The Dunwich Cycle: Where the Old Gods Wait

Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books

by Robert M. Price (Editor), Arthur Machen (Contributor), H.P. Lovecraft (Contributor)

An anthology of Cthulhu fiction.

Contents:
-- The Great God Pan / Arthur Machen
-- The White People / Arthur Machen
-- The Dunwich Horror / H.P. Lovecraft
-- The Shuttered Room / August w. Derleth
-- The Round Tower / Robert M. Price
-- The Devil's Hop Yard / Richard A. Lupoff
-- The Road to Dunwich / Ben Indick
-- The Tree-House / W.H. Pugmire and Robert M. Price
-- You Can't Take It With You / C.J. Henderson
-- Wilbur Whateley Waiting / Robert M. Price.

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

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1995

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

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another in the chaosium series of rare, obscure and generally out of print Cthulhu Mythos stories and related material, this time focusing around the tale of the Dunwich Horror.

The first thing I must say is that this collection has stories which were both influenced by the HP Lovecrafts tale and those which are attributed to influencing him in its writing.

As such you have a very varied and at times unexpected mix of stories which I will admit I did find at times hard to read. For a curiosity they were fascinating but I will admit that some where rather obscure and challenging.

Now this is something I will admit I have often found with this collection- yes there are some real gems hidden away in these books but there are also some real challenges.

One thing I will say though is this is obviously someones labour of love, the amount of time and research that has been put in to this book and in fact the whole series is astounding and what makes it even more so is that when you realise the size of the body of work that is out there to choose from.

I will admit that the Dunwich horror (along with the call of Cthulhu and the Shadow over Innsmouth) is one of my favourite of Lovecraft's work so I will gladly skip over those stories I struggle with and enjoy the rest.

[naturaespecies · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARTHUR MACHEN
El Gran Dios Pan / ⭐⭐⭐
El pueblo blanco / ⭐⭐⭐⭐

H. P. LOVECRAFT
El horror de Dunwich / ⭐⭐⭐⭐

AUGUST W. DERLETH
La habitación cerrada / ⭐⭐⭐

ROBERT M. PRICE
La torre redonda / ⭐⭐

RICHARD A. LUPOFF
El Salto del Diablo / ⭐⭐

BEN IDICK
El camino a Dunwich / ⭐

W. H. PUGMIRE & ROBERT M. PRICE
La cabaña del árbol / ⭐⭐

C. J. HENDERSON
No puedes llevártelo contigo / ⭐⭐⭐

ROBERT M. PRICE
La espera de Wilbur Whateley / ⭐⭐⭐

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 3 out of 5]

Todo relacionado con el relato “El horror de Dunwich”, con dos relatos bastantes famosos y luego las secuelas de distintos escritores. Las continuaciones muy flojas, los precursores excelentes.

[Judol Rodríguez Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admiro la labor que han hecho los seguidores de Lovecraft complementando los múltiples universos que ha creado en su literatura, sin embargo el ritmo heterogéneo de la narrativa de cada autor le quita un poco la cadencia al libro
y le quita el misterio a los cuentos de Lovecraft, sobre todo el último en el que reviven al personaje de Wilbur Whateley.

[Cuervo Solitario · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bajo el título de El Ciclo de Dunwich, Robert M. Price nos presenta una serie de relatos que orbitan en torno a El horror de Dunwich, el relato de H.P. Lovecraft inscrito en sus Mitos de Cthulhu, de los que es una de las piedras de toque. No se trata propiamente de un homenaje, porque se incluyen también obras que podrían haber sido inspiración directa para el de Providence.
Dado que el libro se plantea de un modo cronológico, abrimos precisamente con estas: El Gran Dios Pan y El Pueblo Blanco, de Arthur Machen, que son, como es natural, los relatos más clásicos del volumen y que tienen un corte muy decimonónico a pesar de derivar hacia una suerte de horror preternatural que serviría de base para los mencionados Mitos de Cthulhu al plantear la existencia de esos otros seres que habitan entre nosotros aunque no pertenezcamos, en cierto modo, a los mismos mundos. La aproximación es eminentemente mitológica, pero no por ello menos inquietante en algunos momentos.
A continuación viene El horror de Dunwich, que es sin duda la pieza clave de la antología y, a mi parecer, uno de los mejores trabajos de H.P. Lovecraft. En él nos introducimos en este pueblo ficticio de la América profunda, donde el aislamiento, la endogamia y males aún más profundos han pervertido a la humanidad hasta permitirle entrar en contacto con lo que ellos consideran deidades y nosotros aberraciones. El ambiente opresivo y misterioso de la trama funciona a la perfección, y la elección del erudito como protagonista de la investigación permite realzar esa sensación de indefensión aun a pesar de los logros de la humanidad.
Siguen a la obra central una serie de continuaciones oficiosas y homenajes variados: La habitación cerrada de August W. Derleth, La torre redonda de Robert M. Price, El salto del diablo de Richard A. Lupoff, El camino a Dunwich de Ben Idick, La cabaña del árbol de W.H. Pugmire y Robert M. Price, No puedes llevártelo contigo de C.J. Henderson y La espera de Wilburg Whateley de Robert M. Price.
Los primeros tienen un enfoque continuista y se dedican a aportar nuevas visiones de la inquietante y sugerente Dunwich, a trabajar de nuevo con sus personajes o a ahondar en la idea del mestizaje entre humanos y criaturas preternaturales. El acierto de estos textos es variado, pero en buena medida se puede decir que el enfoque es canónico y respetuoso. En los últimos, no obstante, se aprecia un cierto agotamiento de la idea y se optan por otro tipo de mestizajes, como el de la novela negra con el horror cósmico o incluso el humor existencial para el cierre. Aquí el interés de las historias reside principalmente en la propia afición por los Mitos de Cthulhu y ahí reside su fuerza y su debilidad: están pensados para los fans, pero pueden resultar irreverentes o innecesarios.
En conjunto, el Ciclo de Dunwich es una interesante recopilación temática en torno a esa interacción siniestra entre monstruos sobrenaturales y seres humanos que, en su ignorancia o su ambición, deciden adentrarse en sus dominios. Es una obra que se puede disfrutar más allá de su adscripción a los Mitos de Cthulhu y en la que prima el enfoque clásico, aunque haya notas discordantes. El tono es más bien opresivo y de desarrollo lento, y hay que reconocer que consiguen dotar de un especial carisma a esa localidad que inventó H.P. Lovecraft hasta tal punto que ha llegado a convertirse en un arquetipo.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I enjoyed C.J. Henderson’s “You Can’t Take It With You,” the story alone didn’t manage to justify the entire anthology. And a lot of the rest of this tome is some really dreadful stuff. I like the centerpiece of the set well enough, though it isn’t one of my all-time favorites. Trouble is, we’re treated – and I use the term loosely – to a couple of Machen stories that editor Robert M. Price theorizes served as the at least partial basis for “The Dunwich Horror.” “The Great God Pan” is a classic (despite not being the best-written tale ever), but “The White People” – whatever its importance – is so dreadful that I finally had to give up on it. Likewise Price’s own “The Round Tower” was more than a little hard to follow without the recommended re-read of Derleth’s “Billington’s Wood” and “Manuscript of Stephen Bates,” an effort I elected not to undertake. The remaining entries weren’t especially memorable for either good or bad reasons.

[pemondelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conociendo mis gustos, mis jugadores del grupo de rol que dirigía en aquella época me regalaron dos libros para mi cumpleaños: El Séptimo Hijo y éste.
El ciclo de Dunwich es un compendio de las novelas y relatos que han tenido relación con Dunwich, esa localidad maldita donde Lovecraft sitúa terrores inenarrables.
Desde autores antecesores a sus propio creador, que allanaron el camino para que el maestro de los preternatural llegase a escribir la nivela El horror de Dunwich, hasta esa misma novela y los relatos póstumos de sus seguidores, todo en esta edición.
Mola.

[Paul B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both an enjoyment and a disappointment. I graded it as 3 out of 5 as some stories were a 4 and some a 2. There were more 2's than 4's so perhaps my grading was overly complimentary.
Obviously I enjoyed Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror. I also enjoyed The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen but hated his White People. Very hard to read!
August Derleth's work was good and Robert M Price's Wilbur Whately Waiting was excellent.
Those were the highlights though. Too often did the other stories lurch into very turgid fiction and lacking in imagination too.
Worth the read for the good stuff but I don't think I could recommend because of the poor stuff.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 5 out of 5]

While my favorite Chaosium Call of Cthulhu collection remains _The Hastur Cycle_, this volume is extraordinarily good. Price's editorial work and notes are outstanding, the two pre-Lovecraft Arthur Machen pieces are terrific and throw some light onto HPL's inspiration for Dunwich and Wilbur Whately, and the other stories are all of good quality and make solid contributions to the Mythos. I particularly enjoyed C. J. Henderson's Jack Hagee story, and the final piece in the book, Price's "Wilbur Whately Waiting" (mainly for the fun it has with the Simon Necronomicon). Very impressive and quite fun.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

As for as Lovecraft collections go this one was pretty great. It had the two predecessors to Dunwich - "The Great God Pan" and "The White People" by Arthur Machen before it gets to Dunwich in full. I prefer Lovecraft anthologies which are themed around one story. Some of these date back decades and are pretty famous unto themselves.

[Coeruleo Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best books in the chaosium series. various writers offering their own sequel stories to hpl's classic tale. several stories are also written by price, his best in the mythos. a good solid collection.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't quite do it for me, unfortunately. The W.H. Pugmire one was pretty good (of course) but most of the stories were just hokey and ridiculous. If you want "The Great God Pan" I recommend getting Chaosium's "Three Imposters" Arthur Machen anthology instead.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the exception of one horrible private detective story, this is another fine collection of Lovecraft written and related stories around the topic of the town of Dunwich.

[Little Timmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of stories based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. These are, to me, only slightly better than the original Lovecraft stories. Just not a fan of his writings. Not recommended

[Doug Kallies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cools stuff. Especially 'The Tree House' by W.H. Pugmire.