Cthulhu Mythos Anthologies

[sanddweller]

Can anyone here recommend some cthulhu mythos anthologies?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hi sanddweller, and welcome to the chronicles network.

As for anthologies - not sure which country you're in, but probably the best in the UK is probably this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...6135/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_11_3/026-6314816-9203655

Hope that helps.

 

[Paul Darcy]

I think this one is the best introduction to Lovecraft's work.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345350804/qid=1131106577/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_11_1/202-1839959-3350261

And and introduction by Robert Bloch as well.

 

[Alucard]

Also try any of the Titus Crow books by Brian Lumley. They are based on the Cthulhu Mythos

 

[fungi from Yuggoth]

Some good recommendations above. Any of the Arkham House collections are worth reading and excellent value for money. I'd probably stay away from the Del Rey edition "Dreams of Terror and Death," as a lot of the work collected here is his earlier, weaker stuff, and the collection as a whole is an attempt at creating a specific 'theme' within Lovecraft's work which is not entirely consistent.

Also, as Alucard mentions, Lovecraft was not the only writer to write stories in the Cthulhu Mythos. His friend and peer, Robert E Howard, also wrote a number of horror tales which are rather loosely collected in the three-volume "The Weird Works of Robert E Howard" along with some of his S&S stuff, and also in the excellent "Nameless Cults" (if you can stomach the awful cover!).

Then, of course, there is the fabulous Clark Ashton Smith, whose works were not only set in the Cthulhu Mythos but actively helped to contribute to Lovecraft's work itself. CAS is a bit difficult to get hold of, though if you live in the UK then there's the excellent if somewhat haphazard collection "Emperor of Dreams." A great introduction to his work.

You might also like to have a look at some of the August Derleth stuff, though I didn't much care for these.

 

[j d worthington]

For those interested, Night Shade Books in America is going to be issuing a 5-volume complete fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, with corrected texts. Subscriptions (giving a savings amounting to the price of one volume, as well as an extra volume only available by subscription) are, I believe, still available. You might check into this....

Mythos anthologies? Hmmmm. Lovecraft, of course, is the place to start, but there's such a plethora of other work (some good, some bad, some indifferent, some gawdawful), that it's hard to know what to suggest. Some of the best writers to touch on these themes would be T. E. D. Klein, in his novel "The Ceremonies" and the short story "Black Man with a Horn"; Thomas Ligotti, W. H. Pugmire, scattered pieces by Ramsey Campbell, Fritz Leiber's "The Terror from the Depths"....

Probably the best in-print mythos anthologies would be: "Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos" (rev. ed.), from Arkham House; "Eternal Lovecraft" and "Cthulhu 2000" edited by James Turner (uneven but containing some superb work; Golden Gryphon and Arkham House, respectively); and several from Fedogan and Bremer (can be ordered from Arkham House's site) as edited by Robert M. Price or Stephen Jones; and some of the Chaosium "Call of Cthulhu" game source books/fiction anthologies (they've brought three books of Machen's stories into print, the entire weird work of Robert W. Chambers, Robert E. Howard's Mythos fiction -- the "Nameless Cults" mentioned in one of the other posts; as well as several anthologies of more obscure mythos tales or original stories); or, if you prefer the earlier "Lovecraft Circle" writers -- those who were friends/colleagues of his during his lifetime -- try "The Hounds of Tindalos"/"The Early Long" by Frank Belknap Long, as well as his "Night Fears" (which contains his mythos novel "The Horror from the Hills"); Robert Bloch's "Mysteries of the Worm" (the Chaosium edition has some tales left out of the original); August Derleth's "The Cthulhu Mythos" or "In Lovecraft's Shadow" (though these are hard to find). As for Lumley and Derleth: they are figures of some controversy in the Lovecraft community. Personally, I rather enjoy their work, but they did divert Lovecraft's original intent quite seriously. Still, they can be very entertaining, I think. Anyway, if you're still interested in such, these are some suggestions. You might try looking up Mythos Books as a source for finding some of these; quite a few are out of print now, but some you can still find for reasonable prices; others are beginning to cost quite a bit. I tried (mostly) to suggest those that were still reasonably priced.

Happy hunting!

 

[hugo]

You will have to hunt this out but it is well worth the effort New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos ed by Ramsey Campbell which contains stories by S King
B lumley and T E D Klein.

 

[j d worthington]

According to S. T. Joshi's Sixty Years of Arkham House, New Tales did have a British reprint from Grafton in 1988. I don't believe it ever saw reprint in either format over here; I recently got a copy of the Arkham house on the 'net for a pretty darn low price, so you never know. (My original copy disappeared somewhere along the way.) It's an uneven anthology, but some very good stuff in there.

 

[sanityassassin]

there is a site with the works of H.P.L.

I've had a quick look at it and it is not too bad


http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html

 

[w h pugmire esq]

I just got a cheque from Bob Price, which must be for The Yith Cycle, to be publish'd by Chaosium. I have no idea what the contents will be and haven't checked on Chaosium's site to see if the contents is listed there. This is only my second appearance in a Chaosium Cycle book, and I'm thrill'd -- just wish my story wasn't so twee. Hippocampus Press is soon to release another of Bob's books, The Tindalos Cycle, the contents of which looks awesome, I itch to get me paws on that book -- tales by Cannon, Campbell, Pulver, and lots of Long (including the entire short novel, The Horror from the Hills), and a long & fascinating novella by Stanley C. Sargent!!!

I love these Mythos anthologies, they are fun, they give me stories that are difficult to find, and they shew the wide influence of H. P. Lovecraft. Many of the writers in these books will be gathering as nameless horde at MythosCon in Phoenix next January -- Peter Cannon and Ramsey Campbell have just confirmed that they are going to be there!!! Laird Barron will be there, and he is quite simply one of the most exciting writers today, although his work can in no way be termed Cthulhu Mythos. If you love the Mythos, this convention will be like stepping through the mirror of Nitocris and falling into an eldritch Wonderland!!! Ia! Yog-Sothoth!!!!

 

[w h pugmire esq]

Please excuse my over-indulgence and fan-boy excitement, but I really do love good Mythos fiction and thus I want to post the contents for the two new anthologies.

The Yith Cycle, edited and introduced by Robert M. Price
The Purple Sapphire, John Taine
Dreams of Yith, Duane W. Rimel
The Jewels of Charlotte, Duane W. Rimel
The Sealed Casket, Richard F. Searight
The Shadow out of Time, H. P. Lovecraft
The Challenge from Beyond, H. P. Lovecraft
The Shadow out of Space, August Derleth (how excellent to see HPL's byline removed!)
The Dark Brotherhood, August W. Derleth (ditto!)
The Horror from Yith (Alan D Gullette, Walter C. DeBill, Jr., Ted E. Pons
The Changeling, Walter C DeBill, Jr.
The Sands of Time, P. Schuyler Miller
Countdown for Kalara, Richard L. Tierney
The Winds of Yith, W. H. Pugmire

The Tindalos Cycle, edited and introduced by Robert M. Price
Introduction: Chock Full o' Mutts
The Maker of Moons, Robert W. Chambers
The Death of Halpin Frayser, Ambrose Bierce
The Space-Eaters, Frank Belknap Long
The Hounds of Tindalos, Frank Belknap Long
The Letters of Halpin Chalmers, Peter Cannon
The Death of Halpin Chalmers, Perry M. Grayson
The Madness out of Time, Lin Carter
The Hound of the Partridgevilles, Peter Cannon
Through Outrageous Angles, David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Ronald McDowell
Firebrands of Torment, Michael Cisco
The20Shore of Madness, Ann K. Schwader
Gateway to Forever, Frank Belknap Long
The Gift of Lycanthropy, Frank Belknap Long
The War Among the Gods, Adrian Cole
The Ways of Chaos, Ramsey Campbell
Juggernaut, C. J. Henderson
Scarlet Obeisance, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
The Horror from the Hills, Frank Belknap Long
Pompelo's Doom, Ann K. Schwader
Confessions of the White Acolyte, Ann K. Schwader
When Chaugnar Wakes, Frank Belknap Long
The Elephant God of Leng, Robert M. Price
Death is an Elephant, Robert Bloch
The Dweller in the Pot (OR, THE PASTA OUT OF SPACE EATERS), By Frank Chimesleep Short, Robert M. Price
But It's a Long Dark Road, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
Nyarlatophis, A Fable of Ancient Egypt. Stanley C. Sargent
Mind-Pilot, William Laughlin

 

[j d worthington]

Oh, my! I had completely forgotten about this thread. Will be moving it to the H. P. Lovecraft forum, where it really belongs....

As for Mythos anthologies (as opposed to single-author collection)... they have proliferated enormously over the past decade or so. Chaosium still brings one out now and again; Hippocampus has done Tales Out of Dunwich, which includes Harper Williams' The Thing in the Woods, the novel which (as they put it) "provided the original inspiration" for Lovecraft's tale; other publishers issue such things from time to time as well....

And, like anything which burgeons to this degree, they sort of run the gamut as far as quality is concerned. Some are very good indeed. Some are mediocre. Some are, literarily speaking, just bad. Most, however (and this includes those from Chaosium, for instance) do add some very interesting (if frequently odd) layers to Lovecraft's vision, in ways that I find enhances my enjoyment of both the new work and the original. I can't always afford to pick up the new stuff, but I certainly try to do so when I can, and I've very seldom regretted the effort....

As for the two you mention, Wilum: I hadn't known about The Yith Cycle: will have to grab that one up when it comes out, if possible. The Tindalos Cycle, coming from Hippocampus, I already knew about, but look forward to with considerable anticipation. Flawed though it is, I am very glad to see The Horror from the Hills coming back into print... there are some wonderful visions in there (and I do not refer solely to HPL's dream-tale, which Long incorporated into the novel)....

 

[w h pugmire esq]

I'm really glad to see that Bob has removed HPL's name from two of the "posthumous collaborations," but I now wonder, can we do so legally with stories that have always been published with the dual bylines? Who, if anyone, gives permission for this? Arkham House and April Derleth would be the ones, I imagine. One would think that April would want to see her father acknowledged as the actual writer of these works. I cannot now remember her Introduction to the Arkham House THE WATCHERS OUT OF TIME AND OTHERS, because I grew so annoyed at the picture of Lovecraft she painted therein that I ripped the intro out of the book and threw it in the trash. (I'm such an extremist!)

 

[w h pugmire esq]

I shall at last be able to read "Dreams of Yith," by Duane Rimel. On page 555 of H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, S. T. suggests that Lovecraft and perhaps even Clark Ashton Smith had a hand in the composition or refining of these ten sonnets. Rimel initially named the sequence "Dreams of Yid," but HPL gently persuaded him that Yith was a better name. I've just noticed that "Dreams of Yith" was publish'd in Dark of the Moon, whut I've been debating getting. Oh dear, I feel that eldritch temptation to go to Abes Books and find a copy with a decent dust jacket -- I've come into a little extra money, but...really I shouldn't....I need to stop buying rare Arkham House books...but I may die next year and never get ye chance......ye booke is in my mind....I see it, & smell ye wormy pages.....it calls me.........Magna Mater!.....Ungl.....ungl.....rrrlh.....chchchch......1947.......mint condition........$140.......ad....aodannnn..........................................................

 

[j d worthington]

Ah, yes... a nice little sonnet sequence, that. I think I first read it in that issue of Crypt of Cthulhu titled Ashes & Others which STJ (bless him!) sent me many, many years -- almost seems a lifetime -- ago....

 

[w h pugmire esq]

THE EXHAM PRIORY CYCLE
Mythos Books (2010?)
edited by Robert M. Price

Contents:
The Rat Race (Introduction)
James Frazer, "The Myth and Ritual of Attis"
William S. Baring-Gould, "Bishop Hatto"
William S. Baring-Gould, "St. Patrick's Purgatory"
Fiona Macleon, "The Sin-Eater"
Edgar A. Poe, "Ligeia"
Irvin S. Cobb, "The Unbroken Chain"
H. P. Lovecraft, "The Rats in the Wall"
August W. Derleth, "The Whippoorwills in the Hills"
Michael Harrison, "Some Very Odd Happenings at Kibblesham Manor House"
Peter H. Cannon, "Cats, Rats, and Bertie Wooster"
Robert M. Price, "Exham-Priory"
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., "Hungry...Rats"

 

[Ningauble]

Thanks a million, Wilum! (I think I saw this at Joe Pulver's blog too.)

There's a whole bunch of Mythos anthologies that Price has put together years ago that haven't appeared yet. I found the following at E. P. Berglund's Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos website in the late 90s (I think) -- Heaven knows who will publish them eventually, but here are some tentative tables of contents anyway:

Celaeno Fragments: Tales of the Derleth Mythos (ed. Robert M. Price)
Spawn of the Maelstrom (August Derleth & Mark Schorer)
Riders in the Sky (August Derleth & Mark Schorer)
The Occupant of the Crypt (August Derleth & Mark Schorer)
Vengeance of Ai (August Derleth & Mark Schorer)
The God-Box (August Derleth)
Those Who Seek (August Derleth)
Brood of Cthulhu (August Derleth) (also known as "The Evil Ones")
The Adventure of the Six Silver Spiders (August Derleth)
The Watchers Out of Time (H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth & John S. Glasby) (Derleth's fragment as finished by John Glasby)
Footsteps Far Below (John S. Glasby) ("The Return of Hastur" rewritten according to the suggestions that Clark Ashton Smith made to Derleth)
The Doom of Enos Harker (Lin Carter & Laurence J. Cornford)
The Summons of Hastur (Alan Gullette)


The Yig Cycle (ed. Robert M. Price)
The Curse of Yig (H. P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop)
The Mound (H. P. Lovecraft & Zealia Bishop) (The Weird Tales version)
The Electric Executioner (H. P. Lovecraft & Adolphe de Castro)
The Challenge from Below:
1. Under the Mound (Robert M. Price)
2. The Trial (Peter H. Cannon)
3. The Horror at the Lake (Donald R. Burleson)
4. Beyond the Wall of Time (Brian McNaughton)
The Shadow in the Valley (Larry Brasington)
The Temple in the Swamp (Larry Brasington)
The Shortest Distance (Ronald J. Zimmerman)
The Return of Yig (Frederick Stansfield)
Scales of Justice (Allen Mackey)
Mother of Serpents (Gary Myers)
From Darker Heavens (Stanley C. Sargent)
The Dreams of Yig (Pierre Comtois & Henry J. Vester III)
The Vengeance of Yig (Lin Carter)
The Tulu Metal Disk (Allen Mackey) ("Louis' Strange Talisman" + "The Tulu Metal Disk")
The Sad Saga of Mad Jake Niswander (Adam Niswander)
The Artifacts from Quivira (Ross F. Bagby)
The Shadow over Uxmal (Will Murray)
The Snake Farm (Jim Ambuehl)
In the Black Mill (Michael Chabon)

The Yog-Sothoth Cycle (ed. Robert M. Price)
The Winds of Zarr (Richard L. Tierney)
?

 

[j d worthington]

Hmmm. 'Twould be interesting to see some of these come out. But I've a question: Given the length of The Winds of Zarr (which really should be reprinted), that's not going to leave a great deal of space, is it? Unless, that is, you have quite a massive tome on your hands....

Anyhoo... thanks for the update, Wilum. Another I'm going to have to get my hands on soon....

 

[Ningauble]

Hmmm. 'Twould be interesting to see some of these come out. But I've a question: Given the length of The Winds of Zarr (which really should be reprinted), that's not going to leave a great deal of space, is it? Unless, that is, you have quite a massive tome on your hands....

Anyhoo... thanks for the update, Wilum. Another I'm going to have to get my hands on soon....

It would probably have to be a pretty hefty volume, yes. But then again, The Antarktos Cycle has the text of the entire At the Mountains of Madness. I have a hazy memory of having seen some other title that would be in this book, but can't place it.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, The Antarktos Cycle has both that and Poe's Pym, as well as a hefty selection from Verne's Sphinx of the Ice Lands and a lengthy tale by Colin Wilson, John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"... all of fairly notable length.

Mind you, I wouldn't complain about such... but it is somewhat unusual. (However, being a fan of those old two-volume anthologies -- four novels, eight novellas, sixteen short stories -- of the 1950s-early 1970s, I keep hoping someone will revive such a practice....)