Lovecraft is definitely the granddaddy of “Cosmic Horror” and Weird Fiction. “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn”Try saying that backward (or forward, which is equally challenging). His friends share strange stories about his behavior, prompting him to investigate, and uncover a most otherworldly answer. Through correspondence two characters unravel a local legend, of monsters living in the hills.Ī strange meteorite transforms the land and lives around itĪn artist is drawn to an abandoned building, where an ancient power sleeps.Ī tourist learns a secret the town will kill to keep.Ī mathematician tries to combine math and the occult, but is troubled by feverish dreams.Īfter five years of amnesia the protagonist regains himself. Three stories stitched together by the narrator, with all the tropes of a good Lovecraft story the occult, monsters, and conspiracy.Ī slow story about a peculiar family, gradually growing into a supernatural thriller. A slow mystery, this is one of the stronger ones in the anthology.Ī strange shack in the wilderness, with a strange owner.Īn unreliable narrator has been imprisoned for so long he doesn’t even remember why.Īn artist with a unique gift for creating frightening images.Ī philosophical dialogue on the nature of reality, without the familiar fears of most of Lovecraft’s work.Ī strange neighbor who plays otherworldly music, and the secret behind it. A prime example of “knowledge as a burden”. In spite of that he remains an accomplished author in the realm of horror, and a good read for anyone with the patience to persevere through the slow starts.Ī story of an ancient site, and a terrible secret. He has a bad habit of summarizing a scene rather than showing the reader what happened. His protagonists are often generic and somewhat flat, and his descriptions tend to be excessive, particularly when describing architecture. Within his own writing he is quite repetitive. Of course this lack of resolution is also part of his general theme, there is no happy ending, and only those ignorant of the truth can live happily.

He often hints at a larger narrative that remains unresolved.

They only begin to achieve real momentum at the midpoint, before ending abruptly. His stories start slowly and with excessive backstory. He is perhaps one of the most skilled writers when it comes to unreliable and unstable narrators however, he also has shortcomings. In Lovecraft’s world knowledge is a burden that drives many to madness. His stories confront everyday people with this hidden world, sometimes directly, more often through the accounts of the less fortunate. Lovecraft’s stories focus on the unknown, the alien, and the otherworldly.

The best of hp lovecraft