The Dreams in the Witch House & Other Weird Stories

by H.P. Lovecraft

""One of the cornerstones of modern horror...a unique and visionary world of wonder, terror, and delerium."" ?Clive Barker Plagued by insane nightmare visions, Walter Gilman seeks help in Miskatonic University?s infamous library of forbidden books, where, in the pages of Abdul Alhazred?s dreaded Necronomicon, he finds terrible hints that seem to connect his own studies in advanced mathematics with the fantastic legends of elder magic. ?The Dreams in the Witch House,? gathered together here with more than twenty other tales of terror, exemplifies H. P. Lovecraft?s primacy among twentieth-century American horror writers.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Fantasy, Weird Fiction, Lovecraftian

Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1933

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

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third volume in S.T. Joshi’s paperback edition of H.P. Lovecraft's complete tales adheres to the format of the other two: the stories in each volume span Lovecraft’s entire writing career (apart from juvenilia) and are presented in chronological order from “Polaris” (1918) to “The Shadow Out of Time” (1935). I believe Joshi attempted—with much success—to produce three representative volumes, each possessing its fair share of masterpieces, mediocrities, and clunkers. Still, this last of the brood sometimes seems like the trio’s Island of Misfit Toys, containing the anomalous, the broken, the malevolent, and the malformed.

Paradoxically, though, I think all this makes this particular volume the most interesting of the three, especially for those who really love Lovecraft. For a writer’s works—like a person’s deeds—often reveal the inner self most intimately in the anomalous: the uncharacteristic flight of fancy, the flawed experiment, the occasional crime. This Lovecraft collection gives us all three—in abundance.

For example, more than a third of the book is given up to the Dunsanian fantasies which take Randolph Carter as their hero (“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,” “The Silver Key,” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key”), and, although they are uneven in quality they contain not only some of Lovecraft’s most playful imaginative creations but also his most intense expressions of love for his native Providence.

There are failed experiments here too, like “The Dreams in the Witch House” (in which Lovecraft makes his other planes of existence a little too much like plane geometry). But even here we can see how the writer is moving toward a more ambitious abstraction in his writing, a tendency that would eventually bear fruit in in his last masterpiece “The Shadow Out of Time.”

Also in this volume you will find Lovecraft’s one indisputable literary “crime,” “The Horror of Red Hook,” in which H.P. allowed the fears he experienced in the diverse environment of greater New York to shape a tale that is indisputably racist. And yet this fear of the other, properly sublimated and refined, later produced “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth.”

Don’t get me wrong. There are successes here as well: the early Dunsanian prose poem “The Doom that Came to Sarnath” and the whimsical marchen “The Cats of Ulthar”, the chilling experiments in the use of landscape and local color “The Lurking Fear” and “The Shunned House”, the quintessential pulp tale of graveyard horror “In the Vault,” and the incomparable “The Shadow Out of Time.”

As always, editor Joshi’s notes are extensive and illuminating, particularly when it comes to biographical information relevant to the individual stories.

This is the best inexpensive Lovecraft collection, so do yourself a favor—no—do yourself three favors. Buy yourself a copy of Joshi’s The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. Then if you like it—and if you like Lovecraft, you will—go purchase the other Joshi volumes too.

[[ J o ] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think perhaps my favourite thus far. Everything I've enjoyed about Lovecraft up to now seemed to ooze slowly yet magnificently from the page.

Gilman, a student of Miskatonic University in ever-so-interesting Arkham is haunted tremendously at night by strange crones, furry scuttling shapes and rats as big as your head and finds himself more and more pulled, sleepwalking, to the esoteric goings on at the witching hour...

There is sci-fi, fantasy, esoteric folklore, beautifully throw-in hard physics and plenty of sublime writing to be had here. It doesn't feel like there is anything lacklustre in the characters, though that may be down to these being wonderfully written short stories as opposed to longer novels that need development in order to be any good. Yet they feel quite often at the very end as merely tools to tell the story and not necessarily people, though I honestly don't mind that one little bit.

Still, I am not frightened by his words, but this certainly made me pull a few faces (the rat in the bed if you know what I mean) and I liked that immensely. It feels like Lovecraft is using the same kind of story arc but telling it in a thousand different ways, almost-metaphorically-in different languages. It is similar to his other stories (Lovecraftian) but so different in any other way. I think I'm becoming quite a fan.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories is an anthology of twenty-one short stories written by H.P. Lovecraft collected and edited by S.T. Joshi. It concludes the wonderfully weird and creepy celebrations of horrific and unusual literature in this third volume.

For the most part, this collection of short stories was written rather well. Lovecraft's imagination is delightfully odd, as most of these stories have a weird and horror tinge. The narrative is creepy and unsettling and very imaginative exploring the darker nature of humanity. As with the first two volumes, Lovecraft's writing is quite heavy, wordy, and very heavy on description with entries ranges in length. My particular favorites are: "The Doom that Came to Sarnath", "The Cats of Ulthar", "The Lurking Fear", "The Shunned House", "In the Vault", and "The Shadow Out of Time".

Like most anthologies there are weaker contributions and The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories is not an exception. It seems that Joshi has divided Lovecraft's work over three volumes rather evenly as each possesses its fair share of masterpieces, mediocrities, and clunkers. However, this volume seems to have more experimental pieces than the previous two volumes.

This particular edition features another exemplary introduction by S.T. Joshi and his notes are extensive and illuminating, particularly when it comes to biographical information relevant to the individual stories. There is also a list of further reading and explanatory notes.

All in all, The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories is a wonderful collection of horror short stories from the acclaimed writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of stories for the most part. H.P. Lovecraft doesn't just write horror; he writes fantasy and weird fiction also, and this collection contains a bit of everything. There were a few stinkers in the bunch, which were very tedious to get through. The introduction and explanatory notes for each story by S.T. Joshi are, for the most part, very insightful and illuminating, but they can be tedious at times as well. My ratings for each story, and short notes on some of them, are below:

Polaris: 4.5/5 - Starts slow but becomes fascinating near the end

Beyond the Wall of Sleep: 5/5

The Doom That Came to Sarnath: 4/5

The Terrible Old Man: 4.5/5

The Tree: 3/5

The Cats of Ulthar: 4/5

From Beyond: 5/5

The Nameless City: 4.5/5

The Moon-Bog: 4/5

The Other Gods: 4/5

Hypnos: 4/5

The Lurking Fear: 5/5 - Not as scary as I've been told but amazing nonetheless

The Unnamable: 2/5 - Really didn't like it - a chore to get through

The Shunned House: 5/5

The Horror at Red Hook: 3.5/5

In the Vault: 3.5/5

The Strange High House in the Mist: 5/5 - Fantasy story, beautifully written

The Statement of Randolph Carter: 4.5/5 - Silly ending but overall a good story

Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family: 3/5

Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath: 5/5 - LOTR but with cats. Amazing!

The Silver Key: 4/5

Through the Gates of the Silver Key: 3/5 - Tedious and confusing, but has a good ending

Dreams in the Witch House: 5/5 - Very good. One of my favourites.

The Shadow Out of Time: 5/5 - Probably his best, most effective, and well-constructed story of the ones I've read so far. Amazing.

[Arancha Ch. Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovecraft es un maestro indiscutible y se nota desde el comienzo del primer párrafo. Conoce muy bien la manera de introducir a su lector en el ambiente decadente, macabro y mágico que crea en cada obra. En esta narración mezcla la física, las matemáticas, y las enfermedades mentales con el folklore de la zona en la que sitúa el cuento, totalmente sumergida en la brujería.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in the Penguin "modern classic" Lovecraft trilogy (the other two I have read previously). Edited and annotated by S. T. Joshi (reknowned Lovecraft scholar) these are supposed to be the definitive texts of Lovecraft's work and his introductions provide fascinating insights behind the stories to the man himself.

To anyone new to Lovecraft, this is not the place to start. One would do far better with the first in this trilogy: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories.

The quality of the stories is quite variable, particularly in this collection. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this collection pays particular emphasis on his "Dunsanian" phase, the era of his career when he came under his last great literary influence; Lord Dunsany. These stories are more like dark fantasies rather than horror and when writing in this mode he does not always successfully entertain, "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" being poor but "The Cats of Ulthar" being good for example. His writing in this vein culminates in the intense "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" which is both his ultimate effort in this mode and his statement that he wants to get back to more earthier subject maters, back to his roots. An intense and unrelenting descent into the world of dreams and nightmare that makes references to many of his other Dunsanian tales, one of only three novellas he ever published (the other two being in the preceding book in this trilogy).

More enjoyable for me are the stories where he explores old folklore traditions such as vampirism, witchcraft and demons. "The Shunned House" and "Dreams in the Witch House" were both great stories in this vein.

But of most interest to me are his science fiction stories where he attempts to incorporate (then) modern scientific themes (such as relativity, quantum mechanincs and multi-dimensional mathematics) into his stories. Usually the utilisation of some more extreme and esoteric theories unlocks some nightmare or comes dangerously close to revealing the horror that lurks beyond our thin veil of ignorance. Stories in this vein include "From Beyond", "Hypnos" and of course the great "Shadow Out of Time".

Lovecraft certainly isn't for everyone. His prose is dense, wordy and the narrative is packed with multiple layers of detail that will repay re-reading. Some people will find it heavy going and his horror is certainly less visceral than to some modern tastes relying on more subtle and gradual means of building up tension. But when he's on form, there's not many to touch him.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

My cumulative review of the three Penguin classic editions of Lovecraft's work can be seen under the entry for "Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories," but full disclosure necessitates I comment here. I feel the need to say that although I've marked this as "read" on my shelf, I never did complete it -- "The Horror at Red Hook" remains unread, and will for the foreseeable future. See, I dated this girl who lived in Red Hook or liked bike riding in Red Hook or maybe just tried to get me to go to a party in Red Hook once, and then she and I broke up, and it still brings back crap memories. Besides which, the story just looks too long. But anyway -- thanks for ruining Lovecraft for me, Kim. Hope you're happy.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten just how much I love Lovecraft.

"It is written on the brick cylinders of Kadatheron that the beings of Ib were in hue as green as the lake and the mists that rise above it; that they had bulging eyes, pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears, and were without voice. It is also written that they descended one night from the moon in a mist; they and the vast still lake and grey stone city Ib."

One-of-a-kind.

[Derek Pegritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the standard texts of Lovecraft's stories now that Arkham House is defunct. Any and all HPL scholars and readers take note: these Penguins editions supercede the Arkham House editions, because many of the stories contained in the Penguin Classics series have been recently further corrected by S. T. Joshi according to HPL's autograph manuscripts at the John Hay Library.

[James Everington · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third and weakest of the Penguin reissues. Includes some of Lovecraft's more fantasy style stories, including "The Dream Quest Of Unknown Kaddath" which feels interminable.

Of the horror stories, few that are equal to his best, and a few that display his casual racism.

Good notes by ST Joshi.

Read the other two books first.

[Ioana Lily Balas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. Absolutely hated this book. It highlighted to me so much of what I do not like in a book. I can see that reviews on Goodreads are overwhelmingly positive, to be honest I hardly ever see this many 5-star reviews, but for me going through this book was agony. This review will probably end up going more into my reading habits, what works for me and what doesn't, because ultimately it is personal and I am not sure this will be relevant or helpful to people reading it.

I think that under normal circumstances I would quite like the ideas in the Lovecraft universe. Some reviews mention that this collection is very mixed and random, so maybe I also started at the wrong point. I enjoy a good fantasy universe, particularly if it is anchored in reality and it's almost more magical realism than it is entirely fantasy. And some stories do seem to start from this point - in New York City or Western Australia. Those were probably the stories that I found okay, 'The Horror at Red Hook' for example. This is one that also had more character focus and more information about the protagonist's background and it did get me somewhat interested so I read attentively.

It was pretty much after this story that I started skimming, though.

For the stories I have read properly, they read very descriptive and world-building to me, without any plot or character or intrigue. I just didn't care about what would happen and I would have liked them to get to a point. Because there was nothing driving many of the stories (particularly the first 2-3 ones), it was as if the world was being built in vain. I had nothing to care about.

Apart from this content-based critique, the writing style was just horrible for me to take in. After 2-3 stories you get to the point where you can pick up on some typical Lovecraft phrasing and structures, for example starting a phrase with the word 'for' instead of 'because', lots of inversion, introducing many mythical-sounding names all at once (I would mostly end up not remembering any of them...), and the result for me is something pretentious sounding. The introduction mentions that Lovecraft sees Arthur Machen as an influence, but considers him too close-minded and not philosophical enough. I really enjoyed reading 'The Great God Pan' by him earlier this year, and it's much more absorbing, has a point, a message, and gives you something to hold on to as a reader, rather than being lost in a series of foreign terms. Based on that I was really hoping to enjoy this book too.

All in all, I'd describe Lovecraft as a lyrical, poetic prose, very forced, descriptive, and focused on world-building without much story thread. Due to his choice of words, the stories read as folk stories or legends even, but in a totally chaotic way that would take me a lot of effort to understand. I want to be absorbed by a story, I don't want to work on understanding it because i see reading as an enjoyable experience, not as a chore. Probably the closest I can think to compare him to is Tolkien (especially the short story 'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'), and 'Lord of the Rings' is one of the very few books I have ever abandoned.

I really need to get over this fear of abandoning books. Especially because these were short stories, I thought another one would come along that would grab my attention, but nothing. And sometimes I would even turn 2 pages by mistake and not care, that's how bad this was for me.

[nacholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

not the usual review i'd write bc normally i'd do all the separate stories and rank them; but i'm beyond exhausted mentally to do it for HPL. but as a general thought, since majority dealt with cosmos horror and human insignificance, they were all well written, macabre in descriptions and made me feel eerie.

but that's when the compliments stop. because throughout this book, esp through ST Joshi's notes, while i love feeling horrified, HPL only does well in describing shit that happens, he isn't keen on writing human dialogues, and the one story that had dialogues, was a collab he was hesitant to work on either. adding to the racist ideology, esp in The Horror at Red Hook, really rethink my perspective of HPL; if he were alive today, bet your ass he'd vote trump and would even advocate for the policies.

but politics and optics aside, while ST Joshi's notes were the one thing that kept me sane, and while i had intrigued me to read the previous 2 compilations from this series, i think i'll hold off on it for a long while; not because it's bad, the opposite, it's really good... i just have to take a break from the descriptive nature of his works, his abhorrent views on humanity and races; and just how you need the right frame of mind to read his work.

i'd give it a 7 but between a 3 or 4 stars, im more comfortable with a 3.

[Felix Kimsjö · Rating 4 out of 5]

H.P. Minecraft

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

H.P. Lovecraft's writing is incredibly imaginative. His imagery isn't so descriptive (such as Tolkien's) that I know exactly what something or someone looks like - but I have to use my own imagination to fill in the gaps to create what I think he's describing. After reading this story, I feel like getting a pad of paper and drawing what I think some of his monstrous creatures look like, or creating a Lovecraft inspired series of paintings.

That said - I don't think I would read another one of his stories. "Dreams in the Witch House" was a little too dark for me. After having a baby, I can't really handle infant sacrifice & human heart eating rats as well as I used to.

[Kit · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Penguin Classics reprints of HP Lovecraft's work are a much more interesting read than most due to the footnotes. This one in particular also has my favorite of his stories, the Dream Quest to Unknown Kadath.

[Andrew Sydlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

As a longtime Lovecraft reader, I have several editions of his works, such as a couple of the Del Rey paperbacks and The Annotated Lovecraft and More Annotated Lovecraft (the last two also edited by preeminent Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi). These Penguin collections (The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, and Dreams) are my favorites. While they don’t include all his work, they do represent his best and most influential works, as well as some earlier, lesser known tales. Each volume samples texts from his entire publishing career, from the late 1910s to the mid-1930s.

The Dreams in the Witch House is the third and my least favorite volume. Aside from four of the tales from the back half, the Randolph Carter cycle The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, “The Silver Key,” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key,” and the final masterpiece “The Shadow Out of Time,” many of the stories here are mediocre, if not outright bad.

The theme of this volume is Lovecraft’s more fantastical, Dunsany-esque works. Some are put off by Dream-Quest’s epic fantasy about exploring the dreamworlds to ask a favor of Earth’s gods. But there are some fun adventures, like when the cats rally to Carter’s defense against the moon-beasts. And there are enough elements of horror, of a forbidden cult practicing human sacrifice, and the cosmic presence of Nyarlathotep, to make it dark fantasy.

The sequels “The Silver Key” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key” follow Carter further on a new quest to use a mysterious silver key to reach a beloved boyhood city, but ends up achieving much more. He plumbs the depths of existence and reality, understanding the simultaneous unity and multiplicity of the universe. More philosophical parable than conventional narrative, these stories are interesting if challenging reads.

“The Shadow Out of Time” is one of Lovecraft’s finest sci-fi epics with horror elements. A Miskatonic professor exchanges minds with a member of The Great Race, beings who can project their consciousness back and forwards in time. Similar to At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft draws an elaborate portrait of this alien species’ culture and scientific knowledge. The narrator’s final journey into ancient ruins that prove the reality of his experiences, and his fleeing from them in terror at the hint of something still alive in them, is one of Lovecraft’s best scenes of suspense.

There are a few other interesting gems here such as “The Doom that Came to Sarnath,” “The Cats of Ulthar,” and “From Beyond” that combine fantasy and horror.

“The Moon-Bog,” “The Lurking Fear,” and “The Horror at Red Hook,” maybe even the title story, are among my least favorite Lovecraft. “Moon” is a boring gothic tale. So is “Lurking,” repetitive and uninspired. “Horror” reads too strongly of racism and xenophobia, and while it’s cool to have a more defined protagonist in the detective, too bad it’s at the expense of a good story.

“Dreams” used to be one I thought that I liked, but maybe it was because of the references to witches and Nyarlathotep. It’s a plodding tale about a student who moves into an old attic where a witch used to live. Much space is taken up with the student wasting away, having feverish dreams, and thinking about angles.

Overall, still worth reading if you’re a Lovecraft fan, but definitely would read the other volumes first unless you’re more inclined to fantasy.

What also recommends these Penguin versions is Joshi’s annotated endnotes, which provide historical background, literary, historical, and autobiographical influences. They are also corrected texts, meaning they are as close to the original texts as possible with some minor errors fixed.

The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories contains the following tales:
 
1. Polaris - A man haunted by the star Polaris dreams of an ancient city at war where he mans the watchtower.
2. The Doom that Came to Sarnath - The god of an inhuman race wreaks vengeance on Sarnath, a settlement celebrating the 1,000-year anniversary of the genocide that allowed them to take over the land. 
3. The Terrible Old Man - Three thieves become the unwitting victims of an old sea captain who possesses gold.
4. The Tree - Two renowned sculptors in ancient Greece are tasked with a contest to create a statue, ending in tragedy.
5. The Cats of Ulthar - The story behind a law in the city of Ulthar that no man may kill a cat. An old couple who take pleasure in killing their neighbors’ cats meet a grisly end after killing the cat of an orphan visiting town with a group of nomads who may be of ancient Egyptian origin.
6. From Beyond - Crawford Tillinghast invents a machine that opens the doors of perception to worlds and beings that exist alongside us undetected.
7. The Nameless City - A man discovers a lost Arabian city that was once occupied in ancient times by sentient reptilian beings.
8. The Moon-Bog - An Irish American returns to Ireland to rebuild his family estate, ignoring local warnings not to drain the nearby bog with deadly consequences.
9. The Other Gods - A priest climbs the highest mountain to see Earth’s gods, only to encounter the Other Gods who oversee Earth’s gods.
10. Hypnos - Two men use drugs to explore the mysteries of the universe in their dreams with horrifying results.
11. The Lurking Fear - A man investigates an abandoned mansion in a rural area where locals have been killed by a large unknown creature.
12. The Unnamable - Randolph Carter debates the merits of the paranormal and supernatural with a skeptical friend, only to themselves encounter a mysterious being that cannot be perceived by the five senses.
13. The Shunned House - The narrator and his uncle investigate a house in Providence in which a number of mysterious deaths occurred.
14. The Horror at Red Hook - A detective investigates occult crimes in the New York slum of Red Hook.
15. In the Vault - A careless undertaker accidentally locks himself in a crypt and the corpse of a dead man he wronged takes revenge.
16. The Strange High House in the Mist - A curious man makes his way to a mysterious house atop a cliff that seems inaccessible by both land and sea.
17. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - Randolph Carter, determined to find his way back to the treasured dream city of his youth, seeks out the gods on unknown Kadath in the cold waste, where no mortal has ever been.
18. The Silver Key - Randolph Carter, eager to reclaim the wonder of dream life, seeks to use an old key used by his ancestors.
19. Through the Gates of the Silver Key - Four men gather in New Orleans to discuss the estate of Randolph Carter, who has been missing for four years. One of them tells of Carter’s travels through time and space using the silver key, which has allowed him to become aware of the very nature of existence.
20. The Dreams in the Witch House - Miskatonic mathematics student Walter Gilman moves into the attic room of a boarding house rumored to have once been occupied by a witch. He becomes affected by a chronic fever, strange nightmares, and erratic behavior.
21. The Shadow Out of Time - Miskatonic political economist professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee is taken over by an extraterrestrial being for several years, part of the project of a race of beings who can project their consciousness back and forward through time and space and collect information about the time and culture of the beings they inhabit.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 Stars.
Introduction by S.T. Joshi - 3.5 Stars
Polaris - 3.5 Stars
The Doom That Came to Sarnath - 4 Stars
The Terrible Old Man - 4 Stars
The Tree - 4 Stars
The Cats of Ulthar - 4 Stars
From Beyond - 4.25 Stars
The Nameless City - 4.5 Stars
The Moon-Bog - 4 Stars
The Other Gods - 3 Stars
Hypnos - 3.75 Stars
The Lurking Fear - 5 Stars
The Unnamable - 3 Stars
The Shunned House - 5 Stars
The Horror at Red Hook - 4 Stars
In the Vault - 4 Stars
The Strange High House in the Mist - 5 Stars
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - 5 Stars
The Silver Key - 4 Stars
Through the Gates of the Silver Key - 3.5 Stars
The Dreams in the Witch House - 5 Stars
The Shadow out of Time - 5 Stars

[Muriel (The Purple Bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good 'ole reliable HPL came through again! I had a lot of fun going through this third anthology curated by S.T. Joshi. A lot of familiar ground was tread, to be sure; but I was also decently surprised by some elements of the more dream-like (heh) stories. Plus, cats battling eldritch horrors are cool AF and anyone who disagrees is wrong. 😌

PS: also, am I the only who thinks there's a fair bit of similarity between the eldritch-wise cats of HPL's stories and the cats from Monstress' world? Because that's the first thing that sprung to my mind... 👀🐈

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for lovecraft fans who want to read the lesser know, but just as compelling, randolph carter stories. it also features "the shadow out of time", which has haunted me as much as any of the other mythos stories.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

H.P. Lovecraft is a necessary author to have read.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite stories were "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" and "The Shadow Out Of Time".

[Elizabeth Tangora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories are excellent, others are annoyingly long and rambling, so 4 stars is more of an average between a rating of 5 stars for the former and 3 for the later.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, cover to cover. If you like anything to do with modern sci-fi, horror, suspense, and I would argue fantasy, then you should read Lovecraft. Also, if you like Poe :p

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!

This was my third venture into H.P. Lovecraft and I got to say I was surprised, in a good way that is. I found out later that this selection contains much of Lovecraft's stories that were inspired by Lord Dunsany's fantasy work. I would describe several stories in this collection to be under the category of dark fantasy, heavily delving into the mythos, and I don't exaggerate on the heavy. Over everything, I'm just impressed with the breath and depth of the mythos that Lovecraft has created. For being novellas/short stories there is a grand epicness to them. I must also commend this particular selection since many of the stories take place in Lovecraft's Dream Cycle world. This means that the further you read into the book the more you notice certain figures and locations reappearing; thus you get a sense of this immense shared universe.

As I mentioned beforehand Lovecraft put a lot of effort and time into the worldbuilding and while I consider this a plus it could be a double edged sword. Due to the sheer amount of detail these stories can come off as dense, which could be a turn off for several other readers. Even when reading this collection I made sure to take my time. His stories weren't even meant to be read all in one go. I would NOT recommend this particular collection for anyone who is wanting to get into Lovecraft for the first time. Once you get acclimated to his writing style and decide that it's for you then I would say go ahead and try these stories out, especially if you want to delve into his more fantastical stuff.
I'm very much looking forward to the next collection I have from him and delving even further in my Lovecraft journey!

[Danielle]

A collection of 21 short stories ranging from about 4 pages to 100+. In his shorter stories he does a good job of not getting lost in overly describing surroundings or what creatures look like and I appreciated that. It’s like instead of accidentally describing something in a way that may not be creepy, he lets us fill in the blanks ourselves. But he lays more heavily into description the longer the story is. He works well in the vibes of “did I just see/hear/feel what I thought I did?” Sometimes his characters will have full on encounters with other worlds or creatures for months or years and come back to this world/plane and have no proof that they’d really gone anywhere and are left to wonder if they really had that experience at all. If you’re looking for some spooky/maybe gothic vibes or some cosmic horror that make you question reality you might look into this one or another collection of his.

[Timár_Krisztina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A három kötetről egyetlen blogbejegyzést írtam.

Hogy a francba tudta azt megcsinálni ez a melankolikus-savanyú képű, karótnyelt figura abban a rövidke földi életében, hogy a rasszista, soviniszta, mindenfób zártságot sugárzó írásai abszolút kompatibilisek legyenek a XXI. századdal? Hogy újraolvashatókká, sőt folytathatókká is váljanak? Ehhez nem elég jól írni tudni. (Márpedig ő tudott.) Ehhez nem elég talán még az a következetesen és hatásosan felépített magánmitológiája se, amelyikért annyi ismerősöm rajong, és minden második héten szembejön a közösségi oldalakon, hogy már valósággal röstellem, ha én nem tudom, melyik név/szállóige pontosan honnan való. (Most már tudni fogom.) Mitől olyan vagányak ezek a szövegek? No és mit adhatnak személy szerint nekem, akinek az identitásának a tipikus Lovecraft-főhősökétől számított távolsága a Makó meg a Jeruzsálem esetét idézi?

Irtó sokat.

https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This bits that are like Kafka are great and the bits that are like Poe make me sigh and groan and drool while my brain decays from inactivity. Yeah, REAL creepy... but if you like Poe, you probably like those bits too. In-between, there are many very interesting things going on, and it's really quite enjoyable to read something just totally wild and structureless and make-believe. It's refreshing to read something steeped in it's own mythology rather than one based entirely on existing ideas - a bit like an evil opposite Tolkien with a goatee from a strange other dimension - but for the same reason I'm not sure if I'd recommend some of the stories in this collection to everyone. You could probably get the same inventiveness and throughline in "Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" from a child, and I see that as a good thing, but it could be insufferable to someone else.

[Tamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this was unsettling. Beautifully written and full of fantastic imagery, it is unsettling because it reinforces your own triviality on every page. To Lovecraft, mankind (consumed with earthly concerns and blinded to the cosmos by petty distractions) is an irrelevant component of something much larger and much more real than our perceptions can detect. The man really does like cats though.

[Geovanna Reis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tirando o conto principal e a A coisa na soleira da porta, todos os outros contos são muito chatos. Não senti medo em nada e tudo era uma variação da mesma coisa. Fora o fato de depois que você conhece a história do autor, você vê nas entrelinhas todo o racismo e misoginia despejada na narrativa.

[Teresa Barrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great audiobook listen. Perfect for autumn and around Halloween.