The Colour Out of Space: Tales of Cosmic Horror (New York Review Books Classics)

Rating:
Summary: A superb collection with only a few missteps
Review: This book isn't "by" H. P. Lovecraft: rather it's a collection of stories of what he would call "cosmic horror" assembled by D. Thin based largely on Lovecraft's personal favorites in the horror fiction genre and including Lovecraft's best short story "The Colour Out of Space" (which must have been inspired by accounts of radium poisoning at the time). The choices are fine, and several famous and forgotten horror classics, such as Arthur Machen's wonderfully disorienting "the White People" (which seems to anticipate the fiction of Angela Carter) and Algernon Blackwood's splendidly eerie "The Willows" (which must have been an inspiration behind THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) are included. There are a few missteps in inclusion, such as Bram Stoker's piece of Grand Guignol "The Squaw"--which, though quite gruesome, seems to have nothing to do with the collection's theme--and also displays his irritating fascination with American Western accents which he poorly imitates, as he also does in DRACULA. And where are the illustrations to the stories advertised?