Would you like to see your h.p. Favourite? lovecraft, the daddy of cosmic horror, and determine what the commotion is all about? in the end, he made the iconic cthulhu and inspired a generation of founders like neil gaiman and guillermo del toro. But there are a couple of major hurdles to getting started with the best h p lovecraft books.
where the hell do you start? h.p. lovecraft composed over 100 stories!
The writer is best known for creating Cthulhu. Lovecraft’s writing style has some great points and some weak points. At its best, it’s dynamite in building settings. at worst, his dialogue can be clunky, and he throws exposition just like he stole it and needs to hide it in your garage.
You are reading: Best hp lovecraft books
and let’s not be shy about the supernatural elephant in the room: there are no two ways to do it, h. p. lovecraft was racist, xenophobic and classist.
was a witty, legendary and influential author whose heritage is complexed by his apparent affinity for white supremacy, directing his fear of non-Anglo-Saxons to stories of individual creatures, alien invaders, also fear of the unknown.
Below is a list of hp lovecraft penn book recommended books to read:
the best h p lovecraft books to read
The combination of weird fiction lovecraft, gothic horror and dark dreams has had a lasting effect on subscribers around the world. his works steeped in science fiction, along with his doctrine called cosmicism. the concept of cosmicism, literary style created by hp lovecraft, is mostly the fundamental motif in its functions.
hp lovecraft’s novels point out the insignificance of man in relation to the universe. states, “there are animals in the cosmos significantly more intelligent and effective than humanity.”
These are the best hp lovecraft stories:
the ultimate collection
160 stories, poems, letters and essays, the only real drawback of the book is that it only comes from 1 arrangement: ebook. however, which also means that it’s almost free, there’s no cumbersome battle trying to drag a 1000+ page novel.
You save space on your shelf. Most importantly, it has the near-finished collection of Howard Phillip Lovecraft’s ultimate writing.
what more could you ask for? It should also be mentioned that one of the reasons this book hit #1 and didn’t end up in addition to another entire collection is that this is a book that was created to be read in an internet format.
There aren’t likely to be many errors when changing a physical record to an online form, as with the entire lovecraft collection.
in the mountains of madness
novel
the other in the best books of h.p lovecraft is at the mountains of madness it is written during february and march 1931, the strange tales publisher farnsworth wright had rejected the novel that same season due to its length. but the mountains of madness would later be published in three installments in amazing stories from February to April 1936.
Cinematic in scope, there is little doubt that many of Lovecraft’s works had reached their apogee by the time of his book. sadly, the founding stories paid the writer, however, a pittance for the epic part of it.
at the mountains of madness, one of the main expository works on the ancients is dubbed ancient things by explorers when they find more evidence.
dyer and a colleague find the remains of great inhuman architecture. they also discover engravings that describe the evolution of the oldest things and suggest their eventual migration to the ocean.
at the mountains of madness describes a failed antarctic expedition (to put it mildly) told by professor william dyer. Told in the first person from the point of view of William Dyer, a professor at, yep, you guessed it, Miskatonic University.
The geologist leads a highly publicized trip to Antarctica. to the dismay of these travelers, they find the remains of a great culture blighted by h.p. lovecraft universe.
This was cut due to a war involving the natives, the mi-go race, and the titular main character from the last installment on the disc.
the shadow over innsmouth
novel
Composed between November and December 1931, The Shadow Over Innsmouth first appeared in a small press book from Visionary Publishing Co. in 1936 and after Lovecraft’s death More Weird Tales in January 1942. It was the only story by the author to be printed in book form during his lifetime.
this h.p. late lovecraft’s masterpiece centers on an undercover student on an antiquarian tour using a run-down new england town, which turns out to be home to an alien race called the deep ones.
It is here that these aquatic creatures interbreed with all the residents of their titular port city and spawn amphibian hybrids.
As a result of Innsmouth’s culture being corroded at the hands of its evil thieves, the racist and xenophobic themes are incontrovertible.
but, possibly, the evil represented is not due to the mixture between different racial groups. instead, humanity’s greed and quest for immortality can be represented in the Egyptian jewelry and relics on display in the city’s museum.
the whisperer in the dark
novel
Composed between February and September 1930, The Whisperer in the Dark was first published in Weird Tales in August 1931 and marks a turn of his own into science fiction for Lovecraft.
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furthermore, it is not a fundamental part of the cthulhu mythos. still, it will refer to the everyday fictional world and will also introduce the mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungus-like creatures.
This part is told through the eyes of albert n. wilmarth, professor of literature at lovecraft literary miskatonic college, which is located in the fictional town of arkham in essex county, massachusetts.
After Wilmarth receives a letter from Henry Goworth Akeley, his Vermont correspondent and fellow folklorist, the assistant professor begins to investigate the strange events that followed Vermont’s first floods in 1927.
In his letters, Akeley warns about the aliens and human representatives described above who worshiped many beings, for example Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep. At the time of publication, Lovecraft had established those things in her tales.
the color outside the space
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story
composed in March 1927, immediately after the publication of the case of charles dexter ward, and throughout the final revision of his essay supernatural horror in the literature >, color out of space was published in amazing stories in September 1927.
Told in the first person by an undercover boston surveyor, it recounts the narrator’s efforts to piece together the narrative of a region known to the natives as the scorched heath of the Wild West Mountains. from the formerly more fictional city of arkham, massachusetts. the blasted heath is a term from john milton’s paradise lost and william shakespeare’s macbeth.
As it happens, a meteorite that never cooled crashed there three decades earlier. this induces the plant to grow large but insipid and forces animals to go mad and even perish.
lovecraft said the inspiration for her favorite personal story came from the recently built scituate reservoir on rhode island. Being the largest body of water in the country, the reservoir flooded much of the city of Scituate and forced the vast majority of its occupants to move.
the call of cthulhu and other weird stories
If you’re dipping your feet in h.p. lovecraft books, you might get this one sooner rather than later. the call of cthulhu and other strange stories is lovecraft’s most famous creation: cthulhu, the high priest of the great ancients, dreaming and waiting under the sea.
This narrative has all the hallmarks of a Lovecraft fantasy story: haunted fantasies, non-Euclidean geometry (because there’s something creepy when the triangles are all wrong), along with a strong probability that the narrator has gone mad.
the call of cthulhu and other strange stories is told from the perspective of francis wayland thurston. recounts thurston’s discovery of cthulhu and the cult of cthulhu. Furthermore, he describes the horrors of a crew of sailors who discovered R’lyeh, inadvertently releasing Cthulhu.
what follows are, in my opinion, the top 10 tales from the author who created the deep ones, the mad arabs, the ancients, the elder gods and cthulhu himself for those of us living these times in physical form. .
and bless you in case you are able to pronounce cthulhu as lovecraft intended: khlûl′-loo.
dagon
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story
a story too short, a maddening narrative, dagon, is a fantastic introduction to the lovecraft style of writing. the narrative centers on the written account of an undercover person from maritime history, now deeply addicted to morphine.
begins by describing how he fell into the sea as a passenger on a cargo ship during the First World War. The ship is shot down by a German raider, but he escapes and drifts across the Pacific Ocean.
He is exhausted and confused at this stage, unable to use his mental faculties until he appears in a strange and dirty area, which has many fish carcasses. he speculates that a volcano might have raised the property from the seafloor.
What he sees and experiences from then on will mar the narrative, but the detail is disturbing. As she looks at several of his finds, something disturbing emerges from the water.
dagon is a reference to a philistine fish deity, which lovecraft’s story turns into a work of fantasy. while it doesn’t tie directly into your cthulhu mythos, there are some connections, making this a great first read.
the zombie stories of h. p. lovecraft
These zombie stories include Lovecraft’s Reanimator mini-cycle, beginning with his best-known work, Herbert West Reanimator, the basis for his 1985 cult film Reanimator.
Several of these stories are, to put it bluntly, Lovecraft’s satirical version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, albeit including many of her twists on the genre.
the post also contains fresh air and pickman model, two of my favorites. these stories continue the theme of a mad scientist investigating new civic frontiers to discover something horrible.
the rats in the walls
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story
Composed in August and September 1923, The Rats in the Walls was first published in Strange Stories in March 1924. It is also considered by many to be a nod to Lovecraft’s literary star Edgar allan poe, and his short story the tell tale heart, which was first published in james russell lowell’s the pioneer in january 1843. lovecraft’s great horror stories would later impact modern authors of the genre, such as stephen king and clive barker.
In this dark story, the last living heir to the House of Poer leaves Massachusetts for his new estate in England, the rundown Exham Priory. Still mourning the departure of his only son, who died during the First World War, the narrator fixes up the priory.
then begins to hear, along with her kitten, the noise of rodents behind the walls and then learns that it comes from a long line of cannibals who raised generations of human cattle underground. Just like his ancestors, the boy’s strange taste brings out the best in him.
even more, lovecraft’s racial attitudes are questioned, because among the narrator’s cats they are called nigger man. the writer had actually owned a beloved cat of the same title until 1904.
dunwich terror & others
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story
the dunwich horror follows the development of wilbur whateley. This short story is relatively light for a Lovecraftian set, with only eight tales, but don’t let that stop you from learning this excellent introduction to Lovecraft’s chilling and mysterious works.
inside, you’ll discover the case of charles dexter ward, the other gods, herbert west reanimator (which was made into an excellent movie in 1985).
and of course the dunwich horror books are fantastic reads and perfect if you don’t need to fall asleep. The Dunwich Horror features Necronomicon, a critical text by H.P. lovecraft books appearing frequently in relation to the old ones.
history of the necronomicon 1938
pseudohistory
Among the most frequently owned collections of Lovecraft works, The Necronomicon collectively cuts the Cthulhu Mythos in their entirety, which can be an inflexible set to piece together.
all of the tales are intertwined through different references, personality experiences, and significant details despite being composed many decades apart, with many stories written in between.
however, the necronomicon also includes the vast majority of hp’s stories since they were initially published, making them a valuable part of this collection of lovecraft stories.
the thing on the threshold
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story
this narrative by hp lovecraft deals with a recurring theme in lovecraft’s work of putting consciousness into the body. Also, dealing with some of the worst anxieties regarding togetherness and individuality, this particular story is about a boy named Daniel Upton, who discovers that his friend after they got married is not the typical me.
This narrative has ties to the shadow over Innsmouth, as the woman who married Upton’s friend hails from this haunted town.
h.p. lovecraft: the complete fiction
from the 1920s and 1930s, h.p. lovecraft pioneered a new kind of weird fiction that fused elements of supernatural horror with the concepts of visionary science fiction.
lovecraft’s cosmic horror stories revolutionized contemporary horror fiction and made him the most influential american writer of weird stories thanks to edgar allan poe.
h.p. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction collects for the first time in one volume all of Lovecraft’s groundbreaking fiction: The Call of Cthulhu, Dreams in the Witch’s House, The Haunter of Darkness, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow Out of the time, the shadow over innsmouth, the complete books the case of charles dexter ward and the quest for unknown kadath’s dream, and many others.
h.p. lovecraft: the complete fiction is one of barnes & classics of noble collectible editions. Each volume features authoritative texts from the world’s greatest writers in richly designed bonded leather bindings with identifying gold trim along with a cute ribbon bookmark.
decorative, durable and classic, these novels provide hours of enjoyment for readers young and old and are an essential foundation for any home library.
cthulhu mythos tales
howard phillips lovecraft forever altered the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable set of tales as powerful as the works of poe, tolkien, and edgar rice burroughs.
his terrifying mythology established a gateway between the known world and the early measure of terror of another world, whose unspeakable inhabitants and colossal arenas fear cthulhu, yog sothoth, the plateau of leng, the mountains of madness have become a permanent place in the background of this ghastly.
In Tales from the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of the greatest fantasy and horror writers pays homage to this master of the macabre with a group of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition.
the dream cycle of h.p. lovecraft: dreams of terror and death
the dream cycle of h.p. lovecraft: dreams of terror and death is the main story starring randolph carter, a common protagonist in lovecraft’s dream cycle.
This volume collects, for the first time, the entire dream cycle: dreams of terror and death created by h. p. lovecraft, the horror master of the 20th century, including some of the most fantastic tales:
the doom that befell sarnath: hate, genocide, and a deadly curse.
The Nameless City: Death Lies Beneath Quicksand, in a story that links the dream cycle to the legendary Cthulhu mythos.
The Cats of Ulthar: In Ulthar, no man may kill a cat, and woe betide him!
Kadath Unknown’s Dream Quest: The epic nightmarish adventure with tendrils that extend throughout the entire sleep cycle.
and twenty more tales of surreal terror.
the shadow out of time
the shadow out of time is noted for its deep dive into the culture and history of the Yithians and explains their original cosmic purpose to study all forms of civilization in space and time. the Yithians accumulated their knowledge in a library city, where they lived millions and years later.
This library city no longer exists according to Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee’s timeline of life. our hero can temporarily see into his past because he shares his mind with a yithian.
shadow out of time, one of lovecraft’s rare works, is a work in which an alien or monstrous species is not depicted as totally evil, a rare reprieve from its usual xenophobic sentiments.
the silver key and through the doors of the silver key
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story
“You see, I’ve really learned quite a bit about what happened to Carter after he left his car with the silver key at sunset on October 7th, four years ago.”
These two stories of the dream cycle will combine to continue the story of randolph carter. the silver key begins sometime after the events of kadath.
carter discovers that he does not possess the key to dreamland: while he used to have vivid and imaginative dreams every night, recent scientific discoveries have left him completely uninspired. Carter wants to regain his dreaming abilities, so he sets out to find an ornate silver key to unlock the door of dreams.
the alchemist
other young adult fiction was written by lovecraft when he was only 15 years old and published later. it’s a significant improvement over the beast in the cave. Antoine, the last Count of C-, tells us about the curse that his family has placed on him.
all men must die before the age of 32. His ancestor, who incorrectly assumed that the medieval alchemist had killed his son, unjustly murdered Michel Mauvis years ago.
the son of charles le sorcerer michel put a curse on his lineage. A week before Antoine’s death, he discovers a trapdoor on his property and meets a surprising older man. It doesn’t surprise the reader, but Lovecraft feels the need for an explanation.
the music of erich zann
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story
an American student reflects on his futile efforts to find the rue d’auseil. he used to be able to hear the viola playing of an old genius. As it turned out, Erich Zann couldn’t hear and couldn’t hear French; was silent the narrator still forms a strange friendship with the composer.
The strange harmonies and haunting sounds he hears in the old man’s room mystify him, and his investigations give the story an impetus forward. erich zann’s music works because lovecraft saves enough for the reader to feel near and far from what happened.
the dream – quest for unknown kadath
We now turn to the Dream Cycle, a series in which Lovecraft explores supernatural phenomena through dreams and the subconscious. Randolph Carter is a scholar and antiquarian who seeks to discover the Dreamlands, an alternate dimension that can only be accessed through dreams.
carter has dreamed many times of a magnificent city on the horizon. he has never been close to that. Carter wants to ask the gods of dreams for help. but to do this, he will first need to locate kadath where they live.
Carter must navigate uncharted terrain and interact with the many strange inhabitants of the dreamlands, not knowing who he wants to help or who he would rather harm.
Kadath resembles our worst nightmares, from the cat-filled city of Ulthar (where there is no law against killing cats) to the onyx nation of Inganok. It wouldn’t be Lovecraft if Carter didn’t receive ominous warnings to stop his quest.
but overall the novel is more imaginative than terrifying. This imaginative adventure will appeal to those who loved Prince Caspian or A Wrinkle in Time.
the mound
the mound, another classic lovecraft horror novel, is about a rich but less benign non-human culture. it’s the ken-yan, an underground civilization that has a surface portal hidden behind a mound.
Our narrator discovered the portal, along with a scroll in Spanish that tells of Panfilo de Zamacona y Núñez, the last person to visit Ken-yan.
zamacona met the K’nyanians on an expedition nearly 400 years ago, and they accepted him as their own. As Zamacona began to learn more about the history of these barbarian cultures, he became increasingly fearful of what they might do.
The scroll’s story ends abruptly and it’s unclear if Zamacona was able to escape. the narrator dismisses the tale as an elaborate hoax. a creature of unimaginable atrocity awaits him when he returns to the mound the next day.
imprisoned with the pharaohs
That’s a great way to end our list! Lovecraft worked with Harry Houdini on Imprisoned with the Pharaohs. Although based on a true story, Lovecraft, like his often skeptical narrators, believed Houdini’s tale to be a fabrication and took much artistic license while writing it.
This story recounts the misadventures of Houdini during his vacation in Egypt. It begins with a tour of Cairo during which he must finish a fight. His tour guide is impressed by Houdini’s determination and invites him to a boxing match at the Great Pyramid of Giza. however, it soon becomes clear that this is a plot to drug and kidnap him.
houdini doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that he’s awake now. he easily escapes from the ropes he was tied to (clearly, the kidnappers didn’t know who they were dealing with).
This is not the only problem you face. he now he is trapped in a temple under the great sphinx and must face all sorts of ancient egyptian horrors to escape.
His contributions to horror literature have been invaluable. they will be a guide for horror writers for years to come.
the case of charles dexter ward
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story
this is lovecraft’s first “dream cycle”. here he dives headfirst into a mix of horror, fantasy and the occult. The book’s main character becomes obsessed with Joseph Curwen, a distant relative who is a suspected wizard.
The main character then tries to recreate Curwen’s magical experiments, but accidentally inflicts horror on himself and those around him.
from beyond
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story
This is a first-rate interpretation of Lovecraft’s favorite trope: the narrator becomes the best friend and confidant of a scientist battling dark lore. crawford tillinghast is the investigator.
the change he experiences after his encounter with the afterlife is horrible beyond conception. What makes Beyond stand out is Lovecraft’s fast-paced story and the closeness between the characters. the creative and cosmic experience is the icing on the cake.
the pursuer of darkness
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story
this page is dedicated to robert bloch (author of psycho and one of the first disciples) of lovecraft. The story was written by Bloch, depicting a Lovecraftian character who meets a terrible end. lovecraft paid homage to robert blake after this moving tribute.
blake, like bloch, is a young writer. In the story, he finds himself fascinated by a Cyclopean church located in Boston. After a sneak search, Blake discovers a dead reporter and a mysterious encrypted book.
There are references to the pursuer and a glowing trapezohedron. he escapes, but his sanity gradually fades over the next few weeks. Blake fears the pursuer, a greater being who has great power in the absence of light. Blake’s connection to the entity bears fruit long after Blake has left his presence.
if you want to read lovecraft: here is where to start lovecraft
h.p. lovecraft is one of the most influential names in horror. lovecraft is a notable influence, especially considering its limited output and short life. where can you go to enter this world of hp lovecraft books, existential horror, haunting atmosphere and creeping fear?
the cthulhu mythos and the cycle of dreams are the main themes of lovecraft’s works. The Cthulhu Mythos is often associated with Lovecraft. focuses on the protagonists who are forced to confront the cosmic horrors that have shaped the world and sometimes lie dormant in its darkest reaches.
Although more imaginative, the dream cycle tells stories about an otherworldly dreamscape. however, they remain gloomy and frightening. below is a list of each.
frequently asked questions
is call of cthulhu a good book?
A remarkable work of fiction, Call of Cthulhu is sophisticated, insightful, eerily disturbing, and above all, funny. this is the perfect starting point for anyone beginning their quest for cthulhu.
are h.p. connected lovecraft books?
both volumes include nearly all of lovecraft’s literature, including some joint projects with other hpl contemporaries. the truth is that none of his stories are related, coming directly from the very father of gothic terror.
should you read lovecraft in order?
Do the remaining tasks in any sequence you like (or read other Lovecraftian authors). If you’ve read these short stories, you have a solid idea of what Lovecraft is like. so if you’re still intrigued by the lovecraft universe, keep reading!
conclusion
In conclusion, the best hp lovecraft books are those that are able to capture the feeling of unease and dread that is so characteristic of his work. While there are many great Lovecraftian novels, the ones that really stand out are those that manage to evoke the same sense of dread and unease that made Lovecraft’s work so iconic.
what is your favorite book of the best hp lovecraft books? please share for free with us.
video: lovecraft: fear of the unknown – introduction
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