The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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My latest hobby is apparently reading classic weird fiction. I'm slowly looking for old dusty pulp magazines, and will be ordering some anthologies soon. I recently bought a subscription to Weird Tales. While my heart remains with Robert E. Howard, I'm currently venturing into other classic works. Most recently, I read Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
One cannot mention weird fiction without evoking Lovecraft. And rightfully so. While it didn't start with him, nor did he even gain much popula...more
One cannot mention weird fiction without evoking Lovecraft. And rightfully so. While it didn't start with him, nor did he even gain much popula...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
old school fright-mongers
Having never before read any H.P. Lovecraft, I held a deeply geeky shame. This was an author that was supposed to have helped define modern horror, helped define weird fiction and the truly-out-there sci-fi. The "Cthulhu Mythos" was something that I referenced frequently and yet ignorantly. All this time it was as if I had been brandishing a phony R'lyeh passport, muttering incoherently in the Elder Gods' tongue without any authority.
And since Great Cthulhu was the fulcrum here,...more
And since Great Cthulhu was the fulcrum here,...more
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Read in September, 2007
Why oh why did I only start reading Lovecraft now? These are the stories I wished I could have written in my middle school creative writing classes. The language edges on camp, partly because of the time it was written, but also because in attempting to describe of the feeble human mind grasping in vain at comprehending the utterly abysmal depths and age and emptiness of space and the ancient alien gods who rule it is hard to put into words without doing so. The stories by themselves would have ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Spiritual seekers
If you want to read something about man's spiritual dislocation in the modern world, you can't do much better than getting down with the man from Providence and read all about how Cthulhu is really pretty much indifferent to you, everything about you, and feels about the same about the rest of humanity. The universe is spinning in a ever-widening gyre, without rhyme or reason, and you really don't amount to much. Cthulhu does, and he's not very nice, but he's not very nasty; it's not about good ...more
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We picked this up at a used bookstore because we had played a board game based on Lovecraft's creepy stories. It may be the way that this collection is organized (it's short stories) but they are beginning to feel increasingly the same.
Interesting themes:
--"Heart of Darkness"-y stuff, like ancient cannibalistic rites being mysteriously practiced by rural New England-ers.
--His apparent overarching fascination with things from beyond this world--all of which are apparently BAD and...more
Interesting themes:
--"Heart of Darkness"-y stuff, like ancient cannibalistic rites being mysteriously practiced by rural New England-ers.
--His apparent overarching fascination with things from beyond this world--all of which are apparently BAD and...more
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I can't remember when I first picked up the collection of stories that contained the Call of Cthulhu (I can't even say this is the edition that I have) but I remember reading it and the strong evocation of horror that it brings. When you really cut down to the essence of horror, you will find H.P. Lovecraft staring back at you amidst the teeming, eldritch, squamous horrors from beyond space and time.
The stories of the Mythos have endured, though Lovecraft himself bore little literary credent...more
The stories of the Mythos have endured, though Lovecraft himself bore little literary credent...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like aliens and sci-fi
Read enough sci-fi/fantasy/comic books that I felt obligated to read one of the original tellers of 'weird' tales. Reading a collection like this emphasizes the repetition of an author's tropes, which were otherwise spread out over multiple issues and publications. On the other hand, it allows a reader to follow the development of that author's concepts, and see, in this case, the variety that can be generated by a simple idea: that the universe is vast and horrible, and that the concerns of man...more
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Read in March, 2008
H.P Lovecraft is a phenominal writer and this is definitely portrayed in The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. These bone-curdling vignettes create an amalgam of science-fiction and folklore that kept me entranced to the very last page. The stories range from two pages to sixty pages. Some are easy to read, while others are much more dense. But no matter the length, Lovecraft's writing style remains the same. It is brilliant- full of descriptive imagery and poetic rhetoric. I canno...more
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Read in May, 2008
I don't know why I picked this up, but I am so glad that I did. There is a cosmic horror/Lovecraft screenwriting contest at the end of the summer that I think I'll send a submission; and this book put me in the right frame of mind.
Reading this made me remember what King said about Lovecraft. Uncle Steve said that old HP had a real flair for description, but wrote terrible dialogue. Most of the stories that I read avoided dialogue all together.
That tickled me more than tales of ancie...more
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Read in September, 2006
This is an excellent Lovecraft collection and my introduction
to his work. It was probably influenced by the hours I spent trapped in the tour van at the time, but I could not put this
down. Lovecraft is one of those writers who creates his own
world in his work, which is often planted within the mind of the narrator, and that was a place I enjoyed visiting. "The Whisperer In Darkness" is an amazing story, it's mental
images stick with me and thoroughly frighten and intrigue
m...more
to his work. It was probably influenced by the hours I spent trapped in the tour van at the time, but I could not put this
down. Lovecraft is one of those writers who creates his own
world in his work, which is often planted within the mind of the narrator, and that was a place I enjoyed visiting. "The Whisperer In Darkness" is an amazing story, it's mental
images stick with me and thoroughly frighten and intrigue
m...more
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Read in March, 2008
... hp lovecraft's horror comes from the idea and realization that mankind is not the master of the world or universe... there's other unnameable,unfathomable things and creatures out there... older than time and space... and... they have quite horrifying plans for us.... dalliance with these entities is enough to destroy a human soul and mind... please, just let me know if i ever get "the innsmouth look"..
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recommends it for:
All HPL Fans.
This is one of the standard texts of Lovecraft's stories now that Arkham House is defunct. Any and all HPL scholars and readers take note: these Penguins editions supercede the Arkham House editions, because many of the stories contained in the Penguin Classics series have been recently further corrected by S. T. Joshi according to HPL's autograph manuscripts at the John Hay Library.
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Read in November, 2007
I got tired of only vaguely understanding the Cthulhu references that appear on every nerd site on the web, and so bought this book. Very entertaining, enjoyable tribute to an older style of first-person narrative that reminds me a lot of Poe. Lovecraft created archetypal sci-fi themed horror, which is generally quite good. At some point I'd like to read more of his work.
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Read in January, 2005
I'm not as fond of Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories as I am the rest of his work, but they share the same twisted creativity and unnverving ideas. These stories are generally what are thought of when Lovecraft is mentioned, however. He's classified as a horror writer, but his fiction is as much sci-fi as it is horror -- or so I thought two years ago.
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone wishing to read HP Lovecraft's work.
This edition is excellent! Not only does it contain the most interesting stories of Lovecraft's collection, but it also has a wealth of interesting information in the appendix and footnotes. There is lots of interesting background information to be had in this volume, especially if you like a little historical context.
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Some people say Lofecraft is a guilty pleasure...I just say he's a pleasure to read, period. So what if all his stories are about some unspeakable, indescribable horror. Lovecraft let's the reader's imaginations take center stage...his stories give me the creeps much better than any Steven King novel ever could.
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Read in February, 2008
Unfortunately, I didn't actually finish reading this book before it was due back at the library. I plan on re-checking it out eventually. Since the book is comprised of short stories, I still enjoyed what I was able to finish. Some of the stories don't do much for me, but others are amazing! Creepy, morbid fun!
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Read in April, 2008
This is saved from a one-star rating because I really liked one story. It was "The Colour Out of Space." That one was genuinely creepy, and also wasn't pervaded by some of the most sickening racism I've encountered in a long time. This sets it apart from the other stories by a large margin.
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What's amazing about Lovecraft is that his prose can never really be translated. So many movies try and fail. His short stories are terrifying. They conjure up great images of old men, professors, investigators, antiquarians, students, all going mad because they took only a peek into his mind.
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I tried to read HP Lovecraft in the past, but didn't get into it. This time around is a different story! My brother bought me an annotated version of this book and i just *love* looking back and forth during the story to read the annotations. Lovecraft is weird and scary, and just amazing.
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