An H.P. Lovecraft Anthology: More Than 50 Weird Tales (Forgotten Books) [Paperback]

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2008

Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades, and he is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe. (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890 - 1937)
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937), of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.
http://www.forgottenbooks.org

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Forgotten Books (May 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605069140
• ISBN-13: 978-1605069142
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this, November 1, 2009

By 

Maryanne K. Snyder "mksnyder2" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An H.P. Lovecraft Anthology: More Than 50 Weird Tales (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

This is a print-on-demand shameless ripoff volume--as are all by this publisher. There is no way to know the source of these versions of Lovecraft's stories--many were edited by Farnsworth Wright of Weird Tales for their magazine appearences. If you want to read Lovecraft's stories as Lovecraft wrote them, buy those that have been edited by Lovecraft scholar ST Joshi:

The collections by Arkham House
The three Penguin volumes
The Library of America edition
The Barnes & Noble anthology

Unfortunately, the omnibus edition by Gollancz is also composed of texts of uncertain province.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but..., May 11, 2009

By 

Gregory - See all my reviews

This review is from: An H.P. Lovecraft Anthology: More Than 50 Weird Tales (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

This is probably the most complete collection of Lovecraft stories in print (in paper; I see that the complete works of Lovecraft are available for Kindle, but not having Kindle, I can't really comment on that); there are a few major stories missing, but that's going to be true for any one-volume collection of Lovecraft's work.

Mainly, though, I wanted to offer a warning to prospective buyers. The product description says that "We print in large sans-serif font, which is proven to make the text easier to read and put less strain on your eyes," and having read several other books from the same publisher, I can attest that that's usually true. Not in this case, though; in order to fit so many stories into one volume, they made the writing absolutely *tiny"; it's a great strain to read (and no, the problem isn't on my end; I'm still in my twenties, and my eyes are fine), and I'll probably either find the longer stories included here in other Lovecraft collections or read them online.

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, September 3, 2011

By 

Maria Aedo "maedo" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An H.P. Lovecraft Anthology: More Than 50 Weird Tales (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

It is an excellent anthology, most of the best HP Lovecraft`s work can be read in the book, the edition is very good