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19th out of 805 books
—
2,376 voters
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
An unparalleled selection of fiction from H. P. Lovecraft, master of the American horror tale
Long after his death, H. P. Lovecraft continues to enthrall readers with his gripping tales of madness and cosmic terror, and his effect on modern horror fiction continues to be felt--Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Clive Barker have acknowledged his influence. His unique contribution...more
Long after his death, H. P. Lovecraft continues to enthrall readers with his gripping tales of madness and cosmic terror, and his effect on modern horror fiction continues to be felt--Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Clive Barker have acknowledged his influence. His unique contribution...more
Paperback, 420 pages
Published
October 1st 1999
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1926)
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I am largely underwhelmed by this “master of horror.” I find the writing simply dull, repetitive, anti-climactic, and that it uses the same tricks over and over and over again. I am not horrified by the stories, or at least not by any intended reasons. The narration, pacing, and lazy writing wreck whatever interest I had in the premises of the stories had, such as the twist to Arthur Jermyn and The Color Out of Space. (Such potential, OH WHY?!)
I admit my strong reaction to these stories is due t
...more
October 2011
"Pfft, whatever. You're not so scary, Mr. Lovecraft. You're quaint and silly, is all. It's not like...wait. Wait. What? What's this? This is--it's--oh. Oh, god. Oh, dear god, no. No. NOOAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH--"
I live in a somewhat-old farmhouse in rural Wisconsin, and it's a great place to read Lovecraft now that we've taken care of the bat problem. Couldn't do anything about the coyotes out in the fields, but that was part of the charm.
It's been a few months since I read this collect...more
"Pfft, whatever. You're not so scary, Mr. Lovecraft. You're quaint and silly, is all. It's not like...wait. Wait. What? What's this? This is--it's--oh. Oh, god. Oh, dear god, no. No. NOOAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH--"
I live in a somewhat-old farmhouse in rural Wisconsin, and it's a great place to read Lovecraft now that we've taken care of the bat problem. Couldn't do anything about the coyotes out in the fields, but that was part of the charm.
It's been a few months since I read this collect...more
First rule of Cthulhu: No one knows about Cthulhu.
Except, of course, all fans of SF/F should read the original Cthulu short story that is still inspiring storytellers today.
________________
"Johansen and his men were awed by the cosmic majesty of this dripping Babylon of elder daemons, and must have guessed without guidance that it was nothing of this or of any sane planet."
"The Thing cannot be described - there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch cont...more
Except, of course, all fans of SF/F should read the original Cthulu short story that is still inspiring storytellers today.
________________
"Johansen and his men were awed by the cosmic majesty of this dripping Babylon of elder daemons, and must have guessed without guidance that it was nothing of this or of any sane planet."
"The Thing cannot be described - there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch cont...more
My life sort of changed a little bit this year when, for no reason at all, I decided to give Lovecraft a go. I picked up the three Penguin editions of his work that (I believe) gather almost all the stories he published in his lifetime, and have not been disappointed. Which probably deserves a qualifier -- I went into his ouvre with a certain expectation of what I would find, and found exactly that and more so. His faults as a writer (and, okay, as a human being) are unavoidable, but seriously?...more
This superb short story is justly famous. The Call of Cthulhu is presented as a series of journal entries from the late Francis Thurston. Poor Franny, as the executor of his uncle’s estate, stumbles across some disturbing papers that lead him on a worldwide hunt for answers as to just what the hell this is:
Hmmm perhaps this isn’t properly conveying the terror this story instills…let me try again:
That’s better! This story is pretty short so I don’t want to go much further into the plot. But it is...more
Hmmm perhaps this isn’t properly conveying the terror this story instills…let me try again:
That’s better! This story is pretty short so I don’t want to go much further into the plot. But it is...more
The Call of Cthulhu
This novella is a work of sinister genius a writing prose so well done. These works of Lovecraft form a Genisis of Horror writing and supernatural which have inspired many writers Stephen King one of many.
This novella is a work of sinister genius a writing prose so well done. These works of Lovecraft form a Genisis of Horror writing and supernatural which have inspired many writers Stephen King one of many.
"Octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings;"...more
"There were legends of a hidden lake unglimpsed by mortal sight, in which dwelt a huge, fo
My second experience of Lovecraft (after At The Mountains of Madness) and equally enjoyable. So far I'm liking the fact that Lovecraft frames his stories in interesting ways - this in the form of pieces of a manuscript and ATMOM in a clipped journalistic style.
Easy to read through in an hour or so this gave some interesting insights into the Cthulhu Cult and I really enjoyed the way pieces of the mythology keyed into things I'd read in ATMOM. There's definitely a continuity and a coherent univer...more
I think Lovecraft often gets a bad rap. People read that he influenced the modern greats, everyone from authors like Stephen King and Clive Barker, to movie makers like John Carpenter and Wes Craven, and then dive into his books expecting the same fare. He wrote for a different era. His mind-bending, first person surrealistic approach to a creeping, nameless horror stunned and fascinated huge segments of early century America. The America that read, that is, which wasn't nearly what it is today....more
Feb 06, 2012
smetchie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
hippies-or-hate-or-lurking
Can someone please tell me how to pronounce this?!?
Aug 09, 2012
Alex
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Alex by:
Cindy B
Shelves:
reading-through-history,
2012
Cindy, you're my favorite!
Lovecraft can be silly, racist, and extremely purple, but he has this terrifically unique imagination: his stories feel like nothing else. And they're very enticing. There's a certain feel to his stories - a pallid green glow - a whole collection of words like "eldritch" - that feel forcefully Lovecraftian. He's a true individual. I dig him.
Full (if growing) list of things to make sure not to miss:
PARODIES?
Herbert West - Reanimator (Ha, this was a ton of fun)
The Hound (...more
Lovecraft can be silly, racist, and extremely purple, but he has this terrifically unique imagination: his stories feel like nothing else. And they're very enticing. There's a certain feel to his stories - a pallid green glow - a whole collection of words like "eldritch" - that feel forcefully Lovecraftian. He's a true individual. I dig him.
Full (if growing) list of things to make sure not to miss:
PARODIES?
Herbert West - Reanimator (Ha, this was a ton of fun)
The Hound (...more
This review is solely on 'The Call of Cthulu', the only story I've read in the collection so far.
When I saw the South Park Coon and Friends trilogy last year, which heavily featured Cthulu, I knew it was time for me to read the source material behind this cultural phenomenon. I was first shocked that H.P. Lovecraft's masterwork, which has made him such a legend, was so short. And considering it was from 1928, it didn't seem very dated, which was also a surprise.
The story is presented as a manus...more
When I saw the South Park Coon and Friends trilogy last year, which heavily featured Cthulu, I knew it was time for me to read the source material behind this cultural phenomenon. I was first shocked that H.P. Lovecraft's masterwork, which has made him such a legend, was so short. And considering it was from 1928, it didn't seem very dated, which was also a surprise.
The story is presented as a manus...more
As one of the three Penguin Classic Lovecraft anthologies, The Call of Cthulhu collects the stories that lead up to and include the Cthulhu Mythos, arranged in chronological order with introduction and explanatory notes for each story from the anthologizer, S.T. Joshi. Joshi does an exceptional job selecting stories that create a coherent narrative through Lovecraft's early work, developing themes, and final strong stories; his annotations are interesting and useful both to the casual and studio...more
Any horror fan worth his salt should read Lovecraft. "The Call of Cthulhu" is a cornerstone of weird fiction and cosmic horror alike.
However, if you're only a casual horror fan, I'd skip Lovecraft. While his ideas were groundbreaking and the horrors presented in his fiction will truly give you nightmares, Lovecraft was not a great writer. His stories are stilted and repetitive, his dialogue is weak and unnatural, and his characters are two-dimensional products of the xenophobia he was renowned...more
However, if you're only a casual horror fan, I'd skip Lovecraft. While his ideas were groundbreaking and the horrors presented in his fiction will truly give you nightmares, Lovecraft was not a great writer. His stories are stilted and repetitive, his dialogue is weak and unnatural, and his characters are two-dimensional products of the xenophobia he was renowned...more
As I read through the stories, I find myself profoundly torn. Undoubtedly Lovecraft is a master of his art, and these stories, though written for a different time, are a chronicle of his greatness, I find the overt racism jarring. I can appreciate the value of reprinting the stories exactly as written and by no means advocate the covering-up of a dark stain such as this, nevertheless the creeping horror of The Rats in the Walls, for example, is utterly ruined for me by the casual throwing-about...more
Check out more reviews and SciFi/Fantasy fun at Lions and Men.
Cthulhu is written in the form of an old journal of a man named Francis Thurston. After his great uncle's death, Francis discovers that he has come to inherit a body of work that attempts to piece together mysteries surrounding mass hysteria and violent cults. Together with this information and his own investigation, Thurston describes the unspeakable horror that he uncovers.
The story is broken up into three parts. Part One, The Horro...more
Cthulhu is written in the form of an old journal of a man named Francis Thurston. After his great uncle's death, Francis discovers that he has come to inherit a body of work that attempts to piece together mysteries surrounding mass hysteria and violent cults. Together with this information and his own investigation, Thurston describes the unspeakable horror that he uncovers.
The story is broken up into three parts. Part One, The Horro...more
May 09, 2011
Ethan Clark
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Any and All
Recommended to Ethan by:
Colin Bentley
Rest assured in knowing that I haven't read all of the great Lovecraft's tales, so this shall merely be a review of his story "The Call of Cthulu." My good friend Colin had told me of this book and the mighty power of Cthulu in times past, yet the actual narrative of this leviathan truly describes the horror of such a beast.
If you haven't guessed by now, "The Call of Cthulu" was incredible, a stunning read nearly the entire way through. I may have praised "The Gift of the Magi" for its archaic...more
If you haven't guessed by now, "The Call of Cthulu" was incredible, a stunning read nearly the entire way through. I may have praised "The Gift of the Magi" for its archaic...more
The works of Lovecraft are spectacular. You can see the influence they have on the great masters of horror in our time (Stephen King's short stories, John Carpenter's "The Thing"). I have great affinity for what he did, which was basically attempting to think of the kind of horror that comes from what humans do not know or fathom. Obviously, there is his Cthulhu Mythos, but for an example of his creative mental exercises at work, read "The Colour Out of Space," which essentially was an explorati...more
Now I finally know what/who Cthulhu is.
Pretty good apocalypse-narrowly-avoided story. I'm always fascinated by stories from this time when these wealthy white men get turned on to some fact or strange occurrence take time out to gallivant around the world for a few years to investigate. Apparently they have all the time and money in the world to ferry between the continents not even sure that the person they're going to meet is still there.
Anyway. It's about a guy who has strange prophetic dream...more
Pretty good apocalypse-narrowly-avoided story. I'm always fascinated by stories from this time when these wealthy white men get turned on to some fact or strange occurrence take time out to gallivant around the world for a few years to investigate. Apparently they have all the time and money in the world to ferry between the continents not even sure that the person they're going to meet is still there.
Anyway. It's about a guy who has strange prophetic dream...more
Lovecraft has had a tremendous influence on the modern fantasy, especially urban and comic fantasy. Terry Pratchett, Charles Stross, Jim Butcher, and several other major authors utilize Lovecraftian critters from the dungeon dimensions and the deepest depths as primary antagonists in their mythologies. I don't know if it's because I read the stories when I was too young, or if perhaps I encountered spoofs of his creatures before I read the real thing, but somehow, half-and-half fish/octopus men...more
Read for book club. Lovecraft gets a bum rap, I think-- he's often judged on the merits of the authors he's inspired rather than on his own work.
His OWN work is singular and eloquent and beautifully lyrical (which makes WHAT he's describing all the more horrifying): "it was nightmare itself, and to see it was to die"; "only poetry or madness could do justice to the noises"; "tenebrousness burst forth like smoke from its aeon-long imprisonment, visibly darkening the sun as it slink away into the...more
His OWN work is singular and eloquent and beautifully lyrical (which makes WHAT he's describing all the more horrifying): "it was nightmare itself, and to see it was to die"; "only poetry or madness could do justice to the noises"; "tenebrousness burst forth like smoke from its aeon-long imprisonment, visibly darkening the sun as it slink away into the...more
البناء القصصى للمجموعة مبهر ...كل حاجة بيكتبها لافكرافت بتحس انها نول منسوج باحكام ...النقطة الوحيدة اللى مش مقبولة ...اسماء الكيانات القديمة اللى بيدعى انها قابلت الحظرد وانه استوحاها من مجتمع الصابئة اللى عاش فى بغداد كمجتمع مغلق ...اسماء زى كتولو وغيرها اسماء ذات رنين اجنبى واضح ممكن يبقى من ثقافة الكلت ,الفايكنج,اللاتينية حتى ....اما تبقى اسماء ارباب لشاعر عربى يمنى مخبول اسمه الحظرد عاش فى شبه الجزيرة العربية فا اسمحلى يا لافكرافت اقولك كلمة مش ولابد ......واللى زود الموضوع انى حسيت ان فكرة...more
H.P. Lovecraft horror stories are like candy. They're cheaper and arguably as effective as therapy. They're the type of thing you'd want to read if you were having a rough day in a time before you could just go on YouTube and watch cat videos to get over it. My absolute favourite in this collection was "Herbert West -- Reanimator". though I also liked "The Whisperer in Darkness". I enjoyed how Lovecraft uses unreliable narrators in a way that makes you question the incredible stories being told...more
Lovecraft himself regarded this short story as "rather middling—not as bad as the worst but full of cheap and cumbrous touches". Personally, that was kind of my take on the story. The book is primarily a narrative, almost void of any dramatic dialogue played by an exciting performer. The tone of the narrative is one of shocked excitement, grotesqueness and gothic horror.
Lovecraft was one of the first writers to create a mythos throughout his works, linking up disparate short stories to make a l...more
Lovecraft was one of the first writers to create a mythos throughout his works, linking up disparate short stories to make a l...more
So I finally knuckled down and read some real Lovecraft. He's pretty hard nerd currency, even in the more exalted stories where giants like Gaiman move. So I thought it had to be worth a look...
It was...an experience. I'm primarily a fantasy buff, and horror fiction has always had a curious relationship with fantasy. If science fiction is our next-of-kin, horror is that shady cousin that we'd only admit to being related to when pressed. Both genres are concerned with make the reader believe, how...more
It was...an experience. I'm primarily a fantasy buff, and horror fiction has always had a curious relationship with fantasy. If science fiction is our next-of-kin, horror is that shady cousin that we'd only admit to being related to when pressed. Both genres are concerned with make the reader believe, how...more
After finally getting around to reading some Lovecraft, after many years of hearing sidelong whispers of the horror of the Old Ones, I can't help but be a bit disappointed by The Call of Cthulu. Basically it seemed too much that he was writing stuff that amounted to "X saw a horrible thing involving some people dancing around a fire and he felt pure terror in the pit of his stomach." but without much of a description of said horrible thing. So I, as the reader, get a brief description of some ce...more
This is a great introduction to Lovecraft: well-chosen, well-annotated, and with the definitive, corrected texts. Most of Lovecraft's work is available for free online, but in that form it's often riddled with formatting and typing errors, derived from versions that didn't fully reflect Lovecraft's vision, and, of course, does not have explanatory notes. I've found the Penguin Lovecraft collections, with notes by premier Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, to be well worth the price; I've actually bou...more
It's hard to start analyzing these stories in the light of today's horror fiction, but I can imagine in the time these were written, they must have been groundbreaking. It looks like they follow a certain formula. The starting situation is always the same: the horror has already happened, and the occurrences that have plagued the given society are too horrid and painful for the narrator to utter the simplest description of them. The imagery is always ancient and gothic.
Then he slowly and reluct...more
Then he slowly and reluct...more
To be honest, I only read the title story so I will limit my review to that one. Reminiscent of Edgar Alan Poe's style, this story relates how a bunch of people all over the world went terminally crazy during one ill-fated night. From the notes of professor who died in mysterious circumstances, it becomes clear that the fits of insanity are linked to the cult of a timeless monster called Cthulhu, who looks like a squid. Drawings of the creature in question are found in paintings by an artist who...more
Stories: The Call of Cthulhu, The Haunter Of The Dark, Dreams in the Witch-House, The Thing on the Doorstep, The Shadow Out of Time, Through the Gates of the Silver Key. At the beginning of "The Call of Cthulhu" Lovecraft actually summarize his view. If there is a God, by Lovecraft, he is most definitely beyond good or evil and indifferent toward people who it (beyond gender also) consider insignificant. Lovecraft bellieved that knowledge could be a danger. Knowing less might be better, or we ca...more
Lovecraft is a master at evoking dark, brooding moods and that feeling that, while you can't quite put a finger on it, something just isn't right. A major theme is that there are dark forces existing in the universe which our puny human minds cannot hope to understand. Consequently, you should not a) try to summon evil entities, just for fun, at your dinner party, b) investigate that strange town of hillbillies, or c) reproduce with someone/something not of your species. Should you proceed to do...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fantasy Aficionados: * May 2013 The Call of Cthulu -roll call and initial thoughts | 18 | 38 | May 13, 2013 10:14pm | |
| Ph'nglui mglw'naf...: The Call of Cthulhu comedic analysis | 1 | 6 | Apr 21, 2013 08:46pm | |
| Fantasy Aficionados: May 2013 The Call Of Cthulhu | 1 | 18 | Apr 09, 2013 09:00am | |
| Is Cthulhu a boy or a girl? | 20 | 44 | Mar 14, 2013 08:23am | |
| Cthulhu vs. Jesus | 8 | 42 | Jan 05, 2013 12:11am | |
| Is The Flying Spaghetti Monster really Cthulhu? | 4 | 13 | Nov 26, 2012 09:06am |
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a...more
More about H.P. Lovecraft...
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a...more
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“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of the infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”
—
296 people liked it
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
—
236 people liked it
More quotes…
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
updated Mar 31, 2013 05:20pm
Apr 03, 2013 05:36pm