Welcome to Litsy!

For the photo challenge today we‘ve got the last book I read with shadow in the title! Free audiobooks on YouTube are a wonderful thing to have while I‘m at work, particularly when it‘s things I‘ve already read and don‘t need to pay too much attention to each word of. I love Lovecraft‘s atmospheres so much (but not much of the rest of his personality 😬)

#scarathlon #skeletoncrew #scarathlonphotochallenge @Clwojick @StayCurious

For the photo challenge today we‘ve got the last book I read with shadow in the title! Free audiobooks on YouTube are a wonderful thing to have while I‘m at work, particularly when it‘s things I‘ve already read and don‘t need to pay too much attention to each word of. I love Lovecraft‘s atmospheres so much (but not much of the rest of his personality 😬)

#scarathlon #skeletoncrew #scarathlonphotochallenge @Clwojick @StayCurious

There are Lovecraft stories that I can enjoy without thinking about his personal views and this is unfortunately not one of them - I love the sea monsters, cults and sense of dread, and there‘s a lot to like in this story, but there must have been a hundred references to ethnic groups‘ facial features and intelligence levels. I loved the sea monsters but I have to be honest and say it‘s one of the hardest ones to read in 2023. I won‘t be rereading

This narration by Mike Bennett was very good. Hybrid-amphibians seemed liked a good starting point with Lovecraft. +16 #TeamHarkness #Scarathlon2020 #Screamathon2020 #SpookitupaNotch

I'm paused at 54% of this collection of Lovecraft's works, and this is the only part that I've highlighted so far. I think it will take me quite a while to read the whole thing.

There are legitimate concerns about HPL's personal views which are well documented elsewhere. Speaking only for the novella, it is among his best stories. The pacing is solid even with some long descriptions of urban navigation. There is an atypically high (for HPL) amount of action too. Usually I have figured out the horrific “reveal“ well before the end, but this tale managed to keep me interested to the last. Typical excellent HPL atmosphere.

Food for thought. In a way Lovecraft would be "proud" of Starbucks. The company is actively promoting the whole Dagon mythos by having Mesulina as its logo. As the shops started sprouting up in the mid-west I would always mutter "All hail Dagon the fish God". And my partner at the time got a big kick out of it because he is a bigger Lovecraft fan than me. So it has often made me wonder if SB thought out their logo completely.

Where does madness leave off and reality begin?

One night I had a frightful dream in which I met my grandmother under the sea. She lived in a phosphorescent palace of many terraces, with gardens of strange leprous corals and grotesque brachiate efflorescences, and welcomed me with a warmth that may have been sardonic. She had changed - as those who take to the water change - and told me she had never died. Instead, she had gone to a spot her dead son had learned about...

Certainly, the terror of a deserted house swells in geometrical rather than arithmetical progression as houses multiply to form a city of stark desolation. The sight of such endless avenues of fishy-eyed vacancy and death, and the thought of such linked infinities of black, brooding compartments given over to cob-webs and memories and the conqueror worm, start up vestigial fears and aversions that not even the stoutest philosophy can disperse.

There's something off about this crumbling New England sea town. The locals are hostile to outsiders, the local drunk is terrifying, and don't get me started about the reef off the coast. It's all, well... fishy. 🐟

One of Lovecraft's best with lots of action, chills, and a fun (if obvious) twist ending. Trending today in Serial Reader!

There's something off about this crumbling New England sea town. The locals are hostile to outsiders, the local drunk is terrifying, and don't get me started about the reef off the town's coast. It's all, well... fishy. 🐟

One of Lovecraft's best with lots of action, chills, and a fun (if obvious) twist ending. Trending today in Serial Reader!

I finished this one using the @SerialReader which I ❤️btw. This was my first Lovecraft. I'm in. I can't believe it has taken me this long to read him. This one is about a little seaside town, sea creatures and an unholy cult. There's a twist I saw coming but it doesn't matter it was still a great little read.