The H. P. Lovecraft Collection

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While Lovecraft's stories are typically labeled fantasy (hence his likeness being the trophy for the World Fantasy Award), he was really a science fiction writer, or perhaps science fantasy. His Elder Gods and the inhuman things that served them were not "gods" in the sense of being truly divine, but rather vast cosmic powers who exist on a scale beyond human comprehension. The "magic" sometimes found in his stories, even spells read from books like the Necronomicon, are likewise means of bending reality in ways Man Was Not Meant to Know, but ultimately his creatures are aliens, not demons, and his supernatural horror stems from science perverted beyond recognition, not from arcane witchcraft. Whenever something in the way of a more "traditional" monster appears in a Lovecraft story, like a mere ghost or vampire or werewolf, it's probably something much, much worse.

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales by H.P. Lovecraft | Goodreads Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales by H.P. Lovecraft | Goodreads

H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics Series) ( ISBN 978-1435122963) If you love spooky tales and haven’t read Lovecraft I totally recommend that you do. You will not be disappointed! I’ve enjoyed reading these tales this past month and I really looked forward to my lunch hour at work because I could read my next Lovecraft story. I haven’t loved reading this much in a long time. I finished reading Jane Austen’s seven large novels not too long ago, and I was astounded by her writing ability. I think I just read someone who can not only rival her but top her. Lovecraft’s writing prose is one of the best of the classic writers I’ve read this year. The way he describes his monsters and establishes a creepy scene is definitely something worth studying if you’re a writer. I recommend The Cats of Ulthar, The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Call of Cthulhu, The Outsider, The Thing on the Doorstep, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and the Whisperer In Darkness. Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei ( ISBN 1-892389-49-5)

There is no purpose, as far as I could tell, for any of the racism present in these stories. They don't advance the plots in any way and the overtly racist characters - like one who calls his dog "niggerman" - are not portrayed as villains. No, they're the good guys. It seriously took a publisher how much of a century to title a collection of Lovecraft's stories "Necronomicon"? Like seventy years? Did it really just not occur to anyone? Shouldn't the first collected volume of his stories have been called that? I blame August Derleth. While put forward as posthumous collaborations while Derleth was alive, the status of these works as collaborations with Lovecraft was swiftly disputed after his death. Subsequent critics consider them part of the Cthulhu Mythos, but often split this into the original "Lovecraft Mythos" and the later and lesser "Derleth Mythos". [1] Unknown authorship [ edit ]

The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft (Volume 2) (Chartwell The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft (Volume 2) (Chartwell

THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK is my third most beloved Lovecraft story and also the last one he ever wrote (that we know of). Eschewing the first person for the third limited, Lovecraft treats us to a chilling account of what the protagonist, Robert Blake, discovers when, driven by his penchant for the occult, he decides to go and explore a haunted church in the town of Providence, RI. Here again the writing is on point as Lovecraft knows better than anyone how to create an atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia, playing unashamedly with the fear of the unknown and impending doom. Deeply steeped in the Cthulhu mythos, this story is a prime example of how curiosity can kill a cat. The Secret of the Grave" (before 1902; unpublished, nonextant, may simply be "The Mystery of the Grave-Yard") THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH is yet another effective horror story set waist-deep in the Cthulhu mythos, and from what I’ve heard, a favorite of many Lovecraft aficionados. Told once again in the first person, the story is about a student (whose name is never revealed) who goes to the ruined seaside town of Innsmouth, Mass., for what he thinks will be a one-day trip. Lovecraft spares no words in describing the cursed town, and we soon understand that the nature of the curse boils down to an invasion of Innsmouth many years ago by the Deep Ones, an ancient people that came ashore from the bottom of the sea. From the town drunk with whom the narrator has a long (perhaps overlong?) conversation, we learn that the Deep Ones used to practice human sacrifices in Innsmouth and also did not hesitate to mate with local women, hence the fishy appearance of many of the inhabitants. The whole thing ends up with a big reveal, which for once isn’t as bad as one might expect for a Lovecraft story, and the author even gives us a long, very-well-written action scene toward the end, which is something rare enough to be mentioned and relished.This eerie work of masterful suspense heads up one of the best H.P. Lovecraft books of all time, but it’s by no means the only worthy piece in this anthology! Included among these “weird stories” are seventeen other tales of the mad, mystical, and macabre, each taking a slightly different approach to horror. The Rats in the Walls is a Tell-Tale Heart-esque account of a man who’s plagued by the sound of rats in his family home. However, when he goes to investigate, he uncovers a gruesome truth about his ancestors. Dagon is the testimony of a World War I vet who relies on morphine to ease his tortured mind… but the visions that haunt him are worse than any battlefield violence.