TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS

By: Chris Wyatt
Review Date: Thursday, November 07, 2002

New on shelves is a trade paperback reprint edition of editor Robert M Price's horror anthology TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS. Price, one of the most recognized scholars of pulp era horror master HP Lovecraft, has crafted an anthology of shorts written not by Lovecraft, but by the first generation of Lovecraft's disciples.

For those not familiar with the history of Lovecraft's influence on horror fiction, it should be noted that the author worked in a way that seems almost unthinkable now. He would allow (sometimes encourage) other writers to use his tone, his style and even his characters for their own stories. But, in turn, any new characters that those other writers added onto Lovecraft's work were considered fair game for use by the next horror writers to come along. If this kind of practice were to go on today it would surely be enough to drive most copyright attorneys to madness (which is appropriate given that most of Lovecraft's work was about madness, in one form or the other).

Because of this magnanimous approach decades worth of horror fiction was dominated by the shared cosmic mythology of Lovecraft's "Elder Gods". The master's fictional "dark pantheon" is still called upon by leading horror writers to this day.

In TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS, Price hunts down rare stories and alternate versions of commonly reprinted stories from the pulp contemporaries of Lovecraft himself. Price intentionally excludes any tales written after the pulp era. He also doesn't include any works by the man himself, only by his compatriots.

Price opens the volume with a story by the creator of Conan the Barbarian, Robert E Howard, who was a good friend of Lovecraft. The piece, titled "The Thing on the Roof", is an excellent little thriller about a mysterious temple in Central America and the possession of a mystic gem called "the key".

While "Thing on the Roof" is a great way to kick off the volume, not all the stories are consistently of such high quality. More hackneyed entries in the volume include the insubstantial "Lord of Illusions" by E. Hoffman Price and the tired "Abyss" by Robert W. Lowndes.

On the other hand, highlights include back-to-back tales by Henry Kutter: "The Invaders", and the Edgar Allan Poe-esque madness story "Bells of Horror". Also, the volume closes with SF master Fritz Leiber's excellent "To Arkham and the Stars".

Price's introduction to the volume describes it as a follow-up/homage to the seminal 1960's anthology TALES OF THE CTHULHU MYTHOS compiled by the original Lovecraft scholar, August Derleth. This was an interesting impulse but perhaps Price should have modernized his approach to the anthology somewhat. Much like older Lovecraft anthologies, Price gives an excellent introduction, but then the editor disappears as a direct influence for the rest of the volume.


Price is so knowledgeable, and such an affable writer, that it would have been nice to see him write brief introductions at the beginning of each story, or perhaps do notes for each story, along the lines of TS Joshi and Peter Cannon's excellent ANNOTATED LOVECRAFT books. Price could have at least offered some concluding remarks. Modern readers, who are savvier about the artifice of the writing, are likely to expect more commentary from Price.

But despite an almost silent editor, and a few questionable selections, TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS can be freely recommended to horror audiences. Even Mythos fans who think they've read it all will be delighted with a few of the rarer tales.

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