Recently, to fill a void in my fantasy reading, I've finally picked up some H.P. Lovecraft. Best known for his so-called Cthulhu mythos, Lovecraft appears to have been something of a nerd with an overweening sense of the macabre: imagine the film projector kid in 3rd grade telling ghost stories around the campfire. Throw in some highly stylized archaic phrasing, and you get the picture. Here's a sample:

"Thus of the very ancient city of Ib nothing was spared, save the seagreen stone idol chiseled in the likeness of Bokrug, the water-lizard. This the young warriors took back with them as a symbol of conquest over the old gods and beings of Ib, and as a sign of leadership in Mnar. But on the night after it was set up in the temple, a terrible thing must have happened, for weird lights were seen over the lake, and in the morning the people found the idol gone and the high-priest Taran-Ish lying dead, as from some fear unspeakable. And before he died, Taran-Ish had scrawled upon the altar of chrysolite with coarse shaky strokes the sign of DOOM."

Note that Ib must be very old, because, like Abraham's hometown of Ur, it predates towns boasting three-letter names and must therefore be extremely primal. Also catch the emphasis on the weirdness of the lights over the lake. Weirdness is like flaxseed for Lovecraft -- it's all a part of his regular function. But it isn't just any kind of weirdness -- it's the kind of weirdness that can only be described by using the word "weird." Beyond that, as seen above, it becomes unspeakable. Mnar must also be a fairly old culture, too, as their writing apparently doesn't include a division between upper- and lowercase letters.

Still, there's something compelling about his stories that occur in dream worlds, which he describes in terms as specific and detailed as one might do for a realist novel set in the waking world. I'm only partway through his early fiction at present, having made my way through the collection The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and now in the middle of The Doom That Came to Sarnath. So far it's mildly diverting at best, but I keep reading. Why? Why?!!

It's just weird, you know? Unspeakably so.