In March 2006, a game of the 'visual novel' kind was released here in Russia, with definite Lovecraftian themes. I won't be describing what it was actually like since it's a horror in and of itself (programmers who make their game take up 350 megabytes of space when it could just as easily take up 10 with improvements in performance should not be called programmers, in my opinion.) but the text of the story raised some warning bells.
From careful study of the text, it appears to have originally been a well-translated English text, very likely originally written by an authentic American - twisted to fit the purpose of the choose-your-own-adventure type of game, with some extra stuff added, (and added badly) but nevertheless, well written. I am not certain if the Lovecraftian elements are indigenous to the text as is or not - local editing gurus suggest it might have been a story by Salinger or E.A. Poe, which might not have necessarily included Lovecraftian elements. The financial crisis of 1994 axed the publication of many books, and it could well have been a translated but never published story. It could also be a mix of several such stories.
I'm researching if this text is actually plagiarized in any fashion or not, since such knowledge might later prove important if the 'visual novel' genre is to flourish in this country at all. Unfortunately, I'm limited to the Net in terms of looking stuff up, since English printed media is very hard to acquire over here. I'm looking for a native scholar to give me hints.
Here's what I can give you to work with without translating the complete text back to English:
- The original story was, probably, about 30k worth of English text (some 15 pages or so).
- The main character, Charles Talbot, starts off by describing how his life took a turn to the worse as he turned 24 - apparently the year is 1921 but it is not given explicitly. He blames Prohibition, immigration,and tornado which destroyed his home and business, leaving him and his wife, Emily, (21, orphaned) penniless.
- He says his father worked for Ford's factory, got disabled in a work-related accident. His uncle Ebner disappeared soon afterwards, leaving for Dunwich, Massachusets.
- Ebner was wealthy but never supported the rest of the family.
- Charles was highly surprised to become the sole beneficiary to Ebner's will upon the latter's death, on the condition that he spends amonth in his house in Dunwich. Charles accepts the terms in hopes of selling the estate once the month is over.
- Charles specifically mentions the house has no electricity, and stands five miles away from the town proper. It is devoid of any portable items, up to and including lamp oil, though furniture is in place. Doors slam behind him and Emily with squeaking, and the imagery is the standard horror fare depressing kind.
- Squeaking upsets their sleep for four days. Eventually, Emily breaks into a hysteric fit, and Charles decides to visit the town for lamp oil and other items required to explore otherwise inaccessible parts of the house.
- In town, he visits a drugstore, where he purchases morphine (which could only have been laudanum before the translation, since no syringe is required to use it) to use it as a sedative.
- In the local bar, he purchases whiskey (specifically mentioning he hopes Prohibition is not active in this area, and turns out it isn't) and tells the barman of his woes, only to receive a very hostile reply,since the barman hates Ebner for his actions towards the barman's daughter.
- Upon returning, Charles finds Emily crying inside a closet. She is finally able to sleep with the drug he purchased.
- While Emily is asleep, Charles is visited by the ghost of Abigail, Ebner's dead fiancee, a much younger woman than Ebner was. Abigail mentions that Ebner and Charles look extremely alike and tells a story how she was tortured to death in the basement of this house by being hung up off a meat hook.
- The next day Emily is down with a fever, and while she is suffering through the night, Charles is visited by the ghost of Alice, Ebner's maid, who tells him how she was murdered by being slashed up and then locked in a big chest.
- The next day, Charles finally opens up the basement, sees that Abigail's story was indeed true, and finds a set of bones in a chest, apparently confirming Alice's story. Shocked, he rushes back into town to ask the doctor in the drugstore for advice, and the doctor's advice is to ask the barman, who's daughter also disappeared and was suspected to have been one of Ebner's victims, for help.
- The barman agrees. Upon seeing the bones in the chest, he displays unusual familiarity with anatomy, mentions several disappearances (in 1917 and 1922) as possible victims, and eventually settles upon Kate, his own daughter, (disappeared in 1907) as the person whom the bones belonged to.
- Kate's ghost appears and tells a story of how she was kidnapped by Ebner with the intent of ritual sacrifice in a pentagram. Kate names Charles as her murderer, and the barman only refrains from killing the latter when he is reminded that in 1907 Charles was at most ten years old.
- Looking around the basement, they find a secret door. Within the hidden room, they find a pentagram on the floor, and a niche housing the Necronomicon.
- Ebner, condensing from magically appearing black smoke, explains that he is alive through the Necronomicon's power, and expects Charles to be the donor of his new body. He also mentions numerous other sacrifices made to the Necronomicon for power and wealth.
- Charles uses lamp oil to burn the book and flees with Emily as the house burns up. Alternatively, Charles merges with Ebner's spirit and sacrifices Emily.
Does any of that ring a bell?
