What do you think?
Rate this book
Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books
The Yith Cycle: Tales of the Great Race
The planet Yith is the home of the Great Race, a place inspiring H.P. Lovecraft and other authors to pen classic tales of travel through time and space. In "The Shadow Out of Time"; (here with new, purified text) there is implicit a very different view of Homo Sapiens' origins, derived directly from the modern mythology of the Theosophical Society. Lovecraft often mentioned Theosophy as a kind of foil and precedent for his own Mythos in his stories. This collection includes tales of Yith both famous and obscure, replete with time travel, mind-exchange, and thrilling vistas of primordial history set in context that enables new readers and long-time Lovecraftian fans alike to enjoy them. Includes short stories by H.P. Lovecraft, August W. Derleth, Richard L. Tierney and many others.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
142 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Price
322 books237 followersRobert 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Read
November 27, 2010This is a fun wee Mythos anthology -- but it has a serious flaw -- someone really messed up and missed the shoggoth. On the back cover it says that the book contains the "purified" text of "The Shadow out of Time." In editor Bob Price's Introduction to that story he writes, "We are mighty pleased to be able to bring you the best version of Lovecraft's text ever published. In 1995 Nelson Shreve discovered Lovecraft's original holograph manuscript of the tale among his late sister-in-law's papers. Robert Barlow, her friend and onetime instructor, had given her the manuscript some forty-five years earlier. The corrected text restores HPL's paragraphing as well as over two dozen word changes, and six lines of omitted text." BUT--the text that then follows is the old text, not the newly discovered corrected text. To read that purified text, one may find it in the Penguin Classics edition, THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES, or as a single annotated chapbook published by Hippocampus Press.
THE YITH CYCLE also publishes the unfortunate Derleth tale, "The Shadow out of Space," one of the fake "posthumous collaborations" where Lovecraft's name is added to the byline even though he was dead when the tale was written by Derleth. The story is one of pure plagiarism, a complete ripoff of HPL's "The Shadow out of Time," and despite Bob's trying to tell us how much "fun" it is to read -- it ain't. Happily, Bob has removed Lovecraft's name and published the story as the work of August Derleth alone. Another of the posthumous collaborations that IS a good story, and fun to read, is also included: "The Dark Brotherhood."
These Cycle books edited by Bob Price are delightful, collecting rare Mythos fiction from a variety of sources.
THE YITH CYCLE also publishes the unfortunate Derleth tale, "The Shadow out of Space," one of the fake "posthumous collaborations" where Lovecraft's name is added to the byline even though he was dead when the tale was written by Derleth. The story is one of pure plagiarism, a complete ripoff of HPL's "The Shadow out of Time," and despite Bob's trying to tell us how much "fun" it is to read -- it ain't. Happily, Bob has removed Lovecraft's name and published the story as the work of August Derleth alone. Another of the posthumous collaborations that IS a good story, and fun to read, is also included: "The Dark Brotherhood."
These Cycle books edited by Bob Price are delightful, collecting rare Mythos fiction from a variety of sources.
December 4, 2019
This is an anthology of stories inspired by or related to H P Lovecraft's The Shadow Out Of Time).
The first almost half of this volume is a novel-length work The Purple Sapphire. The editor says that Lovecraft was undoubtedly inspired by this story, but I'm skeptical. Other than the use of the phrase "The Great Race" to describe a highly advanced, ancient civilization, I didn't see much in common between these two works. "Purple Sapphire" is an adventure story with science-fictional elements that could be compared to "Lost Horizon" or to the works of Jules Verne or H Rider Haggard. I enjoyed the story but thought the connection with "Shadow Out Of Time" was far-fetched.
"Shadow Out Of Time" itself is one of those Lovecraft horror stories that could have been straight SF (see also At The Mountains of Madness) except for the device of presenting everything through the lens of the fear of the terrified narrator. From start to finish his fervent wish is that the events of the story are only dreams or delusions, because it would just be too scary if this stuff were real.
Three by August Derleth, including the remarkable The Shadow Out Of Space, almost an exact retelling of the same story.
There's a few more OK stories about Yith and the Great Race, then The Sands of Time, a decent time travel story but with no obvious connection to Shadow Out Of Time. Richard Tierney's Countdown for Kalara rounds out the collection with a somewhat humorous SF story about the gathering storm of war between the Great Race and the flying polyps, 70 million years in the past.
There's a short little Epilogue by W. H. Pugmire which basically just has the word "Yith" in it.
The Shadow Out Of Time is a fun little story. My feeling is there just wasn't a very large body of work for editor Robert M. Price to choose from, and if he hadn't cast a wide net, this would have been a really slender volume.
The first almost half of this volume is a novel-length work The Purple Sapphire. The editor says that Lovecraft was undoubtedly inspired by this story, but I'm skeptical. Other than the use of the phrase "The Great Race" to describe a highly advanced, ancient civilization, I didn't see much in common between these two works. "Purple Sapphire" is an adventure story with science-fictional elements that could be compared to "Lost Horizon" or to the works of Jules Verne or H Rider Haggard. I enjoyed the story but thought the connection with "Shadow Out Of Time" was far-fetched.
"Shadow Out Of Time" itself is one of those Lovecraft horror stories that could have been straight SF (see also At The Mountains of Madness) except for the device of presenting everything through the lens of the fear of the terrified narrator. From start to finish his fervent wish is that the events of the story are only dreams or delusions, because it would just be too scary if this stuff were real.
Three by August Derleth, including the remarkable The Shadow Out Of Space, almost an exact retelling of the same story.
There's a few more OK stories about Yith and the Great Race, then The Sands of Time, a decent time travel story but with no obvious connection to Shadow Out Of Time. Richard Tierney's Countdown for Kalara rounds out the collection with a somewhat humorous SF story about the gathering storm of war between the Great Race and the flying polyps, 70 million years in the past.
There's a short little Epilogue by W. H. Pugmire which basically just has the word "Yith" in it.
The Shadow Out Of Time is a fun little story. My feeling is there just wasn't a very large body of work for editor Robert M. Price to choose from, and if he hadn't cast a wide net, this would have been a really slender volume.
December 20, 2013
This is a nice collection of classic tales of scientific horror. A lot of these stories all relate in some way to the great race of Yith. H. P. Lovecraft's time traveling aliens who have mastered the future and cast the minds of their race into the bodies of other creatures throughout time. In this way they study all the eras of time, both historical and future. Lovecraft's original story, as well as, August Derleth's sequel to it.
The first story is a bit of a stretch. It deals with a "Great Race" but not Lovecraft's time-travelling aliens. It's mostly included because of the similar names and because of its age and rarity. While it may be a rare example of early science fiction, it's not that great. It's fully of early twentieth century ideas that would be considered both sexism and racism today. It is also interminably long. It takes a long time to start and the two heroes are so incredibly pompous.
Aside from this first story each of the other stories are fine examples of Lovecraftian fiction involving the Yithians. These stories are full of an air of scientific terror. Lovecraft had a fascination with the old-fashioned, the antiquarian, to borrow a phrase. He also had a fear of the glittering, sparking trappings of science, that fascinated him at the same time. Lovecraft built a worldview about the wider universe that was unfolding around him, that hid wonders beyond imagining, but also hid horrors careless of mankind's imagined place of mastery over nature. This is the story of the Great Race of Yith, with all of their scientific knowledge they flee from era to era trying to out run an ancient enemy, a doom that overshadowed their society, that threatened to wipe their kind from the face of the universe. It's this combination of superiority and futility that typify the stories of Yith. It's a humbling and instructive study in light of the modern day belief in science. Even with the advances that we see day by day, some answers are still far out of reach.
July 25, 2012
A good compendium of material, although much deviates enough from the concept of the Yithians as per "Shadow Out Of Time". The opening story, "The Purple Sapphire" predates Lovecraft's work, but is an excellent piece of period high adventure, involving an Indiana Jones-esque journey through India, into Tibetand Mongolia, through massive underground thoroughfares to a lost city, all to rescue a young girl (and collect some treasure on the way). Probably the best piece in the book. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out of Time" is reprinted, as would be expected, as was his component of "Challenge from Beyond" - a shame the rest wasn't included for the sake of completion. The rest of the tales are either formulaic retellings of Shadow (I'm looking at you, Derleth), or other concepts of the Yithians at different periods of their existence, or stories that deal with the concept of "bodily displacement".
May 13, 2022
This is the most disappointing of Price’s Cycle collections I have yet read. Once again Price attempts to include stories from a variety of time periods of weird fiction writing, but in doing so has included several stories which exhibit all the negative connotations of the words “pulp fiction.” I would still recommend this to Lovecraft super fans, because there are some great stories in here, but also several I would tell them to skip entirely.
If you want a good cycle book, go for “The Xothic Cycle” also Ed. Robert M. Price.
If you want a good cycle book, go for “The Xothic Cycle” also Ed. Robert M. Price.
August 17, 2013
Bloody Yith coming over here from beyond the vast gulfs of space, stealing our bodies and sending our consciousnesses off to be trapped in alien forms facing terrible,nameless inescapable dooms.Still, good luck to em eh.
April 17, 2014
Very good Mythos stories with a modern storytelling approach.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews