The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft: 102 Horror Short Stories, Novels, Juvenelia, Collaborations and Ghost Writings

by H.P. Lovecraft

"The Complete Works of H. P. Lovecraft" includes all the 102 short stories, novels, Juvenilia, Collaborations and Ghost writings of H. P Lovecraft. If it has been written by H. P. Lovecraft, it is in this book - search no more!

You can even find stories of H. P. Lovecraft that are not available online like "four o'clock" and "Bothon". This will be your H. P Lovecraft Bible.

The stories are listed according to the writing year rather than the publication year. This will help in reading the stories in the order they were written.

An active Table of Contents is available in this book and there is a link to the Table of Contents at the start of each story to make navigation easier for you.

Included in this book:

Short Stories and Novels:

The Tomb (1917)
Dagon (1917)
A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1917)
Polaris (1918)
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919)
Memory (1919)
Old Bugs (1919)
The Transition of Juan Romero (1919)
The White Ship (1919)
The Doom That Came to Sarnath (1919)
The Statement of Randolph Carter (1919)
The Street (1919)
The Terrible Old Man (1920)
The Cats of Ulthar (1920)
The Tree (1920)
Celephaïs (1920)
From Beyond (1920)
The Temple (1920)
Nyarlathotep (1920)
The Picture in the House (1920)
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920)
The Nameless City (1921)
The Quest of Iranon (1921)
The Moon-Bog (1921)
Ex Oblivione (1921)
The Other Gods (1921)
The Outsider (1921)
The Music of Erich Zann (1921)
Sweet Ermengarde (1921)
Hypnos (1922)
What the Moon Brings (1922)
Azathoth (1922)
Herbert West—Reanimator (1922)
The Hound (1922)
The Lurking Fear (1922)
The Rats in the Walls (1923)
The Unnamable (1923)
The Festival (1923)
The Shunned House (1924)
The Horror at Red Hook (1925)
He (1925)
In the Vault (1925)
Cool Air (1926)
The Call of Cthulhu (1926)
Pickman’s Model (1926)
The Strange High House in the Mist (1926)
The Silver Key (1926)
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927)
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927)
The Colour Out of Space (1927)
The Descendant (1927)
The Very Old Folk (1927)
The History of the Necronomicon (1927)
The Dunwich Horror (1928)
Ibid (1928)
The Whisperer in Darkness (1930)
At the Mountains of Madness (1931)
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931)
The Dreams in the Witch House (1932)
The Thing on the Doorstep (1933)
The Book (1933)
The Evil Clergyman (1933)
The Shadow out of Time (1934)
The Haunter of the Dark (1935)


Juvenilia:

The Little Glass Bottle (1898)
The Mystery of the Grave-Yard (1898)
The Secret Cave (1898)
The Mysterious Ship (1902)
The Beast in the Cave (1904)
The Alchemist (1908)


Collaborations and Ghost Writings:

The Green Meadow (1918)
Poetry and the Gods (1920)
The Crawling Chaos (1920)
Four O’clock (1922)
The Horror at Martin’s Beach (1922)
Under the Pyramids (1924)
Two Black Bottles (1926)
The Last Test (1927)
The Thing in the Moonlight (1927)
The Curse of Yig (1928)
The Electric Executioner (1929)
The Mound (1929)
Medusa’s Coil (1930)
The Trap (1931)
Winged Death (1932)
The Man of Stone (1932)
Through the Gates of the Silver Key (1932)
The Horror in the Museum (1932)
Out of the Aeons (1933)
The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast (1933)
The Horror in the Burying-Ground (1933)
The Slaying of the Monster (1933)
The Tree on the Hill (1934)
The Battle that Ended the Century (1934)
“Till A’ the Seas” (1935)
The Challenge from Beyond (1935)
The Diary of Alonzo Typer (1935)
The Disinterment (1935)
The Night Ocean (1936)
In the Walls of Eryx (1936)
Collapsing Cosmoses (1938)
Bothon (1946)

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Anthologies

1698 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1936

About the author

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 series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

— Wikipedia

Reviews

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die."

326 days later... I have finished reading this collection of HP Lovecraft's complete fiction. The master of weird fiction and cosmic horror delivers a range of different short stories and novellas, from chilling tales to the downright terrifying.

This complete fiction is chronological, so it's interesting to see Lovecraft progress over the years. Admittedly, it was tough to get through some of the stories at the beginning, but once you get accustomed to the way Lovecraft writes, it becomes a lot easier. Not only that, but Lovecraft himself gets better at writing and the quality of his stories vastly improve. Therefore, quite predictably, my favourite stories are actually towards the end of the collection, when Lovecraft has really mastered his craft.

Lovecraft is not the master of creating memorable characters, but he is the master of building an atmosphere and writing unforgettable tales of dread and horror. As a King fan, strong character development is something I look for in a lot of my books (this just brings me back to a review I read recently for Sleeping Beauties where the reviewer commented on how King has never been great at character development.... hahahahahaha, okay, sure), but Lovecraft has taught me that that's not always needed in order to truly create an incredible story. Ask me the names of the characters in stories such as The Shadow over Innsmouth and I would look at you with a blank stare, but ask me to tell you that story and the dread and fear it instilled in me, and you couldn't shut me up (I actually did tell Matthew that story one morning over breakfast and I'm pretty sure I made a mess of it - Lovecraft I ain't).

Don't get me wrong, there are negative aspects to Lovecraft's writing - it's pretty dense, which I'm sure some readers would love, but that kind of writing requires me to be sitting in a silent room where I can concentrate. Given that I do a decent amount of reading with background noise (as I like to be in the heat of my living room), I struggled at times and would find myself reading the same paragraph over and over again. That also might help explain why it took 326 days! He's a huge fan of going into unnecessary detail, which can be frustrating at times.

I can completely understand that Lovecraft is not for everyone - his stories don't read as easily as King's, there isn't a lot of dialogue, but there is no harm in trying a story or two before deciding if you want to explore further. So! I thought I would recommend some stories to begin with if you want to venture into some cosmic horror....

1. The Shadow over Innsmouth - creepy, creepy, creepy. The tension and dread is built and sustained for the majority of this one, and it also has one of my favourite endings.

2. The Thing on the Doorstep - also, a greatly crafted tale, with another epic ending - Lovecraft knows how to bring them endings!!

3. The Colour out of Space - this one blew me away, and possibly might be my favourite tale. Highly recommend.

4. At the Mountains of Madness - chilling and tense... loved this one!

5. The Call of Cthulhu - come on! You're gonna read Lovecraft and not read about the Great Old One?! That would be unheard of!!

Lovecraft has firmly cemented his position as one of my favourite authors, and I will revisit these stories in years to come. It's been a pleasure. 5 stars out of 5 from me! And just remember.... "ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" which translates into "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iä! I read the whole thing!

I love this collection. It's one of those Barnes & Noble editions they feature in-store. I don't know if later editions were made with the same quality. It's a gorgeous leather-bound tome, and the cover photo on this site doesn't do it justice. Every detail is tactile. The strip of cosmic art across the middle is borderline holographic; I couldn't quite get a picture that captures its reflective quality, but here is an alternative to the thumbnail art:



It has lovely reflective silver sprayed edges and a violet sewn-in bookmark:



...and wonderful endpaper artwork:



At over 1100 pages stuffed with small print, it's a lot of material. There's no filler; a short introduction from Lovecraft expert S.T. Joshi bridges you straight into the stories, which are presented in chronological writing order, my favorite order to read any author's work. Each story has a very brief introduction, without attribution but presumably also Joshi's.

The back matter consists of Lovecraft's extant juvenilia, which, I thought, given that the first story in the collection was written at age 14, must be awfully juvenile. I was right, they're laughably terrible in the manner of stories that only a child could write. There are a few pages of draft material from The Shadow over Innsmouth which could be considered as 'deleted scenes', and then Lovecraft's long essay and the book's sole non-fiction content, Supernatural Horror in Literature. Man, did Lovecraft ever fanboy for Edgar Allen Poe.

At this essay's start, Lovecraft presents his view of cosmic horror as the ultimate distillation of primal humanity's fear, which I found similar to Terry Pratchett's description of the roots of fantasy in the introduction to The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy. It goes on to describe trends in the genre, highlighting popular and notable works in horror from the 18th century to Lovecraft's present day.

The table of contents lists an "About the Author" section on page 1099, but there is no such page in my edition.

On to the stories!

The Beast in the Cave: This was written by Lovecraft at age 13-14, and for that is impressive. It only starts to touch the horror of being trapped underground that, say, the film The Descent shows fully, muted by the narrator's early resignation to his fate. Its youthful exuberance is captured in the final words, "... a MAN!!!", bold, caps, and triple-exclamation all original.

The Alchemist: Here we jump to author age 18. The ending is only slightly toned down from the previous work, retaining an all-caps finish but with only a single exclamation point.

The Tomb: Another jump to age 27; this is when Lovecraft started writing in earnest. It's a wonderfully creepy story, with only a questionable supernatural element, focused on the narrator's possible madness as he recounts his obsession with a certain abandoned family tomb from his asylum.

Dagon: An early hint at the later mythos tales that would capture the public's interest. Obviously the name points to later work. It contains story elements that would later be seen expanded in the iconic The Call of Cthulhu.

A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson: Naturally, in such a collection there will be stories of interest only to the Lovecraft scholar, and this is one of those. From the introduction, “It is a brilliant send-up of Lovecraft’s well-known fondness for the eighteenth century and is written in a flawless imitation of the prose of Samuel Johnson.” Insert ‘sure, Jan’ gif here. This wit of this ‘whimsy’ flew over my head a hundred years ago.

Polaris: A few days after I read this, I was about to start the next story when I glanced back and realized I remembered nothing about it. Such is the fate of certain reading while struggling to stay awake. I’m glad I reread it, because the story reflects that struggle against sleep, and invokes some Lovecraft’s later dream-world stories. I particularly enjoyed the silent ease with which the narrative slipped between real and dream worlds. The narrator could not even keep track of which was which. Notable today for the narrator’s description of “Eskimaux” as “squat yellow creatures, blighted by the cold”.

Beyond the Wall of Sleep: It turns out the term ‘white trash’ was in use as early as 1919. Who knew? Another dream-world tale, more cosmic than the last, in which a psychiatrist receives a six-month paid vacation for taking on too much stress from his patient, a degenerate from that famous hotbed of brutish hillbillies, the Catskills. Points for ‘ululation’, ‘effulgent’ (twice), and ‘architraves’.

Memory: A one-page “prose poem”. ‘The Genie that haunts the moonbeams spake to the Daemon of the Valley’ and so forth. Notable for its portrayal of all of humanity as a paltry blip in the course of time.

Old Bugs: An anti-dissolution (drinking and debauchery) cautionary tale written by a lifelong teetotaler for his young friend as a personal missive. It was as subtle as Reefer Madness.

The Transition of Juan Romero: His stories will get much better, but this was an okay early start to recounting the fear of the unknowable.

The White Ship: A terrific early contribution to the Dreamlands. The first of many Lord Dunsany-inspired tales.

The Street: Holy racism and xenophobia, Lovecraft!

The Doom That Came to Sarnath: I was reminded of Robert E. Howard in this primordial tale of lost lands. Of course, Howard was influenced by Lovecraft.

The Statement of Randolph Carter: A fairly standard horror story. Did Randolph Carter return later, in connection with the Dreamlands, or am I either thinking of a different name or conflating these stories with Brian Lumley's later Lovecraft-inspired work?

The Terrible Old Man: Nothing special, but it introduces the town of Kingsport.

The Tree: Meh.

The Cats of Ulthar: A must-read for all cat people and fans of poetic justice. Ulthar and its cats is another element in Lumley's version of the Dreamlands; will it be mentioned again later by Lovecraft?

The Temple: A good early example of Lovecraft's epistolary tales. Nautical, set in WWI on a German U-boat, with mounting but barely-seen horror, and underwater structures that may be considered to later morph into R'lyeh.

Some stories I waited too long to add to this review so I don’t have much noteworthy to say:Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (there’s a title for you); Celephaïs (a wonderful dreamlands story); From Beyond (so cheesy, I saw the movie based on this); Nyarlathotep; The Picture in the House; Ex Oblivione.

Sweet Ermengarde: Hilarious! I laughed out loud at least twice. It’s a parody of hack writing of the day, and Lovecraft pokes fun at some amateur writing tells that I often see in today’s glut of barrier-free self-published fiction.

The Nameless City: First appearance of the famous “unexplainable couplet of the mad poet Abdul Alhazred”:

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

The Quest of Iranon: The closest thing to a fable yet encountered in this collection, and rather lovely, but inconsequential. It could be considered a Dreamlands tale.

The Moon-Bog: In the span of one page are the words fulgently, refulgence, and effulgence. Things are looking bright. I also had to look up saltant (jumping). The moral is: listen to the superstitious peasants when you buy a castle in Ireland.

The Outsider: The reader understands the situation pages before the narrator does, so only the captivating prose carries this story from a monster’s perspective.

The Other Gods: Short and meh, but builds a “‘Craftverse” by referencing The Cats of Ulthar. We like continuity.

The Music of Erich Zann: Now this is the type of mythos tale I remember best, with a nightmarish realm adjacent to our own, always threatening, and barely held at bay by brilliantly insane and esoteric means.

Herbert West—Reanimator: For one of Lovecraft’s best-known properties, this is quite bad. Written on commission for a pulp magazine, it’s way more sensational and cheesy than his usual fare. In six segments (one per issue at $5 a pop), each one repeats the same setup then adds a tiny step to the story.

Hypnos: Altered State Bromance. Uses “luminous” four times.

What the Moon Brings: Madness. It brings madness.

Azathoth: A fragment; contains no actual Azathoth.

The Hound: Great! A demonic rather than cosmic horror story, florid and macabre with great energy. Reportedly the first mention of the Necronomicon.

The Lurking Fear: Like Reanimator, written for serial publication in the same magazine, but this story is vastly superior and more to Lovecraft’s usual form.

The Rats in the Walls: Wow, what an ending! Intense. The main characters likes cats and I was like, "Aww..." but then his main cat has a shockingly racist name and I was like, "No! Bad."

The Unnamable: Meh.

The Festival: Fun Kingsport hereditary cult story.

Under the Pyramids: Written as Harry Houdini. The early Egypt parts were dull (maybe more exotic in 1924) but the ending horror was phenomenal, very Cthulhu-worthy.

The Shunned House: Disappointing; long, dull, and without a good payoff. The only thing to fear is French itself.

The Horror at Red Hook: Often cited as Lovecraft's most racist story, I didn't see that. It was definitely xenophobic, and maybe the broadness of the fear of the other, of all immigrants, diluted that effect for me. The story didn't stand out for me.

He: THIS. This captured the feel I remember from Lovecraft's best-known stories, which are still to come in writing order. (Call of Cthulhu is only three stories away now.) I loved the vocabulary, and the glimpse into a future in which humanity has no role. The story reflects Lovecraft's own failed venture into New York life and rapid retreat back to New England.

In the Vault: Excellent short traditional horror, with an effective build-up and a dramatic, italicized flourish of an ending. Worthy of Tales from the Crypt.

Cool Air: Creative but predictable, another standard horror filling the time until . . .

The Call of Cthulhu: BOOM! The unintentional founding of an empire. There were earlier stories that you could say fit into the Cthulhu mythos, but this was the one that laid out all the cards. It's got tremendous energy. It's not subtle; it expressly outs the alienness and its origins, and how it's incompatible with human experience. I loved it! (This is not the first time I've read it.)

Pickman's Model: I always conflate this title with Portnoy’s Complaint. Is that weird? Another powerhouse of a story, straight horror rather than cosmic. It adopts a more natural conversational tone than most earlier stories, less archaic in style. Is this Lovecraft evolving as a writer?

The Silver Key: Initially a repetitive, overwrought story of Randolph Carter's eternal ennui after the events of the forthcoming Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, it has a nice shift towards the end. I like the way Lovecraft presents subtle and sudden narrative shifts in multiple stories.

The Strange High House in the Mist: Intriguing, surprisingly more joyous than menacing, with beautiful poetic descriptions and phrases.

As my remaining character limit slowly dwindles, I'll place reviews of longer stories under their respective titles and simply link to the book here.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

The Colour Out of Space: Phenomenal, chilling. I can totally see the movie potential, but not sure which role is best for Nick Cage (if it sticks closely to the source.) The colour is not octarine. And after the two preceding stories, the longest Lovecraft ever wrote (the second-longest roughly ties with the later In the Mountains of Madness), as good as they were it's a relief to see a string of shorter pieces again. It feels like the writing style has shifted away from the archaic. It's no wonder these later stories are the best known; they're much easier to read.

The Descendant: A "fragment", more like a partial first draft and outline for what could have been a chilling tale with a baller first line: "In London there is a man who screams when the church bells ring."

History of the Necronomicon: More of a reference piece for the fictional tome, perhaps to maintain consistent in-world details.

The Very Old Folk: Supposedly an account of a detailed actual dream of Lovecraft's. If this is fully the case, does it belong in his complete fiction? And if there were other versions of the letter "with slight but in some cases significant differences," (and can both of those be true at the same time?) shouldn't all of them be included in a complete collection?

Ibid: The last of Lovecraft's "comical" stories, I suppose it's mildly humorous in the way of stuffy British learned gents, but not really. After these last few tidbits, I'm glad again to get to a meatier story. Next up, with only 11 stories left to go...

The Dunwich Horror: This tale really sunk into the concept of degenerate backwater hillbillies, with some thickly written dialect pulled off very well. The first thing that struck me was how swiftly Lovecraft created a feeling of claustrophobia and alienation through description.

The Whisperer in Darkness: Potent, chilling, and the strongest connector of the Cthulhu mythos yet with mentions of Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Yugoth, Mi-go, Azathoth, Leng, Nyarlahotep, the Necronomicon, Miskatonic University and more. Marred only by its predictability; although all the stories fail to surprise since the reader knows that "eldritch horror" will be the explanation for the odd events, here the narrator became particularly obtuse in failing to recognize when Akerley had been subverted. Still amazing despite the weak finale.

At the Mountains of Madness <-- review is there. In short, it gave too much away.

The Shadow over Innsmouth: Probably the second best-known story, after The Call of Cthulhu, featuring that miasmic town of fish-men and the Esoteric Order of Dagon. There's a lot in the middle that is a full disclosure of all the goings-on, monologued in an extended dialect, and then a long escape scene that could have spent less time on the specifics of the Innsmouth city map. But, the final chapter, particularly the last couple of pages, are pure Lovecraft gold.

Discarded draft of The Shadow over Innsmouth: I'm going slightly out of order here; this piece appears after the Juvenalia. It didn't add anything to the final story; most of it is essentially unaltered. The beginning is stronger in the published version, and there are minor details changed from later chapters, like the name of the elderly lush who spills the entire town history is "Uncle Zadoc". The inclusion of these fragments of a draft make me wonder why there aren't any others included in this collection. Did Lovecraft not keep any drafts?

The Dreams in the Witch House: The Lovecraft scholar's introduction called it "somewhat overblown prose" but I thought it was fantastic, if slightly repetitive. Blends concepts of advanced mathematics and the very Lovecraftian concept of bizarre angles and shapes that form the entry point for horror and other dimensional passage.

Through the Gates of the Silver Key: A sequel of sorts to both The Silver Key and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, this mind-bendy story is not for new initiates to Lovecraft lore. After pages of barely comprehensible concepts expressed as well as possible within the limitations of English and human perception, it settles into an excellent finale. This story was the launching-off point for much of Brian Lumley's early Cthulhu mythos work, which I plan to systematically revisit after I finish this collection.

The Thing on the Doorstep: As a reward for continuing this incredibly long read, I received this surprise side sequel to Shadow Over Innsmouth. Even without that linkage, it's a powerful story. Body swapping, with the plot given away at the start, but nonetheless a thrilling tale.

The Shadow Out of Time: Whew! I was looking forward to this one. It contains one of my favorite and most memorable pieces of Chulthu mythos lore involving the breadth and time span of conscious life and how small humanity's part in that is. Structurally it's very similar to At the Mountains of Madness: a narrator warning humanity off investigating their own horrible archeological discovery, extended exposition laying out plainly a truth of the universe in some of the most direct worldbuilding Lovecraft ever wrote, a second horrible race that the first feared above all else, and blind flight through cyclopean ruins. This one did it all much better.

The Haunter of the Dark: A fitting finale. A more traditional horror tale, reminiscent of many of his earlier stories, but with a full Cthulhu mythos overlay, especially on the fantastic final page.

And then H.P. Lovecraft died of intestinal cancer.

The End . . . ?

[Graeme Rodaughan]

I'm going to read the whole of this book in 2019, 2020 2021 2022 2023, in order (most recently read at top.)

Planning for a lot more Lovecraftian tales in 2023 (and possibly 2024... yes, this is dragging out...)

16/Oct/22: 48: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: Up next...

16/Oct/22: 47: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath: My first DNF. After more than an hour invested, I just don't care what the hell happens in Randolph Carter's dream world which is a hot mess of anything and everything goes non-story reading like stream of consciousness writing. 0 'DNF Not a Story,' stars.

30/Aug/22: 46: The Strange High House in the Mist: A philosopher of means (but still unemployed) finds his way to a mysterious lonely house atop a high seaward crag. He communes with a number of dreamlike oceanic entities and then returns to solid suburbia, touched, but untouched, he leaves the mysteries behind and never seeks them again. 3, 'Mysteriously Fishy,' stars.

27/Aug/22: 45: The Silver Key: An elegiac tale of lost childhood and its seeming return through death (or traveling beyond the veil...). 5, 'The Dream is the Thing,' stars.

22/Aug/22: 44: Pickman's Model: A sensitive art critic discovers that his favorite artist draws inspiration from photographs of the real world ... and promptly dumps him for painting demons! 4, 'Shattered Illusions,' stars

09/Aug/22: 43: The Call of Cthulhu: (This one's a reread as I read it years ago before I was acquainted with Lovecraft's peculiar style...). A sceptical explorer creates a virtual spider diagram of pieces of evidence revealing the existence of an ancient world-wide cult worshipping the ultimate cosmic horror - Cthulhu. 5 'Wish I Didn't Know,' stars.

08/Aug/22: 42: Cool Air: Young boarding house lodger discovers his animated upstairs neighbour has been dead for quite a long time. 4 'It's a REFRIGERATION UNIT!' stars.

28/July/22: 41: The Descendant: Lord Northam with his endless search for experience beyond the everyday = Frank, from Hellraiser!!! 3 'Don't look beyond,' stars.

... a long break here ...

21/Sept/21: 40: In the Vault: In an echo of Procrustes and his bed, an undertaker falls afoul of vengeance from beyond the grave. 3 'Measure Your Coffin Correctly,' stars.

18/Sept/21: 39: He: A youthful poet seeks 'Wonderment,' in the alleys and byways of New York. Accepts a stranger as a guide and quickly finds himself within an ancient realm of otherworldly horrors. Barely escapes with his mind and body intact. Kinda dragged in spots, although the creature known as 'He,' was inventive. 3 'Beware Strangers in New York,' stars.

19/Jul/21: 38: The Horror at Red Hook: Daft Detective Imbroglio! Mad or just Maddening! "Well I chased the perp through an interdimensional portal to a place right out of a Hieronymus Bosch fever dream filled with diabolical entities. But I kept my mouth shut as who would ever believe me. It was better to just pretend I was temporarily mad." Detective Malone has a brush with a devil-worshipping cult which almost sends him mad. Slow to start, and not very gripping, but not horrible. 3 'Loathsome Cults in the Slums,' stars.

14/Jul/21: 37: The Shunned House: A haunted house tale that started very, very slowly, then hooked me in with awesome suspense, and a rare 'almost,' happy-ever-after for the narrator. 5 'Spooky Eldritch Cellar Dweller,' stars.

14/Jun/20: 36: The Festival: An ancient fishing village, masked guides, secret rites that predate humanity, loathsome indescribable squirming horrors in subterranean caverns. But was it only a nightmare? This one ticked all the boxes. 5 'Horrors! No! - It was real!' stars

12/Jun/20: 35: The Unnamable: The Unnamable remains unknown and underwhelming. 2 'Perplexed,' stars.

(Geez, a 6 month break...)

12/Jan/20: 34: The Rats in the Walls: Elegantly written with little hints thrown here and there, but then it turns right on the end into unutterable horror... 5 'Stark Raving Mad,' stars.

08/Jan/20: 33: The Lurking Fear: Break out the shovels. Degenerate colonials have become loathsome abominable mole-rat-beast men rising from underground lairs to feast upon the surface dwellers. Kinda dragged in spots. 3 'Morlocks Rise,' stars.

That said ... HPL is really starting to illustrate the situation where someone has discovered something so horrifying that they wish they had never ever known about it - i.e. Ignorance is bliss. and there are terrific lines like 'I retain no distinct impression save of wild-armed titan trees, daemonic mutterings of thunder, and Charonian shadows athwart the low mounds that dotted and streaked the region.' - Now this left me with a vivid, visceral impression of someone running from a vast and overwhelming horror. Good writing here. I think that HPL is more visual than I'd previously given him credit for.

19/Dec/19: 32: The Hound: A cautionary tale upon the topic of avoiding charismatic young men named St. John, demonism, the Necronomicon, grave robbing, cursed jade amulets, stocking museums with artifacts stolen from graves, lonely moors, decrepit manors, solitude, dissipation, flocks of bats - and smoking (well actually not smoking...) - 3 'Beneath a Livid Sky,' stars.

19/Dec/19: 31: Azathoth: A vignette of modern alienation, of dreams chasing long lost vistas, where persistence is ultimately rewarded with gentle bliss. Lacks a story and who the frack was Azathoth?- 2 'Thankfully Short,' stars

17/Dec/19: 30. What the Moon Brings: It's the moon's fault, evil thing that it is, not the drugs, not the opiates, not the multi-colored imaginings of LSD, inspiring terror and suicide. 1 'Drug Induced,' star. (fortunately this was also very short.)

16/Dec/19: 29. Hypnos: "Just what happened is unknown, ..." and shall remain that way. 3 'Unknowable,' stars (or perhaps zero, or an infinity...) - Beware sleep!

04/Feb/19: 28. Herbert West - Reanimator: Now the genius is revealed. Macabre horror at its best. Weird, wonderful, shocking, imaginative, powerful. 5 'Unable to Look Away,' stars.

03/Feb/19: 27. The Music of Erich Zann: An out-of-work philosopher (is there any other sort?) discovers a mute with a musical bent for defending against eldritch horrors of a cosmic persuasion. A defense that is weakening... 5 'Spooky,' stars.

03/Feb/19: 26. The Other Gods: A Hubris breeds Nemesis tale as Barzai the Wise does something quite foolish - and is never heard of again. 2 'Just Another Over-reach Tale Masquerading as Fantasy History Guff...' stars.

03/Feb/19: 25. The Outsider: Self-awareness can be a horrible shock - especially if you are an uncanny, eldritch, apparition of horrific demeanor unfit for cultured company. Still, forgetfulness is a balm for such sorrowful knowledge - however it seems a tad disingenuous to claim loss of memory when talking about it! 3 'Red Pill,' stars.

01/Feb/19: 24. The Moon-Bog: (Thankfully, back amongst the contemporary fantasy) HPL's interpretation of the Sidhe of Ireland, defend a bog from being drained by a rich Irish/American and his northern Ireland laborers. Of course, everyone seems to have been uncannily transformed by eldritch powers of cosmic horror into fat and ugly frogs. 4 'Don't Mess with Nature,' stars.

01/Feb/19: 23. The Quest of Iranon: An immortal bard fruitlessly seeks an audience for the music 'wot 'e wrote.' - Remains an unknown. Humanity at fault for not having the wit and sensitivity to appreciate his art. Dies in quicksand watched by an ancient shepherd. 2 'Suck It Up Princess,' stars.

31/Jan/19: 22. The Nameless City: A cautionary tale about exploring ancient cities built by elder reptilian races, at night, by yourself, with naught but a guttering torch. You also shouldn't leave your camel by itself at the front door. Next time - bring a stout rope - whoops, no next time... 3 'Ill-Prepared,' stars.

30/Jan/19: 21. Ex Oblivione: Apparently drugs can unite you with the native infinity of crystal oblivion if that's what HPL discovered, I feel genuinely sorry for him. 4 'Illimitable Stars Living in the Sad Space Between Ecstasy and Desolation.'

29/Jan/19: 20. The Picture in the House: ... for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and ignorance combine to the perfection of the hideous. Nothing like a bit of back woods New England cannibalism on a cold, wet, and windy night. 4 'Hungry,' stars.

29/Jan/19: 19. Nyarlathotep: After a slow start, becomes an evocative, spooky, and relevant tale about how whole societies can be unhinged by a charismatic interloper. 4 'Inconceivable,' stars.

29/Jan/19: 18. From Beyond: Could've inspired a dozen B-Grade movies. It's often better not to see what is normally Unseen . 4 'Chilling,' stars.

29/Jan/19: 17. Celephais: Authorial wish fulfillment? A stark reminder of the distinction between harsh and unyielding reality, and dreams born of drug addiction? Possibly, 3 'Uncertain,' stars.

29/Jan/19: 16. The Street: One 'Boring,' star. A disappointment after the previous story. You know - having at least one main character would be a good idea...

29/Jan/19: 15. Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family: Was the hilarious comedy of this work unintentional - I suspect so. Entertaining and gripping, I suspect this is HPL's best work to date. Some family secrets are best kept - well secret! 5 'Chuckling, Mesmerized,' stars.

27/Jan/19: 14. The Temple: Echoing Stoker's 'log of the Demeter,' and Alien's 'the Nostromo,' a u-boat crew undergoes death by a thousand eldritch cuts. 4 'Salty Cursed,' stars.

24/Jan/19: 13. The Cats of Ulthar: Reads like a fairy tale. Beware the vengeance of cats. 5 'Purring Stars of Contentment.'

24/Jan/19: 12. The Tree: I don't understand??? Not rated.

24/Jan/19: 11. The Terrible Old Man: No country for easy victims. 4 'Picking on the Wrong Guy,' stars.

24/Jan/19: 10. The Statement of Randolph Carter: Mucking about with eldritch forces in deserted graveyards will get you DEAD! - Effective writing. 4 'Scary,' stars.

24/Jan/19: 9. The Doom that came to Sarnath: Hubris begets Nemesis - but told with too many words... 2 'Endured,' stars.

24/Jan/19: 8. The White Ship: A sad tale of taking opportunity for granted. 3 'Sombre,' stars.

24/Jan/19: 7. The Transition of Juan Romero: An engaging story where what really happened remains a mystery. 4 'Eerie,' stars.

17/Jan/19: 6. Old Bugs: A real story in stark contrast to 'Memory,' - a cautionary tale against the demon drink. 4 'Down-and-Out,' stars.

17/Jan/19: 5. Memory: Forgettable and already forgotten - it might have been 1 star, who could say - what were we talking about again?

11/Jan/19: 4. Beyond the Wall of Sleep: 'Da da da ding ding ding...' goes the strumming banjo... Lovecraft obviously didn't like white-trash mountain folk a few decades before the movie 'Deliverance,' was produced. However, what happens when one of 'them,' starts seeing another world? Did Lovecraft invent the Tinfoil Hat? I think not - especially when a new star appears in the heavens to wreck vengeance upon a dreadful opponent. 3 'New Stars Resonating with Cosmic Mindwaves.'

11/Jan/19: 3. Polaris: Dreams, insanity, or visions? Guilt tied to a failed wish fulfillment for relevance for someone without relevance? A mercifully short tale of dreamy woe. 1 'Woeful,' star named Polaris...

09/Jan/19: 2. Dagon: Forgetfulness or death - great options?! As in 'The Call of Cthulhu,' something arises from an oceanic abyss as dark and deep as time itself. 3 'Slimy stars with a Twist at the End.'

09/Jan/19: 1. The Tomb: Jervas Dudley, dreamer, visionary, and confined within a refuge for the demented. Key lesson. If you lie down with the dead, you'll wake up with ghosts. Which in Jervas' case appears to have been an improvement. Of course, whenever ghosts are at work, the dim past is reaching forward with cold, dead hands to seize the present. 3 1/2 'Shivering Stars in a Moonless, Storm Wracked Night.'

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

HP Lovecraft, the Complete D&D5E Character

Name: HP Lovecraft

Class & Rating: Warlock, 3 stars

Race: Human

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

HP Lovecraft is famously nativist (i.e. racist) – his way of describing non-white personages isn’t by describing the color of their skin so much as using a word like ‘mongoloid’ or ‘savage’ – AND female characters are almost non-existent in his works as anything besides window dressing. Nevertheless, if you delve into Lovecraft’s life, you can’t help but feel pathos. He was devoted to his mother, becoming near suicidal when she was committed to an asylum. He visited her and wrote her regularly, and was quite broken by her death. He struggled all his life to make ends meet and sometimes had to choose between paying for the postage to mail his latest story and feeding himself. So evil? By no means. For the other axis, nearly every Lovecraft story explores some aspect of how people respond when their perceptions of reality and cosmology are shaken. The result is, invariably, mental chaos.

Stat Block

Strength: 7

The emotional strength of a HP Lovecraft story is low. They sometimes sort-of-kind-of have character arcs, but these arcs aren't compelling. His stories aren’t horrors either. There’s no sense of dread when turning the page. Rather, I would classify them as mysteries and more milieu mystery than character mystery. Any page-turning quality of a Lovecraft story arises because we’re interested in exploring the world-building and uncovering the truth of the story's strange cosmic mystery. We don’t particularly care about the fate of the protagonists, especially as most of the stories are narrated after-the-fact, anyway.

Dexterity: 16

Lovecraft’s stories often remind me of how nudity was depicted in early film. It was never shown directly. The Hays code didn’t allow it. Instead, you might see a silhouette. Or a dress fall to the ground at the woman’s feet. Or there’d be a bannister in the way. Lovecraft likewise has this propensity to avoid actually describing his cosmic horrors. His characters will instead simply say, ‘I cannot describe it, for my very mind rebelled against grasping such a reality! Mouth and teeth and tentacles!’ or ‘I refuse to share this knowledge, for it will inspire madness in all who hear it.’ It is, frankly, annoying.

Constitution: 13

My copy of HP Lovecraft, The Complete Fiction is highly sturdy and well constructed. When it became temporarily possessed, I struck it with a hammer. It survived this blow intact.

Intelligence: 16

HP Lovecraft was clearly a man of high intelligence. In particular, he possessed a certain arcane vocabulary that gives his stories an other-worldly aesthetic. I was delighted to discover him use not one but TWO of my favorite rare words: chiaroscuro (a word I once used in a story, which earned me a rejection note from the editor: ‘pass. too pretentious.’ bwahaha) as well as tenebrous, which I snuck into the opening for my review for PKD’s Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. I even encountered a few words whose meaning I had to look up, which is quite the feat, given I am a connoisseur of words: fulgurite and noisome, for example. And of course there’s the classics that you’ve no doubt encountered if you’ve ever played a Cthulu game, words like eldritch or daemon or aeons or what have you, all of which serve to imbue his stories with a sense of vast cosmic mystique.

Wisdom: 5

I’m probably least impressed by the humanity of HP Lovecraft’s stories. Despite his clear intelligence, I’m quite certain Lovecraft didn’t understand people. Because of this, the characters come across less as human beings with rich inner lives and more as generic passive receptors of the world. At the least, the book displays a profound lack of insight when compared to modern psychology. Today we know that ‘insanity’ isn’t a single affliction at all – it’s not even a term used in medicine anymore. Rather, what might once have been called ‘insanity’ now has a much more specific classification, such as dementia or schizophrenia, and we have some grasp of the neurological reasons behind these illnesses. Thus the madness we encounter throughout Lovecraft's stories is less a specific ailment of a specific human being than it is the general madness of our entire race as a whole.

Charisma: 6

The stories aren’t charming or magical or inspiring or anything like that. Which is fair, they’re cosmic horror. But don’t expect to come out of reading these stories energized to do good in the world or to treat your fellow human beings with greater love and kindness. Unless you think doing good in the world involves sacrificing a goat to the Elder Gods to stave off their hunger and imminent return. In which case you may well be plenty inspired.

Class Features

Otherworldly Patron: The Great Old One

In Lovecraftian mythos, the universe contains vast and powerful beings - Gods to some - who are beyond mortal ken. To them, we are but ants, and we draw their attention at our peril. Thus, science is in many ways foolish to so wantonly sift through the mysteries of the universe. What happens when we uncover something that is beyond our comprehension – or, worse, our control?

Pact Boon: Pact of the Tome …Yeah.

Eldritch Invocation: Knowledge of New England

Much like Stephen King, HP Lovecraft set most of his stories in New England, where he lived all of his life. His knowledge of its towns, history, and geography comes through strongly and confidently.

Eldritch Invocation: False Knowledge of Ancient Tongues

HP Lovecraft didn’t know Sumerian, Babylonian, or Aramaic. But that didn’t stop him from making up incantations in other worldly languages. ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! Yi-nash Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb-fi-throdog-Yah!

Eldritch Invocations: Frame Narrative

HP Lovecraft’s stories consistently use a literary technique called the Frame Narrative, which was popular at the time but is now rather antiquated. Most of HP Lovecraft’s stories actually consist of an outer framing narrative, within which the (outer) narrator encounters someone who relates the inner, usually more interesting story. The result is that each story is actually being told AFTER THE FACT. This technique makes Lovecraft’s stories more philosophical/reflective, but at the cost of drastically lowering the tension.

Spellbook

Dagon
1st-level conjuration
Components: Madness, Deep Ocean, Elder Gods
Casting Time: 5 pages
A man shipwrecked at sea finds himself on a strange island…

Dagon is to Call of Cthulhu what Magic Missiles is to Fireball. It’s not that one is superior to the other per se, but Dagon is the clear precursor, containing many of the same elements while being generally shorter and simpler. Given that, Dagon was a quicker, lighter read, but with less oomph than Call of Cthulhu. (...and yes I know Magic Missiles and Fireball aren't Warlock spells.)

The Outsider
2nd-level divination
Components: Death, Otherworldly
Casting Time: 6 pages
A man who lives in a remote land seeks to escape…

This is a short and fairly simple story that, while undeniably atmospheric, is also undeniably juvenile. It all builds toward a twist that is – these days at least – a bit overdone. Whereas many of these other stories are uniquely Lovecraftian, I found this one derivative.

The Lurking Fear
4th-level transmutation
Components: NE, Madness, Rural, Death, Atavism
Casting Time: 17 pages
A rural legend tells of a haunted abandoned mansion, and creatures of death who lurk within…

The Lurking Fear is a bit different than others on the list, and consequentially, I found it refreshing. For one thing, it’s less of a frame story. The narrator is the one who actually experienced the events of the story, which grants it a much better immediacy than the other stories. For another, instead of the horrors coming from outside of us, this is more about the horrors that dwell within us.

The Call of Cthulhu
7th-level conjuration
Components: Frame, NE, Deep Ocean, Madness, Elder Gods
Casting Time: 25 pages
A landmass rises from the sea, and the Call of the Priest of the Elder Gods tolls forth…

Probably my favorite spell in the book. It’s one of the better plotted, with a real sense of unfolding layers of mystery. And, rarely for Lovecraft, it actually directly addresses the greater mythos. Most of the other stories indirectly reference a world-view in which humanity is insignificant. For example, the following spell - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - contains some necromancy, sure, but it never actually talks about where the souls of the dead reside or what that might mean for us. Call of Cthulu, however, specifically speaks of the Elder Gods and humanity’s place in a universe where such beings exist. This made it more coherent and interesting.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
3rd-level necromancy
Components: Frame, NE, Madness, Death, Doppleganger
Casting Time: 104 pages
A young historian becomes obsessed with an ancestor who delved deeply into arcane matters…

Not a big fan of this spell. That casting time. 104 pages! And it hits this slump in the middle where there’s a REALLY OBVIOUS plot-twist every reader will guess, but the characters are totally oblivious, and it just drags on and on and on. To the point that I began to feel a little embarrathy (this is a word I invented and am foisting upon you: it means second hand embarrassment) for Lovecraft because a huge chunk of suspense in the story hinged on this reveal.

The Colour out of Space
6th-level evocation
Components: Frame, NE, Rural, Madness, Otherworldly
Casting Time: 23 pages
A strange meteor falls from space, and it begins to warp its environs…

I don’t think I’d call this Lovecraft’s most iconic story – that one must be Call of Cthulu – but I might consider it his most prototypical. Many consider it his best. You have an otherworldly visitor. In this case, it’s a comet or meteor with an, umm, let’s say a chromatic passenger (Dexter reference...). It strikes in a rural New England locale. And it’s largely told by proxy. That is, the (outer) narrator himself didn’t experience the primary events of the story. Even the (inner) narrator can only offer a first-hand account of SOME aspects. So the story is actually a frame-within-a-frame! This second-hand, third-hand approach just drains the tension from the story. That said, I had great fun because it’s dripping with horrific wonder, a uniquely Lovecraftian emotion.

In fact, hey wow, actually, what? Did I just roll a 20 with that phrase, that ‘horrific wonder’? Was that a critical hit?

Because really those two words are a perfect summary of what makes Lovecraft Lovecraft, and why he’s endured for over a hundred years. He combines two emotions that are usually considered completely different – wonder and horror – and he shows how, really, they’re two sides of the same coin. When something new rises up from beyond the depths of our current experience, we experience either a fear that our world-view is under threat or a sense of wonder at the evolution of our world-view. Or, as is the case in many of Lovecraft’s stories, we manage to experience both, simultaneously. A horrified wonder. Let us say, we are wondrrified.

[Mindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Master. This book is the entirety of his works, so obviously there are some weaker titles included in this hefty volume. I really enjoyed reading this edition though, because each story is listed in the order that it was written. You can really get a sense of Lovecraft's increasing genius, and I loved seeing that evolution. I would recommend reading the most lauded of his stories first, and then if you are still obsessed pick this one up. My favorite is the incredible "At the Mountains of Madness", and I still can't understand how this fabulous tale hasn't been made into a film yet!

I admit that I'm ashamed to have waited this long to read his stories, especially since they have influenced some of my favorite authors so heavily. However, now that I have read his entire body of work, I can finally understand what all the fuss is about.

[bookstories_travels&#x1fa90; · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y por fin termine de leer las obras completas de H.P.Lovecraft, una de mis grandes asignaturas pendientes desde hace muchos años, desde la adolescencia. Si he tardado tanto ha sido porque estaba obcecada con hacerme con un tomo de sus obras completas, pese a que existen cientos de recopilaciones con solo algunas de las mismas. Pero yo quería tenerlas todas. Me alegro de haberme hecho con la edición de la editorial Plutón, pues no solo está muy bien de precio, también cuenta con una excelente traducción y el tomo esta estupendamente editado. Si tuviera que ponerle algún pero sería que me hubiera gustado que hubiera contado con algún pie de nota más para tratar con mayor profundidad las historias, el contexto histórico, las influencias que más incidieron en estas obras y como se escribieron, y que en el prólogo inicial se hubieran dado más datos sobre la vida y obra de Lovecraft. Pero como he dicho, por ese precio esta edición me parece más que meritoria (ya que otros tomos con las obras completas de este autor tienen un precio casi prohibitivo) y estoy muy satisfecha con ella.

Antes de enfrentarme a la reseña de este gran tomo, me parece importante señalar para los que no lo sepan que la prosa de Lovecraft se divide en tres temas fundamentales: están las historias de corte más clásico o macabro, las que se relacionan con el mundo de lo onírico, y las que tratan del terror cósmico o lovecraniano, donde se incluiría el famoso ciclo de los mitos de Cthulhu.

Empecé a leer el libro en enero de este año y no ha sido hasta hoy, junio, que por fin lo he terminado. Me creo que haya gente que pueda leerse las casi 2000 páginas que lo componen todas seguidas, pero yo tengo que reconocer que no hubiera podido así. Para mí la mejor forma de enfrentarme a Lovecraft ha sido ir leyendo sus cuentos poco a poco, cada mes ir leyendo 2,3 o 4 historias, intercaladas con otras lecturas. Si no, no veo cómo hubiera sido posible poder acabarlo, sinceramente. No quiere esto decir que no me haya gustado Lovecraft, ni mucho menos. Solo que es un autor que ha tenido cosas que me han gustado y fascinado mucho junto con otras que han logrado que sus historias se me hayan hecho, a veces, muy cuesta arriba. Leerle ha sido toda una montaña rusa, de momentos de disfrute absoluto junto a otros en que veía muy fatigoso acabar lo que había empezado.

Empezaré por lo que no me ha gustado con una metáfora en la que no he podido dejar de pensar mientras leía a Lovecraft. Es una comparación que una vez leí en una reseña sobre otra célebre obra de la literatura estadounidense, escrita por por otro no menos célebre escritor americano, y que también ha vuelto locos a más de uno o dos lectores. En dicha reseña, el autor comparaba la obra que le ocupaba y el estilo de su autor con un castillo abandonado en las higlands escocesas donde te invitan a pasar una temporada: Al principio la idea te parece una pasada, toda una aventura. Pero a medida que pasa el tiempo acabas por ver todos los inconvenientes: las cosas no funcionan, hay mucho polvo, hay corrientes de aire helado, está lejos de todo centro habitado… el simil va al pelo no solo por la temática de Lovecraft, también por como me he sentido muchas veces leyéndolo.

Si hay algo que caracteriza el estilo narrativo del bueno de nuestro Howard Philip es su pesadez. Tiene una prosa densa y tupida a más no poder, árida la mayor parte de las veces. Apenas hay diálogos, y la mayor parte de las veces se tratan de largos monólogos o escritos en los que un personaje aporta información a otro. Y esto lo suple con descripciones, con muuuuuuuchísiiiiiiiimas descripciones todas ellas muy detalladas y minuciosas (en ese sentido me ha recordado mucho a su coetáneo Tolkien). Pero que muy detalladas, en serio. De hecho, en muchas de sus obras hay más descripciones que trama propiamente dicha. A todo ello hay que sumarle muy poca variedad en sus personajes: todos son estudiosos interesados en las fuerzas del más allá y con gran bagaje cultural, hombres de pocas palabras y carácter cercano a lo flemático que acaban siendo arrastrados a un mundo de personajes inconcebibles y deidades prehistóricas que conviven con criaturas que parecen sacadas de un bestiario medieval. Y todos ellos acaban siendo un trasunto de del propio Lovecraft (pero en ello nos centraremos un poco más adelante).

Y no solo hay repetición en sus protagonistas. Cuando llevas leidas muchas novelas y muchos cuentos ves que la mayor parte son variaciones de otras, sin que cambien muchas cosas, pues, al fin de al cabo, están relacionadas unas con otras. Y para redondear la guindilla el estilo literario de este escritor es muy lento la mayor parte del tiempo, si bien esto tiene su explicación y ha sido lo que menos me ha chocado de todo lo que he dicho anteriormente, ya que al final esto último se le perdona.

Que no todo el Lovecraft es malo para nada. El tipo era un excelente escritor. Y punto. Aunque por lo que haya dicho antes no lo parezca. Su grandeza radica más en lo que escribió que en como lo hizo. Impresiona la enorme capacidad y el ingenio de este autor para idear los mundos que creó y conectar cada trama y cada historia de forma coherente, de ahí que se acabe por entender la similitud entre las mismas y los personajes. No daba puntada sin hilo. Me quito el sombrero ante él y ante su inconmensurable talento como hacedor de historias y mundos y narrador. Y ante la capacidad que tuvo de hacer lo que le dió la gana y como le dió la gana, sin ningún tipo de concesión antes de nada y ante ningún estilo. Son obras increíblemente originales incluso hoy en día, sorprende por lo bien que han envejecido y como dentro de ella se aúnan otros géneros literarios como la novela de detectives. Leer las ha tenido algo de cercano para mí por la gran cantidad de obras, cuentos, películas y libros en los que ha influido, y si algo he disfrutado de esta lectura ha sido darme cuenta de que ese o ese otro detalle ya lo había visto en tal o cual obra.

Y además, como escritor su estilo tiene cosas también bastante positivas. Como he dicho antes es muy lento, sí, pero al mismo tiempo cuando coge carrerilla crea escenas que dejan al lector en tensión constante y le impiden parar de leer, haciendo de la lectura una montaña rusa de emociones. Y gracias a sus minuciosas descripciones uno no necesita mucha imaginación para sentirse en los escenarios que nos presenta y poder introducirse en la historia y en su contexto. Por todo ello es capaz de componer momentos en los que al lector se le acelera el pulso y nota como la piel se le pone de gallina y los escalofríos le suben por la espalda. Es, sin duda alguna, un autor del genero del miedo en todas sus variantes, del miedo tal y como podemos imaginarlo con criaturas terroríficas y escenas sangrientas, pero también trata el terror más sutil y psicológico.

Como curiosidad señalar que una de las cosas que más he disfrutado a medida que iba leyendo estos libros ha sido ir buceando en la biografía de Lovecraft, y ver como todos sus traumas, manías e ideas políticas y sociales influyeron en su obra y se manifiestan en la misma. Conocer todos esos detalles ha enriquecido mucho para mí la lectura. Y por supuesto me han permitido ahondar en una figura muy compleja, solo así se explica que ideara y pusiera sobre el papel lo que escribió.

Obviamente en un compendio de cuentos y novelas cortas tan extenso ha habido obras que me han gustado mucho más que otras. Reconozco que aunque las obras oníricas o sobre los mitos de Cthulhu me han parecido fascinantes e interesantes, mis predilectas viran más hacia las de corte gótico (en las que la sombra de Edgar Allan Poe se percibe nítidamente y sin complejos. Y yo encantada por ello) pues es un estilo que me puede con su terror más sutil, quizás más que el de la ciencia ficción propiamente dicha. Entre las novelas que más me han gustado destaco "El horror de Red Hook", “El Caso de Charles Dexter Ward”, “El testimonio de Randolph Carter” o “El Ser en el Umbral”, entre otras. Destaco especialmente “La Búsqueda de la Onírica Kadath” una historia densa y que puede hacerse pesada, pero que me resulto fascinante por lo que contaba y por ser una pieza clave para la imaginería lovecraftiana y eje de muchas de las tramas de la misma. En cambio “En las Montañas de la Locura” se me hizo totalmente bola. Soy consciente de que es una de las obras más importantes y conocidas de Lovecraft y me da mucha pena admitir esto, pero me costó mucho terminarla. Creo que se debe a que en ella encontré concentradas todas las cosas negativas que he dicho más a arriba, ya que fue la última novela corta que leí de este gran tomo de obras completas, y me recordó mucho a todo lo que ya había visto antes entre sus páginas, de ahí que no hubiera nada que en ella me sorprendiera o llamara la atención. Pero desde luego creo que ha sido de las pocas obras que no he podido disfrutar plenamente

En conclusión solo puedo decir una cosa: a Lovecraft hay que leerle al ritmo que uno considere, pero siempre con atención. Solo así uno puede descubrir porque es uno de los autores más influyentes que ha habido nunca, con una presencia que aún hace eco en autores y obras modernas, y dejarse sumergir en la locura tétrica y en la colosal imaginación que son las señas de identidad de su trabajo. Es un peregrinaje que todo amante de las obras y la literatura gótica y de ciencia ficción debe hacer en algún momento de su vida. Yo, personalmente, estoy contenta de haberme adentrado, por fin, en un mundo tan conocido y , a la vez, tan desconocido. A ver si pronto puedo leer las obras que hizo en colaboración con otros escritores.

[Aldi]

Welp, I have done it; I have read ALL the Lovecraft. No, seriously, all of it – this collection is so literal about the “complete” part that it includes a prior draft of one of the novellas, several obscure stories that read suspiciously like slap-dash entries from a dream journal, and a few that I suspect were flat out just HP scribbling down some notes on worldbuilding.

Anyway. My goal was to finish this absolute tome within the month of October, and I managed it a week early because most of it is really very gripping. I had read some of Lovecraft’s more well-known stories a long time ago but there’s something to be said about the full-immersion experience. His worlds are so wild and weird and genuinely creepy, and a lot of them are interconnected, which enhanced the experience. There are so many stories in here that are effortlessly on par, and often superior to, a lot of modern horror. I was genuinely impressed.

That said, I can’t actually rate the book, and that’s because I can’t weigh “really excellent horror” against “really horrible racism” and arrive at a mathematically neat average of three stars, that… just doesn’t work. And we’re not talking a bit of olden-timey close-minded ignorance, here. The man went all in. He took pains to be racist. If an extra mile could be gone to fit in a bit more racism, he ran that mile, and then another ten. I lost count of how many cultures got the “ugly, stupid, repulsive, half-animal demonic devil worshippers” treatment, but there was a particular relish to those descriptions that made my skin crawl, and not in a nice, wholesome “unspeakable evil is coming to obliterate everything you love” way. It was just very pervasive, and very gross, and I don’t feel inclined to cut him any slack over it because of different times or whatever. It was the 20s/30s, and plenty of people managed to not be horrible racists.

The side effect of that was that Lovecraft’s protagonists were by default white Anglo-Saxon dudes, and the sausage fest got a little samey very quickly (as did the “scientists have disturbed primordial slumbering evil, oh no” formula). For a while I amused myself by genderbending and race-flipping at random, an exercise that was facilitated by the fact that quite a few of the stories are first person narrators, their maleness and whiteness assumed to be the default to such a degree that their gender and ethnicity weren’t often referred to, which made playing around with it easier. But then inevitably we’d fetch up against yet another wallowing description of repulsive, barely human non-whites who had the horrible bad manners to exist in the world, and all the mental gymnastics got a little shaky.

It was especially disorienting because this reread was inspired by the Prosperity series, which I assume took some inspiration from Lovecraft and which I loved so much that I craved a little more Lovecraftian horror as a chaser. But coming from a raucously, joyously diverse fantasy that played around with Lovecraftian elements, to a world so grimly devoted to the demonisation of other cultures made for a bit of a jarring landing.

That doesn’t mean I regret the read and that I wasn’t genuinely absorbed. Lovecraft’s worlds remain unique, and it’s fascinating to see elements in his writing that presumably inspired later writers. The interconnectedness of his stories and the fictional New England settings reminded me a lot of Stephen King and how he interweaves his stories, while the tales set in a magical dreamscape brought Neil Gaiman and Sandman to mind.

My favourites were probably “The Colour Out of Space,” which was just really delightfully creepy; and “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,” an ongoing explosion of unique, imaginative, wonderful fantasy, and one of the few stories that had sympathetic monsters.

In short: The man invented a whole cosmos’ worth of otherworldly horror and that’s fantastic but it would’ve been nice if he could stretch that boundless imagination enough to entertain the notion that non-white cultures might in fact be human.

PS: Oh man, if I'd counted all these individually (a lot of them are novellas, plus an actual novel or two), I could've boosted my count by 65, lol.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure: I picked up a free copy formatted for Nook on CthulhuChick.com. You can pick up a Kindle copy at the same place.

Synopsis: The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft contains all the original stories which Lovecraft wrote as an adult. It begins in 1917 with “The Tomb” and ends in 1935 with his last original work “The Haunter of the Dark.” The book is ordered chronologically by the date the story was written. Because Lovecraft was a terrible businessman and left no heirs to his intellectual property, all of his works are already in the public domain. Collaborations or revisions are not included because some of those works may still be under the co-author’s copyright.

The book includes:

The Tomb (1917)
Dagon (1917)
Polaris (1918)
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919)
Memory (1919)
Old Bugs (1919)
The Transition of Juan Romero (1919)
The White Ship (1919)
The Doom That Came to Sarnath (1919)
The Statement of Randolph Carter (1919)
The Terrible Old Man (1920)
The Tree (1920)
The Cats of Ulthar (1920)
The Temple (1920)
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920)
The Street (1920)
Celephaïs (1920)
From Beyond (1920)
Nyarlathotep (1920)
The Picture in the House (1920)
Ex Oblivione (1921)
The Nameless City (1921)
The Quest of Iranon (1921)
The Moon-Bog (1921)
The Outsider (1921)
The Other Gods (1921)
The Music of Erich Zann (1921)
Herbert West — Reanimator (1922)
Hypnos (1922)
What the Moon Brings (1922)
Azathoth (1922)
The Hound (1922)
The Lurking Fear (1922)
The Rats in the Walls (1923)
The Unnamable (1923)
The Festival (1923)
The Shunned House (1924)
The Horror at Red Hook (1925)
He (1925)
In the Vault (1925)
The Descendant (1926)
Cool Air (1926)
The Call of Cthulhu (1926)
Pickman’s Model (1926)
The Silver Key (1926)
The Strange High House in the Mist (1926)
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927)
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927)
The Colour Out of Space (1927)
The Very Old Folk (1927)
The Thing in the Moonlight (1927)
The History of the Necronomicon (1927)
Ibid (1928)
The Dunwich Horror (1928)
The Whisperer in Darkness (1930)
At the Mountains of Madness (1931)
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931)
The Dreams in the Witch House (1932)
The Thing on the Doorstep (1933)
The Evil Clergyman (1933)
The Book (1933)
The Shadow out of Time (1934)
The Haunter of the Dark (1935)

My Thoughts: What a long, strange journey it has been! While I could normally read a book this length in a few days, I actually spent almost 7 months reading this omnibus in bits and pieces. While I enjoyed the Lovecraftian lore I had heard, I had never really counted myself as a fan, per se; however, after having read the complete works of this amazing writer, I think I can honestly say that I am, indeed, a fan.

While it is true that Lovecraft was a racist, he was only aping the attitude of his time and place and history, and I think to judge him by modern standards is not useful when admiring his overall work. He was a man with a unique vision and voice, and that should be honored. He saw into vast and ancient places, and what he saw... well, it scared the crap out of him. But he kept looking, writing, and letting us know. I admire that.

If you enjoy modern bizarro works, then pay heed to the master. Lovecraft.

[Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, Chartwell Books has brought together, in one handsome hardcover volume, the entire corpus of H. P. Lovecraft's fictional writings: the novel/novella length works The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, and At the Mountains of Madness, plus 55 short stories. The arrangement is chronological by writing (not publication) date, though the dates aren't given; and there's also a good, jargon-free 8 1/2 page Introduction by Dr. Eric Carl Link of the Univ. of Memphis, which provided some biographical information I didn't previously know, though I've read several other accounts. (A chronology of "The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft" is also provided, which starts with the 1837 publication of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Poe, who greatly influenced Lovecraft, and continues with publication history of HPL works down to 1959.) Having discovered the author's work back in 1989, I'd already read the three longer works, and many of the stories in anthologies and partial collections (and have already reviewed or commented on most of these). But I seized the opportunity to read the 25 remaining stories I'd never read; and these are the ones I'm reviewing here.

Most of these works are short, no more than eight pages, and some as short as a page of two; but "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" is an exception, with over 30. (This is a sequel to "The Silver Key," and is best appreciated with the latter story read first.) A few of these are quite different from Lovecraft's usual work. "Old Bugs," written ca. 1920 (the title is a character's nickname, not a reference to aged insects), has no real speculative fiction element at all, save for being set in 1950 --but a 1950 with no apparent difference from 1920, including Prohibition still being in effect, and still illegally flouted. (It would have worked as well or better set in the author's present.) Basically a morality tale about the harmful results of alcohol/drug addiction, it's reasonably effective though a bit melodramatic (though I guessed the surprise ending well before the denouement). A few pieces are actually humorous, the best of them being "Sweet Ermengarde," a send-up parody of the stereotypical and unrealistic popular stage dramas, with cardboard characters and a formulaic plot, that proliferated in that era. It's a hoot, and as cynical as the junk being parodied was typically cloyingly sentimental.

All but eight of the stories were written before "the Call of Cthulhu" in 1927, but a number of these earlier ones written in typical Lovecraft fashion contain marked foreshadowings of the Cthulhu Mythos in both themes and details. The tie-ins with stories like "Nyarlathotep" and "The Nameless City" are particularly obvious, as are references to the Necronomican, etc. ("History of the Necronomican" was written post-1927; it's simply a pseudo-nonfiction account of the imaginary author and origins of the sinister book, and its translation/printing "history," but adds enjoyable texture to the Mythos for committed fans.) As I've commented before, Lovecraft's own perception of his main fictional corpus was probably much more unified than that of later critics who carve it up into "Mythos" vs. "non-Mythos," and he never coined the term "Cthulhu Mythos" himself; there's a great degree of similarity of conception in many stories on both sides of the supposed divide. One can definitely say, though, that "The Very Old Folk" is certainly a Mythos tale (and as eerie and chilling as any I'd read before), as well as one which reflects HPL's fascination with ancient Rome.

Having read The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath earlier this year, I could recognize several of the other stories as part of the (marginally) more optimistic and less grim strand of Lovecraft writing that I would characterize as fantasy, rather than as horrific SF. In those written before the latter work, such as "The Cats of Ulthar" (which cat-loving readers should be warned has some animal cruelty, albeit offstage --though cats would definitely approve of the ending!) and "Celephais," readers will actually find back-story that relates directly to the novel. This is a strand of Lovecraft writing that, before this year, I'd read virtually nothing of, except for "The White Ship" (and I'd also include "The Doom That Came to Sarnath"); but it's a significant one and includes some of his best work. (I would class "The Strange High House in the Mist," which was my favorite story in this read, with this group.) Lovecraft's writing here can actually be lyrical and prose-poetic (according to Link, he wrote a good bit of poetry --I've never read any of it, but I'd like to!) and it's in these writings that he voices a message of longing for beauty and graciousness that the modern world of urbanization, commercialization, and pragmatism was stomping into the dirt. (Some pundits class the Silver Key stories in this group, but I'd consider them more SF.)

If readers don't like Lovecraft's usual style from examples they've previously read, this collection isn't apt to convert them. He usually writes "purple prose," in long sentences with often complicated structure, much use of big words (many of them of Latin derivation), and liberal use of adjectives, adverbs, and atmospheric description, the atmosphere conjured usually being one of sinister antiquity and ominous menace. 18th and 19th century Gothic tales (August Derleth called HPL's writing "Gothic") and the work of Poe were big stylistic influences for him. Personally, I greatly admire both writers as stylists, and think this type of writing is ideally suited to the subject matter and the intended effect; but your mileage may vary. :-) Some stories here, notably "Polaris" and "Beyond the Wall of Sleep," contain especially wince-worthy examples of the racism and prejudice against Appalachian mountain dwellers that mars some of his other work as well; and his existential pessimism and hostility to traditional religion are on display in places ("Ex Oblivione" prompts one to think that he had a death wish, at least at times.) But despite these caveats, this definitive collection is a must for Lovecraft fans, and I'd recommend it for genre fans in general.

[☆LaurA☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opera MASTODONTICA
Ci ho messo 2 anni a concluderla....
Lovecraft va assunto in piccole dosi.
Molti racconti li ho "ascoltati"

https://youtube.com/@librinpillole?si...

Sono spettacolari!!!!

Non ho altro da dire

[Allen Walker]

The Beast in the Cave - ⭐⭐

This is a dumb story, but it's still quite atmospheric, so some of the writing I enjoy from his later stories is here, but it's still a dumb story.

The Alchemist - ⭐⭐

This one's dumb, too. This, like the one before it, has the HUGE CAPS WITH !!!!? at the climax which is I know of the time, but no less hokey. Again, his writing style I enjoy, but like, there's not really even any suspense in this one.

The Tomb - ⭐⭐💫

So, not as dumb as the first two but still just...pointless? But, I do love his overly-descriptive language that becomes a kind of music on its own and peaks in the stories I find that are his best. It's his first story as an adult, so I'll cut him slack.

Dagon - ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

One of my favorites and the first that deals with what will become the Cthulhu Mythos, this has everything I love about Lovecraft: archaic language, a 1st person narration writing a letter about the horrors he has witnessed that are slowly driving him insane, whisperings of cosmic entities far beyond our ken. Good stuff!

A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson - ⭐

Trash. Apparently written in exactly the style of Samuel Johnson. Big fat who cares? Grats, I guess? Too bad he didn't write it in exactly the style of a good story.

Polaris - ⭐💫

Oooo, you know astronomy! NOBODY CARES, LOVECRAFT! Oh my gosh, I do not like his early works.

[Harry Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indispensable for serious fans. Lovecraft was a tireless writer who covered a little more territory than he is generally given credit for. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" is a fine example of Lovecraft's ability to merge his sharp observation and engaging knowledge of his native New England with his outrageous imagination. The fate of the protagonist, while horrifying in typical Lovecraft fashion, is also truly sad and moving.

While many stories follow a predictable, well worn groove (the horrified protagonist declares his horror upon discovering the horrifying truth of some ancient horror)the gems polished by the abrading action of these efforts are some of the most satisfying short stories of any genre. "The Strange High House in the Mist" immediately became one of my all time favorites when I first read it in the 70's and time has taken nothing away from it. "He" did not seem particularly original or striking until I read it in the light of the editor's assertion that it reflected Lovecraft's unhappy experience with life in New York City. This awareness added a human element rarely, if ever, associated with Lovecraft and I suspect such an element may be hiding in other stories as well.

Overshadowed by Lovecraft's reputation as a master of horror is his unique contribution as a science fiction visionary. There are no supernatural elements in his stories. None. All of his horrifying creations are creatures of an incomprehensible but strictly materialistic science.

Last but not least is Lovecraft's facility as a lyrical, poetic fantasist. I was surprised to find that many of these stories were rejected for publication. That's too bad; I think they may be his most honest works, revealing the dreams and longings of a notoriously atheistic materialist trapped in a brutish world. They are more beautiful than his horror is horrifying.

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 - indispensable for ye seasoned H.P. Lovecraft reader.


Table of Contents:

An Introduction by Eric Carl Link, Ph.D. in American Literature
The Beast in the Cave
The Alchemist
The Tomb
Dagon
A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson
Polaris
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Memory
Old Bugs
The Transition of Juan Romero
The White Ship
The Street
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Terrible Old Man
The Cats of Ulthar
The Tree
Celephaïs
The Picture in the House
The Temple
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
From Beyond
Nyarlathotep
The Quest of Iranon
The Music of Erich Zann
Ex Oblivione
Sweet Ermengarde
The Nameless City
The Outsider
The Moon-Bog
The Other Gods
Azathoth
Herbert West - Reanimator
Hypnos
What the Moon Brings
The Hound
The Lurking Fear
The Rats in the Walls
The Unnamable
The Festival
Under the Pyramids
The Shunned House
The Horror at Red Hook
He
In the Vault
Cool Air
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman's Model
The Strange High House in the Mist
The Silver Key
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Colour Out of Space
The Descendant
The Very Old Folk
History of the Necronomicon
The Dunwich Horror
Ibid
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Dreams in the Witch House
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
The Thing On the Doorstep
The Evil Clergyman
The Book
The Shadow Out of Time
The Haunter in the Dark

The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft : Chronology and Context
Further Reading : A Short Bibliography



Matching soundtrack :
- Rue d'Auseil - The Great Old Ones
- Any album by Cryo Chamber

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovecraft was quite a strange and curious man. Likewise, his stories are a swirl of strangeness. He was able to beautifully blend the worlds of horror and science fiction to create his own world of otherworldly, cosmic horror. This is most evident in his Cthulhu Mythos. 'The Call of Cthulhu' is the beginning of this mythos and one of Lovecraft's most finely crafted stories. Wonderfully strange, terrifying, and powerful!

Another story of note is 'The Shunned House.' This story is based on a house in Providence, Rhode Island as well as one in Elizabeth, New Jersey which reminded him of the latter. He had written in a letter the following: "On the northeast corner of Bridge Street and Elizabeth Avenue is a terrible old house—a hellish place where night-black deeds must have been done in the early seventeen-hundreds—with a blackish unpainted surface, unnaturally steep roof, and an outside flight of stairs leading to the second story, suffocatingly embowered in a tangle of ivy so dense that one cannot but imagine it accursed or corpse-fed. It reminded me of the Babbit House in Benefit Street…. Later its image came up again with renewed vividness, finally causing me to write a new horror story with its scene in Providence and with the Babbit House as its basis."

One of my other favorites is 'The Dreams in the Witch's House.' Part of his Cthulhu Mythos, this is a story that explores Lovecraft's belief in cosmic indifference.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Попытаюсь, наконец, прочесть его системно - раньше только урывками как-то удавалось. Системность тут у нас особого свойства - мне впервые доводится читать собрание сочинений, в котором тексты расположены в алфавитном порядке названий. Ну и черт с ним - думаю, особой разницы это не составит.

Потому что сказать о нем особо нечего, кроме того, что он довольно вербозный, неприятный и манерный графоман, которого постоянно сносит на педантичную обстоятельность. С совершенно пешеходной фантазией и детсадовскими и высосанными из щупалец Ктулху беспомощными сюжетами, не выдерживающими проверки на идиотизм. Это все настолько скверно и гадко написано, что и завораживает своей плохизной далеко не всегда. Над такой беспомощной школярской писаниной даже хихикать сейчас можно лишь с оговоркой, что большего она не заслуживает, а если совсем по совести, то самое место ей, конечно, на помойке истории. Вообще-то счастье, что он больше ничего написать не успел и лишил потомство сомнительных удовольствий своего заунывного "творчества", местами вполне расистского и мизогинистического.

Раздражает он, конечно, пропагандистским стилем своим, который в первую очередь определяется не монотонными вербальными фиоритурами, а назойливыми повторами, которые спаиваются в шаблоны и клише: геометрия непременно нечестивая, араб - безумный, том - внушающий ужас, тайны - богомерзкие. Впору составить, конечно, "катехизис клише", чтоб идиот-читатель лучше запоминал содержание прокламаций. Дураку понятно, что чем чаще будешь употреблять прилагательные "злой" и "ужасный", тем больше ужаса внушится читателю.

Ну и бесят, ясное дело, незаконченные отрывки и черновики, написанные еще хуже. Герою, например, увлекшемуся каким-нибудь сатанизмом, ничего не стоит признаться, что увлечение это "мерзостно и богопротивно". Лавкрафта должна очень любить РПЦ, потому что "грешить и каяться" - как раз их модус операнди.

Сказки довольно идиотские, они чуть получше всего остального, пусть даже написаны ужасающе суконным канцеляритом (вот в чем, на самом деле, причина любви русских к Лавкрафту - понятный стиль протоколов и доносов). Да и все равно даже сказки несамостоятельны и переперты у кого-то, хотя б у того же лорда Дансени. К тому ж, нет ничего скучнее описаний чужих снов и трипов (только спорт, но этого, к счастью, у Лавкрафта нет совсем), да и там бессмыслица громоздится на бессмыслицу случайными сочетаниями слов ("тонкие пики" у него "высятся гоблинами", изволите ли видеть).

Редкий фельетон с ребусом из зашифрованных имен деятелей палп-фантастики столетней давности демонстрирует ч.ю. школьника 4 класса. Написанное в соавторстве - графоманские экзерсисы, которые имеют какую-то ценность только пока пишутся, как шутки советского КВН. Среди прочего (у Хауарда, в частности, он-то совсем безграмотный был) там черви people (населяют) планету, а мн.ч. от талисмана - talismen (женский род, видимо, будет taliswoman).

Из прочих глупостей: возраст камней у него определяет наука климатология. Потешны рассуждения о четырехмерном пространстве и червоточинах. Смешная электрическая машинка на батарейках, рядом с которой посидишь - и видишь ультрафиолет и микробов невооруженным глазом. Такое вот.

[knig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little daunted by the prolific proclivities of Lovecraft, I decided to cherry pick. General consensus pointed out the following five tales as being the cream of the crop:

1. The Dragon
2. The Outsider
3. The Lurking Fear
4. The call of Cthulu
5. The Colour of outerspace

And, from my GR friend Bennet I picked up on ‘The thing on the doorstep’ which otherwise gets few mentions but turned out to be my favourite of the bunch. Then I stopped, because GR Chris told me too. And, because Lovecraft simply can’t be read in one sitting. Or, in summer. The similar tone of his stories, the atmosphere he creates can get samey if consumed in one glut. Pacing must surely be the key here. The rest to be revisited piecemeal, in darkest winter, with mulled wine and bundled under goose-down. Fire crackling in an open hearth optional . OK I only say this because burning real fires where I live is forbidden. Our fireplaces are now only elaborate conversation pieces. (which is an actual new compound word I learned last weekend at a National Trust Property and have been dying to plug into use somewhere). (Ok, I may have actually used it 100 times this week. People around me tell me to shut up, in order to protect the public). What the hell, whilst I’m at it, here is a conversational piece:




The idea is that if you’re an 18c toff having dinner at the Manor, this cornucopia would hang in front. As every body has done the Grand Tour , this painting is your opening conversation gambit with the partner to your left, whom you haven’t met before. Just for the record, this has nothing to do with Lovecraft. Although, he might have liked it: he seems fond of travel.

The stories, then: verbose, vague, and full of people losing their minds over indescribable horrors. My personal preference was for an actual description of the object of horror, which Lovecraft only indulges sporadically. But when he does, it was definitely edge of the seat stuff. The Lurking Fear and The thing on the Doorstep particularly stand out, despite bringing dated concepts to the table. Its to Lovecraft’s credit that he kept me bated even though I knew what was coming: the horror genre has come a long way since 1920. The call of Cthulu was overlong and tedious, can’t see why it keeps getting voted up on the charts.

To be savoured intermittently for full effect.

[Arisawe Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don’t mind elevated writing and first-person POV then this is a classical weird fiction must-read. This is the most complete and attractive volume of the master Lovecraft! Loved every story, but especially The Tree and Dunwich Horror.

I’m sure I will come back to this one again as I tend to do every year or so.

[RM(Alwaysdaddygirl) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possible review down the road.


Mahalo,
RM

[Pat the Book Goblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it took a year but I finally finished all of HP Lovecraft’s tales of horror. Some were very boring but most were extremely good and creepy!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiction
The Alchemist 4⭐
At the Mountains of Madness 5⭐
Azathoth 3.5⭐
The Battle that Ended the Century 2⭐
The Beast in the Cave 4⭐
Beyond the Wall of Sleep 5⭐
The Book 4⭐
The Call of Cthulhu 5⭐
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 5⭐
The Cats of Ulthar 4⭐
Celephaïs 4⭐
The Challenge from Beyond 3.5⭐
Collapsing Cosmoses 2.5⭐
The Colour out of Space 5⭐
Cool Air 4⭐
The Crawling Chaos 4⭐
The Curse of Yig 5⭐
Dagon 5⭐
The Descendant 3⭐
The Diary of Alonzo Typer 5⭐
The Disinterment 5⭐
The Doom That Came to Sarnath 4⭐
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath 5⭐
The Dreams in the Witch House 5⭐
The Dunwich Horror 5⭐
The Electric Executioner 4⭐
The Evil Clergyman 3.5⭐
Ex Oblivione 4⭐
Facts concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family 4⭐
The Festival 3.5⭐
From Beyond 4.25⭐
The Green Meadow 2.5⭐
The Haunter of the Dark 5⭐
He 4.25⭐
Herbert West—Reanimator 5⭐
History of the Necronomicon 4⭐
The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast 3⭐
The Horror at Martin’s Beach 4⭐
The Horror at Red Hook 4⭐
The Horror in the Burying-Ground 3.5⭐
The Horror in the Museum 4⭐
The Hound 5⭐
Hypnos 3.75⭐
Ibid 3⭐
In the Vault 4⭐
In the Walls of Eryx 4.25⭐
The Last Test 3⭐
The Little Glass Bottle 2⭐
The Lurking Fear 5⭐
The Man of Stone 3.5⭐
Medusa’s Coil 5⭐
Memory 4⭐
The Moon-Bog 4⭐
The Mound 5⭐
The Music of Erich Zann 4⭐
The Mysterious Ship 2⭐
The Mystery of the Grave-Yard 2⭐
The Nameless City 4.5⭐
The Night Ocean 2⭐
Nyarlathotep 3⭐
Old Bugs 3.5⭐
The Other Gods 3⭐
Out of the Aeons 4⭐
The Outsider 4⭐
Pickman’s Model 5⭐
The Picture in the House 5⭐
Poetry and the Gods 2⭐
Polaris 3.5⭐
The Quest of Iranon 4⭐
The Rats in the Walls 5⭐
A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson 2⭐
The Secret Cave or John Lees Adventure 2⭐
The Shadow out of Time 5⭐
The Shadow over Innsmouth 5⭐
Discarded Draft of The Shadow over Innsmouth 3⭐
The Shunned House 5⭐
The Silver Key 4⭐
The Slaying of the Monster 1⭐
The Statement of Randolph Carter 4.5⭐
The Strange High House in the Mist 5⭐
The Street 4⭐
Sweet Ermengarde 3⭐
The Temple 4.5⭐
The Terrible Old Man 4⭐
The Thing in the Moonlight 3.5⭐
The Thing on the Doorstep 5⭐
Through the Gates of the Silver Key 3.5⭐
“Till A’ the Seas” 3.5⭐
The Tomb 5⭐
The Transition of Juan Romero 4.25⭐
The Trap 4⭐
The Tree 4⭐
The Tree on the Hill 4⭐
Two Black Bottles 3.5⭐
Under the Pyramids 4⭐
The Unnamable 3⭐
The Very Old Folk 3⭐
What the Moon Brings 4⭐
The Whisperer in Darkness 4.5⭐
The White Ship 3.5⭐
Winged Death 5⭐

Poetry
An American to Mother England 3.25⭐
The Ancient Track 5⭐
Arcadia 2.5⭐
Astrophobos 3⭐
The Cats 4.5⭐
Christmas 4⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Annie E. P. Gamwell] 2⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Eugene B. Kuntz et al.] 2⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Felis (Frank Belknap Long’s cat)] 3⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Felis (Frank Belknap Long’s cat)] 3.25⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Laurie A. Sawyer] 1⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Rheinhart Kleiner] 2⭐
[Christmas Greetings to Sonia H. Greene] 2⭐
The City 4⭐
The Conscript 4⭐
Dead Passion’s Flame 3⭐
Despair 4⭐
Fact and Fancy 3.5⭐
Festival 4.25⭐
Fungi from Yuggoth 5⭐
A Garden 4.5⭐
Hallowe’en in a Suburb 5⭐
The House 4⭐
In a Sequester’d Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walk’d 4.5⭐
Laeta; a Lament 4.5⭐
Life’s Mystery 3.25⭐
Lines on Gen. Robert Edward Lee 3.5⭐
The Messenger 4⭐
Nathicana 3.75⭐
Nemesis 4⭐
The Nightmare Lake 5⭐
Ode for July Fourth, 1917 3.5⭐
On Reading Lord Dunsany’s Book of Wonder 4⭐
On Receiving a Picture of Swans 3.5⭐
The Outpost 4.5⭐
Pacifist War Song—1917 2.75⭐
The Peace Advocate 4⭐
The Poe-et’s Nightmare 4.5⭐
Poemata Minora, Volume II 3⭐
Providence 3.5⭐
Psychopompos: A Tale in Rhyme 4⭐
Revelation 4⭐
The Rose of England 3⭐
Sunset 4.5⭐
To Clark Ashton Smith, Esq., upon His Phantastick Tales, Verses, Pictures, and Sculptures 3⭐
To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Eighteenth Baron Dunsany 3⭐
Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea 5⭐
Waste Paper 4⭐
The Wood 4⭐

Essays
The Allowable Rhyme 3⭐
At the Root 3⭐
Cats and Dogs 4⭐
The Despised Pastoral 3⭐
Literary Composition 3⭐
Metrical Regularity 4⭐
Notes on Writing Weird Fiction 5⭐
Supernatural Horror in Literature 5⭐

Letters
Letter to the Gallomo (Alfred Galpin, Samuel Loveman, and Maurice W. Moe), 11 December 1919 ✔
Letter to Clark Ashton Smith, 27 November 1927 ✔

[Tanja Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a bit of H.P Lovecraft in my early twenties. I loved his nightmarish short stories. Returning to them as an adult, I can see how profound his influence on science fiction, horror and fantasy has been. Many of his ideas have been regurgitated and are familiar to readers of modern horror. Some of his novels are really just rambling descriptions of nightmares and moonscapes and down right awful. Others are creepy, modern horror stories. Yet others show the awful eugenic philosophy of the day, and Lovecraft clearly had the idea of an over- and underclass of people in terms of racist characteristics. That added an additional layer of uneasiness to many of his stories. Anyway, given his profound influence and, in many instances, masterful storytelling, I do recommend this. Perhaps not the complete fiction, but at least assorted bits.

[Brenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorry for this absolutely huge review, I couldn't help myself.

I've known of Lovecraft for quite some time, but somehow had never gotten around to reading more than two short stories of his until several months ago, when I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about. I found out that he wrote nearly all short stories, and had finished just under 70 by the time of his death, so I figured I'd read them all to get a complete overview of his output. I started looking around and found that to do so I'd have to check out a variety of overlapping collections of his tales to do this, and bemoaned the fact that a cult author as widely cited as Lovecraft had not been collected into a complete volume.

Then, in December, I walked into Barnes and Noble and here it was, the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft, with an introduction and notes on each story. The volume is over 1000 pages long and includes every piece of fiction that Lovecraft wrote and published in his own name, as well as a handful of unfinished fragments and some of his early tales he wrote as a child. These stories are all unabridged and corrected against the original documents (though, being a first printing, I did find numerous missing letters and even a whole word or two). The book even closes with his highly regarded essay on supernatural literature. An all around sturdy, wonderful volume, my one minor quibble is the fact that Lovecraft ghostwrote or rewrote a few dozen stories for other authors in his lifetime, and I wish that some of those had been included as well, or that they were put into their own volume or something, because I've read a few and one of them ended up being the most evocative bit of story that I've read from the man. But aside from that, this collection is complete.

Now, on to the fiction itself. Lovecraft is regarded as one of the best authors of supernatural horror and weird fiction in the 1920s and 1930s, and is credited with turning the concept of horror in literature at that time on its head, casting the gaze of the reader out into the endless cold beyond our atmosphere while his precursors and many of his contemporaries dealt with far more terrestrial and comparatively homely methods of inspiring dread and fright.

I found this cosmological horror to be fascinating more than terrifying. To be sure, this work is all at least seventy years old now, and emulation has dulled the impact of Lovecraft's machinations, but that in no way lessens the vitality of the mythos that the man put together: Man is but a mote of dust in the universe, and what we worship as gods are not divine in any way other than the mere fact that, in the grand scheme of things, they are larger motes of dust than we, and are just as impartial to our lives as we are to the dust mites in our pillows.

All of the stories within being placed chronologically, it is apparent that Lovecraft improved upon both his writing abilities and his cosmological mythos, which is not to say that some of his early stories, in their simplicity, don't hit home just as powerfully. The tales gradually grow longer as one reads through the book, with Lovecraft's three novellas appearing in the middle and end of the book. It was these tales that I found to be the most enjoyable, the most thorough in their ability to draw me in and engage me in the alternate universe that Lovecraft structured. It is also these three short novels that one can use to divide Lovecraft's entire collection of fiction into three categories of theme: men stumbling through the realm of dreams, men meddling in necromancy and dark arts, and men confronting the godless, Darwinian truths of the universe, hints of which lie hidden in obscure corners of the earth.

The first of these novels, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", acts as a lynchpin for the portion of Lovecraft's tales that take place in or otherwise have to do with the world of dream that we glimpse in our sleep, a selection of stories also known as Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. The Dream-Quest unfolds like a classic questing tale in which the protagonist, Randolph Carter, traverses a variety of realms and escapes one fantastic danger only to confront another. Although Lovecraft himself apparently dismissed this work as mere practice unfit for publishing, I found it to be richly picturesque; throughout my reading of the tale I wanted nothing more than to become ten times better a painter than I am so that I could put the amazing images the story gave me onto canvas. Many of Lovecraft's shorter stories from the first half of his career belong in the Dream Cycle and bring additional depth and definition to the dream realms traversed in The Dream-Quest, some of these shorter stories being "The White Ship", "The Doom That Came To Sarnath", "Celephaïs", and "The Silver Key". It should be noted that many of these stories appear to deal with gods or deities in the realms beyond the physical, something that Lovecraft sought to undue or amend in his later fiction.

The second novella, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", is by far the most fascinating of Lovecraft's necromancy stories, containing both a rich false history of antique New England locales and characters and a frighteningly evocative pastiche of one man's experiments in the complex necromantic arts. It is this tale that gives Lovecraft's infamous Necronomicon the bulk of its infamy. Unlike "The Dream-Quest", it reads like a historical journal, being the written account of one of Marinus Willet, a family doctor, as he records certain events that he found himself confronting, events that he at first did not understand, and which suggested truths that he could not fully accept. The dark arts and supernatural happenings involved are rarely written of in any sort of objective, descriptive manner, being instead always slightly obscured by both the character's purely scientific assessment of events and his lack of direct dealings with the acts themselves. Thus what the reader receives are impressions, glimpses, hints of horrifying deeds and soul-wrenching beings, which are never fully described or explained by the story's end; all the reader knows and, indeed, all Willett knows is that some vague yet monstrous evil has been done away with. There are many stories which fit into this "necromancy cycle" after a fashion, but they all share a lot with the Cthulhu Mythos cycle as well, as Lovecraft attempted to weave a cohesive universe behind all of his fiction, with the Necronomicon acting as somewhat of a common thread through all of it.

The final novella is often regarded as Lovecraft's best and most devastating tale, and is one of the primary stories of the third category of his work, the Cthulhu Mythos. "At The Mountains Of Madness" follows a scientific expedition to Antarctica that meets disaster and uncovers evidence of a fully sentient, advanced, societal race of beings that inhabited earth before and during the genesis of the scientifically accepted chain of evolutionary life on Earth. It is this, more than any of the other Cthulhu tales, that references and amends the mythology of all of Lovecraft's previous work, Dream Cycle and necromancy cycle included, recasting everything not as supernatural but as part of a vast, multi-faceted, and purely natural universe in which the "gods" of humanity's religions are merely ancient and powerful creatures from far reaches of our universe, mischaracterized and largely indifferent to us. And again, this novella most of all was most like the sort of sci-fi thrillers we read today, with very competent writing depicting the harsh Antarctic wild and the piece-by-piece revelation of ancient knowledge and terror by human scientists who are only following their instincts and their desire to discover and understand. I found myself surprised by the ultimately sympathetic view the story gives to the Elder Things, the aliens that came before all known earth life, since nearly all other instances of alien encounters in Lovecraft's world casts them as amoral animals to be feared and avoided, at best. Other notable stories in the Cthulhu Mythos cycle are "The Dunwich Horror", "The Whisperer in Darkness", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Shadow Out Of Time", and, of course, "The Call of Cthulhu". Note that many of the earlier Cthulhu Mythos tales put a supernatural/deity spin on the alien beings encountered, prior to Lovecraft's "retcon" in this novella.

Finally, at the end of the book, we readers are treated to Lovecraft's well-regarded treatise on weird fiction, "Supernatural Horror in Literature". Lovecraft describes his understanding of horror and the place that fear has in humans, and then proceeds to trace the evolution of horror in writing from ancient times right up to his contemporaries in the pulp magazines of the Twenties and Thirties, from elements of classical mythology cycles through old folklore, Gothic literature, and the weird fiction of the early 20th Century. I don't know how the essay holds up to modern examinations of the subject, but I'll certainly use it as a reference in my own survey of the genre.

There is not much more I'll say about the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. It may take some getting used to because of the dated writing style, but when you get into the proper frame of mind Lovecraft was quite competent when it came to helping the reader suspend disbelief. I found myself annoyed from time to time by Lovecraft writing a competent story that evoked true creepiness but ruining it at the very end with an unneeded final revelation or exclamation that shoved the tale firmly into the realm of pulp-rag camp. "The Statement of Randolph Carter" is the clearest example of this, with everything going well until the last sentence. Readers should also note that there is no question that Lovecraft was a racist; a significant handful of these stories contain insulting stereotypes of immigrants and minorities, especially people of African or Asian descent. I hope that readers can look past these "intrusions of Lovecraft's personal character" because, frankly, they were never the point of his fiction. He wrote to partake in exciting storytelling. He wrote to make what I think is an important point no matter what you may believe about mankind's ultimate destiny: that it is a huge, unknown universe and that we are very, very small and very, very finite in our knowledge. And, above all, he wrote to cultivate a robust and healthy emotion within his readers, what he believed to be the oldest and most primal of mankind's emotions: fear.

[Thomas Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The complete fiction of H.P. Lovecraft is pretty much that;complete.
Missing only one Story which was "In the walls of Eryx" co-written by Lovecraft and Kenneth J. Sterling.

The complete works embodies Lovecraft's progression as a writer and fills his mythos well. The only complaint I could find is some earlier works do not stand the test of time or hold well. However having to find other compilations would no longer be needed. For those into noir horror, epic monsters, and the diminished mind seeing the unspeakable terrors and having to rationalize the fear, this is a great book. With some being into lovecraftian lore from gaming, other authors, or even the creepypasta craze, and not reading the original works: buy it now. No other book covers as much. Every other book will have most of the popular selections, not all. At the price you cannot go wrong.

There is a warning with this: please buy the second printing. The first has many spelling errors, all of which were fixed in the second printing. The noticeable difference is the cloth bookmark. Gold for first print, purple for second.

[Amir matin Ghariblu]

میان داستان‌های درخشانش فقط چندتایی تک‌وتوک بودند که در گزیده استفن جونز از لاوکرفت (که با عنوان شهرهٔ نکرونومیکن مزی‍ّن شده) که قبلا خوانده بودمش موجود نبودند، مابقی زیاد چنگی به دل نمی‌زدند ضمن اینکه ترتیب آثار در نسخه جونز خیلی طعم لاوکرفت را بهتر به آدمیزاد می‌چشاند (البته بلکه چون من آن سری را اول خواندم و این‌یکی را جدا جدا و با پرش از روی آنهایی که قبلا خوانده بودمشان اینطور به نظرم می‌رسد).
خلاصه این رعشه کیهانی لاوکرفت و بالهای خیالش که پس و پیش تاریخ و جهانمان را به لرزه می‌اندازد، حیف است حداقل چند صباحی در آن مستغرق نشد. ذیلا فراموش نشود که ادبیات لاوکرفتی نه کاملا همگام مدل گوتیکش صرف بازنشانی وحشتها در جایی که قبلا بودند (باید باشند) است و نه مثل ادبیات فانتزی لایت‌ْناوِلی آینده‌نگرانه یا امروزین شده از بازخوانی قصه‌های دیو و پریان و نه شباهتی به بدبینی سایبرپانکی دارد. وحشت لاوکرفت از این‌رو ناب است که نقطه ارجاع ندارد ما چیزی را درشان نمی‌خوانیم یا بلکه بتوان گفت فاصله‌ای میان ما و هرکدام از آن شخصیت‌ها که ناگهان خود را در کام جنون و تلو تلو خوران میان کابوس/رویا/دوژاوو و آنچه هر روز آن را امر واقع می‌پنداشتند نیست، گویی این نابجایی ناگهانی و تخلخل پیوستار جهانمان هرلحظه از ناکجا در کمینمان است؛ جهانی نو که تاب آوردنش به قیمت جنون ممکن است.

[Larry Kollar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complete collection of H.P. Lovecraft's solo works (no collaborations), arranged by date. It's a huge work, no doubt.

My only gripe about the stories is that Lovecraft was overfond of a narrative style. If dialogue were water, I'd have died of thirst. And yet, the best of them read like a confession whispered through the cell door bars of an insane asylum.

One thing that surprised me was that Cthulhu was a prominent character in only one story… and from that has been built a massive edifice of fan fiction and the like.

Get this book. It's free, and it's an excellent reference work.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book back in October for a Halloween themed catch-up read. Lovecraft's creatures are referenced so often in urban fantasy that I wanted to see for myself where it all came from.

The stories are interesting individually, but their shared format gets pretty repetitive when reading them one after the other. So I put the book down for a while before coming back to finish it up.

Skipping around a bit, I finished up with The Mountains of Madness, which seems to tie together all the different threads of his various stories, even if it does seem to drag on forever. (It feels like a short story stretched out to fill the space of a novella.) Definitely original (though often imitated) these stories still excite the imagination.

[Dion Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this Lovecraft has cemented himself as one of my favourite authors.

This complete fiction is in chronological order with stories as short as a few pages up to a few full-length novels, each story has its own introduction which was good, and it was interesting to see how his writing style progressed over time.

Being a compete fiction, this is a big book (almost 1100 pages) but because it is made up of different stories, it’s easy to read some stories, and then sit it aside, and have a break and read something if you like, which I did a few times.

I was also expecting to come across a few duds (stories that were just not well done), but all the stories were very well written, there was a few that I didn’t like as much as the others, but that is to be expected.

There are also some special features like a Discarded draft of “The Shadow over Innsmouth”
and a Juvenilia section.

There is also an essay written by Lovecraft on Supernatural Horror in Literature, which was excellent, it clearly showed just how knowledgeable and passionate he was about supernatural literature, reading almost like a who’s who of supernatural Horror leading up to and including his time, which gave me a few more names to add to my ‘to read’ pile.

The book itself was beautifully made, excellent quality and was a pleasure to read.

[Kent Woods · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an excellent edition of mediocre work. Like many authors whose primary works are short stories, Lovecraft is better sipped than gulped. Most every story is exactly the same: a scientist discovers something dark and mysterious, chases it down, is horrified, and then everything fades to black. It's deeply unsatisfying from a narrative perspective, and the prose is so purple it bleeds. I've never seen the word "Cyclopean" used so many times, nor will I ever. Pass on this book, or else just let it sit on your shelf to look pretty, and occasionally flip it open and read a story or two. Under no circumstance should you attempt to read this book straight through. I would recommend the edition titled "Necronomicon" for a more approachable "greatest hits," if you're interested in Lovecraft.

[Ian Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to gush here, so be forewarned.

First of all, yes Lovecraft was a horrendous racist even by the standards of his day and the wrongfulness of that should be acknowledged. Having said that, those sentiments manifested more strongly in his letters than his fiction. It’s rarely a central feature of the narrative (as it is in The Street, He, The Horror at Red Hook and Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family – which have hints of the autobiographical), more often revealing itself in glancing mentions with little or no impact on the story.

And yes, there’s a whole bunch of criticisms to be made of Lovecraft’s writing style, a number of which I’m sure hold some academic weight. He was after all published in pulp and mostly self-taught, aspiring to the level of social, scholarly and artistic respect owed to an M.R. James but having no means of achieving it in his lifetime. Whether any of his work counts as ‘literature’ is a debate which could go on indefinitely.

All that being said, Lovecraft achieved something immense with his brand of ‘cosmicism’ which was original for his time and unsurpassed since. Leaving aside its influence on film, music, games etc. and considering only the particular literary niche of weird fiction, he possessed a perfect storm of style, substance, skill, erudition and being in the right place at the right time to tie it all together. To those of a certain disposition which I share, his work exemplifies the adage that ‘genius hits a target no-one else can see’.

Truthfully there are precious few works here I don’t love to a greater or lesser degree and even in his supposedly lesser efforts I find much to admire. This is especially so with his later material such as The Haunter of the Dark, The Thing on the Doorstep and The Dreams in the Witch House which are little celebrated but favourites of mine. Perhaps my favourite of all is The Music of Erich Zann – hardly a conventional choice – although depending on mood I may have to give the nod to The Call of Cthulhu. The charms of the poster-child of weird fiction are not easily resisted.

Then there’s the helpful inclusion of the essay ‘Supernatural Horror in Literature’ to close out the collection. Apart from the value of its literary criticism, it is at the least a solid reading list of two centuries worth of gothic novels and weird fiction, plus an insight into the authors who inspired Lovecraft. I’m some way into collecting and reading the many works mentioned.

The editor S.T. Joshi is a man who divides opinions, having set himself up as the world’s most prolific scholar of supernatural horror and weird fiction. Judging solely by this book though, his introductions to the collection and each individual work are short and informative, giving the impression of commendably thorough research without insisting on overbearing opinions and grandstanding.

The book itself – mine being the 2011 Barnes & Noble edition – is an artwork in its own right and one of the most beautiful objects I own. There’s an aesthetic and tactual synergy with the content, from the iridescent depiction on the front cover to the silver-edged pages and purple satin bookmark. I would want a copy of this volume if it had nothing but microwave user manuals in it.

The Complete Fiction to me is more than merely a book I immensely enjoyed. It’s a gateway to a veritable rabbit-hole of written word and other artworks before, during and after Lovecraft’s lifetime. The influences are now so extensive that to be ‘Lovecraftian’ is almost a lifestyle.

One would not soon run out of material by reading his influences such as Bierce and Chambers, his contemporaries such as James, Machen and Blackwood, his circle of correspondents such as Howard, Smith, Bloch and Long, his followers and preservers from August Derleth onwards, later Cthulhu mythos writers such as Campbell, Klein and Lumley, and then of course the modern authors experimenting from the foundation of his influences, such as Barron, Ligotti and Kiernan.

With the benefit of hindsight, authors like these are precisely what I always pined for in my youth but without the means of learning about them. In the days of dial-up internet it would have taken more dumb luck than I possessed for a kid in a small country town to find this material, so I’m overjoyed to now be delving into the kind of writings I would gladly have devoured as a teenager if only I’d known it.

All the legitimate criticisms notwithstanding, for me personally I give this five star-spawns of Cthulhu out of five.

p.s. For more Lovecraft, there’s also his collaborations, many of which are collected in ‘The Horror in the Museum’, and his poetry collected in ‘The Ancient Track’.

[Laurence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awestruck by Lovecraft's writing skills, and the breadth of his epic and horrific imagination.

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
-HP Lovecraft

Lovecraft runs the gamut of quality. But when he shines it's extraordinary. In some of the lesser stories there are still ideas or threads which are worthwhile or can be picked up and taken to different, better places.

The Alchemist: 5/5
At the Mountains of Madness: 5/5
Azathoth: 4/5
The beast in the Cave: 4/5
Beyond the wall of Sleep: 4/5
The Book: 5/5
The Call of Cthulu: 5/5
The Case of Alex Dexter Ward: 4/5
The Cats of Ulthar: 5/5
Celephais: 4/5
The Colour out of Space: 5/5
Cool Air: 3.5/5
Dagon: 5/5
The Descendent: 4/5
Discarded draft of the Shadow over Innsmouth: 4/5
The doom that came to Sarnath: 5/5
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath: 5/5
The Dreams in the Witch House: 3.5/5
The Dunwich Horror: 3.5/5
The Evil Clergyman: 3.5/5
Ex Oblivione: 5/5
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family: 3/5
The Festival: 3/5
From Beyond: 3.5/5
The Haunter of the Dark: 2.5/5
He: 2.5/5
Herbert West: Reanimator: 5/5
History of the Necronomicon: 3/5
Horror of Redhook: 2/5
The Hound: 3/5
Hypnos: 5/5
Ibid: 5/5
In the Vault: 3.5/5
The Little Glass Bottle: 4/5
The Lurking Fear: 4.5/5
Memory: 4/5
The Moon Bog: 3/5
The Music of Eric Zann: 3/5
The Mysterious Ship: 2/5
The Mystery of the Graveyard: 2/5
The Nameless City: 5/5
Nyarlathotep: 3/5
Old Bugs: 1/5
The Other Gods: 3/5
The Outsider: 4/5
Pickman's Model: 3.5/5
The Picture in the House: 3/5
Polaris: 3/5
The Quest of Iranon: 3.5/5
Rats in the walls: 4/5
The Reminiscence of Dr Samuel Johnson: 1/5
The Secret Cave: 2/5
The Shadow Out of Time: 4/5
The Shadow over Innsmouth: 5/5
The Shunned House: 5/5
The Silver Key: 4/5
The Statement of Randolph Carter: 3.5/5
Strange High House in the Mist: 3.5/5
The Street: 4/5
Sweet Ermengarde: 2/5
The Temple: 5/5
The Terrible Old Man: 3/5
The thing on the doorstep 4/5
Through the gates of the Silver Key: 5/5
The Tomb: 4/5
The Transition of Juan Romero: 3.5/5
The Tree: 4/5
Under the Pyramids: 3.5/5
The Unnameable: 4/5
The very old folk: 3.5/5
What the Moon Brings: 5/5
The Whisperer in Darkness : 5/5
The White Ship: 4/5

Bonus:
Later found these collaborations not included in the collection. I then found a collected version of most of these produced by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society: Collaborations. Highly recommend HPLHS's reading of these stories. (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

The Tree On The Hill (collaboration DW Rimel): 5/5
The dream under the strange tree provides some glimpse into a terrorfying hidden dimension.

The Man of Stone (collaboration with Hazel Heald): 2/5
A stone statue scultper, who tries to steal the wife of an occultist who happens to know a formula for a drink that will turn a person to stone. Oh the irony.

Two Black Bottles (collaboration with WB Talman): 3/5
Is the uncle really dead or has he learned dark powers most unnatural.

The Thing in the Moonlight (collaboration with JC Miske): 3/5
Vivid story fragment, can imagine the palid colours and the dank swamp location.

Till A' the seas (collaboration with RH Barlow): 3/5
Thousands of years hence, mankind's death rattle as the planet becomes uninhabitable.

The Trap (collaboration with HS Whitehead): 3.5/5
What inhabits the dimension on the other side of the mirror. When Robert goes through, who comes back?

The Green Meadow (with WV Jackson): 3/5
A diary found inside a meteorite describes a man on a disintegrating island surrounded by evil who discovers a long forgotten city. Dream logic required.

The Night Ocean (with RH Barlow) : 3/5
Swimmers start disappearing at a beach, what hybrid children could be preying upon them?

The Mound (Ghostwritten from a simple prompt for Zealia Bishop): 4/5
The Mound avoided by the local native Mesoamericans is actually a gateway to a subterranean world where the old gods, their creations and offspring dwell. This is a full on novella.

The Electric Executioner (with Adolpho de Castro): 3.5/5
On a long train journey to Mexico the narrator meets a man who has an improved electrocution machine, the electric executioner, but when the narrator speaks some invocations of the old ones the stranger convulses and then disappears in a blast of blue light. When he arrives at his destination it appears that the man, Feldon has astrally projected himself somehow to the train, but now only his charred body is there, connected to his electric executioner.