All of the stories within being placed chronologically, it is apparent that Lovecraft improved upon both his writing abilities and his cosmological mythos, which is not to say that some of his early stories, in their simplicity, don't hit home just as powerfully. The tales gradually grow longer as one reads through the book, with Lovecraft's three novellas appearing in the middle and end of the book. It was these tales that I found to be the most enjoyable, the most thorough in their ability to draw me in and engage me in the alternate universe that Lovecraft structured. It is also these three short novels that one can use to divide Lovecraft's entire collection of fiction into three categories of theme: men stumbling through the realm of dreams, men meddling in necromancy and dark arts, and men confronting the godless, Darwinian truths of the universe, hints of which lie hidden in obscure corners of the earth.

I can completely understand that Lovecraft is not for everyone - his stories don't read as easily as King's, there isn't a lot of dialogue, but there is no harm in trying a story or two before deciding if you want to explore further. So! I thought I would recommend some stories to begin with if you want to venture into some cosmic horror.... I was also expecting to come across a few duds (stories that were just not well done), but all the stories were very well written, there was a few that I didn’t like as much as the others, but that is to be expected. There is also an essay written by Lovecraft on Supernatural Horror in Literature, which was excellent, it clearly showed just how knowledgeable and passionate he was about supernatural literature, reading almost like a who’s who of supernatural Horror leading up to and including his time, which gave me a few more names to add to my ‘to read’ pile. The Doom That Came to Sarnath: I was reminded of Robert E. Howard in this primordial tale of lost lands. Of course, Howard was influenced by Lovecraft.

I have just compared (Dec 27, 2013) the 'fiction' section of the Wikipedia bibliography with all of the stories featured in this volume. All of the fiction is included in this volume. Under the Pyramids: Written as Harry Houdini. The early Egypt parts were dull (maybe more exotic in 1924) but the ending horror was phenomenal, very Cthulhu-worthy.

Y no solo hay repetición en sus protagonistas. Cuando llevas leidas muchas novelas y muchos cuentos ves que la mayor parte son variaciones de otras, sin que cambien muchas cosas, pues, al fin de al cabo, están relacionadas unas con otras. Y para redondear la guindilla el estilo literario de este escritor es muy lento la mayor parte del tiempo, si bien esto tiene su explicación y ha sido lo que menos me ha chocado de todo lo que he dicho anteriormente, ya que al final esto último se le perdona. Truthfully there are precious few works here I don’t love to a greater or lesser degree and even in his supposedly lesser efforts I find much to admire. This is especially so with his later material such as The Haunter of the Dark, The Thing on the Doorstep and The Dreams in the Witch House which are little celebrated but favourites of mine. Perhaps my favourite of all is The Music of Erich Zann – hardly a conventional choice – although depending on mood I may have to give the nod to The Call of Cthulhu. The charms of the poster-child of weird fiction are not easily resisted. This, to me, is a perfect description of true horror. Blood and guts can be added and sprinkled in, but the atmosphere of dread, things being other than the way they should be, against Nature, is of primary importance. And few can create such atmospheres as well as Lovecraft. He overdoes it very often, and the four stars are due to the unfortunate fact that the vast majority of his stories are marred in some way and at some point however small by very obvious racist tropes and comments.

Sound Test Area

In the volume it says under Juvenilia that The Little Glass Bottle, The Secret Cave, The Mystery of the Grave-Yard, The Mysterious Ship (short and long version), and a discarded draft of The Shadow Over Innsmouth are included. They are. his "at the mountains of madness", origin of the shoggoths, centers around a geological impossibility (extremely high mountains in a low-deposition, high-erosion environment) read up on eolian processes.

It's also immediately apparent that Lovecraft had an incredible vocabulary and a near-encyclopedic knowledge of an impressive number of subjects. Not in the visceral way that most modern audiences think of horror, but in the subtleties that lie between the lines. There is every bit as much left unsaid as there is said, and in a world where everyone seems to just want to see the monster and its carnage, these stories are a refreshing change of pace and scenery.The Cats of Ulthar: A must-read for all cat people and fans of poetic justice. Ulthar and its cats is another element in Lumley's version of the Dreamlands; will it be mentioned again later by Lovecraft? Trash. Apparently written in exactly the style of Samuel Johnson. Big fat who cares? Grats, I guess? Too bad he didn't write it in exactly the style of a good story.

Indispensable for serious fans. Lovecraft was a tireless writer who covered a little more territory than he is generally given credit for. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" is a fine example of Lovecraft's ability to merge his sharp observation and engaging knowledge of his native New England with his outrageous imagination. The fate of the protagonist, while horrifying in typical Lovecraft fashion, is also truly sad and moving.While many stories follow a predictable, well worn groove (the horrified protagonist declares his horror upon discovering the horrifying truth of some ancient horror)the gems polished by the abrading action of these efforts are some of the most satisfying short stories of any genre. "The Strange High House in the Mist" immediately became one of my all time favorites when I first read it in the 70's and time has taken nothing away from it. "He" did not seem particularly original or striking until I read it in the light of the editor's assertion that it reflected Lovecraft's unhappy experience with life in New York City. This awareness added a human element rarely, if ever, associated with Lovecraft and I suspect such an element may be hiding in other stories as well. Wentworth's Day (1957), The Gable Window (1957), and The Horror From The Middle Span (1967) are mentioned as missing but these are not included on the bibliography list on Wikipedia, but are actually written by August Derleth anyway. Howard Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.