The Colour Out of Space: Tales of Cosmic Horror by Lovecraft, Blackwood, Machen, Poe, and Other Masters of the Weird

by Douglas Thin (Editor), Walter de la Mare, H.P. Lovecraft

"The true weird tale has something more than a secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains. An atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; a hint of that most terrible conception of the human brain--a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space." --H. P. Lovecraft
This new collection features some of the greatest masters of extreme terror, among them Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Bram Stoker, and Henry James, and includes such classic works as Arthur Machen's "The White People," Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," and of course Lovecraft's own weird and hideous "The Colour Out of Space."
Contents:
Edgar Allan Poe, "MS. Found in a Bottle"
Bram Stoker, "The Squaw"
Ambrose Bierce, "Moxon's Master"
Ambrose Bierce, "The Damned Thing"
Ambrose Bierce, "An Inhabitant of Carcosa"
R. W. Chambers, "The Repairer of Reputations"
M. P. Shiel, "The House of Sounds"
Arthur Machen, "The White People"
Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows"
Henry James, "The Jolly Corner"
Walter de la Mare, "Seaton's Aunt"
H. P. Lovecraft, "The Colour Out of Space"
A Note on the Selection by D. Thin

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

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2002

Reviews

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

October 2011

Ok, so I didn't quite manage to finish this...



What? C'mon, guys, don't give me that look. Have you even read Henry James? It's like the old bastard was writing in Super English or something.



Ok, I think I struck a nerve. Look, I've never read James before. I figured reading Louis Auchincloss was enough and I could just jump right in, but I guess "The Jolly Corner" wasn't a good story to start with. Maybe I'll try something easier...if the old bastard has anything ea-



Keep away! KEEP AWWAAAAAAYYYYY



*WORDLESS SCREAM*



FOOLISH MORTALS WOULD BE WISE TO PERUSE THIS COLLECTION OF COSMIC HORROR STORIES SELECTED BY THE GREAT DOUGLAS THIN AND PUBLISHED BY THE MAJESTIC NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS. IT CONTAINS MANY INFORMATIVE WORKS OF WEIRD FICTION BY SUCH WRITERS AS POE, AMBROSE BIERCE (WHO WROTE THREE STORIES INCLUDED HEREIN, AS HE IS OUR FAVORITE SERVANT), ROBERT W. CHAMBERS (WHOSE TALE "THE REPAIRER OF REPUTATIONS" IS A MUST-READ FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SERVE THE DARK), M. P. SHIEL (WHOSE USE OF THE PHRASE 'YELLING PLANET' IN HIS STORY "THE HOUSE OF SOUNDS" HAS TICKLED OUR INSIDE PARTS), WALTER DE LA MARE, ARTHUR MACHEN, HENRY JAMES (WHOSE STORY IS VERY, VERY GOOD, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE FRAIL HUMAN SAID BEFORE WE TOOK HIM), H. P. LOVECRAFT, AND ALGERNON BLACKWOOD. THE FINAL AUTHOR WROTE THE STORY "THE WILLOWS," WHICH JACOB FAILED TO READ AS WELL. HE IS A VERY NAUGHTY BOY AND SHALL BE PUNISHED.

FOOLISH MORTALS WITH LIBRARIAN STATUS WOULD ALSO DO WELL TO FIX THE INFORMATION ON THIS BOOK'S MAIN PAGE, AS IT IS 368 PAGES LONG AND NOT 250 AS LISTED. DISREGARD THE PREVIOUS REQUEST, AS A FOOLISH MORTAL AS KINDLY FIXED THE ERROR.

FOOLISH MORTALS ARE AGAIN ADVISED TO READ THIS BOOK AND TO SALUTE THE DARK.

THAT IS ALL.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Colour Out of Space: Tales of Cosmic Horror by Lovecraft, Blackwood, Machen, Poe, and Other Masters of the Weird, edited by D. Thin. 2002.

This is an anthology of cosmic horror tales, which includes short stories from many of the foundational authors of the genre.

Here is the table of contents (I added the publication years as these were omitted in the text but I think they are important to know):

MS. Found in a Bottle by Edgar Allan Poe (1833).
The Squaw by Bram Stoker (1893).
Moxon's Master by Ambrose Bierce (1899).
The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce (1893).
An Inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce (1886).
The Repairer of Reputations by R. W. Chambers (1895).
The House of Sounds by M. P. Shiel (1911).
The White People by Arthur Machen (1904).
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood (1907).
The Jolly Corner by Henry James (1908).
Seaton's Aunt by Walter de la Mare (1923).
The Colour Out of Space by H. P. Lovercraft (1927).

My approach to reading this particular anthology was to limit myself to one story per day, even though several of the stories were quite short. This gave me time to sit with each story after reading it rather than plowing through the entire anthology. This worked well for me. It allowed the uncanny nature of the tales to percolate in my subconscious.

As with most anthologies, some stories hit home more than others. My personal favorites were Bierce's Moxon's Master and The Damned Thing, R. W. Chambers' The Repairer of Reputations, Arthur Machen's The White People, Algernon Blackwood's The Willows, and the titular Lovecraft story (which was the only one from the collection I had previously read), The Colour Out of Space. My least favorite was The Jolly Corner by Henry James. I really had to push myself to finish that one. Which was surprising to me because I've seen it positively reviewed across multiple sources.

I definitely want to read more Bierce, Chambers, Machen and Blackwood. I've been reading Lovecraft since I was young. This collection is essentially authors he referenced in his essays and other literary criticism as some of his main influences. After reading this selection, I can see why.

[Xisix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satisfying collection of strange tales.

[K. T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it is good, The Colour out of Space, I mean. It is a tale about the way that things are, in my opinion. It is just not as fantastic as many other of Lovecraft's stories, and so it leaves you a little cold, and not too inspired. In social psychological terms, it is basically focused on how people relate to disease, hopelessly terminal disease especially, and death. It really has its moments. The core part is the commentary on theology, in my opinion, where quite a different view of things is presented. I call it the core part because it sums things up, and not because it is so necessarily the most well-written part.

As for The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, it was very entertaining, for sure, not equally memorable however. It did not leave me with a feeling or insight that I have kept with me for long, and I can say that even more certainly since half a year has passed since I finished it. It was never foreign to me, the idea that nature, even plants, are alive. But it is the kind of story that you just want to go on reading because it is well told, and because it brings interesting psychological perspectives to the forefront. The interaction between the two main characters, especially, was intriguing, and the whole scenario reminded me of trips I have been on myself. The fact that one of them is a Swede struck me. "What, a Swede, a kinsman of mine, in a book by an Englishman? Hm..."

(Date started and finished reading are not exact. I am only recalling it roughly, and it only applies to the stories that I read around that time in 2024. I started on another one, by Arthur Machen I think, in between reading Lovecraft's and Blackwood's contributions, but I only read the beginning of it. Another thing as well is that the book contains notes or short bibliographies on the authors, some of which seemed to be rather well written, providing interesting facts, although I cannot vouch for their accuracy.)

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Javier Marin]

dnf

[Unwisely · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not really into horror. Or scary things. One of the last scary books I read was Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders like 12 years ago and I didn't sleep for about a week afterwards. (And called up friends at 2 AM when I heard noises.) After that, I pretty much stopped even trying. But I thought HP Lovecraft might not scare me they way, say,Stephen King does. I picked this book up because the title story was recommended as a story that was easy for new readers. (Apparently the rest of the mythos is all intertwined and is less accessible.)

Anyway, this was a collection of short stories. The title story (which was last) was a lot more readable than I would have expected, considering how long ago it was written - the vocabulary was a lot more extensive than I usually encounter (I went to the dictionary a few times), but the style was readable. (As opposed to some arctic books from the 1940's I tried to read that I just found completely frustrating.)

Unfortunately, that wasn't true for all of them. After I enjoyed the Lovecraft, I decided to start at the beginning. I got through the Poe, and was mostly confused by what I was supposed to be scared of. (Apparently the possibility that there were holes in the poles where the water went in was a viable theory at the time. (I refuse to spoiler a 150 year old story.))

There was a pretty readable and plausible story by Bram Stoker, then three very short stories by Ambrose Bierce. The latter weren't exactly scary, but interesting and not bad. (Wikipedia added immensely to my enjoyment of "An Inhabitant of Carcosa"; I had no idea it was so influential. Then came two stories that I slogged through and didn't particularly like, and the one that utterly defeated me. All in all I missed 3.5 out of 12 stories (but they were about a third of the book).

Sort of historically interesting but I can't recommend the effort.

[Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Burns cover! Only read three of the stories, Machen's "The White People", Chambers' "The Repairer of Reputations", and Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space".

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This contains the unsettling story, The White People; a story I've not seen collected anywhere else.
Weird shit.

[Eric]

A great car-book to read and re-read. Multiple readings drive you deeper into the subtle, but profoundly disquieting, horror