Lovecraft's Fiction Volume I, 1905-1925

Lovecraft's Fiction

by H.P. Lovecraft

In the thirty years since S. T. Joshi prepared revised editions of H. P. Lovecraft's stories for Arkham House, Joshi has continued to do research on the textual accuracy of Lovecraft's stories, and this comprehensive new edition is the result.
For the first time, students and scholars of Lovecraft can see at a glance all the textual variants in all relevant appearances of a story-manuscript, first publication in magazines, and first book publications. The result is an illuminating record of the textual history of the tales, along with how Lovecraft significantly revised his stories after initial publication.
The result is the definitive text of Lovecraft's fiction-an edition that supersedes all those that preceded it and should endure as the standard text of Lovecraft's stories for many years.
In this first volume, Lovecraft's earliest stories are printed in chronological order by date of writing. Included are such early triumphs as -Dagon- and -The Outsider, - along with the many tales Lovecraft wrote under the inspiration of Lord Dunsany. The celebrated -Herbert West-Reanimator- and -The Rats in the Walls- show Lovecraft experimenting with longer narratives-a tendency that will culminate in the novelettes and novellas of his final decade of writing.

Genres: Horror, Ebooks, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy

375 pages, ebook

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

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories are pretty good. Enjoyed it.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

the Beast in the Cave ****
the Alchemist ****
the Tomb ****
Dagon ****
A Reminiscence of Dr Samuel Johnson ****
Sweet Ermengarde, or, the Heart of a Country Girl ****
Dream Cycle 01 Polaris ****
the Green Meadow ****
Beyond the Wall of Sleep ****
Memory ****
Old Bugs ****
the Transition of Juan Romero ****
Dream Cycle 02 the White Ship ****
Dream Cycle 03 the Doom That Came to Sarnath ****
Randolph Carter 01 the Statement of Randolph Carter ****
the Terrible Old Man ****
the Tree ****
Dream Cycle 04 the Cats of Ulthar ****
the Temple ****
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family ****
the Street ****
Poetry and the Gods ****
Dream Cycle 05 Celephais ****
From Beyond ****
Nyarlathotep ****
the Picture in the House ****
the Crawling Chaos ****
Dream Cycle 06 Ex Oblivione ****
the Nameless City ****
Dream Cycle 07 the Quest of Iranon ****
the Moon-Bog ****
the Outsider ****
Dream Cycle 08 the Other Gods ****
the Music oF Erich Zann ****
Herbert West: Reanimator ****
Hypnos ****
Dream Cycle 09 What the Moon Brings ****
Azathoth ****
the Horror at Martin’s Beach ****
the Hound ****
the Lurking Fear ****
the Rats in the Walls ****
Randolph Carter 02 the Unnamable ****
the Loved Dead ****
the Festival ****
Under the Pyramids ****
the Shunned House ****
the Horror at Red Hook ****
He ****
In the Vault ****

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Seth Kenlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Lovecraft I've ever read. Given that this is his work sorted chronologically from 1905 yr 1925, it's a mixed bag, but mostly it's pretty amazing stuff. A few stories took me completely by surprise when the ultimate horror finally revealed itself, but others surprised me as much in their forlorn beauty. I knew Lovecraft wrote horror, but had no idea that he also wrote such rich dark fantasy, too. His descriptions of long lost and forgotten cities and castles made me want to dive head first into their worlds, if nothing else then as an RPG. Beautiful imagery, beautiful language, with such atmosphere; I just didn't expect it from the guy who everyone talks about only as the progenitor of Cthulu.

The expectation-smashing truth of Lovecraft doesn't stop there. Clearly the mythos of Cthulu has taken on a life all its own, at this point. I had heard for years that Cthulu famously began in "The Nameless City", and maybe that's true for many readers, but by the letter there's no mention of Cthulu in that story, so I was a little disappointed. Maybe once I reach Cthulu, I'll be able to go back and see his visage in earlier stories, but taking Lovecraft chronologically without any real prior knowledge, I personally see these two decades as pre-Cthulu, at least so far.

That doesn't mean these two decades are devoid of horror. I've read a few horror stories in my time, and I've seen LOTS of horror films. I am not very easily affected by fictional horrors, so it's no small feat that "The Statement of Randolph Carter" made me gasp, out loud, and stuck in my mind all night and well into the next week, when I read its final line. This is, absolutely, the best most effective horror story I've ever read. Probably, just based on its structure and technique, it's the best story in this volume, even though most of the stories are really very outstanding. If you read no other Lovecraft, at least read this "The Statement of Randolph Carter".

My first encounter with Lovecraft has been very good. There are a couple of stories that fell flat for me, but he was a working author who had to publish to get paid, and any way some people probably love even those stories. I'm looking forward to continuing with the next few decades of Lovecraft's work. and highly recommend this volume.

[Razzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovecraft's racist xenophobia runs through all of his work, but in this collection of his earlier stories, that current is not simply close to the surface, it's splashed all over the place. It's dismaying, of course, but his particular racism is both so hackneyed and so original that it's also fascinating. He has prejudiced assumptions about every single race ever, and some groups that he defines himself (his description of "Syrians" does not seem to apply to people from Syria). Anyway, it's awful but interesting.

Reading through a collection of Lovecraft's work like this also allowed me not only to see the obvious connections, but also to appreciate the breadth of his imagination. Some motifs recur over and over, but there are new surprises as well.

So if you can handle rampant racism, this is a pretty great read.

[Symmonz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so good, these older works. I only liked maybe 1 in every 10 stories. This is volume 1 of 4 in chronological order, so looking forward to reading his later stuff in the next volumes.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some real gems hiding amongst the earlier writings. Lurid, lyrical prose with loads of new words to learn. Recommended.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read to pass the time

[Steve Brooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly good stuff, some cracking and some a bit shaky.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like his ideas but not his writing. His longer stories are too long and very repetitive and a lot of his short pieces are way too short to do anything but whet the appetite.