The Necronomicon: Selected Stories and Essays Concerning the Blasphemous Tome of the Mad Arab

Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books

by Robert M. Price (editor), John Brunner, Robert Silverberg

Although skeptics claim that the Necronomicon is a fantastic tome created by H. P. Lovecraft, true seekers into the esoteric mysteries of the world know the truth: The Necronomicon is the blasphemous tome of forbidden knowledge written by the mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred. Even today, after attempts over the centuries to destroy any and all copies in any language, some few copies still exist, secreted away. Within this book you will find stories about the Necronomicon, different versions of the Necronomicon, and two essays on this blasphemous tome. Now you too may learn the true lore of Abdul Alhazred.

Genres: Horror, Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraftian, Anthologies, Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Chaosium collection is somewhat frustrating but also somewhat intriguing. It's divided into three sections: stories, texts of the Necronomicon by various authors, and articles about the Necronomicon. The stories are so-so (as is common with the books in this series; after all, Lovecraft-inspired fiction is fan fiction most often and something special a little less often. Manly Wade Wellman's tale "The Terrible Parchment" is the best of the early stories. I also enjoyed John Brunner's contribution (not a name normally associated with the Mythos), and was very impressed by Fred Chappell's "The Adder." The Richard Tierney story merely confirms my impression that Tierney is overrated by editor Price: I've never read a Tierney story I liked, which I guess merely shows that there is no accounting for taste. The worst things about this book are the texts of the Necronomicon, particularly the one by Lin Carter (whose obsessive need to smooth every contradiction in the most wordy way possible is annoyingly on display here) and the "Sussex Manuscript." Both of these are filled with irritating (from a lit scholar and linguist's point of view) "old English"-y prose (which is actually bastardized early modern English, and often ungrammtical to boot). These take up entirely too much space in the volume and are sleep-inducing. The highlight of the book is Robert M. Price's faux-scholarly exegesis of the Necronomicon, which is a very brilliant (and scholarly) piece of academic writing (the research he must have had to perform in order to write it boggles my mind somewhat). The work also gives actual insights into Lovecraft's and others' motivations in writing certain fragments from the Necrnomicon and clearly displays where these men got their ideas and inspirations from. The volume is a must-have if only for that last piece.

[Gustavo Krieger · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Terrible Parchment", Manly Wade Wellman
"Dr. Xander's Cottage", Martin D. Brown
"The Mantle of Graag", Frederick Pohl", Henry Dockweiller, and Robert A.W. Lowndes

These three stories are very short, and they are ok, nothing more than that. A little forgettable. The shortness make them a little superficial.

"Settler's Wall", Robert A.W. Lowndes
"The Howler in the Dark", Richard L. Tierney

These are the best stories of the book. Both are very well written and intriguing.

"Demons of Cthulhu", Robert Silverberg

A quite silly story, not bad, but a little previsible.

"The Castle in the Window", Steffan B. Aletti

Another short story, ok to good.

"Concerning the Forthcoming Inexpensive Paperback Translation of the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred", John Brunner
"The Adder", Fred Chappell

These story stories are the most creative but, unfortunately, they misfire. Both could have been great, but they don´t work out quite all right. They deserved a little more care. The ideas are great... the endings are a bit lazy and not that interesting. It´s a shame.

The remaining stories are "version" of the Necronomicon, or fake "prefaces" of the book. Not very interesting, they are a little fun for a while, but then you get the uselessness of all that. It´s nice to have them here so you would know that those things were written - I don´t blame R.M. Price for putting them here - but those stories are not credible or interesting. A couple of pages from each one of them would be enough. The worst are the one from Lin Carter - mainly the first part, about the "adventures" of Abdul Alhazred, that is a bore - and "The Sussex Manuscript", from Fred L. Pelton. This one is quite silly. The guy thinks that Old English is just changing the "i" for "y" - e.g., "while" becomes "whyle" etc.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit I started this book in 1998, lost track of our for 20 years, and recently rediscovered it. Like any anthology, it's got its good stories and bad stories. Some are more on line with Lovecraft, others give the Elder Gods all too human motives (not in line with Lovecraft) and others comparing the Elder Gods to Christian theology. My understanding has always been that their motives are unknowable and it's best left that way.

If you're a huge fan of Lovecraft, there might be some appeal. Check out out. If you're looking for horror, I'm not sure this fits the bill.

[Dan Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a couple of great stories in this, but a big chunk of the book is a kind of boring version of the Necronomicon itself. Not the best of the Chaosium collections.

[Traummachine · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a long-neglected bookshelf, I pulled this tome. Covered with dust and smelling of putrescence, even the cover of the vile thing spoke of madness and secrets best left buried. But long had I resisted its siren call, and the stars had aligned against me. It was Time. In other words, I've owned this for years and finally got around to reading it. ;)

The Necronomicon is a make-believe book of Vile Things. Invented by Lovecraft, he used it as a prop in his tales, as a source of dark magic, forbidden knowledge, and of ancients gods whose names Must Not Be Spoken. Unlike other Lovecraftian books I've read, and (as far as I know) unlike other books called Necronomicon, this collection was made up of tales about the book itself. About half of the collection was made up of interesting ideas about the book, such as the "Forthcoming Inexpensive Paperback Edition"! One of my favorites was about a man safekeeping the book for his uncle, then discovering that the book itself was growing stronger and younger as it consumed the text from nearby books. Fun stuff!!

Sadly, the other half of the book lost my interest. It was largely supposed to be excerpts from the Necronomicon, lost chapters, critical analysis and commentary, etc. While I enjoy reading ABOUT this book, this part took it too far. I did enjoy the little cautionary tales that were supposed to be a prologue to the original book, but there's a certain point where a straight-faced work that's really *nudge-nudge, wink-wink* in nature just bores me. With chapters like "Concerning the Phases of the Moon and Their Effects on Summonings", etc., this was just too much, and I skipped over these parts. I supposed that's why I'm not interested in the Zombie Survival Guide, even though I loved World War Z by the same author. But I digress.

I really dug about half of this book, and would rate it 4 stars, but the rest dragged the rating down. Next time I'll read another collection by Lovecraft himself.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read, or possibly a partial re-read.

Back in the 90s, Chaosium, a games company that is the home of The Call Of Cthulhu role-playing game, was releasing a series of excellent Cthulhu Mythos fiction anthologies and I was buying them up and reading them.

I spotted this on my bookshelf with a bookmark at about the halfway point and wondered if I had actually finished it? There is no point in taking chances so I read it (again?) from cover to cover.

I found this pretty enjoyable in 2023. There are a few weak stories at the beginning, but mostly this is a pretty solid collection. I particularly liked Lin Carter's The Necronomicon: The Dee Translation. John Brunner's contribution was another highlight.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Necronomicon for me was an uneven read. The short stories with the exception of Lin Carter’s ‘The Dee Translation’ were good. I have never been a fan of Carter (although he stays true to the mythos) and his contribution was more of a hurried outline than a tale. Secondly, his writing style is more Dunsany than Lovecraft. I don’t mind a few phrases in the dialect, but 60+ pages of tacking ‘th’ to the end of words is tiresome. Lastly, Price’s (and I love the man’s work) contribution to the book ‘A Critical Commentary of the Necronomicon was summed up best by the author himself, “…And I hope you will forget that (his contribution) soon enough” Not a complete loss, but you will find yourself jumping ahead at some parts.

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this expansive tome in stretches (which rarely happens) but it kept me going for quite a bit. The stories were not bad at all, nothing too memorable but they are well written enough to be worth including in this collection. However I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the various essays (some of which seemed to be novelettes disguised as non fiction textbooks) as they delved into the larger scale mythos without giving away the intrigue. I wouldn't recommend reading it in one sitting, as there is heaps to get through, but if you do it by different sections or pieces then you can savour it a bit more, that way your brain won't collapse from information overload. Either way I'm glad I read it!

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag of Necronomicon related tales, faux "translations" and commentary. OK for dipping in and out of...probably soul rending if read in one sitting.
But I must go...the gibbous moon slouches towards it’s zenith...the eldritch tome of Alhazred becons...the cover obscenely rugose and of unearthly colour ...I must recite the charm...Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Largely UGH. I enjoyed many (though not all) of the stories themselves but the faux-scholarship of Lin Carter and Robert M. Price was largely pointless and overlong. Not the strongest entry in the series but far from the worst.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the record, The Necronomicon is NOT a real occult book.

[Stanley Gemmell · Rating 5 out of 5]

SECOND REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION GREATLY IMPROVES UPON THE FIRST - AN EXCELLENT READ - HIGHLY WORTHWHILE