Classic Stories

by H.P. Lovecraft

A collection of Lovecraft's short stories from the 20th Century pulp magazine, Weird Tales.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2016

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

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of modern day Cthulu and quite like old science fiction, so this was a must for.
I have to admit i struggled.

It reads like it is being narrated by some old Victorian geezer sitting in front of a fire in a smoking jacket.

Quite often by the time i got to the end of the long winding sentences i had forgotten what was happening.

A very important book but is now showing its age

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved some of the stories. However, as many have already commented, they are definitely showing their age. I could imagine how scary and shocking they must’ve been 100 years ago.

[Jake Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a huge Stephen King/Neil Gaiman/general horror and fantasy fan, and had known of Lovecraft’s influence on some of their work, but it wasn’t until reading this collection that I fully grasped that influence.

I had read “Call of Cthulhu” before in high school, and it still freaked me out just as much as I had hoped. My favorite from this collection is the demon child tale “The Dunwich Horror,” with “Whisperer in the Darkness” a close second.

It’s easy to see why his writing style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Man never met a compound sentence or a semicolon he didn’t like. And some of the racism he was known for is included here, but not as much as other writings.

But you can’t deny the sense of pacing and layered dread built throughout, only to explode right at the end. Great stuff.

This collection includes:
“Dagon”
“Call of Cthulhu”
“Dunwich Horror”
“Whisperer in Darkness”
“Haunter of the Dark”

[Alex Altschuler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was already a fan of Lovecraft’s creations, namely Cthulhu and the other elder gods in the the Cthulhu lore, and I thought that reading his original stories would help me learn more about not only “The Call of Cthulhu” but his other works. The writing style is definitely a bit archaic and difficult to read at times, however the stories themselves are fascinating. Lovecraft is often anointed as the “father of twentieth century horror” which I believe is a fair title as his works have spread to and are referenced in a multitude of modern day science fiction and horror works. This book was a culmination of Lovecraft’s better known short stories like “The Call of Cthulhu”, “The Colour our of Space”, “Cool Air”, “The Dreams in the Witch House”, and many more.

A rather interesting theme throughout the book is that many of the universes actually are related to each other. Additionally, most of his horror stories consist of large elder beasts that induce madness in those that pursue researching them and utter hysteria in those that manage to view them. “The Call of Cthulhu” delves into the The Old Ones which consist of Cthulhu, the priest, and his followers who he is able to contact and drive insane through their dreams. Lovecraft’s ability to create such universes and gods and describe them in chilling detail overcomes the potentially off-putting wording.

The fact that a multitude of his creations from nearly a century ago persist to be referenced in modern works is telling of the quality of Lovecraft’s work. Anyone that enjoys science fiction or horror fantasy should give this book or at least a few stories from it a read.

[Jsaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took quite awhile to get through, 4 months 30 days. But I can finally give my personal breakdown here:

Dagon
For me this was very short, found myself unable to imagine some details. But conceptually interesting. 2/5

Call of Cthulu
Faced similar problems as with Dagon. The writing can be long winded, hard to follow. And I have trouble imaging some parts. 2/5

Dunwich Horror
This was my personal favorite, I dig the cult vibe the run down village, the creepy occurences. 2.5/5

whisperer in darkness
I also liked this one, reading those characters correspondence. And weird occurences. The investigation that took place. 2.5/5

the haunter of the dark
This one was a bad choice to end with personally I already had struggle throughout. With different more long winded writing to try and follow. Going to say this is my least favourite of this assortment. 1.5/5

[Werner Wildenboer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a awesome book that genuinely makes you feel...uneasy (in that enjoyable way). I loved the old style science fiction, not expected at all, the brain tubes and interstellar flight.

The Call of Cthulhu
The swamps and quagmires were the worst, but what a unsettling being Cthulhu is.

Dagon
Loved the sentence at the end of the story, it just fit so well, and made the story real.

The Dunwich Horror
The monster description was impeccable. I could vividly see the splintering of wood and the creature traversed the landscape and burst through farms.

The Whisperer in Darkness
By far, by far one of the best ending to a short story I have read in maybe forever. Caught me by surprise.

The Haunter of the Dark
Not bad but lacked a punch.

P.S.
I also noticed a page number error in the index

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt I had to read, finally, "The Call of Cthulhu" and I'm very glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised to find I liked "The Whisperer in the Dark" even more. This book had both, and others. His writing style is from a different time period, and vocabulary was just different- more intricate, rarefied. This could be hard to read if you're not confident of your command of the English lexicon. In fact, his use of more elevated vocabulary only heightens the suspense and thrill when events take place that cannot be adequately explained.

Reading just one of his stories, I can't understand why people critique his writing, but reading a collection, I begin to see slight repetition. I would still recommend this book highly to anyone who has an interest in reading a classic!

[Preston Hoppers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the stories, especially "The Dulwich Horror," and I would recommend reading them, but the introduction of the book wasn't very good, and it didn't even say who wrote the introduction. There's also an error in the page numbers in the table of contents. I'd give the stories 4 stars but the publication itself 3 stars.

[Darcy Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s odd that of all these stories, Cthulhu is the one to make such a massive impact on pop culture.

It’s fun to see how many horror tropes go so far back though, Dagon reads like a 2000’s creepypasta, and most of the stories have a format revived by found-footage movies.

Big fan of the word Cyclopean.

Favourite: Haunter of the Dark

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book for the time it was written was revered by many, but Poe was much better at creating suspense. . I just found another book for my list by Edgar Allan Poe called the Gold Bug. Maybe it will be next on my list.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and different stories about Lovecraftian universe. This is my first time reading a book from author H.P. Lovecraft and getting to learn more about Azathoth and other creatures, the unknown, supernatural, space-time, and other universes.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I love Cthulhu and things like it, I will admit that this was a struggle for me. It’s old, it’s wordy, and it’s just tough to get through. I understand how important and classic it is, but I still didn’t enjoy it. Maybe I just need to focus on more modern Cthulhu inspired things idk.

[Miguel Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historias muy buenas, en especial la de dagón el dios del mar es un relato corto pero que te mantiene atento al relato.

[Samuel Merida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que mejor Horror psicologico .. Que si mo uno de la indole cósmica universal !

[J. Milius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good primer. Modern readers might take a moment to adjust to the archaic language, but it's rich and dark and delicious, challenging and haunting, all that you'd expect from Lovecraft.

[Brittany Matyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow to get into. Enjoyed each story morevthan the previous.
Fry's Readability: 12th grade reading average

[Chris McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

More please

[Kalli Kirshman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite was The Dunwich Horror