1 Followers
20 Following
writertomg

Thomas Gaffney

Currently reading

The Once and Future King
T.H. White
Words of Radiance
Brandon Sanderson
Suite Française
Irène Némirovsky, Sandra Smith

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories - H.P. Lovecraft, S.T. Joshi Dagon: Excellent, but way too short. The Sci-Fi Channel movie "Dagon" was NOT based on this story.
The Statement of Randolph Carter: Also excellent. HP can create more terror in 7 pages than most people in 700 pages.
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family: Very good. I expected the ending to incorporate the Dagon/Cthulhu mythos (it didn't) but I was still pleasantly surprised.
Celephais: Okay. His "dream"-type stories aren't the best. I'm wondering if the galley in the story is the same from "The White Ship".
Nyarlathotep: Sucked. Uh, did anything even happen in this story?
The Picture in the House:Awesome story. Like all of his best, it builds and builds until you're totally freaked out at the end.
The Outsider: Thought I had read this before and I was correct. Very good, even if predictable at the end.
Herbert West - Reanimator: Awesome, even if reading the series together tends to get repetitive.
The Hound: Hm. I put in another HP review that I didn't care for The Hound. But upon re-reading it, I do find it quite enjoyable. Not his best, but not one of his clunkers either.
The Rats in the Walls: Excellent! Very creepy, even though you can figure out what's coming. Tough to read in this day and age cause of the cat's name.
The Festival: Had read this before, but reread it and it was still awesome. You feel as unsettled as the narrator as things progress.
He:
Cool Air: One of my favorite Lovecraft stories. Creepy and terrifying set up with an awesome/gross payoff.
The Call of Cthulhu: What can I say? THE ultimate Lovecraft story of all time. With the most awesomest, bad-assed creature ever. Everyone must read this once.
The Colour out of Space: A tad longish. Could have used some editing. But overall, VERY creepy and the ending payoff hits perfectly.
The Whisperer in Darkness: At 60+ pages, probably the longest Lovecraft story that I have made it through, although it DID slow in pace and get boring in the middle there. He could have cut down on the correspondence section between the 2 main characters a bit. But good overall, and part (kind of) of the Cthulhu mythos. I would recommend reading it, and not skipping over it.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Spoke too quickly about Whisperer there. Innsmouth is also 60+ pages and this is the second time that I've read this terribly awesome story. Ranks up there with Cthulhu as a must-read for Lovecraft fans. Fantastic!
The Haunter of the Dark: Very creepy! Fits perfectly with the tone of the other works. And a nice way to end an EXCELLENT collection of Lovecraft stories.

Best Lovecraft collection that I've read so far.