Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
by H. P. Lovecraft (Contributor)
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (Collections and Selections — 1-2 & extras)
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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." --H. P. LOVECRAFT, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" Howard Phillips Lovecraft forever changed the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable series of stories as influential as the works of Poe, Tolkien, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His chilling mythology established a gateway between the known universe and an ancient dimension of otherworldly terror, show more whose unspeakable denizens and monstrous landscapes--dread Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Plateau of Leng, the Mountains of Madness--have earned him a permanent place in the history of the macabre. In Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of horror and fantasy's finest authors pay tribute to the master of the macabre with a collection of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition: ¸nbsp;nbsp;The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: The slumbering monster-gods return to the world of mortals. ¸nbsp;nbsp;Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch: A lone farmboy chronicles his last stand against a hungering backwoods evil. ¸nbsp;nbsp;Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell: An avid reader of forbidden books finds a treasure trove of deadly volumes--available for a bloodcurdling price. ¸nbsp;nbsp;The Freshman by Philip José Farmer: A student of the black arts receives an education in horror at notorious Miskatonic University. PLUS EIGHTEEN MORE SPINE-TINGLING TALES! show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Only two of the stories in this collection are by Lovecraft: "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Haunter of the Dark". Other authors making additions to the mythos include Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, Fritz Leiber, Brian Lumley, Philip Jose Farmer, and many others! If you are like me, you just pooped a little. There is so much awesomeness here it blows one away. I'll mention a couple of my favorites: Frank Belknap Long's "The Space-Eaters" (beware of squishy things dropping on you while in the woods), and Fritz Leiber's "The Terror from the Depths". Needless to say should you be in the woods and come upon an abandoned town with an empty and ruined church which behind it's pulpit has a show more grand golden crucifix turned up-side-down, do not go read the book on the pulpit entitled "De Vermis Mysteriis"! show less
This fine volume offers a great selection of twenty-two Cthulhu mythos stories, including such classic stories by H P Lovecraft as 'The Call of Cthulhu' and 'The Haunter of the Dark', along with fantastic short-stories by authors such as Stephen King and Robert Bloch. This collection is a good read for anyone already familiar with Lovecraft, horror in general or even newcomer's to the genre.
My personal favourites are the two Lovecraft stories already mentioned, along with 'Jeruslalem's Lot' by Steohen King and 'Sticks' by Karl Edward Wagner.
My personal favourites are the two Lovecraft stories already mentioned, along with 'Jeruslalem's Lot' by Steohen King and 'Sticks' by Karl Edward Wagner.
Worth getting for Zelazny's fantastic "24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai"; Philip Jose Farmer's "The Freshman" was also a pleasant surprise.
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Author Information
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1890 - 1937 H. P. Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft and his father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman for Gorham & Co. Silversmtihs. Lovecraft was reciting poetry at the age of two and when he was three years old, his father show more suffered a mental breakdown and was admitted to Butler Hospital. He spent five years there before dying on July 19, 1898 of paresis, a form of neurosyphillis. During those five years, Lovecraft was told that his father was paralyzed and in a coma, which was not the case. His mother, two aunts and grandfather were now bringing up Lovecraft. He suffered from frequent illnesses as a boy, many of which were psychological. He began writing between the ages of six and seven and, at about the age of eight, he discovered science. He began to produce the hectographed journals, "The Scientific Gazette" (1899-1907) and "The Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy" (1903-07). His first appearance in print happened, in 1906, when he wrote a letter on an astronomical matter to The Providence Sunday Journal. A short time later, he began writing a monthly astronomy column for The Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner - a rural paper. He also wrote columns for The Providence Tribune (1906-08), The Providence Evening News (1914-18), The Asheville (N.C.) Gazette-News (1915). In 1904, his grandfather died and the family suffered severe financial difficulties, which forced him and his mother to move out of their Victorian home. Devastated by this, he apparently contemplated suicide. In 1908, before graduating from high school, he suffered a nervous breakdown. He didn't receive a diploma and failed to get into Brown University, both of which caused him great shame. Lovecraft was not heard from for five years, re-emerging because of a letter he wrote in protest to Fred Jackson's love story in The Argosy. His letter was published in 1913 and caused great controversy, which was noted by Edward F. Daas, President of the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA). Daas invited Lovecraft to join the UAPA, which he did in early 1914. He eventually became President and Official Editor of the UAPA and served briefly as President of the rival National Amateur Press Association (NAPA). He published thirteen issues of his own paper, The Conservative (1915-23) and contributed poetry and essays to other journals. He also wrote some fiction which titles include "The Beast in the Cave" (1905), "The Alchemist" (1908), "The Tomb" and "Dagon" (1917). In 1919, Lovecraft's mother was deteriorating, mentally and physically, and was admitted to Butler Hospital. On May 24, 1921, his mother died from a gall bladder operation. While attending an amateur journalism convention in Boston, Lovecraft met his future wife Sonia Haft Greene, a Russian Jew. They were married on March 3, 1924 and Lovecraft moved to her apartment in Brooklyn. Sonia had a shop on Fifth Avenue that went bankrupt. In 1925, Sonia went to Cleveland for a job and Lovecraft moved to a smaller apartment in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn. In 1926, he decided to move back to Providence. Lovecraft had his aunts bar his wife, Sonia, from going to Providence to start a business because he couldn't have the stigma of a tradeswoman wife. They were divorced in 1929. After his return to Providence, he wrote his greatest fiction, which included the titles "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926), "At the Mountains of Madness" (1931), and "The Shadow Out of Time" (1934-35). In 1932, his aunt, Mrs. Clark, died; and he moved in with his other aunt, Mrs. Gamwell, in 1933. Suffering from cancer of the intestine, Lovecraft was admitted to Jane Brown Memorial Hospital and on March 15, 1937 he died. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
- Original publication date
- 1989; 1990
- People/Characters
- Cthulhu
- Important places
- Antarctica; Arkham, Massachusetts, USA
- First words
- "Why in the name of science-fiction did you ever print such a story as 'At the Mountains of Madness' by Lovecraft?
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And there, beside the oily, lapping sea, the foul lake where puffed shoggoths splash, they remained, the three, forever.
- Disambiguation notice
- This should be a combined edition, containing both Volumes 1 and 2. If your book is only Volume 1 or Volume 2, please edit your title to indicate which.
This (1989) volume is a revised edition of 'Tales of the Cthulhu... (show all) Mythos' (1969), edited by August Derleth.
Classifications
- Genres
- Horror, Fiction and Literature, Fantasy
- DDC/MDS
- 813.0873808 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Horror fiction; Ghost fiction Horror fiction Anthologies Collections
- LCC
- PS648 .H6 .T35 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
- BISAC
Statistics
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.94)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 7