The Haunter of the Dark [short story]
by H. P. Lovecraft, S. T. Joshi (Introduction)
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Description
The story takes place in Providence, Rhode Island and revolves around the Church of Starry Wisdom. The cult uses an ancient artifact known as the Shining Trapezohedron to summon a terrible being from the depths of time and space.The Shining Trapezohedron was discovered in Egyptian ruins, in a box of alien construction, by Professor Enoch Bowen before he returned to Providence, Rhode Island in 1844. Members of the Church of Starry Wisdom in Providence would awaken the Haunter of the Dark, an show more avatar of Nyarlathotep, by gazing into the glowing crystal. Summoned from the black gulfs of chaos, this being could show other worlds, other galaxies, and the secrets of arcane and paradoxical knowledge; but he demanded monstrous sacrifices, hinted at by disfigured skeletons that were later found in the church. The Haunter of the Dark was banished by light and could not cross a lighted area. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
“Lights out—God help me.”
This is Lovecraft's last solo work of fiction. He wrote a couple of collaborations further, some poetry and an essay. He died with intestinal cancer on March 15, 1937 at the age of 46. I am so, so sorry it ended here for him. This is by far and away his best prose work. (I don't think I'm saying that because of the immigrants heroically holding up candles outside the desecrated church, either. That detail did make my heart soar, though.) I don't even think you need any background in his Mythos to enjoy this, as he finally keeps the Mythos touches light enough to flavor the story rather than explaining it. Go. Read. Enjoy. I did.
This is Lovecraft's last solo work of fiction. He wrote a couple of collaborations further, some poetry and an essay. He died with intestinal cancer on March 15, 1937 at the age of 46. I am so, so sorry it ended here for him. This is by far and away his best prose work. (I don't think I'm saying that because of the immigrants heroically holding up candles outside the desecrated church, either. That detail did make my heart soar, though.) I don't even think you need any background in his Mythos to enjoy this, as he finally keeps the Mythos touches light enough to flavor the story rather than explaining it. Go. Read. Enjoy. I did.
While the stories and supplementary material in this volume are fine reads, and the illustrations by Pete Von Sholly vibrant and evocative, the book is riddled with typographical errors (moreso, I think, than the other volumes in the Lovecraft Illustrated series). Most distressing, however, is the loss of over a dozen paragraphs from Robert Bloch's "The Shambler From the Stars", an egregious oversight that will hopefully be corrected in later printings.
This was an excellent compilation of a couple of Lovecraft stories—The Thing On The Doorstep and The Haunter Of The Dark—but even better, it also offers up Robert Bloch's bookending stories that come before (and inspired) Haunter and after, creating an interesting trilogy of stories by two masters.
All in all, definitely one of the better entries in PS Publishing's pulp library series of Lovecraft stories.
All in all, definitely one of the better entries in PS Publishing's pulp library series of Lovecraft stories.
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Author Information
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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
S. T. Joshi is a freelance writer, a scholar, and an editor. He is the author of The Unbelievers: The Evolution of Modern Atheism and God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong, and the editor of Atheism: A Reader, The Agnostic Reader, H. L Mencken on Religion; Documents of American Prejudice; In Her Place: A Documentary History of show more Prejudice against Women; and What Is Man? And Other Irreverent Essays. He is also the editor of the American Rationalist. show less
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Is contained in
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos: Golden Anniversary Anthology (1990 Edition by Arkham House) by H. P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft Library Volume 2: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Mythos Tales (H.P. Lovecraft) by H. P. Lovecraft
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Haunter of the Dark [short story]
- Original publication date
- 1936
- People/Characters
- Robert Blake; Edward Pickman Derby; Enoch Bowen; Asenath Waite Derby; Edwin M. Lillibridge; Ephraim Waite (show all 21); Haunter of the Dark; Daniel Upton; Nephren-Ka; Robert Harrison Blake; Azathoth; Father Merluzzo; William J. Monahan; Ludvig Prinn; Yig; Han; Byatis; William Hurley; Edmund Fiske; Ambrose Dexter; Richard Bracquemont
- Important places
- Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Rhode Island, USA; USA; Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Antarctica; Valusia (show all 7); Lemuria
- Important events
- Walpurgis Night
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- This is a short story. DO NOT combine with any collections.
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Statistics
- Members
- 85
- Popularity
- 374,607
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.59)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 15
