John Wyndham's books

[Hobbes]

I've just finished reading "The Day of the Triffids" and it was some good reading

 

I kept wondering throughout the entire story how it would end and I wasn't disappointed by the final, although I kept expecting for the worst. Man is indeed its worst enemy!

 

Now I am going to start on "The Kraken Awakes". Thank you guys for telling me about this author.

[Accounting Troll]

I love the Kraken Awakes. Not only are the invading aliens pretty original in that they are interested in colonising the ocean floors and not the land masses, but John Wyndham is REALLY cynical about the ability of the authorities to deal with the situation. He fits in some digs at the absurdity of the Cold War geopolitical posturing, and finds room for how humanity would deal with a global environmental disaster (it isn't pretty).

 

If only Terror From The Deep had been based on Wyndham and not Lovecraft...

[FullAuto]

The Chryssalids (no, not those ones) is also a good book by Wyndham. He was one of the few authors they made me read in school that I enjoyed.

[Hobbes]

Just finished the Kraken Awakes and here's what I think of it.

 

Tghe thing that I disliked about it is how the novel structure is similar to the Day of the Triffids, especially on the last 1/3 of the book when the aliens melt the poles and England descends into anarchy and chaos and we follow the story of the couple trying to reach Cornwall. It basically follows the same path as the Triffids: a couple of people trying to survive that find a refuge where they are found and the novel ends with a glitter of hope, describing how they will fight the plants/aliens menace. It made that part of the book dull compared to what had happened before.

 

Accounting Troll, I completely agree with you on how he pictures the government's response to the aliens and the Cold War setting. It is amazing how the authorities don't know what to do except to drop atomic bombs on the oceans or shoot the red lights and afterwards ignore the subject, pretending that everything is fine now. They are even afraid of using the scientist's ideas concerning the aliens because it might make them look ridicule.

Wyndham does a great job on how he presents the aliens. That might sound bizarre since the only time they are seen is when their aquatanks go to the shore but that indefinition makes marvels to the imaginative reader. All the stuff they do have terrifying effects later on but as it happens we are left with only the conjectures of the characters about what it might mean.

 

I haven't read Lovecraft although I just made a quick search on Wikipedia to see how it influenced TFTD. The background of the story is definitely Lovecraft with the alien sleeping on his underwater city but I think there's also something of the Kraken Awakes on TFTD. First because what happens if a player loses (the aliens melt the poles) and also because of the descriptions of the UFOPedia, which spend more time stating what the scientists don't know than anything else. The aliens on TFTD also follow the actions of the novel, destroying ships, terrorizing coastal cities and using the deep trenches.

 

Overall, it was a good read though.

[Hobbes]

I've just read H.P. Lovecraft stories, "The Shadow Out Of Time", "The Mountains of Madness" and "The Call of Cthulhu". Mesmerizing and terrifing, although he is starting to be a little repetitive.

 

My opinion regarding the main influences on TFTD has changed a bit as a result. The game is definitely more Lovecraftian than based on Wyndham. Reading them has also given me a quite few more ideas for Abyssal. After all, TFTD is based on Lovecraft.

[Gungadin]

Indeed, Lovecraft is awesome, even if he does tend to repeat the same story again and again. Mountains of Madness and The Horror at Red Hook are the only horror stories I've ever read that were actually frightening. Something about the idea that the human race is as insignificant as a speck of dust next to the insanity and uncaring might of the Elder Gods and that we're only masters of earth until Dread Cthulu awakens just makes me shiver.

 

Fun fact: Lovecraft was chummy with the author of the Conan stories. This is why you see so many extrademensional elder god horrors in Conan. Of course, Conan usually kicks their asses, which would never happen in a Lovecraftian story.

[Mikal]

Try John Christopher's books if you can find them They were quite good too although one or two will seem very dated by now (Death of Grass for example).

[JellyfishGreen]

Just finished "The Kraken Awakes" last month myself and I can't add more to what's been said, other than I would have picked a different title. "Kraken" makes me think of creature-singular, not creatures-plural, and I couldn't shake it.

 

I'm well up on my Lovecraft though. Cthulhu for President!

 

I really have to install my copy of TFTD one of these years...