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The Lurker at the Threshold

The Lurker at the Threshold

List Price: $10.00
Your Price: $7.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Some much misinformation about this neglected novel
Review: Of all the reviews written here about this long out of print work I am astonished by all the misinformation written by so-called fans. Most of this comes from very young readers, I am assuming, who know little of the pulp magazines and are confused by paperback editions of books that are recycling stories and novels that have been around for a LONG time. Derleth never wrote a story until the 1950s? What hogwash! His weird fiction appeared as early as 1932 and the bulk of his weird fiction and mystery novels appeared throughout the late 30s and into the 1940s. Never collaborated? No, not in the flesh. But he knew Lovecraft while he was still alive, for heavens sake. But most of the "collaborations" were based on notes and plot outlines found among the dozens of papers Derleth and his friends inherited. "Buy anything by Lovecraft especially something from Arkham House." This book was ORIGINALLY Published by Arkham House in the 1940s! A publishing house I might add, created by Derleth and his pal Donald Wandrei. Readers should be celebrating the republication of a book that is highly sought after by collectors. It's a lot more affordable now at a mere ten bucks! It's hardly trash or garbage. Untidily written perhaps and derivative yes. But most of this fiction is derivative anyway. All the writers in the genre borrow from each other and little of it shows any real originality. Rehash after rehash. Readers and fans of this genre ought to read LURKER AT THE THRESHOLD for its literary historic value and keep in mind that Derleth's arch, sometimes annoyingly, baroque style is meant to evoke a mood of long forgotten era. I kind of like this quaint stuff. It sure beats the heck out of the gore-fests crammed with dismemberment, disembowelings, torture and sexual perversity that pass for horror these days.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Some much misinformation about this neglected novel
Review: Of all the reviews written here about this long out of print work I am astonished by all the misinformation written by so-called fans. Most of this comes from very young readers, I am assuming, who know little of the pulp magazines and are confused by paperback editions of books that are recycling stories and novels that have been around for a LONG time. Derleth never wrote a story until the 1950s? What hogwash! His weird fiction appeared as early as 1932 and the bulk of his weird fiction and mystery novels appeared throughout the late 30s and into the 1940s. Never collaborated? No, not in the flesh. But he knew Lovecraft while he was still alive, for heavens sake. But most of the "collaborations" were based on notes and plot outlines found among the dozens of papers Derleth and his friends inherited. "Buy anything by Lovecraft especially something from Arkham House." This book was ORIGINALLY Published by Arkham House in the 1940s! A publishing house I might add, created by Derleth and his pal Donald Wandrei. Readers should be celebrating the republication of a book that is highly sought after by collectors. It's a lot more affordable now at a mere ten bucks! It's hardly trash or garbage. Untidily written perhaps and derivative yes. But most of this fiction is derivative anyway. All the writers in the genre borrow from each other and little of it shows any real originality. Rehash after rehash. Readers and fans of this genre ought to read LURKER AT THE THRESHOLD for its literary historic value and keep in mind that Derleth's arch, sometimes annoyingly, baroque style is meant to evoke a mood of long forgotten era. I kind of like this quaint stuff. It sure beats the heck out of the gore-fests crammed with dismemberment, disembowelings, torture and sexual perversity that pass for horror these days.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is very good
Review: The Lurker at the Treshold was my first Lovecraft book. I read the german version and thought, this author has or had a great phantasy to write down these things about gods like Cthulu or Yogge-Sothothe. I like this book and I want you to buy it. It's really good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book, Great cooperation
Review: The newest acquisition of Ambrose Dewart is a the Billington's mansion, which belonged to an ancestor of Dewart... a quite strange ancestor, involved in mysterious rituals . Rumours about the unspeakable horrors of his times are still alive,and Billington's descendant has now returned to relight the fire of these forsaken times..even if he doesn't actually know it!!! The Lurker At The Treshold is loose again. --This book was actually an unfinished novel by H.P.Lovecraft. August Derleth finished the book and filled in all missing chapters.. probably the greatest "post-mortem" cooperation! Read it!! --George

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WARNING:THIS IS NOT BY LOVECRAFT
Review: This book is actually written by August Derleth, after HPL's death, supposedly off of notes Lovecraft had sitting around. It's the best Derleth I've read, meaning you can actually slog through it without vomiting if you really try. Spend your $... on something useful, like a bottle of vitamins. They'll be more entertaining.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WARNING:THIS IS NOT BY LOVECRAFT
Review: This book is actually written by August Derleth, after HPL's death, supposedly off of notes Lovecraft had sitting around. It's the best Derleth I've read, meaning you can actually slog through it without vomiting if you really try. Spend your $... on something useful, like a bottle of vitamins. They'll be more entertaining.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Fair Book -- But Who's the Author?
Review: This is a fairly good novel and one of the better Mythos works August Derleth ever wrote. Yes, I said August Derleth. H. P. Lovecraft is given credit on the cover, but he only supplies two short fragments that are about a page's worth of material each and were probably not intended to go together. The rest is entirely August Derleth's work. In all fairness, this is Carroll and Graf's problem, not Amazon Book's.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "From a native New Englander, this book rocked!"
Review: This is a very powerfull book. It completely draws you into the perverted world of Lovecraft which is filled with death, horror, ancient devil-worship, and wonder. If you want to feel the isolation and fear in your soul, you must explore what is in my opinion Lovecraft's best.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of DERLETH'S better books.
Review: This is one of Derleth's (in)famous "posthomous collaborations" with HPL, where he took a few scraps HPL did and slotted them into his own story.

Sadly, Mr Derleth's Mythos stories (both the posthomous collaborations and the stuff he took all the credit for) tend to all have the same plot: some guy moves into an ancestor's house, it turns out that the ancestor was an evil cultist, the guy repeats his ancestor's Cthulhu-worship. Yawn. Lovecraft did it once, and did it better, in "The Rats in the Walls".

Fortunately, Derleth pulls of the repeated plot a lot better here than he did elsewhere.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THREE STARS?!? WHAT!?
Review: Why did these people give this bad ratings? It ends because the guy summoning the thing dies. These people don't seem to understand that. My favorite book.


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