JAROCHA-ERNST@RU-BLUE.ARPA (07/05/84)
From: Chris Jarocha-Ernst <JAROCHA-ERNST@RU-BLUE.ARPA> As it's been a month since my original request for pointers to additional Cthulhu Mythos stories, I thought I should honor my promise to summarize my results for SF-LOVERS everywhere. Unfortunately for me, no one was able to add substanially to my list, nor could anyone give me pointers to the Berglund bibliography. Bob Webber told me about Robert's Bloch's MYSTERIES OF THE WORM; Carl Powell gave we WORM and Bloch's mythos novel, STRANGE EONS. While I thank these folks, I did have these books already and simply forgot to add Bloch's name to the original list. Carl also mentioned the Hastur/Carcosa stories by Ambrose Bierce, the stories of Arthur Machen, and Robert Chambers's THE KING IN YELLOW. These may be considered "source material" for Mythos stories, but as they were written well before Lovecraft created Cthulhu, they're not Mythos stories, as such. Winston Edmond called my attention to the Avon paperback NECRONOMICON, as did Carl. I've avoided this book because a) it's not Cthulhu fiction, and b) it's a fake. I suspect the author is somehow connected with Satanist Anton Szandor LaVey, who once wrote some Cthulhu rituals for one of his "Satanic Bibles". However, Carl also mentioned another NECRONOMICON, which I'd be interested in seeing. I quote his paragraph in full: "There are also two books out about the Necronomicon. Necronomicon, published by Avon (I think) and The Necronomicon, published by Corgi. The former is a bunch of Persian (I think) mythology revised by someone named Simon, while the latter is supposedly a decryption of the book brought back from the court of Stanislaus IV (?), king of Poland, by John Dee, a mystic from Elizabethan times. The latter also contains a lot of conjectures about how Lovecraft might have gotten ahold of the book, biographical data, etc. Much more informative than the former. It is edited by George Hay. I got my copy in a book store in Ireland, and have yet to see a copy in the States." Let's get this straight: the Necronomicon, the real Necronomicon, doesn't exist. Lovecraft admitted inventing it. He forged bibliographical data for it (HIST. & CHRON. OF THE NECR.), and did it so well that many folks thought it was a real book. BUT he may have seen some occult tome and used it as source material. This may be what Hay's book is. In any event, I'd like to see a copy of it. Any further info on it, anyone? Finally, a repeat plea: what I'm looking for are places where Mythos stories may have been anthologized. SHORT STORY INDEX doesn't cover every anthology, nor is it useful unless I have particular authors/titles I'm looking for. I want stuff I haven't heard of yet, as well as stuff I have heard of but haven't read. Please see my earlier request in SF-LOVERS for details; it's too long to reproduce here. Thanks to those who responded; Cthulhu fthagn! Chris Jarocha-Ernst JAROCHA-ERNST@RU-BLUE -------
fritz@hpfclk.UUCP (07/09/84)
Nf-From: hpfclk!fritz Jul 13 09:34:00 1984
I missed the original posting, and can't seem to mail to RU-BLUE --
could you re-post your list of Cthulhu books/stories? I've never
read any of them, but would like a few pointers of where to start.
Thanks,
Gary Fritz
Hewlett Packard Co
Ft Collins, CO
{hplabs, ihnp4}!hpfcla!hpfclk!fritz