![]() ![]() But after receiving a letter from one Henry Wentworth Akeley, a fellow academic, Wilmarth opens his mind to the possibilities of extraterrestrial life - only to find that he never should have gotten involved. A man of logic, Wilmarth naturally sides with skeptics, who claim the “sightings” stem from local legends with no factual basis. James) becomes involved in a controversy surrounding strange, seemingly extraterrestrial sightings. In this novella, literature professor Albert A Wilmarth (you’ll notice that many of Lovecraft’s protagonists have such formal names and scholarly professions - likely in homage to the characters of M.R. It’s considered by many to be a blend of horror and science fiction, representing something of a genre shift for Lovecraft in the 1930s. The Whisperer in Darkness takes a different, less extreme tack to horror than Shadow Over Innsmouth. This gloriously unsettling tale is also another foundational work of Lovecraft’s mythos, introducing the ideas of the Deep Ones (a subset of the Old Ones) and the “Esoteric Cult of the Dragon” that began the practices of worship in Innsmouth. But when the old man disappears soon after, our hero realizes that he could be next… though at the hands of humans or monsters, he can’t be sure. Naturally, Olmstead dismisses Zadok’s ramblings. Those walking the streets of Innsmouth are the resulting offspring - as they mature, they will grow to resemble the Deep Ones, eventually joining them in their underwater cities. Olmstead meets an old townie called Zadok Allen, who provides an, er, interesting explanation for the town’s peculiarities: that its human inhabitants have devoted themselves to a brutal race of fish-like humanoids known as the “Deep Ones,” who have forced humans to breed with them. ![]() Most of whom walk in an odd shambling manner and have unusual facial features, including flat noses and “bulgy, stary eyes.” As Olmstead embarks on a tour of the town - having heard vague, superstitious warnings from outsiders - he detects something strange about its citizens. The Shadow Over Innsmouth follows Robert Olmstead, a man who becomes fascinated by the mysterious (sadly fictional) New England hamlet of Innsmouth. These next two entries are both part of the Weird Stories anthology as well, but as longer novellas (and landmark Lovecraftian works), they merit their own entries. Dagon is the testimony of a World War I vet who relies on morphine to ease his tortured mind… but the visions that haunt him are worse than any battlefield violence.īasically, no matter which of these stories you start with, you’re sure to find something to make you shiver and leave you in shock at the final horrific twist. However, when he goes to investigate, he uncovers a gruesome truth about his ancestors. The Rats in the Walls is a Tell-Tale Heart-esque account of a man who’s plagued by the sound of rats in his family home. Lovecraft books of all time, but it’s by no means the only worthy piece in this anthology! Included among these “weird stories” are seventeen other tales of the mad, mystical, and macabre, each taking a slightly different approach to horror. This eerie work of masterful suspense heads up one of the best H.P. As more details of the creature and its history come to light, our narrator realizes that no one can possibly be safe from such a powerful entity - not even himself. The cultists who worship Cthulhu commit ritual killings and chant in tongues. It centers around an ancient dragon-sea monster hybrid that implants itself subconsciously into human minds, driving them slowly insane. The Call of Cthulhu is probably Lovecraft’s most influential story, serving as the basis for his epic “Old Ones” mythos. ![]() If you're interested in checking out other sci-fi authors, take our 30-second quiz below to get a personalized sci-fi book recommendation. Readers should be aware of this and use their own discretion when reading and examining his works. It’s critical to acknowledge that his work often reflected highly racist and xenophobic views, and that Lovecraft himself was a noted white supremacist. *Note: as with any author, Lovecraft cannot and should not be read in a cultural vacuum. (And if you're hungry for more, you can always check out our guide to cosmic horror, the subgenre his works helped establish.) Lovecraft books, novellas, and stories to give you an idea of where to start. Lovecraft - the writer best known for creating Cthulhu, a winged Kraken-like creature, along with an entire mythos of similarly monstrous “Old Ones.” And though Lovecraft’s terrifying tales have been captivating readers for nearly a century now, there’s no time like the present to dive into his must-read works! Here’s a primer on the 10 best H.P. The horror canon simply wouldn’t be the same without H.P. ![]()
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