Don't know if this is the place for this, but I've got a serious hankering for some Arkham Horror-style stories. I will be getting The Dark Waters trilogy once that arrives, but until then I don't quite know where to go.

- All Lovecraft books are mandatory reading and of course we've all read them already. ;-)

- Personally I really enjoyed China Mieville's Kraken. I'd recommend that to anyone who likes weird fiction.

Other than that I'm lost. Any tips or recommendations?

Have you read any other Mythos-related stories/Authors? Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard among them. Granted, not everything they do is Arkham-y (ie Conan), but some of their stuff is really neat, too.

Oh, and Piers Anthony. But he's a bit different from the others.

EcnoTheNeato said:

Man, this is someone who is a *must* read. My fave author from the Mythos. There are tons of books and novels to read, anyway; I'd like to add to Ecno's list: Abraham Merrit, Arthur Machen, sir Arthur Conan Doyle (he wrote some "black" stories really interesting), Algernon Blackwood (possibly not John Silence, but the other stuff), Ramsey Campbell and some other authors of those years

1895, from Chambers: The King in Yellow. very nice.

You can always go with any August Derleth (he's the Lurker at the Threshold guy) but he's... controversial, to say the least.

I'm a big fan of Robert Bloch's work, and a heartily have to go with Clark Ashton Smith as mentioned above. Other than Lovecraft, he's probably the best (IMO) of the mythos writers. "The Return of the Sorcerer" is extra good. If you're feeling extra classic, any of Edgar Allen Poe's horror stuff is pretty good (I think Lovecraft may have gotten some themes from him) and Bram Stoker's dracula is... well, it's worth a read but loses steam in the later acts.

If you're looking for book titles, I suggest:

Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos, edited by Robert M. Price. Probably the best non-lovecraft mythos tales I've found. Heartily encouraged.

The New Lovecraft Circle, edited by Robert M. Price: A couple of gems in here, but you may have to slog through one or two weak entries. I think it's mainly by british writers.

The Lurker at the Threshold, by August Derleth - The backstory of the lurker expansion, a decent and very long mythos tale.

The Mask of Cthulhu, by August Derleth - A couple of short stories, good if you like Derleth's style.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, by H.P. Lovecraft and Others, Del Rey Books 1990 - A lot of sub par pieces, but a couple of good ones.

Cthulhu's Reign - A more modern book about what would happen after the stars were right and Cthulhu returns. Not nearly as good as it sounds, but your mileage may vary. Edited by Darrell Schweitzer.

Lovecraft Unbound - A series of tales "inspired by" (re: no actual mythos elements) Lovecraft. A lot of it was painful for me to read, but if you like more modern stuff, it's okay. Edited by Ellen Datlow.

lolholm said:

There's one scene in The Magicians that's amazingly Lovecraftesque (though not in linguistic style). I'd say just read the book up to that point, and then stop ;') or you could read the rest. Whatever.

Thanks and to o the person who asked - I was thinking of specific titles you'd recommend as you suggested.

I just finished China Mieville's The Scar. It's excellent though not really Cthulhu. Next up I'm reading China Mieville's Iron Council. As you probably sensed, when I find an author I like, then I read all his or her stuff. :-)

I'll be checking out some of the recommendations once I've read the Iron Council.

Any other recommended books? Or specific books from the recommended authors?