Rating: 
Summary: The Contents of This Book
Review: Because there are so many different Lovecraft collections out there, it may be helpful to prospective buyers to know what's actually in this volume:[By S. T. Joshi:] A Note on the Texts; [by James Turner:] A Mythos in His Own Image [an introductory essay]; [fiction by Lovecraft:] At the Mountains of Madness [novella]; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward [novella]; The Shunned House [short story]; The Dreams in the Witch House [short story]; The Statement of Randolph Carter [short story]; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath [novella]; The Silver Key [short story]; Through the Gates of the Silver Key [short story collaboration with E. Hoffmann Price] There are two noteworthy features of this book: It's the only Lovecraft collection ever to contain all three of his novellas in a single volume; and it collects all the fiction he ever wrote about his alter-ego character Randolph Carter, namely the last four titles in the contents list. Contains accurate texts to the stories, unlike many other Lovecraft collections. The only major annoyance here is that the stories aren't assembled in the chronological order of their original writing by Lovecraft, inasmuch his fiction is enhanced by experiencing the sequence and continuity of recurring characters, places, and events. (Fortunately, the table of contents gives the year or years of each piece's composition, so it's convenient to figure out that order.) A near-must for serious Lovecraft fans.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIFFING
Review: I first read this story at the age of9, I understood it at the age of 11. It gave me nightmares from first reading. I'd really hate to run into Wilbur's brother in a dark alley, or in a well lighted feild at noon for that matter
Rating:
Summary: Lovecraft is the undisputed master of the horror genre
Review: I highly recommend this first in a series of Arkham House books which comprise the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft. As Robert Bloch points out in his introduction, Lovecraft was the premiere horror writer of his day and even now we owe much to him. The genre of horror fiction (and cinema) owes and insurmountable debt of gratitude to Lovecraft. His existential vision of an uncaring universe, his colorful and panoramic prose, and his penchant for turn of the century vocabulary (such as "phantasy")takes the reader into *his* narrative like few other writers of horror can. Consider writers like Stephen King, who like Lovecraft sets many of his tales in their familiar and beloved New England and you realize the unmistakable presence and influence of Lovecraft. This edition published by Arkham House is the definitive edition of Lovecraft's work, corrected, re-edited, and thoroughly revised.
Rating:
Summary: Not your average horror novel
Review: I've been at a loss for a couple of years to find something to read that really grabs me. In fact, I usually find myself bored beyond tears with the recent spate of pulp and sloppy nonsense that gets passed off as literature by most of our contemporary, popular authors. So lately, I've been going back and trying to catch up on the works of acclaimed authors from the 20th Century, focusing on those that I never had the time or opportunity to read before now. This week, I stumbled upon THE DUNWICH HORROR AND OTHERS by H.P. Lovecraft and was introduced to Lovecraft's whole weird and fascinating world of "the Cthulhu Mythos". I was familiar with some of Lovecraft's more popular short stories, mainly from their bad movie adaptations (THE DUNWICH HORROR and RE-ANIMATOR spring to mind), and I've read many times where others among my favorite authors have called him "their inspiration" or "a genius ranking with Poe, Hawthorne, and Conrad". I knew that his mythology provided a backdrop for most everything produced by Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite, Caitlin Kiernan, and Neil Gaiman, to the entertaining EVIL DEAD movie trilogy, even to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and DARK SHADOWS of TV-dom. But I'd never had a chance to read Lovecraft's work for myself until now. I've always loved a good scare and a really creepy story. Trouble is, they're just so damned hard to find! And when you find one that starts out with great potential, it usually degenerates into formulaic banality and clichés by the end. However, I now understand why Lovecraft is so admired. While his writing style is clearly dated, his stories are downright frightening. It's awfully hard for anything, let alone a book, to make my hair stand on end or give me gooseflesh, but I usually get at least one good case of crawling flesh from each of Lovecraft's stories and, in many instances, they delivered so much more. Not since my first reading of Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE have I walked away from a book and had to shake it off physically before I could move on to something else. There are many Lovecraft imitators out there. But if you haven't tried a genuine Lovecraft, you haven't even begun to know horror.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Settle for Cheap Imitations
Review: I've been at a loss for a couple of years to find something to read that really grabs me. In fact, I usually find myself bored beyond tears with the recent spate of pulp and sloppy nonsense that gets passed off as literature by most of our contemporary, popular authors. So lately, I've been going back and trying to catch up on the works of acclaimed authors from the 20th Century, focusing on those that I never had the time or opportunity to read before now. This week, I stumbled upon THE DUNWICH HORROR AND OTHERS by H.P. Lovecraft and was introduced to Lovecraft's whole weird and fascinating world of "the Cthulhu Mythos". I was familiar with some of Lovecraft's more popular short stories, mainly from their bad movie adaptations (THE DUNWICH HORROR and RE-ANIMATOR spring to mind), and I've read many times where others among my favorite authors have called him "their inspiration" or "a genius ranking with Poe, Hawthorne, and Conrad". I knew that his mythology provided a backdrop for most everything produced by Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite, Caitlin Kiernan, and Neil Gaiman, to the entertaining EVIL DEAD movie trilogy, even to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and DARK SHADOWS of TV-dom. But I'd never had a chance to read Lovecraft's work for myself until now. I've always loved a good scare and a really creepy story. Trouble is, they're just so damned hard to find! And when you find one that starts out with great potential, it usually degenerates into formulaic banality and clichés by the end. However, I now understand why Lovecraft is so admired. While his writing style is clearly dated, his stories are downright frightening. It's awfully hard for anything, let alone a book, to make my hair stand on end or give me gooseflesh, but I usually get at least one good case of crawling flesh from each of Lovecraft's stories and, in many instances, they delivered so much more. Not since my first reading of Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE have I walked away from a book and had to shake it off physically before I could move on to something else. There are many Lovecraft imitators out there. But if you haven't tried a genuine Lovecraft, you haven't even begun to know horror.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Lovecraft - Best of the Best
Review: In my humble opinion, there are two ways to read Lovecraft. The first, and best, is to get your hands on an original "Weird Tales" or other pulp. There is something about the musty smell that adds to the tale. For true connoisseurs, read them under the covers with a flashlight, late in the evening hours. Realizing that original pulps may be prohibitively expensive, the Arkham House Editions are the next option. These hardback treasures are as much a part of Lovecraft's legacy as the stories themselves. Lovecraft would be all but forgotten if it were not for the small circle of friends who founded Arkham House, with the sole mission of keeping his writings in print. Arkham House is the definitive Lovecraft volume. "The Dunwich Horror and Others" contains some of Lovecraft's finest (and most popular) stories. Here is that slippery tale of a town, an ocean, and an undiscovered heritage "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," the eerie and resounding "The Music of Erich Zann," the much-adapted and still classic "The Colour Out of Space," my personal favorite "The Rats in the Walls," the tile story "The Dunwich Horror" and many other chilling tales. And let's not forget "The Call of Cthulhu."
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Lovecraft - Best of the Best
Review: In my humble opinion, there are two ways to read Lovecraft. The first, and best, is to get your hands on an original "Weird Tales" or other pulp. There is something about the musty smell that adds to the tale. For true connoisseurs, read them under the covers with a flashlight, late in the evening hours. Realizing that original pulps may be prohibitively expensive, the Arkham House Editions are the next option. These hardback treasures are as much a part of Lovecraft's legacy as the stories themselves. Lovecraft would be all but forgotten if it were not for the small circle of friends who founded Arkham House, with the sole mission of keeping his writings in print. Arkham House is the definitive Lovecraft volume. "The Dunwich Horror and Others" contains some of Lovecraft's finest (and most popular) stories. Here is that slippery tale of a town, an ocean, and an undiscovered heritage "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," the eerie and resounding "The Music of Erich Zann," the much-adapted and still classic "The Colour Out of Space," my personal favorite "The Rats in the Walls," the tile story "The Dunwich Horror" and many other chilling tales. And let's not forget "The Call of Cthulhu."
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Lovecraft - Best of the Best
Review: In my humble opinion, there are two ways to read Lovecraft. The first, and best, is to get your hands on an original "Weird Tales" or other pulp. There is something about the musty smell that adds to the tale. For true connoisseurs, read them under the covers with a flashlight, late in the evening hours. Realizing that original pulps may be prohibitively expensive, the Arkham House Editions are the next option. These hardback treasures are as much a part of Lovecraft's legacy as the stories themselves. Lovecraft would be all but forgotten if it were not for the small circle of friends who founded Arkham House, with the sole mission of keeping his writings in print. Arkham House is the definitive Lovecraft volume. "The Dunwich Horror and Others" contains some of Lovecraft's finest (and most popular) stories. Here is that slippery tale of a town, an ocean, and an undiscovered heritage "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," the eerie and resounding "The Music of Erich Zann," the much-adapted and still classic "The Colour Out of Space," my personal favorite "The Rats in the Walls," the tile story "The Dunwich Horror" and many other chilling tales. And let's not forget "The Call of Cthulhu."
Rating:
Summary: A Unique Vision
Review: In spite of the smug dismissal of an ealier reviewer, there is absolutely no gainsaying the originality of Lovecraft. Yes, he is formulaic. So is Poe. Yes, his weltanschauung is morbid and overwrought. So is much of Hawthorne's and Melville's. He doesn't achieve the architectonic precision and interconnectedness of Tolkien, but that was never his ambition. What he does have in abundance is a marvelous descriptive felicity allied with a prose rhythm that is perfectly calibrated to elicit terror and awe in the reader. Yes, he overwrites. But he's never boring. "The Shadow out of Time" paved the way for my appreciation of Borges. And "To the Mountains of Madness" is one of the great visionary works of 20th century literature. Period. To compare Lovecraft unfavorably to the rodomontade of Sandburg or the dessicated exquisses of Djuna Barnes shows how far removed from a living pulse are the critical canons of the academic establishment.
Rating:
Summary: A Unique Vision
Review: In spite of the smug dismissal of an ealier reviewer, there is absolutely no gainsaying the originality of Lovecraft. Yes, he is formulaic. So is Poe. Yes, his weltanschauung is morbid and overwrought. So is much of Hawthorne's and Melville's. He doesn't achieve the architectonic precision and interconnectedness of Tolkien, but that was never his ambition. What he does have in abundance is a marvelous descriptive felicity allied with a prose rhythm that is perfectly calibrated to elicit terror and awe in the reader. Yes, he overwrites. But he's never boring. "The Shadow out of Time" paved the way for my appreciation of Borges. And "To the Mountains of Madness" is one of the great visionary works of 20th century literature. Period. To compare Lovecraft unfavorably to the rodomontade of Sandburg or the dessicated exquisses of Djuna Barnes shows how far removed from a living pulse are the critical canons of the academic establishment.
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