tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post3074174688633030770..comments2024-03-19T07:16:47.924-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Pulp Fantasy Library: The Rats in the WallsJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69358412955297462442012-07-08T10:46:38.949-04:002012-07-08T10:46:38.949-04:00And incidentally, in this audio version the cat...And incidentally, in this audio version the cat's name is change to Mr. Blackman.tbobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-59575932670010038412012-07-08T10:44:30.587-04:002012-07-08T10:44:30.587-04:00There's a great reading of The Rats in the Wal...There's a great reading of The Rats in the Walls in one of the volumes of audio readings called "The Dark Worlds of H.P.Lovecraft". I believe there are 6 volumes covering 15 stories. The reader, Wayne June, is fantastic on all the stories. <br /><br />I'm not sure if they're still available to buy new, but (I hope I'm not breaking a site rule by writing this) they are pretty commonly available through not-so-legal means.tbobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-48976047517787165832012-07-05T14:46:18.013-04:002012-07-05T14:46:18.013-04:00Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoy t...Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoy the story and its themes, the damn name still distracts me...it *works.* The whole story's unsettling to me and that is why I like it.Anthony Birdhttp://www.facebook.com/princeofhappinessnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-56854733826648319312012-07-03T10:15:30.667-04:002012-07-03T10:15:30.667-04:00Christopher Lee can make a shopping list sound cre...Christopher Lee can make a shopping list sound creepy.<br /><br /><br />Milk...<br /><br />Spaghetti...<br /><br />Eggs...<br /><br />Cap'n Crunch...Bryguy138https://www.blogger.com/profile/13445655987736995155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-62069940396003024832012-07-02T23:55:05.989-04:002012-07-02T23:55:05.989-04:00M.R. James' ghost stories are generally better...M.R. James' ghost stories are generally better read-alouds than HPL's work. You can find some (grainy quality copies) of Christopher Lee reading James on Youtube.Michael Rooneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-51663815985930136572012-07-02T19:42:17.015-04:002012-07-02T19:42:17.015-04:00The cat's name was a common one at the time am...The cat's name was a common one at the time among black furred pets, though I've seen it used more with dogs than cats. It is less a racism issue with Lovecraft than dating the story as coming from a much less sensitive time. I think HPL was quite racist, this just isn't one of the best pieces of evidence of it (check Herbert West Reanimator for a strong one).Lynn Fredrickshttp://www.facebook.com/lynnfredricksnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-51672747745780164052012-07-02T18:51:08.536-04:002012-07-02T18:51:08.536-04:00I love this story. I think it was the first Lovecr...I love this story. I think it was the first Lovecraft I'd ever read. Still plan to one day have the De la Poers figure in a CoC game, should I ever run one.Anthony Raganhttp://breeland.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84855977230552126182012-07-02T17:58:14.487-04:002012-07-02T17:58:14.487-04:00I have not words to describe the impression this t...I have not words to describe the impression this tale had in me many years ago, when I was a teenager and belived that a horror story was gore and a cheerleader screaming. It was my first Lovecraft tale, of course.José Joaquín Rodríguez Morenohttp://www.facebook.com/josejoaquin.rodriguezmorenonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-62951349078582139292012-07-02T16:26:48.674-04:002012-07-02T16:26:48.674-04:00This is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, simp...This is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, simply because my namesake gets devoured.Adam Thorntonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-59031036073740591292012-07-02T15:43:31.647-04:002012-07-02T15:43:31.647-04:00By means of a typo on my part.By means of a typo on my part.James Maliszewskihttp://grognardia.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-36299741301818054942012-07-02T15:41:18.021-04:002012-07-02T15:41:18.021-04:00I might be missing something, but if the story was...I might be missing something, but if the story was published in Weird Tales in 1924, how did it spark a 1923 (and further) conversation with Robert E. Howard?Anthony Puddleducknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-52322170927652924932012-07-02T15:26:26.917-04:002012-07-02T15:26:26.917-04:00I don't care if HPL was a racist or not... I d...I don't care if HPL was a racist or not... I don't perceive it as rasism but merely an oddity of stories that the cat is named Nigger Man. Nor do I believe people become racists by reading his works, so I don't see the point in thrashing around in the subject...<br /><br />Anyway that was not what I wanted to say, what I wanted to say is that this was the first ever HPL story i read and I loved it for all its peculiarity and little oddities. I was so hooked by the story that I literally felt my chest constrict when De La Poer went deeper and deeper into the earth and with the revelations the story brings forth (didn't want to add spoilers for those who might not have read it). I know I read it as part of an omnibus but I can't for the life of me remember any of the other stories in that volume. It's one of the very few stories I've read more than twice and I've loved since my early teens and I love it still, nearly twenty years later.Khorgannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-27553364115373760562012-07-02T15:22:47.436-04:002012-07-02T15:22:47.436-04:00I didn't know there was an audio version of th...I didn't know there was an audio version of this story :)<br />Makes sense, as this is one of the best of his work for campfire retelling.<br /><br />(PS, bore me gently with a chainsaw with HPL/racism talk... who do we think is reading this, anyway?)mutantbikernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75065743532340717572012-07-02T15:03:13.970-04:002012-07-02T15:03:13.970-04:00HPL had a cat of the same name when he was young.HPL had a cat of the same name when he was young.John Harper Brinegarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-68083715791670591012012-07-02T15:00:11.681-04:002012-07-02T15:00:11.681-04:00But the whole story centers around the horror of L...But the whole story centers around the horror of Lovecrafts peculiar racial anxiety. I don't understand how racist names are unacceptable but a story whose theme is expressly racist is "likable." It is the story's unlikable horror that draws me to it, or maybe I don't understand horror stories anymore.xdpaulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70844582206250829152012-07-02T14:53:03.595-04:002012-07-02T14:53:03.595-04:00I actually think it is a very good name for the ca...I actually think it is a very good name for the cat as a symbol of the essence of de la Poer's doom. Racism - incl. losing one's race, the annihilation of race as a general concept, etc. - is a critical element of Lovecraft's "loneliness horror," we just fancy ourselves too polite to thing such things today. But the fact is very evident that the fears that Lovecraft "predicted" in his fiction - an increase in what he would describe as animalism, a religious-fervored anarchy, and violent racial turmoil due to culture clash - very much have come to pass. Now, what scared Lovecraft may not be frightening to you, but I don't know how one can enjoy Lovecraft, yet wish his racism wasn't there. Racism, eugenics and Darwinism, for good or bad, gives almost every last one of his stories their essence. Lovecraft was a staunch racist - an outspoken racist, an author of overtly racist poetry and an opponent of mass immigration on racial grounds. It is infused in almost every story he wrote, and wishing the racist bits of Lovecraft away is wishing Lovecraft himself away.xdpaulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-6241393543864291912012-07-02T14:06:35.873-04:002012-07-02T14:06:35.873-04:00It's Lovecraft's unfortunate choice in rac...It's Lovecraft's unfortunate choice in racist nomenclature that that cat's name is the first thing that immediately comes to mind whenever the story is mentioned. It's unfortunate because I rather like the rest of the story.Anthony Birdhttp://www.facebook.com/princeofhappinessnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87784166733306698902012-07-02T13:39:51.866-04:002012-07-02T13:39:51.866-04:00"It" = cat."It" = cat.Errant Tigernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53690477213521653442012-07-02T13:39:25.736-04:002012-07-02T13:39:25.736-04:00I've always loved this story, especially becau...I've always loved this story, especially because of the prominent role of de la Poer's cat. I just wish it had a different name.Errant Tigernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-34029046576144889482012-07-02T13:36:33.400-04:002012-07-02T13:36:33.400-04:00First HPL story I read and still one of my favorit...First HPL story I read and still one of my favorites.Guestnoreply@blogger.com