Celebrating the Birth . . . Greg Bear and H. P. Lovecraft

Gregory Dale Bear (born August 20, 1951)
    Bear is an exceptional hard science fiction writer who has written at least 44 books.  He has been nominated for numerous awards, including Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards.  Fortunately a few short stories by this author are available for online reading. And his official site is here.











Fiction
At Baen:

"Blood Music"
      "There is a principle in nature I don't think anyone has pointed out before. Each hour, a myriad of trillions of little live things—bacteria, microbes, "animalcules"—are born and die, not counting for much except in the bulk of their existence and the accumulation of their tiny effects. They do not perceive deeply. They do not suffer much. A hundred billion, dying, would not begin to have the same importance as a single human death."

"Sisters"
     "But you're the only one, Letitia." Reena Cathcart lay a light, slender hand on her shoulder with a look of utmost sincerity. "You know none of the others can. I mean . . ." She stopped, the slightest hint of awareness of her faux pas dawning. "You're simply the only one who can play the old—the older—woman."

"Webster"
     "It lingered in the air, a dead and sterile word made for whispers. Vultures fanned her hair with feather-duster wings. Up the dictionary's page ran her lean finger, wrapped in skin like pink parchment, and she found Andrews, Roy Chapman, digging in the middle of the Gobi, lifting fossil dinosaur eggs cracked and unhatched from their graves."

"The White Horse Child"
     "When I was seven years old, I met an old man by the side of the dusty road between school and farm. The late afternoon sun had cooled, and he was sitting on a rock, hat off, hands held out to the gentle warmth, whistling a pretty song. He nodded at me as I walked past. I nodded back. I was curious, but I knew better than to get involved with strangers. Nameless evils seemed to attach themselves to strangers, as if they might turn into lions when no one but a little kid was around."

"Richie by the Sea"
     "The storm had spent its energy the night before. A wild, scattering squall had toppled the Thompson's shed and the last spurt of high water had dropped dark drift across the rocks and sand. In the last light of day the debris was beginning to stink and attract flies and gulls. There were knots of seaweed, floats made of glass and cork, odd bits of boat wood, foam plastic shards and a whale."

"Petra"
     "I'm an ugly son of stone and flesh, there's no denying it. I don't remember my mother. It's possible she abandoned me shortly after my birth. More than likely she is dead. My father—ugly beaked half-winged thing, if he resembles his son—I have never seen."

"The Man Who Would Be Kzin" with S. M. Stirling
      "I am become overlord of a fleet of transports, supply ships, and wrecks!" Kfraksha-Admiral said. "No wonder the First Fleet did not return; our Intelligence reports claimed these humans were leaf-eaters without a weapon to their name, and they have destroyed a fourth of our combat strength!"

Audio Fiction
At Internet Archive: "Webster" (Direct MP3 download) - Mindwebs

Lovecraft after fold

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937)
     Despite his short life, Lovecraft is certainly a contender for greatest horror writer of all time. His stories of eldritch cosmic horrors have and will continue to have, as Joyce Carroll Oats noted "an incalculable influence on succeeding generations of writers of horror fiction"  Lovecraft created a mythology, a feat very few writers can lay claim to.  Fortunately there are countless Lovecraft stories and adaptation freely available below is just a sampling.






Fiction
At Manybooks:

• At the Mountains of Madness, [en] 1936
• The Call of Cthulhu, [en] 1926
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, [en] 1941
• Color Out of Space, [en] 1927
• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, [en] 1926
• The Dreams in the Witch-House, [en] 1933
• The Dunwich Horror, [en] 1929
• Herbert West: Reanimator, [en] 1922
• The Horror at Red Hook, [en] 1927
• The Horror in the Museum, [en] 1933
• Hypnos, [en] 1923
• Imprisoned with the Pharaohs, [en] 1924
• The Lurking Fear, [en] 1923
• The Other Gods, [en] 1933
• The Shadow Out of Time, [en] 1936
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth, [en] 1931
• Shunned House, [en] 1928
• The Shunned House, [en] 1937
• The Thing on the Doorstep, [en] 1937
• Through the Gates of the Silver Key, [en] 1934
• The Whisperer in the Darkness, [en] 1931
• Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922  Official Organ of the United Amateur Press Association of America, [en] 1922

Old Time Radio
At Internet Archive: (direct MP3 downloads)

• "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" - Mindwebs
• "The Dunwich Horror" - Suspense.

Modern Audio Dramatizations
At 19 Nocturne Boulevard:

• "The Haunter of the Dark"
• "Within the Walls of Eryx"
• "Cool Air" as "Chillin'"

Readings
• At LibriVox: Numerous readings Here

• "City, The" (in "Short Poetry Collection 073")
• "Collected Public Domain Works of H. P. Lovecraft, The" 
• "Despair" (in "Short Poetry Collection 073")
• "Seven H.P. Lovecraft Stories" · (readers)
• "To the Old Pagan Religion" · (readers)
• "Herbert West: Reanimator" · (reader
• "Cats of Ulthar, The" (in "Short Story Collection Vol. 007")
• "Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" (in "Short Story Collection Vol. 006")
• "Memory" (in "Short Story Collection Vol. 035")
• "Music of Erich Zann, The" (in "Short Story Collection Vol. 007")
• "Sweet Ermengarde" (in "Short Story Collection Vol. 041")
• "Terrible Old Man, The" (in "Short Story Collection Vol. 031")
• "Alchemist, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 017")
• "Beast in the Cave, The" (in "Ghost Story Collection 002")
• "Beyond The Wall of Sleep" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 013")
• "Cats of Ulthar, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 003")
• "Crawling Chaos, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 003")
• "Doom That Came To Sarnath, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 001")
• "Ex Oblivione" (in "Horror Story Collection 002")
• "Ex Oblivione" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 013")
• "Hypnos" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 018")
• "Memory" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 012")
• "Memory" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 014")
• "Nameless City, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 003")
• "Nameless City, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 013")
• "Nyarlahotep" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 007")
• "Nyarlathotep" (in "Horror Story Collection 001") · (readers)
• "Nyarlathotep" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 005")
• "Pickman's Model" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 018")
• "Picture In The House, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 002")
• "Picture in the House, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 020")
• "Poetry and the Gods" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 016")
• "Polaris" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 016")
• "Shunned House, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 009")
• "Shunned House, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 015")
• "Statement of Randolph Carter, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 003")
• "Statement of Randolph Carter, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 012")
• "Statement of Randolph Carter, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 017")
• "Street, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 004")
• "Terrible Old Man, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 001")
• "Terrible Old Man, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 005")
• "Terrible Old Man, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 014")
• "Tomb, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 001")
• "Tomb, The" (in "Horror Story Collection 003")
• "Tomb, The" (in "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 017")

• At Cthulhu
     Numerous readings at this Lovecraft centered site.

• At Pseudopod: "The Music of Erich Zann" by Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

• At SFFaudio: Page of Lovecraft Audio links.

• At Tales to Terrify:

• "The Hound"
• "The Colour Out of Space"
• At The Mountains of Madness - Part One, Part Two, Part Three. 

Comic Book
• At The Horrors of It All: "Wentworth's Day"