I have just completed a book titled The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and Macabre. This book is a collection of stories written by the person Stephen King calls "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
Most of the people who read this blog probably wouldn't care for most of the book. It holds sixteen stories which, as one would naturally assume from the title, are considered his best works. The majority of them, in my opinion, are very good.
Possibly his most famous story, "The Call of Cthulhu" did live up to what I had heard of it. It was a very good story and, from what I have seen at the bookstore, is the "first story in the Cthulhu mythos." If you haven't read this story I am going to insist that you borrow this book from me and read it just so you will understand any reference to Cthulhu.
However, my personal favorites in this book are "The Rats in the Walls", "The Colour Out of Space," and "The Thing on the Doorstep." I would highly recommend any of those three tales to anyone seeking out a good horror story.
This collection of tales impressed me so much that I have also purchased two other collections of his works: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death and The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness.
I will update on these two collections when I have finished with them.
One other thing. All three books have, for lack of better words, uniquely macabre/morbid illustrations which wrap around the cover. From observations made by carrying the first collection around with me, these illustrations are disturbing enough that I am cautious about who I let see them. I know some people who would be rather upset by them. You can see about half of the illustration by clicking on the links on the books.
Posted by Randy at July 3, 2003 01:46 AM