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The Randolph Carter Tales
Most of Lovecraft's tales were standalone and of the short fiction variety, but in the Randolph Carter Tales Lovecraft followed one character through a series of terrifying adventures. This volume includes the novella The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath , The Statement of Randolph Carter , and The Silver Key , amongst other stories. The Randolph Carter stories are some of the most mature and philosophical of any of Lovecraft's fiction.
ABOUT THE The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.
ABOUT THE The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.
192 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,111 books19.3k followersHoward 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 25, 2024
For a character who does next to nothing most of the time while things just sort of happen to him to move the plot forward, I found old Randy to be very endearing and sort of cozy character.
September 5, 2024
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
This is definitely the most fantasy inspired Lovecraft story I have read and it starts out interesting enough. Lovecraft conjures a world that begs for adventure and at times the adventure the protagonist is on is engaging. The problem I have with it is that there are no chapters and it’s too long, in my opinion, to just read in one sitting. So when there are no chapters the story just keeps on going and going without any breaks or lead ups to significant plot points making the story hard to stay immersed in.
The Statement of Randolph Carter
Very engaging little story, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but Lovecraft is at his best when writing shorter stories.
The Silver Key
Load of waffle.
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
Carrying on from The Silver Key but actually has a story with interesting characters. Not anything special but readable.
The Unnamable
Decent little story that demonstrates what Lovecraft is known for; horror of the unknown and letting the audience conjure up their own images of what the Lovecraft monsters look like.
This is definitely the most fantasy inspired Lovecraft story I have read and it starts out interesting enough. Lovecraft conjures a world that begs for adventure and at times the adventure the protagonist is on is engaging. The problem I have with it is that there are no chapters and it’s too long, in my opinion, to just read in one sitting. So when there are no chapters the story just keeps on going and going without any breaks or lead ups to significant plot points making the story hard to stay immersed in.
The Statement of Randolph Carter
Very engaging little story, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but Lovecraft is at his best when writing shorter stories.
The Silver Key
Load of waffle.
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
Carrying on from The Silver Key but actually has a story with interesting characters. Not anything special but readable.
The Unnamable
Decent little story that demonstrates what Lovecraft is known for; horror of the unknown and letting the audience conjure up their own images of what the Lovecraft monsters look like.
July 5, 2023
Of the various Lovecraft collections I’ve read, this may just be my favorite. While there’s not as much in here as some other collections, I really loved what is here.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - One of Lovecraft’s longest stories and probably now one of my favorites. It chronicles Randolph Carter’s journey through the Dreamlands, which is a fascinating place to explore. I also really loved the ending of this story.
The Statement of Randolph Carter - The only story here I’d read before. It’s pretty good and I quite liked the end, once again.
The Silver Key - Something of a precursor to the next story and a sequel to Dream-Quest. Like the previous story, it’s quite short so there’s not a lot to talk about. But I liked this one as well and it does a good job of further building the story of Carter.
Through the Gates of the Silver Key - My favorite story in this collection, and probably the one I was most excited to read. It explains what happened to Carter after his disappearance, features one of my favorite Cthulhu Mythos entities, and plays with the nature of time and space in some fascinating ways.
The Unnameable - My least favorite story here. Don’t have much of anything to say about it, it wasn’t that interesting.
Overall this was a fantastic collection for the most part. Two of these stories are new favorites, and I enjoyed most of the rest as well. Very happy with this collection.
Rating: 9/10
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - One of Lovecraft’s longest stories and probably now one of my favorites. It chronicles Randolph Carter’s journey through the Dreamlands, which is a fascinating place to explore. I also really loved the ending of this story.
The Statement of Randolph Carter - The only story here I’d read before. It’s pretty good and I quite liked the end, once again.
The Silver Key - Something of a precursor to the next story and a sequel to Dream-Quest. Like the previous story, it’s quite short so there’s not a lot to talk about. But I liked this one as well and it does a good job of further building the story of Carter.
Through the Gates of the Silver Key - My favorite story in this collection, and probably the one I was most excited to read. It explains what happened to Carter after his disappearance, features one of my favorite Cthulhu Mythos entities, and plays with the nature of time and space in some fascinating ways.
The Unnameable - My least favorite story here. Don’t have much of anything to say about it, it wasn’t that interesting.
Overall this was a fantastic collection for the most part. Two of these stories are new favorites, and I enjoyed most of the rest as well. Very happy with this collection.
Rating: 9/10
December 12, 2024
"Common sense is merely a stupid absence of imagination and mental flexibility." - The Unnamable by Howard Philips Lovecraft
I've been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's work for some time, long before I even read his books (hello, Re-Animator, circa 1985!). But I don't recall having read about Randolph Carter before, and I have three Lovecraft anthologies, one being his hefty Necronomicon. Or maybe it's because he has never had special billing, unlike The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
Randolph Carter sounds like a bland mishmash of Allan Quatermain and Indiana Jones. A character brimming with imagination and soaring flights of fancy, his blandness can only be attributed to Lovecraft who, in the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath exhorts over a hundred pages describing the intrepid Carter's myriad, kaleidoscopical, dreamlike journeys into the dwellings of zoogs and moon-tree wine, but fails to give us a equally fair glimpse of the man's character.
I've been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's work for some time, long before I even read his books (hello, Re-Animator, circa 1985!). But I don't recall having read about Randolph Carter before, and I have three Lovecraft anthologies, one being his hefty Necronomicon. Or maybe it's because he has never had special billing, unlike The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
Randolph Carter sounds like a bland mishmash of Allan Quatermain and Indiana Jones. A character brimming with imagination and soaring flights of fancy, his blandness can only be attributed to Lovecraft who, in the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath exhorts over a hundred pages describing the intrepid Carter's myriad, kaleidoscopical, dreamlike journeys into the dwellings of zoogs and moon-tree wine, but fails to give us a equally fair glimpse of the man's character.
March 21, 2024
Published in 2020, 'The Randolph Carter Tales' is a small collection grouping these tales together, although most if not all have appeared in other Lovecraft collections over recent years. Excellent tales, but most Lovecraft devotees will have come across them before.
November 2, 2021
This easily unlikeable high-school graduate (yet utterly pompous) ‘master’ really shit the bed with this volume.
October 20, 2025
1 - The Statement of Randolph Carter
2 - The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
3 - The Unnamable
4 - Through the gates of the silver key
5 - The Silver Key
2 - The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
3 - The Unnamable
4 - Through the gates of the silver key
5 - The Silver Key
November 6, 2024
The Randolph Carter Tales is a collection of classic horror short stories. What’s interesting about this collection is that all the stories follow one character through a series of adventures.
Genre: Short Stories, Fantasy, Horror
Genre: Short Stories, Fantasy, Horror
July 25, 2025
Really appreciate having these stories collected in one book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews