Weird Fiction discussion

Our Lovecraft selection from the Dream Cycle this month is the short story, "From Beyond." Written in 1920, early in Lovecraft's career, it did not see print until 1934, in a fanzine, a few years before H.P.'s demise. According to Wikipedia, "the story is told from the first-person perspective of an unnamed narrator and details his experiences with a scientist named Crawford Tillinghast. Tillinghast creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person's pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality." This fits in well with our other Dream Cycle stories which also take place in a setting removed from reality.

Interestingly, there is a 1986 film based on Lovecraft's story. It is widely available for free (meaning, prepare to watch ads) on Roku streaming services and Pluto. It has rather positive reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four.

The story, if you need it online, can be found here: https://hplovecraft.com/writings/text...

While I personally love the way Lovecraft begins a story and the subtle way his method can draw a reader in...

Horrible beyond conception was the change which had taken place in my best friend, Crawford Tillinghast. I had not seen him since that day, two months and a half before, when he had told me toward what goal his physical and metaphysical researches were leading; when he had answered my awed and almost frightened remonstrances by driving me from his laboratory and his house in a burst of fanatical rage. I had known that he now remained mostly shut in the attic laboratory with that accursed electrical machine, eating little and excluding even the servants, but I had not thought that a brief period of ten weeks could so alter and disfigure any human creature. It is not pleasant to see a stout man suddenly grown thin, and it is even worse when the baggy skin becomes yellowed or greyed, the eyes sunken, circled, and uncannily glowing, the forehead veined and corrugated, and the hands tremulous and twitching.

... it is very different than the way almost any modern writer would craft a story. Lovecraft's method has its detractors. Many accuse him of being unwilling, at minimum, unable, at worst, to write a dramatic scene. I, for example, if telling the story, would begin in a manner like the following:

Parking around the side of the house, I noted the unkempt appearance of the yard as I approached the door and wondered why the landscape service had stopped working. The bell tolled like a gong and within seconds the door squeaked open. I had obviously been expected. Even from the dim interior light shining through the doorway I couldn't help but fail to notice the dramatic changes exhibited by my old best friend Crawford Tillinghast. I had not seen him since two months and a half before back when he had all his normal vitality. He had escorted me at that time to his laboratory to inform me of the goal his physical and metaphysical research was leading.

This evening Crawford guided me to a coffee table in the living room, upon which were set a tray of sandwiches and a bottle of whisky with two glasses and a tub of ice cubes. Pouring me and then himself a glass, he lifted his and made a toast, "To better times."

I raised my glass and took a hearty swallow. "My God, Crawford! What the hell happened to you?"

I knew that he now remained mostly shut in the attic laboratory with that accursed electrical machine, eating little and excluding even the servants, but I had not thought that a brief period of ten weeks could so alter and disfigure any human creature. It is not pleasant to see a stout man suddenly grown thin, and it is even worse when the baggy skin becomes yellowed or greyed, the eyes sunken, circled, and uncannily glowing, the forehead veined and corrugated, and the hands tremulous and twitching.

"You made it clear last time we met that you did not approve of my researches. Perhaps you were right. But you know how it is. Once you get an idea, you have to follow it out, see where it leads."

"Of course!" I answered, remembering when he had answered my awed and almost frightened remonstrances by driving me from his laboratory and his house in a burst of fanatical rage. "I'm a scientist too. We've all been there."

"I think I have barely slept since we last met, so hard have I worked on my project. I have now reached a point where I must await results. So I asked you to come over in order to tell of the discoveries I have made so far."

And so on. But Lovecraft would never write a story in such a manner. To appreciate Lovecraft, one must make allowances and let Lovecraft be Lovecraft if one decides to read his work.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... I would not have placed this story in Lovecraft's Dream Cycle at all. Did anyone get more out of it than me?

Here is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This story is definitely not part of Lovecraft's Dream Cycle.

If you care to read a brilliant sequel to this short story, try Brian Stableford's Further Beyond.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I got a laugh out of Lovecraft's use of the pineal gland as well. Even today in our time we do not truly fully understand all the functions of this gland. I remember from my Anatomy and Physiology class how our textbook glossed over the mechanisms for how and why so many things can go so wrong in our bodies when this gland fails to perform its functions properly. One of the many things it does is regulate the body's use of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep and circadian rhythms. In other words, the pineal gland is directly connected to our Sleep Cycle, even if this story isn't connected to H.P.'s. I think we can both agree the unnamed editor of The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death made a serious error including this story in the collection.

Reading your comment it does make me think you are right in that this is only tangentially connected to the Dream cycle. Sort of a 'scientific' exploration of why we can dream our way into Dreamland. Ha! But not really part of the cycle.

It does seem that Lovecraft was not familiar with lucid dreaming since it would have clearly been a gateway into Dreamland. In my own fantasy novels about Dreamland, I use lucid dreaming as my gateway into that realm of dreams.

I don't see this as part of the dream cycle either. The others have a different dreamy atmosphere with lyrical writing.
This story is super creepy-more like a nightmare!
The writing is very effective in creating the unpleasant atmosphere.

Here is my review as well!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Gary wrote: "If you care to read a brilliant sequel to this short story, try Brian Stableford's Further Beyond."

That's interesting. I have read his Dies Irae series published in 1971 (back when he used his middle initial) and really enjoyed it. But this book just came out a few months ago. Hard to believe anyone's writing career can span so many years. I would love to check this out.