Fungi from Yuggoth [Paperback]

H. P. Lovecraft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1983

Fungi from Yuggoth is a sequence of 36 sonnets by cosmic horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Most of the sonnets were written between 27 December, 1929 4 January, 1930 thereafter individual sonnets appeared in Weird Tales and other genre magazines.

The first three poems in the sequence concern a person who obtains an ancient book of esoteric knowledge that seems to allow one to travel to parallel realities or strange parts of the universe. Later poems deal more with an atmosphere of cosmic horror, or create a mood of being shut out from former felicity, and do not have a strong narrative through-line except occasionally over a couple of sonnets.

With one or two exceptions, the concluding poems from "Expectancy" onward seek to explain the circumstances of the narrator's sense of alienation within the present. Rather than visions themselves, these poems serve as a commentary on their source.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 13 pages
• Publisher: Necronomicon Press (May 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0686312368
• ISBN-13: 978-0686312369
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,002,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

H. P. Lovecraft was born in 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, where he lived most of his life. He wrote many essays and poems early in his career, but gradually focused on the writing of horror stories, after the advent in 1923 of the pulp magazine Weird Tales, to which he contributed most of his fiction. His relatively small corpus of fiction--three short novels and about sixty short stories--has nevertheless exercised a wide influence on subsequent work in the field, and he is regarded as the leading twentieth-century American author of supernatural fiction. H. P. Lovecraft died in Providence in 1937.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nine page poem in the Cthulu style/mythos, May 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fungi from Yuggoth (Paperback)

Excellent poetry, however, it IS only nine pages long. Due to title pages, etc. the poem ends on page thirteen. Numerologists have fun. The special $2.85 surcharge was a little steep, especially for something NECRONOMICON PRESS only charges $2.50. Anyway, this is for Cthulu nuts only, otherwise its NOT worth the potential $9.30 after shipping

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Collectable, March 27, 2009

By 

W. H. Pugmire "I never can be tied to raw, ne... (Sesqua Valley) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fungi from Yuggoth (Paperback)

This is the rare 1982 chapbook printing of Lovecraft's sonnet cycle, published by Necronomicon Press. It is becoming a rare collector's item, so if you have it, HOLD ON TO IT -- it may be worth quite a bit of money in years to come. This may have been the first time that the sonnet sequence was published in its corrected text. The version published by Arkham House in 1963, in Lovecraft's COLLECTED POEMS is faulty, and it was that version that was reprinted in the 1971 Ballantine Books mass paperback edition, FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH & OTHER POEMS. For an excellent and definitive text (and costing just a few more dollars than the chapbook here offered), you may purchased, here at amazon.com, the splendid hardcover edition of Lovecraft's COLLECTED POEMS, in which the sonnet cycle is lightly annotated by editor, S. T. Joshi. This chapbook features a great cover with artwork by Jason Eckhardt, but one wishes that it would have included an in-depth introduction by S. T. Joshi or David Schultz.

There has long been a discussion concerning the "plot" of FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH, and in his review here John Salonia Jr. seems confused by the lack of consistency in this plot. There is no plot in the sonnet cycle. Only the first three sonnets constitute an attempt at linking the sonnets with a storyline -- but Lovecraft seems to have lost interest in this after writing those first three sonnets. Although Lovecraft's sonnets cannot compare in artistry with the superlative sonnets of Donald Wandrei, they are quite delightful, and some of them are profound in their expression of Lovecraft's cosmic loneliness. They have some magnificent imagery, and fans of the Cthulhu Mythos will find much herein that will re-ward their reading.

The most anticipated edition of the sonnets is yet to be published: THE ANNOTATED FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH by David C, Schultz, which will, some strange aeon, be published by Hippocampus Press. This will be the absolute definitive text, richly annotated and containing numerous illustrations inspired by FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH! It will be a fantastic book, IF Mr. Schultz ever completes his work on it. The sonnets have been recorded at least once, read by John Arthur, accompanied by music composed by Mike Olson, under the direction of Lawrence A. Russo. This recording was first available in cassette form from FEDOGAN & BREMER, then later it was re-released as audio cd, accompanied by a superb program chapbook.

FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH has long inspired those of us who write Lovecraftian and Cthulhu Mythos fiction and poetry. Perhaps the finest poetic collection that has been inspir'd by Lovecraft's sonnets is Ann K. Schwader's IN THE YADDITH TIME (Mythos Books, 2007), a sonnet sequence that is the work of the finest poet working in the weird genre today. I am working on my own collection of prose poems inspired by FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH, a wee chapbook that will be called SOME UNKNOWN GULF OF NIGHT, with each of the thirty-six prose poems inspir'd directly by Lovecraft's cycle.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars His Fiction Is Better, June 1, 2000

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"gsibbery" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fungi from Yuggoth (Paperback)

This is a small collection of Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythis" verses. It amounts to only 9 pages, and although Lovecraft was a competent versifier and wrote endless reams of poetry, his verse just can't match up to his fiction. If you are a diehard Lovecraft fan, you'll love this, otherwise the poems will seem kind of bland.