A Guide to H.P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft is probably the single most important author of the 20^th century. Serving as an inspiration for the music of Metallica and Black Sabbath, for board games, comic books and numerous video games, Lovecraft’s writing has had a broad influence on both lowbrow popular culture¹² and philosophy,³ to say nothing of his influence on fiction. According to Stephen King, “Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the 20th century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”⁴ Though largely ignored while he was alive, today, nearly a century after his death, his name has entered the dictionary as an adjective: frighteningly monstrous and otherworldly.

For all that his legacy has been defined by monstrous and otherworldly evil, Lovecraft’s actual writing was a rather different thing. He wasn’t always fixated upon madness or horror, but wrote a great deal of dreamlike fantasy. Indeed otherworldliness is probably more characteristic of his work than monstrousness, as many of his better works demonstrate; readers bored with nameless cults, gnawing madness, and ancient survivals of unplumbed abysses should consider his more wistful stories like The Quest of Iranon, The White Ship, The Silver Key, or Celephaïs.

So in the hopes of making his work more legible and better known, I’m sharing the notes my wife and I wrote down as we went through all of his stories together, one by one. All of the stories can be easily found for free either at a local library, or online at the H.P. Lovecraft Archive; but click that link and you’ll be faced with the same problem we had over the years: Where to start? And which to read?

Even after having read them all, many of the titles run together, and several are pretty bad, and we wanted to catalogue the better stories so we could find them again, and leave the dross behind. This is a document we’ve been working on as a family for decades, making small updates and corrections over the years as we’ve shared these stories with our children. Young readers in particular may find this useful, given the way Lovecraft’s political opponents have long dominated high school and college English departments; they’re never going to tell you what’s worth reading.⁵

Our family visited Providence, Rhode Island in the summer of 2022 to pay our respects at Lovecraft’s grave. We were not the only ones; a solidly built young man, and then an extravagantly dressed Asian woman, each left tokens behind. Following their lead, we left our tickets to the New York Metropolitan Museum, and our toddler left a tiny baby visible in the photograph. Few graves at the cemetary received so much attention; Lovecraft is well remembered.

It is quite noteworthy how effective Lovecraft’s stories are, given their slowness, their vagueness, their apparent overuse of purple prose and long monologues, their avoidance of action or “fan service,” the simplicity and linearity of their plots—often the total lack of any discernible plot—and the consistent similarity of their bland, undeveloped, passive main characters. Gradually one comes to realize how many of these are really little more than Lovecraft’s transcribed dreams, and how powerful they are despite or even because of these evident weaknesses. Lovecraft works by slowly mesmerizing the audience, pushing disgust, dread, helplessness, and awe farther and farther until finally reaching the outer realms of cosmic horror. This emotion takes a great deal of time to build, and it can be fractured by any component that is awry—a powerful protagonist, in control of his environment, surrounded by allies, or lacking enough motivation to continue rather than walking away, will never work. As the narrator moves forward, spellbound, he brings the audience with him. This can be seen to a greater or lesser degree in all of Lovecraft’s effective pieces, and may be usefully compared to the failures of his imitators (especially his contemporary, Robert Howard) where they neglected to follow his style in one or more ways.

Since the very most important thing to know about a work of fiction is whether it is any good or not, the stories are grouped into five categories from best to worst. Our own sense of these stories is fairly clear:

Lovecraft’s best works are eleven in number, and his worst—of those that are available for our reading—are nine. Other critics provide other opinions, and some of you may be surprised by our evaluation of The Call of Cthulhu, given not only the importance of Cthulhu in popular culture but the high praise his biographer, S.T. Joshi gives to the story, describing its conclusion as “superb prose.”⁶ But however well constructed the prose may have been, Cthulhu’s frank appearance is far too obvious to maintain the horror engendered by hints and rumors of His existence, and non-fans often can’t stand it. Lovecraft himself regarded Cthulhu as “rather middling—not as bad as the worst, but full of cheap and cumbrous touches."⁷ While he may have been his own worst critic, ranking some of our favorites like From Beyond or The Quest of Iranon on the bottom,⁸ at least we aren’t the only ones who consider Cthulhu overrated!

Lovecraft’s 5 Star Work

Readers new to Lovecraft’s work are urged to read one of the short pieces listed here, such as The Statement of Randolph Carter, The Outsider, From Beyond, or The Very Old Folk. This is enough—if you don’t appreciate these, you really won’t like Lovecraft. We think all of the stories in this section are absolutely fantastic, and while Lovecraft isn’t for everyone, every educated person for whom English is their first language should at least read one of these during their lifetime so that they know what kind of writer Lovecraft was.

• The Statement of Randolph Carter (1919)

  • Short, dreamlike

  • Carter & Warren go to graveyard, telephone wire

• From Beyond (1920)

  • Short, well paced

  • ESP Machine, UV, Jellyfish

• The Outsider (1921)

  • Short

  • Narrator climbs from castle. Lovecraft described as “bombastic”

• Pickman's Model (1926)

  • Mythos

  • Boston slums, Artist, Photograph

• The Very Old Folk (1927)

  • Short, Dream, Mythos

  • Togas, frightened villagers, rites in the hills

• The Dunwich Horror (1928)

  • Long, 3^rd person, Mythos

  • Henry Armitage, Arkham Library

• Medusa's Coil (1930)

  • Long, collaboration with Zealia Bishop, Mythos

  • Painter, hair, old house

• The Whisperer in Darkness (1930)

  • Long, mythos

  • Vermont, Correspondence with Henry Ackley, dogs

• The Shadow over Innsmouth (1931)

  • Mythos

  • Jewelry, Gilman Hotel, Order of Dagon

• The Horror in the Museum (1932)

  • Collaboration with Hazel Heald, Mythos.

  • Wax museum. “Orabona Continued to Smile”

• Through the Gates of the Silver Key (1932)

  • Collaboration with Robert Price, 3^rd Person, Mythos, Sequel to Gates of the Silver Key

  • Ticking clock, swami, wax mask

Lovecraft’s 4 Star Work

These are solid stories worth reading and rereading, and help to round out a sense of Lovecraft as a person. The best of his gentler and more Dunsanean pieces are to be found here, along with popular favorites like The Colour Out of Space and The Mountains of Madness.

• Sweet Ermengarde (1917)

  • Humorous, different from his usual work

  • Clever sattire on sappy romances

• The Tomb (1917)

  • Classic Lovecraft

  • Strange lad obsessed with Hyde tomb

• Polaris (1918)

  • Short

  • Defense of the North pole

• Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919)

  • Short

  • Dream machine, hickish murderer

• Memory (1919)

  • Very short, poetic; a poignant, personal favorite of the Apple Pie Family

  • Cyclopean ruins, Genie and Daemon

• Celephaïs (1920)

  • Poetic, 3^rd person

  • Kuranes, last of a noble line, dream searches

• The Terrible Old Man (1920)

  • Very short, 3^rd person

  • Kingsport, feeble old ship captain, Italian robbers

• The Music of Erich Zann (1921)

  • Short, dreamlike

  • France, Rue d'Auseil street. Lovecraft: “One of best”

• The Quest of Iranon (1921)

  • “Once upon a time” 3^rd person

  • Wandering singer, art is better than toil, “haven of light beyond death”

• The Lurking Fear (1922)

  • Long

  • Mismatched eyes, mansion, Martense family

• The Festival (1923)

  • Short, vague, dreamlike

  • Yuletide, Kingsport, a dark ceremony

• The Shunned House (1924)

  • Medium length

  • French, protagonist and uncle hold vigil in the cellar, fungus

• Two Black Bottles (1926)

  • Medium

  • Inheritance, preacher, grave

• The Colour out of Space (1927)

  • Long

  • Lovecraft claimed this was his best work

• The Curse of Yig (1928)

  • 3^rd Person, Mythos

  • Oklahoma settlers, asylum, old dog “Wolf”

• The Mound (1929)

  • Long, mythos

  • Oklahoma, headless squaw

• At the Mountains of Madness (1931)

  • Long, mythos

  • Antarctica, blind penguins

• The Dreams in the Witch House (1932)

  • Long, mythos

  • Quantum Physics, Figurine, Witch’s Familiar

• The Thing on the Doorstep (1933)

  • Long, mythos

  • Eduard Derby & Asenath Waite

• The Disinterment (1935)

  • Medium Length

  • Leprosy, Drugs from Haiti, Old Mansion

• The Haunter of the Dark (1935)

  • Mythos

  • Church, trapezohedron

• In the Walls of Eryx (1936)

  • Science Fiction

  • On Venus, crystals, lizardmen

• The Night Ocean (1936)

  • Long, slow, curious blend of wistfulness and horror

  • Mural, vacation, house on the beach

Lovecraft’s 3 Star Work

Though these aren’t as effective as Lovecraft’s other stories, they are still worth reading. This is particularly true for Lovecraft fans and budding writers, who would benefit from contemplating what it is about the four and five star pieces that makes them work better, and what might have been missing from these. The three star works are often quite enjoyable once the easier stories have helped the reader to cultivate a patient appreciation for his style; beyond merely a large vocabulary, Lovecraft requires a certain sensitivity from the reader that makes many of these pieces (like The Call of Chtulhu) better appreciated after perusing a few of his other stories.

• The Beast in the Cave (1905)

  • 1^st Person, No Mythos, written at 14 years old

  • Tour in a cave, all caps and exclamation points at the end

• The Alchemist (1908)

  • Medium

  • French castle, curse kills all descendants by 32

• Dagon (1917)

  • Short, amateurish

  • WWI soldier shipwrecked, comes upon uncharted isle

• The Doom That Came to Sarnath (1919)

  • Neat imagery, near plotless

  • Green flabby beings of Ib

• The White Ship (1919)

  • Wistful, short

  • Bearded man, picturesque vistas, fair Cathuria

• Nyarlathotep (1920)

  • Short

  • Egyptian, film, snow

• The Crawling Chaos (1920)

  • Short, dreamlike

  • Ocean swallows Earth, Beautiful people ascend

• The Picture in the House (1920)

  • Short

  • Dreamlike, Shaggy degenerate puritan

• The Temple (1920)

  • Mythos

  • German U-boat commander

• The Moon-Bog (1921)

  • Medium

  • Castle, drain the bog, ruins

• The Nameless City (1921)

  • Mythos

  • Archaeology, Stairway into darkness, murals

• The Other Gods (1921)

  • “Once upon a time” 3^rd person

  • Climbing the mountain where the gods danced, eclipse, hubris

• Azathoth (1922)

  • Very Short

  • Cities and ugly future

• Hypnos (1922)

  • You must be patient with this story to appreciate it.

  • Dreaming, only friend, drugs, sculptor, marble busts.

• The Rats in the Walls (1923)

  • Mythos tacked on

  • N*****man the cat. Old castle in England restored, son mained in the war

• He (1925)

  • Short, excellent start, but unravels by the end

  • New York, tour of secret places

• In the Vault (1925)

  • Short

  • Careless small-town undertaker

• The Horror at Red Hook (1925)

  • Short

  • Detective Malone, gangs

• The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

  • Long; dramatic, but predictable

  • Artists’ nightmares, police raid in Louisiana, statuette

• The Silver Key (1926)

  • Short, dreamlike

  • Beauty is subjective, Gothic box

• The Strange High House in the Mist (1926)

  • Poetic, 3^rd person

  • Kingsport, Olney (philosopher), Nodens, terrible old man

• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927)

  • Long

  • Providence RI, dust

• The Last Test (1927)

  • Long, 3^rd person

  • San Francisco, black fever, Surama & Tibetans

• The Thing in the Moonlight (1927)

  • Short, dream, semi-finished

  • Railway company men

• The Man of Stone (1932)

  • Written with Hazel Heald, mythos, well suited for children

  • Mad Dan with young wife, sculptor, stone dog

• The Book (1933)

  • Short, dreamlike or unfinished, sets a mood

  • Book, traveling through dimensions

• Winged Death (1933)

  • Long

  • Glossina palpalis, South African hotel

• The Tree on the Hill (1934)

  • Mythos

  • Hike, Photographs, Gem

• The Diary of Alonzo Typer (1935)

  • Medium, mythos

  • Old house, portraits, key, Yian-Ho

Lovecraft’s 2 Star Work

These are Lovecraft’s more controversial stories. Many are noteworthy, such as Imprisoned with the Pharaohs (written with Harry Houdini), Cool Air (which received a movie adaptation), and the whismical Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, which many of his fans loved. Most controversial will probably be our low rating of The Shadow Out of Time, which is definitely an ambitious work, but we simply cannot recommend this piece as entertaining or well written. There is a general belief, it seems, that the longer stories Lovecraft wrote are better, but unfortunately a longer story requires a greater inventment of the reader’s time, and such time would be better spent elsewhere. So after perusing the three-star stories, we recommend the casual reader set aside Lovecraft’s remaining work. Fans may well ignore this warning; after all, we may not have rated Lovecraft’s fiction the same way that you would, and the two-star stories might still entertain!

• Old Bugs (1919)

  • Short

  • Woman’s Portrait, Booze is bad

• The Cats of Ulthar (1920)

  • Short, well suited for children

  • Cotter & Wife who kill cats

• The Tree (1920)

  • Fairytale, 3^rd person

  • Sculptors in ancient Greece

• Ex Oblivione (1920)

  • Very short

  • Dreamland. Unremarkable story, but provocative ideas.

• Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920)

  • Cute, 3^rd person

  • African explorer, white apes

• Herbert West—Reanimator (1922)

  • Long, starts wonderfully but goes downhill after part II

  • Blond surgeon, incinerator, graves

• The Horror at Martin’s Beach (1922)

  • Sonya Greene coauthored, short

  • Dead sea creature on display, rope drags to sea.

• The Hound (1922)

  • Short

  • Asthete graverobbers, jade amulet. (This story is first to name the Necronomicon.)

• The Unnamable (1923)

  • Lovecraft projects an argument into fiction

  • Arkham Graveyard, Late Discussion, Horns

• Under the Pyramids / Imprisoned with the Pharaohs (1924)

  • Collaboration, Long, could be excellent if cut to 1/3 length

  • Harry Houdini in Egypt, Sphynx

• Cool Air (1926)

  • Medium

  • New York apartments, air conditioner

• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927)

  • Long, dreamlike with little detail, written like a fairy story—some fans do like this one.

  • Randolph Carter. According to Lovecraft: “[I]sn’t much good... plethora of weird imagery may have destroyed the power of any one image to produce the desired impression of strangeness”

• History of the Necronomicon (1927)

  • Short, no plot, Mythos

  • It’s what’s on the tin.

• The Electric Executioner (1929)

  • Predictable

  • Mexico city, train, silver mine audit

• The Trap (1931)

  • Thoughtful science fiction, but dull

  • Mirror: extra dimensional space

• The Evil Clergyman (1933)

  • Dreamlike, funny really

  • It’s about a clergyman…

• The Horror in the Burying-Ground (1933)

  • Ghoulish, obvious

  • Undertaker, embalming fluid, funeral

• Out of the Aeons (1933)

  • 1^st Person, Mythos, pseudoscience

  • Mummy in museum, island of Mu, Scroll of T’yog

• The Challenge from Beyond (1935)

  • A silly Round Robin story; Lovecraft only wrote part

• The Shadow Out of Time (1935)

  • Long, mythos, repetitive

  • Great race, Econ teacher, mindswapping

• Till A’the Seas (1935)

  • No Mythos, unsophisticated

  • End of the world, well

Lovecraft’s 1 Star Work

Now at last we reach the pulpy underbelly of Lovecraftian literature. People claim there may be no accounting for taste, but these stories prove that can only be true up to a point—if you like this stuff, I fear your taste is God awful. Even the most dogged Lovecraft aficionado will quickly question the wisdom of reading through these. Only historians, biographers, and critics seeking ammunition to use against Lovecraft should have any interest in his nine worst stories.

• A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1917)

  • Silly

  • Lovecraft pretends to know Dr. Johnson

• The Green Meadow (1918)

  • Short, dreamlike

  • Meteorite with metallic diary

• The Transition of Juan Romero (1919)

  • Short

  • Mining operation, talisman from India

• Poetry and the Gods (1920)

  • Short, Boring

  • Female protagonist, low cut evening dress, Zeus, magazine

• The Street (1920)

  • Boring, prosaic

  • Racist (No not just casually racist, as many of his other stories are; in this case, racism is the plot)

• What the Moon Brings (1922)

  • Very short, Poetic

  • Just ignore this work

• The Descendant (1926)

  • Short, seems unfinished, formulaic

  • No really, just ignore this work

• The Battle That Ended the Century (1934)

  • Writers’ inside joke

  • Futuristic UFC match

• Collapsing Cosmoses (1935)

  • Very Short, Collaboration with R Barlow

  • Aliens send out a fleet to defend themselves

That’s it. So far as we know, that’s every surviving story written by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. If you find one that isn’t listed here, we’d be very eager to see it. In case you missed the link earlier, you can find these at the H.P. Lovecraft Archive. And until next time:

1. Jones, M. (2013). Tentacles and teeth: The Lovecraftian being in popular culture. New Critical Essays on HP Lovecraft, 227-247.

2. I didn’t want to link directly to it, but look, Lovecraft made his way into Scooby Doo, OK? All I’m saying is, people who don’t know about Lovecraft by now have seriously been living under a rock.

3. Ligotti, T. (2018). The conspiracy against the human race: A contrivance of horror. Penguin.

4. Leatham, T. (2024, June 4). Stephen King names the “best writer of horror fiction” in American history. Far Out Magazine. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stephen-king-best-writer-horror-fiction/

5. I don’t have the same disdain for public education as many on Substack do, but I will admit that discourse today would have been more balanced, and far more sane, had any American youths been writing book reports on The Horror at Red Hook rather than To Kill a Mockingbird for the last fifty years.

6. Joshi, S. T. (2015, February 27). Robert Dunbar on Lovecraft. S. T. Joshi - Blog from 2015. http://stjoshi.org/news2015.html

7. Lovecraft, H. P. (1976) [sent November 10, 1936]. "To Wilfred Blanch Talman". In Derleth, August; Wandrei, Donald (eds.). Selected Letters. Vol. V. Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House. pp. 407–408.

8. Ibid.