Review Revisited – H. P. LOVECRAFT: TALES

Posted on March 13th, 2010

H. P. Lovecraft: Tales

Edited by Peter Straub

Publisher: Library Classics of the United States. ISBN: 1-931082-72-3

I want to offer you three absolutely unassailable arguments why you must have this book.

First, this 838 page book contains twenty-two of H. P. Lovecraft’s most entertaining and disturbing tales of horror and fantasy. Read the tales and find out why Stephen King has called Lovecraft the “dark and baroque prince” of the 20^th century horror story, and discover why Joyce Carol Oates has called Lovecraft “The King of Weird.” You will understand the accuracy of their praise and the devotion of millions of Lovecraft fans when you read this collection of fantastic tales, many of which were first published in the 1920s and 1930s in such pulp magazines Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. Enjoy, for example, “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” a ghoulish detective tale in which a man succumbs to ancestral influence of alchemy and necromancy; explore the primal mythic mysteries in the haunting Escher-like Antarctic ruins of “At the Mountains of Madness”; accompany a frightened narrator as he encounters a small town’s horrifying subhuman population in “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”; and watch as a meteorite—if that is what it really is—releases its terrifying influence in “The Colour Out of Space.” And the eighteen other stories are equally fascinating.

Second, this hardcover book is superbly edited by the distinguished novelist and short story writer Peter Straub (whose works include Ghost Story, Floating Dragon, and In the Night Room). Straub has selected the best of Lovecraft’s many stories—although that was perhaps the easy part of his editorial challenge—but he has done something exceptionally noteworthy in this collection: Straub has provided a biographical and critical chronology to accompany the texts, and—even more valuable to all readers—he has provided a richly detailed treasure of annotated end notes for the individual stories.

Third, this exquisitely printed and produced book, the 155^th edition in the Library of America’s prestigious series, is a handsome, enduring volume. Because of the publisher’s commitment to preserving America’s best literature in the best possible editions, you simply cannot find a better book (at such a reasonable price) anywhere else.

So, in the final analysis, the bottom line is simple: I give this book my highest possible recommendation.

Tags: Dexter Ward, Fantastic Tales, Floating Dragon, Ghost Story, H P Lovecraft, H P Lovecraft Tales, Hardcover Book, Horror Story, Joyce Carol Oates, Library Classics, Lovecraft Fans, Peter Straub, Publisher Library, Pulp Magazines, Shadow Over Innsmouth, Story Writer, Tales Of Horror, Tales Of Horror And Fantasy, Unassailable, Weird Tales
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