From Beyond

by H.P. Lovecraft

"From Beyond" is a short story by science fiction and horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in 1920 and was first published in The Fantasy Fan in June 1934 (Vol. 1, No. 10).

The story is told from the first person perspective of an unnamed narrator and details his experiences with a scientist named Crawford Tillinghast. Tillinghast creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person’s pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality.

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

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1934

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

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hail to those visionaries of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century who invented highly sophisticated machines propelling them to a time or space beyond the boundaries of everyday experience. For such explorers, science and technology were a kind of primordial fire lighting the way to unlock the mysteries of the universe.

And where do we find these bold, eccentric adventurers? Why, of course – in books! For example, we have the English scientist in H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine who ventures into the future, the French madman in Jean Richepin’s The Metaphysical Machine exploring cosmic truth via excruciating pain, and, not to be outdone, in H.P. Lovecraft’s 1920 tale From Beyond, we have American philosophic mad-scientist, Crawford Tillinghast.

Lovecraft’s gothic tale of horror is told by an unnamed first-person narrator, a friend of Crawford Tillinghast. And the narrator begins by telling us while paying a visit to his friend’s laboratory, Tillinghast bemoaned the constricting limitations of our meager five senses and went on to say how he was on the verge of a breakthrough. What kind of breakthrough, we might ask? Tillinghast explains how he has constructed a wave-generating machine that will awaken dormant human capacities to gaze at the full range of the cosmos. Sound crazy? It is crazy! And the narrator tells his friend what he thinks of such a project. Tillinghast responds by kicking him out.

Ten weeks later, when a desire to share his discoveries overcame his bitterness, Tillinghast invites the narrator to return. Upon entering the house, the narrator discovers his much-transformed friend: Tillinghast has a shaky, ghoul-like frame, a squeaky, high-pitched voice and is forever muttering to himself. After following this wasted specter of a man up the stairs by candlelight (Tillinghast tells him having the electricity on would create too much of a disturbance) and entering the laboratory, he is directed by his bony friend to take a seat next to the glowing machine. Meanwhile, Tillinghast sits directly opposite, face-to-face and uncomfortably close. The narrator remains still and after some moments begins to see a series of fantastic phantasms and astonishing visions.

The visions intensify and at one point the narrator relates, “Indescribable shapes both alive and otherwise were mixed in disgusting disarray, and close to every known thing were whole worlds of alien, unknown entities. It likewise seemed that all the known things entered into the composition of other unknown things and vice versa. Foremost among the living objects were inky, jellyfish monstrosities which flabbily quivered in harmony with the vibrations from the machine. They were present in loathsome profusion, and I saw to my horror that they overlapped; that they were semi-fluid and capable of passing through one another and through what we know as solids. These things were never still, but seemed ever floating about with some malignant purpose. Sometimes they appeared to devour one another, the attacker launching itself at its victim and instantaneously obliterating the latter from sight.”

More horrific beings are seen and the narrator’s living nightmare is punctuated by Tillinghast’s voice commenting on the monstrous apparitions and conveying the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of all the servants. So much for relaying the details of this tale. I hope my brief review has piqued your interest in this Lovecraft story. To find out what happens next and the entire sequence of events, please read for yourself.

For me, what gives this tale a decided eeriness is speculation about the fullness of space isn’t the exclusive domain of science-fiction. I recall listening to one yogi trained in the esoteric Tibetan Buddhist tradition speak of exactly this phenomenon: unseen beings from a parallel dimension inhabiting our space. He went on to say how, by our good fortune, we can’t see them, since, if we did see them, we would all be driven crazy. All one need do is read passages from the Bardo Thodol (usually translated as The Tibetan Book of the Dead to get a flavor for what the yogi was talking about. Also, there are the discoveries of quantum physics: spatial realities beyond our familiar three-dimensions.

You can read many stories about multiple facets of space, but you will not encounter any more gripping than this H.P. Lovecraft’s tale.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Lovecraft had difficulty placing this story in a magazine (written in 1920, it was first published fourteen years later in The Fantasy Fan), I find it to be one of my favorites of his early stories, right up there with "Dagon" (1917) and "The Cats of Ulthar" (1920).

It is certainly a well-crafted story, but the reason I like it so much is that it develops a theme which fascinated me when I was a geeky adolescent (and still fascinates me, now that I am a geeky adult): the idea that the world we humans see is circumscribed by our organs of perception, and that other differently constituted organs—more sensitive to detail, wider in scope—could reveal to us countless phenomena of which we are now unaware.

Crawford Tillinghast, described as a “man of feeling and action" who “mistakenly” studies science and philosophy—fields that should be reserved for “the frigid and impersonal investigator"—has devised an “accursed electrical machine” that opens him up to a whole new range of perceptions. And that machine has had a marked effect on his mental attitude. Previously--as his old friend the narrator tells us--Tillinghast had chased all visitors from his home (and his machine), but now he has invited his old friend for a visit, to observe the sights and sounds generated by his experimental device. The story itself is a record of the visit the narrator to Tillinghast's home, and of the experiences he encountered there.

Another thing I like about the story is its feeling of local color, for it is set in Lovecraft’s native Providence. Tillinghast is a prominent Providence family name and his house is located on Benevolent Street, a fine old boulevard of ancient homes on Providence’s East Side. (H.P. suggests that East Providence may be the sort of place where people get their wallets stolen. He should know: the house of C.M. Eddy, a close friend Lovecraft often visited, was located on the "sketchy" East Side.)

[Jerry Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such brevity, much wow.

Perfect primer material for Stranger Things season 2.

Written in the familiar first person perspective, From Beyond is an aftermath inside report on an unexplainable ghastly incident. Story's unnamed narrator (surprisingly reliable) is invited over by his then best friend and now mad scientist, Tillinghast who claims to have developed a means to percieve realities which otherwise are outside the scope of our sensory faculties. Tillinghast's 'Resonator' is basically Lovecraft's Baumoff Explosive, maybe a tonned down version with limited influence. From there on, as expected, things go south.

The setting and style are familiar, though maybe a little less baroque than usual works in terms of detailing. It was in a way reminiscent of Chambers King of Yellow story premises, where over curious individuals descent into seclusion and madness over unfathomable mysteries. Tillinghast was Providence's Hououin Kyouma (or maybe, Rick), much like his counterparts from Pickman's model or Cool Air or Alchemist. Story's upside down hidden reality could actually be stretched to all the portal stories this might have inspired, from The Colour out of Space to Event Horizon to Stranger Things.

Freshly brewed in excitement, I sat through the movie adaptation ignoring every negative review. It was old school, cliche filled and far fetched in horror genre with terrible cgi and 80s gory prosthetics. Everyone had a Miskatonic connection and were as terrible in science as they were in acting. And surprisingly or rather conveniently, the upside down entities were perpetually pervaded for some reason, with the primordial instinct to molest the only female character in, what I believe, eldritch style. Also the black guy dies first.

I just needed to vent about the movie somewhere; the short story on the other hand is a solid reco.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful short that's a perfect distillation of what HPL is all about. If you've never read anything by him before, this is a great start, and won't take more than 15 minutes!

[Andrei Vasilachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"That Crawford Tillinghast should ever have studied science and philosophy was a mistake. These things should be left to the frigid and impersonal investigator, for they offer two equally tragic alternatives to the man of feeling and action; despair if he fail in his quest, and terrors unutterable and unimaginable if he succeed. Thillingast had once been the prey of failure, solitary and melancholy; but now I knew, with nauseating fears of my own, that he was the prey of success." (The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, p. 131)

When you were a kid, were you afraid of darkness? Did you ever think that there could be someone in that darkness, someone that breathes on your shoulder without you feeling a thing? I sure did. Lovecraft captured this creepy feeling in this short story about a scientist (Thillingast) that lost his mind after he found "a way to break down the barriers" between this world and "the beyond" by building a machine which lets you see ultra-violet waves and other weird shit (at times it seems a description of a LSD trip gone bad). Hmm, now that I think about it, it reminds me of Stranger Things (a show on Netflix), which may have been inspired by Lovecraft. Also, apparently a (B-rated) sci-fi movie (with the same name) was made in the 80's based on this story.

This story is fantasy horror, but it has bits of what I call "speculative truth" that makes it so much creepier. If it was all just fantasy it wouldn't have the same effect, and that's why I think Lovecraft is in a league of his own. He's able to transport you in a fantasy world which could hypothetically—if you suspend your scientific mind for a moment—exist.

Here's Thillingast's ramblings on the nature of our limited senses (on which even the famous philosopher Descartes once spoke about):

"What do we know ... of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with a wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which we lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have." (p. 132)

I particularly like this simple sentence that describes "the beyond" (how can this not give you the creeps?):

"We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight." (p. 132)

[Дарья · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Disintegration is quite painless, I assure you—but I want you to see them. I almost saw them, but I knew how to stop. You are not curious? I always knew you were no scientist! Trembling, eh? Trembling with anxiety to see the ultimate things I have discovered? Why don’t you move, then? Tired? Well, don’t worry, my friend, for they are coming. . . . Look! Look, curse you, look! . . . It’s just over your left shoulder. . . .”


It is incredibly astonishing how H.P. Lovecraft can create something as striking in just few pages.

[Pardis Ahmadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest short novels by Lovecraft… let’s let’s group-dream about it

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last time the narrator saw his friend Crawford Tillinghast was when Tillinghast threw him out of his home for not being supportive enough. Later, the same man seemed to get to his senses and asked the narrator to visit him again.

From Beyond is an interesting, short story. It might have been better if it had been longer. Science and philosophy should be left, according to the narrator, to the impersonal because 'they offer two equally tragic alternatives to the man of feeling and action: despair if he fail in his quest, and terrors unutterable and unimaginable if he succeed.'
It seems that Crawford Tillinghast succeeded in his quest. He built a machine that could show the world beyond ordinary human senses and decided that the narrator should see that world too.

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still trying to figure out what distinguishes an HPL story I like from one I don't like. Sometimes I think it's just purely arbitrary, based on my mood, or how tired I am. With a story like this, I think it's because it represents what a good short story can do when being sharp and to the point, delivering an idea with an economy of words, which is generally anathema to HPL. He can go on, and I get why that makes many people dislike his prose. I probably have a soft spot for this one because I like the movie, in all its B-grade sumptuous glory. Whatever the reason, this is one of his better efforts.

[Ariya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning was so promising; the mad scientist with a great vision to see the alternative reality beyond the ordinary perception, then it leads to a cheap action-packed climax and fall flat to the end of nowhere.

[Stuart Coombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Lovecraft, brilliant short full of wonder dread and ingenuity

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's actually a rather enjoyable and scary tale of a mad man who attempts to breach the barrier between dimensions, and his lust for revenge once he has succeeded.

[Ⰰⱃⰿⰰⱀⰴ Ⱆⰾⰴⰵⱃⰻⰽⱁ Ⱅⰵⱄⰾⰰ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zagrebačka naklada
Zagreb, 2012.
Preveo Toni Golub
U sklopu korica "Kroz dveri snova".
Radi se o kratkoj priči.
Jezik je tipična lofkratiština, unutar žanrovskih okvira weird fictiona s dodirom horrora, fokus na sadržaju i na stvaranju larpurlartističnosti putem uvođenja primordijalne arhitekture ili demonskih stvorenja. Prethodna rečenica je u biti više opis općenito Lovecraftova opusa na način što u ovoj konkretnoj priči ne nailazimo na afekt očuđenja putem sadržajnih odrednica u vidu primordijalne arhitekture.
Lovecraft u ovoj priči iznosi teozofsko-antiscijenističko-okultno gledište u kojem dva lika spoznaju da postoji jako puno dimenzija u odnosu na ovaj oblik bivstvovanja, shvaćaju da je sve ono što gledaju samo djelić onoga što jest.
"Iznenada, ja osobno postadoh zaposjednut nekom vrstom proširenog vida. Iznad i preko sjajnoga i nejasnoga kaosa uzdigao se prikaz koji je, iako nejasan, sadržavao elemente dosljednosti i nepromjenjivosti. Bio je uistinu nešto poznat, jer je neobičan prikaz bio postavljen preko uobičajenih zemaljskih kulisa kao što se kinematografska zraka može baciti na obojani zastor kazališta. Vidjeh tavanski laboratorij, električni stroj, i nakazni oblik Tillinghasta nasuprot mene; ali od svega prostora neokupiranog poznatim materijalnim predmetima nijedna čestica ne bijaše prazna. Neopisivi oblici, i živi i ne toliko živi, bili su pomiješani u odvratnome neredu. Blizu svakoj poznatoj stvari postojali su cijeli svjetovi stranih, neznanih entiteta. Također se činilo da su sve poznate stvari zalazile u sastav drugih nepoznatih stvari, i obrnuto. Ponajprije, između živih predmeta sad su milile ogromne, masne želetinaste čudovišnosti koje su mlitavo drhturile u skladu s vibracijama iz stroja. Bile su prisutne u strahovitim količinama, te vidjeh na moj užas da se preklapaju; bile su polutekuće i sposobne proći jedna kroz drugu i kroz ono što mi poznajemo kao čvrste stvari. Te stvari nisu nikada mirne, već kao da vazda plutaju s nekakvom zloćudnom svrhom."
David Icke je samo ovostoljetna verzija teozofskih stremljenja iz devetnaestog stoljeća. U biti u ovoj priči suočavanje s četvrtom dimenzijom se događa tako što jedan lik izmisli stroj koji isijava takav tip zračenja koji djeluje na epifizu. Epifiza djeluje daleko više nego što službena dogma želi priznati. Ovaj opis razlomljavanja i pretakanja stvari, viđenja sitnih čestica podsjeća na opis korisnika halucinantnih droga. Jedna osoba mi je vrlo slične scene ispričala kada je uzela takva sredstva.
Uvijek sam skeptičan prema dosezanju drugih svjetova putem droga, više mislim da je meditacija i udaljavanje od konzumacija svih fizičkih stvari (iće i piće) način susreta s bogovima.
Droga je način kontrole ljudi, kao i hiperseksualnost. Seksualna revolucija je bila nevjerojatan zamah totalitarizmu liberalizma i uvođenju diktature ljudskih prava. Napaljeni i nadrogirani pojedinci koji misle da su time slobodni ne mogu biti veći robovi. Babilon je jako lukav. Istina je laž, sloboda je ropstvo i rat je mir. Ustinu. No, opet skrećem s djela.
I zašto ova priča nije u čitankama? Zato jer ovo obrazovanje ne želi stvoriti kritičke ljude. Zato jer je cilj ovog obrazovanja stvoriti ovce, uglavnom dva krda, nacionalističke budale ili feminističke kretenuše. Lovecraft bi trebao biti u čitankama, ovakva štiva su idealna i za razvoj ljubavi prema čitanju, pogotovo za niže razrede srednje. Ali, zato djeca čitaju "Zlatarovo govno" i "Posljednji Luzerčići".
Ukratko, nemojte se previše brinuti oko četvrte dimenzije, pa to su gluposti. Pametnije je tvrditi kako su ljudi za vrijeme kralja Tomislava na ovim prostorima sebe nazivali Hrvatima ili da je normalno da su dvije lezbijke u braku ili da dva pedera odgajau djecu ili da je Tuđman stvorio ovu državu.
Moš mislit.
Evo jedna za nacionaliste i feminiskinje, neka znaju di im je mjesto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q954L...
Hasta luego!

[Montserrat♨️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble!, este relato me hipnotizo, sentí girar el espacio y lo sentí cobrar las formas descritas mientras leía. Es toda una experiencia, en verdad léanlo, y háganlo a conciencia, representense las facciones del fanático Tillinghast, y asuman la parálisis que el protagonista, a fin de conseguir el efecto, realmente disfrutable, que este texto es capaz de ofrecer.
Otro de mis favoritos, de la vida.

[Tinka · Rating 3 out of 5]

H.P Lovecraft's Multiverse of Madness. Kind of.

This short story is about a (mad) scientist who discovers how to switch between multiple dimensions, what he didn't expect however is that something can come through from the other side as well.

It's fine. That's basically my opinion. I think this could've been a longer story overall because the concept of the multiverse was definitely not as overdone as it is today, but it also works like this.

[Mika · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beyond conception was what changed Crawford Tillinghast's perception of the world.

The unreliable narrator, the mad scientist and his friend as well as the creepy aspect of seeing things no one else sees made me really love this story. All these elements blended in so perfectly. Not only were I horrified by what seeing beyond would do to the human psyche, I also chuckled by the madness of the scientist.

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It sounds like Crawford was using X-rays (discovered in 1895). Ouch!

[Serge Cruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness.”
And now I’ve got to watch the 80’s movie

[Noot Noot · Rating 4 out of 5]

H. P. Lovecraft is an artist when it comes to prose and setting the atmosphere. This is a story from the 1920s that is timeless, mysterious and eerie. I was left with chills going down my spine.

[Gary Jaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, From Beyond.

I actually like the craft of the story. Lovecraft uses foreshadowing to build to a crescendo for his ending. He wants to creep you out by dropping blood-soaked breadcrumbs that distract and compel you to keep going. The secret is the reason for the horror that was revealed, and how it was accomplished. Telling you early on that the host scientist Tillinghast was…

"It is not pleasant to see a stout man suddenly grown thin, and it is even worse when the baggy skin becomes yellowed or greyed, the eyes sunken, circled, and uncannily glowing, the forehead veined and corrugated, and the hands tremulous and twitching. And if added to this there be a repellent unkemptness; a wild disorder of dress, a bushiness of dark hair white at the roots, and an unchecked growth of pure white beard on a face once clean-shaven, the cumulative effect is quite shocking."

Lovecraft was intentional in this intentionally tight little story. Presumably, Lovecraft, in a reasonably quick fashion, wanted to pen something very short to send off to a publisher to earn some needed funds. Which is perhaps why Lovecraft didn’t drag it out. Perhaps he was told that it had to be a certain fixed number of words to be published, thus explaining why he did not build it out in a longer and more leisurely fashion.

Telling us early on the changes in Tillinghast was just a very overt breadcrumb to get us wondering what brought about those changes. Letting us know that the narrator was risking the same fate, perhaps if he too got seduced into staying too long and learning too much.

The setup of who Tillinghast was and offering hints as to why he slipped into that dreadful state that the narrator describes was classic Lovecraft. Those who seek knowledge will often succumb to dreadful secrets that we mere mortals, and mere little humans were not made to be able to accept.

"That Crawford Tillinghast should ever have studied science and philosophy was a mistake. These things should be left to the frigid and impersonal investigator, for they offer two equally tragic alternatives to the man of feeling and action; despair if he fail in his quest, and terrors unutterable and unimaginable if he succeed. Tillinghast had once been the prey of failure, solitary and melancholy; but now I knew, with nauseating fears of my own, that he was the prey of success."

Brilliant Lovecraft to tell us that to fail in this ‘quest’ into the darkness of knowledge would either lead to despair if we cannot wrest the secrets from that darkness or if we succeed, well that, according to Lovecraft, was the real horror. To learn what we should not bring on “terrors unutterable and unimaginable”. Ignorance is not only bliss it saves us from madness at best or death, most horrible at worst. Tillinghast was tormented by failure and just couldn’t leave it alone. He became, in a wonderfully telling turn of phrase: “prey to success.”

Lovecraft was amazingly insightful. He knew that science would take many years to realize that our conception and perception of reality is an interactive process. We do not passively experience the world around us, but we participate in that experience. Lovecraft brilliantly realized that through evolution, we were shaped to experience the world in very specific ways and that those senses were crafted in such a way as to carefully limit what we can perceive. All of the animal kingdom experiences a world directly different than ours due to how they evolved.
“What do we know,” he had said, “of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with a wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have."

For example, take Ed Young’s new book: An Immense World. Here is that book’s blurb, which may lack Lovecraft’s Cosmic Horror prose style but hints at the exact same thing as the prior quote.

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.

Tillinghast's machine only does, or so he thinks – as Lovecraft craftily only gives us a mere hint of its actual abilities, that machine “will generate waves acting on unrecognized sense-organs that exist in us as atrophied or rudimentary vestiges.” Lovecraft, in a brilliant easter egg of a joke, chooses the pineal gland to be the organ that, when stimulated by the device, can reveal what is beyond the ordinary. Clearly, choosing that very organ that Rene Descartes picked to explain how the mind and the body can interact.

Lovecraft, in another Easter egg, used Fredrick Nietzsche’s aphorism to be the key to Tillinghast’s machine’s true ability. “He who fights with monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146.

The abyss that lies beyond us all can, with the aid of science, crawl up and join us. So, this tightly written cautionary tale from Lovecraft tries to teach us that we need to stay within our sandbox and not venture out of it. For if we do, then terrors unutterable and unimaginable, which are always there outside of our small ordinary sensory range, will come out from beyond.

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the movie. Loved the story. And now I've found that one of my beloved childhood comics, Tintin, will be exploring the Wonderful World of Lovecraft. Oh, R'lyeh!

[Ameera Talal · Rating 5 out of 5]

" I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness. . . . Space belongs to me, do you hear?"

The temptation of greatness and power beyond any imaginable magnitude can doubtlessly lead to other incomprehensible worlds, such as what happened to Tillinghast, the mad scientist. A gothic, dark and beautiful story.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para-psychology has never been so fun before. Oh and out there too! Highly recommend this to fans of pulp horror. The movie version was even better.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic horror tale of technology going too far and revealing terrible things that were never meant to be seen by human eyes. Once you see them, they’ll haunt you until your mind snaps.

[G♥️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

First scary tale that I like of this author. I’m not an expert neither but I was really into the story that I got shivers. I was absolutely frightened

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dangerous Technology
21 Aug 2022 – Liege

I was hoping to finish another book that I was reading, but alas that was not to be the case, but then again I had spent yesterday catching up with some friends. As such, I decided to read another Lovecraft short story (and there certainly are quite a few of them), and am currently sitting on the train waiting to leave (which it has now done).

Well, this story is about a scientist (no doubt a mad scientist) who has invented a machine that not only allows us to perceive other planes of existence but to also transport people back and forth. When he activates the machine the narrator discovers that the inhabitants of these other planes aren’t actually all that nice, and the scientist proceeds to tell him that he has transferred his servants over, but they were attacked and killed by these creatures.

This sounds like one of those anti-technology types of stories, though Lovecraft does have a point that while we humans are pretty smart, and that we have created some wonderful things, there is a serious issue that a lot of these things have some nasty side-effects. For instance, consider our need for electricity and the fact that to produce this electricity we need to dig up resources and pollute the planet in doing so. What is doubly worrying is that there isn’t actually enough lithium present to produce the number of batteries that we need. Oh, and the process to extract lithium isn’t all that environmentally friendly as well.

This story is an exaggeration of this dilemma. Here the scientist wants to be able to perceive and access the dimensions that we normal humans aren’t usually able to perceive. He also wants to be able to travel back and forth between them, but what we know is that these dimensions are inhabited by some rather nasty entities, that could just as easily be released into our world to pretty much destroy the human race. The end is also rather interesting, firstly I note that the police don’t ask about the missing servants, which suggests that while the narrator is a person of concern, the servants are simply expendable. Finally, the doctors suggest that the narrator was simply hypnotised, which seems to indicate that most people simply want to ignore the strange and macabre.

[Scott Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness.”

Scientist Crawford Tillinghast creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person's pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality. These planes of existence are home to hordes of horrific creatures that defy description. However the window that allows us to view them is open on both sides and the unspeakable horrors are looking upon us with similar disgust.

The story is told by a first persons perspective by an unnamed narrator a trope that Lovecraft uses so well to drop us the reader right into the tale. I loved the mad scientist aspect and the overlapping inter dimensional existence of this other world makes it feel more horrific. Not describing the creatures but leaving it to the readers own thoughts of the most horrific vision is also something dreadfully scary and what I love about a lot of Lovecrafts work.

[Tea & Gemimah Read Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Beyond is basically what happens when a science experiment forgets it’s supposed to stop at “mildly unethical.” It’s short, fast, and absolutely drenched in that deliciously unhinged Lovecraft energy. Top to tail all vibrating airwaves, unseen dimensions, and the kind of glowing horrors you regret perceiving five seconds too late.

The premise is classic: an inventor builds a machine that lets you see what normally can’t be seen, and it turns out the universe is way too crowded for comfort. It’s one of those stories where the true moral is “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” The pacing is tight, the narration unravels nicely, and the ending lands with a satisfying thud of cosmic “I told you so.”

It’s quick, creepy, and reads like a fever dream narrated by your most deranged science teacher. A compact little gem of existential panic.

Listen to the audio reading for free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm4UW...

[Carlos J. Eguren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crawford Tillinghast ha creado una máquina capaz de expandir la percepción sensorial y permitir a los seres humanos captar aquello que está más allá de nuestra realidad... con catastróficos resultados. De mis favoritos no solo por su atmósfera, sino también por su premisa y las ideas que baraja sobre los peligros de llegar a captar aquello que no deberíamos jamás ver.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is so short, so hard to judge and make an opinion. The story wasn't really for me though, since I'm not very into sci-fi.