Proof that the remaining 10% of things man is not meant to know are worth going mad for:
These are recommendations made by Tropers for H. P. Lovecraft works and the Cthulhu Mythos, all of which have been signed. After a few samples, you will be able to judge whether you might be interested in the 'fic, based on who recommended it. No-name recommendations will be zapped. Nobody would back up the rec. Discussion of the recommendation is welcome on the discussion page. As such discussion is important, do remember to add the discussion page to the watchlist, if need be.
Do warn when a fanfic may head into sexual or non-canon territory. Some people just don't like it, and as we all know, Shipping is Serious Business.
Stories focused on the family and the friendly relationships of the cast. Plot-focused stories or light day-in-the-life stories. Pretty much anything that isn't focused on romance.
The Call of Cutethulu
by Piccolo Sky
- Recommended by Specialist290
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: An interesting humorous take on the Cthulhu mythos.
- Comments: I've never read any of Lovecraft's stuff myself, but I enjoyed this story immensely.
Children of an Elder God by John Biles and Rod M. (AU, Fusion Fic)
- Recommended by D Mint
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: It's an AU that fuses Evangelion with the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Instead of battling Angels, the Children fight the Old Gods for the future of humanity.
- Comments: While it is still sadly unfinished, John Biles and Rod M.'s Children of an Elder God is a must-read.
- Looney Toons: Note that an "incomplete" John Biles fic is almost never a Dead Fic. Biles works on many projects simultaneously, and chapters for any of them may appear unexpectedly.
- Lightice: As mentioned in the Evangelion section, the quality of this initially wonderful fic falls steadily as it goes on. Do yourself a favour and skip the two final chapters, to avoid spoiling the wonderful experience for good.
- Looney Toons: As of August 2010, Children is complete.
Sic Semper Morituri by Daniel Jess Gibson (AU, Fusion Fic, crossover)
- Recommended by Looney Toons
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Sic Semper Morituri by Daniel Jess Wilson is another take on the fusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion and H. P. Lovecraft, but from a different angle and with Time Travel and a few extra crossover elements leavening the mix.
- Comments: Incomplete but far from abandoned. (Does anyone have a guide or flow-chart for this? It's almost incomprehensible)
- It's really not that convoluted—it's just that it's long. Fortunately, it's interesting and innovative enough that once the story got into its stride, this troper was hooked.
The Insects from Shaggy; or, The Last Testament of Daphne Pickman by John Biles (crossover)
- Recommended by Heart Burn Kid
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Scooby-Doo reinterpreted in the style of the Cthulhu mythos. 'Nuff said.
- Comments:
- Mr Scourge: Eh, not very good in my opinion. Scooby Doo characters are way out of character, there's a lot of strange irrelevant stuff about drugs and orgies, and there's some pretty bland writing too.
A Colder War by Charles Stross (alternate history)
- Recommended by Khym Chanur
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: An alternate history which asks "What would the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union have been like if it had been set in the Cthulhu Mythos world, with both sides stock-piling Eldritch Abominations and meddling with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know?"
- Comments:
- Fish Called Waldo: While we can get into fights about what 'Fanfiction' means over this later, I want to say that the semi-sequels by Stross in the semi-same universe are also amazing awesome. No links to raw text, as they're published works, but the names of the novels are The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue. Those links should help enough to find them.
- Ofidian: If anything, this story is somehow darker than Lovecraft's original works. In the Cthulhu Mythos upon which Stross based A Colder War, the worst that could happen to someone was that you'd end up dead, insane, or with your mind removed from your body by aliens. In Stross' novella, the author manages to subject most or all of humanity to a combination of all three of those things.
- Fish Called Waldo: While we can get into fights about what 'Fanfiction' means over this later, I want to say that the semi-sequels by Stross in the semi-same universe are also amazing awesome. No links to raw text, as they're published works, but the names of the novels are The Atrocity Archives
A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
- Recommended by Lavanya Six
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: An alternate history Sherlock Holmes story where the Great Old Ones rose up and conquered humanity centuries ago.
- Comments: Won the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Also not the only HPL he wrote; both 'Only the end of the world again' and 'Bay Wolf' are about a werewolf (possibly private detective?) who lives in Innsmouth, while 'Shoggoth's Old Peculiar' is about a travelling student who stumbles upon Innsmouth.
The Great Old Pumpkin by John Aegard
- Recommended by Silver, Nabi
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Linus van Pelt of Peanuts fame catalogs his mission to find the Great Old Pumpkin and the horrific results.
- Comments: Though not set explicitly in the Cthulhu Mythos, the story mimics H.P. Lovecraft's style and cosmology exactly, which I think merits it a spot in here.
Ow, My Sanity by Adam J. Thaxton
- Recommended by K 9 Thefirst 1
- Status: On Hiatus
- Synopsis: It's Ah! My Goddess meets the Cthulhu Mythos as David Andrew Barlett of Glowbury MA, an Unlucky Everydude of epic proportions accidentally walks in on a summoning ceremony for a Servant for Eldritch Abomination Azaborath, who grants the desires of those who summon it. After killing everyone there (as is the wont of an Abomination), said servant comes to David, and he mentally wishes for someone "to give a crap about me for once." As anyone familiar with Ah! My Goddess knows, this counts as a wish, and a pact is made. Ow My Sanity: Puttin' the Love back in Lovecraft.
- Comments: A web-comic that thus far has managed to avoid Schedule Slip, though it's a bit early to tell thus far how long that will last. David seems like a fine analogue thus far for Keiichi in a Lovecraftian work: Whereas Keiichi just has rotton luck, David's family (aside from his sister, maybe) pretty much ignored him. Thus far, this seems like it'll be more of a Lovecraft Lite work since David didn't turn insane upon seeing *mnlwejioajdflka*'s (or Nancy Alhazred) real form. It'll be interesting to see which end of the scale this gravitates to, or if it'll fit right in the middle, as well as how an Eldritch Abomination learns both about that weird Human thing called "Giving a Crap" and how to Become A Real Human Girl.
- Update: The webcomic is no longer being updated.
The Little Apartment Building by dark-precipice
- Recommended by: Hokova
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A Multi-crossover of Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, Stephen King and some more, a.k.a what would it look like if various (most part human) character lived under the same roof, not knowing, why did they survive their deaths yet... Dark humour/adventure/a bit of romance. (Pairing: Helen Vaughan of the Great God Pan and Wilbur Whateley)
The Other Side of the Street by Morris Kenyon
- Recommended by: Madd Kossack 115
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "Of all HP Lovecraft's stories, 'The Street', published in 1920, shows the more negative side of his writing, particularly his racism. Evil foreigners are plotting revolution. This short tale looks at the events of The Street from a different point of view, although I'm not sure HPL himself would have appreciated this."
- Comments: As the title suggests, this is a Perspective Flip of Lovecraft's now-infamous short story, 'The Street'. After establishing the basic synopsis of Lovecraft's original story (which details a street developing from a Colonial country lane to an "Evil Foreigner" infested slum, before the Esoteric Happy Ending has the buildings simultaneously collapse, killing all the foreigners before they could carry out their anti-American revolution), "The Other Side of the Street" takes the perspective of an immigrant forced to live in the slums after being sacked from his old job. What follows is a Foregone Conclusion as the slums cave in catastrophically killing everybody but the narrator, including his lover, and what amounts to a Rage Against the Author when the narrator is outraged over how Americans (and in turn, Lovecraft), think his people aren't human for being part of a "lesser race".
Lovely Lovecraft by Sara Bardi (Malakialagatta)
- Recommended By: Capt Equinox
- Status: In Progress
- Synopsis: A webcomic (now available in print) re-imagining the tales, the Elder Gods, and HPL and family, in a slightly manga-ish cartoon form. As the story goes, The Elder Gods have all been trapped into forms that can exist in the everyday waking world, mostly human (yicchk). The Phillips family fortune having been scuppered, Susie has brought young Howard to live in Arkham, in the home of Randolph Carter, who has disappeared. Investigating Carter's attic library, Howard accidentally summons a talky night-gaunt who fills him in on what's been happening and enlists his help to locate Carter. Wry humor and colorful, intricate art.
- Recommended By: Ulathon 1
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Nigerian Businessman Dr. David Ehizojie needs a foreign partner for a multi-million dollar natural gas project. Through e-mail he comes in contact with Dr. Randolph Carter from Miskatonic University in Arkham, who needs money to finance his research into some fragmentary references to a god named "Cthulhu.". Hilarity Ensues.
"Dispensation", short story by Tim Powers
- Recommended By: Capt Equinox
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: The very last letter HPL sent in his life described a walk through Squantum Woods near Narragansett Bay, where he was met by "two tiny kittens" who played with and escorted him to the edge of the wood. Right out of a Carter dream-tale. He died just five months after this encounter. But who were these little furballs and what was their interest in the Old Gentleman? Find out as Tim Powers connects Lovecraft's heritage, a pair of latter-day Carter & Warren wannabees, and a compassionate goddess.
Make Me, Shub-Niggurath, Your House Speaker, Or Be Cast Into Death Beyond Death, Mortals. by Gary Legum
- Recommended By: Ulathon 1
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Washington DC, October 2023. As the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives repeatedly fails to elect a new Speaker of the House and descends into chaos, a surprising candidate emerges ...
Chaos Crawls by sweetcarolanne
- Recommended by: Slothbeetle
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A lonely dream warrior named Joseph Hyman seeks true love. Instead, he finds a breathtakingly handsome Outer God (see title).
- Comments: Some may balk at any story in the Cthulhu Mythos that includes explicit sex, and most of the time, such objections are well-founded, but this example rises above those expectations. The author clearly loves Lovecraft's original stories, as evidenced by her use of the Dreamlands setting and sophisticated prose style. The original characters, both the human and the feline god, are organic to the universe, and Nyarlathotep's characterization is hauntingly accurate.
Dragon of the Eldritch by Akuma Kami 64
- Crossover With: High School D×D
- Recommended by: bf2234
- Status: Ongoing
- Synopsis: Instead of a fallen angel, Issei is approached by a very different girl. One who takes great offence to attempts on Issei's life. The Supernatural realms of Earth are about to find out how small they really are, now that Azathoth has found her beloved. Issei steadily ascending into Eldritch-Godhood, a harem including female Eldritch, and various Cthulhu/Lovecraft elements.
- Comments: Quite the interesting fic, especially with its 'for want of a nail' premise. Interactions between Aza Rafubuto(aka Azathoth) and Issei are surprisingly heartwarming.
