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The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories (Penguin Modern Classics) by Lovecraft, H. P. (2003) Paperback
"The Thing on the Doorstep" is a short story written by H.P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe of horror fiction. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales.Daniel Upton, the story's narrator, begins by telling that he has killed his best friend, Edward Derby, and that he hopes his account will prove that he is not a murderer ...
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First published January 1, 1937
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About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
5,950 books19k followersHoward 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 462 reviews
June 2, 2019
"I do not know—but others have strange things to tell of Edward and Asenath Derby, and even the stolid police are at their wits’ ends to account for that last terrible visit." - H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep
I must say I am particularly drawn to this harrowing H.P. Lovecraft tale of terror first published in 1937 since the author probes deeply into the various psychological and magical dimensions of consciousness, personal identity and personality via the story’s major theme: mind-transference. Also, how the narrator, Daniel Upton, along with his friend Edward Derby plunge head first down dark pits of horror leading to the final climactic scene when Upton encounters the thing on the doorstep. But, and here’s the key point, both men's long downward spiral spanning many years is taken in numerous small steps throughout the tale’s twenty-five pages, each step occurring within a deftly created atmosphere and articulated in the author's vivid, singular language. To provide a sampling of these many haunting, Lovecraftian steps, here are my comments conjoined with a number of direct quotes, a baker’s dozen, taken from the beginning chapters:
“An only child, he had organic weaknesses which startled his doting parents and caused them to keep him closely chained to their side. He was never allowed out without his nurse, and seldom had a chance to play unconstrainedly with other children. All this doubtless fostered a strange, secretive inner life in the boy, with imagination as his one avenue of freedom” ---- Edward Derby sounds like Lovercraft himself, an only child, sickly, living in seclusion, left alone with his vivid imagination. An entire mythology of the disturbed loaner has developed in the United States over the years, a mythology fueled by the media: when there’s a violent crime its usually committed by a loner.
“About that time I had leanings toward art of a somewhat grotesque cast, and I found in this younger child a rare kindred spirit.” ---- Likewise, the narrator, Daniel Upton, has much in common with young Edward Derby revolving around the arts and literature, particularly those works and writings pertaining to the bizarre and fantastic.
“As he grew to years of manhood he retained a deceptive aspect of boyishness.” ---- An indication of how, according to Upton, Edward Derby’s life is counter to the natural transformation a boy undergoes to become a man.
“What he did do was to become an almost fanatical devotee of subterranean magical lore.” ---- The plot thicken: Edward Derby the artistically inclined loner hasn't become a real man and in his protracted immature boyhood turns to the black arts.
“He was thirty-four, and for months he was incapacitated by some odd psychological malady” ---- With his physical illness in youth, his being a loner and follower of black magic, some would predict it follows logically Derby would develop serious mental issues, perhaps the lingering residue of how in past ages Edward would be labeled an alchemist and even a heretic, someone who must be destroyed.
“Edward was thirty-eight when he met Asenath Waite. She was, I judge, about twenty-three at the time. She was dark, smallish, and very good-looking except for overprotuberant eyes. ---- Why not? After all, Asenath is an attractive young lady.
“The old man was known to have been a prodigious magical student in his day, and legend averred that he could raise or quell storms at sea according to his whim. ---- Now that sounds serious in that not only is Asenath’s father acquainted with the dark arts but proficient in them; in other words, he is not only a student but a accomplished sorcerer.
“Most unusual, though, were the well-attested cases of her influence over other persons. She was, beyond question, a genuine hypnotist. By gazing peculiarly at a fellow-student she would often give the latter a distinct feeling of exchanged personality” ---- Similar to her father, it appears Asenath is also something of a sorceress. And a sorceress with power! Time to watch out.
“Her crowning rage, however, was that she was not a man; since she believed a male brain had certain unique and far-reaching cosmic powers. Given a man’s brain, she declared, she could not only equal but surpass her father in mastery of unknown forces.” –--- Here’s one tale where H.P. Lovecraft includes a woman and develops her character. And Asenath seeks far-reaching cosmic powers - by becoming a man! The men in her life could be in for some exciting times. From this point forward we are well to ask if both Edward Derby and Daniel Upton are more than a little naïve and trusting.
“When Edward called on me after the honeymoon I thought he looked slightly changed.” ---- Could this change be more than one simply involving personality? Or, is Daniel Upton witnessing the first step in a shift in personal identity for Edward Derby as a result of Asenath using her powers to put herself in a man’s body?
He was progressing fast in esoteric lore now that he had Asenath’s guidance. Some of the experiments she proposed were very daring and radical—he did not feel at liberty to describe them—but he had confidence in her powers and intentions."---- Confidence in her intentions! It would be bad news indeed if Edward Derby thought his wife Asenath had evil intentions. But, again, is this confidence the result of a shift in personality or a more drastic change, a shift in his personal identity? Why doesn’t Daniel Upton pick up on this possibility?
“It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to shew by this statement that I am not his murderer. At first I shall be called a madman—madder than the man I shot in his cell at the Arkham Sanitarium.” ---- The tale’s first lines. What if the majority of Daniel Upton’s statements about Asenath and Edward Derby are mere plays of fantasy? What if Daniel was so resentful of losing his friend to marriage that he concocted the whole tale as a projection of his deranged mind in an attempt to justify his murder of Derby and imprisonment of Asenath?
“Even now I ask myself whether I was misled—or whether I am not mad after all.” ---- Is Daniel Upton finally admitting to himself the possibility of his own madness, how his imagination ran wild?
I will leave you to wrestle with these question as mind-transference takes on spookier, decidedly more powerful dimensions in the second half of Lovecraft’s story. Available online via this link:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/t...
January 18, 2023
Now, This is Lovecraft!
Dan has known Edward Derby since they were children. They lived in Arkham, of course. And though Edward grew up as a shy and insular boy, he had a precocious desire for knowledge.
Except for Dan, Edward didn’t have many friends, until the day he met Asenath Waite, from the infamous Waite clan of Innsmouth.
The things he thought he knew about the occult and unspeakable activity was nothing compared to the amount of depravity that she knew. And her reputation preceded her.
Dan, and Edward’s father could sense she was trouble, but Asenath already had a hold over him. And their union would lead to the end of Edward’s sanity…as well as Dan’s.
Highly recommended.
Five fantastic stars! ✨✨✨✨✨
Dan has known Edward Derby since they were children. They lived in Arkham, of course. And though Edward grew up as a shy and insular boy, he had a precocious desire for knowledge.
Except for Dan, Edward didn’t have many friends, until the day he met Asenath Waite, from the infamous Waite clan of Innsmouth.
The things he thought he knew about the occult and unspeakable activity was nothing compared to the amount of depravity that she knew. And her reputation preceded her.
Dan, and Edward’s father could sense she was trouble, but Asenath already had a hold over him. And their union would lead to the end of Edward’s sanity…as well as Dan’s.
Highly recommended.
Five fantastic stars! ✨✨✨✨✨
September 14, 2020
Daniel Upton's friend Edward seems to be completely changed after his marriage to a younger woman. Asenath lives in Innsmouth (!) and seems to be into dark magic. Her father recently died. What influence does she have over Edward? What about the strange cosmic evils Edward is talking about? And what about his body? A very uncanny Cthulhu story of Lovecraft. Highly recommended!
August 7, 2019
H.P. was dissatisfied with “The Thing on the Doorstep” and hesitated to submit it; although it was written in August of 1933, it was not published until more than three years later, in Weird Tales (January 1937). I do not share his hesitancy and dissatisfaction, for not only do I think that it is one of the most enjoyable and best constructed of his medium length tales, notable for its visceral shudders as well as for its cosmic terrors, but I also believe it contains glimpses of autobiography that hint at the emotional dynamics of Lovecraft’s abortive marriage.
Concerning Lovecraft’s marriage to Sonia Greene, I think this much is clear: Greene was the dominant force. Forty years old at the time of their marriage (seven years older than Lovecraft) the widow Greene—who had earlier dated Aleister Crowley—was the mother of an estranged daughter of nineteen and the breadwinner of the Lovecraft family. They resided in New York City throughout the active period of their marriage, and toward the end she traveled around the country for her Cleveland employer, sending H.P. a small check to keep body and soul together. Meanwhile, Lovecraft eked out an existence, in near poverty, in his Red Hook New Jersey flat.
I can’t help but thinking of all this when I read, in “The Thing on the Doorstep,” how Asenath Derby, psychologically stronger than her author/ esthete husband Edward, gains more and more power over him, and how she takes frequent trips, leaving him a virtual prisoner in their Arkham home. Later, she is rumored to have packed her bags and moved to New York City. But by this time the reader knows the truth is far more complicated--and much more ghastly--than this.
Who else but H.P. Lovecraft could turn a failed marriage into an effective tale of supernatural horror? And what could be more ghastly—or more disgusting—than that vilest of all visitors, The Thing on the Doorstep?
November 10, 2018
Knock, knock! You're doomed!
TRULY SCARY TALE
Daniel Upton and Edward Derby were best friends.
However, Upton has to kill Derby to save him.
Yes, you read right...
...this seems to sound weird but in this creepy tale, it’s explained the unusual predicament in which poor Derby is involved...
...and how death maybe is his only escape from it,...
...but even Upton maybe will be cursed too.
Friendship is a heavy burden...
...in Lovecraft Country.
TRULY SCARY TALE
Daniel Upton and Edward Derby were best friends.
However, Upton has to kill Derby to save him.
Yes, you read right...
...this seems to sound weird but in this creepy tale, it’s explained the unusual predicament in which poor Derby is involved...
...and how death maybe is his only escape from it,...
...but even Upton maybe will be cursed too.
Friendship is a heavy burden...
...in Lovecraft Country.
April 20, 2024
Probably my favorite Lovecraft story.
November 2, 2017
Fantástico relato!
October 30, 2021
I listened to this on the way to work and while cooking/cleaning.
I love how another of his stories is referenced! Such an interesting listen. I recommend this book.
I love how another of his stories is referenced! Such an interesting listen. I recommend this book.
February 27, 2018
Este relato me encantó! :D Fue una sorpresa, no me esperaba nada de él.
Creo que de todos los relatos que he leído hasta el momento para el reto de La Mansión Encantada este es el que más me ha gustado.
Muy merecida tiene su fama Lovecraft.
Creo que de todos los relatos que he leído hasta el momento para el reto de La Mansión Encantada este es el que más me ha gustado.
Muy merecida tiene su fama Lovecraft.
April 11, 2021
More occult than cosmic terror, The Thing on the Doorstep presents a slow buildup, with well paced reveals, to what may be the most terrifying ending I can recall in a Lovecraft story. Now that's saying something :)
April 4, 2019
One of the more pure-fantasy Lovecraft stories, with magic spells out of ancient books, no aliens or other dangers from space or alternate dimensions.
Also one of his few active female characters, along with an interesting but largely undeveloped set of themes about gender and sexuality.
Also one of his few active female characters, along with an interesting but largely undeveloped set of themes about gender and sexuality.
November 15, 2015
“There are horrors beyond life’s edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man’s evil prying calls them just within our range.”
Daniel Upton wants to tell you his story. He wants to explain his innocence. He shot his best friend, Edward Derby, six times and he claims justified reasoning. He tells of a love story, of Edward meeting and falling in love with Asenath Waite. The girl has been known to read things she shouldn’t read, to know and do things people shouldn’t. Girls in class look at her and have the strange sensation they are looking at themselves through her eyes. They feel they are somehow trading bodies with her.
Asenath needs a man. She needs the “perfection” of a man’s brain and the male ability to link to other worlds and dimensions. She prefers a man of a weaker will. Well, she doesn’t need a man as much as, say, the man’s body. She needs a new “home” so she can go places she shouldn’t.
The mysteries unravel with this short read, takes about an hour and a half or so. This story replaces all other Lovecraft stories I’ve yet read in terror. I remember the nightmarish horror I felt as a child watching one of the Freddy Kreuger movies. We laughed through them but some scenes got to me. I remember kids singing (one-two) and a woman trying to run through coagulated blood (three-four). This story brings those kinds of feelings to me. I’m not saying everyone may feel this way. I’m sensitive to movies because I don’t watch many. I recently watched Pulp Fiction and became so disturbed I got sick (the dude in the box in black leather set me over the edge).
If you like horror, this is it. Good luck. Don’t look in her eyes. Stay strong-willed. You might end up somewhere you don’t want to be.
I looked on the net for more on this story and found this trailer. It sounds true to the story. The full movie also can be found online, free, but I haven’t yet seen it.
Here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKv5q...
Daniel Upton wants to tell you his story. He wants to explain his innocence. He shot his best friend, Edward Derby, six times and he claims justified reasoning. He tells of a love story, of Edward meeting and falling in love with Asenath Waite. The girl has been known to read things she shouldn’t read, to know and do things people shouldn’t. Girls in class look at her and have the strange sensation they are looking at themselves through her eyes. They feel they are somehow trading bodies with her.
Asenath needs a man. She needs the “perfection” of a man’s brain and the male ability to link to other worlds and dimensions. She prefers a man of a weaker will. Well, she doesn’t need a man as much as, say, the man’s body. She needs a new “home” so she can go places she shouldn’t.
The mysteries unravel with this short read, takes about an hour and a half or so. This story replaces all other Lovecraft stories I’ve yet read in terror. I remember the nightmarish horror I felt as a child watching one of the Freddy Kreuger movies. We laughed through them but some scenes got to me. I remember kids singing (one-two) and a woman trying to run through coagulated blood (three-four). This story brings those kinds of feelings to me. I’m not saying everyone may feel this way. I’m sensitive to movies because I don’t watch many. I recently watched Pulp Fiction and became so disturbed I got sick (the dude in the box in black leather set me over the edge).
If you like horror, this is it. Good luck. Don’t look in her eyes. Stay strong-willed. You might end up somewhere you don’t want to be.
I looked on the net for more on this story and found this trailer. It sounds true to the story. The full movie also can be found online, free, but I haven’t yet seen it.
Here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKv5q...
March 20, 2024
"It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to shew by this statement that I am not his murderer."
Lovecraft wrote this story in 1933, we start with our narrator, an upper-class toff named Daniel Upton. He's explaining to the police there was a perfectly good reason why he went to Arkham Sanitarium and shot his lifelong chum Edward Derby six times in the head for good measure. Dan explains that he was actually saving the world from a dreadful menace. "rather than murdering, I have avenged him."
We get Derby's life story, which it sounds very much like Lovecraft writing his own idealized autobiography. An only child with a frail constitution, spoiled and coddled by a domineering mother, he was kept under close watch and never allowed independence. As a result, he developed a morbid taste for dark fantasy and showed great artistic potential as a poet (bit generous there, Howard). It was not until the death of his mother that he started to feel free enough to pursue his own inclinations (get the author some therapy).
Whilst studying classes at Miskatonic University studying the occult he involves he meets a petite coed named Asenath Waite. She's cute save for slight protruding eyes, she's from an old Innsmouth family.
She's very domineering to the point of being abusive, and quickly takes over Derby's life (Lovecraft married a businesswoman... and was the submissive type anyway). There are a lot of funny things about Asenath. She has a wicked grin and makes shocking remarks about topics a proper young lady of that time was not supposed to know about (pssst... s.e.x.).
Most alarming, she has a hobby of staring intensely with her bulgy eyes at young women, giving them the strangest delusion of leaving their own bodies and looking at themselves from Asenath's viewpoint. She's also the granddaughter of an unhinged redneck wizard.
So, they get married and get mired deeper into cults. Then comes the dreadful night when Dan is awakened at midnight by a phone call...
Asenath Waite is one of Lovecraft’s few prominent female characters, and a very striking figure both visually and emotionally, probably because he based it on his ex wife. From all accounts, his marriage wasn't stormy or turbulent, just something that fizzled out and turnt putrid (literally, in the literature).
Maybe he was saying things here that he was too repressed or impolite to ever have come out openly. It's conjecture, but I've found that writers themselves aren't always aware of what inner demons they're getting rid of by putting them down on paper, sealing it away with "the end".
4/5 Fun, with an interesting twist.
Dan’s binary perception and through Edward’s misgendering reports make the reveal interesting. The repeated use of incorrect pronouns applied to the entity performs a narrative magic trick. Job well done.
Lovecraft wrote this story in 1933, we start with our narrator, an upper-class toff named Daniel Upton. He's explaining to the police there was a perfectly good reason why he went to Arkham Sanitarium and shot his lifelong chum Edward Derby six times in the head for good measure. Dan explains that he was actually saving the world from a dreadful menace. "rather than murdering, I have avenged him."
We get Derby's life story, which it sounds very much like Lovecraft writing his own idealized autobiography. An only child with a frail constitution, spoiled and coddled by a domineering mother, he was kept under close watch and never allowed independence. As a result, he developed a morbid taste for dark fantasy and showed great artistic potential as a poet (bit generous there, Howard). It was not until the death of his mother that he started to feel free enough to pursue his own inclinations (get the author some therapy).
Whilst studying classes at Miskatonic University studying the occult he involves he meets a petite coed named Asenath Waite. She's cute save for slight protruding eyes, she's from an old Innsmouth family.
She's very domineering to the point of being abusive, and quickly takes over Derby's life (Lovecraft married a businesswoman... and was the submissive type anyway). There are a lot of funny things about Asenath. She has a wicked grin and makes shocking remarks about topics a proper young lady of that time was not supposed to know about (pssst... s.e.x.).
Most alarming, she has a hobby of staring intensely with her bulgy eyes at young women, giving them the strangest delusion of leaving their own bodies and looking at themselves from Asenath's viewpoint. She's also the granddaughter of an unhinged redneck wizard.
So, they get married and get mired deeper into cults. Then comes the dreadful night when Dan is awakened at midnight by a phone call...
Asenath Waite is one of Lovecraft’s few prominent female characters, and a very striking figure both visually and emotionally, probably because he based it on his ex wife. From all accounts, his marriage wasn't stormy or turbulent, just something that fizzled out and turnt putrid (literally, in the literature).
Maybe he was saying things here that he was too repressed or impolite to ever have come out openly. It's conjecture, but I've found that writers themselves aren't always aware of what inner demons they're getting rid of by putting them down on paper, sealing it away with "the end".
4/5 Fun, with an interesting twist.
Dan’s binary perception and through Edward’s misgendering reports make the reveal interesting. The repeated use of incorrect pronouns applied to the entity performs a narrative magic trick. Job well done.
July 24, 2015
'It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to shew by this statement that I am not his murderer.'That's a promising beginning. The narrator Daniel Upton is perfectly aware how his explanation might sound. He even asks himself whether he was misled but, considering that others too have their own experiences of his friend Edward Derby and his wife Asenath, that's highly unlikely. One expects a lot from a story as soon as it is revealed that the wife is from Innsmouth. Lovecraft's lovers know what that means.
There are two more prominent themes in The Thing on the Doorstep: mind-switching and gender.
Save for the occasional mention the story lacks the expected deities and cosmic horror you expect to find in a story that is a part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It would have been an awesome story.
October 9, 2015
Read online here
Description: Daniel Upton, the story's narrator, begins by telling that he has killed his best friend, Edward Derby, and that he hopes his account will prove that he is not a murderer ...
Opening: It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer. At first I shall be called a madman - madder than the man I shot in his cell at the Arkham Sanitarium. Later some of my readers will weigh each statement, correlate it with the known facts, and ask themselves how I could have believed otherwise than I did after facing the evidence of that horror - that thing on the doorstep.
A month of Halloween 2015 reads:#1: 3* Nobody True by James Herbert: fraudio
#2: 4* The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: fraudio
#3: 1* Brain Child by John Saul: fraudio
#4: 3* Domain (Rats #3) by James Herbert: fraudio
#5: 3* The Mourning Vessels by Peter Luther: paperback
#6: 2* The Doom of the Great City: ebook short-story
#7: 5* Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury: fraudio
#8: 5* The Dead Zone by Stephen King: fraudio
#9: CR The Chalice: hardback
#11: CR Tales of Men and Ghosts: gutenberg
#12: 2* Shattered by Dean Koontz: fraudio
#13: 5* The Dunwich Horror: e-book: gutenberg
#14: TR Death At Intervals: paperback
#15: 3* Alone: gutenberg
#16: CR The Shunned House: gutenberg
#17: 4* The Thing on the Doorstep
#18: 2* Shadows by Saul: fraudio
#19: CR Precious Cargo: paperback
#20: 2* The Magicians of the Golden Dawn: ebook
#21: 2* The Book of Black Magic
#22: 4* Beyond the Wall of Sleep
June 13, 2017
Read this story and you have a better appreciation for Alan Moore's comic Providence.
February 26, 2015
The best H.P. Lovecraft short story I have read so far; I cannot even begin to describe how remarkable this was. This is one of those stories that will captivate you and remain with you to ponder upon days after you have read it.
September 20, 2017
Some people know things about the universe that nobody ought to know, and can do things that nobody ought to be able to do. I’ve been in it up to my neck, but that’s the end. Today I’d burn that damned Necronomicon and all the rest if I were librarian at Miskatonic.
This is a thing I've been thinking myself for a while. I'm no book burner, but, were we living in Arkham, the biggest hero would be the one who burned down the damned library. Sure, they have other copies of the Necronomicon, but that copy at Arkham seems to be the one that is most convenient to all the necromancers and wizards and hell spawn. Just saying. Anyway, this was a fun read. Even though it left me with a quote from As Good As It Gets knocking around in my head:
"How do you write women so well?"
"I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability."
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Howard Philips Lovecraft.
This is a thing I've been thinking myself for a while. I'm no book burner, but, were we living in Arkham, the biggest hero would be the one who burned down the damned library. Sure, they have other copies of the Necronomicon, but that copy at Arkham seems to be the one that is most convenient to all the necromancers and wizards and hell spawn. Just saying. Anyway, this was a fun read. Even though it left me with a quote from As Good As It Gets knocking around in my head:
"How do you write women so well?"
"I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability."
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Howard Philips Lovecraft.
September 26, 2015
A re-read.
"It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer." Is that a great first line, or what?
A frightening tale of stolen identity and ancient, immortal horrors.
The narrator, Dan, was friends with Edward Derby since childhood. However, he saw Edward grow up into an unassertive, weak-willed man, who eventually merely transferred his dependence on his parents onto his new wife, Asenath... an Innsmouth woman with strangely protuberant eyes.
Of course we know that anyone from Innsmouth is bound to be bad news, but in this case, the horror runs even deeper than one might guess.
This story is full of all of the favorite Lovecraftian motifs... and would be nearly perfect, except for the fact that the narrative depends on the aggravating plot point that And that concept is more than a bit unacceptable to me. It's a shame, because this story is near-perfect in ever other respect. (Full disclosure: there are New England Asenaths in my family tree - don't dis them!) ;-)
"It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer." Is that a great first line, or what?
A frightening tale of stolen identity and ancient, immortal horrors.
The narrator, Dan, was friends with Edward Derby since childhood. However, he saw Edward grow up into an unassertive, weak-willed man, who eventually merely transferred his dependence on his parents onto his new wife, Asenath... an Innsmouth woman with strangely protuberant eyes.
Of course we know that anyone from Innsmouth is bound to be bad news, but in this case, the horror runs even deeper than one might guess.
This story is full of all of the favorite Lovecraftian motifs... and would be nearly perfect, except for the fact that the narrative depends on the aggravating plot point that And that concept is more than a bit unacceptable to me. It's a shame, because this story is near-perfect in ever other respect. (Full disclosure: there are New England Asenaths in my family tree - don't dis them!) ;-)
May 31, 2020
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction..
Also: "Lovecraftian", the word does not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary, but there can be few readers who are unaware of its meaning.
"Lovecraftian" implies a very specific type of supernatural tale - of ancient horrors imagined in the darkest regions of one's subconscious, or glimpsed out of the corner of one's eye..
These are excerpts from the introduction of his works, but they are so accurate which is the reason I had to share them with my friends!!
Yes, I love Lovecrafttian novels and short stories, because of the world they create and also how the tension increases more and more..
His characters are mostly suffering from mental disease of any kind..
Or they have commited an atrocious crime which they try to explain..
"The Thing on the Doorsteps" is no exception to this, as you can see for yourself:
"..It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer.."
A quick and scary read..
I do recommend it to all lovers of fantasy and horror tales..
Dean;)
Also: "Lovecraftian", the word does not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary, but there can be few readers who are unaware of its meaning.
"Lovecraftian" implies a very specific type of supernatural tale - of ancient horrors imagined in the darkest regions of one's subconscious, or glimpsed out of the corner of one's eye..
These are excerpts from the introduction of his works, but they are so accurate which is the reason I had to share them with my friends!!
Yes, I love Lovecrafttian novels and short stories, because of the world they create and also how the tension increases more and more..
His characters are mostly suffering from mental disease of any kind..
Or they have commited an atrocious crime which they try to explain..
"The Thing on the Doorsteps" is no exception to this, as you can see for yourself:
"..It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer.."
A quick and scary read..
I do recommend it to all lovers of fantasy and horror tales..
Dean;)
January 10, 2025
This review will not open with the clicking of keys noting an analogy ripe with emotively inducing visuals. Instead, I present to you my humble truth; before reading this story, I had never ventured far enough into the Horror genre to read anything written by Lovecraft. It is important for me to state this fact at the start because my impression of & experience with this story are shaped by my original innocence.
Certainly, the author’s reputation precedes him. In fact, if one were to commence a search on his background, pictures galore, all more sullen & sepia-toned, one from the other, highlights the very nature of the beast himself. To state that I held utter ignorance of Lovecraft’s reputation would be a lie. I state this fact because I kept my eyes peeled for the unsavoury trinkets he has been alleged to possess while reading this story but, found myself utterly distracted by the plot. Therefore, I write to you now from a place of humble awe. Perhaps, the man isn’t so horrible after all or, perhaps, he is as terrible as a person must be to write dreadful stories.
In essence, this is a story about a man who murdered his best friend. Dan, the narrator, speaks to the reader from the present. Perhaps, the reader has met Dan in a common space, or, as is more likely, the reader has come to Dan as a friend bidding him to release the wounds he fosters with his fear. The narration style is deeply enthralling. Lovecraft employs the perfect protagonist as the story’s leader. Whereas at first glance, the story reads as very straightforward—Dan shot Derby dead—the reality is that Dan acted out of care, thinking his friend prisoner in a magic spell that saw the old wizard of the countryside jumping from body to body in a bid to stay alive, forever.
As this was my first experience with Lovecraft, I did not know what to expect. In truth, I came upon this story by chance thanks to the tides that bind, allowing the story to nestle perfectly on the week when it was my turn to share a short story with a friend.
My greedy fingers scrolled & scrolled as the narrative unfolded & before I realized how deeply invested I had become, my alarm rang & I was due back to a meeting. Where the time went while I was reading, I cannot begin to know. The vernacular that Lovecraft uses is not complex, but rather entirely the opposite; the linguistic use in this story is overly simple. None of the characters boast of high scholastic achievements though their circumstances lead readers to appreciate their economic standing. This choice by the author is of value to readers across levels & linguistic abilities as it captures the essence of what can make for a good story; the plot.
As Dan describes the events as he believes them to have happened, the story takes on a morose air. Derby, the victim of an alleged possession & the best friend to our narrator, appears for all intents & purposes to be rather inconsequential. Though the story would not be told to the reader had Derby not married the odd girl with the grave stare, nearly identical to her father’s, & had Derby not abandoned all reason to pursue a galavanting lifestyle with his wife, none of the events would have occurred.
Therefore, one must wonder to what extent the characters shape the narrative that acts independently of their presence. By this I mean, that regardless of Dan or Derby, the antagonist lives on & his goal of body-hopping, making himself a Changeling among grown adults, persists no matter the cost or crew.
Perhaps, what I have said is not entirely accurate. Indeed, on pondering the independent nature of the antagonist I wonder whether the story would be as powerful had the roles been reversed. Had Dan been the man possessed by the old soul of a wicked warlock, would the reader have ever known that a decrepit old troll was wandering the limbs of men & women alike?
Would the antagonist have made it as far as he had? Perhaps I wonder at the necessity of the characters we meet on the page because I am curious about the end goal of the antagonist. What good would he gather having to start life from the beginning, sometimes the middle, but rather more often at the end?
Curiouser things have happened than to learn that a person would offer up silver & gold to become immortal. However, my question arises because of the logistics of the madman’s approach. As Derby explains it to our narrator, the soul of the weak can be easily taken over & as Derby had a feeble constitution, he was easier prey.
The eternal soul that would live on in the bodies of everyone it chooses to possess would run out of life to overtake when the final tomb was born from the invisible hands of the tree’s stump. I digress, what makes a person evil has less to do with their game plan than it does with the actions they take.
What made this story so engaging was its approach. When Lovecraft wrote this story, & following the years until its publication, the scariest things existed in society but had been downplayed as easily removable. Human beings were permanently institutionalized for reasons that would remain inept; they were experimented on, & lost all agency.
In some people there lived the ideology of supremacy & the elitist mindset that accompanies having all the joys of the world in one’s backyard, & the wealth to dictate who can gallivant in the garden with them. Readers may choose to regard Lovecraft’s demonic entity of the lost soul of Derby as a commentary on society wherein a man lost his life to a woman he loved because she was stronger than he was.
Of course, the tedium of this deconstruction would require a more dedicated critic than I am. The purpose of this reflection is not to state with certainty that Lovecraft understood the gender bias or that he would agree that institutions for the mentally insane should remain as tools to toss away the undesirable reality that is the complex human psyche.
The truth is, I don’t know. The author, having lost his life to a malady that ate him from the inside, was in no financial position to criticize the flamboyant ravings of the wealthy. Derby is a character most unlike the author however, because readers will remain unfamiliar with Lovecraft, one cannot state with certainty that the author has remained completely off-page.
What is the purpose of this story? As always, this is not a question that I ask to tease the quality of the writing nor is it something I pose to judge the merit of the plot. Rather, I always ask myself this question while reading because everything that was written came from a person for whom life’s complexities may remain secret as the earth they lay interned within.
Is the purpose of this story to criticize the quality of religious teachings? Would the characters have fallen prey to Ephraim’s sorcery if the Church were more present in their lives? If the characters in this book had followed a forceful leader, someone who was certain of the whispering boom of the Lord’s voice & the scripture, might they have remained unscathed?
Perhaps this story is a play on the lost soul of a person who has nothing but silly fancies. Derby was repeatedly described as a man without structure, a man who followed the lead of his father & who had no will of his own. Was Lovecraft’s intention to poke fun at the members of society who remained childishly immature & incapable of managing life on their own?
Ultimately, what I found to be the most enjoyable aspect of this story was the narration. Dan is a character with few features attributed to his face & even fewer markers to colour his years of life, lest the reader forget that he was nearly a decade older than Derby. The emphasis that was granted to the style, which was neither remorseful, sorrowed, pained, or frantic, encouraged the plot to flow melodiously.
After all, what one is reading is recitation, nearly mathematical in his recollections, Dan is sharing because he wants to, not because he has to. Though he has noted his slight worry at being next on Ephraim’s list of mortal bodies to overtake, both he & the reader know that this will not happen, he is too old & too well-informed to care about the madness of a weak mind.
The purpose of this story as I see it, is to remind readers of what exists around them. The scary fondling gurgle of lost words, weak constitution, illogic, & the absence of motivation may lead one to wander the moors of the American countryside to the willows lining an old necromancer’s humble abode. Two stones over is the asylum, & down the road is the cacophony of a school of gossip waiting anxiously for the demise of the feeble. Though the larvae that wrote Dan his final goodbye may be remembered as once having been a close friend, Derby flounders in a puddle that reflects in despair & gore, how his friends viewed him from their perches, all along.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
Certainly, the author’s reputation precedes him. In fact, if one were to commence a search on his background, pictures galore, all more sullen & sepia-toned, one from the other, highlights the very nature of the beast himself. To state that I held utter ignorance of Lovecraft’s reputation would be a lie. I state this fact because I kept my eyes peeled for the unsavoury trinkets he has been alleged to possess while reading this story but, found myself utterly distracted by the plot. Therefore, I write to you now from a place of humble awe. Perhaps, the man isn’t so horrible after all or, perhaps, he is as terrible as a person must be to write dreadful stories.
In essence, this is a story about a man who murdered his best friend. Dan, the narrator, speaks to the reader from the present. Perhaps, the reader has met Dan in a common space, or, as is more likely, the reader has come to Dan as a friend bidding him to release the wounds he fosters with his fear. The narration style is deeply enthralling. Lovecraft employs the perfect protagonist as the story’s leader. Whereas at first glance, the story reads as very straightforward—Dan shot Derby dead—the reality is that Dan acted out of care, thinking his friend prisoner in a magic spell that saw the old wizard of the countryside jumping from body to body in a bid to stay alive, forever.
As this was my first experience with Lovecraft, I did not know what to expect. In truth, I came upon this story by chance thanks to the tides that bind, allowing the story to nestle perfectly on the week when it was my turn to share a short story with a friend.
My greedy fingers scrolled & scrolled as the narrative unfolded & before I realized how deeply invested I had become, my alarm rang & I was due back to a meeting. Where the time went while I was reading, I cannot begin to know. The vernacular that Lovecraft uses is not complex, but rather entirely the opposite; the linguistic use in this story is overly simple. None of the characters boast of high scholastic achievements though their circumstances lead readers to appreciate their economic standing. This choice by the author is of value to readers across levels & linguistic abilities as it captures the essence of what can make for a good story; the plot.
As Dan describes the events as he believes them to have happened, the story takes on a morose air. Derby, the victim of an alleged possession & the best friend to our narrator, appears for all intents & purposes to be rather inconsequential. Though the story would not be told to the reader had Derby not married the odd girl with the grave stare, nearly identical to her father’s, & had Derby not abandoned all reason to pursue a galavanting lifestyle with his wife, none of the events would have occurred.
Therefore, one must wonder to what extent the characters shape the narrative that acts independently of their presence. By this I mean, that regardless of Dan or Derby, the antagonist lives on & his goal of body-hopping, making himself a Changeling among grown adults, persists no matter the cost or crew.
Perhaps, what I have said is not entirely accurate. Indeed, on pondering the independent nature of the antagonist I wonder whether the story would be as powerful had the roles been reversed. Had Dan been the man possessed by the old soul of a wicked warlock, would the reader have ever known that a decrepit old troll was wandering the limbs of men & women alike?
Would the antagonist have made it as far as he had? Perhaps I wonder at the necessity of the characters we meet on the page because I am curious about the end goal of the antagonist. What good would he gather having to start life from the beginning, sometimes the middle, but rather more often at the end?
Curiouser things have happened than to learn that a person would offer up silver & gold to become immortal. However, my question arises because of the logistics of the madman’s approach. As Derby explains it to our narrator, the soul of the weak can be easily taken over & as Derby had a feeble constitution, he was easier prey.
The eternal soul that would live on in the bodies of everyone it chooses to possess would run out of life to overtake when the final tomb was born from the invisible hands of the tree’s stump. I digress, what makes a person evil has less to do with their game plan than it does with the actions they take.
What made this story so engaging was its approach. When Lovecraft wrote this story, & following the years until its publication, the scariest things existed in society but had been downplayed as easily removable. Human beings were permanently institutionalized for reasons that would remain inept; they were experimented on, & lost all agency.
In some people there lived the ideology of supremacy & the elitist mindset that accompanies having all the joys of the world in one’s backyard, & the wealth to dictate who can gallivant in the garden with them. Readers may choose to regard Lovecraft’s demonic entity of the lost soul of Derby as a commentary on society wherein a man lost his life to a woman he loved because she was stronger than he was.
Of course, the tedium of this deconstruction would require a more dedicated critic than I am. The purpose of this reflection is not to state with certainty that Lovecraft understood the gender bias or that he would agree that institutions for the mentally insane should remain as tools to toss away the undesirable reality that is the complex human psyche.
The truth is, I don’t know. The author, having lost his life to a malady that ate him from the inside, was in no financial position to criticize the flamboyant ravings of the wealthy. Derby is a character most unlike the author however, because readers will remain unfamiliar with Lovecraft, one cannot state with certainty that the author has remained completely off-page.
What is the purpose of this story? As always, this is not a question that I ask to tease the quality of the writing nor is it something I pose to judge the merit of the plot. Rather, I always ask myself this question while reading because everything that was written came from a person for whom life’s complexities may remain secret as the earth they lay interned within.
Is the purpose of this story to criticize the quality of religious teachings? Would the characters have fallen prey to Ephraim’s sorcery if the Church were more present in their lives? If the characters in this book had followed a forceful leader, someone who was certain of the whispering boom of the Lord’s voice & the scripture, might they have remained unscathed?
Perhaps this story is a play on the lost soul of a person who has nothing but silly fancies. Derby was repeatedly described as a man without structure, a man who followed the lead of his father & who had no will of his own. Was Lovecraft’s intention to poke fun at the members of society who remained childishly immature & incapable of managing life on their own?
Ultimately, what I found to be the most enjoyable aspect of this story was the narration. Dan is a character with few features attributed to his face & even fewer markers to colour his years of life, lest the reader forget that he was nearly a decade older than Derby. The emphasis that was granted to the style, which was neither remorseful, sorrowed, pained, or frantic, encouraged the plot to flow melodiously.
After all, what one is reading is recitation, nearly mathematical in his recollections, Dan is sharing because he wants to, not because he has to. Though he has noted his slight worry at being next on Ephraim’s list of mortal bodies to overtake, both he & the reader know that this will not happen, he is too old & too well-informed to care about the madness of a weak mind.
The purpose of this story as I see it, is to remind readers of what exists around them. The scary fondling gurgle of lost words, weak constitution, illogic, & the absence of motivation may lead one to wander the moors of the American countryside to the willows lining an old necromancer’s humble abode. Two stones over is the asylum, & down the road is the cacophony of a school of gossip waiting anxiously for the demise of the feeble. Though the larvae that wrote Dan his final goodbye may be remembered as once having been a close friend, Derby flounders in a puddle that reflects in despair & gore, how his friends viewed him from their perches, all along.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2021
Okay, that one was really good!
Perhaps I should end my October bingeing of Lovecraft here.
Perhaps I should end my October bingeing of Lovecraft here.
October 11, 2023
This was a much better Lovecraft tale. We’re a lot more apart of the action and it develops well.
April 21, 2017
Wow. I wasn't sure what to I was going to think of this, as several state it's not his best of stories, but as I'm a new reader of Lovecraft, I have nothing to compare this to, so I enjoyed it hugely!
The opening line of this story, It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer," is enough to completely suck you in to the story. You'll find yourself getting lost in this piece of fiction, coming out the other side of it dazed, horrified and delighted.
This story has some of the best tension building, leaving you to decide what is happening to the ever changing Edward and his mysterious wife Asenath.
The hints to black magic and the occult make this story really ominous, dark and brooding. This is really a terrific horror story. If this isn't one of his best, I'm excited to see what his other stories bring!
The opening line of this story, It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer," is enough to completely suck you in to the story. You'll find yourself getting lost in this piece of fiction, coming out the other side of it dazed, horrified and delighted.
This story has some of the best tension building, leaving you to decide what is happening to the ever changing Edward and his mysterious wife Asenath.
The hints to black magic and the occult make this story really ominous, dark and brooding. This is really a terrific horror story. If this isn't one of his best, I'm excited to see what his other stories bring!
April 16, 2022
A terrifying tale of the occult. Written in a way that almost parallels Lovecraft's experiences (about a writer interested in the macabre, and mentally tortured by what he learns) - giving it quite the sense of realism. This story pulled me in and wouldn't let go. This is a very well rounded piece that expertly combines elements of the cosmic and supernatural horrors. One might say this could be the epitome of Lovecraft's work. There's also a bit of a cautionary tale here... be careful who you get involved with, and when learning about black magic... tread lightly, very lightly!
An excellent story, one of my favorites by the master, H.P. Lovecraft.
4.5⭐ rounded up to 5⭐
An excellent story, one of my favorites by the master, H.P. Lovecraft.
4.5⭐ rounded up to 5⭐
December 7, 2017
Un relato en torno a la locura y las posesiones. He leído muy poco de Lovecraft pero la locura es recurrente en sus obras. Y cuidadosamente escrito.
Recomendable.
Recomendable.
July 17, 2019
Agghiacciante.
E' il primo audiobook ufficiale e non amatoriale che ascolto e devo dire che è stato molto coinvolgente.
L'horror mi sembra particolarmente adatto per questo formato, data l'aggiunta delle musiche che creano un'atmosfera inquietante.
Scelta azzeccatissima quella di aggiungere la sonata al chiaro di luna di Beethoven, rende il tutto decisamente più terrificante
Di sicuro "leggerò" altri libri in formato audiobook, specialmente horror
E' il primo audiobook ufficiale e non amatoriale che ascolto e devo dire che è stato molto coinvolgente.
L'horror mi sembra particolarmente adatto per questo formato, data l'aggiunta delle musiche che creano un'atmosfera inquietante.
Scelta azzeccatissima quella di aggiungere la sonata al chiaro di luna di Beethoven, rende il tutto decisamente più terrificante
Di sicuro "leggerò" altri libri in formato audiobook, specialmente horror
March 15, 2022
Wow, that was quite the mind-blowing trip. It starts off with the narrator claiming that he visited his best friend in an asylum and put six bullets in his head, immediately following up with the statement that he’s not a murderer. It doesn’t take long for the readers to figure out that there’s something horribly wrong here.
The narrator’s best friend was a relatively down-to-earth chap until he met his wife from Innsmouth (a very bad place if you’ve read The Shadow over Innsmouth) and begins to develop a taste for the dark arts. He gets his hands on the Necronomicon and his wife leads him down a very dark path which leads to possession, soul switching, demon summoning and all kinds of other wacky supernatural events.
It turns out that the person in the asylum that the narrator killed wasn’t really his friend, but a monster using his body in hopes of bringing calamity to the world. The narrator is left with quite a few mental scars, but he potentially saved the world at the end of the day. A trippy and fascinating horror tale.
The narrator’s best friend was a relatively down-to-earth chap until he met his wife from Innsmouth (a very bad place if you’ve read The Shadow over Innsmouth) and begins to develop a taste for the dark arts. He gets his hands on the Necronomicon and his wife leads him down a very dark path which leads to possession, soul switching, demon summoning and all kinds of other wacky supernatural events.
It turns out that the person in the asylum that the narrator killed wasn’t really his friend, but a monster using his body in hopes of bringing calamity to the world. The narrator is left with quite a few mental scars, but he potentially saved the world at the end of the day. A trippy and fascinating horror tale.
November 28, 2016
Even though you get an idea of what is going to happen at the beginning, this story is still profoundly frightening. Lovecraft is not for the faint of heart, or those with a tenuous grip on reality. However, I highly recommend him for those who like to get that chill down their spine that only a convincing horror story can deliver. Being that I love most things horrifying, I don't know how I made it 25 years without reading any of his work, but I'm glad that I'm starting now.
April 13, 2018
Anche questo uno dei peggiori di Lovecraft, trama ballerina e poca sostanza horror...peccato!
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