The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft

The overall rating is the average of the following ratings.I listened to this book with audible and I feel it made a big difference. I don’t think I would have enjoyed these stories as much reading them. There is something about listening to these creepy stories that really captivates you. The narrator’s were perfect too. They portrayed the emotions of the characters perfectly, especially their horror. I highly recommend getting this on Audible for anyone who likes audiobooks and is interested in reading Lovecraft.That being said, while there are some great stories in this collection a lot of them are just ok. I will probably only read the few I enjoyed again. I probably won’t ever listen to this whole collection again.Rating system:1 stars - wasn't for me2 stars - it was ok3 stars - I liked it4 stars - I loved it5 stars - it was amazingThe Alchemist: 4/ 5What a twist at the end!At the Mountains of Madness: 5/5This is written as an account from an Antarctic exploration mission which found a unique ancient creature at the base of the Mountains of Madness. They dubbed the creature the Old Ones. That night they suffered heavy losses. The second camp decided to keep the actual findings hidden from the public but explain what was actually found.This was quite interesting and creepy story. I loved how the narrator emphasized the horror and excitement of what was found. I quite enjoyed this unique story that presents a different history of life on earth.Azathoth: 2/5A very short (3 min.) story. I felt it needs to be longer to really understand what is going on.The Beast in the Cave:3/5A short horror tale of someone lost in a cave and realizes they are not alone.Beyond the Wall of Sleep: 2/5A story about a Doctor that was fascinated with Joe Slader a mental patient who had amazing stories. Using a handmade device the doctor was trying to connect himself to what the Slader was imagining in the hopes of connecting with the dream world. I didn’t love this one. It wasn’t as captivating as previous stories.The Book: 2.5/5A scholar who discovers and learns great magic. He quickly learns that he needs to be careful of that knowledge. An interesting and quick tale.The Call of Cthulhu: 4/5“That is not dead which can eternal lie,And with strange aeons even death may die.”A very interesting tale. Not what I was expecting but I still enjoyed it.The Cast of Charles Dexter Ward: 1/5I was not interested in this story. I listened to 2 out of the 5 chapters and I was pretty bored so I am skipping the rest.The Cats of Ulthar:3/5"...in Ulthar no man may kill a cat."Because the cat’s are liable to kill you. A very nice revenge tale.Celephais:3/5This is a story about a man who has a dream about a beautiful place called Celephais. He spends the rest of his life seeking the dream-world of this place with the use of drugs.The Colour out of Space: 3.5/5“That which spoke could speak no more.....”This is a tale about a meteorite crash that poisoned every living thing in the area. This story had very gruesome deaths for animals and humans. Lovecraft has a very captivating writing style that really draws you in and makes you see the horror of what is going on, especially when it comes to death.Cool Air: 3/5An interesting ending for a unique and weird old man.Dagon: 3/5The short story of a tortured, drug addicted man who is telling an incident that happened to him during WWI. This is one of Lovecraft's first stories he wrote as an adult and it was pretty good.The Descendant:2/5“In London there is a man who screams when the church bells ring.”A very short story about a man who is aged beyond his years who finally admits his fear after being confronted with the Necronomicon.Discarded Draft o f “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”: 3/5An interesting start. I wonder how it will compare to the finished story.The Doom that Came to Sarnath: 2/5The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath:1/5I was quite bored by this one and stopped about 10% through.The Dreams in the Witch House:3/5Walter Gilman, a student, rents a room in the 'witch's house'. He has strange dreams that escalate as time goes on. The house is haunted by the witch who owned it. This was an interesting tale. Lovecraft really has a thing for dream stories.The Dunwich Horror: 3/5An interesting and creepy tale. I wasn't expecting the revelation of who the creature was at the end.The Evil Clergyman: 2/5A short horror story about a man being overtaken by an evil clergymen.Ex Oblivione: 2/5A man seeking to remain in the eternal world of Dreamland. This was an ok and quick story.Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family: 3/5A tale of family tragedy and repeat searching for an ape city.The Festival:2/5From Beyond: 2.5/5A man creates a machine that allows him to see beyond the normal senses. He sees strange creature in the air but you must be careful, if you move you die.The Haunter of the Dark: 2.5/5He: 3/5Interesting. He has a kind of vampire like quality.Herbert West - Reanimator:5/5Two doctors spend their lives trying to find a solution that will reanimate the dead. This was very Frankenstein-esk. I really liked this one.History of the Necronomicon:3/5A brief history of the Necronomicon and it's suppression throughout history.The Horror at Red Hook: 2/5The Hound: 4/5This is why you don't disturb the dead.Hynos: 2.5/5Ibid: 2/5A story of an ancient skulls travels through time.In the Vault:3/5A cemetery working getting locked in a crypt with the bodies of the recent dead. The dead will have their revengeLittle Glass Bottle:3/5A prank played on some treasure hunters.The Lurking Fear: 2/5Memory: 2/5The Moon-Bog: 3/5There is more to the swamp than you think. Leave the beauty of nature alone or it will get you.The Music of Erich Zann: 2/5A mute musician who plays for a mysterious dark abyss.The Mysterious Ship (long version): 2/5The Mysterious Ship (short version): 2/5The Mystery of the Grave-yard:2/5The Nameless City: 3/5"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."Nyarlathotep: 3/5Old Bugs: 3/5A story about an alcoholic druggy named Old Bugs.The Other Gods:2/5The Outsider: 3/5Pickman’s Model: 2.5/5The Picture in the House: 3/5A picture of horror that reflects the horror in this house.Polaris: 2/5The Quest of Iranon:2/5The Rats in the Walls: 2/5A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson:3/5A quick look back on the 200+ years of his life.The Secret Cave:2/5A short tale about the terrible death of a sister and a box of treasure.The Shadow Out of Time: 2/5Interesting concept but was a little boring.The Shadow over Innsmouth: 3/5The Shunned House: 3/5A story of a haunted house that slowly kills people.The Silver Key: 2/5The Statement of Randolph Carter: 2.5/5The Strange High House in the Mist: 2/5The Street: 2/5The history and life of a street. It was ok.Sweet Ermengarde: 1/5The Temple: 1/5The Terrible Old Man:1/5This was boring. At least it was very short.The Thing on the Doorstep: 3/5Through the Gates of the Silver Key: 2/5The Tomb: 3/5The Transition of Juan Romero: 2/5The Tree: 2.5/5Under the Pyramids: 4/5An eventful trip to Egypt with Harry Houdini.The Unnamable: 3/5The Very Old Folk: 2/5What the Moon Brings: 2/5The Whispers in Darkness: 2/5The White Ship: 2/5

Apparently this anthology is actually missing four stories that appear in other collections, but I'll get to those another time. For all intents and purposes, this book sent me on a full and fascinating voyage through Lovecraft's fiction.Prior to beginning the collection, I had never read a single Lovecraft story, yet I had long been meaning to. I was of course aware of arguably his most famous creation, Cthulhu, the god-like “Old One” with its iconic tentacled head, slumbering through the aeons below the Pacific. What had really got me interested, however, was a synopsis I’d read of the story The Shadow Out of Time, which awakened me to the true wonders of Lovecraft’s imagination–it occurred to me that this horror tale had a pronounced sci-fi element to it, which I hadn’t expected. I wondered at how no story I could think of from this master had every found its way into my hands.What I was most surprised and delighted by was the unexpected variety across his works. A sense of cosmic horror forms the underpinning of his writing, spanning a veritable pantheon of monstrous creatures, extra-cosmic beings, gods, and virtually indescribable lifeforms and other fiends (indeed, unnameable and supposedly indescribable horrors are a common features in these tales)–from the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep, to Cthulhu and his ilk, to alien interlopers, to the Earth Gods of a sprawling Dreamland, to the terrifying Other Gods, and beyond. I loved the lore he created, added to piece by piece across multiple stories, stretching back through a vague history of the earth and its many (non-human) civilizations that have dwelt upon it since primordial times, their ruins now buried beneath the earth and sea in the deep and remote places of the world. Referenced in tale after tale, the widely-suppressed and deathly taboo Necronomicon, a fictional ancient book composed by the “Mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred, is a great element to draw the reader into a literary universe teeming with forbidden elder knowledge.Then there are the stories of his Dream Cycle, taking place in Earth’s Dreamland, explored most extensively in the wonder-filled novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. The journeys through dreamland, often undertaken by characters escaping a dreary Earthly existence into a wondrous and adventure-rich non-corporeal world, are described beautifully. Lovecraft was able to create a sense of cosmic dread–fear for the very experience of the human mind and soul in the face of truths and realities so extreme in their alien-ness and horror that they drive it to utter madness, in addition to mortal terror–but he could also capture through prose a rare and fleeting sensation such as we get in those dreams, often as children, in which we find ourselves for a time in unknown worlds of limitless beauty, mystery and joy.Lovecraft not only takes his readers through the hidden (often subterranean) recesses of fictionalized New England locales, but as far as the unexplored wastes of Antarctica (At the Mountains of Madness - one of my favorites), to Australia (The Shadow Out of Time), to the Congo, to various corners of Europe, to the depths of the ocean, to vast cities that rose on Earth before the evolution of human beings, to the edges of the cosmos and beyond, and to the furthest reaches of Earth’s Dreamland. Almost as a bonus, the third-to-last story, Sweet Ermengarde, which was written under the pseudonym Percy Simple, was a humorous and lighthearted tale, theatrical in nature, and without any supernatural gloom whatsoever.All in all, an awesome tour-de-force through the Lovecraft's body of literature.

Good book and stories, however badly supported by kindle. Loads of misspellings, etc…

I haven't had a chance to read through the book and compare it to the versions I read in the 90s, but I must say, the collection looks good and contains most of the canon. I would definitely recommend it.

It’s a lot bigger than I expected (like a textbook) but I love how much is in it! Started first story and excited to read a few tonight! Nice, basic book with most his shorts.

Bought to read during school, since I’m researching Nyarlathotep for my own Lovecraftian book. Lots of other interesting tales.

We did not have a good collection of Lovecraft in the house. This edition is very complete. The text is small, but it read smoothly.

Came in great condition and is interesting so far, only problems I’m having is a few typos which arent a big deal. But my main issue is the ribbon came stuck to the pages and actually made a small tear in one page and removed a singular word.

This leather bound book is majestic. The smell!! I hope it never goes away!!!!The master who basically made horror what it is today is worth your time and for the price, this is the best place to get into Lovecraft. Some of the stories are now 100 years old, written from when he was a young teen, but even at that early age he had a way for story craft.I am new to Lovecraft, in terms of reading. I am a massive Robert E. Howard fan and the two had had a good relationship and admired each others work and were not afraid to say what they did not like of it as well. Bloodborne has been another avenue, that game is a work of art itself and it hugely took from Lovecraft to the point of plagiarism, but that wouldn't be the only work to heavily borrow from Lovecraft. So I thought it was finally time to delve deep into the man who has left such a big mark on the written word like few before or since.

I am glad I bought this I am enjoying reading through his works.

Quite good product, except for a couple of pages, the paper has not been cut. The corners pertrude out of the paper unless you fold or cut them.

ラヴクラフトのフィクションのうち、７０作品＋αが収録されています。"The Shadow over Innsmouth", "The Call of Cthulhu","The Colour out of Space" や "The Dunwich Horror" といった有名どころはもちろん、"History of the Necronomicon" や、私がクトゥルフ神話にハマるきっかけとなった "Dagon"　などの短編ももちろん入っています。分厚すぎます。そして重い。アマゾンさんから届いた箱が巨大で仰天したのは内緒です。見ると１０９８ページもありました。＾＾；しかも装丁が何やら、禍々しく、それでいて荘厳なのです。あたかも年代物の百科事典の一冊のようです。永久保存版です。「ラヴクラフトのフィクションを、洋書で、がっつりと読みたい」「クトゥルフ神話の有名どころを、一冊のうちに沢山読みたい」そんな方におすすめします。夜、どこかのパッセージを拾って一人朗読してみたり、お昼休憩などに短編をさっくり読んでみたりするのがおすすめですが少し注意点があります。おそらく糸で綴ってはいるようなのですが、本を開くときは優しく、最大でも１００〜１２０度にしてください。バッと完全に左右のカバーを開いちゃうと、閉じた部分がバキッといっちゃう可能性があります。机の上で、左ないし右に支えのようなものを置き、静かに頁をめくり、静かに

The book looks and feels amazing, slight damage from transit, but nothing terrible