Friday 3 April 2015

AtoZChallenge2015 - C is for Cthulhu

Hello and welcome to day 2 of the AtoZChallenge 2015.

It is impossible to do Fictional Deities and Demons without talking about Cthulhu. For those who have not heard of him, or have maybe only seen the image to the right, Cthulhu is in fact one of the Great Old Ones created by H.P.Lovecraft. He is a terrible demonic, ancient god who is part octopus, part man and part dragon. His head is like a giant octopus, with uncounted amounts of tentacles around his mouth and is slimy and gelatinous.

While plush Cthulhu is cute, I suspect he isn't quite what Lovecraft was going for. Cthulhu is completely evil, worshipped by a cult of followers who go in for human sacrifice and other very nasty practices. He is supposed to be imprisoned and slumbering, but during 'The Call of Cthulhu', Lovecraft's first short story about him, a group of sailors manage to free him. He also pops up all over the place in further works and has become a mainstay of popular culture.

If you had a band loom and like to make band loom figures, I designed one for Cthulhu :).
You can check it out at it's own post: Cthulhu - Band Loom Pattern

What Apollo Saw
(a short, humorous tale) 
by Natasha Duncan-Drake

Apollo was just wandering through the gates of The Almighty Home for Mostly Retired Ancient Gods when he saw something he had never, in all his days, come across before. Frankly he hoped he never came across it ever again. It was disturbing.

There on the edge of a cloud was the Dread Cthulhu sitting and staring down morosely, and yes, there really was a giant tear rolling from one of his eyes. All his tentacles were drooping, his skin was even more sickly looking than usual and Apollo had to conclude that something had the old guy really down.

Now, while one pantheon didn't tend to interfere in the business of another pantheon, Apollo just couldn't bring himself to walk away. Possibly it was morbid fascination. He hadn't even been aware Great Old Ones could cry. Then again they had all changed as humanity started to forget about them. These days Apollo mostly liked to surf.

Making himself larger, so he was only slightly smaller than Cthulhu (there was nothing more difficult than talking to someone the size of your hand), Apollo walked over.

"Hey, Big Guy," he said, "what's the problem?"

He was careful to stay out of reach of a tentacle that twitched in his direction.

"Nothing," Cthulhu said and Apollo winced at the cacophonic noise.

All gods could understand each other, but that didn't mean they all spoke the same language and Cthulhu's sounded much better underwater.

"You sure, because you look down to me, dude?"

As the word slipped out of his mouth he was slightly horrified and made a mental note to maybe get back into medicine, because he was beginning to sound like a beach bum.

They all had their down days; it happened when most of your worshipers had forgotten about you.
"It's the humans," Cthulhu finally replied.

"Yeah, they're a contrary lot," Apollo agreed, "but you shouldn't let them get to you."

For a moment there was silence and then suddenly Apollo found that he wasn't quick enough to avoid getting armfuls of slimy octopus-cum-dragon. At first he thought Cthulhu might be trying to eat him, but then discovered the Great Old One was in fact blubbering on his shoulder.

"They can't even spell my name right," Cthulhu wailed, which really kind of hurt Apollo's ears, but what could he do.

"Oh man, yeah, that would be kind of upsetting," he said, cautiously patting Cthulhu on the back, "but, hey, what do they know?"

Cthulhu continued sniffling and Apollo began to get desperate; Great Old One goo was really hard to get out of material.

"How about you and I go to the rec room," he suggested, "and we can set up some civilisations like they were in the day and you and me can rain down plague and destruction on them? That could be fun, right?"

It took another minute or so, but that seemed to have interested Cthulhu, because the mind shattering wailing had stopped. Finally Cthulhu sat back.

"Could we stomp a few cities?" he asked.

"Sure, dude," Apollo said and mentally winced again; possibly some smiting would be good for him too. "We can even flood a few. How does that sound?"

Cthulhu's tentacles moved in a very unsettling way and it took him a moment, but Apollo realised the old guy was smiling. It was, quite honestly, worse than the crying.

My Other Blogs in the AtoZ: Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)



I publish my books through my own company, Wittegen Press, which I run with my sister Sophie Duncan. For information about our books, sign up for The Wittegen Press Newsletter:

Wittegen PressWe'll send you details of book releases, competitions and other news from our authors, BUT we WON'T spam you, or pass your details on to anyone else.

We will also give you 2 FREE ebooks just for signing up.

* indicates required

82 comments:

  1. I've never heard of that! It looks kind of fun, though--like something that would be a friendly monster. Proof that looks can be deceiving, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think H.P.Lovecraft might have been horrified at a cute Cthulhu :D

      Delete
  2. I have that plushie pictured! He sits in my car and terrorises my passengers :) LOVING your posts this year, hooray for Belar from your B post, I love Edding's novels. Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :). Eddings' books are just wonderful - I love his way with words.

      Delete
  3. Ooh, Cthulhu, one of my favs. The plushie makes him look so huggable. He and loom Cthulhu aren't very intimidating :P.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - I think plushie and loom Cthulhu may be adding to his decline as a feared entity ;).

      Delete
  4. Cthulhu doesn't look so scary in plush. As for his depression, why do the gods, good, bad, and ugly, have any worry over what the humans might think of them, I wonder. I suppose low esteem could be a problem amongst some big wigs of the universes too. Nice to find your blog. I see you write books with cats on the cover, so I wonder, and maybe I'll read one or two.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's somewhat less intimidating isn't he ;). Some of my books do indeed have cats on the cover :D If you click on the cover it will take you to the main listing so you can see what they are about. Thank you so much for visiting.

      Delete
  5. Cthulhu doesn't look so scary in plush. As for his depression, why do the gods, good, bad, and ugly, have any worry over what the humans might think of them, I wonder. I suppose low esteem could be a problem amongst some big wigs of the universes too. Nice to find your blog. I see you write books with cats on the cover, so I wonder, and maybe I'll read one or two.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is awesomely informative. I've heard of Cthulu and knew he was an octopus-like creature, but didn't know he was an H.P. Lovecraft creature. I also love the ending. That tentacled smile would be creepy :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, he's one of Lovecraft's more popular creations I think - he seems to have caught the eye in various ways.

      Delete
  7. I feel oddly fond of Cthulhu now! I hope he enjoys his city stomping.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My son would LOVE him! A fish/dragon hybrid would send him over the moon. Your band loom creations are adorable.

    You can find me here:
    ClarabelleRant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - it was fun creating him on the loom. The tentacles were the most fun part :D

      Delete
  9. I've always enjoyed Cthulhu. I envision that he and the Flying Spaghetti Monster should be somehow closely related. If you could round in the Chupacabra, I think you'd have quite the triumvirate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - I totally see your point, although I think the FSM is less apocalyptic :) Now there is indeed a group that no one would mess with.

      Delete
  10. I read the Call of Cthulhu a looooooong time ago. Lovecraft isn't really among my favourite writers, but I have to admit that he has and edge ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's a bit too dark for me, but Cthulhu was a must in this blog hop challenge :D

      Delete
  11. Hi Natasha - I've never heard of Cthulhu and certainly never read any of Lovecraft's books .. but the monster could be monstrous being part octopus, part man and part dragon - firing gelatinous glue around .. not nice! I'm sure he'd attract many a youngster ... cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's kind of apocalyptic, more a worship because you fear him kind I think :). Not really a nice fellow.

      Delete
  12. First time of hearing of Cthulhu, he's unique looking. Loved the amazing description in the What Apollo Saw.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And there's me thinking that everyone has heard of Cthulhu :) I think I first heard of him at Uni.

      Delete
  13. I really enjoyed your story, Tasha. This is an interesting A-Z to follow - never heard of Cthulhu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :). I think I must have heard of him because a lot of my friends in Uni were roleplayers and he's a big part of one of the games.

      Delete
  14. I know the monster Cthulhu, and I thought I had blogged about it, but I guess I haven't. Thanks for this post!

    Precious Monsters

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hahahaha :D Fun. I always loved the Cutelhu genre (like, Hello Cthulhu, for example), I think it is hilarious :D And I loved the story. That's exactly how I imagine Apollo to be...

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
    MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :D For some reason Apollo just popped into my head when I wanted someone to spot Cthulhu being depressed :)

      Delete
  16. what a wonderful array of topics we have in the A-Z challenge...cant even remember how to spell this one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL :) I've typed it lots of times and I still have to stop and think about it!

      Delete
  17. Oh this was fun! Weird to think of Cthulhu being fun. :) I remember when he came up in the Hellboy movie...yikes. Horror's not really my thing, but I must admit the concept for him is fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, isn't it - probably why my contrary mind spat it out. :D I really like Hellboy.

      Delete
  18. I love Cthulhu! Your story was great! Poor, sad Cthulhu, and a beach bum Apollo is just awesome. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :) I saw a post on Tumblr about monster problems and Cthulhu's problem was no one could spell his name and then this popped into my head. I wish I could find the post now.

      Delete
  19. Evil...but...but that green Beanie Baby thing looks cute!

    Apollo said "dude." Tee-hee. I thought your take on him was funny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :) Plushy Cthulhu is cute isn't he :)

      Delete
  20. Evil...but...but that green Beanie Baby thing looks cute!

    Apollo said "dude." Tee-hee. I thought your take on him was funny.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Cthulhu's physical description is unique! I liked the story you wrote about him. I liked "Almighty Home for Mostly Retired Ancient Gods." What an assortment would be found there I would imagine :)

    betty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Undoubtedly - wonder what retired gods do all day? ;)

      Delete
  22. H. P. Lovecraft is a genius! I've always said so. Great choice today.

    Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
    A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
    http://pensuasion.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yikes....cute and cuddly creature he was not, but your band version is very creative. As is your story of Apollo and Cthulu.
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal
    AtoZ 2015 Challenge
    Minion for AJ's wHooligans

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :). He is definitely not cuddly, this is true!

      Delete
  24. I love your writing style and wry wit! ☺ Apollo as a surfer dude is hilarious and as for Cthulu; he almost seems human.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :D That story just popped into my head whole.

      Delete
  25. I never knew what this was until, it became an icon of sorts. Classy beast I must say... so I will "Classy Beast"!

    Welcome in the "C"... as a host I am stopping by to say thank you!
    Jeremy [Retro]
    AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]

    There's no earthly way of knowing.
    Which direction we are going!

    HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
    Come Visit: You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :) I remember hearing about him at uni thanks to roleplayers.

      Delete
  26. That Cthulhu is not as intimidating when shown as a craft item. :) Thanks for the introduction. That's new to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, he's not really is he. I would have preferred a more imposing piccie, but I didn't know who they all belonged to so couldn't find one to put in :).

      Delete
  27. The plushie Cthulhu is so cute. I won't say more because I don't want the real one to hear and get peeved that I'm baby talking to him ;)

    ~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

    ReplyDelete
  28. That was really interesting - thanks for sharing! My post today is C for Cider With Rosie.... and Cats... ( I'm number 590 on the list) and so far enjoying the fun!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Very much enjoyed the scene. Apollo does seem like a bit of a beach bum, and a bit of destruction can make one feel all the better sometimes. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Very clever. I can't pronounce Cthulhu, but I loved seeing this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe it's just ku-thu-loo, but he's an ancient deity, so who knows ;) Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  31. A completely evil being smiling sounds completely horrendous. Your band loom figure is cute... but I guess that's not the idea :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I'm guessing it would be very unnerving, even for another god ;)

      Delete
  32. Cthulhu is a Great choice , dear Lady....

    ReplyDelete
  33. I am sure cute and cuddly is not what Lovecraft was looking for. I am sure he would be appalled today. But hey. That's the way it works out sometimes.

    --
    Tim Brannan, The Other Side Blog
    2015 A to Z of Vampires
    http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We can do nothing about the legacy we leave once we've left it :)

      Delete
  34. The is the creature of nightmares. Strange I haven't dreamed of one yet. :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Cthulhu is very scary and looks pretty freaky for sure. I love your band-loom figure. Great job!
    Michele at Angels Bark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :) I had a lot of fun with the band-loom.

      Delete
  36. The Cthulhu is new to me too, and you're right, he does look cute...something to hang in a window or in the car. But NOT, he's one nasty critter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - yep, but of course we have to have a plushie version :)

      Delete
  37. Have not read lovecraft but Cthulhu looks so huggable as a plushie!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Cthulhu looks so cute that I have to revisit Lovecraft - and discover why he got the guy so wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - the plushie is rather adorable isn't he ;)

      Delete
  39. I love the combination of dragon, octopus, and man! One has to wonder exactly how that came about, breeding-wise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the universe might have just hiccuped and produced a monstrosity ;)

      Delete
  40. I'd heard of Cthulhu, but didn't know anything about him - it's interesting! Loved the story, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Haha, for how many times I've seen Cthulhu portrayed as cute or approachable, I was beginning to wonder if he was really as much of a baddy as I'd heard. Glad to hear he's still a tough and mean god on the page. :)

    Alex Hurst, A Fantasy Author in Kyoto
    A-Z Blogging in April Participant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - of course he is - he is an ancient menace who can only be made cute for a certain amount of time ;)

      Delete
  42. Love the story. I've not read Lovecraft, but I've heard the term Cthulhu, so I enjoyed learning about him.

    Jean, back from the Grand Tour and visiting for the A-Z Challenge from Rantings and Ravings of an Insane Writer Number 209 on the A-Z List.

    Jean Schara
    Blackbirds First Flight (Quin)
    Blackbirds Second Flight (Glaring Upheaval and Fluffy Malone)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for reading. I love to hear from people. Please leave your comments below.