Reddit reviews The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre

This book is a great collection. Just read the whole thing. The "Call of Cthulu" is in there of course, but related Cthulu mythology is peppered liberally though-out so much of his work that you'd miss out on all kinds of fun referenes to it to just read the "This is clearly about Cthulu" stories. All his stuff is great to read anyways, really fun and exciting. You also would be sore to miss other Lovecraftian stuff that has influenced pop-culture but you maybe just don't know it yet.

PS

I see this particular collection in used (as well as new of course) book store all of the time. It's easy to find, is usually cheap and seems pretty thorough. But really, any decent sized collection of this stories is going to work just fine.

I'd suggest starting here. From there I'd read the rest of the Cthulhu mythos and then dive into the Dream Cycle. As for people like him, he had a lot of friends who wrote stories in his worlds and their own weird tales like Clark Ashton Smith or Robert Bloch.

Avoid the August Derleth stuff. He tries to change the mythos into something else. Also if anyone tries to give you a Brian Lumley book telling you it's Lovecraftian, punch them and then hurl the book as far away from you as possible.

The fuck? I have a collection of Lovecraft stories with that same image on the back cover. Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. Had never noticed they were the same before now!
Edit: Guess there are some minor difference, like the absence of the insect to the right. Still the same damn thing.

When I started getting into Lovecraft, I bought the Del Rey paperbacks. They were affordable and had great art on the covers. And I prefer a small paperback to a big hardback. Big ol' hardbacks are cool and all, but it's so much nicer to just sit with a little paperback; they're lighter, easier to hold, and take up less space when taking them somewhere else to read.

These are the ones I was getting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I really love the art on these. Here are some more images of it. I'm pretty sure there was a compilation featuring Dagon that used a detail with the big, red eye.

Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft. I can't believe his works aren't adapted to film more often. He is a master at creating settings and allowing the reader to visualize. Cthuluhu is one of my favorite stories of his.

Reave the Just is one of my favorite short story books. http://www.amazon.com/Reave-Other-Tales-Stephen-Donaldson/dp/0553110349

My other favorites are HP Lovecraft, especially Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (although there are lots of books with his stories) but I can only read a few of them per month. http://www.amazon.com/Best-H-P-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804

No but it looks like it would be on the cover if a Lovecraft book.

Edit: Awwww shit I'm good.

This one for mythos stories not by Lovecraft: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=07402S2M9VWP3J7ZKT1H

This one for mythos stories by Lovecraft: http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1397149990&sr=8-13&keywords=lovecraft

I've loaned these two volumes to start any friend who wanted to get into cosmic horror. Enjoy.

With the first volume of the three-volume Ballantine Books complete-Lovecraft anthology: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. It's got all of the important stories except for the Dream Saga in one volume. The second volume collects all the Dream Saga; the third volume collects Lovecraft's early fiction, when he was still developing his style.

I'll suggest "The Rats in the Wall," and also "The Colour out of Space," "Innsmouth" and "Erich Zann." Here is a very good paperback introduction to Lovecraft, with an excellent essay by Robert Bloch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345350804?pc_redir=1409138655&robot_redir=1

I started with this story collection and I would definitely recommend it to someone just starting out. It has a lot of variety in stories and the rest of that "series" would get you through his works and a lot of the works he edited.

The best starter collection is from Del Rey, so it'll give a nice intro to the basics of the mythos. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

You might find thicker collections, but they almost always contain non-Lovecraft material; the stuff by August Derelth and Clark Ashton Smith, and what all. I'd hate to see someone read these by accident before reading the real Lovecraft stories.

I read this in HS http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345350804/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=1452821304&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=hp+lovecraft&dpPl=1&dpID=51YbqO27OpL&ref=plSrch

I'm reading The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, next up is Jim Butcher's Small Favor

This is the one I picked up almost 25 years ago, and it's still in print: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345350804/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-JzMzbYBQ0WT5

It has a great selection of stories!

hp lovecraft

Covers Have some similar features

I like the various Del Ray anthologies. This one is a good place to start:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804

"The Rats In The Walls" is a good story to start with. And, coincidentally, it's the first story in that book, IIRC.