H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)

I first met Lovecraft in my teens, in pulpy editions with hideous covers. Now I'm 52, teaching math in Farnmington ME, and they let me teach one section a year of English composition working from Lovecraft's Tales (and also the Dream Cycle).

Rereading Lovecraft and seeing him through the eyes of my students, I realize what it was that he did so well: it was not what he called "Yog-Sothothery," not showing the monster with the hideous fangs. It was the things he told you he wouldn't tell you: the things in the pits in "Charles Dexter Ward," whose "dismal moaning" mixed with a sort of "slippery thumping" but which are never quite seen; the farm wife in "Colour out of Space" who is locked, insane, in the attic and who seems to have been replaced by a thing that "slowly and perceptibly moved as it continued to crumble;" and the moment in "At the Mountains of Madness" where the two adventurers, having followed a doomed trail deep under the ice of Antarctica, realize that something's coming at them through the mist, and they wisely, if belatedly, turn and run and never quite see what it was.

You see, hear, feel, taste and smell Lovecraft's stories (e.g. the cellar in "The Shunned House", that horrible sub-basement in "Ward," the chemicals dumped down the sink in "Horror at Red Hook" to make room for blood). Yet he spends little time describing those sensations. He's exceptionally economical in his descriptions, which is something that modern horror writers (and film directors!) need to learn.

Lovecraft's work was far from perfect. He needed the money to buy food and pay rent, so he worked fast. His editors at the pulp magazines changed and cut and inserted without consultation. Only a select group of other writers had any respect for his work. (The excellent chronology in this volume shows just how peculiarly awful his life was.) Nonetheless, in his best work, he is far more disturbing that anyone writing today, and as for horror movies---there's no comparison. "The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown," he wrote, and you end his best stories not afraid of snakes or guys with axes, but afraid of what unguessed and unplumbed depths may lurk all around you at this moment, as you grope blind through this thing you think of as your life.

So smile! It could be worse, and probably is. Buy the book.

HP Lovecraft possessed a twisted imagination, no doubt about it. I took the book out of curiosity mixed with the knowledge that any Library of America book I had ever read was an outstanding choice no matter what the subject; and I wasn't disappointed in this one either.

Macrbre isn't a word I use very often since I haven't focused my reading attention on tales in the category of Lovecraft's particular talent, even though I did read most of Poe; but it fits. It's a collection of short novels, each more gruesome than the last. They are also extremely well written, fascinating, spellbinding.

"The Outsider" starts off the reader's chilling journey which teams you up with something no longer alive - if it ever was - in it's tortured trip back up to the outside world; and in "Herbert West, Reanimator", the tale of two medical students grisly adventures in the obsessed quest to restore life to cadavers will bring perspiration to your brow if nothing else will.

It goes on from there - each and every one different yet borrowing from a theme of madness; as you read, the marvel at how anyone could continue to think up fresh material for something like this becomes a quest in itself.

If you're looking for something wayyyyyy out of the ordinary, and can stand being shocked witless, this is the author and the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a romp far off my own beaten literary path and thus am recommending it to others who have a wish to experience a similar hair-raising journey past the edge.

If you were to own only one volume of Lovecraft's works, then this is it. It is perfect for those new to Lovecraft. It has the most famous and essential tales including all of the "Arkham Cycle". Most other editions split his best stuff across several volumes with his lesser works as filler. Not only that, they are printed out of chronological order, revealing semi spoilers in the Arkham Cycle Mythos from one story to the next. Not so here. And it's a sleek durable volume printed on acid-free paper, a real treat for those who had to suffer through shoddy paperbacks over the years. Alot of talk has been made of Lovecraft's influence in horror but little has been stated how influential his works were to science fiction as well. Lovecraft pioneered sci-fi concepts as alien abduction, the ancient astronaut theory, and secret "aliens among us" conspiracies. He discarded many of the old terrors from gothic horror and gave us brand new ones. Lovecraft was to pulp horror what Chandler was to Hard-boiled fiction.

The Library of America has produced a handsome and affordable edition of a selection of H.P. Lovecraft's Tales chosen, edited and with notes by author Peter Straub. The twenty-two selections are from the years 1919 to 1935 and encompass the best of Lovecraft's extensive writings. In addition there is a chronology of the significant incidents of his life. The notes by Straub are detailed and are very helpful in both setting the context of the stories and explaining the sometimes obscure references that the very intellectual Lovecraft incorporated into his writings. This is an excellent collection and the beautifully bound hardcover will last for many years.

Daniel Phelan, Kingston, Ontario Canada

This collection of 22 of Lovecraft's most essential works is an must for anyone considering themselves a fan of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or just plain "weird tales". Beautifully bound and presented, this volume displays Lovecraft at his most imaginative and eloquent. Peter Straub has selected the most revered of Lovecraft's tales, and does as much justice as a one volume can do to so prolific an imagination. Truly, imagination lies at the very center of Lovecraft's best tales. A master at granting fleeting glimpses into the unknown and terrifying vistas of reality, Lovecraft has an uncanny ability to conjure terrifying alternate universes and realities, the full realizations of which are often enough to drive his protagonists to madness, or worse. Subject to some poorly conceived film adaptations over the years, Lovecraft's works continue to gain the attentions of Hollywood. The sheer imaginative power of Lovecraft, however, seemingly defies a visual representation capable of holding a candle to the images conjured by the imagination of his reader's minds. For a summary of the works of an essential American author, look no further than this volume.