Lovecraft Short Stories by Laura Bulbeck

The only reason I don't rate it higher is its seemingly arbitrary selection of stories and finding the dense text block outright difficult to read.

Overall I'd say this is a nice anthology. Additionally, they printed a list of the contained stories with the dates of their authorship as well as how they were first published. The back of the book contains very short biographies of all these persons I have mentioned. Also included are a few stories from Lovecraft's contemporaries, ostensibly to provide some examples of how HPL shared his mythos with other writers. Surely the best way to study the development of an author's style and skills. The selections are ordered chronologically by the times they were penned. It is not controversial to claim him the world's foremost expert on both Lovecraft the man, and his writings. This collection has some good things going for it. Personally I prefer prioritizing the readability of the text block. It is up to the reader whether these choices are good or not since you may value this trade-off resulting in a smaller book. The margins and linespacing are way too small. Paper: Apparently this is where the money was saved, as the paper is very cheap. You would expect some junk perfectbind at this price, so this is a very pleasant surprise. The endpapers are quite nice.īinding: This is a proper machine-made hollow spine binding with sewn signatures.

Taste aside, the cover fails the longevity test. Overall: This book is a very good value since it can be had from Halfprice Books for $7 USD.Ĭover: The cover design is a bit gauche, with embossing and lots of foil print. Thanks Jojo for giving me the book! A truly eye-opening read.

Minimise the descriptions by a page or so and I think we're all set.

etc.ģ) Lovecraft is explicit! Thank the gods! Poe on the other hand definitely likes to leave the reader guessing/questioning their own sanity.Īh! I do very much like Lovecraft's stories, but calling some of them 'short' stories would be erroneous. As similar as the two may seem, there are remarkable differences.ġ) Lovecraft is a lot more science-fiction oriented.Ģ) The narrator of Lovecraft stories is SANE! There's no mental illness, no self-doubt or memory loss. I think it would be unfair to compare Lovecraft to Poe in this review. By which time, I've already lost the plot. However, he spends pages on super-lengthy, detailed, highly-adept-vocabulary-using descriptions! I get that this house is spooky, but there is no need to ramble on to the very last detail. Yes, thank you, for being the classic author who doesn't beat around the bush and then take off leaving us in mystery. H.P Lovecraft hmmm? A rival for my affections to Edgar Allan Poe.įor one thing, I appreciate that his stories are relatively easy to read.

Lovecraft Short Stories by Laura Bulbeck