| Re: A Query:
Well, as Ningauble has said, the single story in New Tales isn't by HPL, but it does use a fragment ("The Book") of his as a starting point, albeit there are some editorial changes even there, as I recall.... Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos... well, it's the place I started, many years ago; I'm just not sure how some of the other writers of the mythos will appeal to newer readers now, tastes having changed so.
I think I'd begin with either the Penguin set (The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories) despite typos (which I must admit irritate me too), as they collect together nearly all of his stories except his revision tales and a few oddities and are rather more accessible than many others for new readers. (Plus, if you're so inclined, the annotations by S. T. Joshi add several fascinating insights concerning the tales, as well....)
As for the quality of New Tales... I'd put it at about half-and-half. Some of the stories, though quite unconventional approaches to HPL's ideas, are quite good. Others are pretty standard. Some entertaining work in there, some that's rather forgettable. And one or two (such as T.E.D. Klein's piece) are truly remarkable -- despite (as Nesa has pointed out) some terrible geographical gaffes..... Altogether, a fun book, but by no means an indication of what Lovecraft is like..... |