This book presents some of the better pulp era H.P. Lovecraft influenced writers. There are no stories by Lovecraft in the book, as such I would not recommend this book to anyone who had not read at least some Lovecraft first.

It is good to remember that this is stuff written for the pulps so the writing is all over the place. Price does pick some of the better stories, although there is inexplicably two stories by August Derleth, who despite being the single person who preserved Lovecraft's name and writing after his death, is probably the weakest writer of Mythos influenced stories. They are fortunately brief.

The stories vary from simple pastiche to some decent original stories, although all are influenced by Lovecraft somehow. The better stories actually avoid too overt a mention of the Lovecraft Mythos. In general the endings are telegraphed pretty early so don't expect any Twilight Zone twists at the end unless you are totally unfamiliar with Lovecraft and the Mythos. Expect a lot of plot holes and simply outrageously inexplicable behavior, so suspension of disbelief is going to be de riguer.

I had fun with the book and would recommend recommend it for anyone who wants another taste of pulp era Lovecraft Mythos. Read it in short bursts so the stories don't seem too similar.



( )

I haven't read much Lovecraft. But as I understand Lovecraftian tales are about the Ancient Ones or Old Gods who ruled this world before civilisation and are cosmic creatures. They are worshipped by certain secret cults.

The various stories in this collection were written in the middle part of the twentieth century when such literature was popular. They have stood the test of time and are quite entertaining and scary. Just reading stuff on the same theme story after story is a bit tedious but if you read one story per day it a good anthology. ( )

In the introduction to this book, Robert M. Price notes that he (as editor) put together this book to "assemble the stories in which certain important Mythos names or items are either first mentioned or most fully explained by the author who created them." (xx) The authors of these stories are part of the first wave of Lovecraft-influenced writers, and some of these stories have never found their way into modern anthologies.

The contents list (with a * denoting my favorites):

1. "The Thing on the Roof", by Robert E. Howard: A man who finds the first edition of Von Juntz's Nameless Cults leads a scholar to a temple in an old Honduras Jungle -- where you just know something bad is going to happen.

2. "The Fire of Asshurbanipal" by Robert E. Howard: The discovery of a mythical ancient city awakes an ancient evil in the Arabian desert.

3."The Seven Geases" by Clark Ashton Smith: to be honest, I have another collection or two by CAS so I didn't read this one in anticipation of reading it another time.

4. "Fane of the Black Pharaoh" by Robert Bloch*: In which a man's future is written in stone (literally), and in which he is forced to see it. Awesome story.

5. "The Invaders" by Henry Kuttner*: Set north of Santa Barbara CA, the story tells of a man who calls in his friends after he lets loose something terrible. Very well written (I do enjoy a good Kuttner story).

6. "Bells of Horror" by Henry Kuttner: Bells long forgotten and buried by Father Junipero Serra during the Spanish mission days in California are found again, with deadly results.

7. "The Thing That Walked on the Wind*" by August Derleth: Okay, I liked this one, in which a member of the RCMP reports finding 3 bodies in the snow, that had apparently fallen out of the sky. 2 are still alive, and one dead. This one was much better than

8. "Ithaqua" by August Derleth, featuring more strange events in the cold north. This one is based on belief in the Wendigo (see the story by Algernon Blackwood), and deals with what happens when native worship of the Wendigo (here called Ithaqua) is interrupted. This one was just okay.

9. "The Lair of the Star-Spawn*" by August Derleth & Mark Shorer: This one gives explanation to how things like Cthulhu etc came to earth: at one time there was a conflict between The Elder Gods and The Great Old Ones, and the latter were imprisoned not only here, but in other dimensions & in faraway star systems. A lot of Derleth's ideas which came down through other mythos writers started here. The story focuses on Eric Marsh, who is forced to wander through Burma, ending up somehow in the ancient city of Alaozar, where he is co-opted in a mission to save the earth.

10. "The Lord of Illusion" by E. Hoffmann Price: a riff on HPL's story of Randolph Carter; I did not like this one at all. Don't read this unless you've read HPL's original first.

11. "The Warder of Knowledge" by Richard F. Searight:
Decent short story re a scientist who translates the Eltdown Shards, ancient writings which probably were best left alone. Okay, not great.

12."The Scourge of B'Moth" * by Bertram Russell: I really liked this one, but I'm a sucker for stories which have insane asylums as their setting. Here, in a twist, a psychiatrist shows symptoms of insanity while treating an inmate who suffers from delusions. I really liked this one.

13. "The House of the Worm" * by Mearle Prout: another good one in which two men know the truth behind a mysterious "plague" which spreads out into civilization from a dark forest.

14. "Spawn of the Green Abyss" * by C. Hall Thompson: You can see here some traces of HPL's "Shadows Over Innsmouth," but overall, it could stand on its own without having to be classified under "mythos". However, I really liked it because I am a huge fan of this kind of pulpy stuff. A doctor, James Arkwright, seeks solitude on the New Jersey coast and finds a young and beautiful woman whose father he treats for a mysterious illness. Arkwright and his wife, Cassandra, go along fine for a while, and then things start to go haywire. Just a fun book that raised the hairs on the back of my neck a bit.

15. "The Guardian of the Book*" by Henry Hasse : another fun read, in which a man is prompted to accept a book that he didn't really want, then has second thoughts about actually reading it when he finds out its history.

16. "The Abyss" by Robert A. W. Lowndes: A suspicious young man hypnotizes another, with deadly consequences. This one was okay.

17. "Music of the Stars" by Duane W. Rimel: A pianist decides to write and play music that can cause madness; sadly for him, he does it all too well!
18. "The Aquarium" * by Carl Jacobi: This was another fun one, in which two women share a rented home wherein lies a funky aquarium; its former owner was a conchologist. This one was fun, but you see it coming a mile off.

19. "The Horror Out of Lovecraft" by Donald A. Wolheim: Kind of an odd story, but interesting re a man who dabbles in things he ought not to have with devastating results.

20. "To Arkham and the Stars" * by Fritz Leiber: A fun, tongue-in-cheek homage to HPL, set in Arkham, Mass.

Overall, a fun collection, featuring the pre-edited versions of short stories by the first round of Lovecraft imitators. As with all anthologies, some stories are excellent, some are okay and some not so hot.

Readers who enjoy pulp fiction, or Mythos-type stories would be very happy with this book. My advice: do read HPL first or you're going to be a bit lost. ( )