Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos [Hardcover]

H. P. Lovecraft (Author), Divers Hands (Author), Jeffrey K. Potter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1990

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
--H. P. LOVECRAFT, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"

Howard Phillips Lovecraft forever changed the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable series of stories as influential as the works of Poe, Tolkien, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His chilling mythology established a gateway between the known universe and an ancient dimension of otherworldly terror, whose unspeakable denizens and monstrous landscapes--dread Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Plateau of Leng, the Mountains of Madness--have earned him a permanent place in the history of the macabre.

In Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of horror and fantasy's finest authors pay tribute to the master of the macabre with a collection of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition:

¸  The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: The slumbering monster-gods return to the world of mortals.
¸  Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch: A lone farmboy chronicles his last stand against a hungering backwoods evil.
¸  Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell: An avid reader of forbidden books finds a treasure trove of deadly volumes--available for a bloodcurdling price.
¸  The Freshman by Philip José Farmer: A student of the black arts receives an education in horror at notorious Miskatonic University.

PLUS EIGHTEEN MORE SPINE-TINGLING TALES!

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) was the premier horror writer of his time, and continues to exert an influence on practitioners of that dark art. Most of his work is unified by a common theme--the Cthulhu (kuh-tool-ew) Mythos--in which gods furtively control the fate of mortals, and a mere glimpse of the universe, by nature hostile, is enough to drive a man insane. A number of Lovecraft's peers borrowed the Mythos for use in their own stories, launching a tradition that continues in our day. This generous volume, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Arkham House (established to preserve Lovecraft's work in hardcover), features 22 Mythos stories by Lovecraft and 15 other writers, including the poetic Clark Ashton Smith, the action-oriented Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), Arkham's co-founder August Derleth and the youngest of the original circle, Robert Bloch ( Psycho ). Modern writers include Colin Wison, Joanna Russ, Richard Lupoff, Karl Edward Wagner; and Ramsey Campbell, Fritz Leiber and Stephen King, who contribute especially fine work (noticeably absent is T.E.D. Klein). James Turner, who edited the volume, supplies a fine introduction.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
--H. P. LOVECRAFT, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"

Howard Phillips Lovecraft forever changed the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable series of stories as influential as the works of Poe, Tolkien, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His chilling mythology established a gateway between the known universe and an ancient dimension of otherworldly terror, whose unspeakable denizens and monstrous landscapes--dread Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Plateau of Leng, the Mountains of Madness--have earned him a permanent place in the history of the macabre.

In Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of horror and fantasy's finest authors pay tribute to the master of the macabre with a collection of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition:

¸  The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: The slumbering monster-gods return to the world of mortals.
¸  Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch: A lone farmboy chronicles his last stand against a hungering backwoods evil.
¸  Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell: An avid reader of forbidden books finds a treasure trove of deadly volumes--available for a bloodcurdling price.
¸  The Freshman by Philip José Farmer: A student of the black arts receives an education in horror at notorious Miskatonic University.

PLUS EIGHTEEN MORE SPINE-TINGLING TALES! --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 529 pages
• Publisher: Arkham House Publishers; 1st edition (February 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870541595
• ISBN-13: 978-0870541599
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #712,221 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

65 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Core Tales of The Mythos (Although NOT by HPL), May 18, 2001

By 

Samuel E. Burns "inquisitive-savant" (Knoxville,TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (Paperback)

MOST of the stories in this collection are not by H.P. Lovecraft: only 2 out of 22 are actually HPL's work! Nevertheless, this is a good collection of stories written by other authors who followed HPL in writing about the so-called "Cthulhu Mythos" that Lovecraft created. If you're looking for stories by Lovecraft himself, look elsewhere: there are other collections available composed entirely of his work. But if you want to read stories by the many authors who contributed what are felt by many to be the core of the Myhos, then this is a good beginning for you.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharing the Wealth, July 30, 2000

By 

Duane Pesice "moderan" (Tucson) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (Paperback)

This is an excellent update of this volume (I have the 70s Ballantine 2-volume edition), and is recommended to fans of horror in general and of the Cthulhu Mythos in particular. Most of the stories contained herein would be familiar to even a casual HPL fan, though there are surprises like Joanna Russ' fine tale from the pages of F&SF, a Philip Jose Farmer tale, and Lupoff's sf reinvention. There isn't a clinker in the bunch! My personal favorite is Cold Print, but you can't go wrong with any one of these stories, in a variety of styles and settings neatly encompassing the range of the Mythos. A great book to introduce to those who aren't familiar with this unique shared universe.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful literature, April 16, 2000

By 

Boomer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (Paperback)

To see work like this by so many authors who have been influenced by Lovecraft's writing is a wonderful thing - and when the list includes such names as Robert Bloch, Steven King, Philip Jose Farmer, Fritz Lieber, Brian Lumley and Ramsey Campbell, you know that you're dealing with a true force in literature.

The perspectives on Lovecraft's works are amazing in their diversity - Joanna Russ's "My Bost" is particularly different and beautiful, and Richard Lupoff's "Discovery of the Ghooric Zone" is one of the interesting things that a truely obsessed Lovecraftian scholar will ever read.

There are no bad stories in here - that's not easy to say about an anthology of work like this. My personal favorite is Fritz Lieber's "Terror From the Depths", but other stories like "Cold Print" and "Sticks" bring new dimensions to Lovecraft's great works. Every piece in this book is a wonderful additon to the Cthulhu Mythos.

If you're looking for original work by Lovecraft, this isn't it. But if you're trying to learn a little bit more about his work, and see some perspectives on his work by some of the great authors of our time, please do yourself a favor and pick this up.