Although not my favorite of the Cthulhu Mythos tales, it certainly does the best job of encompassing all of the primary and lovable elements of weird tales and cosmic horror.

tumsā” – Karkosa un Hastūrs te ir pieminēti tikai kā vārdi šausmonīgos rituālos, par kuru patieso dabu mēs varam nojaust tikai no trakā arāba Nekronomikona un Pnekotiskajiem manuskriptiem. Bet stāsts ir labs, pa Senajiem, kas mums līdzās dzīvo jau no senseniem laikiem. Par to, kā cilvēces izplešanās ASV mežonīgajos apgabalos ir radījusi sadursmi starp Senajiem un cilvēkiem. Zinātnieki kā vienmēr ir apbrīnojami naivi un lētticīgi, vietējais novadpētnieks izpilda episku last stand pret citdimensiju ordām, viņa liktenis paliek neskaidrs. Viņa līdzinātājs paliek, lai pastāstītu stāstu. Plutona atklāšana ir liela kļūda. 10 no 10 ballēm. Hillier’s six mesmerising, portal-like illustrations embrace the alien realities that lurk among the gambrel roofs of Lovecraft’s landscapes. By splicing Victorian portraits and lithographs with cosmic and Lovecraftian symbolism, each piece – like the stories themselves – pulls apart the familiar to reveal what lies beneath. Pats ar Lavkraftu iepazinos deviņdesmito gadu vidū izlasot stāstu “Krāsa no kosmosa” krievu valodā. Neteikšu, ka tas mani baigi pārsteidza, jo viss jau šķita kut kur lasīts un redzēts. Tajos tālajos laikos, kad lasīju visu, kam virsū uzrakstīti burti, es vēl nebiju nonācis līdz atziņai, ka rakstnieki mēdz aizņemties idejas no saviem priekštečiem, un šausmu literatūrā Lavkrafts ir gan pats aizņēmies, bet vēl vairāk ir aizņēmušies no viņa. Pilnībā visus viņa stāstus izlasīju tikai divtūkstošo sākumā un tad jau es spēju ar pirkstu parādīt, kurš autors ko no viņa ir aizlienējis. Lavkrafta stāsti nav zaudējuši ietekmi arī šodien, laiku pa laikam parādās pa antoloģijai, kurās apkopoti mūsdienu autoru stāsti, kuri norit Lavkrafta mitosa pasaulē, tomēr nekas nevar aizstāt arī paša oriģināla lasīšanu. Un nu par dažiem krājuma stāstiem:

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This, the first of three volumes of Lovecraft tales edited by S.T. Joshi, is--as are the other two--chronological, featuring a selection of tales from the earliest to the very last. (An odd organizational principle for a complete tales, but I suppose Joshi did this so most of the best tales wouldn't be found in the last two volumes.)

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories is Penguin Classics' first omnibus edition of works by seminal 20th-century American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in October 1999 and is still in print. The volume is named for the Lovecraft short story, " The Call of Cthulhu". Wearied with the commonplaces of a prosaic world, where even the joys of romance and adventure soon grow stale, St. John and I had followed enthusiastically every aesthetic and intellectual movement which promised respite from our devastating ennui." Collecting uniquely uncanny tales from the master of American horror, H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories is edited with an introduction and notes by S.T. Joshi in Penguin Modern Classics. This anthology “The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories” of course contains most of his best stories. I will just run through them briefly, some of them I already reviewed in my The Best of H.P. Lovecraft review. I thought I would love Lovecraft. I genuinely dig some of the mythos that has built up around his work. I have (and love) Fantasy Flight's Eldritch Horror boardgame, and have played and enjoyed Arkham Horror. Furthermore, I was keen to explore the early years of the horror genre and experience writing that has influenced later authors such as Richard Matheson and Stephen King.

That is what almost all of The Call of Chthulu and Other Weird Stories felt like to me - a terrified narrator recounts a scarring encounter with an evil force as overwhelmingly powerful as it is vague. And I mean vague- trying to get a feel for the nature and appearance of the evil forces in Lovecraft's stories is a little like wearing dark glasses while trying to spot a green dog in a forest on a foggy night. But there are definitely some highlights. I think his work shines best in a very short form. The shorter stories like "The Outsider" and "The Music of Eric Zahn" are great because they showcase his excellent creativity in establishing an aesthetic and crafting an atmosphere, but it stays very vague and mysterious. The stories end before his shortcomings in character development and pacing start to show. Lovecraft uses description of people that human beings do not (and should not) use. The narrator of Cool Air describes Dr. Muñoz as being “high-bred”. In He, the narrator describes the titular pronoun as bearing “the marks of a lineage and refinement.” The Call of Cthulhu describes tribal peoples as being “mix-blooded.” This is just creepy, as most humans do not describe others the same way you would describe a dog. This technique would be effective if it was coming out of the mouth of a character who was meant to be portrayed as inhuman or emotionless, but no, it’s coming out of the narrator we’re supposed to identify with.

HPL at his most verbose, I would have gone with “Me and Johnny got bored with the same old crap, so we looked for some weird stuff to do”. Anyway, a couple of tomb raiders steal an amulet from an ancient corpse in a Dutch cemetery. A lot of hounding ensues. Not a bad story, nice brooding atmosphere.

I don't think he deserves all the hype, sorry. I definitely see how his style has remained popular because the aesthetic for most of his stories is very unique, but I don't think he is a very strong writer at all. He's a very tell-instead-of-show kind of guy. He just kind of describes what he wants you to know, but I never actually feel it. When he wants the reader to know that a place is spooky and eerie, he would just say, "it was spooky and eerie." Like ok, sure buddy. Also, so many times things would be described as "too horrible for words" or "too terrible to repeat," which was very frustrating as a reader. Just felt very lazy and unsatisfying. Gentle reader - what I saw that night was so horrifyingly horrible, such a cavalcade of horrid, horrific horror, that I cannot describe its horrendousness to you. I pen these words whilst I foam at the mouth in a padded cell." I have my reservations both in reviewing and recommending this anthology. I don't believe this is exactly something anyone can just enjoy and appreciate. In fact, upon closer inspection, I found that most tales included in this volume are interrelated, if not indirectly referential of each other. This is probably because Lovecraft, like all great literary masters, has created his own fictional universes where these stories breathe. For example, mentions of the place Arkham happens frequently, as well as the elusive grimoire known as the Necronomicon. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. If you have read or are interested to read HPL you probably enjoy horror fiction, HPL is different from any other horror writers I can think of in that, with rare exceptions, he writes a specific type of horror, called “cosmic horror” set in the “Cthulhu Mythos” that he (sort of*) created. The basic idea is that before the advent of mankind the world was once ruled by the “Great Old Ones”, god-like aliens who went into centuries of hibernation the reason for which is unknown (that is, not made clear by HPL!). During this mega-nap time, mankind came into the world. These vast beings are not evil or malevolent as such, they just think humans are not much cop and to be ignored or carelessly squished upon encounter. This reflects HPL’s philosophy that humanity is too insignificant in the grand scheme of things for the universe to bother about. Not that many readers would read his stories for the philosophy, they are just weirdly entertaining read, he actually popularised the term “weird fiction” and is one of the subgenre’s most influential figures.

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For a long time, Lovecraft himself seemed to be a bit of a myth to me. Until recently, I have never read anything written by him and yet a disconcerting amount of pop culture I've consumed in my life (may that be a TV show such as Stranger Things or even a video game like Bloodborne) would be described as "Lovecraftian" by somebody who knew more about it than me. How could an author, who died as young as he did and who didn't even write a full-length novel influence an entire genre even a hundred years after his lifetime to this extent? It all lead me to believe that it was my fate to meet the so-called father of horror. Physical improbabilities are rampant. In The Rats in the Walls, there’s an enormous lair complete with bottomless ravines underneath an old manor. Uh, why? Enormous mile-high structures will be completely unnoticed in the wild by the world around them, which I find highly unlikely for the 1920’s setting.