Tales of Horror

by H.P. Lovecraft

The stories of H. P. Lovecraft have been a source of fascination for readers since they were published in the early twentieth century, and legions of fans continue to reinvent his dark and fantastical world to this day. This collection of short stories by the master of the macabre contains more than a dozen of his most popular works, including The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Dunwich Horror. Each story will leave the reader feeling unsettled and uncertain, but also appreciative of the unique elements that Lovecraft introduced to the literary world.

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

763 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2017

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

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compendiums are tough, man. Don’t know what I was thinking, starting off the New Year with one, but I do own a number of them and have never actually finished one. So this brings me a sense of achievement. It also made me realise that if you read almost all of Lovecraft’s stories in one go, you can’t expect to remember the plots of every one. So here’s my pro tip for reading this book: don’t rush through it. Take your time, and space them out.

Now to the review:

What I like about Lovecraft

The slow-burn dread. The cosmic horror. That realisation that you’re just this tiny little spec in a world which is ruled by these Elder Gods that you can’t fathom. These cosmic and terrible things, some of which can’t even be described properly.

There is no doubt he has been incredibly influential. He inspired Ridley Scott, Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. I think they even named a fossil after Cthulhu. That’s a big deal.

What I don’t like about Lovecraft

The casual racism. Yes, Lovecraft was a product of his time, and his time was exceedingly racist. But for a modern reader, it’s exactly this sort of thing which pulls you out of the story. I remember reading “The Rats in the Walls”, and thinking, “heck, this is pretty creepy. I would have actually enjoyed this story if it weren’t for the fact that every time I read the name he gave his damned black cat, I did a double take.” Look it up, cause I’m not willing to repeat it here. And it’s a fecking weird name to give your cat anyway!

Favourite story: The Shadow Over Innsmouth

When people start off a list of top Lovecraft stories, they usually list The Call of Cthulhu, or The Dunwich Horror. Both are great stories, but my favourite is The Shadow Over Innsmouth. I read it for the first time in high school, and I remember enjoying it back then too. It’s definitely in my top Lovecraft stories list. The main downside is the length of the dialogue. There is a LOT of exposition. For example the ticket office agent at the station goes into a spiel on the background to Innsmouth, which goes on for 5 PAGES (he must have zero customers). And when the main character meets old Zadok Allen, his spiel goes on for 8 PAGES (in an accent)! It’s not easy reading, so maybe it helped that I used an audiobook. I did enjoy the twist at the end though, and this is one of the charms of Lovecraft’s better stories. He pulls off the twists well.

Pleasant surprise: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

I want to drop this one in here as another story which I enjoyed. Not a top pick, but I think it stood out. And it may be a weird choice to most people (including Lovecraft himself), but I liked it. It was the one story where I didn’t mind Lovecraft’s verboseness, and actually thought it worked in his favour. It was dreamy, it was surreal, it had an army of cats and a little cat general, and made me think of Murakami and all the cats in his stories. Maybe it’s also the fact that it was a departure from the usual Lovecraftian form. It had its own unique charm, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.

Least Favourite: At the Mountains of Madness

I just know this is going to be a controversial view because ATMOM is listed as one of the top Lovecraft stories. Now, I didn’t actually take notes as I went along, and given that there are plenty of short stories in this mammoth book, it is not inconceivable that there was one (or more) stories that I disliked more than ATMOM. However, ATMOM was the only story I didn’t finish. And not for a lack of effort.

Let me explain.

Back in law school, I had this professor right? He taught EU law. No doubt he knew what he was talking about, but for some reason whenever he started on a lecture, I’d zone out within two minutes. Without fail. Every single time. I once asked him a question, and then zoned out during his response WHILE LOOKING DIRECTLY AT HIM! I have no explanation for why this always happened, but it did.

That is exactly what happened with this story. I cannot even count the number of times I started it, got part of the way through, and then realised I hadn’t been paying attention. And it genuinely surprises me because I was sure I’d love it! Arctic exploration leads to lost civilisation steeped in unexplained and terrifying secrets – it’s right up my alley! And yet ATMOM just didn’t work for me. The story got lost in all the detail. Our narrator Dyer is the last person I’d ever want to have a conversation with, because it would probably go something like this:

Me: So Dyer, tell me about the weird shit that happened to you in Antarctica.
Dyer: Very well, but you must promise to never go there!
Me: Yeah, sure.
Dyer: We set sail from Boston Harbour on September 2, 19:30. We established a base above the glacier in Latitude 86 degrees 7 minutes, East Longitude 174 degrees 23 minutes…
Me: Mate, if you don’t want me to go there, why you giving me coordinates?
Dyer: Lake went off and found some strange fossils. We heard about it on the radio.
Me: Ooh, okay, tell me about those!
Dyer: But I should first describe these Mountains of Madness
Me: You’ve been describing them for the past 2 hours. Can we move the story along a little bit?
Dyer: And the eldritch horrors in cyclopean cities mentioned in the dreaded Necronomicon of the “Mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred.
Me: Has everyone read that damned book? Godsdammit man, what did you SEE in those “Mountains of Madness”??
Dyer: No, don’t distract me. The proper way to tell a story is to give an hour by hour account. So as I was saying, at 4 pm on September 3rd…etc. etc.

Lord give me strength...

This was definitely one of those plots with waaaay too much padding. If Dyer wanted to warn people off sending a follow-up expedition to Antarctica, the verbose git should have done so in fewer words!

Maybe I’ll try ATMOM again sometime in the future, and maybe next time I’ll enjoy it. But at present, it’s my least favourite story in the compendium.

Having said that, as a compendium, this was pretty comprehensive. It doesn't include all of Lovecraft's stories, but it does have all the important ones, and it is a pretty book to boot!

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's with some dismay that I realized that I didn't actually own any H.P. Lovecraft, and this from a guy who doodled Elder Signs over all his high school notebooks. While his works are public domain, there's something to be said for physical books. This Canterbury Classics edition comes with a beautiful leather binding, an iridescent octopus on the cover, gold leaf pages, and an introduction giving an overview of his life and work. Inside are 26 short stories, arranged in chronological order, and covering the essential Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow over Innsmouth, etc.

Reading them all in order is a burden. Early Lovecraft is not great, little gothick tinglers that require much faith and imagination from the reader that this is horrifying. When he hits his stride, Lovecraft is every bit as good as his titanic reputation deserves. The later stories contrast the growing insanity of their narrators against the dizzying cosmological nihilism of deep time, and the ancient civilizations of Elder Things and Old Ones and Mi Go and Deep Ones who once warred over Earth, and who's remnants trouble our dreams.

Selling an collection of free stories is always a little tricky, but this is worth it for the physical qualities of the binding, and for a strong editorial voice. A little bigger than the "core" Lovecraft, a little more portable than the "complete" Lovecraft, this is a great collection for any fan.

[Fabienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

These reviews are merely my own opinion and may vary strongly from others.
Warning! Although I aim (!) to give no large/direct/essential spoilers, I always recommend first reading the story yourself, even just for the sake of gaining your own opinion first. For anyone aiming to read through the whole collection from beginning to end (like I did too), I strongly recommend reading other books at the same time so you can switch it up and start each story with a fresh mind. Otherwise, Lovecraft can become very very Lovecraftian and predictable.

The sad truth about Lovecraft's work, is that his xenophobia shows from it (as it does from modern humanity all the same, just in a more "politically correct" form - according to our current standards). Every time I read a passage containing xenophobic content, I pauze, sigh at Lovecraft and the world we live in, and continue. You could start a new hobby, just picking out these references (someone probably already did). I have enough hobbies though. Therefore, this note goes for many, if not all Lovecraft stories. Let us hope that humanity grows up at some point.. The same can be said of his misogyny showing at times.

Ironically, Lovecraft (p. 142) may have unintentionally explained his own bias in one of his tales (Cool Air): "... the abnormal always excites aversion, distrust, and fear." Where I define '(ab)normal' as 'most frequent' in Lovecraft's social contacts. I.e. what deviates from Lovecraft's personal perspective of "normal". His trademark writing using the "fear of the unknown" can be seen from a whole different perspective too.. (again referring to Lovecraft's own 'known' social contacts and his cultural background).

Dagon: *
Since I read Lovecraft's collection of short horror stories in chronological order, as presented in this version, this first story sadly made me doubt if I should have bought it after all. As some others agree: it misses a "punch". The first paragraph, which I read in the bookstore before I bought the book, is promising but sadly didn't develop much. A common risk of short stories, I'd say.

Statement of Randolf Carter: ***
Similar to Dagon and most other Lovecraft stories, this story revolves around a monstrosity from another world and/or age. The big difference to Dagon, in my opinion, is the increased suspense and more scary setting (some weird cemetery during nighttime). Also, the reader is "exposed" to the monster - be it indirectly, through the communication with Warren while he is down in the tomb - more intensely and for a longer period of time. The fact that Carter lost his consciousness in the middle of his horrible situation until he woke up in the hospital also gave me an uneasy feeling, which I didn't experience reading Dagon, even though that main character also fainted. Like Dagon, however, it didn't stick with me very long after the read, so I felt like there is still room for more.

The Cats of Ulthar: ****
If found this story quite different from the other two I read so far. It struck me with its creative theme and plot and I thus found it very amusing to read. Although I found it less "scary" than 'The Statement of Randolf Carter', probably mainly due to the setting (mainly daytime in a village as opposed to nighttime in a cemetary) and perspective (third-person as opposed to first-person), its creative plot stuck with me much longer. I liked it so much that I had my most beknown cat-lover friend read it immediately after and, that way, conducted my own little act of horror.

The Temple: *****
By the time I read this story, the doubts I had during the first two stories completely dissolved, and this tale became one of my favorites. During my thus-far short curriculum of horror stories, it became definite that setting is very important to me: the mysterious and increasingly dark underwater world, especially as perceived from a submarine, fed my anxiety throughout the read. To me, this story combined the positive points of the previous tales in one: creative theme and plot (following a German W.W. I commander on duty in a submarine ensuring the reader's downright apathy and hate towards him and his deeds/views, while from that wicked starting point still aiming/managing to gain the readers "sympathy" for the horrors he endures), scary setting (dark, undiscovered, deep underwater world) and first-person perspective. The single starting sentence "Manuscript found on the coast of Yucatan", also does a lot with just a few words.

The Picture in the House: ***
Again a story with a setting that starts off my nerves immediately. To me, the strength of this tale lies with its seemingly realistic plot, through which I was able identify myself with the unlucky stranded traveler. Only as the story develops, strange things seem to be occurring at the house, of which only a part refers to supernatural occurances. Sadly, the actual end, especially in contrast to its well built story, seems hurried and random.

The Outsider: ****
As this is one of Lovecraft most famous tales, I might have had a biased start. It started exciting, with the mysterious, seemingly eternal, hermit-existence of the first-person in a ever dark world without others. When she/he (?) discovers the reason for her/his sole and dark world and existence, I was flabbergasted and felt like the story developed to its celebrated fame. Sadly, the storyline of her/his dark world was not pursued. Lovecraft took another turn, which to me was much less exiting and seemed clear in the beginning of the story after Lovecraft deemed it necessary to note that: "My aspect was a matter equally unthought of, for there were no mirrors in the castle, and I merely regarded myself by instinct as akin to the youthful figures I saw drawn and painted in the books." I read Frankenstein just before I started Lovecraft and I can see that it is supposed that he may have been influenced by Mary Shelley's story.

The Music of Erich Zann: ****
Seen by Lovecraft as one of his best works, and I understand why. The mysterious notes urged by Zann's violin alone fed into my imagination of some horrible experimental classical music which I have heard at some point prior to this read. The suspense is well-balanced and although the horrors which haunt Zann remain vague, this underexplicitness works well without the story losing its "punch", in my opinion.

Herbert West - Reanimator: ****
Another Frankenstein inspired story by Lovecraft, but with a great and different way of addressing the topic of (re)animation. The story relates to the Frankenstein story in more aspects than just the theme, though. The main anxiety of doctor West and doctor Frankenstein is also the same: fearing that their creation(s) will return to do more harm, resulting into paranoia. It is nice to read another story with some more body (literally), although Lovecraft seems to summarize a bit too frequently for my taste - i.e. in the first paragraphs of each new chapter.

The Lurking Fear****:
The "Martense" family name sounded strangely familiar. It didn't take long until I realized why, as Lovecraft reveals that the family is of Dutch origin, like myself. It didn't immediately hit me, because I only know people by the name of Martens (like our star football player Lieke Martens) - without the E. Anyways, trivia aside, the quality of this story mainly lies in the long suspense before Lovecraft reveals what exactly is "lurking". The fact that he develops a more detailed background story to this "entity", made it even more exciting to read. For me, a solid four-star story.

The rats in the walls***:
After reading more and more of Lovecraft I seem to reach a point in each tale where I feel like it going the same or similar way as some of the other stories; this one reminding me strongly of 'The Lurking Fear', and ofcouse 'The Cats of Ulthar'. Nevertheless, Lovecraft so far always manages to leave me surprised at the stories' next turn and brings new horrifying aspects into the story. This is also true for this tale, in my opinion. However, I did struggle with understanding all of his texts in the middle of the showdown in the end (I'm not a native speaker). I thus had to re-read the plot summary on Wikipedia to fully understand the unraveling of the myth of The Priory, which took away some of the impact (which is the main reason for the 3 stars). Some of it. But by far, not all. On the upside, though, now I also know that Lovecraft argued that the story was "suggested by a very commonplace incident—the cracking of wall-paper late at night, and the chain of imaginings resulting from it". And I thought I my thoughts dwell easily.

The Festival**:
I felt like this story was promising its build-up and the setting was appealing to me. Although it has a bit more "punch" in its closing than, say, 'Dagon', I feel like it still missed some body in the end where the narrator's escape seems simplified. But then again, it is a short story.

The Shunned House****:
This tale gripped me. Especially in its showdown, of course. I feel like Lovecraft really shows his strength when the stories are just about long enough to develop fully and, thus, the end is - unlike in some of his shorter stories - not rushed. I am not sure whether or not it is a good or bad thing, that I haven't read Dracula (or anything similar) before though.

In The Vault****:
This tale has an exciting setting, following a careless undertaker in his work. This is also the first time (following the chronology of this book) Lovecraft clearly shows a moral lesson to be learnt by the unlucky main character: karma! Karma gets Mr. Undertaker into trouble in the first place ("For the long-neglected latch was obviously broken, leaving the careless undertaker trappen in the vault, a victim of his own oversight.") and finally makes his unlucky experience into a real horror trauma! Even though  I would count this story as one of the short ones I've read so far, the ending is extensive and nicely done. Really happy about that!

Cool Air***:
I've noted in a quite a few reviews so far, that setting seems to be very important to me in a horror tale. In the second paragraph of Cool Air, Lovecraft argues against this: "It is a mistake to fancy that horror is associated inextricably with darkness, silence, and solitude." Although I see how this is true for the narrator in Cool Air, her/his experiences with her/his upstairs neighbour being truly horrifying, it is not the same for a reader who knows they are reading fiction 😉 Nevertheless, the plot of this short story excited me enough to give it three stars.

The Call of The Cthulhu: ***
Knowling that this book is core to Lovecraft's modern fame and his mythos, I had a biased start (again). After having read quite a few Lovecraft stories now, this one does not seem to stand out as much as I'd had hoped. I am very curious, however, how the whole Cthulhu mythos comes together as I read the rest of the stories in this bundle, which is also one of the reasons for giving it some stars nonetheless. For some reason, it reminds me most of (my experience of) the Dagon tale (see review above). However, here, the open-ended plot does work very well!

Pickman's Model: ****
For some reason, I loved to see Lovecraft use a different story-telling perspective in this tale: someone telling a friend or other significant other their Lovecraftian horror experience without stating the other's reactions explicitly (like hearing one speak on the phone). Again, the setting in an old cellar at night did a lot for me and is clearly repeated by Lovecraft in other stories. I liked how the storyteller in this tale expressed their horror AND admiration for Picman's work simultaneously.

The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath: ****
Reactions to this novella seem to be either very negative or very positive. For someone who is just starting to get to know the world of Lovecraft, this tale helps piecing together a lot of info from other stories I have so far read (for example, Pickman's Model and The Cats of Ulthar which I also liked). I personally like (or even love) travelogues - something which is sometimes seen as a con to this story. The story also had a nicely rounded off ending and could be read as a way of saying: "be thankful for what you have" (especially since Lovecraft himself had next-to-nothing during his life). As a 'horror' story, however, I have to confirm Lovecraft's own doubt: "[...] the very plethora of weird imagery may have destroyed the power of any one image to produce the desired impression of strangeness" (H.P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters vol. 2, pp. 94-95). Also, this story is indeed almost 'unreadable' at times. A free audio book on YouTube (HorrorBabble) helped me through some though sections in no time.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: *****
I truly adored this novella, even though Lovecraft himself did not agree at the time he wrote it. Having more body, it is built up strongly and had quite a few moment when the many pieces come together excitingly - although I must say that some can be expected when knowing Lovecraft's mythos. The story's plot tended to remind me of "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Stevenson, and the portrait scenes hinted at "The Picture of Dorian Grey" by Oscar Wilde. Funny note - Wilde is actually referenced to when describing how Curwen (one of the main characters) was attempted to be forgotten: "It can be compared in spirit only to the hush that lay on Oscar Wilde's name a decade after his disgrace [...]." p. 299.

The Colour Out of Space: ***
This was Lovecraft's personal favorite story of his writing, and many critics agree with him. I definitely enjoy the story, like I do most of Lovecraft's writing, but it does not make my favorite. Sorry, Howard. Then again, I did like stories Lovecraft himself thought were poor (e.g. 'The Dream Quest Of Unknown Kadath' and 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'). Maybe it is because I am getting used to Lovecraft's way of writing, that his usage of "fear of the unknown" is not always enough. Either way, I liked that Lovecraft incorporated something that we cannot imagine: the idea of a colour out of our spectrum.

The Dunwich Horror: ****
I am happy that I've read quite a bit of Lovecraft by this time, so that I could enjoy this tale to the fullest and understand more and more about the Lovecraft Mythos. I liked the start and introduction to the Dunwich town a lot: "When a traveler in North Central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork at the junction [...] he comes upon a lonely and curious country." (p. 396) After which Lovecraft described the indescribable uneasiness one would experience passing the road there and then concludes with: "Afterward one sometimes learns that one has been through Dunwich" (p. 397). Which is a scary thought to me after having read the Dunwich Horror, of course. This story again pieces together some of the (apparently many) demonic efforts of some to bring back the things of horror from another time and space. "Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now." (p. 408) Finally, I understand the chanting of Yog-Sothoth in the incantations I have seen in other stories..

The Whisperer in Darkness: ****
Another typical Lovecraftian setting, with (too) curious scientists and their love for discovery. I kept thinking: 'Akeley, stop nosing around, you stubborn son of a gun.' The reason Lovecraft presented for Akeley staying at his farm while being attacked by frigging Aliens all the time ("its his long-time home"), was a bit poor and made me convinced he brought this on himself. Nonetheless, I really liked the ending on this one. It was a pleasure to see how our Wilmarth discoveres with whom he had met: the one who "shall put on the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides" (as Wikipedia describes it)..

At the Mountains of Madness: **
If you are looking for something like an enceclopedia about the origin Lovecraftian entities - this is your find. Sadly, however, the story is slow. Very slow. I do like the travel-log style and setting, but that comes from my personal preference for travel stories.

The Shadow over Innsmouth: ****
This story really grew on me. While I thought it had a slow start, it seems to increase in velocity and thrill throughout. I was really feeling the tension when our main character was being pursued and the ending was really well done. The on the down side, though, I have to conclude that dialog really isn't Lovecraft's strength..

The Dreams in the Witch House: ****
I am really happy about the chosen chronology of the selection of tales in this book - this story follows up "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" perfectly. Both stories grew on me. This one I specifically liked because Lovecraft finally describes a direct horror confrontation with more "earthly fears" (e.g. fighting and strangling).

The Thing on the Doorstep: ***
This one reminded me a lot of "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Stevenson, which I liked about as much as this Lovecraftian story. The interconnected background from the Cthulhu mythos I've read so far makes it that much more exciting to read! Sadly, Lovecraft is back on his superiority-rant here. This time tackling women - probably as a reaction to his recent devorce at the time he wrote this story. "This explains why The Thing on the Doorstep is one of the few Lovecraft stories with a major female-presenting character, and also why it’s so unreservedly misogynistic. Not only do we get Ephraim-as-Asenath’s rants about the inferiority of the female brain, but when one looks closer, women in this story are almost entirely effaced. Derby asks: 'Asenath… is there such a person?' There was, and her story is even more horrific than Derby’s. But we never see her or hear her voice." (https://www.tor.com/2014/08/05/h-p-lo...)

The Shadow Out Of Time: ****
I was pleasantly introduced to the Great Race of Yith for the first time in this story. I really like the idea that Lovecraft poses here on time (and place) travel in the form of a mind swap. The story not only gave the reader the opportunity to learn about the ways of the Great Race, but at the same time, feel connected to the may human minds that were possessed by Yithians who interacted with our main character, Nathaniel. I must say, I felt admiration rather than horror toward the Yithians due to their endless knowledge and libraries. Okay, they do leave others to die in their place when shit hits the fan, but then again, that makes them all the more "human" - am I right?

The Haunter of the Dark: ****
A great short story to close off the series. I liked the setting again, this time in an old black church. When Blake - our main character - tries to get to the church that he could see from his window at home, he asks someone for the way there. The person, however, plainly said they do know of a church like that. At first I thought the plot would be that only Blake could "see" the church. I though that that would also have been a great plot, but Lovecraft did not go that way. But anyway, I liked the story and it fits nicely in my know large knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Average stars: 3,5 (thus I rounded it to 4, for I am very happy to have read it all)

[Dev Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm shelving this one for now; I've read what I wanted to out of the anthology to this point. I'll definitely revisit it and check some more stories off the list in the future.

What I read so far was very solid gothic / sci-fi / horror stuff. I love how Lovecraft builds suspense by not showing or telling the reader everything that is going on. There's a story early in the anthology whose name is escaping me now, but that's an excellent example of this: the protagonist is on the telephone with a colleague who's inside an abandoned crypt (or is it!?!?!?!), and he's telling the story based solely on the horrible things he hears happening down there. I think that's a really cool way to build suspense and a fear of the unknown.

On another note, I'm normally the type of person who can almost wholly separate the art from the artist - but wow, Lovecraft was such an incorrigible racist that it even infected his writing. He literally calls mixed-race people "mongrels" on several occasions. Pretty shocking and disappointing stuff. I'm reducing my rating from 4 to 3 stars because I found the semi-frequent racism to distract from the rest of the writing.

[Rissa (rissasreading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot even begin to describe the feelings I have after finishing this book, nor do I have any recollection of how I got here.
I definitely feel like Lovecraft succeeded at making his own lore, and becoming a staple in horror for his gods, creatures, and landscapes.
However, I cannot stand his lack of descriptions through the use of "I cannot bear to describe", and so on, it felt like such a cop out for a lack of imagination or ability to write the scenes.
There was also a fair amount of repetition between the stories, with a few that stood out. I definitely enjoyed his shorter works compared to his longer ones.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of Horror collects many of the short stories written by H.P. Lovecraft.

A collection of horror stories that involve cosmic horror, ancient civilizations and entities, supernatural forces, and psychological horror.

H.P. Lovecraft was definitely ahead of his time with many of his ideas and he created a connected universe of stories that built upon ideas made in his earlier works. But, I found he fell into some common areas that repeated and became annoying as I continued to read his work: horrors that were beyond description (feels like a copout for Lovecraft not having to come up with a description), seeing things that would instantly drive you mad, and frights that would make an individual faint. Were people just fainting at any scare in the 19th century?

But Lovecraft also does some stuff really well: the slow building dread, making one feel infinitesimal next to ancient Eldritch gods, and a fear of the unknown. Even though Lovecraft is known for the large scale horror such as the Call of Cthulhu and At The Mountains of Madness, I felt more drawn to some of Lovecraft's smaller stories. My favorite stories were The Music of Erich Zann, Herbert West - Reanimator, In The Vault, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Colour Out of Space, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Now for the elephant in the room. I tried to separate the author from the writing but sometimes it was extremely hard. There are times in the writing where it becomes impossible to ignore the racist, xenophobic, and sexist descriptions that were given. It definitely impacted my impressions on these stories. Regardless of the time period the books were written, the descriptions that were provided are unforgivable and disgusting and Lovecraft's legacy need to reflect his beliefs.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the summer of 2020, as the pandemic lockdowns were beginning to lift, I embarked upon a 45-minute journey by foot to Trident Booksellers & Cafe to celebrate their re-opening and my birthday to treat myself to a book. This is the treasure I picked for myself that day: a stunning, leather-bound collection of H. P. Lovecraft's short stories and novellas (the endpapers are octopus tentacles, the edges are sprayed in gold, and there's a red ribbon bookmark built in - I truly can't say enough about how beautiful this book is!) It was the hottest day of the year so far and yet I happily carried this home, excited to finally dive into work of a legendary and foundational horror author.

It took me a little over four years to actually finish this thing cover to cover. It's not because I didn't enjoy the stories (as evidenced by my four start rating) but because Lovecraft's work is truly dense. I simply didn't have to stomach to try reading this substantially hefty tome straight through, especially because Lovecraft's work isn't just dense, it's undeniably repetitive. His stories begin to blur one right into the other, and I found that I enjoyed them a great deal more when I took breaks between.

My favorites of the bunch (with, perhaps, a slight bias towards the stories I read more recently): The Temple, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Color Out of Space, The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Thing on the Doorstep, and The Haunter of the Dark.

My least favorite of the collection: The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. I genuinely considered giving up on the story altogether many times, but I'm stubborn about completing books, so I powered through. This was painfully long.

Finally, you can't talk about H. P. Lovecraft without mentioning his pretty evident racism. It's a shame - there are parts of his stories where you want to shake him because he almost opens his eyes to it (I'm especially thinking of two of his later works, At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time) but it's clear that his distaste of foreigners and non-white people influenced what he found frightening in his stories (and in the wider world around him). I personally found it tiresome and distasteful, but I was still able to enjoy his work overall. Your mileage may vary.

[MalNich · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing considering all the hype surrounding Lovecraft.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times difficult to read due to the dense prose, but it is really interesting to know what a wide influence H.P. Lovecraft has had on modern day literature, movies and video games.

By far my favorite story in the anthology was The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Minor spoilers, but it has a cat army. Cat. Army.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are not bedtime stories! You would no sooner read them to your children than you’d read “Murders in the Rue Morgue.” ( Oh, wait, my Dad actually did read that awful story to us!) At any rate, H. P. Lovecraft was certainly the soul brother of Poe. And his stories are even more fantastical and gruesome. I don’t recommend reading them late at night, especially if you have trouble sleeping.

[Andrew Mitofsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the most challenging books I have ever read. Lovecraft certainly has a very unique and detailed writing style that makes getting through his stories an arduous, though fun, task. It is easy to see Lovecraft’s influence on current horror novels and movies. While some of these stories were a bit out there, they were all fun and entertaining to read.

[C.E.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content: 3.5 to 3.75 stars.
Edition: 4.5 stars.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see the inspiration for quite a few horror movies that I've watched along with several TV shows, not the least of which is Stranger Things. This is an anthology, and for me, not really being familiar with his stories, the first ones didn't really make sense until later when I started to realize they were all connected. I'll have to go back and reread the first ones again. There were many stories that I liked, but almost as many that I didn't, so hard to say really if I liked the entire book.

[Yinzadi]

Table of Contents
Dagon
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Cats of Ulthar
The Temple
The Picture in the House
The Outsider
The Music of Erich Zann
Herbert West—Reanimator
The Lurking Fear
The Rats in the Walls
The Festival
The Shunned House
In the Vault
Cool Air
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman's Model
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Colour Out of Space
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Dreams in the Witch House
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Shadow Out of Time
The Haunter of the Dark

[Sjoerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of Lovecraft stories. It contains a great selection of mostly Cthulu mythos and Dream cycle stories plus a few extra's. I think I would always recommend people to check this version if they want to be properly introduced to HPL. It has a very short introduction by Ken Mondschein, and seeing I really like my context with older stories I wished there was more.

[Andrés Astudillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally I finished reading this one. It has been an honour having the time and opportunity to read and to successfully finishing this "lovecraftian cycle". This book contains 26 of his horror tales. They are chronologically ordered, and are just awesome. There's no way to pick just one story. Lovecraft, as far as Im concerned, was a solitary man, and just plain lonely in every sense of the word. However, I dont know if it was because of his partially destroyed childhood, or maddening circumstances in his life that were the reason why his imagination became the way to bring out those feelings.
There's a piece of him in every story, and he was a genius.

[Isaiah Espinoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

H.P. Lovecraft is not an easy read. It’s not the causal racism which there is plenty but the dryness of his writing. To finish the book was like pulling teeth. Most of the popular stories are different from their adaptations and I felt they much of them were overrated. That said I can see that many writers are influenced by his cosmic horror.

[sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i listened to a few of these at a time. i recommend listening to horrorbabble on youtube if you're looking for some spooky stories with background noises... they're awesome!!!

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In the open spaces, mostly along the line of the old road, there were little hillside farms; sometimes with all the buildings standing, sometimes with only one or two, and sometimes with only a lone chimney or fast-filling cellar. Weeds and briers reigned, and furtive wild things rustled in the undergrowth. Upon everything was a haze of restlessness and oppression; a touch of the unreal and grotesque, as if some vital element of perspective or chiaroscuro were awry. I did not wonder that the foreigners would not stay, for this was no region to sleep in. It was too much like a landscape of Salvator Rosa; too much like some forbidden woodcut in a tale of terror." - description of the area around the Gardner property in "The Colour Out of Space."

I'm new to HP Lovecraft's writing so forgive me if I'm misstating his literary place here. "Tales of Horror" is a collection of 26 horror stories by HP Lovecraft, who I think had kind of an originalist impact on the supernatural-horror genre in a manner similar to Poe's impact on horror-mysteries or maybe Verne's on the science fiction genre. Lovecraft is frequently appraised by authors who came after his time, which was the 1915-1935 era.

Themes in his stories reflect his atheism, cosmicism, gothic influences, respect and fear of cats, his New England roots (aka "Lovecraft country"), a shared universe that at times has Easter eggs from his other works, and mental illness - Lovecraft's parents both died in insane asylums. Lovecraft is kind of a horror genre generational link between Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King, and now I also have a better idea what this whole Cthulhu thing is all about lol.

Lovecraft can be a tough read. His prose can overwhelm with waves of run-on visual wordplay that reminded me of a Cormac McCarthy, Dean Koontz, James Lee Burke, and of course Stephen King, painting grotesque and human-monster-supernatural hybrid nightmarish pictures that would look like Goya or Bosch paintings on canvas, alongside inner thoughts from the narrators who often had madness as a side effect of genius, exploration, or scientific discovery. Take all of that and mash it up with gothic horror language and late 1800's wordplay closer to Stoker, Stevenson, Poe, and Doyle and you'll start to get the idea. Still, while his work is generally challenging overall, some of his stories are more approachable than others.

These selections can't all be called "short" stories; in fact, I'd say three of those included in this volume are full novel-length reads that took me a few days each. All told, it took me two months to read this massive volume between other reads. My favorites in here are "Cool Air," "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," "The Dunwich Horror," "The Shadow over Innsmouth," and "The Colour Out of Space."

On Goodreads I've written reviews for five of the longer stories but won't copy those here or post them on Facebook just to keep from clogging up feeds. If you are interested in those just hit me up.

Verdict: "Tales of Horror" has some really creepy fright-rendering psychological terror tales, immersive investigations of unworldly threats, and mad adventures into cosmically-immense paranormal new and horrible places. For horror genre fans, I recommend it even if only to have a more complete library and have the option to read one of the stories within on a whim; this was on the book rack at Sam's Club for just $15 and serves as kind of a "Greatest Hits" collection for a writer who has 65 short stories and novellas to his credit and this volume has 26 of them.

As to how enjoyable the stories are, most I'd rate as 3's. I'm going to grade this collection higher than the average of its stories just because 1) it looks great on a bookshelf - the leather binding, cover, the intro to Lovecraft by Ken Mondschein, and it's easy use as a reference book later - and 2) it was interesting enough that I kept coming back to read all 26 stories even if some weren't as good.

Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: director's choice as to what to show, PG-R, but readable for all ages who can translate the labyrinthian prose.

[Taneli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is 5 stars in multiple categories. The physical build of the book is very satisfying as it is leather-bound and the edges of the pages are a shiny gold material. The cover art and the general build of the book are both very aesthetic giving the cherry on top for the book. I had no problems with loose or torn pages because the way it is bound requires the actual page to be riped for the book to even fall apart. The way it's bound also allows a very easy reading experience as the book will stay open to your page when you set it down and such.

Then the actual print and stories are definitely 5 stars in quality. A good amount of all that HP. Lovecraft has written are in the book and organized in an easy fashion. Talking about the actual stories written by HP. Lovecraft, one could say they are timeless. The stories in the book are mainly phycological horror, horror, science fiction, and mystery.

My personal favorite quote from one of the stories is "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." (HP. Lovecraft Call of Cthulu 1) For me, this quote is something that questioned my view on things like humankind advancing and is such an existential quote. Almost all of the stories by HP. Lovecraft starts off with a question or an almost philisophical existential statement. The stories are meant to be more than just an interesting and entertaining story, but rather something thought-provoking.

While I can't really give a plot summary on all the short stories there is a general theme in the way the plots are. They have a motif of starting off with a thought-provoking hypocritical statement about humans as mentioned before. They will then introduce the background and character which in many cases is a white male due to HP. Lovecraft's beliefs. Then the character tends to stumble upon something that intrigues their interest or throughs them off sending them on a journey.

There is a general theme of criticizing human nature in Lovecraft's work. Lovecraft was an observer and a recluse so he would look at society from the curtains and would have lots of time to think. This is reflected in his writing in his thoughts of humanity, but all this lone time would also result in multiple themes of cosmic level dread. Stories would also talk about unknown and unseen dangers out of your control. These would be things like a cosmic being that takes over the world and kills all humans.

[Tracy Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed reading Lovecraft’s ‘Tales of Horror’ from cover to cover. Coming from someone who loves reading literature, I found the continually building story within his collection of stories most compelling of all. Inside his head…I questioned whether this was all a dream or if he has truly gone mad himself. It leaves one to question what could be out in the universe that not only affected him but influenced his stories as well.

To read Lovecraft is to absorb him. One by one, story by story, in order, the WHOLE plot will build between stories. This is what makes this book so interesting! I took my time enjoying his prose, symbolism and depth while trying to understand the different trajectories he was taking with his characters. Who they were, where they came from, where they were going and how they influenced the storyline(s) from a cosmic standpoint. Each of them faces their demise be it through death, madness or “other” means.

At times, this collection is very difficult to read with the changes in language dialects. His descriptions can run long causing the reader to stop and think about what is being said so they can understand and simulate the ideas and atmosphere the author is attempting to convey. But to stop and engage yourself in Lovecraft’s way of thinking is exactly what is expected in order to fully appreciate his storytelling. Ultimately, Lovecraft achieves his goals by creating something so wildly beyond our imagination that it propels us to continue reading to find out what else is hidden beyond the reaches of the realm. It’s understandable why he has become a figurehead of pop culture with hidden references in a wide variety of media and film today.

[alex]

"Dagon"
rating: tbd/5

"The Statement of Randolph Carter"
rating: tbd/5

"The Cats of Ulthar"
rating: tbd/5

"The Temple"
rating: tbd/5

"The Picture in the House"
rating: tbd/5

"The Outsider"
rating: tbd/5

"The Music of Erich Zann"
rating: tbd/5

"Herbert West—Reanimator"
rating: tbd/5

"The Lurking Fear"
rating: tbd/5

"The Rats in the Walls"
rating: tbd/5

"The Festival"
rating: tbd/5

"The Shunned House"
rating: tbd/5

"In the Vault"
rating: tbd/5

"Cool Air"
rating: tbd/5

"The Call of Cthulhu"
rating: tbd/5

"Pickman's Model"
rating: tbd/5

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
rating: tbd/5

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
rating: tbd/5

"The Colour Out of Space"
rating: tbd/5

The Dunwich Horror
rating: tbd/5

The Whisperer in Darkness
rating: tbd/5

At the Mountains of Madness
rating: tbd/5

The Shadow over Innsmouth
rating: tbd/5

"The Dreams in the Witch House"
rating: tbd/5

"The Thing on the Doorstep"
rating: tbd/5

The Shadow Out of Time
rating: tbd/5

"The Haunter of the Dark"
rating: tbd/5

[Tamara Timm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first experience reading Lovecraft and I'm kind of disappointed. He is a very hyped author and for me most of his stories are lacking, with a few gems sprinkled about.

He has a lot of interesting concepts and ideas but for me they are poorly executed. It seems his "go to" for describing horror is simply "indescribable horror." He also is very repetitive in his story telling; a lot of the stories start to blur together with a few memorable ones.

I rated each story individually and came up with an average of 3.4 out of 5. See individual ratings below.

Dagon- 5 stars
Statement of Randolph Carter- 5 stars
Cats of Ulthar- 4 stars
The temple- 4 stars
The picture in the house- 4 stars
The outsider- 4 stars
Music of Erich Zann- 3 stars
Herbert West Reanimator- 2 stars (most upsetting)
Lurking Fear- 2 stars
Rats in the walls- 2 stars
The festival- 1 star
The shunned house- 2 stars
In the Vault- 3 stars (great ending)
Cool air- 3 stars
Call of Cthulhu- 3 stars
Pickmans model- 4 stars
Dreamquest of unknown kadath- 1 star
Case of Charles Dexter Ward- 3 stars
Colour out of space- 5 stars
The Dunwich Horror- 3 stars
Whispers in the dark- 1 star
At the mountains of madness- 3 stars
The shadow over innsmouth- 5 stars (most memorable ending)
Dreams in the witch house- 5 stars
Thing on the doorstep- 5 stars (most memorable overall)
Shadow out of time - 3 stars
Haunted of the dark - 3 stars

[Stratus · Rating 1 out of 5]

If like me, English is not your mother tongue and you can't resist looking up the definitions of words you don't know in dictionaries, this book is a nightmare to read. Of course I DNF'ed.

Here's a quick review of the stories I tortured myself into reading in the order I read them.

Dagon - 1 star :
95% description, 5 % action
heavy on fancy words (this observation holds true for all the stories)

The Call of Cthulhu - 1 star :
It's about a guy who recalls reading the notes of a guy relating stuff that happened to some other guy, based on what the other guy told him, interspaced with anecdotes that were told by some other guys......
The most tedious story I've read in my life, bar none

The Color out of Space - 1 star

The Shadow of Insmouth - 1 star
I would have given 2 starts or maybe even 3, but there's a sequence of 10 straight pages of monologue from a drunken toothless old man and the author butchered his words to reflect that character's elocution as if it was funny. It's not. It's painful to read, trying to guess what the words mean.

The Dunwich Horror - 2 1/2 stars
This one is actually decent. There is a story. It's part of his whole Cthulhu whatever mythos. If you only want to read one Lovecraft story and have a good idea of what he's about, I recommend this one

The Rats in the Wall - 1 star

The Cats of Ulther - 3 stars
It's 3 pages long so you can get through it "relatively" quickly

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of some of Lovecraft's best stories. It needs mentioned that Lovecraft was very racist, and that is apparent in many of his stories.

He writes about the unknown, the ever changing world around you, which can often appear vast and eldritch.

Interesting writing style in that he often tells you exactly how the story will end at the start, and then you go forward with that in mind through the whole story.

Scary and historically relevant, the mythos Lovecraft created has had a huge revival in pop culture in recent years. It has been co-opted to become more palatable but just as scary and iconic.

I think there's value in reading these but wouldn't blame anyone who is put off by the bigotry.

Some of my favorites:

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - the longest of the collection, but I found it fascinating the whole way through, unraveling just what was going on

Pickman's Model - short, sweet, and incredibly scary

The Dreams in the Witch House - this had just enough hints of weirdness, but still a fast moving plot. Gosh dang Brown Jenkin wtf

Least favorite

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - an unusual departure from horror. It felt like Lovecraft's version of the Odyssey. I don't say that as a bad thing, but it didn't work for me.

[Rylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading H.P. Lovecraft’s Tales of Horror. This one in particular had multiple stories from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft, such as Dagon, The Cats of Ulthar, The Temple, and The Call of Cthulhu. Since there are many stories in the book, I will summarize one that I found the most interesting. One of my favorites was The Statement of Randolph Carter, it was about two explorers (Randolph Carter and Harley Warren) finding this entrance that leads into the ground, while Carter stays by the entry Warren goes down. He didn’t let Carter go along since he knew he wouldn’t be able to comprehend anything. Which eventually leads to his death and yelling at the other through a telephone, “Curse these hellish things-legions- My God! Beat it! Beat it! Beat it” (Lovecraft, 10). The vocabulary he used and the way he described things, although it was very hard to read and understand at some points. I enjoyed the horror elements and the different creatures he created. I would recommend this book to people who want a different aspect of horror and like reading harder books.

[Cep Subhan KM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly i like its design: the book has a leather hardback and thick papers. It is designed to be a collector's edition, a book published as an artwork. Secondly i always like horror stories since the horror stories commonly possible to be written by giving a psychological conflict instead of giving a physical conflict only for presenting an amazing story. To depict a psychological conflict, the author should understand deeply about psychology and it becomes the cause of providing good characterization technique.
Surely H. P. Lovecraft is a great horror author even if his horror is different with Edgar Allan Poe's horror. Besides, even if I admire Poe but I am a little late to read Lovecraft and thank to God that i still have a time to enjoy great horror stories presented by a maestro in this collection. It is a collectible book not only because of its great appearance but also because of its possibility to be read again and again.

[Hyrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a disclaimer I should mention that I listen to this as an audiobook and that I am not totally sure this is the same book I listened to. It has the same title and author but it is listed at a much longer length than my time listening seems to justify. That said I listened to the short stories: The Color Out of Space, The Cat of Ulthar, Pickman’s Model, Polaris, The Picture in the House, and The Outsider.

The first and last stories were my favorites of the bunch. Mostly they felt like mysteries where you never got the full answer about what was going on. The Picture in the House was probably my least favorite because it seemed like the author left too much off at the end. There are points when the stories seem a bit dated but they exude a delightful level of creepy.

[Cassie W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* overall.

Dagon: 5/5
The Statement of Randolph Carter: 5/5
The Cats of Ulthar: 5/5
The Temple: 4/5
The Picture in the House: 5/5
The Outsider: 4/5
The Music of Erich Zann: 2/5
Herbert West - Reanimator: 5/5
The Lurking Fear: 5/5
The Rats in the Walls: 3/5
The Festival: 3/5
The Shunned House: 3/5
In the Vault: 3/5
Cool Air: 2/5
The Call of Cthulhu: 4/5
Pickman's Model: 2/5
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath: 4/5
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: 5/5
The Colour Out of Space: 5/5
The Dunwich Horror: 2/5
The Whisperer in Darkness: 3/5
At the Mountains of Madness: 3/5
The Shadow Over Innsmouth: 4/5
The Dreams in the Witch House: 5/5
The Thing on the Doorstep: 5/5
The Shadow Out of Time: 2/5
The Haunter of the Dark: 2/5

[Lara (Atlas Of Stories) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this huge, leather-bound, beautiful short story collection, but I didn’t yet know what I was getting myself into.

The stories are densely written, slow-paced, and not easy to read. Some didn’t click with me or failed to hold my attention. But others? I absolutely loved. The tension creeps in slowly, and the atmosphere is dark, eerie, and horrific. As a fan of the horror genre, I really appreciated the way some of these stories gripped my full attention and stayed with me right up to the final words.

It was a long book to get through — not just because of its length (700+ pages), but because of the writing style. Still, I’m glad I finished it. Some of these stories will definitely stay with me for a long time.