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The Collected Public Domain Works
H.P. Lovecraft’s name is synonymous with horror fiction. His major inspiration and invention was cosmic the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. This collection contains 24 Lovecraft works that are in the public domain. You’ll find more versions of these stories throughout LibriVox’s short story collections and short horror story collections. (adapted from Wikipedia)
Audiobook
First published October 9, 2008
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About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
5,953 books19k 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 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 28, 2022
Come raccolta è ok. È un audiolibro letto da volontari e un paio di loro ha un forte accento che pare tedesco però si apprezza lo stesso.
August 27, 2019
cats of ulthar
‘they (writers) strive to strip from life it’s embroidered robes of myth and to show in naked ugliness the foul thing that is reality’
we know that we have looked back through that ivory gate into the world of wonder that was ours before were wise and unhappy
facts concerning the late arthur jyrmn
‘they (writers) strive to strip from life it’s embroidered robes of myth and to show in naked ugliness the foul thing that is reality’
we know that we have looked back through that ivory gate into the world of wonder that was ours before were wise and unhappy
facts concerning the late arthur jyrmn
November 14, 2014
This is a really great collection of stories, but I think the stories themselves would be better-served by being read instead of listened to. This is partly due to the way that I use audiobooks -- namely, as a way to entertain myself while walking to work, running errands, and doing chores -- and partly do to the fact that, like many of these LibriVox short story collections, many of the readers are new, and not very good. It wasn't a waste of time to listen to -- I now know the basic plots of most of these short stories and have a greater appreciation for Lovecraft's writing -- but I still definitely want to check it out in book form as well.
December 30, 2013
Despite the fact that HPL is a misogynist, racist, conservative war-monger, I really enjoyed many of his stories. They are unlike anything else I have read. Some aren't so good and become a bit formulaic. Some of his poetry (like Fungi from Yuggoth) is quite good. All in all, it's good to be acquainted with the Lovecraftian universe. I tell people that his stories are good enough that I don't fall asleep while reading them, and there are *few* authors I can say that about!
October 30, 2015
I was quite underwhelmed, particularly by the descriptions of dream cities or dream worlds.
October 23, 2019
Honestly, this was a collection of Lovecraft's least remarkable stories. Many of them showed his racist, xenophobic, and orientalist views. He seemed to be just jumping through the hoops of the various tropes he knew would get him readership. I have never cared much for his dreamland stories, of which there are many in here (don't seem to have much point and they're too flowery and sensationalist), or his Herbert West stories, which are also in this collection (this is just general gross-out fare with a narrator who should have grown a pair and gotten out). I wish I had good things to say about this collection, but I don't.
Add to that that I listened to this on LibriVox. I get that the readers are volunteers and I can generally ignore things like poor sound quality, but several of the readers seemed to have not pre-read the stories, had little grasp on the practice of reading/performing aloud, and one reader's accent was so strong that she was very difficult to understand. I skipped probably four of the stories in the collection because they were unlistenable. They badly need to be re-recorded and/or re-edited.
Add to that that I listened to this on LibriVox. I get that the readers are volunteers and I can generally ignore things like poor sound quality, but several of the readers seemed to have not pre-read the stories, had little grasp on the practice of reading/performing aloud, and one reader's accent was so strong that she was very difficult to understand. I skipped probably four of the stories in the collection because they were unlistenable. They badly need to be re-recorded and/or re-edited.
February 25, 2024
Overall, I give this book a 2/5; however, it is a collection of stories, some of which I enjoyed a great deal: Herbert West: Reanimator, The Cats of Ulthar, The Tomb, Dagon, and few other were really good! With that being said, the stories I did not enjoy seemed devoid of plot or a purpose which is the reasoning for the low score.
May 6, 2019
Can I translate this in Telugu
June 26, 2021
Good audio book for night runs 😉
September 12, 2012
I finally finished! I haven't been reading this every day for almost a year or anything, even though it has been almost a year since I started. There's really only so much HPL one can read in a row before you need a break so as to not go completely insane. Speaking of, HPL was undoubtedly totally bonkers. That, or he was in regular communication with alien life forms. While I enjoyed some of his stories more than others, all in all it is an excellent collection of brilliantly mad tales, most of which are set in detailed, un-earthly locales, and many of which seem incredibly surprising given the time in which he was writing. I'm definitely going to have to re-read this... after I give my sanity a bit of a break.
***
I'm currently 30% of the way through the collected works of HP Lovecraft (exactly 30%, if my Kindle is to be believed) and I'm thoroughly enjoying every word. Everything he writes is beautifully worded - and his adoration of alliteration has me all a-twitter. (Sorry.) Thus far, Beyond the Wall of Sleep has been my favorite, mainly because the opening paragraph describes *exactly* how I feel about sleep and dreams:
"I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. Whilst the greater number of our nocturnal visions are perhaps no more than faint and fantastic reflections of our waking experiences--Freud to the contrary with his puerile symbolism--there are still a certain remainder whose immundane and ethereal character permit of no ordinary interpretation, and whose vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute glimpses into a sphere of mental existence no less important than physical life, yet separated from that life by an all but impassable barrier. From my experience I cannot doubt but that man, when lost to terrestrial consciousness, is indeed sojourning in another and uncorporeal life of far different nature from the life we know, and of which only the slightest and most indistinct memories linger after waking. From those blurred and fragmentary memories we may infer much, yet prove little. We may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon."
I'm taking a short break from Lovecraft - it's wonderful, but I think that if I read straight through the entire collected works without a break, I might very well go insane. The 30% mark seems a good spot to take a break. I shall most definitely return!
***
I'm currently 30% of the way through the collected works of HP Lovecraft (exactly 30%, if my Kindle is to be believed) and I'm thoroughly enjoying every word. Everything he writes is beautifully worded - and his adoration of alliteration has me all a-twitter. (Sorry.) Thus far, Beyond the Wall of Sleep has been my favorite, mainly because the opening paragraph describes *exactly* how I feel about sleep and dreams:
"I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. Whilst the greater number of our nocturnal visions are perhaps no more than faint and fantastic reflections of our waking experiences--Freud to the contrary with his puerile symbolism--there are still a certain remainder whose immundane and ethereal character permit of no ordinary interpretation, and whose vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute glimpses into a sphere of mental existence no less important than physical life, yet separated from that life by an all but impassable barrier. From my experience I cannot doubt but that man, when lost to terrestrial consciousness, is indeed sojourning in another and uncorporeal life of far different nature from the life we know, and of which only the slightest and most indistinct memories linger after waking. From those blurred and fragmentary memories we may infer much, yet prove little. We may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon."
I'm taking a short break from Lovecraft - it's wonderful, but I think that if I read straight through the entire collected works without a break, I might very well go insane. The 30% mark seems a good spot to take a break. I shall most definitely return!
August 31, 2014
This fun collection of horror short stories was a great entree into the works of H.P. Lovecraft. I grew up more with Edgar Allen Poe, and this work does hearken back to that feeling and fun. Perhaps at this time in my life, the diction of the author generates a disconnect for me in that what he describes as a grotesque or horrid moon, for me is just a moon. Like many of his protagonists, my own scientific penchant has me discounting what might be horrific for others. But the intrigue with which he explores the dream state, memory, unexpected discoveries, and sudden revelations of one's identity all make for an engaging narrative. My favorite was "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson" that is perhaps the greatest demonstration that Lovecraft himself must have been a voracious reader of both fiction and non-fiction writings of his time. I had a personal disposition to this particular short story because I recently have been reading "The Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.," which inspired a trip that I took around the Hebrides with my wife, one of our daughters, and her boyfriend. Lovecraft inspires other types of trips, to imagined countries, mysterious civilizations in outer space, dark histories, and depths of the mind. All these are great entertainment, well worth the read.
January 9, 2014
I have always been curious as to what the works of Lovecraft were like. Recently I was told by someone that a story a had written myself had many similarities to it.
This was the first time I've ever actually read any of it. Wow! The guy is a genius. Some of these stories are fantastic! The reanimator was awesome, but The Street, while only short. That was brilliant, almost beautiful.
I have only given four stars as the version I had of this was an audiobook. Some of the stories I had to skip because I couldn't understand any of the dialogue. I have a hard copy of a H.P. Lovecraft omnibus at home. I am really looking forward to reading many more of the stories that weren't included in this collection.
This was the first time I've ever actually read any of it. Wow! The guy is a genius. Some of these stories are fantastic! The reanimator was awesome, but The Street, while only short. That was brilliant, almost beautiful.
I have only given four stars as the version I had of this was an audiobook. Some of the stories I had to skip because I couldn't understand any of the dialogue. I have a hard copy of a H.P. Lovecraft omnibus at home. I am really looking forward to reading many more of the stories that weren't included in this collection.
October 27, 2014
A pretty enjoyable collection with some real gems (The Alchemist, Herbert West, The Tomb) with some mediocre stories in there as well. Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the writing. I was disappointed with how severly racist some of his work is. I hadn't heard previously about that aspect of the author's personality, but in some of his stories it is really blatant. I still think that this collection is worth the read, but I don't want anyone to be caught unaware like I was.
December 30, 2009
Likes: Surreal and ominous. Un-awkward delivery of strange imagery and settings.
Dislikes: Gratuitous use of words with 4+ syllables. Many of his stories lack climaxes and end abruptly.
Dislikes: Gratuitous use of words with 4+ syllables. Many of his stories lack climaxes and end abruptly.
June 12, 2010
A collection of some of H. P. Lovecrafts strange tales, some horror, some fantasy.
January 15, 2012
A good sampling of Lovecraft's talent, not focused on the Cthulhu mythos.
October 15, 2015
Downloaded from Librovox. Some great readers on the 25 tracks, and a few that were very difficult to understanding. I definitely want to pick up more H.P. Lovecraft after this.
January 11, 2017
interesting collection. from what I gather, not many of these stories are among most peoples top 10 list, but enjoyable all the same.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews