The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft: 12 (Knickerbocker Classics)

Product Information

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. With a collection this big, I could write a full novel just summarizing the plots of each story. So instead, here are my general impressions. There's honestly so much more complexity to the Mythos than I ever expected and I love it so much! I can't wait to take a deeper dive into what other writers have added to the Mythos over the years. All these things really have little to do with actually reviewing the written content within, but I feel that is unnecessary here. Save it for smaller compilations. The Thing In The Moonlight, Horror in the Museum, Poetry and the Gods, and In the Walls of Eryx are mentioned as missing, but these are collaborations with notes on the Wikipedia bibliography.

The HPL Omnibus Collection - all stories principally attributed to Lovecraft, plus his collaborations with other authors for more than 100 stories in all. Shipped on our custom USB drive in a great new faux book

How to Listen

Missing only one Story which was "In the walls of Eryx" co-written by Lovecraft and Kenneth J. Sterling. 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.

As has been pointed out (many times, I'm certain), much of Lovecraft's work tends to ignore the character on the personal level and focus on the overarching plot, especially in the Cthulhu Mythos stories. We’ve broken the stories into a few groups based on common settings or themes. There are stories set in the Dreamlands. There are stories that directly feature the “Cthulhu Mythos”. There are stories that are very science oriented, and some that are classic tales of horror. And there are a number of miscellaneous, juvenile, or shorter tales that don’t really fit any of these categories, all of which have a certain amount of overlap. They were, instead, the letters of our familiar alphabet, spelling out the words of the English language in my own handwriting."

SAMPLES

Many have learned from H.P. Lovecraft and tried to imitate his genius, but the hypnotic stories in LOVECRAFT TALES remain supreme and a continuing inspiration for both readers and creators of modern supernatural fiction. Wentworth's Day (1957), The Gable Window (1957), and The Horror From The Middle Span (1967) are mentioned as missing but these are not included on the bibliography list on Wikipedia, but are actually written by August Derleth anyway. The only thing I have noticed is that under the Juvenilia section of the Wikipedia bibliography is that it lists The Haunted House, John, the Detective, The Noble Eavesdropper, and The Picture. These are not in the volume under main fiction or the Juvenilia appendix - but on Wikipedia is says these are unpublished anyway. The stories are arranged alphabetically but I couldn't find a proper Table of Contents so I've included one below : The Nameless City: First appearance of the famous “unexplainable couplet of the mad poet Abdul Alhazred”: That is not dead which can eternal lie,

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. 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. In the story, the evil creature that haunts the church can't function except in complete darkness (hence the story's title), so it kind of reminded me of the vampire novels I've been reading recently. I'm unaware of Lovecraft ever writing about vampires, so I guess this is as close as it gets. It follows his common theme of deep time and elder gods, with a little bit of a twist that most of his stories have. It does, however, include Through the Gates of the Silver Key which was in fact a collaboration with E. Hoffman Price, and Under the Pyramids which was a collaboration with Harry Houdini.I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale,” writes Stephen King. Neil Gaiman declares, “H.P. Lovecraft built the stage on which most of the last century's horror fiction was performed.” 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. 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. While this is contrary to what modern readers will likely have experienced, in Lovecraft's style it actually works surprisingly well.