Customer Reviews

The Lurking Fear and Other Stories

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Despite reading 'The Mountains of Madness'; 'The Tomb'; and particularly 'Pickman's Model' in a brightly lit, populated main hall of the Boston Public Library in mid-day, I was still creeped out of my skin by the writing skill of this author - thus I became an H.P. Lovecraft advocate! But I wanted more. I wanted the full H.P. Lovecraft experience!
I decided to read 'THE LURKING FEAR And Other Stories' (c.1939, 1985) by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, overnight in the small graveyard on K & E. 5th streets, adjacent to the grade school I attended as a kid. So with book under arm, I left my local watering hole at last call and walked down a dark street, took a left, and stood in front of the small 1840s graveyard "where deformed trees tossed insane branches as their roots displaced unhallowed slabs and sucked venom from what lay below". Yup, this will do nicely.
So I hopped the low black wrought-iron spiked fence, sat down near a street light, coupled with a bright beacon October moon which casted "charonian shadows athwart the low mounds that dotted and streaked the region". I sat on a grave and leaned against a chipped and cracked slate headstone, and in this very un-library like atmosphere, began to read THE LURKING FEAR.
I sat comfortably "where the thick weeds grew and cast queer shadows in the light" and suddenly saw a rat run across a nearby grave. Uh, no problem, since rats are as common as seagulls in Boston; I finished part-one of THE LURKING FEAR in dark and shadow, when I suddenly jolted an inch off the grave recoiling my hand like lightning "for it was out of a phantasmal chaos that my mind leaped when the night grew hideous with shrieks beyond anything in my former experience or imagination."
The wind had blown a wet leaf on my hand in the dark and I yelped like a puppy. I resumed reading THE LURKING FEAR after my tachycardia and hyperventilation had subsided. The streetlight went out for some unknown reason and I was forced to finish THE LURKING FEAR, appropriately, by moonlight.
H.P. Lovecraft was criticized for a wordy adjectival writing style which his proponents, including myself, admired for setting 'atmosphere' to his storytelling. His use of the first person narrative only added to the distance of the author from the reader, so the reader would feel absolutely connected with the characters in the story, and, through analogy, feel the terror they experienced. Other writers of horror, particularly the very ineffective Stephen King, have not mastered atmospheric writing. In THE LURKING FEAR the author conveyed this sense of connection as he brought the reader, through the narrative of his nameless investigator, to Tempest Mountain, then inside the Martense Mansion and in the graves and tunnels of the elusive inhuman quarry.
So by the time I finished reading THE LURKING FEAR in this neglected neighborhood graveyard, the author had done his stuff and I was covered in a cold sweat from head to toe. My hands were clammy, unusually white and waxlike, and strangely still as H.P. Lovecraft finished the story describing the multitude of ape-like things which swarmed out of the tunnels near Martense mansion as "the ultimae product of mammalian degeneration; the frightful outcome of isolated spawning, multiplication, and cannibal nutrition above and below the ground; the embodiment of all the snarling chaos and grinning fear that lurk behind life". This last exposition of H.P. Lovecraft in THE LURKING FEAR suddenly made me curious of the name on the headstone I was leaning. It was my name!
They found my body in the morning: I had received the full H.P. Lovecraft experience.

And this collection of short stories contains some real gems. It's important to realize that it can be awfully hard to read more than a couple Lovecraft stories together in a row because it can feel really overly portentious as a collection-- indescribable horror and beauty on every page. However, taken separately, these stories are all first class reads.

It seems unfortunate to me that this collection's title comes from "The Lurking Fear," a story which I rank very low among Lovecraft's efforts. "Dagon" and "The Temple" are interesting and bear a connection with Cthulhu and his abode beneath the sea. "Arthur Jermyn" reflects Lovecraft's interest in genealogy, history, as well as issues of miscegenation, inbreeding, and hereditary degeneration over time. Several stories can be classified among the dream image motif Lovecraft developed early on in his mature fiction, while "The Outsider" is quite allegorical and fairly easy to figure out in advance of the ending. Two of the best selections to be found here are "The Hound" and "The Unnameable," two ghost stories of a sort. While "The Hound" is less than original, Lovecraft excels in describing the depravity of the minds of the two main characters and in creating a gruesome, well-defined inner sanctum of evil. "The Unnameable" is akin to a campfire ghost tale, but the somewhat trivial conclusion robs it of some effectiveness.

It is rather odd to find "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" in this collection. All of the other stories were written in or before 1927, while "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" bears a birth date of 1931; at this point in his career, Lovecraft was in his prime, and the effective honing of his writing within the intervening four years is quite apparent. This story works on all levels. A young traveler stops off in a strange city shunned by the outside community, discovers an incredibly disturbing town history, and eventually faces a frightful attack by terrifyingly fish-like beings. The atmosphere of Innsmouth is incredibly rich and detailed--you can almost smell the terrible fish odor yourself--and the protagonist's escape attempt is wonderfully suspenseful. The story culminates in a twist that I for one did not foresee, which was a welcome bonus to an already intriguing, satisfying read.

Most of these stories can be found elsewhere (including other Ballantine HPL publications), so even the greatest admirer of Lovecraft can survive without purchasing this item. In addition, the publishing standards of this book seem somewhat low; "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" in particular deserves much better. This book is great if you can't find these stories elsewhere, but dedicated readers of Lovecraft will want to have a product of higher publishing quality.

I Happen to own this volume and this is a tribute to how young, ignorant and tastelesse I was at the time.It is part of a set of five. These are poorly edited, and ill printed on crummy paper. Additionally, the collection happens to have a number of stories that are printed twice, and to omit several of HPL's not so minor stories. A publisher who gives this kind of treatment to a writer and to his customers doesn't deserve your money.

If you like HPL, or just want to discover his works, do yourself and the publishing industry a favor, get your book somewhere else, there are some better collections and omnibuses around waiting for the more discriminating reader

...seem to be the focus of many of the stories within this book. The short stories are: The Lurking Fear, Dagon (ocean related story), The White Ship (the oceans within our mind?), Arthur Jermyn, From Beyond, The Temple (ocean related story), The Moon-Bog, The Hound, The Unnamable, The Outsider (an almost SAD story) and The Shadow Over Innsmouth (a must for any fan of Lovecraft).
Dagon and The Shadow Over Innsmouth are linked together by the character of Dagon, an elder deep one. The Temple was a new story (to me) and a very interesting one about a German sub that finds...well, I won't tell you, but you can guess.

Lovecraft is one of the best horror writers ever and this is one of his best collection of stories. I read Poe and Lovecaft long before I ever read a King book, and I still shiver when I read this book. There is a reason that some of Kings short stories borrow ideas from Lovecraft. If you've never read any of Lovecrafts writing give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Being a Steven King fan, I had heard that some of King's short stories and writings had been similar to Lovecrafts, and this collection of short stories were pretty good reads. The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Lurking Fear were probably the most interesting, and I liked The Temple as well. The other stories were ok. The Outsider was also interesting and Dagon was just plain wierd. If you like horror and wierd stuff, this book is defenitly a must. Its different anyway.

I must say that The Lurking Fear has to be the most entertaining collection of Lovecraft's short stories I've come across yet. He had such a gift. The gift to open up people's minds to new things, strange things, things you don't want to imagine. From The Unnamable to From Beyond to The White Ship, each story exposes the universe of intrigue and mysticism Lovecraft created. Although the characters are only there to represent the ideas Lovecraft exposes, it is still a wonderful read and I suggest it to any open minds or people who just like mind twisters like these.

This mass market paperback has had many editions since its initial printing in 1971. Some of the reviewers here have said that their copy was poorly produced and falling apart. When ordering, you want to be certain that you are getting one of the newer printings that were published in the 1980's or 1990's. Some of the sellers here at Amazon will indicate the year of publication of the edition they are offering for sale. The newer editions, with the cover illustrations by Michael Whelan, are great little editions, solidly produced and published. The editing, of course, is the corrupt text of August Derleth from his initial Arkham House hardcover editions; the compilation of these Ballentine editions are probably by Lin Carter. That said, this wee book is an EXCELLENT place to start if you are coming to the fiction of HPL for the first time. It includes many minor tales that are among my personal favourites, and it includes one major story by Lovecraft that is among his very best horror stories.

The contents are:
The Lurking Fear
Dagon
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Arthur Jermyn
From Beyond
The Temple
The Moon-Bog
The Hound
The Unnamable
The Outsider
The Shadow Over Innsmouth

"The Lurking Fear" was one of the first tales that HPL wrote for a semi-professional market. S. T. Joshi writes of it, in his Barnes & Noble edition of Lovecraft's complete fiction, "Like 'Herbert West--Reanimator,' this story was commissioned by George Julian Houtain for HOME BREW, where it was serialized from January to April 1923. Lovecraft wrote it in November 1922 and prevailed upon Houtain to have his new friend Clark Ashton Smith illustrate it. Although obliged to add a 'punch' at the end of each segment, Lovecraft managed to write a more unified tale than 'Herbert West.' The setting in the Catskills echoes that of 'Beyond the Wall of Sleep,' while its theme of hereditary degeneration recalls 'Facts Concerning the Late Authur Jermyn and His Family' and anticipates 'The Rats in the Walls.'" The story is a lengthy four-part serial and has some wonderful moments of Gothic horror.

"Dagon" is an effective tale (except for the absurd and confusing ending), and it anticipates "The Call of Cthulhu" in many ways. Lovecraft is especially powerful in evoking a sense of queer alien landscape in this minor tale. The ending has led some to believe that the story is actually a dream or delusion of the narrator, but it seems to me merely one instance in which Lovecraft ends a story stupidly.

"The White Ship" is a tale that was written under the influence of Lord Dunsany. It shews Lovecraft writing a story of pure fantasy, and the language is beautiful and dreamy. We may contrast it with the realism of "Arthur Jermyn," which is set in a very realistic world, a world of terrible suggestion as to the origin of puny humanity. "The Moon-Bog" is one of Lovecraft's poorest tale, written to order for a gathering of amateurs to commemorate St. Patrick's Day. It is just a very silly story, and one wishes that instead of including it and another weak tale, "The Temple," that the editors had chosen to include "Pickman's Model" instead, which would have fit in very well among the other stories in this collection.

"The Hound" and "The Unnamable" are often dismissed as "minor" Lovecraft, yet they are among my very favourite weird tales. I love them for their delicious atmosphere; indeed, I find "The Hound" so evocative that I wrote a direct sequel to it for my newest book, WEIRD INHABITANTS OF SESQUA VALLEY. I disagree with Joshi's idea that Lovecraft may have written "The Hound" as a form of parody on his own style. "Written in September 1922, 'The Hound' has been roundly criticized for being excessively florid and overwritten; but it is clear that the story is deliberately written in a flamboyant and self-parodic manner," writes Joshi; but it is not clear at all, and this is merely S. T.'s opinion, unsupported (as far as I know) by any mention by HPL in his correspondence of this intent. Lovecraft was a very serious artist; and why he would want to write a self-parody of his style, especially so early in his career as an author, makes no sense. It was with story that Lovecraft introduced the Necronomicon.

"The Outsider" is one of Lovecraft's most popular tales, and has been oft imitated by young folk trying to write in the Lovecraft tradition. Writes Joshi (can you tell I love to quote S. T. Joshi? Well, he IS the world's leading Lovecraft scholar, so I feel justified in so doing), "It is tempting to date [the story] to around the time when Lovecraft's mother died (May 24, 1921), since its generally lugubrious tone harmonizes with the depression Lovecraft felt at his mother's passing. The influence of Poe hangs heavily over the story, especially 'Berenice' and 'The Masque of the Red Death.' Lovecraft later admitted that it 'represents my literal though unconscious imitation of Poe at its very height.'" I would like to pay particular attention to that word, "unconscious." Too many reviewers have insisted that the tale is "obviously" an instance of Lovecraft "trying to write like Poe," but that seems clearly not the case. "The Outsider" has proved enormously popular with film makers, and there are many wee cinematic versions of it to be found at YouTube.

"The Shadow Over Innsmouth" is a later tale, and one of the solid classics of the Cthulhu Mythos. It has a sense of nameless dread, dark revelation, and (unusual for Lovecraft) pulp adventure. It is one of the Master's great stories.

All in all, this is a fabulous collection of macabre fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, and if you are reading him for the first time, this delightful book is a great place to start. I really love this series of Lovecraft titles from Del Rey and must be the voice of dissent to they who proclaim the packaging to be inferior. The books are excellent, published on sturdy paper stock and with eldritch cover art by Michael Whelan (which some find too grotesque but I love it). There is some unfortunate overlapping of contents, especially in the volume entitled THE DREAM QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH. The texts, of course, are not the Corrected Texts that S. T. Joshi prepared for his Arkham House editions.

This is the first HP Lovecraft book I bought, and it provided a wonderful introduction to the author. These stories will scare and disturb you-- you won't forget them. I highly recommend Lovecraft if you've enjoyed the short horror works of Stephen King and *especially* if you've enjoyed stories like Edgar Allan Poe's "Black Cat." It's that same sort of supernatural horror.