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H. P. Lovecraft: Gothic Tales
This stunning keepsake—perfect for fans of the mysterious and macabre—comprises three short stories by H. P. Lovecraft, including his Poesque masterpieces “The Outsider” and “The Music of Erich Zann,” as well as “The Terrible Old Man.”
64 pages, Paperback
Published August 16, 2022
9 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,112 books19.3k followersHoward 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
October 10, 2022
I had never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft until reading this collection, and I enjoyed each of these stories at varying levels.
Overall, this was an interesting collection of stories, and I believe that each of them is different enough from the other to showcase Lovecraft's wide-range of writing abilities. My ratings for the stories are as follows:
- "The Outsider" (4/5)
- "The Music of Erich Zann" (3/5)
- "The Terrible Old Man" (4/5)
"The Outsider" started a little slowly for my taste, and I even made comments about Lovecraft's habit of building up a scare. One example is from page 10 when he writes, "Most demoniacal of all shocks is that of the abysmally unexpected and grotesquely unbelievable. Nothing I had before undergone could compare in terror with what I now saw; with the bizarre marvels that sight implied. The sight itself was as simple as it was stupefying, for it was merely this: instead of a dizzying prospect of treetops seen from a lofty eminence, there stretched around me on a level through the grating nothing less than the solid ground, decked and diversified by marble slabs and columns, and overshadowed by an ancient stone church, who ruined spire gleamed spectrally in the moonlight." Now, I understand the intent of Lovecraft here; he wanted to put the reader in the mind of this character; however, it happened so many times that it got 1) repetitive and 2) boring. I was like "JUST SAY IT!" because I feel like the impact would've been greater for the reader had we not been anticipating something horrifying with the amount of build-up we were given... only to be let down when it's something as mundane as the ground. However, I will say that this story won me over with its ending. As soon as the reveal happened, I wanted to go back and reassess everything that I had just read. The commentary on the loneliness of being marginalized is well-done and rather unexpected from a known antisemite (which I wasn't aware of until after finishing this book).
"The Music of Erich Zann" had the most interesting premise out of the three stories, but I felt like the execution was lacking. This is Lovecraft's favorite of his works because it's more understated, but I'd argue that it's too understated, and it made for a pretty boring read after my experience with "The Outsider."
"The Terrible Old Man" was an incredible flash-fiction piece. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer, but the antagonist of this story is immensely interesting, and I'd love an entire background story on the character because of how fascinating the little we got to see was.
Overall, I enjoyed these three stories; however, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Lovecraft's work because of his antisemitic views. Obviously, he is long-gone; therefore, he isn't getting the money for the purchasing of his works, but I think that he shouldn't be placed on the high pedestal that I see so many place him. If you plan on reading Lovecraft, just make sure to do your research on him before reading... unlike me.
Overall, this was an interesting collection of stories, and I believe that each of them is different enough from the other to showcase Lovecraft's wide-range of writing abilities. My ratings for the stories are as follows:
- "The Outsider" (4/5)
- "The Music of Erich Zann" (3/5)
- "The Terrible Old Man" (4/5)
"The Outsider" started a little slowly for my taste, and I even made comments about Lovecraft's habit of building up a scare. One example is from page 10 when he writes, "Most demoniacal of all shocks is that of the abysmally unexpected and grotesquely unbelievable. Nothing I had before undergone could compare in terror with what I now saw; with the bizarre marvels that sight implied. The sight itself was as simple as it was stupefying, for it was merely this: instead of a dizzying prospect of treetops seen from a lofty eminence, there stretched around me on a level through the grating nothing less than the solid ground, decked and diversified by marble slabs and columns, and overshadowed by an ancient stone church, who ruined spire gleamed spectrally in the moonlight." Now, I understand the intent of Lovecraft here; he wanted to put the reader in the mind of this character; however, it happened so many times that it got 1) repetitive and 2) boring. I was like "JUST SAY IT!" because I feel like the impact would've been greater for the reader had we not been anticipating something horrifying with the amount of build-up we were given... only to be let down when it's something as mundane as the ground. However, I will say that this story won me over with its ending. As soon as the reveal happened, I wanted to go back and reassess everything that I had just read. The commentary on the loneliness of being marginalized is well-done and rather unexpected from a known antisemite (which I wasn't aware of until after finishing this book).
"The Music of Erich Zann" had the most interesting premise out of the three stories, but I felt like the execution was lacking. This is Lovecraft's favorite of his works because it's more understated, but I'd argue that it's too understated, and it made for a pretty boring read after my experience with "The Outsider."
"The Terrible Old Man" was an incredible flash-fiction piece. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer, but the antagonist of this story is immensely interesting, and I'd love an entire background story on the character because of how fascinating the little we got to see was.
Overall, I enjoyed these three stories; however, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Lovecraft's work because of his antisemitic views. Obviously, he is long-gone; therefore, he isn't getting the money for the purchasing of his works, but I think that he shouldn't be placed on the high pedestal that I see so many place him. If you plan on reading Lovecraft, just make sure to do your research on him before reading... unlike me.
October 28, 2025
spoooooky
October 9, 2022
The first two stories are pretty good, but the third was very weak.
December 14, 2023
Short and entertaining but certainly not worth $8.
June 30, 2025
So cause he's a man he can write bad horror?
September 19, 2025
Of the three books in this series (the other two being Mary Shelley and Poe), this was the one I was looking least forward to. I like some Lovecraft, but a little of him goes a long way with me.
Happily, this is just a little of him. I wasn't surprised to see "The Outsider" leading off the small collection. I've read it a couple of times before in other gothic anthologies. But "The Music of Erich Zann" and "The Terrible Old Man" were both new to me and both very good.
Erich Zann has set up residence in a mysterious part of town and plays his music all night every night to keep Something at bay. And the Terrible Old Man is the wealthy target of thieves, but he's not as feeble as he appears to be. I don't know how gothic either story is, but good stuff anyway.
Happily, this is just a little of him. I wasn't surprised to see "The Outsider" leading off the small collection. I've read it a couple of times before in other gothic anthologies. But "The Music of Erich Zann" and "The Terrible Old Man" were both new to me and both very good.
Erich Zann has set up residence in a mysterious part of town and plays his music all night every night to keep Something at bay. And the Terrible Old Man is the wealthy target of thieves, but he's not as feeble as he appears to be. I don't know how gothic either story is, but good stuff anyway.
January 4, 2024
This little book is the only Lovecraft I've read outside of the short story "Herbert West: Re-animator." It was fun to get back into his twisted mind with the three short stories. It's funny: I could tell where two of the three were going, but that didn't diminish their creepy strangeness. Where Poe is a master of the macabre, Lovecraft seems to be a wizard of weird. Actually, I'd imagine that the fact that I could tell what beats were going to be hit and where the story would ultimately end up highlights his influence on the horror genre more than his adherence to a bunch of genre tropes that probably didn't exist at the time of his writing. Kudos! I'm excited to read more at some point.
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April 3, 2024Baby’s first Lovecraft! I sincerely hope he didn’t make it a regular habit to describe things as indescribable, which he did in two of the three stories here.
December 23, 2023
enjoyed the first story but they kind of went downhill from there. also did not know he was such a weirdo but i guess it is always weirdos who write grotesque well
September 30, 2022
2 stars because I'm incapable of separating the artist from the art. Lovecraft is a master at creating suspense and an eerie mood, but he was also just a miserable human being. Since he liked Hitler, I feel a Hitler analogy is appropriate here: rating Lovecraft's writing alone would be like writing a review of Mein Kampft based solely on the quality of writing.
With that said, I wanted to read Lovecraft since Halloween is just around the corner. He was very adept at spinning a spooky tale; and for those who can separate the artist from the art he is an excellent read, but he definitely is not an author for me.
With that said, I wanted to read Lovecraft since Halloween is just around the corner. He was very adept at spinning a spooky tale; and for those who can separate the artist from the art he is an excellent read, but he definitely is not an author for me.
October 19, 2022
Quick, easy introduction to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft! I give it 4.5 stars. The only reason it doesn't get a full five is because I think I need to look up the meanings of the first two stories, but they were overall really intriguing and well-written!
December 31, 2022
I just learned about cosmic horror in a writing class, and J.P Lovecraft is the godfather of said genre. This was a brief collection of his short stories and a good introduction that pulled me in and has convinced me to pick up more of his work.
October 12, 2022
This is good for traveling. Small and compact, the three stories are entertaining and passed the time beautifully.
March 22, 2025
A collection of three short stories that will leave you wondering what it was you just read.
March 10, 2023
My 3 star rating is more about how portable the book is than anything to do with the writing itself. I did thoroughly enjoy being able to bring this little booklet with me on my regular bus ride, or in the car. It’s incredibly lightweight, the artwork is beautiful, and it’s still large enough I don’t strain my eyes when reading. It was only $7 at the bookstore and for that, I think it was worth it.
I did like the concepts of the stories a lot- I just felt like they went nowhere- except for maybe The Outsider, which felt to be the story with the only memorable ending out of the lot. It felt like Lovecraft had a lot of good ideas and concepts and just had… no idea what to do with them and so wrote these little short pieces, hoped he’d terrified with just the concept alone, and didn’t actually do the work to horrify his readers. It’s most apparent in The Music Of Erich Zann, in which he hopes one slightly upset old man who aggressively plays music will be enough to scare you the whole story. Is it unnerving? Yes. Is it upsetting? Does it give you these tension filled sequences? Absolutely- but it goes no where because there’s not even a hint of what he’s afraid of, or what the music the narrator is so obsessed with can do- and when we’re almost given an impossible glimpse of that, it gets explained away with “yeah the papers blew out the window though and then narrator saw some unimaginable horrors lol yk, the usual”
…but the entire time this story takes place in the past tense, and it’s known for a fact that the narrator has been looking for the apartments since they moved out. So… why would you look for such a thing if you were so upset and unnerved by it? We’re never given a glimpse into the obsession, or into the thing that was so horrifying, Zann obsessively played music to ward it off. We have no reason to be scared, and so ultimately, the whole thing falls flat.
His sentences were also incredibly frustrating to read- I don’t mind a run-on sentence (especially with gothic lit/cosmic horror, eldritch horror type stuff- it’s incredibly common), but for as long and as unintelligible as H.P. Lovecraft’s writing style becomes after a while… it’s incredibly hard to focus and make any sense of what he’s saying. It’s like sitting down with a friend’s uncle or grandparent who constantly talks over you- but you’re having trouble making sense of anything he’s saying.
Besides the fact that H.P. Lovecraft was an absolutely abhorrent person (and it unfortunately, shows in his writing), he was also just… kinda bad at writing🥲🥲 and this was a selection of short stories where it really showed. A nice selection to carry, and again, the concepts are interesting- but really, you can’t enjoy it if you wanted good writing or good storytelling. If you just wanted to enjoy the concept of the stories, then this is the book for you.
I did like the concepts of the stories a lot- I just felt like they went nowhere- except for maybe The Outsider, which felt to be the story with the only memorable ending out of the lot. It felt like Lovecraft had a lot of good ideas and concepts and just had… no idea what to do with them and so wrote these little short pieces, hoped he’d terrified with just the concept alone, and didn’t actually do the work to horrify his readers. It’s most apparent in The Music Of Erich Zann, in which he hopes one slightly upset old man who aggressively plays music will be enough to scare you the whole story. Is it unnerving? Yes. Is it upsetting? Does it give you these tension filled sequences? Absolutely- but it goes no where because there’s not even a hint of what he’s afraid of, or what the music the narrator is so obsessed with can do- and when we’re almost given an impossible glimpse of that, it gets explained away with “yeah the papers blew out the window though and then narrator saw some unimaginable horrors lol yk, the usual”
…but the entire time this story takes place in the past tense, and it’s known for a fact that the narrator has been looking for the apartments since they moved out. So… why would you look for such a thing if you were so upset and unnerved by it? We’re never given a glimpse into the obsession, or into the thing that was so horrifying, Zann obsessively played music to ward it off. We have no reason to be scared, and so ultimately, the whole thing falls flat.
His sentences were also incredibly frustrating to read- I don’t mind a run-on sentence (especially with gothic lit/cosmic horror, eldritch horror type stuff- it’s incredibly common), but for as long and as unintelligible as H.P. Lovecraft’s writing style becomes after a while… it’s incredibly hard to focus and make any sense of what he’s saying. It’s like sitting down with a friend’s uncle or grandparent who constantly talks over you- but you’re having trouble making sense of anything he’s saying.
Besides the fact that H.P. Lovecraft was an absolutely abhorrent person (and it unfortunately, shows in his writing), he was also just… kinda bad at writing🥲🥲 and this was a selection of short stories where it really showed. A nice selection to carry, and again, the concepts are interesting- but really, you can’t enjoy it if you wanted good writing or good storytelling. If you just wanted to enjoy the concept of the stories, then this is the book for you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2024
i was pretty disappointed by this. some parts were a little spooky, but overall the stories in this collection weren’t particularly scary at all. they were also all predictable, and nothing came as a surprise, even though i assume the ending of at least one story was supposed to be a twist. for how well known lovecraft is, i don’t get the hype. not terrible, because the stories were short, and still had a solid atmosphere, but not good either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2025
Short and easy read. The Outsider was my favorite, although predictable. The second story was my least favorite, I found it a little confusing. The last story, The Terrible Old Man, was very short and a very familiar story about an old man who lives alone seemingly with a massive fortune, like Roberta Sparrow in Donnie Darko or John Rothstein in Stephen King’s Finders Keepers. This was gifted to me.
December 14, 2023
Thank god I got this book for free because this shit was so boring omg. Only the second story could keep me somewhat entertained but even at that I would consider none of these “Gothic tales”. Just extremely disappointed especially because I hear great things about H.P Lovecraft’s writing but I guess he was just a shit person and writer.
March 2, 2024
I had never read anything from H.P. Lovecraft, this was my first time. I really liked this little book! The outsider was a great short story! There's only 3 short stories in this book, but I feel like it's a great introduction into H.P.'s work and writing style, which I think is almost poetic and really beautiful.
October 12, 2024
LOVED the cover art. glad that's out of the way - let's talk writing. Each one of these short tales is ... a great mood setter. It's as though Lovecraft was practicing painting tone for some of his better stories, then he just gave up on the story once he painted the base layer of the story. Does that make sense? Oh well - it's what you're getting.
January 18, 2025
These were 3 great stories and I loved the graphic designs and art of the physical book. It was short and concise yet felt very professionally published. I'd love to get more books in this style with a few short stories from a classic author with some updated creepy art. I personally like the Outsider the best out of the three stories.
April 25, 2024
These 3 short stories are well written. The first story is a bit predictable, but amazing nonetheless. Lovecraft has a way to capture the reader in his writings. The stories were easy to picture and get lost in. This book is great for a quick yet entertaining and easy read.
October 22, 2025
3.75
I've never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft before, so I decided to pick up this short story collection. The Outsider was incredible, the other two stories were pretty good. I'm glad I got around to reading this author.
I've never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft before, so I decided to pick up this short story collection. The Outsider was incredible, the other two stories were pretty good. I'm glad I got around to reading this author.
August 9, 2022
Classic
October 2, 2022
First book by HP Lovecraft I have read. It was creepy, but in a good way. It was a short read, three short stories....but they were definitely good.
October 19, 2022
Great selection of short stories for a great Halloween read.
October 25, 2022
eh it was alright, wouldn’t label it as a must read. kind of underwhelming, so much opportunity for the author to take it one step deeper. kinda want my $7 back.
October 30, 2022
Short but great collection. 3 of Lovecrafts best straight up horror stories.
April 10, 2023
The perfect cheap entry point for your friends to read some of Lovecraft's best gothic stories!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews