H P Lovecraft Tales

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear." So said Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937), the 20th-century successor to Poe as America's foremost writer of fantastic fiction. In the novels and stories he published in pulp magazines like Weird Tales and Amazing Stories — and in some of his best work that remained unpublished until after his death — H. P. Lovecraft adapted the conventions of horror stories and science fiction to express an intensely personal vision, cosmic in its ramifications and fearsome in its shuddering view of human destiny.

In this volume, the distinguished best-selling novelist Peter Straub brings together the very best of Lovecraft's fiction in a treasury guaranteed to bring fright and delight both to longtime fans and to readers new to his work. Including such classics as "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "The Colour Out of Space," these stories, whether set in old New England towns oppressed by memories of unholy pasts or in Antarctic wastes that disclose appalling extraterrestrial secrets, never fail to fascinate.

"Some of the earlier juvenile stories aside, the body of work included here is quite impressive, particularly the short novels." San Francisco Chronicle

"The present volume collects a third of Lovecraft's fiction-he wrote three times more nonfiction than fiction, mostly for bread. Black-robed by Library of America, the real King rises from darkness in his homeland." Kirkus Reviews

"Even if you're not a horror fan, all you have to do is read the first few paragraphs of any of these 22 stories — to know you're in the presence of an American original." Chicago Tribune

"This edition probably stands as the best single-volume overview of what Lovecraft was all about — strangeness, fear, wonder." Kansas City Star

"[I]t's tough to venture into a Lovecraft story with a straight face, let alone with chattering teeth. Lovecraft's stories are so overwrought that they make Jules Verne look like a homebody and Edgar Allan Poe a well-adjusted realist..." Daniel Handler, The New York Times Book Review

"Whether or not Lovecraft was a bad, a great or (more sensibly) a worthwhile writer is in some ways beside the point. For readers of a certain inclination, his tales are fascinating and addictive. He has a sizable following, manifesting itself in everything from countless fan sites to role-playing games to praise from such notable admirers as critic (and Library of America editor in chief) Geoffrey O'Brien, novelist Joyce Carol Oates, and composer-musician Stephin Merritt, of the Magnetic Fields." Laura Miller, Salon.com

The visionary master of cosmic horror joins The Library of America with this collection of classic stories of the strange and fantastic.

In this Library of America volume, the best-selling novelist Peter Straub brings together the very best of H. P. Lovecraft's fiction in a treasury guaranteed to bring fright and delight both to longtime fans and to readers new to his work. Early stories such as "The Outsider," "The Music of Erich Zann," "Herbert West-Reanimator," and "The Lurking Fear" demonstrate Lovecraft's uncanny ability to blur the distinction between reality and nightmare, sanity and madness, the human and non-human. "The Horror at Red Hook" and "He" reveal the fascination and revulsion Lovecraft felt for New York City; "Pickman's Model" uncovers the frightening secret behind an artist's work; "The Rats in the Walls" is a terrifying descent into atavistic horror; and "The Colour Out of Space" explores the eerie impact of a meteorite on a remote Massachusetts valley.

In such later works as "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Whisperer in Darkness," "At the Mountains of Madness," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and "The Shadow Out of Time," Lovecraft developed his own nightmarish mythology in which encounters with ancient, pitiless extraterrestrial intelligences wreak havoc on hapless humans who only gradually begin to glimpse "terrifying vistas of reality, and our frightful position therein." Moving from old New England towns haunted by occult pasts to Antarctic wastes that disclose appalling secrets, Lovecraft's tales continue to exert a dread fascination.

An extensive collection of H.P. Lovecraft's greatest works of horror and dread, from his early stories to his major classics like "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and At the Mountains of Madness

In this Library of America volume, the best-selling novelist Peter Straub brings together the very best of H. P. Lovecraft's fiction in a treasury guaranteed to bring fright and delight both to longtime fans and to readers new to his work. Early stories such as "The Outsider," "The Music of Erich Zann," "Herbert West-Reanimator," and "The Lurking Fear" demonstrate Lovecraft's uncanny ability to blur the distinction between reality and nightmare, sanity and madness, the human and non-human. "The Horror at Red Hook" and "He" reveal the fascination and revulsion Lovecraft felt for New York City; "Pickman's Model" uncovers the frightening secret behind an artist's work; "The Rats in the Walls" is a terrifying descent into atavistic horror; and "The Colour Out of Space" explores the eerie impact of a meteorite on a remote Massachusetts valley.

In such later works as "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Whisperer in Darkness," "At the Mountains of Madness," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and "The Shadow Out of Time," Lovecraft developed his own nightmarish mythology in which encounters with ancient, pitiless extraterrestrial intelligences wreak havoc on hapless humans who only gradually begin to glimpse "terrifying vistas of reality, and our frightful position therein." Moving from old New England towns haunted by occult pasts to Antarctic wastes that disclose appalling secrets, Lovecraft's tales continue to exert a dread fascination.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

In the novels and stories he published in pulp magazines like Weird Tales and Amazing Stories — and in some of his best work that remained unpublished until after his death — H. P. Lovecraft adapted the conventions of horror stories and science fiction to express an intensely personal vision, cosmic in its ramifications and fearsome in its shuddering view of human destiny.

Peter Straub, editor, is the best-selling and award-winning author of 14 novels, some written in collaboration with Stephen King. His books have been translated into more than twenty foreign languages. He lives in New York City.