Best Weird Fiction & Cosmic/Eldritch Horror (without H.P.) ?

[Cadence]

As has come up in some other recent threads, H.P. Lovecraft was <insert expletives>. I'm guessing for a lot of folks that it's hard to picture the things in the outer darkness/far realms/whatnot without reference to Lovecraft's Mythos simply because we haven't read much else in that vein. And it might be hard to picture D&D worlds without that in the background since it's always been there.

Beyond Lovecraft, I've read the Conan stories where Howard veers that way, there's a hint of it in one of Glen Cook's Garrett novels, and one or two short stories that randomly showed up in fantasy anthologies. And that's about it.

What sources would you recommend for getting a more well-rounded view of the genre for game inspiration? Preferably ones with authors that didn't stand out for being particularly more racist/misogynistic/etc.. than the usual for their time, and with settings that don't owe too much directly to the HPL mythos?

 

[Hussar]

Try the Drabblecast August H. P. Lovecraft months. Google it, you'll find it. TONS of Mythos writers that are busilly stripping the Mythos of it's less culturally sensitive origins.

There are a couple of anthologies out, and I'm sorry, but, I'm totally blanking on the titles, which also expand the Mythos while being mindful of the origins of the stories. Cthulhu's Reign was a good one that I read a while ago.

 

[Cadence]

Try the Drabblecast August H. P. Lovecraft months. Google it, you'll find it. TONS of Mythos writers that are busilly stripping the Mythos of it's less culturally sensitive origins.

There are a couple of anthologies out, and I'm sorry, but, I'm totally blanking on the titles, which also expand the Mythos while being mindful of the origins of the stories. Cthulhu's Reign was a good one that I read a while ago.

Thank you! Just bookmarked it. Do you think those are good places to go if I want to avoid what you mentioned in the other thread (that inspired me to start this one):

"I don't like the Mythos in my hobby because the writer of the Mythos considers my children to be worthless degenerates who should be strangled at birth" is a bit of a different context. Is it equal to tell me, "Just don't read it then"?

Is rehabilitating and expanding good enough, or do you think alternate entries are needed to get at the genre? Not getting past Wikipedia, some of the Weird Fiction predates HPL and so at least avoids his personal &%!*iness, for example.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Gotta say, there are a lot of authors who dabbled in Mythos horror after HPL laid it out. Check out Brian Lumley, Robert Bloch and August Derleth, to name a few.

Dean Koontz‘ Phantoms is also within the scope of the Mythos.

 

[Hussar]

Realistically, the whole "mysterious entities from beyond" thing does predate Lovecraft, although, he's probably the most famous for taking the ball and running with it.

But, yeah, the notion we could try to strip the Mythos out of genre fiction is a ship that sailed long ago. Far too many authors have borrowed, riffed, and used it.

I was more arguing for an effort to push Lovecraft off the pedestal that genre fans tend to keep him on.

 

[jcjsolo@gmail.com]

I can’t recommend M.R. James highly enough. He was an antiquarian, a provost (kind of like a dean) at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, and there are certainly no racist tones in his work (he characterised some lower class folks in certain ways, but they were often more endearing than disparaging). He may not have had the most progressive views on women, but any controversy is significantly lesser than HPL’s views, at least as far as I have encountered.

His Ghost Story work was more of a hobby and initially intended to be read aloud, but as far as I’m concerned, as a reader of weird fiction it is simply unmissable. I started with ”Casting the Runes”, but you can’t go wrong with the majority of his work. He deals in the every day type of persons encountering the otherworldly, and building tension and dread, but it’s the gut punch of the final horror that will keep you searching for more and more of his stories. By the way, read “The Five Jars“ after you become a fan of M.R. James, because it’s more of a children’s story written for the young daughter of a friend (still great, though).

 

[ruemere]

Try Silent Legions by Sine Nomine Publishing. This rpg gem contains a guide for creating your own mythos.

 

[jaerdaph]

For fans of M.R. James, I highly recommend English Eerie if you want a different kind of roleplaying experience (solo and gm-less play with a journaling element). There is a new second edition just released but you can check it out with the first edition which is PWYW:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[Lidgar]

Might want to try A. Merritt. Start with Dwellers in the Mirage to see the inspiration for Tharizdun (including scenes that were taken whole cloth for the G1-3 series). Then move on to Moon Pool and The Ship of Istar. Warning though, they reflect the times they were written (1930's), so has some baggage.

 

[Nytmare]

Stephen King touches on cosmic horror frequently. The underlying mythology and cosmology of his world(s) is an incomprehensible chess game between cosmic horrors, even though his horror tends to ground itself much further down the hill.

By far my favorite mythos story is Neil Gaiman's "A Study in Emerald." It's a Sherlock Holmes styled mystery set in a world where the Outer Gods returned centuries before and hold sway over mankind as subsumed royalty.