A While back I started a new blog post series here on Mighty Thor JRS, Definitive Sword and Sorcery. It has done quite well so I thought I would expand a little and include some other sub-genres and authors I love. Since it is October and things are feeling spooky leading up to Halloween I thought I would go with some Definitive Weird Fiction. At least what is definitive in my opinion. I will spotlight some of the best authors and books fantasy has ever known. I can’t wait to share these amazing books, authors, and the amazing cover art and artist. For this post I am going to go with H.P Lovecraft and his amazing stories.

I write these post as a spotlight or introduction on these authors and books, so when I have a author that is so well known it makes it a little harder to write the post. When I wrote my Robert E. Howard post on Conan it was like everyone already knows Conan right? What can I say that has not been already said? Same can be said for H.P. Lovecraft. It seems like everyone knows of him and the Cthulhu Mythos. He is the most Definitive of Definitive Weird Fiction. But I have to do a Lovecraft post!

This was not always the case. Unfortunately this modern fame and pop culture icon stature did not happen until after Mr. Lovecraft had passed. H.P. Lovecraft’s work has gone on to be some of the most influential in all of speculative fiction. World wide fame and popularity. Like REH, Lovecraft was not able to know their importance and influence that has lasted for almost a century and will continue to last as long as spec-fic remembers where it came from.

I have highlighted my favorite two books below. NECRONOMICON and ELDRITCH TALES. Both are great collections of Lovecraft stories. There are so many great tales. If forced to name a favorite I always seem to go with The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I don’t know but this story always sticks with me. What are your favorites?

I asked earlier What do I say that has not been already said? Well I can just state that I have always been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft. Nothing is more enjoyable than sitting down with a tome of his stories and getting lost in the strange, weird, and macabre!

As I become more and more disenchanted with modern fantasy and modern fantasy authors, I find myself going back to the books and authors that got me into fantasy in the first place. So I decided to shed some light on these books and authors.

If you have some comments, suggestions, recommendations, let me know!

Are you are a modern author that writes books/stories like the ones I will spotlight here? Get in touch. I want to work with you and spread the word. There has to be something new out that I can read and love. Short stories, collections, magazines, whatever! Let me know what you got and are working on.

Thanks,

James – Mighty Thor JRS

(mightythorjrs@gmail.com)

Check out my other “Definitive” post:

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Kane by Karl Edward Wagner

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Elric by Michael Moorcock

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Jirel of Joiry by C. L. Moore

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Bran Mak Morn by Robert E. Howard

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Kull by Robert E. Howard

Definitive Sword and Sorcery: Conan by Robert E. Howard

Calling all Sword and Sorcery fans!

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Definitive Weird Fiction: Clark Ashton Smith

Definitive Heroic Fantasy: The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson

Definitive: The John Carter/Martian/Barsoom tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft

by H.P. Lovecraft

WIKIPEDIA says: ‘H.P. Lovecraft’s reputation has grown tremendously over the decades, and he is now commonly regarded as one of the most important horror writers of the 20th century, exerting an influence that is widespread, though often indirect.’

H.P. Lovecraft’s tales of the tentacled Elder God Cthulhu and his pantheon of alien deities were initially written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and ’30s. These astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when they were first published.

This handsome leatherbound tome collects together the very best of Lovecraft’s tales of terror, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were originally published. It will introduce a whole new generation of readers to Lovecraft’s fiction, as well as being a must-buy for those fans who want all his work in a single, definitive, highly attractive volume.

Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre

by H.P. Lovecraft

Following on from the phenomenal success of NECRONOMICON comes ELDRITCH TALES. Howard Phillips Lovecraft died at the age of 47, but in his short life he turned out dozens of stories which changed the face of horror. His extraordinary imagination spawned both the Elder God Cthulhu and his eldritch cohorts, and the strangely compelling town of Innsmouth, all of which feature within these pages. This collection gathers together the rest of Lovecraft’s rarely seen but extraordinary short fiction, including the whole of the long-out-of-print collection FUNGI FROM YOGGOTH. Many of these stories have never been available in the UK!

Stephen Jones, one of the world’s foremost editors of dark fiction, will complete the Lovecraft story in his extensive afterword, and award-winning artist Les Edwards will provide numerous illustrations for this must-have companion volume to NECRONOMICON.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft in Weird Tales

Vintage paperbacks (image’s found on google, from http://www.blackgate.com)

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of Weird/Horror Fiction. He was virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, but he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life. Among his most celebrated tales are “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth“, both canonical to the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft was never able to support himself from earnings as author and editor. He saw commercial success increasingly elude him in this latter period, partly because he lacked the confidence and drive to promote himself. He subsisted in progressively strained circumstances in his last years; an inheritance was completely spent by the time that he died at age 46.

(CTHULHU, DRAWN BY H.P. LOVECRAFT HIMSELF)