Looking For Some Help

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 3:34 pm

Basically, so I don't forget, the idea is that the 'First Book of Sarnoch' was written by an Israelite named Sarnoch (well, not everything has to be meaningful), about a series of visions he believes YHWH gave to him, concerning the fall of a city of Deep Ones/Cthulhu spawn (basically some form of generic sea-man hybrid) after YHWH takes offense at their worship of the god Dagon. So, he sends the Cherubim in (see Ezekiel 1: 5-25), who kick the shit out of everything, somewhat like the events at the start of 'Doom that Came to Sarnath'. As the narrator is slowly uncovering fragments of this book form his old teacher's work, he dreams the saem visions, one step ahead of his reading. Not sure how to end it, though.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:07 am

That's a wicked concept, JP. Sounds like it would have lots of opportunities to tie it into the mythos without making the kinds of direct inferences that cheese up so many other tales.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:00 pm

It came to me, as all my best ideas do, in my local coffee shop. I had just finished reading 'Doom That Came to Sarnath' for like the millionth time (I think it's quite possibly the best piece Lovecraft ever wrote. I'm a bigger fan of his shorter pieces, but that's a whole other [not 'whole nother', that's an abomination against language] story) and I was leafing through the Bible for inspiration (Dagon's mentioned, thought that might spark something off). Well, I didn't find anything great on Dagon, but that passage in Ezekiel blew my mind. So I had to write about those things.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:55 am

So I had to write about those things.

Run with it, brother, and don't forget to post it when you're done. Looking forward to reading that one.

not 'whole nother', that's an abomination against language

lol. Aint nothin' wrong with a bit of colorful dialogue.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:16 pm

E.A. Lovecraft wrote:
So I had to write about those things.
Run with it, brother, and don't forget to post it when you're done. Looking forward to reading that one.

not 'whole nother', that's an abomination against language
lol. Aint nothin' wrong with a bit of colorful dialogue.

Yeah. I've most of the introduction done, before the first vision. I've been scouring the Bible for as many references to them as I could find, and I've found that there's only four of them, or only four that have been seen by men. They move in unison, and there's a wheel on the gorund beneath eah floating creature, which is really two wheels intersecting at right angles. Weird shit.

CaptainMarsh · Post by **CaptainMarsh** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:56 pm

Well, I didn't find anything great on Dagon, but that passage in Ezekiel blew my mind. So I had to write about those things.

Yeah, Dagon is only mentioned as a pagan god in the Bible, especially of the Philistines. As an interesting subnote, when the Greeks took over from the Phoenicians (I think it was them) they took Dagon and turn him into Neptune. You can still find old Phoenician coins with Dagon on them, and he looks suspiciously like Neptune.

As for "bad copies of Lovecraft," I think that anything which includes a paragraph like "and he found on the bookshelf many disturbing tomes, such as the fabled Comte de Goules," etc, etc, "and most unnervingly a translation of the blasphemous tome, the Necronomicon." Or like they mentioned with name-dropping, where there is another paragraph listing all the biggest gods in the cycle, along with colorful descriptions.

I've seen this in even very well-known Mythos writers, and I always groan and roll my eyes at it. I strongly believe that you have to treat it all like something that would happen in real life. If Christianity was mentioned, and you knew about it, you wouldn't give a quick overview in your head of the whole Bible and the trinity. But if you would have an audience reading it who wasn't Christian, you would stick in information through dialogue or description, slowly. Plus, no one is simply going to have a bookshelf FULL of every book ever written about the Mythos. Except maybe Miskatonic's library, but then you would just be able to check any of them out, they wouldn't be in a line on a bookshelf.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:07 pm

Plus, no one is simply going to have a bookshelf FULL of every book ever written about the Mythos.

Amen to that. How the tired old tomes continue to maintain an air of mystery for some mythos fans is beyond me.

Lagwolf · Post by **Lagwolf** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 5:03 pm

I always thought the tradition was to use some of the ole' tomes from the mythos and also to add a new one to the collection. I made up my own and several other authors have. Merely name-checking all the usual suspects comes across as rather desperate.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 9:42 pm

I think the use of any ancient tome is old hat by now. Not that they can't be used to good effect, but it's been a looong time since I've read a tale where the author managed to do so.

I did like how F. Paul Wilson brought them up in The Keep. Upon their discovery in the novel, I was sure the protagonist (an aging scholar, no less) was going to find within their pages the means to defeat the evil. After all, what mythos fan hasn't seen that scenario played out a hundred times? Then, just as neat as you please, Wilson reveals the books to be useless products of outdated superstitions--bearing no more truth than The Cat in the Hat.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:49 pm

E.A. Lovecraft wrote:I think the use of any ancient tome is old hat by now. Not that they can't be used to good effect, but it's been a looong time since I've read a tale where the author managed to do so.

I did like how F. Paul Wilson brought them up in The Keep. Upon their discovery in the novel, I was sure the protagonist (an aging scholar, no less) was going to find within their pages the means to defeat the evil. After all, what mythos fan hasn't seen that scenario played out a hundred times? Then, just as neat as you please, Wilson reveals the books to be useless products of outdated superstitions--bearing no more truth than The Cat in the Hat.

Just to spite you for that last sentance, I'm going to add a Seussian/Lovecraftian whimsical horror tale to the queue of stuff I'm working on. Unfortunately, a busy schedule and a dislike of what I had so far written means I'm not very far on with '...Spheres'.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 9:00 pm

You know, a Seuss-like mythos tale could have high entertainment potential.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 2:18 pm

E.A. Lovecraft wrote:You know, a Seuss-like mythos tale could have high entertainment potential.

Right, here's the plan. The kid from "There's a Wocket in My Pocket" has grown up, and has stopped imagining all the wierd critters. Then, one day, he sees a faint sense of movement around the chimney. Looks up, nothing there. Later, shuffling noises in the basement. Looks, nothing there. And so on and so on, until he eventually has a nervous breakdown, and is made to move in with his son. A few years later, the house is demolished, and odd skeletal remains are found in various locations, along with shreds of fur and a few scales. Of course, it's not disclosed, but these are obviously the Yellar, Gellar, Nellar, Dellar, Zellar, Yeps, Noothgrush. and Vug.

Man, having typed that, I've realised how similar it is to "Dreams in the Witch House". Not my intention, but I'll run with it.

The Temple of Dagon

Looking For Some Help

Re: Dagon, Lovecraft-copies