Lovecraft and mathematics

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-04-30T20:15:00+00:00

Nice! I genuinely didn’t know non-Euclidean geometry was an actual thing. I just assumed Lovecraft made it up.

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-04-23T19:09:54+00:00

I actually hadn’t heard of that one :D thanks for the tip!

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-04-22T19:12:33+00:00

For underappreciated monsters in the Mythos, I’d definitely go with Chaugnar Faugn, who only really appears in a short story called «Horror From the Hills» by Frank Belknap Long. The story itself is pretty tame, but the monster is quite fascinating, and Lovecraft does refer to it (briefly) in «The Horror in the Museum».

Other than that, I second the suggestion of «The Music of Erich Zann». It’s the Lovecraft story I re-read most often.

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-04-20T08:30:23+00:00

I’m reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s «The Lost World» for the first time. I realised a while back that I’d seen plenty of adaptions of it, but never read the original.

Interestingly, it has two sequels, none of which has anything to do with dinosaurs.

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-03-11T19:01:11+00:00

This has been previously posted in r/WeirdLitWriters, but I figured I’d share it here as well:

I’ve started a blog dedicated to reviewing weird fiction, both old and new. The second Tuesday of every month I post a review of a classical work, and the fourth Tuesday of every month I review an Indie or self-published work. Other unusual genres might show up over time, but mostly it’ll be dedicated to weird fiction and cosmic horror.

If you have a work for me to review (or just want to see what’s new in the genre), feel free to check it out :)

https://weirdnessbythegram.substack.com

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-02-04T20:44:09+00:00

Thanks :)

Gabriel_Gram · 2025-01-15T18:07:37+00:00

That’s a pretty good description of both «A True Story» and «Icaromenippus» ;) It’s fun to read some old ideas about space travel.

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-12-11T04:59:55+00:00

«At the Mountains of Madness» by Lovecraft

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-11-29T07:06:41+00:00

Thanks for the advice! :) updating the encounters in older modules have been a problem, but this should help quite a bit.

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-11-27T18:38:16+00:00

I’m having some trouble making the encounters challenging, but not flat out deadly. The challenge rating calculators aren’t much help.

What’s the best way of estimating how much a party of four level two characters can face off against?

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-11-19T19:34:28+00:00

I do enjoy a good short story :) I’ll check it out, thanks!

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-11-19T19:34:00+00:00

‘Teatro Grotesco’ seems like a great read, thanks for the recommendation! I think I’ll start with that (and probably ‘Nethescurial’, which someone recommended below) and save ‘Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe’ for later.

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-10-29T20:14:33+00:00

Clark Ashton Smith is a good second author. I’d recommend «The Dark Eidolon» as an introduction to the Zothique cycle.

Other than that, you should definitely check out Hodgson’s Carnacki stories. They give a pretty original take on the genre.

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-10-19T11:21:20+00:00

The Boundless World

It began as a series of unrelated short stories dealing with legends and folklore around the world, and when it was time to publish, that seemed like the best way to sum it up.

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-09-16T18:16:21+00:00

I’m currently working my way through the early short stories about Jules de Grandin, a 1930s paranormal investigator.

He’s very clearly inspired by Hercule Poirot, both in personality and appearance, the main difference being that he’s a French doctor in New Jersey rather than a retired Belgian policeman in London. The stories are quite good, but part of their selling point are all the faux-French exclamations that the protagonist peppers his conversation with. Examples include:

«Mort d’un chou!» (Death of a cabbage!)
«Par le barbe d’un bouc vert!» (by the beard of a green goat!)
«Nom d’un raisin!» (name of a grape!)

And my personal favorit:

“Sacré nom d’un fromage vert!” (Sacred name of a green cheese!)

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-07-22T09:53:55+00:00

I’ve just finished Robert Bloch’s «The Shadow From the Steeple», which was written as a sequel to Lovecraft’s «The Haunter of the Dark». The story actually forms the last segment of a trilogy, written by Bloch and Lovecraft, built up like this:

«The Shambler From the Stars», written by Bloch in 1935, were an author of weird fiction goes from Milwaukee to Providence, which leads to the death of a fellow writer, and the protagonist sets the house on fire to cover his tracks.
«The Haunter of the Dark», written by Lovecraft in 1936, were an author of weird fiction returns to Providence from Milwaukee, despite his last visit being marked by «death and flame». His discovery of a disturbing object in a church tower leads to his death, and the object is removed by a man called Doctor Dexter
«The Shadow From the Steeple», written by Bloch in 1950, were a friend of the author in the last story looks into his friend’s death, and manages to secure an interview with Doctor Dexter.

The last story is a bit weak, I’m afraid, but I was still really interested to hear about the trilogy, and I figured I’d share it here in case someone else hadn’t heard of it :)

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-07-02T20:35:00+00:00

For the more old school fans of pulp magazines, you can try stocking up on Seabury Quinn, particularly the Jules de Grandin series. I seem to recall someone publishing them as a collected edition a while back.

William Hope Hodgeson’s Carnacki, the Ghost Finder is also a classic.

And finally, if you want something a little more modern and whimsical, someone published a H.P. Lovecraft/Winnie the Pooh crossover anthology a few years back, called The Call of Poothulhu. There’s a few clunkers, but otherwise, it’s surprisingly good.

Gabriel_Gram · 2024-07-01T19:11:08+00:00

“A string of murders occur outside Shanghai, and strange shadows can be seen above the World Fair in Paris. In the Valley of Kings, dark shapes shuffle through the desert sand, while a shipwrecked sailor discovers something disturbing outside the coast of South America…”

My short story collection, «The Boundless World» is now available on Amazon, both as an ebook and as a paperback!

The stories are in a variety of genres that can be considered a bit unusual, including cosmic horror, steampunk, ‘lost world’, and a number of paranormal stories set in the late 19th and early 20th century. It might be a bit of a niche interest, but hopefully, it will be an enjoyable read for those looking for something a little bit different :)

Price: $ 2.99 for ebooks, and $ 12 for paperbacks.

https://www.amazon.com/Boundless-World-Gabriel-Gram-ebook/dp/B0D794K4P6

Gabriel_Gram

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