Reddit reviews The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death
We found 9 Reddit comments about The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
H.P. Lovecraft
My favorite collections of his are the annotated ones, they include some explanation, as well as interesting background. Though i guess the annotations can get out of hand.
I also own Dreams of Terror and Death, which is a collection of his dream cycle and related stories.
Just be sure that any anthology you buy is actually by Lovecraft and not just "inspired by". Except Shadows Over Baker Street which is absolutely brilliant.
This collection features H.P. Lovecraft's dream world stories. For all the different criticisms and interpretations, they're creepy as fuck and a good way to get into the author's body of work.
I don't know exactly where I started with Lovecraft but it was this book, read under dim lights and at late hours, that won me over! In the beginning I also enjoyed The Dream Cycles a lot.
The order I would suggest would be:
The Necronomicon
Eldritch Tales
-History of the Necronomicon
-The Alchemist
-A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson
-The Beast in the Cave
-The Poe-et's Nightmare
-Memory
-Despair
-The Picture in the House
-Beyond the Wall of Sleep
-Psychopompos; A Tale in Rhyme
-The White Ship
-The House
-The Nightmare Lake
-Poetry and the Gods
-Nyarlathotep
-Polaris
-The Street
-Ex Oblivione
-Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
-The Crawling Chaos
-The Terrible Old Man
-The Tree
-The Tomb
-Celephais
-Hypnos
-What the Moon Brings
-The Horror at Martin's Beach
-The Festival
-The Temple
-Hallowe'en in a Suburb
-The Moon-Bog
-He
-Festival
-The Green Meadow
-Nathicana
-Two Black Bottles
-The Last Test
-The Wood
-The Ancient Track
-The Electric Executioner
-Fungi from Yuggoth
-The Trap
-The Other Gods
-The Quest of Iranon
-The Challenge From Beyond
-In a Sequester'd Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walk'd
-Ibid
-Azathoth
-The Descendant
-The Book
-The Messenger
-The Evil Clergyman
-The Very Old Folk
-The Thing in the Moonlight
-The Transition of Juan Romero
-Supernatural Horror in Literature
At The Mountains Of Madness
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
From there, you can also throw in The Dream Cycle if you like. There is a small amount of overlap with these books, but I didn't mind at all. Most of the stories that overlap are ones that I thoroughly enjoyed, so I just read them again. There are some stories from a few other authors thrown in, but as far as Lovecraft goes, it covers everything except for Old Bugs and Sweet Ermengarde
I didn't include any of his poems in this, however most, if not all of his writings are public domain and can be found here. I just like having a physical copy because I like the feel of a real book.
The really sad part about Lovecraft is that there is no complete volume of his works. Wikipedia has links to everyone of his stories. Yet for a printed form of his works your options are limited. The "Necronomicon" collection is incomplete and the binding is not worth the price. The best almost complete edition is An H.P. Lovecraft Anthology: More Than 50 Weird Tales but it is still incomplete and people complain over the size of the print. Your best bet as was mentioned was the Del Ray editions. Between "Dreams of Terror and Death" and "The Road to Madness" you can have the most important stories in a readable and cheap edition. I recommend starting with the novellas, especially the ones in the Cthulu Mythos, and then branching out to the short stories of the Dream Cycle.
+1
came in here to say pretty much this. most of the mythology is loosely-woven throughout the entirety of hpl's works. his "dream cycle" kind of has it's own mythology that is more or less summed up in the dream-quest of unknown kadath and stretches throughout all the stories represented in this volume.
There is a collection called The Dream Cycle of HP Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death, that contains most if not all of these.
Amazon Link
I haven't read nearly everything Lovecraft has written, but I haven't exactly interpreted it as gruesome or scary as such. Try some of the Dream Cycle stuff (I have this book, and it's great). I think they're a great read. Especially The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, though you might want to read some other Dream Cycle stories before tackling that one, since it basically incorporates all other stories.
But in general, Lovecraft is more about the unexplainable and and fascinating. You're not going to find dismemberment being described in detail, or gruesome monsters explained. What you're getting is a look at how the human mind reacts to the unknown and the incomprehensible, and ultimately descends into madness as the last resort.
That said, there are some stories that are more gruesome than others. The Rats in the Walls, Pickman's Model and The Dreams in the Witch House are those that come to mind immediately, though the last one isn't very good.
If you want some proper recommendations I can try to help you some more, or you can check over in /r/lovecraft! :)
For horror, many of Poe's stories fit the bill. "The Mask of the Red Death" is one of his best, though I might also recommend "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Tell-Yale Heart". That last is an especially gripping tale of guilt driving a man insane. If you can find the reading by Basil Rathbone, listen to it. It's up on Spotify.
E. A. Poe's works are regularly collected and reprinted, as they've been in the public domain for decades. Here's a link to one nice looking release.
I'd suggest any of the collections of Lovecraft's books published by Ballantine/Del Ray for an introduction to Lovecraftian horror; a very specific subset of horror that I'm especially fond of. Amazon carries them. Here's a direct link to Lovecraft's dream cycle, stories he drew directly from his dreams. The book's title is "Dreams of Terror and Death", And it's also available on Audible.
The last collection I'm gonna suggest covers weird fiction in general (not just horror, but stories of all different genres that have a touch of "strangeness" or "otherness" to them) throughout the 20th century and very early 21st, from 1908 to 2010. It's titled "The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories". It contains 110 stories from various artists throughout that century, some straight horror, others sort of dark fantasy.
There's tons more that I could suggest, but this's already weeks of reading, at the least. Don't wanna completely swamp ya. \^_\^