Tales of Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft: Tales (edited by Peter Straub, Library of America, ISBN 1-931082-72-3).

This is certainly one of the odder collections to have come out from The Library of America. I mean, H.P. Lovecraft? The guy that keeps getting classed as a literary hack? When I look at this collection, I get the same feeling of having slipped into an alternate reality as I do when I hear various cultured personalities singing the praises of somebody like Philip Glass. I mean, I like Glass, but when did he become mainstream?

With this collection (and it is a nice hardcover) you'll have the majority of Lovecraft's works (mostly in the Cthulhu Mythos "series"), sans his Dreamlands tales (hopefully there will be a companion volume). That's the good news. The bad news is that along with such classics as At the Mountains of Madness (Lovecraft had no "internal heating controls"; a winter in New England could kill him, so he really writes this tale of polar wastelands effectively!) and The Shadow Out of Time, you'll have to work through such better-forgotten tales as Herbert West: Reanimator or He. For a hardcover, and for the amount of material, you're getting a great bargain here. Curl up on a stormy night and read The Music of Eric Zann or Pickman's Model. Wait for that winter storm and tackle At the Mountains of Madness. Sip a cool drink and thrill to The Shadow Out of Time. There are some real gems here, and I hope that this edition brings us more fans of Eich Pee Ell.

Made up of: The Statement of Randolf Carter, The Outsider, The Music of Eric Zann, Herbert West: Reanimator; The Lurking Fear; The Rats in the Walls; The Shunned House; The Horror at Red Hook; He; Cool Air; The Call of Cthulhu; Pickman's Model; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward; The Colour Out of Space; The Dunwich Horror; The Whisperer in Darkness; At the Mountains of Madness; The Shadow Over Innsmouth; The Dreams in the Witch House; The Thing on the Doorstep; The Shadow Out of Time; The Haunter of the Dark.

And might I also recommend...

The Shadow Out of Time (H.P. Lovecrft, edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, corrected text version. Hippocampus Press, ISBN 0-9673215-3-0).

At the Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft, introduction by China Mieville, The Modern Library, ISBN 0-8129-7441-7). Also contains: Supernatural Horror in Literature.

Skip the introduction by China Mieville, go right to the story. Sometimes, Mr. Mieville, a tentacle is just a tentacle...

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (H.P. Lovecraft, edited and introduced by S.T. Joshi. Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-118234-2).

Made up of: Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading (S.T. Joshi); A Note on the Text (S.T. Joshi); Dagon; The Statement of Randolph Carter; Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family; Celephais; Nyrarlathotep; The Picture in the House; The Outsider; Herbert West—Reanimator; The Hound; The Rats in the Walls; The Festival; He; Cool Air; The Colour Out of Space; The Whisperer in Darkness; The Shadow Over Innsmouth; The Haunter of the Dark; Explanatory Notes (S.T. Joshi).

The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories (H.P. Lovecraft, edited and introduced by S.T. Joshi. Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-218003-3).

Made up of: Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading (S.T. Joshi); A Note on the Text (S.T. Joshi); The Tomb; Beyond the Wall of Sleep; The White Ship; The Temple; The Quest for Iranon; The Music of Erich Zann; Under the Pyramids; Pickman's Model; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward; The Dunwich Horror; At the Mountains of Madness; Explanatory Notes (S.T. Joshi).

The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories (H.P. Lovecraft, edited and introduced by S.T. Joshi. Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-243795-6).

Made up of: Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading (S.T. Joshi); A Note on the Text (S.T. Joshi); Polaris; The Doom That Came to Sarnath; The Terrible Old Man; The Tree; The Cats of Ulther; From Beyond; The Nameless City; The Moon-Bog; The Other Gods; Hypnos; The Lurking Fear; The Unnamable; The Shunned House; The Horror at Red Hook; In the Vault; The Strange High House in the Mist; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath; The Silver Key; Through the Gates of the Silver Key; The Dreams in the Witch House; The Shadow Out of Time; Explanatory Notes (S.T. Joshi).

Counts as 59 entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.