Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

In this volume Joyce Carol Oates has selected some of the best tales of the master of the macabre, H. P. Lovecraft.
The introductory tale, "The Outsider", is written in a first-person narrative style, and details the miserable and apparently lonely life of an individual, who appears to have never contacted with another individual. The story begins, with the narrator explaining his origins. His memory of others is vague, and he cannot seem to recall any details of his personal history, including who he is or where he is originally from. The narrator tells of his environment: a dark, decaying castle amid an "endless forest" of high, unlit trees. He has never seen natural light, nor another human being, and he has never ventured from the show more prison-like home he now inhabits. The only knowledge the narrator has of the outside world, is from his reading of the "antique books" that line the walls of his castle.

The narrator tells of his eventual determination to free himself, from what he views as a prison-like existence. He eventually decides to climb the ruined staircase of the high castle tower which appears to be his only hope for an escape. At the place where the stairs diminish into crumbled ruins, the narrator begins a long, slow climb up the tower wall, until he comes upon a trapdoor in the ceiling, which he pushes up and climbs through. Amazingly, he finds himself not at the great height he anticipated, but at ground level in another world. With the sight of the full moon before him, he proclaims, "There came to me the purest ecstasy I have ever known."(p 3) Overcome with the emotion he feels in beholding what—until now—he had only read about, the narrator takes in his new surroundings. He realizes that he is in an old churchyard, and he wanders out into the countryside before eventually coming upon another castle.

Upon visiting the castle, which he finds "maddeningly familiar," the narrator sees a gathering of people at a party within. Longing for some type of human contact, he climbs through a window into the room. Upon his entering, the people inside become terrified. They scream and collectively flee from the room, many stumbling blindly with their hands held over their eyes toward the walls in search of an exit. The narrator attempts to discover the source of their terror and in doing so the short story culminates with a shocking revelation.
This short beginning to the collection of works by Lovecraft is reminiscent of Poe at his best with its atmosphere of death and decrepitude; the feeling of isolation and desire for discovery; and the not-unexpected yet still horrifying revelation that ends the tale. show less

An excellent selection of some of Lovecrafts best works. Anyone interested in sampling Lovecraft's world of gothic horror will find this arrangment of short stories both enjoyable and accessable.

Nice introduction to Lovecraft. While there are a few other tales I might have included, Joyce Carol Oates selected most of his very best.

Choice of Stories and Oates' intro put this collection on top of all the repackages out there.

The Outsider - An unknown narrator raised alone in a strange castle attempts to reach the outside world so that he may see sky for the first time. But he uncovers a terrible truth that will leave him forever isolated.

The Music of Erich Zann - A stressed student finds himself the neighbor of a deaf musician. This strange figure lives in the same building as the narrator and plays such mystifying music that introductions simply must be made. Although Erich Zann can barely communicate, his other-worldly compositions seem to be altering the very nature of reality.

The Rats in the Walls - An older man decides to restore his family's ancestral home in England after the death of his only child. When he arrives at the estate he realizes that show more the locals have a number of supernatural legends about his family and grounds. And night, he is sometimes awakened by the sound of thousands of rats running all over the walls. In the basement of the estate he discovers a passageway leading to an even older structure beneath. Aware that this must have been built by a civilization that predated the Romans, a team of archaeologists is assembled. What they discover is beyond any horror yet imagined.

The Shunned House - There is an old house in Rhode Island with a dark history. No tenants will rent it after a string of deaths. The original owner's entire family perished within. The narrator and his uncle set out to uncover and defeat the source of the evil that has long resided in the very air that emanates from the basement.

The Call of Cthulhu - Going through the papers of a deceased relative, the narrator of this dark tale comes across a record of a mysterious cult. The secrets it reveals of a dark terror from the stars forever cracks the protagonist's sanity.

The Colour Out of Space - A meteor lands in a farmer's field in rural Massachusetts. A few days later, the space rock has disintegrated but it's evil substance has poisoned the soil. Slowly the plants die. Then the animals. Eventually the farmer's family begins to sicken. Tormented by strange visions and nightmares, some go insane, others simply vanish. What is the evil's source and what will be the consequences?

The Dunwich Horror - A remote New England town is terrorized by a mysterious monster perhaps summoned up by a old-world cult practiced by previous generations.

At the Mountains of Madness - A group of scientists and explorers embark on an expedition to take core samples in the Antarctic ice. What the discover is the remains of a truly ancient civilization predating mankind by millions of years. Who were these strange creatures that once colonized the southern most tip of the earth and is their elder evil waking again?

The Shadow over Innsmouth - A young man on his graduation tour makes a small side trip to Innsmouth, Massachusetts to investigate odd rumors of cultist activities. He merely want to see if this coastal village is a shadowy and superstitious as locals claim. What he discovers will alter his life and his sanity forever.

The Shadow Out of Time - An economics professor finds his unremarkable life brutally interrupted by a strange sort of mental breakdown. In the midst of a lecture he slips into a coma and upon awakening he doesn't seem to remember anything of his old life. Though he makes every effort to assume normalcy, his friends and family declare he is no longer himself. After years of erratic behavior and strange travels, he again slips into a coma. Upon awakening this time, he appears to have returned to his old self with no memory of the interceding years. The narrator comes to believe that his body was commandeered by an ancient intellect who used him as a vehicle to learn about the modern age. His pursuit of this theory and the strange details of his dreams leads him on a frightful adventure into the earth's unknown history. show less

Damn these bookstore discount sales!!!Ever been meaning to dive into the works of a well-known author, but didn't know where to start? I figured, not let another well-known author pick for me?