Space-based Cosmic Horror

[BAYLOR]

I suppose Lovecraft isn't subtle enough for you? Or not science fiction enough?
Edit: I once read a novel about a "horror" type vampire on a starship. He met a "psychic vampire" type entity and mentioned that he had never met a vampire before.
I wasn't crazy about the book and don't remember any more of it.

Lifeburst by Jack Williamson to lovecraftain but fits into to Cosmic horror category.

 

[hitmouse]

I suppose Lovecraft isn't subtle enough for you? Or not science fiction enough?
Edit: I once read a novel about a "horror" type vampire on a starship. He met a "psychic vampire" type entity and mentioned that he had never met a vampire before.
I wasn't crazy about the book and don't remember any more of it.

Remind me of the Lovecraft novels set in space, please.

 

[BAYLOR]

Remind me of the Lovecraft novels set in space, please.

Lovecraft did write a story set on Venus . It was In the Walls of Eryx .

 

[StilLearning]

Lovecraft also wrote a few things in terrestrial, but very solidly sci-fi, settings. At The Mountains Of Madness probably counts (derelict alien city in Antarctica), and Shadow Out Of Time is another (set partly in the deep past, in an alien city, populated by creatures that transmit their minds across the universe in a way that ishly foreshadows the 'hyperspace re-sleeving' of the R. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels).

 

[BAYLOR]

Lovecraft also wrote a few things in terrestrial, but very solidly sci-fi, settings. At The Mountains Of Madness probably counts (derelict alien city in Antarctica), and Shadow Out Of Time is another (set partly in the deep past, in an alien city, populated by creatures that transmit their minds across the universe in a way that ishly foreshadows the 'hyperspace re-sleeving' of the R. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels).

And Cthulhu and brethren are aliens from the stars.

 

[BAYLOR]

Then there's Dead Space which was game franchise which also had two animated films. Novels and comics.

 

[StilLearning]

Actually , that's a good point - I hadn't considered game franchises. There are some interesting examples, like Carrion (link to game website), which has lovecraftian themes but has you play as the unearthly monster. Or 'Viscera Clean-Up Detail' which takes place in the aftermath of a space-horror story a-la Deadspace and takes an interesting sideways look at the genre.

 

[Stenevor]

Not sure where to put it but if anyone is interested there's a fan made trailer of Blindsight made by some Russians. Some nice animation.

 

[BAYLOR]

Actually , that's a good point - I hadn't considered game franchises. There are some interesting examples, like Carrion (link to game website), which has lovecraftian themes but has you play as the unearthly monster. Or 'Viscera Clean-Up Detail' which takes place in the aftermath of a space-horror story a-la Deadspace and takes an interesting sideways look at the genre.

Might Doom fit into that category ?

 

[Rodders]

Games are probably a richer source of space based horror. I cannot think of many book titles that would fit into this category.

Probably Warhammer 40K with the appetites of the Warp and the Tyranid swarms would be the best choice.

 

[StilLearning]

Might Doom fit into that category ?

Hmmm... I'd say yes, except that it has a fairly straightforward good/evil vibe, and plays off conventional Abrahamic ideas of hell. Lovecraft's fiction is consciously amoral, and humanity doesn't have an important enough place in it to get eternal damnation!

 

[BAYLOR]

Hmmm... I'd say yes, except that it has a fairly straightforward good/evil vibe, and plays off conventional Abrahamic ideas of hell. Lovecraft's fiction is consciously amoral, and humanity doesn't have an important enough place in it to get eternal damnation!

What a film like X The Unknown or the Quatermass series of movie ?

 

[soulsinging]

Then there's Dead Space which was game franchise which also had two animated films. Novels and comics.

This was the first thing I thought of. That game is terrifying.

 

[StilLearning]

This was the first thing I thought of. That game is terrifying.

The youtube channel 'outside xbox' actually used it to 'train' one of their presenters to be desensitised to scary games!

 

[StilLearning]

What a film like X The Unknown or the Quatermass series of movie ?

More that sort of direction - but I might be trying too hard to be a purist about this. In a way I think Godzilla comes fairly close, if you examine the back story....

 

[BAYLOR]

There also The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell baed on the original of the menace in the one , that could fit in to the category of Cosmic Horror and so could his Novel Midnight Sun

Also Pete Rawlik's novel The Weird Company which is a sequel to At The Mountain of Madness

The House on the Borderland William Hope Hodgson could also fit into the Cosmic Horror category

The Rim of the Morning Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by William Sloane

The Dwellers in the Mirage by Abraham Merritt

 

[BAYLOR]

Warhammer 40 k might fit into the space based comic horror vein.

 

[Rodders]

Indeed, the Black Library now has a section related to Warhammer Horror.

 

[BAYLOR]

Indeed, the Black Library now has a section related to Warhammer Horror.

Ive seen some of those books.

 

[Randy M.]

C. L. Moore's Northwest Smith stories. Very pulp, sometimes purple, but good fun if read over time (I don't recommend reading them all at one time) and "Shambleu" is generally considered an s.f. classic.