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Welcome to Lovecraft: The Early Works
A selection of early stories by H.P. Lovecraft, illustrated by George Cotronis. Contains ten illustrations.
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Doom That Came to Sarnath
Nyarlathotep
The Crawling Chaos
The Terrible Old Man
The Picture in the House
The Nameless City
Herbert West: Reanimator
The Music of Erich Zann
The Tomb
Dagon
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Doom That Came to Sarnath
Nyarlathotep
The Crawling Chaos
The Terrible Old Man
The Picture in the House
The Nameless City
Herbert West: Reanimator
The Music of Erich Zann
The Tomb
Dagon
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
185 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2015
5 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,281 books19.4k 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 26, 2017
So I don't know how to feel about this book. Call me crazy, but 2 stars is the best I can honestly give it. Maybe it's the fact that I am not a fan of short stories, although I try to be as subjective as I possibly can.
Maybe it is because this book compiles the so called "horror master" early works, I don't know. There was nothing horrifying about any of the stories. There were some that were ok, but overall...I felt bored most of the time while reading them.
Character: 1
I can't in good faith give this more then 1 star. There was no character development. At all. So really like a 0 rather then 1. It gets 1 star for having a character. Scary part, there were a few stories that did not even have that. That's borderline poetry...
Plot: 2
Very basic. Very boring. Just "blah". This could partly be because these are short stories, so plot is not a strong suit there. Sure, stuff happens but I felt very uninvolved, very emotionally detached and could just stop mid page at any time with no remorse and no desire to come back to finish.
Setting: 4
Lovecraft's ability to create a creepy and dark ambiance is what kept me reading on. He is able, to create a very gloomy and gothic feeling setting so effectively because it is the same setting across all of his stories. At least for me it felt like every story just built up and continued to develop a setting and carry a certain sense of gloom and inevitable demise. There was nothing cheery here and suspense largely carried through the setting more then the actual plot or characters.
All in all, I will read some more of his work, just because I really want to see what the whole fuss is about. Even Stephen King, who's books I love bows down to Lovecraft, so there has to be something here that I am not seeing.
So far, largely underwhelming.
Roman "Ragnar"
Maybe it is because this book compiles the so called "horror master" early works, I don't know. There was nothing horrifying about any of the stories. There were some that were ok, but overall...I felt bored most of the time while reading them.
Character: 1
I can't in good faith give this more then 1 star. There was no character development. At all. So really like a 0 rather then 1. It gets 1 star for having a character. Scary part, there were a few stories that did not even have that. That's borderline poetry...
Plot: 2
Very basic. Very boring. Just "blah". This could partly be because these are short stories, so plot is not a strong suit there. Sure, stuff happens but I felt very uninvolved, very emotionally detached and could just stop mid page at any time with no remorse and no desire to come back to finish.
Setting: 4
Lovecraft's ability to create a creepy and dark ambiance is what kept me reading on. He is able, to create a very gloomy and gothic feeling setting so effectively because it is the same setting across all of his stories. At least for me it felt like every story just built up and continued to develop a setting and carry a certain sense of gloom and inevitable demise. There was nothing cheery here and suspense largely carried through the setting more then the actual plot or characters.
All in all, I will read some more of his work, just because I really want to see what the whole fuss is about. Even Stephen King, who's books I love bows down to Lovecraft, so there has to be something here that I am not seeing.
So far, largely underwhelming.
Roman "Ragnar"
April 22, 2016
Fun to revisit some and discover some of these stories. Have to get a complete anthology.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews