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The colour out of Space

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A collection of short stories from one of the legends of the horror genre. The title story is pretty good, with perhaps a shade more emphasis on science fiction than usual, but still rather standard fare for this author - he's written several others that are just like it and some of them are even included in this very collection. Once you've read a few such, it's hard to get excited about them. Of somewhat more interest are the shorter tales that diverge a little more from the usual pattern, like the repugnant "Picture in the Cottage" and the chilling "Cool Air". Like so many genre writers, Lovecraft is good at what he does, but only has so many tricks up his sleeve, so no matter how well executed they are, once you've seen them, they're not nearly so impressive the next time around. So if you've never read Lovecraft at all, by all means pick up one of his collections, and find out how they did horror Old School. This one is certainly adequate. But if you've read some Lovecraft and weren't entirely blown away by it, this collection isn't going to change your mind.

(This is just about the title story)
Written in 1927, before the idea of radioactivity was in anyone's public consciousness, this is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. For me, the non-Cthulhu stories have more to offer (The Rats in the Walls, The Music of Erich Zann, Cool Air), but this is arguably one of his best-written, possibly because the whole thing is (for Lovecraft) relatively understated. All the little touches - the trees moving when there is no wind, the strange produce from the crops, the creepy woodchuck - are well put together, and not dwelt on, but they are mirrored by the family's slow deterioration and breakdown.

I reread this recently, prompted by the problems Japan is having with the nuclear plants. Lovecraft didn't know about radiation sickness or the pollution that could be caused by radioactivity, so of course his descriptions of the effect of this meteor aren't anywhere like the real thing. Obviously he wasn't thinking of radiation per se; yet in a way that makes it a little more haunting - the way he describes the slow degradation of the countryside and the effect far beyond the Gardner farm gives it an uneasiness connected with them that's kind of haunting. It's a story without the usual monster shambling on stage at the last couple of pages, and for once Lovecraft must have decided to just see if he could paint more of a mood piece than a fright fest. By the end, we understand why the narrator says
"... nothing could bribe me to drink the new city water of Arkham."

A friend recomended this book to me. It's easy to read, is scary and has influenced so many writers. A must read for any fan of science fiction.

H.P. Lovecraft was a writer of considerable faults. He had a stiff and arthritic style of writing, his plots were often little more than depositions that ended with the hero scribbling away (with pen and ink, no less!) while an Unspeakable Horror was breaking down the door, and his supernatural horrors were often little more than peep shows brought on at the end of the story. A number of his heroes, like Randolph Carter, were pipsqueak dreamers who retreated from the world rather than active heroes like Solomon Kane, Northwest Smith, or Jules de Grandin.

I have always found Lovecraft to be a writer best taken in small doses. _The Color Out of Space_ (1963) is a collection of seven Lovecraft tales, a manageable number for me. Predictably, it displays some of his faults. But it also displays some of his virtues, and I find that I can recommend this collection with some degree of enthusiasm.

Let us check the pedegree of these stories. Five of the entries came from _Weird Tales_ between 1924 and 1939. They are: "The Picture in the House," "The Call of Cthulhu," "Cool Air," "The Whisperer in Darkness," and "The Terrible Old Man". Two of the stories were first published in science fiction magazines: "The Colour Out of Space" (_Amazing_, 1927) and "The Shadow Out of Time" (_Astounding_, 1936). These last two stories are the best in the book and are for my money among the best that HPL ever wrote.

"The Shadow Out of Time" was the cover story in _Astounding_. The artist did a credible job depicting a scene in which the hero encounters a giant conical creature in an alien library, to their mutual surprise. But the cover was done with a touch of whimsy. There is nothing whimsical about Lovecraft's account of the library buried in the Australian desert, the monsters within it, and the aftermath of the expedition. There is a twist at the end of the story, but it is a logical one. When Lovecraft wrote science fiction stories rather than his dream fare, his stories became more solid and realistic.

"The Colour Out of Space" is another such story. It is not quite as imaginative as "The Shadow Out of Time" or "At the Mountains of Madness," (not in this collection) but it is still competently crafted. You may remember "Colour" from its many reprintings or from the occasional (bad) movie made of it. It's the one about the force in a meteorite in a blasted heath that bleeds the color and vitality and life out of a New England countryside.

The entries from _Weird Tales_ are a bit more uneven. "The Terrible Old Man" is a minor piece about three scoundrels (all foreigners) who get their Just Desserts. It has a companion story, "The Strange High House in the Mist," that is much more imaginative. (Alas, it also is not in this collection.) "Cool Air" is a fairly routine horror tale with a somewhat telegraphed ending. I believe that this one was televised once on _Night Gallery_. "The Picture in the House" is a straightforward horror tale with little supernatural trappings. It is about a "seeker after horror" who eventually finds what he is looking for in an old farmhouse but who is providentially saved.

"The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Whisperer in the Darkness" are two entries in Lovecraft's Cthulhu (pronounced "Thuh-luh") sequence. The first story is a touch more on the supernatural side, while the second is more science fictional, treating the gods as travelors to this planet from Pluto who are subject to a certain number of natural laws. L. Sprague de Camp rightly notes that Lovecraft took his Cthulhu stories less seriously and treated them less consistently than later writers. In any event, both stories are fairly good fantasies, the best of the _Weird Tales_ pieces.

If I were going to introduce a reader to Lovecraft, this is the first book that I would pick. It is not without faults. It has its share of references to eldrich horrors, blasphemous books, and unspeakable perversions. But the percentage of good stories is passably high, and there is enough variety to give the reader an idea of the type of stories that Lovecraft wrote. It is-- dare I say it?-- entertaining. Get yourself a copy right now.