HP Lovecraft on Kindle

[Highlander]

Just downloaded the Complete Works of HPL for my Kindle (birthday present).
Cost was less than £2 so I feel as though I got a bargain there.

Have read a couple so far but have you any favourites I should read first? (Am about to read Dagon which seems to have good reviews.)

[Fried Egg]

Which ones have you read already?

It probably doesn't matter too much which ones you read first but I would generally recommend avoiding starting with his novella length tales ("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", "At the Mountains of Madness" & "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath") and I would also suggest avoiding his Dunsanian inspired fantasies (such as "The White Ship", "The Doom that Came to Sarnath" and "Celephaïs").

If you are looking for some of his best stories to whet your appetite, you will probably get as many different suggestions as people suggesting them but personally, I would include the following: "The Shunned House", "The Rats in the Walls", "The Shadows Over Innsmouth", "The Colour out of Space", "The Shadow out of Time" and "Nyarlathotep".

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Just downloaded the Complete Works of HPL for my Kindle (birthday present).
Cost was less than £2 so I feel as though I got a bargain there.

Have read a couple so far but have you any favourites I should read first? (Am about to read Dagon which seems to have good reviews.)

Check if it's got "Sweet Ermengarde". If it doesn't, it isn't complete.

[j. d. worthington]

I have almost stopped replying to such queries these days, as I seem to be odd-man-out when it comes to my approach to Lovecraft's writing. For example, his "Dunsanian" stories are often held in small regard by many readers, who prefer his tales of "cosmic horror" featuring what has been labeled "the Cthulhu mythos"; yet to me these are an important part of that tapestry, and enrich that concept immeasurably.

I am also one who prefers reading a writer's works in the order they were written, in order to view the development both of them as a writer and of whatever construct they became most noted for. (There are exceptions, albeit partial ones, such as Moorcock's work. But even there, reading them in chronological order adds an entirely different layer to the experience, and one well worth exploring.) In the case of Lovecraft, this is particularly true, for as he developed as a writer, and as he absorbed his influences, he also grew philosophically, so that the growth of his concepts becomes (to me, at any rate) all the more impressive when one reads them in this fashion.

However, I know that not many casual readers share my views on this, so have, as I say, become somewhat chary of sharing my thoughts on such matters. As I have gone this far, I may as well put in at least a little on what I would consider "favourites", for you to consider. First, I would have to disagree with F.E. concerning his novels (short novels, at that), both because I think they are among his most impressive works, and because, in my own initial reading of Lovecraft (many, many years ago), these were among the things I encountered first, and are part of what hooked me into him so firmly. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is, for example, a fine display of Lovecraft writing in a traditional "Gothic horror" mode, and also has an historical depth and richness which I think makes it one of the most memorable exercises in the field; while At the Mountains of Madness is a superb blending of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a scope which is truly breathtaking. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, on the other hand, is at times charming, at times whimsical, and at times horrific... and written in a poetic language which makes it often very dream-like and ethereal, yet at the core of it lies a very personal "spiritual autobiography" element which many (including myself) find very moving.

Among his short stories and novellas, I would recommend "The Music of Erich Zann", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Festival", "The Tomb" (which I would say has a great deal more to it than is commonly realized), "Nyarlathotep", "The Rats in the Walls", "The Whisperer in Darkness", "The Shadow Out of Time", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Silver Key", and "The Strange High House in the Mist". Despite its popularity, and a great deal of truly good material in it, I am less impressed with "The Dunwich Horror" than many, as I feel it is a gravely flawed story in various ways. Still, it is one of his most popular and highly-regarded works, so you may wish to give that one an early reading, too.

[pyan]

I've got this collection on my Kindle, as well - for completists, no, Sweet Ermengarde isn't included, but you still get 63 stories for £1.99, which is a bargain regardless.

They're in chronological order as well, starting with The Tomb (1917) and ending with The Haunter of the Dark (1935)

It's compiled and released by CthulhuChick - lots of Lovecraftian links on the site, including epub and mobi versions, as well as a downloadable pdf if you really want to print the whole thing out...!

[Fried Egg]

J. D.

I think it depends on whether someone is merely sampling Lovecraft's work to get a flavour and to see if it is to their taste. If someone has made up their mind to read all (or most) of Lovecraft's work, then that is a different matter. But if someone starts by reading his first few stories, or taking on "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", then there is a strong possibility that some people will be turned off of his work that wouldn't have been with a more quality/accessible introduction.

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by pyan

I've got this collection on my Kindle, as well - for completists, no, Sweet Ermengarde isn't included, but you still get 63 stories for £1.99, which is a bargain regardless.

Still, "complete" means "everything", so calling it "complete" is false marketing. I think Highlander should complain, even though it cost less than £2.

It also hasn't got the stories HPL wrote when he was young, but that is of course open to discussion.

[Highlander]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have checked and as Pyan said, "Sweet Ermengarde" is not included in the bundle of tales.

However, as Pyan also says, 63 stories for less than £2 is quite reasonable even if not "technically" complete. Don't think I will be complaining anytime soon but I could look out for it as a separate download.

[Nesacat]

It is now even more tempting to acquire an e-reader. I wonder what it will feel like to read the stories here and not in the huge tome which I have to rest on a table, my lap or some other accommodating surface.

I think they very often say 'complete' when they have compiled what is most popular or well-known as opposed to really, everything, everything the writer did which is currently known and available.

In one sense it is false marketing at least to those who do know that there is more and would want to have it all and nothing else. On the other hand, it might be a good place to start for people seeking just that and who might also be either intimidated or put off by everything, everything.

Perhaps if they read what they have to start with they might them be compelled to seek the others out ... poems, stories, letters.

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by Nesacat

I think they very often say 'complete' when they have compiled what is most popular or well-known as opposed to really, everything, everything the writer did which is currently known and available.

In this case there IS no such excuse. I pointed this omission out to the compiler and got some bad justification in reply, boiling down to it being an arbitrary decision. She knows perfectly well that it is not complete.

In one sense it is false marketing at least to those who do know that there is more and would want to have it all and nothing else. On the other hand, it might be a good place to start for people seeking just that and who might also be either intimidated or put off by everything, everything.

"Complete" still means "everything". If it isn't complete, don't describe it as "complete".

[Highlander]

I have now found a download for Sweet Ermengarde - and it is noted as written by Percy Simple [HP Lovecraft) Could it be that as it was under an alias when it first came out that it was overlooked or is it because it was more of a comedy story rather than SCI-Fantasy Horror theme that HPL didn't want to lose "credibility" in his main genre?

Whatever, it is still a good deal and rather easier to read on holiday without toting a rather large tome around with you!

There also seems to be some dispute as to exactly when it was written (1919-1921)

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by Highlander

I have now found a download for Sweet Ermengarde - and it is noted as written by Percy Simple [HP Lovecraft) Could it be that as it was under an alias when it first came out that it was overlooked or is it because it was more of a comedy story rather than SCI-Fantasy Horror theme that HPL didn't want to lose "credibility" in his main genre?

"Sweet Ermengarde" was never published in HPL's lifetime. It was first published along with lots of other Lovecraft stories in 1943 in Beyond the Wall of Sleep. So no, that theory doesn't hold.

Whatever, it is still a good deal and rather easier to read on holiday without toting a rather large tome around with you!

There also seems to be some dispute as to exactly when it was written (1919-1921)

Yes, because HPL never mentions it anywhere in any known letter. It can't have been written earlier than 1919 because it refers to Prohibition, and apparently the stationery (from HPL's uncle Edwin's refrigerator company) and the handwriting (HPL's handwriting changed over the years, so that many Mss. can be very loosely dated from the look of the handwriting). "Sweet Ermengarde" was written 1919 at the earliest, and no later than 1925.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Highlander

or is it because it was more of a comedy story rather than SCI-Fantasy Horror theme that HPL didn't want to lose "credibility" in his main genre?

Now, that opens up an interesting aspect of discussion concerning HPL. While to modern readers, and from the mid-1920s on to fantasy/horror readers, he has been known as a writer of tales of cosmic horror (and occasionally a more traditionally Gothic tale, such as The Case of Charles Dexter Ward or "The Rats in the Walls", etc.), to the readers of the amateur journals of his day, which is where so much of his earlier works were published before the advent of Weird Tales, he was known as a writer of weird tales and poetry, yes... but also as a critic, conservative pundit, and prolific writer of humorous, pastoral, and occasionally political, verse. He also wrote a wonderful piece (published in the United Amateur for September 1917, the same year he wrote "The Tomb" and "Dagon") titled "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson", posing as his pseudonymous persona Humphrey Littlewit, Esq., who had been born in 1690 (and was thus 227 years old), written in a flawless Georgian style. It is a send-up of his own Georgian favorites, of himself, and of amateur foibles in general.

In addition to these, he also wrote a handful of other humorous or comic pieces, such as "Old Bugs" (which was a charmingly owlish piece scolding his young friend Alfred Galpin for his alcoholic binge the day before Prohibition went into effect, and was, again, never published during HPL's lifetime), "Ibid", which was a tongue-in-cheek pseudo-scholarly history of the incredibly prolific historian and scholar Ibidus; and such little squibs (written with his youthful correspondent and distant relation, Robert H. Barlow) as "The Battle That Ended the Century" and "Collapsing Cosmoses" (both of which sent up the fantasy/sf community of the time; the latter particularly aiming at the ludicrousness of the space opera).

While not as unknown as it used to be, it is still not that generally well-known that HPL had a sparkling sense of humor, was often quite witty (and could be, on occasion, savagely sarcastic, as in "Medusa: A Portrait"), and could in fact be "the life of the party", when he chose. Reading a selection of his letters, for instance, gives a very different view of the man than one would get from the popular conception of him as a gloomy, dour, writer obsessed with the weird and supernatural (especially that which also sees him as genuinely into the occult, something for which he had little but contempt). However, a close reading will show aspects of this even in his weird fiction, on occasion, usually as a wry comment or a bit of parody of this or that social, literary, or religious aspect which he desired to lampoon. And then there are the various in-jokes which crop up throughout his fictional (and poetical) career....

He did wish to not mingle humor and horror in any obvious sense, as he felt that diluted the effect of a weird tale; but doing it in such a way that only the cognoscenti were likely to catch, seems to have been something of a different kettle of fish. Whether or not he would have desired to avoid publishing in the various types of writing is a question I can't answer; most of his humorous prose writing he simply did as a jeu d'esprit to be shared with friends (or at times just for his own amusement); but the fact that he raised no objection when a friend of his wanted to publish his "Ibid" (which never occurred, sadly) might be seen as an indication that, had he felt more confident in his abilities in such a field, he might also have stepped outside the weird field professionally....

[nerd literature]

I don't know if this helps but there is a Complete Fiction by HP Lovecraft. It is one of the Barnes & Noble editions. I discovered it one day at work and bought it instantly, even though I had a the Kindle complete edition as well as several other collections, including the Library America edition of his Tales. It does contain Sweet Ermengarde Not only does it have all his fiction, including his juvenile writing, it it leather bound and beautifully designed. Hope this helps some, those that have a B&N near them but I am sure that it can be purchased from the web