H.P. Lovecraft
Hardcover | Pages: 878 pages Rating: 4.21 | 13504 Users | 716 Reviews
Itemize Books Conducive To Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
| Original Title: | Necronomicon: The Best Weird Fiction |
| ISBN: | 0575081562 (ISBN13: 9780575081567) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Interpretation Concering Books Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
All right, with this one under my belt, I think I can safely say that I’ve read everything Lovecraft has ever written in his life. I will then skip introducing the author––who doesn’t need any introduction, anyway––and go through a rundown of some of my most beloved horror stories of his, which you can find in this collection.THE OUTSIDER is my favorite Lovecraft story bar none. It is also one of his shortest. Written in the first-person narrative (as is often the case in his fiction), it tells of a man (or is it?) who, after having lived as a recluse for what seems like a very long time in his darkened and lifeless castle (or is it?), decides one day to go out into the world and explore. There ensues a series of discoveries––with a devastating although somewhat anticipated reveal––which will seal the narrator’s fate forever. As said, this story is super short but masterfully executed, woven around the themes of loneliness, abnormality and the afterlife. The prose is as it should given the genre––divinely gothic, deliciously verbose and darkly purple. All in all, a masterpiece.
THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH-HOUSE is my second favorite and the only one that actually gave me goosebumps while reading it for the first time in bed at night. This story of a math student who decides to rent a room in a cursed house in which a witch and her hellish amalgam of a familiar are said to have lived is downright disturbing and creepy and just too well written for comfort. Which makes it yet another masterpiece in the Lovecraft canon.
THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK is my third most beloved Lovecraft story and also the last one he ever wrote (that we know of). Eschewing the first person for the third limited, Lovecraft treats us to a chilling account of what the protagonist, Robert Blake, discovers when, driven by his penchant for the occult, he decides to go and explore a haunted church in the town of Providence, RI. Here again the writing is on point as Lovecraft knows better than anyone how to create an atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia, playing unashamedly with the fear of the unknown and impending doom. Deeply steeped in the Cthulhu mythos, this story is a prime example of how curiosity can kill a cat.
THE CALL OF CTHULHU. Although not the first Lovecraft story to introduce an element of the Cthulhu mythos (that would be Dagon, also included in this collection), this one is the first to feature the foul-smelling, tentacle-wielding and potbellied deity in all its greasy and nasty glory. Written as an epistolary short story, it gives an account of the discovery of Cthulhu via a series of documents left behind by the great uncle of the narrator, Francis Wayland Thurston. Three words: groundbreaking, masterful, perfect.
THE RATS IN THE WALLS is another gothic masterpiece recounting the tale of Delapore, an American who decides to cross the pond and move to England into his ancestral manor, the ill-fated Exham Priory. After restoring it, Delapore soon discovers that something isn’t quite right about the place and, prompted by scurrying noises in the walls, decides to investigate. Lovecraft juggles many balls in this one––the haunted house, genetic mutations, cannibalism, forbidden worships and eldritch (doesn’t Lovecraft just love this word?) cults, the inescapability of heredity, mental disorder, etc.––providing us with nail-biting scenes of exploration and horror, and tying it all together (albeit loosely) into his infamous Cthulhu mythos. Definitely a winner.
THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH is yet another effective horror story set waist-deep in the Cthulhu mythos, and from what I’ve heard, a favorite of many Lovecraft aficionados. Told once again in the first person, the story is about a student (whose name is never revealed) who goes to the ruined seaside town of Innsmouth, Mass., for what he thinks will be a one-day trip. Lovecraft spares no words in describing the cursed town, and we soon understand that the nature of the curse boils down to an invasion of Innsmouth many years ago by the Deep Ones, an ancient people that came ashore from the bottom of the sea. From the town drunk with whom the narrator has a long (perhaps overlong?) conversation, we learn that the Deep Ones used to practice human sacrifices in Innsmouth and also did not hesitate to mate with local women, hence the fishy appearance of many of the inhabitants. The whole thing ends up with a big reveal, which for once isn’t as bad as one might expect for a Lovecraft story, and the author even gives us a long, very-well-written action scene toward the end, which is something rare enough to be mentioned and relished.
I guess I could go on like this forever, as there are many other stories in this collection that are worth reading and rereading, but I will stop here for now. It’s late, and I think I heard something scurrying in the walls. Wonder what it is…
OLIVIER DELAYE
Author of the SEBASTEN OF ATLANTIS series
The Forgotten Goddess
Describe About Books Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
| Title | : | Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales |
| Author | : | H.P. Lovecraft |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Commemorative Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 878 pages |
| Published | : | March 27th 2008 by Gollancz, Great Britain (first published 2008) |
| Categories | : | Horror. Fantasy. Fiction. Short Stories. Classics. Science Fiction. Audiobook |
Rating About Books Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
Ratings: 4.21 From 13504 Users | 716 ReviewsJudgment About Books Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
A complete history of the dreaded Necronomicon, its Greek and Latin translations. I can't ignore how important the book is for so many Lovecraft's stories so the rating reflects that fact.NOTES ON THE STORIESThe Colour Out Of Space = WIN. And it's a stand-alone story. You don't need to know anything about the mythos for this one.Pickman's Model = WIN. Another stand-alone story, without reference to the mythos. Actually very creepy.The Shadow Over Innsmouth = WIN. A good introduction to the mythos, and a great introduction Lovecraft's story-telling. A perfectly crafted, perfectly creepy tale.
The Necronomicon is pretty much the complete works of H.P Lovecraft. I cannot go into depth on all of his stories so I'll try to cover his stories as a hole if I can, but first. His writing style! Lovecraft's style is complex, when it comes to him there are two types of people, those who will hate the way he writes horror and those who will love the way he writes horror. Most of the time when he describes creatures he will give the basics of what it looks like, i.e, "Something very big, loud
Necronomicon: the Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft was my first taste of true classic horrorI mean Ive read Poe, Irving, Shelley, etc. but for some reason I dont think about classic horror when I think of those authors stories. Lovecraft is the epitome of classic horror in my book. I havent read any of Algernon Blackwoods spooky tales but from what I just read no one can beat Lovecraft. I finished reading Jane Austens seven large novels not too long ago, and I was astounded by her writing
New life goal:to write a cult book about another book that doesn't exist.
There are sacraments of evil as well as of good about us, and we live and move to my belief in an unknown world, a place where there are caves and shadows and dwellers in twilight. It is possible that man may sometimes return on the track of evolution, and it is my belief that an awful lore is not yet dead.Arthur Machen (quoted as an introduction to The Horror at Red Hook)Everyone must read a little Lovecraft and Blackstone Audios recently published edition of Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
I suppose the two best words to describe my feelings on the work of the 20th century's most prolific horror writer are "mostly disappointing".THE GOODI wasn't disappointed with everything. A bunch of stories stood out for me as being genuine, page-turning excitement: The Colour Out of Space, The Dunwich Horror, The Whisperer in Darkness, Dreams in the Witch House, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward were all outstanding pieces of spookery that still managed to give me
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