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The evolution of Lovecraft

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Among the most influential of horror novelists is H.P. Lovecraft, and this is appropriate. His tales of weird fiction are still in their own little niche. Thematically, most of his stories fit into two categories which are not exclusive: there are things that man is not meant to know, and there are places that have a certain wrongness. Unlike most horror novelists who may provide a typical happy endings with evil vanquished, there is little such joy at the end of a Lovecraft story; for Lovecraft, merely surviving the horror with sanity intact is the best that can be hoped for. The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft, subtitled The Road to Madness offers glimpses into some of his earliest work and shows how it evolved over time. As would be expected, the very earliest tales are not all that great. Tales like "The Beast in the Cave" are purely second-rate, but even here, Lovecraft's narrative style can be seen. Most of the early stories are short (less than 10 pages), but as you progress through these 29 tales, the stories get generally longer. Rather than discussing all of them, I just want to point out a noteworthy few. "Herbert West - Reanimator" is the source story for what is probably the most well-known Lovecraft adaptation, Reanimator, and though many of the details differ between text and film, the premise remains the same: Herbert West seeks a method for bringing life to the dead (a la Frankenstein) and becomes one of Lovecraft's victims to the pursuit of forbidden knowledge. "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" is a collaboration with Harry Houdini (of which Lovecraft did most of the work) featuring the celebrated magician trapped in an Egyptian tomb. "At the Mountains of Madness" - by far the longest story at nearly 100 pages, follows an Antarctic excursion that unearths an ancient city that hints at a dark history from many years past. This novella is the most Lovecraftian story in the collection, with plenty of references to Cthulhu and the Old Ones. On the other hand, perhaps the most atypical in the bunch is "In the Walls of Eryx", a straight science fiction story dealing with a treasure hunter on Venus lured into a sophisticated trap by the locals; there are a few Lovecraftian touches, but for the most part, this is old-fashioned sci-fi, probably a change of pace due to the collaborator, Kenneth Sterling. Just because you might enjoy authors like Stephen King, Clive Barker or F. Paul Wilson (all of whom have been influenced by Lovecraft) does not mean you will enjoy this book or Lovecraft's other works. Lovecraft's narrative style has a definite Nineteenth Century feel, with an emphasis on description over action, dialogue or even character. Lovecraft is also a product of his era with racial views that are, to say the least, not politically correct, and females have almost no presence at all in his stories. In short, you may need patience to enjoy Lovecraft, but - even if this collection is not his "greatest hits" - there is definitely some material to enjoy in this book.

come for The Beast, stay for At The Mountains of Madness

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This collection features some of the stories that would later serve to define Lovecraft's subtle and suspenseful stories. The Beast is a great example of a last second twist that makes you think long after you've finished the short tale. At The Mountains of Madness is exquisitely creepy and mysterious, introducing us to the infamous Elder Things and the Shoggoth. However, most other stories are underwhelming and as mentioned by many, The Street is a racist screed by a devout xenophobe. However, I must give Lovecraft a little leeway on this because during his time, it was fashionable to be a eugenicist, xenophobia and nationalism ruled and it was even ok to be a racist. He was brought up with very different, more close minded values than we have today and we need to keep that in mind when we look at his societal views which he later learned to keep to himself. He certainly couldn't do it in most stories collected here. The Road to Madness is a book to get familiar with Lovecraft's early writings and catch the several glimpses of superb storytelling he would perfect later. But if you're looking for the creme de la creme, I'd suggest another Lovecraft collection from Del Ray.

Creepy early stories from the master of his craft, Lovecraft	Customer Rating:
Fascinating. Shows the development of a master from his earliest writing days. Lovecraft's style is purple at times, but matures nicely.

A must read for Halloween

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Years ago I found a tattered old paperback of Lovecraft's work in a used book store. I took it with me up to my uncle's cabin in New Hampshire and, After everyone else had gone to bed, I stretched out on the couch, in a dimly lit room, with a deer's head hanging over me, and read The Lurking Fear. I was hooked, if not more than a little creeped out. Lovecraft's style has a slightly pulpy feel to it, and he frequently uses punch-line endings, but his mastery of atmosphere and mood, coupled with his skill with language, make his stories nothing less than genius. This volume offers a wonderful over view of his history and is certainly a great place to start on your exploration of his work. If you can get yourself to some secluded, and darkened room it will only further add to the effect, especially if there's a deer's head involved. Trust me.

DEL REY ANTHOLOGY OF LOVECRAFT'S BEST

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This is an anthology of some of the best works of Howard Philips Lovecraft (HPL), a pulp horror- and science fiction- writer of the 1920s and 30s. Lovecraft had a distinctive style of writing, meant to convey through description an atmosphere of awe and wonder of the universe, which he believed a rational mind would experience as horror. His works have influenced generations of writers including Stephen King, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, and Robert Howard. The content of THE ROAD TO MADNESS is some of HPLs most evocative, chilling, and enduring tales. And I almost missed them. You see, I thought I had everything by Lovecraft. But I would catch allusions to things like the "Martense kin", "the U-Boat", and Arthur Jermyn. I couldn't find these references in any of my books, when I realized I was missing THE TOMB. Rather than buy this out-of-print book, I picked up ROAD TO MADNESS. It has served me well as a general collection of the most enduring elements of Lovecraft's fiction. The 3 Del Rey collections (ROAD TO MADNESS, BEST OF HP LOVECRAFT, DREAM CYCLE OF HP LOVECRAFT) are pretty comprehensive of HPLs corpus. I am posting below a list of the contents of THE ROAD TO MADNESS under the heading of other sources for the same stories, to let you decide how much overlap it has with other anthologies you might own. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS AND OTHER TALES "At the Mountains of Madness " "The Evil Clergyman" "The Shunned House" THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH "The Crawling Chaos" "The Festival" "In the Walls of Eryx" "memory" "Nathicana" "The Tomb" "The Tree" "Under The Pyramids" THE LURKING FEAR AND OTHER STORIES "Dagon" "Arthur Jermyn" "The Lurking Fear" "The Moon-Bog" "The Temple" "The Unnameable" "The White Ship" THE TOMB AND OTHER TALES: "The Alchemist" "The Beast in the Cave" "The Book" "The Festival" "He" "The Horror at Red Hook" "In the Walls of Eryx" "Poetry and the Gods " "The Street" "The Tomb" "The Transition of Juan Romero" "Under the Pyramids" [Possibly no other source] "Cool Air" "Herbert West, Reanimator"