Customer Reviews (3)

Half-sublime, half-ridiculous
The first half of this volume contains some of the best Lovecraftian graphic work to date. Several plates out Coulthart's "Call of Cthulhu" will probably be familiar to new readers, having appeared in other Lovecraft publications, and his "Haunter of the Dark" creates an equally brooding atmosphere filled with obsessively detailed images.Beyond that, there are ten fairly good, though sometimes gory pages on "The Dunwich Horror," set up in story-board fashion.

Then things really deteriorate: thirty-plus pages of elaborately swirly but atmospherically bland graphics devoted to the Mythos deities, accompanied by the babbling, Anglo-apocalyptic prose poems of Alan Moore, and twenty-five pages of the artist's non-Lovecraftian work for David Britton's "Lord Horror" series, which resemble the obsessively detailed and sadistic pen and ink drawings of some gifted teenage horror fan. The artist suggests a plausible linkage between the grimly stylized concentration camp architecture in several of these and Lovecraft's own apocalyptic vision, but many readers, I suspect, will find the results obscenely offensive. One can see how this stuff attracted the attention of British censors in the nineties, and it is irritating to find Lovecraft's name prominently displayed on the cover of a book that eventually strays so far from the spirit of his work. My inclination would be to look for the "Haunter" and "Cthulhu" series in another graphic-fiction anthology (maybe it's already out there); as it is, I would not recommend this as a gift for any Lovecraft-loving young person.

But Give Haeckel Some Credit
"The Haunter of the Dark and Other Grotesque Visions" touts a bunch of drivel by Alan Moore, who's become pompously undisciplined in his writing, but it is really the showcase for Coulthart."Haunter"collects two and a half Lovecraft stories in graphic form.Coulthart tries his hand at "Dunwich" but admits he couldn't really improve on Enrique Breccia's in "Heavy Metal" magazine, so stops halfway through the story. (See Breccia's "Lovecraft" for more of his work.)It ends with a nice splash, though.Coulthart's most proud of his "Call of Cthulhu", which is hard to read because he breaks up the frames into odd angles to mimic the "horrible geometries" described in the story. This adds to the mystery of the story and a growing sense of horror as the pieces come together, an achievement unique to the comic medium.However, I'm convinced that Lovecraft's own effects are ultimately dependent upon the written word's ability to conceal things from and gradually reveal things to the reader's imagination, to tease us out of all rational thought.They just can't be equalled in another medium.Another jewel of "Haunter", though, is the portfolio of Lovecraftian "gods" that follows the stories.Coulthart uses the computer to combine, among other things, some of Ernst Haeckel's "Art Forms of Nature" etchings with his own drawing.Coulthart's not the first person to make this connection. It's well known that Lovecraft admired Haeckel's philosophy, and others have dabbled with using Haeckel's illustrations to evoke the creatures HPL describes in his stories.But Coulthart really commits to the connection.One only wishes he had given some credit to Haeckel.After this portfolio (with its nonsensical "evocations" by Moore) comes a collection of controversial"Lord Horror" illustrations.They are both prurient and puerile -- I damn them with my alliteration!HPL is most effective when trying to maintain dignity as well as sanity in the face of overwhelming cosmic terror, which is itself "dignified" in its own horrible (to human eyes) way, just of another, perhaps even loftier order.

BEST GRAPHICFORM LOVECRAFT EVER
Over the years I have come across many illustrated, comic book adaptations of Lovecraft works, and even more Lovecraft "inspired" creations. Most fall short in capturing the cosmic horror that is Lovecraft's trademark. There are two works, however, that succeed
wildly in this endeavor. The absolute best, both artistically and horrificly, is John Coulthart's "The Haunter of the Dark : And Other Grotesque Visions" . The illustrations in this volume fully depict the occult evil and sanity shattering madness that Lovecraft specialized in. Judging by the attention to detail that Coulthart put into his satanic artwork, I would guess that he is more than just a casual dabbler in things arcane. He is also a spectacular illustrator.
The 2nd noteworthy Lovecraft graphic work is not an adaptation of one of Howard's stories. It is one that uses him as a character in his own insane little world. "Lovecraft" , by Hans Rodionoff, Enrique Breccia, & Keith Giffen, is a faithfully wicked & terrifying concept piece.
Buy both books and revel in brilliant insanity. ... Read more

Product Description
H. P. Lovecraft’s "Supernatural Horror in Literature," first published in 1927, is widely recognized as the finest historical survey of horror literature ever written. The product of both a keen critical analyst and a working practitioner in the field, the essay affords unique insights into the nature, development, and history of the weird tale. Beginning with instances of weirdness in ancient literature, Lovecraft proceeds to discuss horror writing in the Renaissance, the first Gothic novels of the late 18th century, the revolutionary importance of Edgar Allan Poe, the work of such leading figures as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ambrose Bierce, and William Hope Hodgson, and the four “modern masters” -- Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood and M. R. James.

In this first annotated edition of Lovecraft’s seminal work, acclaimed Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi has supplied detailed commentary on many points. In addition, Joshi has supplied a comprehensive bibliography of all the authors and works discussed in the essay, with references to modern editions and critical studies. This edition should be invaluable both to devotees of Lovecraft and to enthusiasts of the weird tale. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Considerably less extensive that I'd thought it would be...
For some reason I'd thought there would be more to this book than what I got. I guess the main text is a medium length essay by Lovecraft on the history of the "weird tale." Then there's some additional supplementary text and bibliography provided by S.T. Joshi, who's a big name Lovecraft scholar.

But, it seems to only touch on some of the highlights of the "weird tale" genre, rather than being the wider-ranging history I was hoping for.

I'm thinking books like The Evolution of the Weird Tale and The Modern Weird Tale : A Critique of Horror Fiction might be more of the literature survey I was hoping for. We'll see. Though they're a bit pricey, so I might have to wait a while before picking them up to look over...

Maybe I'll see if they're available at the library before shelling out hard earned cash again. Fool me once...

A Classic of its Kind
For those who would like to understand the weird fiction that helped inspire H. P. Lovecraft to write his classic tales of horror, this is the book.But the book is so much more than just an annotated edition of Lovecraft's seminal essay.The contents of the book are:

Preface;

Introduction by S. T. Joshi;

SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE by H. P. Lovecraft
I. Introduction
II. The Dawn of the Horror-Tale
III. The Early Gothic Novel
IV. The Apex of Gothic Romance
V. The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction
VI. Spectral Literature on the Continent
VII. Edgar Allan Poe
VIII. The Weird Tradition in America
IX. The Weird Tradition in the British Isles
X. The Modern Masters

Appendix
The Favourite Weird Stories of H. P. Lovecraft
(This is, of course, Joshi's idea of what HPL's favourite tales were, from statements culled from Lovecraft's correspondence &c.And what are HPL's most-beloved weird tales?
Algernon Blackwood: "The Willows"
Arthur Machen: "The Novel of the White Powder"
Arthur Machen: "The Novel of the Black Seal"
Arthur Machen: "The White People"
Edgar Allan Poe: "The Fall of the House of Usher"
M. P. Shiel: "The House of Sounds"
Robert W. Chambers: "The Yellow Sign"
M. R. James: "Count Magnus"
Ambrose Bierce: "The Death of Halpin Frayser"
A. Merritt: "The Moon Pool")

Notes

Bibliography pf Authors and Works

Index

The bibliography is a real bonus, listing not only the finest tales by these writers but books that critically explore those works of weird fiction.This is a wonderful reference work that one can keep besides one's writing or reading desk, into which one will continually dip.Excellent.And Hippocampus Books are always so well made, sturdy and handsome.

Annotated Supernatural Horror in Lit
Good book.I bought it for a class (Supernatural Literature) but actually enjoyed reading it.If you enjoy supernatural lit., you'll like this book because it explores different aspects and different authors of this genre.

The Definitive Guide to the Weird Tales
This book is an excellent addition to any Lovecraft fan's library. The real meat of this essay is in its introduction, where he defines the supernatural horror genre. The other sections deal with the history and evolution of the modern (for his time) weird tale. Throughout these sections he examines and reviews various weird tales or stories that have examples or elements of the weird tale in them. There are some familiar names among them, but readers should discover some other stories that might be worth a read. The essay has been annotated very well by Joshi and he has made it extremely easy to track down many of the stories, tales, and events mentioned in the essay. He has also written a preface that talks about the history of the essay, some of the revisions Lovecraft made to it, and the other events that were going on in Lovecraft's life as he wrote this essay. I highly recommend this book for Lovecraft fans, especially those who might be trying to emulate his work.

A Sharpened Tool
Joshi's annotations make a useful reference work more so.Lovecraft's essay has been a staple for criticism of horror and Gothic literature for decades.Joshi's annotated edition takes the reader past the introduction of primary sources and draws important connections between them.The edition's selected bibliography of referenced authors is equally useful, especially for the newcomer to the genre. -FCA ... Read more

Product Description
The macabre stories of H.P. Lovecraft in this graphic novel adaptation that features five classic Lovecraftian tales. Adapted by Steven Philip Jones and illustrated by such notable artists as Aldin Baroza, Rob Davis, Sergio Cariello, Christopher Jones, and Wayne Reid.Included in this collection are: "Dagon", "Arthur Jermyn", "Picture in the House", "The Statement of Randolph Carter", and "Music of Erich Zann". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Compiles Lovecraftian rarities from Caliber Comics
Transfuzion Publishing offers another compilation of Lovecraftian comics from the 1990s.This attractive graphic novel style book has the contents of five issues produced by Caliber Comics.You get for $18.99 for 164 pages, pretty good value as such things go.The production is quite handsome; the size 10 x 7" assures panels big enough to enjoy the artwork and also read the balloons.I liked seeing all the original covers on the back.The stories are adaptations rather than exact retellings of HPL's stories, as explained in a very useful afterward by series writer Steven Phillip Jones.He sets the stories in the modern era for the most part, and adds a role for Nyarlathotep, whose machinations provide a linking framework for the whole.It all works very well.Mr. Jones communicated with ST Joshi to find out which Lovecraft stories were then commonly known to be in the public domain; as a result, only some of HPL's lesser works were available.The format was it had to fill a 24 page comic, with three chapters of eight pages, with six panels per page.The artists were as follows:

The Music of Erich Zann - Aldin Baroza
Dagon - Sergio Cariello
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family - Wayne Reid
The Statement of Randolph Carter - Christopher Jones
The Picture in the House - Wayne Reid
By and large I enjoyed all the artwork, very serviceable for comics, although it was not as good as most of that for Yuggoth Creatures or for what Jacen Burrows accomplished for Alan Moore's The Courtyard.For me, Rob Davis gets top honors here.

Like a movie does not recreate the book exactly, these comics do not exactly retell the stories, so HPL purists might be mildly annoyed.For example, Erich Zann is showed how to essentially channel the music of Azathoth to wreak a terrible vengeance on a German concentration camp, as he communicates to a young SETI scientist some 50 years later.And anyway, who would want to retell The Statement of Randolph Carter exactly?For me the story was pretty lame, and this version is stuck with the same silly punch line.I liked all of these, with The Picture in the House being the standout (although I could see where some might like Dagon or Erich Zann best).Not intended as a replacement for reading HPL's originals, this book reproduced some not otherwise available comics that gave me a few hours of grand entertainment.I don't know if there is any other material out there for us, but perhaps Transfuzion will be persuaded to gather Jones' version of the Herbert West stories?
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

H. P. Lovecraft and Western Decline.
_H. P. Lovecraft:The Decline of the West_, published in 1990 by Wildside Press, written by literary critic and Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi is an interesting account of the philosophical and political views of H. P. Lovecraft as expressed in his letters, philosophical writings, journals, and weird tales.Joshi notes at the beginning that this book is really an expansion of his chapter "H. P. Lovecraft:The Decline of the West" at the end of his 1990 book _The Weird Tale_.Joshi's essential thesis is that Lovecraft was significantly influenced by materialistic philosophies but also notions of cultural decline.In particular, Joshi ends this book with an entire section detailing the complicated relationship between Lovecraft's evolving philosophical and political views and the writings of the German historical theorist Oswald Spengler, who first wrote _Der Untergang des Abendlandes_ (_The Decline of the West_), a two volume historical tome which details his theory of cultural decline and cultures as organisms.H. P. Lovecraft (1890 - 1937) was an eccentric individual who was born in Providence, Rhode Island and with a brief interlude living in New York, lived there for most of his life.Lovecraft is perhaps best known as the writer of weird and macabre stories (as well as some poetry) emphasizing bizarre cults, superstition, and obscure alien races.Lovecraft's philosophical views (views which underlie all his stories) were also highly eccentric.Lovecraft was a staunch materialist, rationalist, and opponent of religion.His materialism and cosmism was endowed with pessimistic overtones (likely borrowed from his readings of Schopenhauer).Lovecraft suffered from a lifelong homesickness and favored the lost world of the eighteenth century gentleman.As such, he also inherited many of the prejudices of such a time period.Politically, Lovecraft began as a staunch conservative and proponent of capitalism and racialism (as well as elitism and opposition to immigrants), though with time he tempered this conservativism with socialism.This book is divided into three sections:"The Philosophy", "The Fiction", and "The Decline of the West", each dealing with a separate aspect of Lovecraft's unique philosophical development.Joshi also notes at the beginning how his method of interpretation differs from certain other commonplace modes of interpretation; post-structuralist, deconstructionist, and Marxist.

The first section of this book is entitled "The Philosophy".Joshi begins by tracing Lovecraft's philosophical development, including reference to his early unbelief and reading of such atheistic thinkers as Nietzsche, Russell, and Santayana.Joshi also mentions Haeckel, Huxley, and Darwinism in this context.Lovecraft was heavily influenced by recent discoveries in natural science and regarded his thinking as a form of materialism being in line with the Greek atomists, the Epicureans, Hobbes, Voltaire, Diderot, Hume, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Huxley, and Haeckel.Joshi subsequently devotes a section to the metaphysics (i.e. materialism) of Lovecraft, emphasizing his pessimism, his writings and letters, his defense of materialism, and his views on science and religion.Following this, Joshi turns to Lovecraft's understanding of ethics.Lovecraft's ethical system (largely borrowed from his readings of the Epicureans and Schopenhauer) emphasized pessimism and the need to alleviate the suffering of the "fellow sufferer".Following this, Joshi devotes a section to Lovecraft's views on aesthetics.Here, Joshi emphasizes two distinct periods through which Lovecraft passed:the classicist and the decadent.Lovecraft remained a lifelong antiquarian with a particular relish for the past and the preservation of the past through tradition and "folkways".Some have maintained that Lovecraft was in fact a decadent, but Joshi finds such views somewhat problematic.Joshi also emphasizes the influence of others such as Dunsany's fantasies or Machen's antiquarianism on Lovecraft and his writings.Following this, Joshi turns to Lovecraft's views on politics.Joshi notes that Lovecraft's views emphasized both aristocracy and socialism.Lovecraft maintained a lifelong distrust of the world of commerce and money, which may have led to his turn from capitalism to what he termed "fascistic socialism" and eventual support of F.D.R.'s New Deal.Lovecraft had a particularly low view of the masses and he also held other races in an unfavorable light.Lovecraft's views were largely those of Anglo-Saxon supremacy and in his writings and stories he expresses his dislike of other races, ethnics, and immigrants.The politically correct are likely to castigate him for such views; however, it should be noted that Lovecraft maintained friendly relations with individuals of other races throughout his life.In many ways, his views were a subtle pose.

The second section of this book is entitled "The Fiction".Here, Joshi traces Lovecraft's views on metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and politics as they enter into his works of fiction, his weird tales.Joshi examines some of the underlying basis for Lovecraft's horror and his apparent neuroticism.In particular, in certain stories, the brute harshness of reality maintains a horror too terrible for mankind to face, and thus his terrors may be understood in this manner.Other monstrosities conjured up by Lovecraft may be understood as his fear of crowds or ethnics.(In particular, during Lovecraft's time in New York he developed a pronounced abhorrence for large groups of people and this is reflected in some of his stories from this time.)Lovecraft's stories also emphasize his antiquarianism and a hankering for a lost way of life.Throughout his life Lovecraft was influenced particularly by writers such as Dunsany and Machen, and their names enter his stories in several places, though he also tries to distance himself from them somewhat later to pursue a more independent course.Lovecraft's stories also emphasize his interest in the natural sciences, and his elder beings may be understood to be naturalistic or extra-terrestrial but beyond the comprehension of mankind as much as godlike or supernaturalistic beings.Joshi goes into great detail showing how Lovecraft's philosophical development and views are mirrored in his stories.

The final section of this book is entitled "The Decline of the West".Here, Joshi explains how Lovecraft's views coincide with those of Oswald Spengler (whose work Lovecraft did read) concerning cultural decline.Spengler made a distinction between Kultur and Zivilization as well as maintaining that cultures were indeed organisms which went through periods of birth, development, growth, decline, old age, and death.Joshi also notes how Lovecraft's aesthetics may be interpreted in terms of decline.Joshi explains in particular how such notions enter into Lovecraft's fiction and racialistic views.For example, regarding Lovecraft's views, Joshi posits the following oppositions:

democracyaristocracy
capitalism feudalism or aristocracy (later socialism)
immigrationracial homogeneity
mechanizationagriculture-based civilization.

As such, Joshi traces Lovecraft's philosophy as it developed through his fiction and in concert with Spengler's thesis of decline.

This book is an excellent account of Lovecraft's philosophy.Lovecraft remains an unique and eccentric writer, whose stories live on as masterpieces of the weird.For those who are interested in studying the underlying philosophical views behind such stories, this book remains an important read.

A Grand But Biased Introduction To Lovecraft And His Mind
So you don't misunderstand me, I'll say it straight away; I loved the book. The problem I have with it, is the overwhelming bias of Joshi, and his complete failure (or as I suspect, election not to) in understanding Lovecraft's racialism and conservatism. How is it possible to love Lovecraft and hate his person? It doesn't make any sense to me, and I'll have to disregard the danger of this sounding like an ad hominem attack when I state that perhaps Joshi's status as a miscegenating immigrant himself, might have something to do with his hostility towards his subject's race-conscious views.

Apart from this, the book is very interesting; it details and explains Lovecraft's influences; authors, ideas, art and other issues. We should be happy we have such a person as Joshi to take an interest in such a relatively obscure author's Weltanschauung, but I wish he could keep his personal feelings to himself. The only "proof" Joshi summons in defence of his antiqued racial "ideas" is Franz Boas, and if you have read Kevin MacDonald's "The Culture of Critique", you'll see that to use Boas as a source is highly dubious, as Boas' "great work" has been debunked as non-scientific and pure dogma. I should add that there is very little Spengler at all in this book, there are 13 pages or so about "The decline of the West" as an idea of Lovecraft's, but very little about the relationship Lovecraft had towards Spengler's magnificent ideas.

Highly recommended if you are interested in Lovecraft's ideas and the milieu of thought he grew up in and lived in, but you shouldn't take everything Joshi says very seriously, as he is clearly on a quite suspect mission of promoting liberalism.

Best Book About the Philosophy of Lovecraft
This book is definitely the best book to date on the market about the complexity that was Lovecraft's thoughts. In an easy, yet gratefully never over-simplifying, language, Joshi unfolds the philosophical contexts in both Lovecraft's letters and his stories. This is done in the best way possible: Joshi focuses on philosophical issues - i.e. metaphysics, ethics, aesthetical, and political thoughts - in, first, Lovecraft's enormeous bulk of letters, and then, second, as these issues come up in the stories that this horror-write wrote. In this tremendous and almost impossible process, Joshi manages to give a clear sight as to Lovecraft's change of views as well as his inspirations on the different issues.
A thing which stroke me as a wonderful addition to the elements discussed, is the fact that Joshi tries to stay true to the facts. For example, he stresses that Lovecraft - contrary to popular belief - did not invent the "cosmic indifferentism" that he is so famed for; instead it is clearly stated that this is a line of thought that was shared by many, more professional, contemporaries. If possible, such statements, instead of dimissing Lovecraft's originality, makes the reader appreciate the undesputable depth of Lovecraft's thoughts and original combination of philosophical insight with literary 'sleight-of-hand' even more.
Of course, one cannot always agree with Joshi, and sometimes it would have been nice with further arguments but overall this is a book no scholar of Lovecraft (professionally or amateurishly) can do without. It doesn't come any better than this. ... Read more

Product Description
The first horrible incident of our acquaintance was the greatest shock I ever experienced, and it is only with reluctance that I repeat it. As I have said, it happened when we were in the medical school1 where West had already made himself notorious through his wild theories on the nature of death and the possibility of overcoming it artificially. His views, which were widely ridiculed by the faculty and by his fellow-students, hinged on the essentially mechanistic nature of life; and concerned means for operating the organic machinery of mankind by calculated chemical action after the failure of natural processes. In his experiments with various animating solutions, he had killed and treated immense numbers of rabbits, guinea-pigs, cats, dogs, and monkeys, till he had become the prime nuisance of the college. Several times he had actually obtained signs of life in. animals supposedly dead; in many cases violent sign5; but he soon saw that the perfection of his process, if indeed possible, would necessarily involve a lifetime of research. It likewise became clear that, since the same solution never worked alike on different organic species, he would require human subjects for further and more specialised progress. It was here that he first came into conflict with the college authorities, and was debarred from future experiments by no less a dignitary than the dean of the medical school himself -- the learned and benevolent Dr. Allan Halsey, whose work in behalf of the stricken is recalled by every old resident of Arkham.I had always been exceptionally tolerant of West’s pursuits, and we frequently discussed his theories, whose ramifications and corollaries were almost infinite. Holding with Haeckel that all life is a chemical and physical process, and that the so-called "soul" is a myth, my friend believed that artificial reanimation of the dead can depend only on the condition of the tissues; and that unless actual decomposition has set in, a corpse fully equipped with organs may with suitable measures be set going again in the peculiar fashion known as life. That the psychic or intellectual life might be impaired by the slight deterioration of sensitive brain-cells which even a short period of death would be apt to cause, West fully realised. It had at first been his hope to find a reagent which would restore vitality before the actual advent of death, and only repeated failures on animals had shewn him that the natural and artificial life-motions were incompatible. He then sought extreme freshness in his specimens, injecting his solutions into the blood immediately after the extinction of life. It was this circumstance which made the professors so carelessly sceptical, for they felt that true death had not occurred in any case. They did not stop to view the matter closely and reasoningly.It was not long after the faculty had interdicted his work that West confided to me his resolution to get fresh human bodies in some manner, and continue in secret the experiments he could no longer perform openly. To hear him discussing ways and means was rather ghastly, for at the college we had never procured anatomical specimens ourselves. Whenever the morgue proved inadequate, two local negroes attended to this matter, and they were seldom questioned. West was then a small, slender, spectacled youth with delicate features, yellow hair, pale blue eyes, and a soft voice, and it was uncanny to hear him dwelling on the relative merits of Christchurch Cemetery and the potter’s field. We finally decided on the potter’s field, because practically every body in Christchurch was embalmed; a thing of course ruinous to West’s researches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Uneven collection of shorts
This is an incredibly uneven of shorties.Some are one to two pages.The Herbert West story is the longest and one of the best at 16 pages.If you are not familiar with HP Lovecraft I am not sure that this is a good representation, other than the Black Cat, which is very reminiscent of Poe's Black Cat and the West Story.There is nothing here that will really give you a flavour of Lovecraft's depth or his renown descriptive abilities other than the title story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Anthology
The Cthulhu Cycle

THE CTHULHU CYCLE and THE DISCIPLES OF CTHULHU are some of the best collections that Chaosium has put together.THE CTHULHU CYCLE is marked by strong writing and and classic tales pertaining to Cthulhu.Something included that I have missed from some of the other anthologies is the editor's notes that discuss academically the stories and their part in the development of the Mythos.Having certain influences pointed out is helpful to those who are familiar enough with Lovecraft's work to want more depth.

"A Shop in Go-By Street" by lord Dunsany: A few phrases on an idol in a reliquary seem to have sparked the first half of Lovecraft's famous story.Knowing that Dunsany strongly influenced HPL, I appreciated seeing one of his stories included.

"Count Magnus" by MR James: I'm not sure that this strongly ties in with the theme, but James is an excellent writer of terror and horror, and this is one of his better stories.

"The Call of Cthulhu" by that guy.You don't expect it to be missing, do you?

"The Black Islnad" by August Derleth: I have a beef about Derleth's "Shrewbury cycle."The guy is like some Scooby-Doo mystery gang, globe-trotting and solving mysteries.It has the feel of organized resistance to the Old Ones, and winning to boot.But, being the influence that he has been, Derleth's work deserves to be there.

"Patiently Waiting" is a story from Inspector Lagrasse's point of view, as he deals with cults and Things Man Was Not Meant To Know (tm).As with other stories in this collection, the characters are fleshed out along with their emotions and motivations.

"Recrudescence": this is an interesting story about a different cult, a different god, and a different mechanism for release.I've seen something similar in "The Greatest Adventure" by Eric Temple Bell, but otherwise it is an original plot device involving the stored bio-energy of dead species.

"Black Fire": Usually I don't care for lovecraftian stories where the good-guys triumph - it seems like a contradiction in terms.HPL's vision is that the universe doesn't care if there is a happy ending.In "Black Fire", a carefully-laid plan for the return of the Old Ones is thwarted by a simple man doing the only thing he can think of to stop the destruction.His great sacrifice saves the day, even as the next trap leading to man's destruction begins to unfold elsewhere.It has the feel of inevitable doom that we all know and love, but our capacity to sacrifice for the good of others makes the horror more poignant (if we are mere brutes with no redeeming and enduring qualities, it is hard to feel regret for our passing).

"Zombies from R'Lyeh": The main strength of this piece for me was the author's development of the setting.His description and invocation of tropical seas and islands is a siren song, and the horror is more personal when I feel the longing to be in the same place.I am now seriously considering dropping my thesis work and becoming a pirate to sail the tropical seas.Yar, be forewarned!

Attention Lovecraftian Horror Fans
This is the eleventh book in Chaosium's Cthulhu Cycle series.This volume features tales ofLovecraft's most well-known creation, the octopus-headed entity, Cthulhu.Included are the foundational stories (i.e. "The Call Of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft and "The Black Island" by August W. Derleth), some rare reprints (i.e. "Some Notes Concerning A Green Box" by Alan Dean Foster) and some interesting new stories of Cthulhu in the modern world (i.e. "Rude Awakening" by Will Murray).In any collection the stories are of varied quality but I enoyed the majority of the works collected.If you are a reader ofLovecraft's Mythos fiction then this is a must for your library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Well worth the purchase price.
The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company produced this work.They have done several Lovecraft works in this audio format; each work is an elegant rendition of the horror masterpiece from which it was derived.The Shadow over Innsmouth sticks to the plot, and manages to convey much of the darkness of the original piece.

The additional work, Ghost Dance, is a much lighter work.It is an "original" piece and almost doesn't work because of the flat vocals used to simulate Native American accents.In the end, the story manages to overcome whatever shortcomings the vocals might have.

Overall, I highly recommend any of the works by the ARTC group.They won't let you down. ... Read more

Product Description
Zenescope brings you a modern update of the classic H.P. Lovecraft story Herbert West: Reanimator. Doctor Herbert West is a brilliant medical student, nobody disputes this fact, but his experiments with a serum created to re-animate the dead are frowned upon at the New England University he attends. West is soon forced to continue his grotesque experiments in secret, with varying degrees of success. But the closer he gets to perfecting his serum, the more obsessed he becomes with reversing death. And when he makes his greatest breakthrough the young genius will soon learn that some things were never meant to return from the grave. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Facsimile Reprint of an Extremely Rare Book
This is a reproduction of the holy grail of Lovecraft collectors, his notes commonplace book. It has two parts: his theoretical ideas about writing weird fiction and the commonplace book which spans the years 1919 to circa 1935. Part One includes "Suggestions for Writing Story", "Elements & Types of the Weird Story", "A List of Basic Underlying Horrors". Part Two includes many references to his weird creatures and even weirder ideas, many he never got a chance to use. Cover art by Steven Mendelson. ... Read more

Product Description
"Behind everything crouched the brooding, festering horror of the ancient town . . . the changeless, legend-haunted city of Arkham, with its clustering gambrel roofs that sway and sag over attics where witches hid from the King's men in the dark, olden days of the Province.

"It was always a very bad time in Arkham . . . ."
-H. P. Lovecraft

ARKHAM is a small town along the Massachusetts coast-the setting favored by author Howard Phillips Lovecraft in his tales of monstrous horror.

All in all a quiet place, Arkham is best-known as the home of Miskatonic University, an excellent school becoming known for its esoteric and disturbing volumes residing in its library's Restricted Collection. These tomes form the foundation of all current efforts to thwart the dire desires of the Mythos legion.

H.P. Lovecraft's ARKHAM contains extensive background information about this haunted New England town-written to be used by serious investigators as a base from which to further explore the mysteries of the Cthulhu Mythos. Pertinent buildings, useful people, and important locations are described in depth. A 17x22" players' map of Arkham is bound into the back, and four thrilling adventures complete the package.

Includes the H.P. Lovecraft short story "The Dreams in the Witch-house" (1933)

New Layout
New Artwork
Fully compatible with both Call of Cthulhu from Chaosium Inc. and Call of Cthulhu d20.
Part of our expanding 1920's Lovecraft Country line.
This book contains material previously published as Arkham Unveiled (1990) and Compact Arkham Unveiled (1995). Each book long out of print. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Arkham anyone?
Great book with a map inside that you can tear out. I used this book exclusively for a CoC group I ran for a whole year long. I really appreciated the block to block set up with the various places of import and the mythos related possibilities. This is a great place to have players start from and explore.

Sourcebook for a city of shadows
First, let me say that this is a huge book.At 250 pages, you are really getting your money's worth.The town info is great, lots of useful characters, and the scenarios are excellent.I do have some complaints - the layout is more primitive than the other books, especially the neighborhood maps.On the other end of the scale, all the portraits are computer generated.First, it looks pretty hokey (maybe CGI was not as good back then?); second, the facial proportions are wrong for many of the people.This isn't a big deal for, say, Dunwich, but Arkham is somewhat repesctable and misproportioned faces just clashes with the attempted realism of CGI.

The standard layout of these books is to have a story by HPL featuring the town, to discuss town history, to break down the town into neighborhoods and show each one in detail, and then to have scenarios.

The opening story is "Dreams in the Witch House", which is probably the best available.I really like opening these books with a story by HPL - it is a reminder of how the whole thing got started.The neighborhoods take up a lot of space and describe a great many people, places, and things to meet in Arkham.I wish they would have spent some time talking about architecture in the town history section - I still don't know the difference between "gable" and "gambrel". Some real problems: street names are not clearly marked on the neighborhood maps, even when they are referred to.The combined map is not reprinted in the neighborhood section, nor is each neighborhood map shown as one piece; we only see fragments at a time.I think the Kingsport sourcebook does this best, so I assume that the layout people were still pefecting their craft at this early stage.As always, the town directory is helpful considering especially that there are so many entries that an index is needed to quickly find anything.All of the scenarios are great, although one ("the Hills Rise Wild") really would have been better in the Dunwich book, which was short on good scenarios.

Also included is a tear-out map of Arkham on very nice paper, and an issue of THE ARKHAM ADVERTISER, which also becomes a handout.

In all, this is a very informative sourcebook, with plenty of people, places, and things for investigators to explore.The only drawback, besides the poor maps, is that the spooky atmosphere was not convreyed very well.Reading the other sourcebooks, I definitely felt the atmosphere; Arkham didn't do that for me.It could have been better, but was still great.

Ground Zero of Cthulhu Mayhem- Welcome to Hell!
The wonderful thing about roleplaying games are their endless possibilities for action- one can literally do anything within the framework of the rules; the only limit is the glass ceiling of your imagination. Though there IS the limitation put forth by the necessities of playing a particular module or campaign- if the game takes place in Canada, it is probably a good idea to go there and not to Somalia. With this book, all limitations are gone.

The homebase of H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu investigators is in all probability Arkham, perhaps being their place of employement or residence. With this new Sourcebook, H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham, we now have a literal blueprint of the town. Who lives where, what is the criminal underground like, what are the industries and buisnesses, public transporation, what do the govement and police consist of, etc. It literally creates an entire world for the player to exist in.

We have not even bothered to play any of the game scenarious at the back because just existing in the town and creating our own situations have been fascinating enough. For example, we had the investigators encounter and befriend an underground movement of Anarchist whom attempted to unionize the immigrant factory workers, wipe out the Arkham govement, simultanously blew up the three power stations in the town and the water tower, did battle with the national guard and took over!

There is literally endless possibilities for play. Think Grand Theft Auto times a thousand. The book is brilliant and besides having the original Call of Cthulhu sourcebook, I see this book as being absolutly essential. There are gangs and cults and underground movements and plenty of beasts and forbidden tomes and strange people and places to go and situations to become involved in, besides ones that the Storyteller creates herself. Included is also information on the Miskatonic University and its professors, campus, and library.

Also included is information pertaining to the surrounding area around Arkham for those Investigators brave enough to leave town, for, indeed, there is much that is truly monsterous writhing about the periphery.

Although I see this book as essential, if you dig it, there are other simular and exciting books for those wishing to expand your play world- there is H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport, H.P. Lovecraft's Dunwich, and Escape From Innsmouth. Thus opening up the possibility to wander throughout four complete, though completly unique and hideously decadent, towns all within reach of each other. I can't wait for the release of the hardcover Miskatonic University sourcebook. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

A Lovecraft Retrospective Review
If you are reading this review then like me you are probably having thoughts somewhat along the lines of "HPL is awesome, and I love the premise of this book but geez it's pretty expensive. Is it worth it?" The short answer: Yes. Totally. Absolutely. In terms of the art contained within it is not only amazingly comprehensive but just so well reproduced. All the images are large and crisp, with many pages opening to fold outs to more fully display the creations. All of the art is identified in the back index via thumbnail style pictures so the images are not spoilt by writing overtop them. Of course not all of the images are awesome, but this is art after all and subject to the readers personal taste. The wheat far outweighs the chaff for mine. All of the classic and most iconic Lovecraftian images are there along with many new to me and some real discoveries. If there is a complaint (and the irony to Lovecraft fans will not be lost I'm sure) it is that there are quite a few typos and misspellings in the small text sections but in a book all about images this is a minor sin. Do yourself a favour and buy this book. It is worth it.

The best book of lovecraftian art.
First, sorry my english isn't very good (i'm spanish and i'm improving my english). I have the slipcase edition and I like very much the most of images. It's easy for a spanish man (or woman) to understand the text. And the organization of the images is very good: the early years, the middle art and finally the modern art. I have the cover image in the monitor of my computer, this complete image is very impressive. But I was interested in the John Coulthart art (I have his "Haunter of the Dark and other grotesque visions" and his Coulthart Calendar), the images of his Old Ones are in black and white (His Old Ones are coloured in the John Coulthart Calendar, but it's not a problem). Finally I think that this book is a collectionist book, the best book of lovecraftian art.

Horrific and awesome
This was quiet literally an amazing and magificent book.At every turn of the page, vivid horrific scenes jumped out at me.The art work is truely glorious and inspiring.As a previous reviewer stated, Matthew, there simply are no words to describe this book, and his review fit this book to a t.It took me 3 1/2 hours to go from front to back, reading each text and introduction, the brief stories contained, and taking in each breathtaking glimpse into a remarkable surrelistic world.This will be a very fine addition to my Giger books, Bezinski, and Barlowe's Inferno.Now all I can do is sit down with this book in front of me, re-read some classic HPL tales, and go to bed at night and let the nightmares begin.Simply fantastic.

A must for Lovecraft fans!
Much of what I'd like to say has already been said by those who have reviewed the book before me. Suffice to say that this book brings to life the images that might have been contained in Lovecraft's mind when he wrote those wonderful stories. Gibbering demons and gargoyles, nameless creatures too hideous to describe and of course, grotesque monsters from outer space - they're all here in their full glory. As Ellison said in the intro, if only HP could have lived to see this magnificent tribute.

The definitive book on Lovecraftian art
I only accidentally stumbled upon this book not long prior to its publishing, but after half a second's consideration, placed my order at Amazon with quite the discount. Having read the works of HP Lovecraft since I was about 13, I simply could not resist this. Incidentally, my first book was "The Road to Madness", who's cover a teenage boy could not resist, a cover that I found in this book. Small world indeed. What can one say about this book? It includes literally hundreds of pages of supreme quality art, both black and white and in full colour inspired or related to the literary works of Lovecraft and to a certain degree his milieu. Some of the pieces are even spread over fold-out pages, and the binding and covers is of supreme quality. It just doesn't get any better than this. The book is about half a meter tall and I guess about 5 kg's, so don't expect to sit and hold this while you read it!

There are small introduction texts for all the artists; some perhaps a bit excessively long, but oh well. Having Stuart Gordon write an introduction is a complete miss, Lovecraft must be turning in his grave considering what Gordon has done to wreck Lovecraft's work in all his "great films". That being so, I found so much great art in this book, I enjoyed myself immensely in its company for hours on end, and it is certainly a prize item to show your friends and loved ones. Granted, making it fit in a normal bookshelf might be hard, but if you can cough up the money, I can hardly recommend this book enough. Annoyingly, it has a lot of spelling- and editing-errors, enough of them to almost make me take away a star, but it is in the end a book with paintings, so it doesn't really matter. Buy it before it is too late, if you have even the faintest interest in Lovecraft's work, a book of this quality is something we don't see often in our shady circles. I think my favourite ones in the book might be Les Edward's excellent Innsmouth-related paintings; wow! 5 stars plus! ... Read more

Product Description
Fritz Leiber and H.P. Lovecraft: Writers of the Dark presents Lovecraft's letters to Leiber, an impressive selection of Leiber's fiction which shows Lovecraft's influence, and a selection of Leiber's essays on Lovecraft and Matters Lovecraftian. Features an introduction by Ben J. S. Szumskyj and an afterword by S.T. Joshi. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential for devotees of Leiber and Lovecraft
Fritz Leiber and HP Lovecraft aren't usually thought of as having any similarities. After all, Leiber is best known for the extraverted character-driven fantasies about Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser while Lovecraft is remembered for his profoundly eerie blend of psychological horror and science fiction. Yet the two men corresponded extensively for the last few months of Lovecraft's life, and Lovecraft had kind words to say about the earliest Fahfrd and Mouser story. Clearly, there is more here than meets the eye of the casual fan and this book illuminates the artistic relationship between these two great authors.

The first third of the book reproduces Lovecraft's letters to both Leiber and his wife. Many negative words have been written about Lovecraft's personality elsewhere. I was amazed to see how patient, generous, kind, and selfless Lovecraft really was in these letters. Lovecraft was terminally ill and frustrated in his own career but instead of brushing off Leiber, he welcomed the younger writer and gave him advice as a father to a son. I left this section of the book with a deeper respect for Lovecraft as a person, and was in awe as to the type of mentor he might have been.

The second third of the book consists of Leiber's Lovecraft-influenced short fiction. This is in a very different vein from his better-known fantasy material, although it also includes the very first Fafhrd and Mouser tale - the "Adept's Gambit." Leiber is a far more accessible and humanistic author than Lovecraft ever was, and the bulk of the short stories here can be easily enjoyed by any reader. They are eerie, and they are haunting - but easier for a newcomer to appreciate. The final two stories "Arkham to the Stars" and "Terror from the Depths" are more explicitly Lovecraftian in both setting and style. "Arkham" is a cross-over of sorts featuring characters from multiple Lovecraft stories. "Terror" is a sequel to Lovecraft's own "The Whisperer," featuring once again the investigative literature professor Dr Wilmarth. These stories are certainly enjoyable on their own, but the reader will not be able to fully appreciate them unless he has also read the requisite Lovecraft books Leiber uses as source material. It's hard for me to choose a favorite story here, but I lean toward "Terror."

The final third of the book consists of Leiber's analyses of Lovecraft's writing and his memories of the man. Leiber provides thoughtful analysis of his friend's strengths and weaknesses and helps to place Lovecraft within perspective in the worlds of horror and science fiction. This section is repetitious, but it also provides some of the most meaningful insights into Lovecraft that I have ever read.

This isn't the place to begin your acquaintance with either Leiber or Lovecraft but you will learn more about both men as a result of reading this book.
... Read more

Product Description
Once David Hero was an ordinary man living in the real world. Now he is trapped in the Dreamlands, cut off from the waking world. David Hero's dreams and nightmares have become his only reality.

Led by wickedly beautiful Queen Zura, the zombie armies of the dead are on the march. They will destroy the beautiful Dreamlands, making them a permanent, deadly nightmare.

Unaware of the marauding zombies, David Hero and his friend Eldin voyage through the clouds in a wondrous skyship. Their journey is interrupted by a pack of faceless nightgaunts, terrifying creatures, half-man and half-bat--and all evil!

David Hero is one of Zura's first targets. Asa man of the waking world, he can withstand her terrible seductive power and shatter her shambling armies. David Hero must be the first Dreamlands hero to die.
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Customer Reviews (2)

Swash-buckling adventure in Lovecraft's Dreamlands
Continuing with the characters and swords-and-sorcery style of the first Dreamlands book, this book moves the action into the seas and skies.Plenty of swashbuckling adventure aboard ships, with cannons roaring, fierce battles by boarding parties, and prisoners forced to walk the plank.However, since these ships spend most of their time flying through the air, this isn't your normal naval adventure!If you like a rip-snorting adventure tale, there's plenty of action here, which I think you'll enjoy whether or not you're interested in the Lovecraftian setting.

The hard-core Lovecraft fan might react a bit differently. Although the story is set in H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands, Lumley puts his own twist on things.In the original dreamlands stories, magic and mystery surrounded most of the amazing aspects of the setting.Lumley puts a more pragmatic, scientific explanation behind things.For example, he provides a scientific, practical explanation for how the floating city of Serranian stays airborne, and how the sky ships fly.Another twist on the original HPL stories is the role of the Nightgaunts.In Lovecraft's stories, they are loathesome, inscrutable, and usually operating on behalf of greater powers.Lumley has a human character who can control a grim of Nightgaunts to do his bidding, whether his goal be evil or good.

Lovecraft fans who like pulp adventure and are not bothered by Lumley's shift of style, emphasis and detail from the original will have a great time sailing the skies of the Dreamlands and wandering the streets of Serranian.Purists will take offense.

#2 in the Dreamlands of H.P. Lovecraft series.
The proper background for this book would be to read THE DREAM CYCLE OF HP LOVECRAFT, then the first book of this series, HERO OF DREAMS, but if you insist, you can get by without it.

Take timeless Celephais, and the sky-city of Serannian, for instance - created by the dreams of a young English boy at the seaside, a beautiful place where nothing ages, changes, or passes away. The boy, upon his death as a grown man, re-entered Celephais to rule it as King Kuranes. (All this is recounted in Lovecraft's "Celephais".)

Celephais, ideal city of dreams - no crime, no wars, no problems, no slums - just timeless perfection, marble temples, and a gentle king.

Yeah, right. :)

Enter David Hero and Eldin the Wanderer, once of the waking world but cast in a different mold - two professional questers. Knights-errant, mirrors of chivalry? Not even in your dreams (although you'll note that no language worse than "Damn me!" is ever needed). Having lost the love of his life when she woke up at the end of HERO OF DREAMS, Eldin has been working on staying drunk, and Hero has stayed with him. Not being blessed with much business sense, they've been staying in the same low dives they've always frequented, even though they have (or rather, had) money.

So we begin SHIP OF DREAMS with "Down and Out in Celephais", as the two of them are hauled before a judge for drunkenness, non-payment of debts, vagrancy, assault, seduction, and arson, not necessarily in that order. (Eldin has a touch of pyromania, which comes out when he gets annoyed.) Yes, they're guilty of everything - except that Hero protests the seduction charge, since *she* seduced *him* ("Why, man, I'll carry scars down my back for the rest of my dream-life. That girl has nails as long as --")

Ahem. This puts them right behind the 8-ball, where Kuranes wants them - they have the choice of either accepting his commission, to act as his questers, or to rot for 5 years in jail.

Introducing:

- Curator, the mysterious, silent robot guardian of the Museum, who only comes out when visitors start thinking of stealing the treasures therein. After their first meeting: "If he ever lays eyes on me again, he'll kill me. And I'm sorry but...I think the same goes for you two." "What did *we* do to annoy him?" "You were with me, " the Wanderer answered. "That's enough."

- Zura, the Princess of Zura - a beautiful, living woman, ruling over Zura the land, which carries the stench of death, and to which no living person willingly goes.

- Gytherik, master of night-gaunts - and nephew of Thinistor Udd, the ambitious sorcerer that Eldin, Hero and Aminza faced in the previous book.

- Ula and Una, the lovely twins who are *really* interested in learning about the world...

A lonely princess who wants nothing more than to seduce Hero. A sorcerer's apprentice, grimly seeking vengeance for his fallen master. Two lovely, lusty twins, highborn girls out for a bit of excitement.

And if you take any of this at face value, there's a bridge in Inquanok that we'd love to sell you. :)

Lumley is **NOT** trying to mimic the Dunsany-like style in which "Celephais" was written, nor is he making any extraordinary effort to, e.g., scare the reader into swearing off subways forever (see "Pickman's Model"). If you want Dunsany, check some of my other reviews for links to his books; if you want horror, seek out some non-Dreamlands Lovecraft.

All you need is to appreciate this book for what it is - fantasy with a bit of humor. The *settings* are the same as Lovecraft's - I don't think anybody's going to catch Lumley out in a discrepancy with Lovecraft's framework, mythology, or characters, e.g. Kuranes, Randolph Carter. The tone is generally lighter than Lovecraft. ... Read more