A Carcosa Reading List

Carcosa is not Tolkien, high fantasy, or mainstream fantasy. It is equal parts horror, science-fiction, and swords & sorcery. It is H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, Robert E. Howard’s “Worms of the Earth” and “A Witch Shall Be Born,” Lin Carter’s “Carcosa Story about Hali,” and Michael Moorcock’s “While the Gods Laugh.” — Carcosa, pg 3

I have read almost none of the source material that inspired Carcosa. As I am now in the middle of running a campaign set in that world, I thought I should try and remedy that—if only so I can better understand what a Cyclopean City might look like or what the hell a Primordial One is all about. Since we live in an age where you can basically ask anyone anything, I thought I’d go right to the source and ask the author what specific books he recommends one read to get in a Carcosa frame of mind:

Of the pure Lovecraft stories, read these:

• The Call of Cthulhu
• The Whisperer in Darkness
• At the Mountains of Madness
• The Shadow over Innsmouth
• The Shadow out of Time

Of Lovecraft’s revisions, read these:

• The Mound
• Out of the Aeons

Read the original five Elric stories by Moorcock:

• The Dreaming City
• While the Gods Laugh
• The Stealer of Souls
• Kings in Darkness
• The Flamebringers (later retitled The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams)

Read R. E. Howard’s:

• Worms of the Earth (a Bran Mak Morn story)
• The Shadow Kingdom (a Kull story)
• A Witch Shall Be Born (a Conan story)

If you can find Cthulhu Mythos stories by Lin Carter, read those.

Hopefully someone else will find this list handy. It seems like a good fantasy reading list even if you aren’t interested in Carcosa.