The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft: 12 (Knickerbocker Classics)

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In fact, hey wow, actually, what? Did I just roll a 20 with that phrase, that ‘horrific wonder’? Was that a critical hit? It's taken us three years to record, edit, mix and master this collection. We hope it will provide Lovecraft fans with a high quality means to enjoy to these stories read aloud by professional actors who share their love for HPL's writing. 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.... Across the board, Andrew Leman and Sean Branney both give fantastic performances. There's not a lot of difference in their capabilities and styles, so the collection flowed seamlessly. This is Lovecraft's last major work, and I can see how several of his ideas, especially about deep-time, came together to help him hone his craft and create something great. I'm not sure, but I believe this was the second time I read this story. The first time around, I really didn't like or get it at all; I probably would have given it one star. But this time, because I understood his ideas, I thought it was amazing. (I am quite familiar with the elder Gods at this point.) Part of the tale takes place in Australia, where the protagonist and his comrades travel to do their research and make their discoveries of the ancient ones. I thought this was interesting because I am unaware of any horror story settings on that continent.

I'd honestly say that Lovecraft's Dream Cycle works are not worth the read at all and can simply be skipped. We’ve broken the stories into a few groups based on common settings or themes. There are stories set in the Dreamlands. There are stories that directly feature the “Cthulhu Mythos”. There are stories that are very science oriented, and some that are classic tales of horror. And there are a number of miscellaneous, juvenile, or shorter tales that don’t really fit any of these categories, all of which have a certain amount of overlap. The Tomb: Another jump to age 27; this is when Lovecraft started writing in earnest. It's a wonderfully creepy story, with only a questionable supernatural element, focused on the narrator's possible madness as he recounts his obsession with a certain abandoned family tomb from his asylum.The Loved Dead is mentioned as missing but is not listed in the bibliography on Wikipedia and was actually written by C.M. Eddy, Jr.

After having read and become familiar with the Cthulhu mythos, this story just seemed like a super-condensed version of that, without adding anything. Perhaps this might serve as an introduction to Cthulhu for somebody who is unfamiliar, but I doubt it. I had to immerse myself in Lovecraft's world to understand it. I've been reading him consistently for years now and appreciate it more than I did before. The Thing In The Moonlight, Horror in the Museum, Poetry and the Gods, and In the Walls of Eryx are mentioned as missing, but these are collaborations with notes on the Wikipedia bibliography. 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. Como curiosidad señalar que una de las cosas que más he disfrutado a medida que iba leyendo estos libros ha sido ir buceando en la biografía de Lovecraft, y ver como todos sus traumas, manías e ideas políticas y sociales influyeron en su obra y se manifiestan en la misma. Conocer todos esos detalles ha enriquecido mucho para mí la lectura. Y por supuesto me han permitido ahondar en una figura muy compleja, solo así se explica que ideara y pusiera sobre el papel lo que escribió.

One part of his writings though, that I didn't enjoy were many his dream cycle stories. Most of the time they seem to be nothing more than shot glimpses into a dream world narrating forgettable stories if stories at all. The longest of these works 'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath' was one of the most tedious things I read in my life. The story was (apart from a few parts and the ending) boring, repetitive and forgettable and the work consisted mostly of descriptions of fabulous places with strange names that had no importance of the story.