Customer Reviews

The Loved Dead

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Loved Dead assembles a number of stories that H.P. Lovecraft revised for less talented would-be authors of weird tales. While it is quite impossible to know just how much of himself Lovecraft inserted into these tales, they are by no means to be assigned to his creative endeavors. Personally, I don't see a lot of Lovecraft at all in these tales despite the sorts of cryptic, Mythos-related references made in a number of the selections. Examining these stories in and of themselves, on their own merit, I must say I rather enjoyed a number of them, however. Adolphe de Castro's The Last Test manages to insert a nice little aura of creepiness into what is essentially an unremarkable pulp horror tale. Zealia Bishop, one of the better writers of Lovecraft-revised fiction, sets the story of Medusa's Coil in such an atmospheric setting that its far-fetched plot does only minimal damage to one's enjoyment. Two entries from Hazel Heald are really quite good indeed; not only are The Man of Stone and Out of the Aeons compelling stories, they come closer than all of the other revised stories to capturing the spirit of Lovecraft himself. Duane W. Rimel's The Tree on the Hill lacks an original ending but does succeed in tapping a small vein into the cosmological realm so richly mined by Lovecraft. Rimel's The Disinterment also shows potential but is more seriously weakened by a far too predictable plot.

The remaining stories seem to decline in quality as one progresses through them. 1922's The Horror at Martin's Beach is remarkable not for its rather ineffective craftsmanship so much as its attribution to Sonia H. Greene, Lovecraft's wife of some two years. C.M. Eddy, Jr. contributes four short stories to this collection: Ashes, The Ghost-Eater, The Loved Dead, and Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. These tales just fall too much in line with standard, pulp horror themes that they become caricatures of themselves and of the weird tales in vogue at the time; a Lovecraft would have been able to make the ideas come out in an effective way, but nothing really seems to click in the revised words of Eddy himself. Henry S. Whitehead makes a valiant effort in The Trap, but the story of a magical mirror capable of pulling someone into it and thus freeing that person from time and space just never finds a plane of plausibility upon which it might flourish. The only two stories I did not care for at all in this book are R.H. Barlow's Till A' the Seas and The Night Ocean, both of which seem to be exercises in over-description lacking any discernible backbone of an actual plot.

While many of these stories possess an unmistakably amateurish quality and can by no means be associated with the literary genius and fruitful imagination of H.P. Lovecraft himself, I did get a lot of enjoyment from reading most of them. Lovers of weird tales in all their sundry fashions should find several pleasant diversions in the pages of this book. Those looking for Lovecraft-quality fiction, however, must never forget the fact that H.P. Lovecraft revised but did not actually write these tales. I would not consider The Loved Dead a must-buy for casual Lovecraft fans because I don't detect much of his influence in these pages; of course, fanatical admirers of the master of the macabre will naturally want to add these revised stories to their collection.

For the obsessive-compulsive bibliophile, finding previously unknown (at least, to yourself) works by your favorite author is a real treat. Fans of H.P. Lovecraft are, of course, familiar with such works as "The Shadow over Innsmouth", "The Dunwich Horror", and "The Call of Cthulhu". Then there are works that Lovecraft ghostwrote or revised (such as the famous collaboration with Harry Houdini "Under the Pyramids", or the stories collected in THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM AND OTHER REVISIONS). This book, THE LOVED DEAD AND OTHER REVISIONS contains some of Lovecraft's even more obscure revisions. But, in the evolving self-referential universe based on the writing of Lovecraft, his contemporaries, and his followers, you will want answers to such questions as, "Who is Ghatanothoa?" and "What was the horror at Martin's Beach?".

Most of these stories are pulp magazine quality, with some winners and some forgettables. There are 14 total:

"The Last Test" - similar to other Lovecraftian tales of cold science arrayed against humanity in the pursuit of knowledge. See "Cold Air" and "Herbert West, Re-Animator".

"Medusa's Coil" - this story has an excellent atmosphere of Southern decadence, an ancient secret kept alive by descendants of Atlantis, and a husband blinded by love. Or, the cosmic secret could be some stupid bit of racism at the end. I am marking out the las6 sentence so that it never mars my reading enjoyment again.

"Out of the Aeons" - I think that this story ranks up there with "The Call of Cthulhu". An excellent mythology, some blasphemous relics from the ancient world, and a cult dedicated to their retrieval. If only the dead could speak - but their eyes are bad enough!

"The Ghost-eater" - fairly standard pulp ghost story; good enough for what it is.

"The Loved Dead" - I was very surprised to see that this was influenced by HPL, but upon reflection, you can see his mark in the vocabulary and writing style. I'm only surprised that I never noticed it before (I have this story in a collection of Weird Tales, attributed to CM Eddy).

"The Tree on the Hill" - a story about the horrors of a tree, alone on a hill. It doesn't sound scary, but Gothic houses are overdone. I thought the author was up to the challenge.

"Till A' The Seas" - what will the very last day of humanity be like? Before the Nuke, we went out with a whimper and not a bang. The bleak nihilism in this story as the last of humanity passes away is almost cathartic. I found it elegant (though not desirable!).

"The Night Ocean" - The sea has always held an attraction and a mystery to men. Eternity and infinity lie in its deeps; the author posits that there may be more. He has nothing more than half-glimpses and overheard mutterings, but he knows enough to know that he knows too much.

To the Lovecraft completist, these stories are necessary apart from their own merits, as part of the canon. On their own, I think they make decent light reading with some highlights that will stay with you.

considering it was my first non lovecraft mythos fiction i've read

(even though he worked on them or rewritten these particular tales)i thoght them to be alright i enjoyed horror in the museum much better, but it was depressing knowing that i've finally read all of his tales and rewrites

"The Loved Dead" is a collection of stories by various writers that in one way or another were altered by H.P. Lovecraft. With no introduction or other guide provided, it is impossible to guess the extent to which any given story was influenced or written by Lovecraft, and the styles are sufficiently dissimilar to make it seem likely that his influence varies widely. Regardless, the lack of "liner notes" leaves the reader with no choice but to evaluate the stories on their own merits, so:

There is little to point to in this collection that is worthwhile. "Cthulhu mythos" or Lovecraft fanatics will want this just to be sure their collections are complete, but I can't imagine why anyone else would buy it. The stories presented were originally published in pulp magazines in the 1920's and 1930's, and they show it; what was horrifying then (assuming, of course, that any of these stories were horrifying at all even then) ranges from boring to silly now. And, in at least one case, a modern reader may be genuinely offended, as in the story which ends with what is presumably intended to be its most horrific revelation, that the murderous, demonic witch who married into and destroyed a well-to-do American family was not only supernaturally evil, but also--hold your breaths, now--a _negress_. One snorts with disgust--and if we do so with the benefit of a modern perspective, so what? Does this justify the original story somehow, which has no other redeeming qualities?.

These stories do have their occasional moments. "The Loved Dead," for example, though written in the early 1920's, contains passages that are eerily reminiscent of what we now know of the mental state of some serial killers. Still, these moments are rare enough that they fail to provide any real basis for a recommendation. Avoid this collection.

The stories in this book are short but sweet. Who am I kidding? They are NOT sweet. They gave me nightmares. I loved it and I am very glad I bought the book. Whenever I need a new scare I just re-read some of it and hope that I sleep soundly...

I highly recommend this book

Well, if you don't have this collection and you're a Lovecraft fan, buy it. If you're new to Lovecraft, or haven't read him, don't bother to get enthousiastic about it. It sucks! These are stories he had to write for others, or he wouldn't have bread on his table. And it tells! These stories are not Lovecraftian, but it will make you laugh if you know something about the horror pulp in the magazines back then. Or Lovecraft didn't give a damn about what would come out of his pen, or he had a jolly time mimicking ridiculous horror fiction. With an eye on the saddest story in it about a nutty proffesor who wants to conquer the world with a liquid which changes people into ash, called 'Ashes', I would go for option number 2.