Selected Stories

by H.P. Lovecraft

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.
"I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more."

This selection of works showcases the best-known, most chilling stories of H. P. Lovecraft, including Dagon, The Call of Cthulhu, The Thing on the Doorstep and Herbert West – Reanimator. They feature such deadly horrors as terrifying sea-creatures, menaces from outer space, evil-worshipping cults and unexpected murder by familiar hands. There is no place so frightful that Lovecraft did not venture there, and these tales will leave the imagination reeling, yet dare you to turn the page…

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Classics, Fantasy, Lovecraftian, Fiction, Mystery

290 pages, Paperback

Published February 8, 2018

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

[Sari]

rest in distress, Lovecraft, you would've hated the internet

[Samuel Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moje prvé stretnutie s legendárnym majstrom neogotického hororu, H.P. Lovecraftom.

Bolo to strašidelné? Nie, nebolo. Viem si ale predstaviť, že ľudia na začiatku 20. storočia
dostávali pri čítaní jeho poviedok intenzívnu husiu kožu, rovnako ako ľudia, ktorí prvý
krát videli filmové plátno s lokomotívou, utiekli zo sály, pretože si mysleli, že vlak sa rúti
na nich. Dnes už však nikto neuteká pred zábermi v kine, ani keď sú 3-D.

Väčšina zo strašidelných prvkov v týchto poviedkach bolo "strašidlo", ktoré bolo tak
bizarné, mimo nášho sveta a hrozivo neopísateľné, že autor zaplnil tri stránky tým,
ako veľmi sa ho nedá opísať. (väčšinou to bolo niečo chobotnicové).

Zároveň sa v knihe miešajú autorove staršie poviedky s novšími a je vidno, že zo začiatku
sa iba hľadal, kým našiel to svoje pravé orechové a vytvoril univerzum starých bohov a temných
bytostí z iného sveta. Našťastie boli tieto monštrá a ich pozadie zaujímavé a originálne
(aspoň na tu dobu), čiže sa to čítalo dobre. Sem-tam sa objaví aj veľmi originálny koncept,
napr. "Farba z neba", kde obyvateľov farmy doslova terorizuje kozmická "farba" alebo
"Vec na prahu", kde prastarý čarodej posadne telo svojej dcéry a následne jej manžela.

V každom prípade, je pochopiteľné, prečo má Lovecraft miesto medzi legendami hororu
a určite odporúčam pre každého fanúšika žánru.

PS: Negooglite si, ako sa volal Lovecraftov kocúr, varujem vás.

[Daniel Newcomer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greatest hits for the genre but at times his stories feel so slow!

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout this book, you can really see the progression in Lovecraft’s writing.
Dagon, Randolph Carter, and the Herbert West were quite lacklustre for me, but things picked up during Cthulhu.
The last two stories, Haunter of the Dark and Thing on the Doorstep were my favourite and had me enthralled the entire time.

[Gabriela Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities."

H.P. Lovecraft, that masterful artist of horror, understood that his craft consisted of only 50% shock and gore, and that the other 50% was about letting the reader's imagination go wild (and mine did!! While stuck in the looooong queue for the vaccine jab).

"...All life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreaming."

One of my two favorite stories in the book were THE SILVER KEY, where we have Lovecraft's philosophy beautifully expressed in the introduction, as a man who sought meaning in books and the life of the mind, where he found the harmony invisible to him on earth.

And the last story in the collection (THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP) was the creepiest!!! Let's just say: it pays to have a signature knock, just in case you get possessed and need to prove that you're... you. Haha.

Some observations on Lovecraft's insanely great writing:

1) He likes whipoorwills. He mentions them 2 or 3 times per story, in almost all of the stories! Apparently their singing is an ill omen signaling death 😳

2) He gives enough detail to paint a clear picture of something beyond the grave, but leaves the worst bits to our overactive imaginations. Which I am both grateful for, and in awe of. It's super effective!!!

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."

[Laurens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my god the racism

I liked these stories a lot despite the everything. Lovecraft is truly a master of suspense, and is really good at giving you just little enough information that you fill in the rest with whatever your mind finds spooky. This "fear of the unknown" makes itself manifest in a lot of other "unknowns", however. Like the "unknown" of belonging to any social group that is not the white upper class.

I thought the yikes factor would be implicit, and that people were just exagerrating, but no. It is seriously worse than you think it is. I just hate how absolutely amazing his suspense is.

[Thirsa Knoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loooved the last story

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

[Jiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loppua kohden puudutti, riittää kosmisuus hetkeksi kyllä nyt.

[Dario Zaramella · Rating 4 out of 5]

The imaginative power of Lovecraft is highly remarkable, also considering the fact that he is one of the first writers of the horror genre. Most of the tales which are part of this collection are very engaging and the atmosphere the author creates every time is perfect for the events he tells. As an Italian reader, I found the language used by Lovecraft very complex, especially in the descriptions of the characters and the places. Still, I was able to follow the stories and to be entertained by them.

[Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember well the first Lovecraft's book I bought: a collection of some of his most known stories. It was instant love, and as time went by I literally sank into Lovecraft's ample work, even finding myself rereading many and many times those few stories which had introduced me to Lovecraft.
There was a problem, though, for english is not my native language.
All the stories I read, in fact, I read them in italian.
But then I found myself on the path that led me to read in english, and while I had always shunned Lovecraft's works in original language (the complexity of the italian translations was enough to keep me from approaching the original pieces), some weeks ago I came through this paperback in a book store and I knew it was the right moment to begin a new journey through Lovecraft's work, starting from a collection of stories just as I did some years ago (quite romantic, I must admit), this time only enjoying the stories as Lovecraft wrote them originally. And I was not disappointed.

I think this paperback is a perfect and comprehensive introduction to Lovecraft's work, as it contains some of his most representative stories. All of the them, except the one entitled 'The Silver Key' (which belongs to the so called 'Dream Cycle'), are tales of unnamable and unbearable horrors:

Dagon
The Statement of Randolph Carter
Herbert West Reanimator
The Outsider
The Color Out of Space
The Call of Cthulhu
The Silver Key
The Dunwich Horror
The Haunter in the Dark
The Thing on the Doorstep

At first I was actually baffled by the fact that 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' and 'The Rats in the Walls' were not included in this collection, as I honestly think they are two of Lovecraft's best stories. Then it struck me while I was out, carrying the book into my back pocket: those two stories alone (The Shadow Over Innsmouth especially, being very long) would have stretched the book's lenght too much, making it lose its pocket size, which I actually loved.

I would like to end the review with one of the my favorite Lovecraft quotes, taken from the intro of the story entitled 'The Call of Cthulhu', because I think it sums up excellently the entire work of H.P. Lovecraft:

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. 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. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovecraft's idea of horror is that of a terrifying truth beyond human understanding. How could we blame him?
In this collection of short stories Lovecraft proves to be extremely good at giving the idea of grandeur, of something so gigantic that it cannot be comprehended by the human mind - this inability to understand even the extent of what we don't know is the source of true horror, in his opinion. Perhaps nowadays it may appear a somewhat outdated vision, which no longer arouses the same apprehension. I find it interesting and very imaginative.
I especially liked this book for its settings and vivid descriptions, the most beautiful and evocative of which I found in The statement of Randolph Carter and The silver key. I particularly enjoyed Dagon and The call of Cthulhu - they both have a certain adventurous feel to them which makes the narrative enthralling and full of suspense. The latter has a quite interesting structure, that of a series of stories one inside the other. I find it pleasant, compelling.
A detail that I really liked is how Lovecraft talks about Randolph Carter in more than one story, giving a detailed and realistic portrait of the character and recounting various adventures which see the young man as the protagonist. It's nice to keep on discovering something new about the characters and gradually become attached to them, as if they were acquaintances and not fictional figures.
An original, skilled and imaginative author. A collection of well-written, entertaining, suggestive stories. Absolutely worth reading.

[The Book Ninja · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a shame old HP was rabid racist. I didn’t realise how awesome his stories are. I’ve been seeing a lot of re-imagining of his works (I’ve particularly got my eye on The Ballad of Black Tom) with the tantalising label of cosmic-horror and I thought I’d read the big hitters in his Cthulhu story universe. He’s wordy, men and horses faint a lot (Women would to I imagine, if he wrote about them us much as he does men) and some horrors are not described lest it send the reader mad, but his work was outré and a real joy to read and I see now how influential he is.

[Román · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were a bit hard to understand due to the vocabulary, and it's also quite complicated to grasp in detail some of the monsters he describes. But I like the mysterious and sombre tone he uses and the way it's narrated. It also has to be said that some of the stories seem too similar in the way things are described but that, of course, wouldn't be so problematic if they were read independently.

[Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of these literally gave me goosebumps.

[nacholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

having read him, really loved majority of them. This is my personal ranking, then only the Why's.

1. The Dunwich Horror
2. The Thing at the Doorstep (sequel to The Shadow over Innsmouth)
3. The Call of Cthulhu
4. The Colour out of Space
5. The Statement of Randolph Carter
6. The Silver Key (sequel to the Statement of Randolph Carter)
7. Dagon
8. The Outsider
9. Herbert West's - Reanimator (Frankenstein parody)
10. The Haunter of Dark

Throughout his work, he remains consistent; the looming oppressiveness, dread, helplessness, hopelessness, despair, insignificance... is why we love HPL, for his ability to extract such painful emotions and into imaginations that people would consider for psychiatric help. Another one would be how writes his stories as though they're journal logs; major bonus for this.

Through this, I'll break down some of the works here; give them the proper respect. Buckle in (follows the Book order)

1. Dagon - pretty good introduction into his work, relatively short and captures the essence.

2. The Statement of Randolph Carter - follows Dagon's structure, introspective statement in relatively short amount of pages, captures the helplessness of the situation... appreciated more after reading The Silver Key (sequel to this)

3. Herbert West - Reanimator - this was copy paste of Shelley's work while injecting the horror aspects (which kinda misunderstood Shelley's purpose of the book). It's approach was lacking the emotional gravity found in Frankenstein; but it's ending was really good, only that it came in WAY too late. Descent into madness, would translate much better onscreen that words repeated, while also going in circles about the subject matter. Silver Key, yet again, bumped my pov of this book (HPL's ability to link it to his other works is also intriguing...)

4. The Outsider - I didn't have notes on this, explains why it's kinda low on my ranking as well.

5. The Colour out of Space - as much as the film diverts heavily from this, both can be appreciated. really liked this too because of how, it doesn't really have Wells' prints all-over it but rather the gradualness of how humanity kinda succumb to things that come off as odd.

6. The Call of Cthulhu - come on, do we really need to write of this? this eldritch god is the sole reason why he's still so popular. Captures the insignificance of humanity, the unintended unearthing of something that isn't supposed to be unearthed, the dangers of cults and so much more; read and then you'll know.

7. The Silver Key - the references to Herbert West and being the unintended sequel to Statement of Randolph Carter, made this read really good. The effects to witnessing the horrors of the cosmos, questioning the purposes of humanity; was insightful and everlasting.

8. The Dunwich Horror - while it has a somewhat predictable structure, what made it for me was it's description of the 'main' character, environments, shit that happens that makes it worth the journey. Descriptions of genuine terror without being in the centre of it, is what allows it to be so peak. Through this, HPL utilises 3rd POV wherein it shifts from character to character... and it's beautiful; breadcumbs of info too, was so good. It's ending, of unsureness was just icing on the cake; ending it on a the most perfect of notes; why it's also my 1st.

9. The Haunter of Dark - idk why, i was so blur throughout this reading. descriptions were HPL coded with and ending that's good, but the leadup to it was just so, lacklustre.

10. The Thing at the Doorstep - having reading Shadow over Innsmouth 2 years prior, it paid off because this was a sequel to it. Extremely effective horror storytelling, with sequences that kinda baffles you, with how depraved the characters are written; how almost everything has a double meaning (names, intentionally picked from the Bible). Although structure is relatively "predictable", the journey towards the opening paragraphs (which, was the conclusion) allowed the journey to pay off to understanding; the turmoil, human condition, identity, uncontrollable nature of the cosmos, death and of an ending that was sweet-bitter? you'd go "they won" but at what cost? did they actually win? or will it continue regardless? Stories like that, utilising effective words, it doesn't even pass 5 pages and you'd pee your pants already. And also teaches you to not fuck around with witchcraft, shit's whacky and ain't for the humankind.

[Volk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection has a few stories, and I feel like ranking each would explain my rating. Also, I'd hope that anyone interested in reading this would look at these scores and use them to decide whether or not they want to finish any of the more boring stories the collection has.

Dagon - 3/5. Chaotic, psychedelic, weird and short. Great as an introduction to the world of Lovecraft, but lacking in the depth Howard enjoys to give his stories.

The Statement of Randolph Carter - 1.5/5. If it wasn't written half-decently, I'd call this outright trash. The story itself is boring and the ending is idiotic. I could understand why the creators of this collection added it (context + buildup), but in my opinion they shouldn't have.

Herbert West-Reanimator - 2.5/5. After reading the previous story, I had lost all hope for Lovecraft. This made me feel like maybe all hope is not lost. The repetition at the start of each substory gets to you, but the substories themselves are curious and fun to read.

The Outsider & The Colour Out of Space - 4/5. Both just good stories that also add more to the lore of Lovecraft's world.

The Call of Cthulhu - 4/5. It's good.

The Silver Key - 2/5. Big dip in quality after the previous two stories, yawned my way through it and didn't care for the ending at all.

The Dunwich Horror - 4/5. Probably my favourite story in the entire book. It holds up both as a part of the overall lore and as a separate story perceived on its own.

The Haunter of the Dark - 2/5. I fell asleep every 10 pages. The prose here is so mind numbingly complex, yet the story itself does not reflect that quality. I would've probably enjoyed it were it not so damn long and boring.

The Thing on The Doorstep - 3/5. Felt like a 4 when I read it, but if I think about it, it's probably because of the contrast to the previous story. Concise and fun to read, with a curious twist at the end.

I'd say I enjoyed the collection as a whole, yet I have to acknowledge that not every story was good. My (precise) final rating would probably be about 3.5/5

[Edd]

I should probably refrain from giving a rating to any classics at this point, I just generally don't enjoy them, so to actually weigh the average score down, because of my 21st century sensibilities, wouldn't be fair.

I'll talk some shit, though.

For starters - most of the stories here seem like the very exposition or a trailer or pitch for an actual horror movie. Perhaps Lovecraft broke new ground in horror, but he didn't explore it much. There's so much unknown about his horror in the given story, it seems, that the fear of the protagonist seems merely xenophobic in some sense. There's some sort of vagueness to the horror w/ it being more described by the fear or reaction of the protagonist than the horror itself (the horror being either an alien element in our world or entering an alien world and just feeling disturbed by the event), so it felt like 4 blind men describing an elephant, this odd, removed 3rd person account of what already happened.

The last one also in my opinion seems to suffer due to H.P. not being a great writer .. ? There's this huge lack of mystery in a good deal of the stories where the events are obvious. The stories didn't leave a lasting impression on me, so it's hard to make a list, but the last story in this edition - 'The Thing on the Doorstep' - gave away some things that made the subsequent obvious, which if delivered correctly would be a great disturbing revelation. (Which makes me wonder if there really is good horror without mystery)

There was this general theme of being horrified in awe of the mere sight of the horror, and this lack of direct interaction might've been why I found it uninteresting and kinda hysterical, which is not a jab at the early 20th century sensibilities. I'd shit myself if I stumbled upon a wolf in the woods, but it wouldn't make a great story.

'The Silver Key' was kinda meta, though. Might reread that one.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Selected Stories by HP Lovecraft - 4/10

Forced myself through this book. I get why he is an iconic writer (and deservedly so) but he writes as if the readers are stupid because I am constantly reminded of things that happened in the previous pages in almost all of the stories he has written. Not for me, sorry.

I wish Call of Cthulhu is a standalone novel. That one is definitely his best. Also, Dagon would have been enjoyable if it is explored more, the rest were dragging as fuck.

Also, I lost the copy of my book with the cute Gardevoir magnet bookmark. Fuck this shit but at the same time good riddance, I guess.

PS. Can someone count how many times he used "queer" in all of his stories. It's just funny.

[Rob Peck · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 of the stories (Dagon, The Stranger and The Statement of Randolph Carter), are so chilling that I still think about them weeks after reading them. They also happen to be the shortest stories in the collection and the ones written from the perspective of the person experiencing the horror.

The others are bloated and dull. There’re creepy ideas in them, but the narrative voice is often disconnected from the creepy events themselves, usually because it’s a researcher recounting anecdotes that he’s heard. This makes it really difficult to feel any real horror.

Oh, also he’s a horrible racist, but that’s well documented and you probably already knew that.

[Marffa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first experience with Lovecraft's works and it was a good one.

The stories complemented each other, referencing the same characters, locations, even books, which created a sense of this greater Lovecraftian universe - his idea of what lies in the unknown, I guess.
Additionally I enjoyed the way Lovecraft managed to create the dark and eerie atmosphere of the scenes through his descriptions (and listening to dark ambient music streams while reading sure helped too).

I have to agree with some other reviewers that for someone who isn't a native English speaker the language gets a bit tough at times, but that is to be expected from literature that was written about a century ago and it didn't ruin the experience for me.

[Rachel H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this from the library mainly to read the Cthulhu story. There have been references to it in other books I've read and I wanted to read its origins. I had known that Lovecraft was racist but I still found it hard to stomach his racist descriptions which really put me off reading. I read a couple of the other stories here. I can see why people appreciate his creativity and his prose does bring horror to life in these stories, but I found it hard to enjoy due to the racism.

[Demurs · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading anything from Lovecraft, and it was fairly entertaining. He sets up the world for his stories really well, perhaps a bit too meticulously, the characters are interesting, and, of course, the horrors are varied and terrifying. The only real issue for me was that most stories ended in a rather anticlimactic fashion, either with very plain lines for such monsters, or overdoing the explanations, that took away from the horror.

Overall - definitely worth reading.

[Seventhism · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great starter if one was to dive into lovecraftian fiction. Although I must say, it just barely touched the surface, focusing more on Lovecraft's earlier works and less on the stories that made him famous, like his Dreamlands Saga and Cthulhu Mythos. Overall, while I did enjoy his writing, I could've wish there was more. Can't wait to indulge into more lovecraftian fiction!

Lah, lah, Cthulhu, fhtagn.

[James Sutcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - horrible little racist that he was, he knew how to spin a yarn.

Reading one story after another began to feel a little like a déjà vu, given his preference for a handful of niche words (foetor and Cyclopean, I'm looking at you) but this selection of works helped build the Lovecraft universe and gave a great sense of what kept HP up at night.

Favourite stories:

The Call of Cthulhu
The Dunwich Horror
The Haunter of the Dark

[Sachin Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooked! It's so bizzare to come across such fresh ideas from horror stories written almost a century ago. The spectrum of imagination and creativity in the stories hooked me to 'lovecraftian horror'. This collection has 10 of his stories, and I'm definitely going to explore more, if not all, of his tales of myths, monsters, macarbe, and madness.

[Victoria Readman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovecraft's writing cannot be criticised - it's atmospheric, gives the reader a sense of unease with elements of gore & horror. I didn't finish the collection some stories I found repetitive and nonsensical. There was a weird-science vibe, found it really boring after the first 60 pages. What I read it was enjoyable...

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic stories by an early Horror pioneer. This is also a well presented edition containing some his most important tales. We can ignore some of his cringeworthy racist attitudes and appreciate Lovecraft's highly original ideas and creativity instead, which have inspired generations of writers who followed him.

[Nellija · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book’s nice, but definitely not to my taste. Most of them felt awfully boring - which definitely wasn’t helped by that fact I was reading it on the buss at 7 am - nevertheless, the storys had good plots and writing. My favorite being the last, with its retelling and overall composition of how it was told.

If needed I could read more.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this is a good book. The stories are hit or miss but the good ones are quite good. It is a memorable type of good. Those I rated lower are subjective. I'm glad to be finally familiar with Lovecraft's smelly, grotesque monsters.

The final rating is based on the average rating of all ten short stories I read.