Lovecraft and Related Horrors

Hyperborea, by Clark Ashton Smith.

A collection of short stories by Lovecraft’s old pal. “Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures". – Wikipedia. A Ballantine Books ‘Unicorn’ fantasy. He wrote most of these for “Weird Tales”. Can’t say I’ve read them all, but some I’ve enjoyed.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Anthology. Fantasy. Paperback.

The Hounds of Tindalos, by Frank Belknap Long.

Long was basically the youngest member of the Lovecraft circle and wrote for Weird Tales. That is why I have this book. Haven’t read it.

     Ranking: Keeper.

     File Code: Anthology. Fantasy. Paperback.

Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors, by Robert E. Howard. Edited by David Drake.

     All of Howard’s Cthulhu-related and horror stories. He was, of course, the creator of Conan, and in Conan’s world there were plenty of Elder Gods and cultists running around. He and Lovecraft traded letters quite often and used each other’s lore in their stories as sly nods to each other.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Anthology. Fantasy/Horror. Paperback.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories of Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft.

The way I first got into Lovecraft was through running across him in horror anthologies in school libraries and reading about him in editor’s notes. A copy of this Scholastic volume in – Briesemeister? – was the first book of his that I remember seeing, though the Count Orlock inspired cover wasn’t doing it any favors. John bought this copy years later and gave it to me when I begged it for my Lovecraft collection.

Ranking: I’m going to say Essential Nostalgia.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperback.

The Colour Out of Space, by H. P. Lovecraft.

A Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ) book, with a Preface by Frank Belknap Long and a cover by Rowena, I think this is the first Lovecraft I ever owned. A nice anthology of his stuff, including the seminal “The Call of Cthulhu”.

Ranking: Essential-ish.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperback.

The Dunwich Horror and Others, By H. P. Lovecraft.

An HBJ book, with a preface by August Derleth and a cover by Rowena. It is a companion volume to HBJ’s edition of “The Colour Out of Space”, and I didn’t even know it existed until I picked up this copy at Half-Price. By then I had all the stories inside elsewhere but had to have it to match. The line on the cover - “It’s Evil Beyond Exorcism” – pretty much dates it to the 70’s, even if you couldn’t read the publisher’s date inside.

Ranking: Essential-ish.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperback.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos Volume I, Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos Volume II, The Tomb and Other Tales, At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror, The Lurking Fear and Other Stories, The Shuttered Room and Other Tales of Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft.

Having started into Lovecraft, we had to get them all, and for a while it was a race between John and me as to who could find the most. These Ballantine Book editions, with their monster-head covers by John Holmes, were advertised in all the Warren magazines we bought and the editions available in used bookstores. The “Mythos” books include stories by others; “Mythos I” is missing its cover and is “Collected” by August Derleth and “Mythos II” is “Edited” by August Derleth. “Room” and “Fear” are older editions in the series that John found and then later gave me (when I begged him).

Ranking: Essential-ish.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperbacks.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and Other Stories, by H. P. Lovecraft; and The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions, by H. P. Lovecraft and Others.

     Before there were the monster-head run, Ballantine put out these horror/science fiction editions, with covers by Murray Tinkelman (same guy as did Del Rey’s E. R. Eddison covers, and a more 60’s-70’s artist there is not). “Dream-Quest” has Lovecraft’s more Dunsany-like work, and “Museum” is ‘collaborations’ that have works he did with others or continuations of his unfinished stories.

Ranking: Keepers.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperbacks.

The Lurker at the Threshold, by H. P. Lovecraft with August Derleth.

A bit of an anomaly here. It is a 1971 Beagle Book, and although Lovecraft gets top billing, it is generally acknowledged to be mostly Derleth’s work. As HPL’s editor and literary executor he had a pretty free hand.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Horror. Novel. Paperback.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Doom that Came to Sarnath and Other Stories, by H. P. Lovecraft.

These Del Rey Horror editions that came out in the early 80’s, with covers by Michael Whelan, helped plump out the elderly, crumbling tomes of the Lovecraft collection. “Ward” is a novella, perhaps the closest HPL ever got to a masterpiece, and of all his stuff (even over the “Mythos”) is the work I treasure most. Charles Dexter Ward goes in search of his ancestry and awakens an evil from the past. The story of Joseph Curwen and his evil wizardries, the horrors of “Essential Salts”, and the evocation of colonial times, all just hits me in the right spot.

Ranking: Essential Salt.

File Code: Horror. Novella. Paperback.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, by H. P. Lovecraft.

The Ballantine Books Adult Fantasy edition, with a cover by Gervasio Gallardo. Another copy (see elsewhere for comments on the book itself). It’s in the series, man!

Ranking: Essential/Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Anthology. Paperback.

Fungi from Yuggoth and Other Poems, by H. P. Lovecraft, Illustrated by Frank Utpatel.

I thought if I ever found this old Ballantine Book anywhere, it would have to be ordering it through E-bay for tons of cash, and I find it at Half-Price for like $2! I can’t say I’ve read every poem inside, but I’ve read plenty. Most of them are HPL trying to be Poe, but the ones I enjoy most are his satirical efforts, when he’s trying to be Alexander Pope. The pictures are a gas as they try to illustrate his delicate visions with pulp fiction bluntness. Cover by Gervasio Gallardo.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Poetry. Anthology. Paperback.

Lovecraft: A Look Behind the “Cthulhu Mythos”, by Lin Carter.

A 1972 Ballantine Book with a Gervasio Gallardo cover. In 1972 I was in 3^rd grade, and probably wouldn’t have known what to think if I saw this book; probably something like “Gee whiz golly, mister, that looks kind of Satanic to me.” I’d had Carter’s “Tolkien: A Look Behind “The Lord of the Rings” since high school, but only recently (2010) did I acquire this volume through the internet. I fear I got it about 35 years too late, since the cabbage that would have been fresh to me then has now been thoroughly chewed. Still, the portrait of a time in HPL studies.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary History. Horror. Paperback.

The Watchers Out of Time, by H. P. Lovecraft.

Though Lovecraft’s name is prominent on the cover, this is mostly August Derleth’s work, and his heirs are even listed as holding the copyright, so the old corpse-grinder continues to profit even after death by his association with the master.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperback.

The Loved Dead and Other Revisions, by H. P. Lovecraft.

More collaborations with younger writers in his day, or possibly more accurate to say these are tales where he was a confirmed ‘story doctor’. Haven’t read most of them. Still, completeness for the collection, eh?

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Horror. Anthology. Paperback.