is a psychological survival-horror game inspired by the Lovecraft Mythos produced by Silicon Knights, and published by Nintendo (IMDb entry)
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (2005) An Investigative horror title for the Xbox and PC set in Innsmouth. Developed by Headfirst Productions, published by Bethesda Softworks / 2K Games.
Penumbra: Overture (2007), Penumbra: Black Plague (2008) and Penumbra: Requiem (2008) A survival-horror, first person, adventure series developed by Frictional Games. The Lovecraftian influence largely comes from At the Mountains of Madness.
Scratches by Nucleosys.
Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder and its sequel Darkness Within: The Dark Legacy by Zoetrope Interactive.
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (2007) Very highly influenced by Lovecraft's Cthulhu monster.
[edit]

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Oh yeah, Shadow Over Innsmouth is awesome sauce, probably has one of the most riveting climax's of any Lovecraft story.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Yeah, Cthulu

Cthulu for sure!

CTHULU!!

didn't they make a cthulu video game?

you're all fired... it's spelled CTHULHU, as any true Lovecraft fan would know...

i'd also like to point out that The Call of Cthulhu is a short story, like all of Lovecraft's works, and that it's much easier to find a collection of his works that contains this story (there are many) than it is to find the story published by itself...

and i wanted to throw The Dreams in the Witch House out there as a good place to start in addition to the other excellent suggestions that the others have made...

EDIT: and i wanted to point out to the OP that there isn't any real time-line per se in Lovecraft's stories... it wasn't even considered to be it's own mythos until August Derlith started making his contributions... so anywhere you choose to start is fine.

 

[Signa]

Am I the only one here expecting Harry Potter?