Discovery of the Ghooric Zone

Roland Deschain · Post by **Roland Deschain** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:22 pm

I'm new to Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, and I wanted to ask a question about a short story I read.

I recently bought Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (my first time reading about Cthulhu & Co.) and have thoroughly enjoyed it, but I'm a little confused by "Discovery of the Ghooric Zone" by Richard A. Lupoff. I understand that the body the cyborgs find on Yuggoth is supposed to be Lovecraft (I think?) but I don't really get the point of the body or the story in general. I'm not familiar with the Mythos, so some parts of a few other stories have confused me, but I've been able to puzzle them out logically or by reading other stories in the collection. This one has thrown me for a loop, however. I'd greatly appreciate it if someone more knowledgeable could relieve me of my ignorance.

On a side note, I think that "Discovery of the Ghooric Zone" is the least enjoyable of the stories I've read so far (I still have five left to read). I find this to be odd because the foreword essentially states that 'DotGZ' is the best story of the bunch, and mayhap the best Cthulhu tale since Lovecraft died. Some of the earlier stories can be a bit corny at times, what with the melodramatic endings in italics with exclamation points ("what nameless shapes may even now lurk in the dark corners of the world!?!") but they're still great reads while 'DotGZ' just seems hopelessly dated. The bits about dystopian futures, feminist matriarchies, Soviet dominance, and nude "cyber-meched" slaves just screams 1970's sci-fi. Anyway, I was just amused at how enthralled the editor seemed with this story.

~Kurt

Post by **Aleister** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:19 pm

I will have to re-read and post back

Welcome to the forum!

Anyone else familiar with this one?

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:18 pm

Sheesh I have the same book I think and I remeber reading it through and the Ghooric story made me go WTF. Still can't decide if it's genius or just crap. Innovative for sure. That sort of thinking in Mythow writing I encourage.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:21 pm

Now I'm curious. I don't really want to have to track down too many modern Mythos tales when I should be looking for the old Wierd Tales crew, so can anyone give me a synopsis (by PM, so no one gets an unwanted spoiler) of this?

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:28 pm

It was like a bad "Twilight Zone" episode on even worse acid, man.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:29 pm

And people thought it was bad?

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:31 pm

I didn't take a stand but I see it being perceived as "bad" because it was way out there in terms of usual Mythos.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:37 pm

To me, Mythos tales are a genre, not a set of rules.

talkinghands · Post by **talkinghands** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:28 pm

Hi everyone, I just signed up to this forum.
I am familiar with the story, and I actually did like... prolly liked it because it was the final story in that collection of stories, and somehow it was interesting to consider the whole plot... far in the future, cyborgs discover this planet with Lovecraftian creatures, and Lovecrafts body right there, on display.
Seems to imply something like "His creations will be remembered many hundred years from now" or "the creatures he created eventually retrieved his body and put it right there, with them"... I dunno, I guess I am sounding weird, but I did like the story...
Eric

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 11:30 am

I don't remember the story that well but how could the lovecraftian creatures be real if HPL created them in his stories and then suddenly the creatures and the author's body exist in the same universe?

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 1:21 pm

The power of postive thinking.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 11:42 pm

Jesus Prime wrote:The power of postive thinking.

It's amazing what one can accomplish with a good attitude.

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:15 am

If by 'amazing', you mean 'frightening', and if by 'frightening', you mean 'post traumatic stress disorder inducing', and if by 'post traumatic stress disorder inducing', you mean 'amazing'.

E.A. Lovecraft · Post by **E.A. Lovecraft** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:00 pm

I just meant "kind of neat."

Jesus Prime · Post by **Jesus Prime** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:10 pm