“But it is my firm conviction that the 'Hell of England' will cease to be that of 'not making money;' that we shall get a nobler Hell and a nobler Heaven!” -- Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present
"Not much remains from Old America, before the collapse of the global empire. Among the irradiated ruins, feral and emaciated families of survivors were known to chase down and devour their frightened neighbors.
That dark era is better forgotten.
But an astonishing literary tradition has emerged from the derelict, tragedy-haunted shadows of that time — and foremost among these extant historical documents, are the stories of one ZeroHPLovecraft, a disturbed and apocryphal storyteller who often flirted with the edges of insanity.
Some historians dispute that one single man could have been so prolific, and so creative, to have dreamed so many nightmares onto the written page. They hypothesize instead that a vast and sinister cabal collaborated together to assemble these vast, frightening narratives.
But even these doubters have been forced to agree, that "The Gig Economy" was one of his best stories..."
I liked this story in particular, because I found the the idea of some fungal or parasitic lifeform, that was algorithmic and robotic in nature, from lightyears away making its landing on earth, to be fascinating.
But, even more interesting was the idea that the Universe "is certain way". My impression (of an impression. I'll admit I never read him) of Lovecrafts stories is that, within them, humanity exists in a uncaring universe filled with uncaring creatures more powerful than they have the constitution to even imagine. And the creatures beyond sight and reasoning have interests that the humans cannot wrap their minds around, but despite their callous disinterest in humanity its all still harmful and corrupting to the human race anyways.
My impression of your Universe is that its warped from the beginning. Seemingly bugged straight from the quantum foam I assume it arose from. If reality has patterns layered upon patterns, birthing new ones, that implies that grey goo planet is just a consequence of that. The shining object, the Tower of Precision, "Song of Mammon" being able to ensnare victims within earshot of it, before spraying and wringing out the lifeforce from its singer-hosts and lunatic vectors, is all just a logical outcome of the fact that one exists within the reality.
I haven't fully read That Hideous Strength, but Alpeh reminds me of NICE, a little bit. Except if central figures from the organization realized they were a trojan horse for demons, that their experiments heralded catastrophic news, and that they're now forced to exit and relate their sad and horrifying tale to a damaged outsider.
EDIT: Finished reading That Hideous Strength. Again I feel the comparison is appropriate.
You have some beautifully constructed sentences here, I especially liked the sensation of 'spectral whirling through liquid gulfs of infinity'. This story was how I first came to know you.
i still remember this one, i love how the narrator goes crazy at the end, I was so invested reading the story that that part was really scary for some reason, like it's actually me going crazy as i read it
I usually prefer to read non-fiction rather than fiction, but this story is amazing. It seems to have some religious & philosophical themes inspired by Digambar Jainism which are extremely based. Libtards will never be able to write anything of this caliber.
I referenced this a few days ago, and hunted it up here on substack. I had forgotten its magnificence, the grandeur of its despair. Truly incredible. Had I ever finished it then when it was first published?
I 'got' many of the references, but the last made my blood run cold, and made tears run down my face - the last line has been my motto since childhood, and though I have never forgotten where I saw it I have never encountered anyone who 'got' it without explanation. Unbelievable.
There is a lot of love here in this story but the part which delighted me the most is the idea that when a horror story goes viral it will inevitably spawn many imitations and new iterations; which is of course true in the general sense but cannot be applied to the best modern horrorist, ZHPL himself.
Who has the vast wealth of knowledge in so many realms to write such a story? Of those rare extremely erudite people, who can write like this? Who can be this exact and this playful with the medium of language? There is something novel and innovative in each piece of fiction on this substack. And I have not seen anyone try and imitate. Who even could?
Who has taken a forward charging medium like Twitter that has the attention span of a goldfish and created little recursive mazes which bring the reader back in time? Often to conversations from years ago. See how The Current Thing relates back to this other thing we discussed? Who even has a tweet index to do such a thing?
I have no doubt that many people would want to imitate the viral short fictions of Zero. I’m unconvinced it can be done. Even his haters over on Reddit begrudgingly admire the way the man writes.
Thank you for reposting the Substack. I adore all of it.
I have no idea what I just read, but it was amazing.
"Not much remains from Old America, before the collapse of the global empire. Among the irradiated ruins, feral and emaciated families of survivors were known to chase down and devour their frightened neighbors.
That dark era is better forgotten.
But an astonishing literary tradition has emerged from the derelict, tragedy-haunted shadows of that time — and foremost among these extant historical documents, are the stories of one ZeroHPLovecraft, a disturbed and apocryphal storyteller who often flirted with the edges of insanity.
Some historians dispute that one single man could have been so prolific, and so creative, to have dreamed so many nightmares onto the written page. They hypothesize instead that a vast and sinister cabal collaborated together to assemble these vast, frightening narratives.
But even these doubters have been forced to agree, that "The Gig Economy" was one of his best stories..."
In a sensible world, this story would be assigned reading in schools
Glad to see you on Substack :)
"cannot succeed in that unless it can secure its own existence and a future for its child processes."
Ah-ha-haa-aa
Naughty, naughty
i read it again :D
I liked this story in particular, because I found the the idea of some fungal or parasitic lifeform, that was algorithmic and robotic in nature, from lightyears away making its landing on earth, to be fascinating.
But, even more interesting was the idea that the Universe "is certain way". My impression (of an impression. I'll admit I never read him) of Lovecrafts stories is that, within them, humanity exists in a uncaring universe filled with uncaring creatures more powerful than they have the constitution to even imagine. And the creatures beyond sight and reasoning have interests that the humans cannot wrap their minds around, but despite their callous disinterest in humanity its all still harmful and corrupting to the human race anyways.
My impression of your Universe is that its warped from the beginning. Seemingly bugged straight from the quantum foam I assume it arose from. If reality has patterns layered upon patterns, birthing new ones, that implies that grey goo planet is just a consequence of that. The shining object, the Tower of Precision, "Song of Mammon" being able to ensnare victims within earshot of it, before spraying and wringing out the lifeforce from its singer-hosts and lunatic vectors, is all just a logical outcome of the fact that one exists within the reality.
I haven't fully read That Hideous Strength, but Alpeh reminds me of NICE, a little bit. Except if central figures from the organization realized they were a trojan horse for demons, that their experiments heralded catastrophic news, and that they're now forced to exit and relate their sad and horrifying tale to a damaged outsider.
EDIT: Finished reading That Hideous Strength. Again I feel the comparison is appropriate.
You have some beautifully constructed sentences here, I especially liked the sensation of 'spectral whirling through liquid gulfs of infinity'. This story was how I first came to know you.
I've written you another letter, Zero. It's about waking up. I would appreciate it if you could read it.
how would I Find such a letter
You who can find anything and anyone require a link, very well then. (edit: private now)
i still remember this one, i love how the narrator goes crazy at the end, I was so invested reading the story that that part was really scary for some reason, like it's actually me going crazy as i read it
I usually prefer to read non-fiction rather than fiction, but this story is amazing. It seems to have some religious & philosophical themes inspired by Digambar Jainism which are extremely based. Libtards will never be able to write anything of this caliber.
I referenced this a few days ago, and hunted it up here on substack. I had forgotten its magnificence, the grandeur of its despair. Truly incredible. Had I ever finished it then when it was first published?
I 'got' many of the references, but the last made my blood run cold, and made tears run down my face - the last line has been my motto since childhood, and though I have never forgotten where I saw it I have never encountered anyone who 'got' it without explanation. Unbelievable.
I swear I've read this before. Are you republishing old pieces?
Yes, his wordpress just got banned because of his light novel, "Barron".
ZHP is reuploading all of his stories to Substack, so that we fans can continue to enjoy his work.
Light novel? Where can I buy that?
It's free, but it was banned by Wordpress, so ZeroHPLovecraft will eventually reupload it to this Substack.
I think the first 7 chapters have been published so far, but I can't remember the exact number.
There is a lot of love here in this story but the part which delighted me the most is the idea that when a horror story goes viral it will inevitably spawn many imitations and new iterations; which is of course true in the general sense but cannot be applied to the best modern horrorist, ZHPL himself.
Who has the vast wealth of knowledge in so many realms to write such a story? Of those rare extremely erudite people, who can write like this? Who can be this exact and this playful with the medium of language? There is something novel and innovative in each piece of fiction on this substack. And I have not seen anyone try and imitate. Who even could?
Who has taken a forward charging medium like Twitter that has the attention span of a goldfish and created little recursive mazes which bring the reader back in time? Often to conversations from years ago. See how The Current Thing relates back to this other thing we discussed? Who even has a tweet index to do such a thing?
I have no doubt that many people would want to imitate the viral short fictions of Zero. I’m unconvinced it can be done. Even his haters over on Reddit begrudgingly admire the way the man writes.
Thank you for reposting the Substack. I adore all of it.
They don't call it "crypt-o" for no reason. Getting out of that game was one of the best things I ever did. Was once a zealot.
Heavy piece, but it resonated. The well of modern luddism and tearing away from the structure of what has become the orthodoxy is an evolving process.
This story reminds me of "Vidyanandin's Satyasasanapariksa" & "The Legend of Matarisvan" by Vladimir Pyatibrat
http : //vladimir-karaban . narod. ru/ glubinnaya-kniga/1 part. htm
http: //vladimir-karaban . narod. ru/ glubinnaya-kniga/2 part. htm
http: //vladimir-karaban . narod. ru/ glubinnaya-kniga/3 part. htm
http: //vladimir-karaban . narod. ru/ glubinnaya-kniga/4 part. htm