H. P. Lovecraft: Classic Horror Stories

by H.P. Lovecraft

“The Thing cannot be described—there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order.”   When H. P. Lovecraft wrote this sentence in his horror masterpiece, “The Call of Cthulhu,” he captured the essence of what all weird fiction strives to describe the indescribable and articulate the unspeakable. Lovecraft’s own tales of cosmic horror challenge the reader to engage with them on the terms that define his unique approach to the conjuring horrors that explode the boundaries of the known and give expression, however imperfectly, to the vastness of the unknown. The fifteen stories collected in this volume include a number of Lovecraft’s greatest   The Music of Erich Zann. Did the mad music of the violinist open a door to the horrors of the void—or did it hold them at bay?   The Lurking Fear. The fall of the house of Martense should have been the end of that family’s degenerate legacy. Then how to explain the horrors that crept around Tempest Mountain in storm and darkness?   Pickman’s Model. Richard Upton Pickman’s canvases were regarded as grotesque obscenities by his peers and the public, and they raised an uneasy what were his models?   The Colour out of Space. The meteorite that plowed into Nahum Gardner’s farm appeared a short-lived phenomenon at first—but the strange days that followed hinted at the inconceivably malignant influence it had brought.   The Dunwich Horror. The Whateleys dabbled in the unthinkable, and their handiwork brought not only the monstrous, but the even more monstrous to the world.   The Dreams in the Witch House. When student Walter Gilman discovers the intersection  between higher mathematics and the occult, all hell breaks loose.   The Haunter of the Dark. The neglected church where Robert Blake found the strange, shining artifact showed how the holy could be put to unholy uses.  

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories

499 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 15, 2020

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

[Meghan Duvall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I get it the man was paid by the word but sweet baby Jesus. It took 2 years to complete because the book put me to sleep regularly. Bottom line - don’t waste your time

[Pete · Rating 1 out of 5]

So incredibly boring! The first two stories in this collection (The Outsider and The Music of Erich Zann) were the only ones I actually enjoyed getting through. There are so many better works out there that are inspired by Lovecraft and I would recommend any of those over this classist and racist writer.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of horror stories.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly scary