Reddit mentions: The best horror anthology books

I would say the three you listed are definitely canonical, with Mieville and Vandermeer being considered part of the "New Weird" revival. I think really Jeff and Anne VanderMeer's anthology has most of what would be canonical, along with some more obscure stuff that is important but not widely known.

You can view the authors in that anthology here at this Amazon preview and it's well worth having on your book shelf.

There are certainly important writers who were omitted either by necessity or for other reasons, but it's a great starting point for such a discussion. I for one was surprised William Hope Hodgson, Ambrose Bierce, and Walter De La Mare were not included amongst the older authors in that anthology, and I was a little surprised also that it did not go a little further back, historically, with something like a Poe short story or an excerpt from Melmoth the Wanderer. I would think of Hodgson, Bierce, and de la Mare as canonical, but they were omitted. Oh well, it's impossible to do something like that perfectly.

For what it's worth, my favorite, and in my opinion, those that should be considered modern canon, of the newer weird authors are: K.J. Bishop, Kelly Link, M. John Harrison, and Michael Cisco, in addition to Mieville and Vandermeer. My favorite older ones are De La Mare, Franz Kafka (my favorite author of all time right here), and Jean Ray. I think Kelly Link probably has the most staying power of the more recent authors, while Bishop and Cisco are less recognizable even if they are important. I'd also throw in Ligotti as important to the field, though that's more based on impression and word of mouth than direct experience as I've only read one of his stories. People seem to love that elusive fellow.

Some authors from the middling period (I'd estimate 1940s-1970s) that I would say are most canonical are Daphne du Maurier, Charles Beaumont (wrote for Twilight Zone), Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury. I was also surprised that Matheson was not included in that anthology. I think that in a lot of cases, stories by those authors are well-known and have become important cultural markers, even if the author's names are sometimes forgotten. Almost everybody is familiar with Jackson's "The Lottery," even if they don't read weird lit. Almost everybody is familiar with one of du Maurier's stories, even if they don't know it (The Birds, Don't Look Now). I think that's an important marker of considering if something is important to a genre because it acts in a kind of ambassadorial fashion. Likewise with someone like Kafka: he wrote very weird stories, and he was so talented at it that a new word was coined to describe something with that particular weird quality that his stories had.

Most of the authors that Centipede Press chooses for its fancy editions should probably also be considered part of the canon, though they do also put out hard-boiled crime fiction and straight-up horror sometimes. S.T. Joshi, who is an important editor in the field, puts out his Library of Weird Fiction series through Centipede, so you can look through those authors as important staples which are in some cases not included in the anthology I linked above.

EDIT - Expanded a bit

I'm going to interpret your question a little bit differently and provide some books that are not directly RPG related but will help you to be a better role-player or Game Master. Then, I will finish off with some more RPG specific suggestions.

The essential reads are the following:

• All of HP Lovecraft
  
• Anything you can read from Tolkien
  
• Robert E. Howards stories about Conan the Cimmerian
  
• Fantasy/Sci-Fi Art Collections (subjective based upon the styles that inspire you and that reflect your campaigns)
  
• Collections of Legend or Mythology
  
• A book or two about acting and/or improvisation, I recommend Impro: Improvisation and the Theater
  
  For GM-specific materials, I really love the spirit conveyed by Dungeon World and Fate Core (and the Fate System Toolkit for that matter). If you learn nothing else from Dungeon World, learn the GM principles and how to set up Fronts. Fronts (or something similar) are the way you should be preparing as a GM that very few other books convey. The Alexandrian has a lot of amazing materials. I know that Play Unsafe was recommended here, but it was a little short and basic for my taste... much of the same principles will be covered by reading the other recommended texts in my post. If you absolutely must learn about improvisation as a skill in and of itself, read Impro. The author of Play Unsafe drew heavily from this text and most of the truly unique ideas can be found within Impro.

First, I don't really recommend mass market paperbacks, get a trade if you can, they're much more comfortable to read. The collections published by Del Rey are really good, and you can know you have some continuity (and aren't buying the same stories) because all the covers are works of either HR Geiger or the Polish (or Hungarian?) surrealist whose name escapes me. I can't remember if these are only HP Lovecraft or if they also include Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and his other contemporaries. Purists detest Derleth because he took the Mythos in his own direction, but his stories are still very good, very different from Lovecraft (which is refreshing when it comes to his proteges and colleagues), and without his work none of Lovecraft's stories would've survived into today--he founded Arkham House dedicated to publishing all Cthulhu Mythos stories.

The Penguin Classics collections are really nice as well.

An individual book that I cannot recommend more is this one. It is a Barnes & Noble collection of Lovecraft's Dream Cycle stories, they are much longer (novella-length), very involved, and have a whole mythology unto their own. The scenery and Lovecraft's descriptions of the dreamlands and Antarctic wastes are so engrossing, haunting, and yet beautiful, it is difficult to put down. I have read very few stories with such intensely vivid imagery, and his dream cycle stories do not disappoint.

As a fellow Lovecraft fanboy, welcome to a literary world that will consume you. If you are interested, one of my firsts forays into Lovecraftian literature was The Colour Out of Space, which somehow made me physically ill while I read it one morning as a young kid (I was probably 14 at the time, spending a summer with my dad and I was regularly up till 4 or 5 am reading Lovecraft's stories and playing the wonderful MUD over telnet).

Here is a link to an online collection of Lovecraft's work. I, too, prefer books to reading online, so I completely understand.

This book is a great collection. Just read the whole thing. The "Call of Cthulu" is in there of course, but related Cthulu mythology is peppered liberally though-out so much of his work that you'd miss out on all kinds of fun referenes to it to just read the "This is clearly about Cthulu" stories. All his stuff is great to read anyways, really fun and exciting. You also would be sore to miss other Lovecraftian stuff that has influenced pop-culture but you maybe just don't know it yet.

PS

I see this particular collection in used (as well as new of course) book store all of the time. It's easy to find, is usually cheap and seems pretty thorough. But really, any decent sized collection of this stories is going to work just fine.

I would recommend The Weird, edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer. It's a huge anthology, worth every single penny! You can not go wrong there.

Here is a link to one of my favorite shorts, which can also be found in The Weird by the way. It's called The Night Wire by H.F. Arnold. Very weird & eerie!

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Night_Wire

You could also check out The Dark Descent edited by David Hartwell, as it is also a huge anthology with quite a few "weird" pieces included. I have an anthology called American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates, which looks pretty cool. Not sure if any of the shorts are southern gothic though. I just recently bought that anthology you mentioned and I love it!

Here is another anthology which is pretty well loved by everyone it seems, especially Peter Straub. It's called Great Tales Of Terror And The Supernatural, edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise. It's an old one, but amazon has new copies of the reprint which is where I bought mine. Kind of a smaller hardback, a bit smaller than a book club edition, but really thick & awesome! I'll leave a link so you can check it out! My favorite story out of the bunch was Taboo by Geoffrey Household.

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Terror-Supernatural-Modern-Library/dp/0679601287/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12OX4FJQZ21IK&keywords=great+tales+of+terror+and+the+supernatural&qid=1560355185&s=books&sprefix=great+tales+of+ter%2Cstripbooks%2C213&sr=1-1

That's the one edited by Robert Price? Definitely worth it, as are pretty much all of the compilations he's put together over the years (most, if not all, of Chaosium's fiction lineup, and a number of related books published by others). It covers a lot of territory, from the earlier stories by Ambrose Bierce and Arthur Machen that inspired both Chambers and Lovecraft, some of the most important works from the younger members of Lovecraft's circle (including James Blish's hugely important "More Light," which is quite difficult to find elsewhere these days, and August Derleth's "The Return of Hastur" which... isn't difficult to find at all, but is still significant). The only really downside is that it duplicates a lot of stuff easily available elsewhere, including the two best short stories from Chamber's The King in Yellow collection and Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness," but it's probably still worth it despite that, and it's a convenient volume even so. And, for my money, Karl Wagner's "The River of Night's Dreaming" is worth the price of admission by itself.

I would also recommend Rehearsals for Oblivion, which is a similar short story collection, but one that focuses exclusively on more modern works and is curated to emphasize Chamber's work and not Lovecraft's. As such, it contains a lot of very, very good stories that would likely be overlooked in more Cthulhu-centric compilations.

There's also In the Court of the Yellow King, which I haven't read so I can't vouch for it personally. But it does have the benefit of having a Kindle version available, unlike the above two collections, which makes it considerably cheaper if you don't mind reading on a digital device. And Joseph S. Pulver has edited no less than three Hastur/King in Yellow-centric short story compilations: A Season in Carcosa, Cassilda's Song, and The King in Yellow Tales Vol. 1. Haven't read any of these, either (though they're up next on my reading list, funnily enough), but, again, all available as Kindle eBooks, and the last one, in particular, is dirt cheap in that format.

Haven't checked in here in a while! Got back from Europe with the fiance a month ago, Ireland and Stockholm were amazing. Totally fell in love with both of them. Currently looking for a new job, have an interview with a company in the Sears Tower this coming Monday. Today, I'm hanging at the hospital working remotely with my dad while my mom has a double heart valve transplant.

Other than that, been reading a lot of Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos story compilation books. Currently reading this one and loving it, also have a copy of 'New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird' to read featuring the story 'A Colder War.' Can anyone recommend more books like those?

Hope you all are well! Other than that, my band Plague of Carcosa is opening for Feral Light in January in Chicago. Anyone planning on being there?

The Best of Roald Dahl - a great collection of short stories.

The Portable Door by Tom Holt - funny & a good story.

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich - fast-paced, entertaining non-fiction.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby - better than the movie. Easy read, funny.

I enjoy Clive Barker's books. The Hellbound Heart is the basis for the Hellraiser films. There are so many to list but off the top of my head The Great and Secret Show, The Books of Blood, The Damnation Game, and Weaveworld are all great stories. The Thief of Always, while a childrens book, is also a good read. Enjoy and good luck

Lovecraft himself would probably reject the idea of an official cannon for his mythos. He was ambiguous about everything, re-using names in contradictory fashion all the time. He was happy to have his friends add stories to the colective "Yog-Sothothery" as he referred to the mythos, simply because he enjoyed reading them and watching his creations grow through the contributions of others. It wasn't until after his death that Derleth thought to try and definitively codify the mythos, and he did a generally poor job of it, tying each great old one to an element and creating such silly ideas as oppositional deities and magic that would thwart all mythos creatures.

Honestly, the closest thing to canon that exists for the mythos as it exists today is probably the Call of Cthulhu rpg by Chaosium. Much of the modern interpretation of the monsters and gods that Lovecraft dreamed up are a direct result of the published works of that game.

As far as Hastur and the King in Yellow, they are even harder to define than almost any other entity that is accepted as part of the mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benevolent god of Shepherds. It wasn't until Robert Chambers' 'The King in Yellow' that Hastur and the eponymous king would become associated, and as was previously mentioned, that is a collection of short stories wherein Hastur is at times both a place and an entity, and the King a sort of herald of Doom.

In modern Chaosium usage, Hastur is an almost unfathomable great old one and the king is his avatar, a form that is comprehensible to mortals. They are associated with a the play 'le Roi en Jaune' (the king in yellow) which drives those who read/see it mad. They are associated with the mythical city of Carcosa, on the shores of lake Hali and the constellation of the Hyades.

There are two pretty good fiction collections by Chaosium that focus on Hastur/the King in yellow:

The Hastur Cycle

Cassilda's Song

Edit: spelling and grammar

When I started getting into Lovecraft, I bought the Del Rey paperbacks. They were affordable and had great art on the covers. And I prefer a small paperback to a big hardback. Big ol' hardbacks are cool and all, but it's so much nicer to just sit with a little paperback; they're lighter, easier to hold, and take up less space when taking them somewhere else to read.

These are the ones I was getting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I really love the art on these. Here are some more images of it. I'm pretty sure there was a compilation featuring Dagon that used a detail with the big, red eye.

The complete works of H P Lovecraft is available as one hardback book on Amazon with a nice sturdy case, thin bible-style pages and a page ribbon. It's a great buy.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015

This review speaks for itself:

"I originally read most of these stories a quarter of a century ago, but it was good to find them all in one volume. Let's face it, Lovecraft needs to be read from a heavy tome, preferably by guttering candlelight, as you strain to hear the strange slithering sound just outside your chamber door, and not on a tablet on the 8.52 to Nottingham. All the classic Lovecraft tales are here, and the book is beautifully bound and printed. The print is a good readable size, and each tale has a brief introduction detailing when it was written and any interesting references. You soon realise how hugely influential old H.P was, sci-fi, fantasy and horror have all learned from him, writers like Stephen King and James Herbert obviously so, but others too. Terry Pratchett referenced Lovecraft too. One slight word of caution, the racial language and descriptions in some of the stories are very much of their time. When I first read them years ago I didn't notice so much, but now, even though I'm not the most PC person in the world, some of the language is fairly shocking. If you've not read Lovecraft before be aware of it, but don't let it put you off. Overall a really nice edition."

I love short stories! I have a quite of books that are short story collections from a mix of genre (namely horror/fantasy/sci-fi). I'd highly recommend checking out the podcast "LeVar Burton Reads" for free readings of short stories from a variety of authors and genres. I think he does an awesome job reading the stories! I frequently look up the authors after listening to a story and reading more of their works.

For audiobooks I've listened to and recommend:

Octavia E Butler's Bloodchild (and other stories)

Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie (and other stories) (LeVar Burton reads a short story from here in his podcast)

Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology

A couple of authors I can think of off hand that I've purchased (and enjoyed) short story collections (but didn't listen to) are: Stephen King, Charlie Jane Anders, Haruki Murakami, and Ursula K. Le Guin

This is the collection I ended up with. It doesn't have everything, but it has all of the best stuff. EDIT: plus these Gollancz collections are the prettiest. There are a couple of Conan ones that I highly recommend.

This is another good one. It's a collection of stuff that edited, reworked or completely rewrote for other authors, so there's a lot of his voice in it, only with a wider range of styles and themes.

The Library of America one is a nice hardcover with a great collection and some decent contextual biographical information. They do good work, and it gives Lovecraft legitimacy that they did an edition for him.

http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723

I also HIGHLY recommend audio versions. Talented reader + Lovecraft = amazing.

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! :)

Favorite books include the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. No one turns classic fantasy tropes on their ear and makes me consistently laugh out loud like he does. Particular highlights of that series include any books featuring Death and his granddaughter Susan, and the men of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch. I use the term "men" loosely. Good Omens, the book he co-authored with Neil Gaiman, is one of my all-time favorites. As far as other fantasy goes, I'm a big fan of Michael Moorcock's work, in particular the Elric series and the Books of Corum. Stephen Lawhead's Song of Albion trilogy is a favorite as well. It's about two Oxford students who discover a magic portal to an ancient version of the British Isles. Focuses on Celtic mythology a great deal. Very different from your typical Tolkien-inspired contemporary fantasy. Though yes... of course, I'm also a fan of George R.R. Martin. It's almost a chore to mention these days that I love his Song of Ice & Fire, because basically everybody does. Guess there's a reason for that though.

Outside of fantasy, I like a few sci-fi authors, but not too many. I enjoy storytelling that focuses on character far more than it does on technology, so hard sci-fi isn't really my thing. Though I fucking love cyberpunk. Gibson and Stephenson especially. The purists would say Stephenson is post-cyberpunk, but seriously, fuck purists. IMO, Snow Crash is the pinnacle of the genre, and one of the very best books I've ever read. It's got a main character named Hiro Protagonist (really) who's a genius hacker and programmer/swordsman, who delivers pizza for the mafia. He's one of the architects of the Metaverse, basically the Matrix before the Matrix. There's also a big huge Aluet dude who uses glass knives that can cut through anything. And he's got a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorcycle that will go off if he's ever killed. There's just so much crazy shit in that book, like rocket-powered cyberdogs and a massive floating shantytown hitched to a derelict aircraft carrier, and so much more I really don't have time to get into. But it's completely awesome from beginning to end. Currently reading The Diamond Age by Stephenson, which could be considered a follow-up to Snow Crash set in that world's future. Not a sequel though.

Another of my favorite books is World War Z. Even if you're not the horror aficionado I am, or you're sick of zombies, this book is kind of amazing. It discusses the effects of a zombie apocalypse in so many ways most people would never think of. It's easy to see why it was so hard to adapt into a movie. They basically didn't even bother adapting it. The movie is an entirely different animal, so even if you've seen it, you're spoiling nothing of the book.

And I can't mention horror without bringing up H.P. Lovecraft, one of my all-time favorite authors. He invented cosmic horror, and you can see his influence in so many other works out there today. Get yourself a collection of his stuff and just enjoy the trip. Also, House of Leaves is a pretty fantastic horror novel that I finally just got around to finishing recently.

That new book is pretty spiffy looking, it's redundant with what I own but if I didn't own Necronomicon and Eldritch Tales already, I would have bought that.

There's a nice book that has a few annotated stories of Lovecraft that's where I tell people to start. I'm pretty emphatic about it when making recommendations. It's cheaper on amazon than the big collections, helps you out with his self-referencing nature at first and some of the words he uses often. That's where I would start:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/0440506603/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410744339&sr=8-2&keywords=annotated+lovecraft
There's no consensus of 'best' Lovecraft but what's in this volume definitely epitomizes his writing style. It's where I started, and he's one of my favorite authors now.

I recommend picking up some of the anthology books that are frequently published. I have a number of them, and they have turned me onto a lot of great authors. I recommend New Cthulhu I, New Cthulhu II, and anything edited by Ross E. Lockhart.

Some standout stories that come to mind:

• "Old Virginia" - Laird Barron (the first one of his I read, I became a huge fan, great stuff)
  
• "Bad Sushi" - Cherie Priest
  
• "Take Me To The River" - Paul McAuley
  
• "Another Fish Story" - Kim Newman (one of my favorite stories ever, most of his short stories are really good).
  

The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns

Lolly Willowes : Or the Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner

The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf

Don't Look Now: The Selected Stories of Daphne du Maurier

I'm a pretty big fan of NYRB lol. Has your friend read The Sundial by Shirley Jackson?

I've read it, it's pretty fantastic. I read it in a really great anthology of Lovecraft-inspired stories called The New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird. It's great, it's a door-stopper, though.

I would suggest buying H.P. Lovecraft: Tales and just starting from the first story. It begins with "The Statement of Randolph Carter" which is a quick and interesting read. Some of the earlier ones are "The Outsider" and "The Music of Erich Zann" (which used to be my personal favorite) and they are a good introduction to his style. Then you'll be ready for things like "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "The Shadow Out of Time," and then "At the Mountains of Madness." I would not suggest reading The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It's his only full-length novel and it's just...not his best, at all.

Sure thing!

• Metal Gear Solid - I am almost finished with this book. It is very detailed about everything, I highly recommend it.
  
  
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - I will be reading it shortly.
  
  
• Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots - Different author, but I am still excited to read it.
  
  
• Metal Gear Solid Omnibus - Graphic novel, I enjoyed it.
  
  
• The Complete Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty - Another graphic novel, I am going to start it before I read the 2nd book.
  
  
  Unfortunately there is nothing for Snake Eater :-/

This book of Stephen King short stories. I'm pretty sure I've read it before but I honestly don't know because it's so hard to keep track of King's compilation books. And if I have, I still want it because I love his short stories.

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.

Does your friend like specific types of horror or does he just love every aspect of the genre?

Without knowing any specifics, here are a couple of things I would recommend anyway:
http://www.amazon.com/Books-Blood-Vols-Clive-Barker/dp/0425165582 Some of the best horror short stories writen.

http://www.fullmoondirect.com/ Possibly a subscription to their movie vault or one of their many gifts would be good if they like campy B-movies and off-shoot films.

Dagon is brilliant but if you do get into the stories and would rather read a physical book

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527068354&sr=8-2&keywords=lovecraft+complete

I have this and it's glorious, pretty cheap for a book of this quality too, got it for xmas a couple of years ago.

Fucking great story huh?

Try reading Points of View for some short stories that'll blow your hair back.

Also read Brave new World by Huxley. And anything from Kurt Vonnegut.

Reading will change your life.

EDIT: Also check out Stephen Kings short story collection Night Shift. Its all the short stories he used to write for magazines and such before he became famous. This stuff is fascinating, and it's not all horror.

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.

>"Teen Paranormal Romance," that's something I would very much like to stay away from

Amen to that!
Midnight Blue by Nancy A. Collins (It is her 3 Sonja Blue novels in one volume). These are my all time favorite vampire books, and I'm incredibly picky. Midnight Blue is everything vampire novels should be. Fuck you, Twilight. I believe on the back of the book a reviewer calls it "dark, doomed, punk, metal-fanged romance at its best!" Deliciously disturbing urban fantasy!

For a less intense, but still great, read: Sunshine, by Robin McKinley.

I love the Lovecrat concepts, but his style is sometimes hit or miss. If you like modern author's playing with the concepts, I think this is the best anthology: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Cthulhu-Ross-Lockhart/dp/1597802328

I recently bought the Library of America collection of Lovecraft's tales. I've been told it is an excellent entry point, although I've also been warned that it will leave me hungry for more! Nevertheless, it contains what are most popularly considered the "major" works of Lovecraft, including the Cthulu cycle. I am quite happy with it :)

Thanks, I guess I will read them once I finish reading my current collection. Wanted to purchase the box set but they seem to be out of stock for season 1. If you plan on buying the rest, I would recommend the box set, seems like a good deal (well at least here in Canada).

https://www.amazon.ca/Monogatari-Box-Set-Season-2/dp/1949980065/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BIZI7MRHW78E&keywords=monogatari+box+set&qid=1574312952&sprefix=monogata%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1

There are two Raymond Benson novels (MGS1, MGS2) then there's the one by Project Itoh for MGS4 (which I heard is really good).

There's also an artbook by Ashley Wood. Then there is the Metal Gear Solid Omnibus which is the comic series of MGS1 and MGS2 by a few writers with Ashley Wood's art. There's also the Deluxe Collection but it's pricey and I'm not exactly sure what makes it different from the Omnibus.

I think any Metal Gear Solid fan who doesn't own these would definitely appreciate them. I know I would.

I am reading Dreamfever: The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning. I was gifted the first book in the series from my Redditgifts Book Exchange. I love the Fae world the Moning creates. Awesome series and very unexpected. I really want to read Stephen King's new book.
You ALL still have Zoidberg!
http://www.amazon.com/Joyland-Hard-Case-Crime-Stephen/dp/1781162646/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2R59WNA4Q002H&coliid=I2JI8R54JL9URV

This is not written by Lovecraft, but I really enjoyed it. Collection of short stories by different authors, good ones. Sherlock Holmes crossover as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Baker-Street-Michael-Reaves/dp/0345455282

Would help if we knew a little something about the type of books you liked to read.

Without knowing, I will simply suggest Midnight Blue : The Sonja Blue Collection since it has bits of everything in it. Horror, comedy, love, drama...

My husband turned me onto this book and he is not an avid reader so, since he suggested it to me, I knew it might be something special and, well, I think it was. Took me a little to get into it but, once I did, oh wow.

Barker's [Books of Blood.] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425165582/) I think it's volume three that has a story called "Son of Celluloid." First Barker I ever read and it's pretty awesome. If you can find it they once made a comic of it, too. Kind of cool.

In that case you may want to check out some of the annotated editions. I know ST Joshi's Annotated Lovecraft (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) are popular here. This annotated collection by Klinger looks solid as well, and includes more illustrations than Joshi's. Neither of these are 100% complete collections but are pretty close and cover all of the best/most popular/most influential writings. I'm not sure there are any annotated editions that include all of his works.

Ellen Datlow is phenomenal and has edited a ton of really great work. Another standout I think would be Jeff and Ann VanderMeer who edited the outstanding collection The Weird among other things. One of my personal favorites is Thomas F. Monteleone for editing the Borderlands series (I had the White Wolf editions), which contains so many masterfully bizarre and memorable stories and is probably my top collection/series of all time.

I like my anthologies to contain multiple authors across multiple eras, and to provide an overview of the field from some particular perspective.

The classic anthology is Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural a massive 1000+ page stunner that is a great primer for the genre, focusing on earlier work.

Ellen Datlow's Darkness is a great anthology for the 80s - 2000s.

Joyce Carol Oates edited a fantastic history of American gothic fiction, called, not surprisingly American Gothic Tales starting with Washington Irving and ending with Stephen King.

And for a taste of horror from a more modern perspective (while including a lot of classic stories) The Weird is a really terrific overview.

I would suggest The Music of Erich Zann. (you might guess that's one of my faves.)

Also: Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a good one that I don't see mentioned enough.

There are a bunch of his works here. Read at your leisure.


Here are some print collections of his work that you might like if you prefer reading paper instead of a screen.


(and as you noted, the ones in the sidebar are indeed a perfect place to start, they are some of the best.)

Book

The new Stephen King would be awesome. Thanks for the contest :)

It's all open domain so you can read it all legally online if you ever wish to.

If you're like me and can't stand reading on screen as opposed to on paper, there are a lot of great collections out there, this is the one I have.

How about this? I've never read it but I have been wanting to. :)

Edit: Buy it used. :)

If you can track down a copy of The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (ed. S. T. Joshi) then get that. It's a great cross section of Lovecraft's work and the footnotes are both fascinating and invaluable.

Specific stories to track down, my favorites would be The Colour Out of Space, At The Mountains of Madness, and The Dunwich Horror. Heresy to not say The Call of C'thulu, I know, but it's actually a middling read, IMO, even if the climax is famous. Those three (which are, incidentally, all in the first volume of the Joshi collection) are probably the best written.

Here's the Joshi collection on Amazon (note that the description on that page is for volume 2).

There's a few floating around on Amazon that look like decent hardcover editions, like this.

That said, I do second u/GreatStoneSkull's suggestion for the Leslie Klinger edition (or the three Penguin Classics volumes edited by S.T. Joshi) even if it doesn't include every single story Lovecraft ever wrote; I personally find that annotations enrich my reading experience, especially for a weird antiquarian like Lovecraft so I'd suggest maybe it's better to trade completeness for judicious annotations.

If you want something in actual print, this is a good collection. The books a good quality and its a nice shelf piece if thats your thing.

If you're up for an anthology of shorts, I just finished Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Here it is on Amazon

You could get a hold of it and see which of the authors you like and then go from there. Pretty good selection.

Pick up H.P. Lovecraft: Tales and read "Call of Cthulhu" first. While not his absolute best short story, it's the ideal starting point. My favorite is "The Shadow Out of Time", which is also included in that collection.

The thing about Lovecraft is that you'll probably love him or hate him. It all comes down to whether or not you like his writing style. "Call of Cthulhu" will give you a good introduction.

I'd suggest starting off with short stories, specifically The Best of Roald Dahl

What got me into reading after that were topics that seemed counter-intuitive. They would always get my attention and make me want to keep reading.

Dan Ariely's series on irrationality is a good one. Start with Predictably Irrational.
Also Malcolm Gladwell's books are awesome. I'd start with The Tipping Point.

Buy this one: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015

It's very cheap for a very good looking hardcover/tome. Fit's the lovecraft mood perfectly. Bought a similar one for Edgar allan Poe

I like the various Del Ray anthologies. This one is a good place to start:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804

"The Rats In The Walls" is a good story to start with. And, coincidentally, it's the first story in that book, IIRC.

I'll suggest "The Rats in the Wall," and also "The Colour out of Space," "Innsmouth" and "Erich Zann." Here is a very good paperback introduction to Lovecraft, with an excellent essay by Robert Bloch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345350804?pc_redir=1409138655&robot_redir=1

Also, as you're an adult now, you should probably check out his adult short stories. The man was delightfully twisted. :)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Roald-Dahl/dp/0679729917

I bought this collection. I have not finished it but so far there have been some great stories.

The Weird-It is easily the best anthology I've ever come across.

Loving my first season box set as well!

Just a heads up that Season 2 is available for Pre-order and is coming out December 17th!

I'd suggest starting here. From there I'd read the rest of the Cthulhu mythos and then dive into the Dream Cycle. As for people like him, he had a lot of friends who wrote stories in his worlds and their own weird tales like Clark Ashton Smith or Robert Bloch.

Avoid the August Derleth stuff. He tries to change the mythos into something else. Also if anyone tries to give you a Brian Lumley book telling you it's Lovecraftian, punch them and then hurl the book as far away from you as possible.

Just bought this collection on amazon to get back into reading. Love it so far!

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was pretty good, it has a few Lovecraft stories interlaced with other mythos stories from people in the circle. I especially enjoyed Robert Bloch's stories, "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" being one of the few pieces of weird fiction that genuinely scared me. Lovecraft "Haunter of the Dark" and Bloch's "Shadow from the Steeple" actually directly reference each other.

I think it is quite difficult to jump into reading Lovecraft directly. I have trouble after not reading for a while too. What I have found is start small. Start with Lovecraftian stories, perhaps some stories from A Curious and Lonely Country, or maybe something you pick up at the Library. The story by Michael Shea called Fat Face (despite the title) is really good and has a more modern flow than Lovecraft, which can be found in this book.

I would say get an anthology, pick a short story and dive in. Don't read the book start to finish. You can surely find reviews online which will tell you which stories are great and which ones to avoid.

Then once you have done that, try a shorter, easier to digest Lovecraft story like The Rats in the Walls, The Outsider or Herbert West-Reanimator. Don't start with big ones like Call of Ctulhu or At the Mountains of Madness until you get really comfortable with Lovecraft's style. But if you like this style of horror, you will begin to get a feel for his storytelling and you won't be able to devour Lovecraftian horror fast enough to satiate the gnawing desire for more weird fiction!

It isn't something you can jump into, but believe me it is worth it. You can do it.

The Library of America collection (it's called "Tales") is, apparently, the definitive collection of his short stories. It's hard back and written on papery-thin bible-esque pages (which I find mildly annoying), but it has all of his essential stories. If you're into short horror fiction, you will not be disappointed - he is my absolute favorite. (http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t/184-6430677-0677735) If you're not sure whether or not you want to drop the $25 outright, his writings have all fallen into the public domain, and are available for free online. (http://www.hplovecraft.com/)

Potentially off-topic, but there's also a game by the name of "Call of Cthulhu" for the original Xbox system. The game is based upon his story, "The Nightmare at Innsmouth," and it's a lot of fun. If you dig Lovecraft, it's an essential play-through.

Sounds like you're thinking of "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" by Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, May 1951). A very creepy and atmospheric story, it helped to popularize the modern Shub-Niggurath, especially since Chaosium cribbed from it to create their "dark young" CoC creatures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook_Found_in_a_Deserted_House



I first read "Notebook" in the Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos collection from Del Rey, available here:
www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/

This is the one I picked up almost 25 years ago, and it's still in print: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345350804/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-JzMzbYBQ0WT5

It has a great selection of stories!

Neil Gaiman has several short story collections that have pretty good horror stories, and some of China Mieville's stories like Perdido Street Station have horror elements to them. If you like short stories check out New Cthulhu. Not only is it a collection of Lovecraft-esque stories, but it has some of the creepiest stories I've ever read (Tsathougga, Details). Also try the Best New Horror short story collections; find a story you like and find more of the author's work.

The Weird is one of my favorite collections of Weird stories. It's a behemoth, but well worth it imo.

Another voice for yes. I really enjoyed their compendium of strange and dark stories "The Weird"

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.

It's not complete, it is missing the poems, and a few stories he did as collaborations. This and this, contain more than the one you've given.

I have all three, the complete fiction is a much, much nicer edition than the two I linked, and while it is missing the poems, it is still a great buy for the price. Also, you should buy the one directly from amazon, not the third party.

...years ago I bought a huge compendium of weird horror fiction. That was the first time I read Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now"
...then, I had a professor, who loves the Criterion Collection, tell me about the film when it released on CC. I had no idea there was a movie too. :) Now, I love it.

With the first volume of the three-volume Ballantine Books complete-Lovecraft anthology: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. It's got all of the important stories except for the Dream Saga in one volume. The second volume collects all the Dream Saga; the third volume collects Lovecraft's early fiction, when he was still developing his style.

+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.

If you are talking about Lovecraftian style storywriting from authors other than Lovecraft, you have plenty to choose from. There are several books which lump together some of the best works from authors that contribute to or are influenced by the "mythos" including Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos and The Children of Cthulhu

I started with this story collection and I would definitely recommend it to someone just starting out. It has a lot of variety in stories and the rest of that "series" would get you through his works and a lot of the works he edited.

Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft. I can't believe his works aren't adapted to film more often. He is a master at creating settings and allowing the reader to visualize. Cthuluhu is one of my favorite stories of his.

don't look now

the big clock

the chrysalids

warlock

of those, warlock was the best.

I've seen quite a few weird fiction readers in /r/printsf. I'll ask if I can advertise there.

I just finished Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural and it was excellent. Last week I also read Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I haven't decided what to read next. I was looking at Dark Descent or a collection of Kafka stories which includes one of my favorite weird stories, In the Penal Colony.

It's completely fine if you decided not to, I just wanted to ask! My father just took me away for a few days, and I wanted to get him this book as a thank you. It's the newest [Steven King book, Joyland] (http://www.amazon.com/Joyland-Stephen-King/dp/1781162646/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=H3UAQXLVXPOM&coliid=I2AHFU3DJTXJZX) found on my "For My Parents List."

Here, Kitty Kitty!

Looks like it is all there :)

I personally ended up buying his collection for my birthday, cost me 20 euros but worth every penny.

https://www.amazon.de/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015 It was this one.

Top 5 off those shelves would be:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Alt History detective novel by a Pulitzer winner
http://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Novel-P-S/dp/0007149832
The Atrocity Archives - Lovecraftian spy thriller and IT hell
http://www.amazon.com/Atrocity-Archives-Laundry-Files-Novel/dp/0441016685/
Books of Blood - A compilation of Clive Barker's nasty little 80s horror anthologies
http://www.amazon.com/Books-Blood-Vols-Clive-Barker/dp/0425165582/
Perdido Street Station - Steampunky fantasy with excellent worldbuilding that's apparently a good example of the New Weird, whatever that is and however it differes from the Old Weird
http://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-China-Mieville/dp/0345459407
American Gods - Gaiman's mythology based urban fantasy; a modern classic
http://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0380789035

As for the Weird Tales collection, it's Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors. It sets out to present the best tale from each year of the magazine's original run. Published in 1988 and edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz (as if the eldritch gods didn't inject enough unpronounceable names into the mix) you've got everyone from Isaac Asimov to Seabury Quinn to good ol' HPL himself with "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"
http://www.amazon.com/Weird-Tales-32-Unearthed-Terrors/dp/0517661233
Not quite the $1 deal I got from the library sale, but not as outrageous as some of the out of print prices on Amazon.

Books of Blood by Clive Barker. Excellent compendium of short stories. A good variety of scary stuff, low commitment.

amazon link

Joyland! is a new novel by Stephen King that just came out earlier this month. Definitely worth a read!

Well we are quite different (I have mostly baby and girly stuff lol), but I think you would like this

I really enjoyed the anthology of New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird. It slips and slides from genre to genre, and generally speaking, the writing is impeccable, as is the treatment of the mythos itself.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35ZJ3M4AF1SX6&keywords=the+complete+fiction+of+h.p.+lovecraft&qid=1570468382&sprefix=the+complete+fictio%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-1

​

This book is relatively cheap and very beautiful, and is arguably the most complete collection of Lovecraft stories.

This one is my favorite. But, if cost is a concern, note that there are links to a free PDF/e-book collection in the sidebar of this sub.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X

This anthology contains one of my all-time favorite stories set in that universe- The Freshman by Philip Jose Farmer.

Also Crouch End from Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes!

The complete fiction of HP Lovecraft £17

Errol Morris DVD Collection £12.50

What football team does he support?

https://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Fiction-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/1631060015

I've got this one, it's really nice

This one for mythos stories not by Lovecraft: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=07402S2M9VWP3J7ZKT1H

This one for mythos stories by Lovecraft: http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1397149990&sr=8-13&keywords=lovecraft

I've loaned these two volumes to start any friend who wanted to get into cosmic horror. Enjoy.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was (I think) the first anthology dedicated to the Mythos, edited by Derleth. It's got Lovecraft and others, with both classic stories and some more recent ones (the version I linked to is revised, which removed a few of the 60's stories and replaced them with others).

Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne du Maurier. Found through the Guardian's book club. Good collection for Halloween.

Ann and Jeff VanderMeer did a pair of anthologies, The New Weird and The Weird that are a good place, I think, to start.

I have the library of America edition too, it's a good inexpensive hardcover collection of a lot of his major stories.

http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261864434&sr=8-1

Stephen King has a book coming out in June of next year. It's a supernatural thriller set in an amusement park, Joyland.

The order I would suggest would be:

The Necronomicon

• Dagon (Ch. 1)
  
• Herbert West - Reanimator (Ch. 2-7)
  
• The Lurking Fear (Ch. 8)
  
• The Rats in the Walls (Ch. 9)
  
• The Whisperer in Darkness (Ch. 10 - 17)
  
• Cool Air (Ch. 18)
  
• In the Vault (Ch. 19)
  
• The Call of Cthulhu (Ch. 20 - 22)
  
• The Color Out of Space (Ch. 23)
  
• The Horror at Red Hook (Ch. 24 - 30)
  
• The Music of Erich Zann (Ch. 31)
  
• The Shadow Out of Time (Ch. 32 - 39)
  
• The Dunwich Horror (Ch. 40 - 49)
  
• The Haunter of the Dark (Ch. 50)
  
• The Outsider (Ch. 51)
  
• The Shunned House (Ch. 52 - 56)
  
• The Unnameable (Ch. 57)
  
• The Thing on the Doorstep (Ch. 58 - 62)
  
• Under the Pyramids (Ch. 63)
  
  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.

Roommate has this one and it contains all those stories and is a nice book.

"Pastiche" is the name for officially sanctioned fan-fiction, I think! Her Sherlock stories were published in various Sherlock-themed anthologies, such as Shadows over Baker Street, which also features authors like Neil Gaiman, Poppy Z. Brite and Elizabeth Bear.

Ahh you beat me to it. I wanted to have the first contest tomorrow. But I shall enter this

Stephen King: Joyland is $6.41

Cheapest e-book is King City

But Im also ok with used books Witness to Myself is only $3.94 used

Got mine yesterday too \(#\^-\^)/

And for those who are interested - second box is to be released later this year, looking forward to it

You'll appreciate it more in the licensed novel

The VanderMeer's book The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories is a great place to start.

Is Skeleton Crew a whole book with Shortstories, like This

There are a series of books that is the complete collection. I would recommend those.
https://amzn.to/2EOFhYe

I like how I'm on your wishlist ;)

Anyways, I'd recommend Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, Black Flag, The Adolescents, No Use For A Name (only know 1 song) and yeah. I don't really listen to that music much anymore, so my list is shorter.

another good recent anthology, The Book of Cthulhu. includes my favorite modern Mythos story, "A Colder War" by Charles Stross.

cheaper on amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416193814&sr=8-1&keywords=%27The+Complete+Fiction+of+H.P.+Lovecraft+%28Knickerbocker+Classics%29%27+by+H+P+Lovecraft

I remember liking Lurker at The Threshold by August Derleth when I read it as a teen.

I haven't read this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/034542204X but it looks right up your alley.

Click through to Amazon, then hover and Look Inside This Book
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1931082723/ref=sib_dp_pop_toc?ie=UTF8&p=S00F#reader-link

I really like the Annotated H. P. Lovecraft volumes. There are two, and they give you much more context for his works. Read the stories and ignore the footnotes the first time, then go back and read them with the notes.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/0440506603/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394454915&sr=8-1&keywords=annotated+h.p.lovecraft

http://www.amazon.com/More-Annotated-H-P-Lovecraft-H/dp/0440508754/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=08KHZW3TWN8CHRV0ZXTP

HP Lovecraft is the most obvious literary destination. If you've never read him you're in luck, as there are two more or less complete collections of his work: if you're a stickler for accuracy try this one and if you want to get something beautiful but with some typos and errors you can order this exquisite leather-bound edition (even its marbled endpapers hide monsters).

In terms of more modern stuff, Jeff Vandermeer's Area X trilogy is some of the best Lovecraft-infused fiction I've read. Which is no surprise when you know that his wife is the current editor of Weird Tales, one of the first places to publish Lovecraft. Indeed, they've actually put out an anthology of Lovecraftian short stories by all sorts of writers, old and new, including Lovecraft.

In terms of movies, I hope at some point Guillermo del Toro will get to make his At the Mountains of Madness film, but the fact that he hasn't speaks to the difficulty of a) financing expensive R-Rated horror movies b) parsing Lovecraft's gloomy visions with hero-driven narrative. One of the few films to nail the tone, even if its execution leaves something to be desired, is Frank Darabont's The Mist.

Reave the Just is one of my favorite short story books. http://www.amazon.com/Reave-Other-Tales-Stephen-Donaldson/dp/0553110349

My other favorites are HP Lovecraft, especially Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (although there are lots of books with his stories) but I can only read a few of them per month. http://www.amazon.com/Best-H-P-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804

http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396570805&sr=8-1

One of the best volumes of horror writing you will ever find, and the vast majority of respected horror writers since have been crediting him as an influence.

I know S.T. Joshi did a couple of annotated volumes. Lots of historical references.

The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft

More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft

Is this trip really necessary?

I'm guessing these,

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0345503287

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0345503430

I hadn't heard of them either

http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

hp lovecraft

Covers Have some similar features

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

Here is a link to the in print book containing hounds plus many other Cthulhu mythos goodies
https://www.amazon.com.au/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523742862&sr=8-1&keywords=Tales+of+the+Cthulhu+Mythos

https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Gear-Solid-Novel-Liberty/dp/0345503430

Try this:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X

Came here to mention Clive Barker, Books of Blood is the way to go
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0425165582/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_NfHMub0CYBAH9

http://www.amazon.it/Complete-Works-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1451753567&sr=8-6&keywords=lovecraft

because I bought it and needed the link for some reason

Amazon.com (maybe this one?)(Israel shipping rates) would be reasonable choice.

https://www.amazon.com/Monogatari-Box-Set-Season-2/dp/1949980065

The Troop by Nick Cutter

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

Books of Blood by Clive Barker

(originally from: http://www.amazon.com/Books-Blood-Vols-Clive-Barker/dp/0425165582/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368670852&sr=1-1&keywords=books+of+blood)

It's 3:30 in the morning, I have school at 8 and I was reading this lil' puppy to try to get to sleep before I gave up and went on Reddit.

So that's that.

Get this.

Si tu lis en anglais, The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft

ph'nglui mglw'nafh

I read this in HS http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345350804/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=1452821304&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=hp+lovecraft&dpPl=1&dpID=51YbqO27OpL&ref=plSrch

Here's a link to a box set with them all.

If you don't want to wait until December 17th for the set, here's each of them individually: Neko White, Kabuki, Hana, Otori, Oni, and Koi.

I do believe there are actually a few of his works not included in this print, but I can't remember which ones. Apologies.

The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft (Knickerbocker Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1631060015/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OgSGyb3TC21DK

Knickerbocker Classics makes very nice collections from several authors. They had a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's work at one point, but I can't seem to find it now. It's a shame, I was thinking about grabbing that one next.

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.

If you really want to delve deeper into this genre, I recommend getting your hands on Jeff and Ann Vandermeer's anthology The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. In my opinion there is no other single anthology that covers so much ground of this particular thread of speculative fiction while being up to date with current developments. It is the veritable weird fiction bible, within it you will find selected stories from all the essential writers as well as many more obscure ones. You couldn't find a better place to start if you wanted to see what is out there. I won't repeat any of the suggestions made here, but stories by most of the authors you see in this thread will be in this anthology.

The Weird is likely the most comprehensive, though I'd also suggest Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural.

No but it looks like it would be on the cover if a Lovecraft book.

Edit: Awwww shit I'm good.

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

It's been nearly 100 years since HP Lovecraft wrote, and his stories are still the gold standard for Horror fiction.

If I'm not mistaken, there isn't going to be a hardcover version of Joyland, unless you order the Limited Edition copy. There's only going to be the small "pulpy" paperback edition at regular bookstores. I remember something about him saying that he wanted the book to have that throwback crime fiction feeling, which, is probably one of the reasons for the no ebook.

The famous Random House collection, compiled in the 1940s I believe. Of course one should consider all the more contemporary suggestions, but if I were teaching a class this would be my "textbook". It's already considered the terror tale Bible by many.

The best starter collection is from Del Rey, so it'll give a nice intro to the basics of the mythos. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

You might find thicker collections, but they almost always contain non-Lovecraft material; the stuff by August Derelth and Clark Ashton Smith, and what all. I'd hate to see someone read these by accident before reading the real Lovecraft stories.

The fuck? I have a collection of Lovecraft stories with that same image on the back cover. Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. Had never noticed they were the same before now!
Edit: Guess there are some minor difference, like the absence of the insect to the right. Still the same damn thing.

Oooh, The Descent...I had forgotten about that one, thank you, one of my all-time favorites. It's got everything good horror can be made from: claustrophobia, paranoia, deception, murder, failure of will, lack of any definitive exit signs...oh, and there's even some monsters here and there!

I was actually just thinking about Lovecraft, and you're certainly right about the plethora of source material, I wouldn't be entirely opposed to at least two movies coming out of it...just not another In The Mouth Of Madness.

Ok, maybe another In The Mouth Of Madness. It's not that bad. Right?

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. \^_\^

No, not at all. There is typically VERY little gore or blood or battles - because if there was a battle, we would be so WOEFULLY unprepared for it, that it would be over before we realized it had started. These are often beings from >3 dimensions. We can't even hurt them - though we CAN, sometimes, slow them down. Think of the tentacle monster from Hellboy's home dimension, as an EXCELLENT rendition of one of those cosmic horrors.

These things are not human, or even humanoid. Usually, even SEEING one is enough to break your mind, because you are witnessing something that can't exist in our spacetime, and as it moves in it's own dimension, it does weird shit in this one.

For recommendations, buy this - it's a great price, and has ALL of his fiction.

Recommended stories:

• at the mountains of madness
  
• call of cthulhu
  
• a colour out of space
  
  Be aware that there are BIG, and WEIRD words in his writing, and he speaks british (despite being from new england), so color is spelled colour, and a flashlight is a torch, and whatnot. He speaks of the cyclopean towers looming over the eldritch landscape, etc, etc, etc. Also, the stories were written in the early 1900s, so expect some hilariously wrong stuff to be in there.