Status Updates From The Dreams in the Witch Hou...

(18p story, 3p notes)

still really good so far; the pacing and just how it envelopes the reader into such a story, is brilliant. how the exploration of the Great Race (while really racist against the australian aborigines), it showcased competent world building with an idealised way of running the world, past capitalism.

1/3 into The Shadow out of Time - whenever he does the 1st pov writing, it's more palatable because we can connect with the character. i love how it uses the concept from another story, wherein a spirit takes-over another body, while we get to see life before humans or whether they're real. it gets pretty whacky and also baffling, but this is where hpl is just great in. odd premise, pushed to its limits.

✅ The Dreams in the Witch House - wow, i liked this. sure, uses the "is it a dream" to so many extents but the descriptions of what he did... it's really vivid. a little repetitive, but golly it was good. the "dimensional" travel elements weren't as much as expected, but i loved its insinuation of it existing within the framework of witchcraft. next one is the last one :*

✅ Through the Gates of the Silver Key - pretty easy read bc of the dialogues which made the flow more catchable and more, real? instead of extremely dense descriptions. however, this was the least HPL hpl work, which makes sense bc it was his friend who did it initially.

i love its combination between cosmic horror, with a splash of sci fi (time travel/time concept).

(15p story, 2p notes), Through the Gates of the Silver Key - surprisingly easier to read bc of the dialogue nature of it. as mentioned, this is a sequel to The Silver Key, which was a sequel to Dreamquest, which was a sequel to Statement.

it has a decent premise about who has the rights for this part of the house; which then dives into the natural progress of where Carter went after Silver Key; cool descriptions

✅ The Silver Key - i actually love the smaller scale story, focusing on HPL's irl visitation to an old town. people were crazy to dislike it, i found it more 'allegorical' as ST Joshi puts it. more introspective of his own works, of criticisms and the hunger for such wondrous stories without the confines. the last 2 paragraphs were so sweet

✅ Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath - finally! took awhile, while the conclusion was a relief, it was a fun journey. some parts slacked but you can tell throughout, it was pretty creative. not my most fav work of his but i can understand why.

my most fav is about the cats, and somehow, Nyarlathotep isn't the biggest ass either?

still on the same "Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath" and still is good; i'm just gonna be happy but sad once i finish this story bc it feels like his excuse to explore a lot of aspects while unconfined to normal story, single focused stuff

(6 pages story, 1 page notes)

we have finally descended into the underworld in the sorry; pretty cool descriptions of ghouls and how shit works. excited to continue!

10 pages of story (may read another 10 later)

but pretty cool to experience an ancient city under the sea, always wondered how it lasted and for how long before nature fucked them over; he's at the point of climbing the mountain, which is pretty cool too, to see such a view

10 pages of story

okay... humped-turbans, tar-black men, slaves; CAN WE BE MORE RACIAL IN A COSMOS STORY????? ugh

but i'll take the cat war part; IT WAS SO CUTE 😭 "speaking in the soft language of cats" like omfg yessss

(8 pages of story, 2 of notes)
Dream quest of unknown Kadath - wow, from its first paragraph, it already hooked me in. it's just a 100 pages but with HPL, who focuses on description and almost zero dialogue, it'll be awhile... but god, it's cool how it's essentially a travel point-to-point but cosmic horror-esque with recurring characters from previous stories! i'm so sat for this

(8 pages story, 1 page note)

✅ The Strange High House in the Mist - ok i was kinda bored; lovely details but the directionless nature of the story (even mentioned in the notes) was telling... like if you wanna focus on the lore of the river, name it that... don't name it high house in the mist, to reuse the same paragraph 3 times and expect it to be insightful just cause...

(8pgs story, 1pg note)

✅ In the Vault - didn't really understand the story but ig the vibe was cool; i'll take a non racist story any day of the week! i liked the writing style, a recollection from a person's memory, but kinda dramatic as it was indicating characters as tho i should've known them before?

(10 pages of story, 2 pages of notes)

✅ The Horror at Red Hook - got to be one of the most racist stories i've ever read. had smudges of horror but fuck this story. fuckass anti immigrant, xenophobic, white anglo saxon views; i hated this with every fibre of my being. what was the horror? for lovecraft; it was the flooding of immigration, yeah. fuck this particular story, never waste time on it!

8 pages of story, 4 pages of notes. still making my way through The Red Hook... this has gotta be the hardest read; literal anti-immigrant, pro-deportation, the dehumanisation.... racist depiction of people who are just non-american. there's ways to utilise it to write a really horrific depiction of the cosmos and then there's this; cracking down and generalising the middle eastern people as 'devil worshippers'

i did not read that much; just added 27 of notes that's read throughout + the measly little 4 pages of The Red Hook, that i read today; inclusive of the notes, which were 3 goddamn pages, easy to say that i'm tapped out for the day... i love it but taking the time rather than rushing is more better.

✅ The Shunned House - really good first half, until it realised it cornered itself, then made both characters camp-out in the house itself; unable to distinguish between reality and dream was nice; nngarly shit actually happens and while i wished it had a more depressing ending, im just glad it ended poetically; a dash of sadness with joy. it feels like those films that take place in a single location.

✅ The Unnamable - in essence, it's about trying to convince a super religious person, to open their minds and understand the way cosmic stuff works... intriguing by the end.
2 Chapters of The Shunned House - really insightful; love how it's about this house that isn't really cursed, but people who live within, kinda just dies; it writes of days since 1770 and it goes from there. poe was even mentioned

✅ The Lurking Fear - in essence; it's about the exploration of an abandoned and accursed mansion, in the mountain; always seems typical until you read HPL's interpretation. while it explains some part of the origin, and dangers of spreading lies, the mystification is ever-looming, until the very end... but even then, the trauma experienced by our protagonist, will linger with him always. another banger one