This is just a collection of writings subscribers sent in response to a letter a hillbilly sent to the Argosy, a fiction magazine. He wanted less romance and more horror. H.P.L. then wrote a letter perpetuating the situation into all-out war between the subscribers. Has some very witty responses on H.P.L's behalf. He wrote these responses before he decided to write for a living. Don't buy it unless you are a Lovecraft historian like me.

Excellent book! This is some of the best poetry you'll find anywhere, and its publication is a reason to rejoice! CAS excelled at a very dark and beautiful poetry and some of his best pieces are in here. It has some unreprinted material, as well as some poems that have seen very little light in the past. Great production values and three nice, full color paintings. I highly reommend it!

Levy's book is filled with explorations of neat themes in Lovecraft such as attics (vs. cellars), dreamworlds, stairways dug from underground up... The book's charm as well as weakness is that it points out Lovecraft's relation to other thinkers (Poe, Hawthorne, Freud, Einstein, Le Fanu) but doesn't get bogged down working those relations out.

Arkham House has been publishing and reprinting high-quality horror and science fiction in quality limited editions for some sixty years, and this supplies a comprehensive history and bibliography of its publications. From Derleth's capsule history of the publisher up to 1969 to the summary of its winning publications, this will prove a 'must' reference for any Arkham House collector.

This is the first book where the reader is taken through Bierce's life in his own words. From his experiences in the Civil War until his mysterious disappearance into Mexico in 1913, "Sole Survivor" tells Bierce's tale through his stories, newspaper work, and personal correspondence. A must-have volume for anyone interested in the great American journalist and author.

In The Weird Tale, Joshi analyses the work of half a dozen writers whose influence on the modern supernatural horror story is either incalculable (Lovecraft, James and possibly Bierce) or else not nearly large enough (Blackwood, Machen, Dunsany). Joshi's central theoretical tenet is that weird fiction is an inherently philosophical mode, since it offers writers the chance to remake the world according to their own rules. H P Lovecraft is the prime example, possessing a coherent and thoroughly worked out philosophy which colours and powers all his best work. Much the same applies to Blackwood, though his mystical and sometimes sentimental author's personality was the polar opposite of Lovecraft's. Similarly, Machen's mysticism (whenever he could keep off his Anglo-Catholic hobbyhorse for long enough), Bierce's misanthropy and Dunsany's unique and complex blend of anti-modernism and ultra-Olympian cynicism all provide Joshi with a lens through which to see their work in its most rewarding light. The only writer for whom Joshi displays little enthusiasm is M R James, primarily because his work never goes beyond the ghastly-revenant plot - however inventively James may manage it at times. Joshi is miraculously well-read, has a sharp eye for the best among frequently voluminous works, and is even honest enough to say when he's talking from prejudice rather than analysis. The Weird Tale brings genuine literary criticism to bear on a genre where literary and critical standards have been debased to a condition rather worse than that of science fiction, and is of vast help in pointing out the works to whose quality writers (and readers) of supernatural fiction could aspire.

With so many different Lovecraft collections out there, it may help prospective buyers to know what's actually in this one:

[By S. T. Joshi and James Turner:] Editorial Note; [By Joshi:] Introduction; Dreams and Fancies [an introduction to the following group of H. P. Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Little Glass Bottle [a short story written during childhood]; The Secret Cave [a short story written during childhood]; The Mystery of the Grave-Yard [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; The Mysterious Ship [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson [a literary parody]; Old Bugs [a literary parody]; Memory [a prose poem]; Nyarlathotep [a prose poem; not to be confused with his later verse poem retelling with the same title]; Ex Oblivione [a prose poem]; What the Moon Brings [a prose poem]; Sweet Ermengarde [a literary parody]; The Very Old Folk [an excerpted recounting of a dream from a letter he wrote to someone]; History of the Necronomicon [a literary parody]; Ibid [a literary parody]; Discarded Draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" [the surviving portion of an early draft of one of his great novelette]; The Battle That Ended the Century [a literary parody written in collaboration with R. H. Barlow]; Collapsing Cosmoses [a round robin literary parody written with Barlow]; The Challenge from Beyond [Lovecraft's contribution to a pulp magazine's round robin short story]; [By Joshi:] The Weird Fantasist [an introduction to the following group of Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Commonplace Book [the text of the notebook Lovecraft maintained for recording ideas for future stories]; Lord Dunsany and His Work [an essay]; Notes on Writing Weird Fiction [an essay]; Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction [an essay]; In Memoriam: Robert Ervin Howard [a remembrance of Robert E. Howard]; [By Joshi:] Mechanistic Materialist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Idealism and Materialism -- A Reflection [an essay]; Life for Humanity's Sake [a reply to other writers]; In Defence of Dagon [the collected replies to correspondence disparaging his short story "Dagon"]; Nietzscheism and Realism [a collection of excerpts edited by Sonia Greene from Lovecraft's letters to her]; The Materialist Today [an essay]; Some Cause of Self-Immolation [an essay]; Heritage or Modernism: Common Sense in Art Forms [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Literary Criticism [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Metrical Regularity [a commentary]; The Vers Libre Epidemic [a commentary]; The Case for Classicism [a reply to another writer]; Literary Composition [a guide]; Ars Gratia Artis [a commentary]; The Poetry of Lilian Middleton [a commentary]; Rudis Indigestaque Moles [a commentary]; In the Editor's Study [a commentary]; The Professional Incubus [a commentary]; The Omnipresent Philistine [a commentary]; What Belongs in Verse [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Political Theorist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Crime of the Century [an essay]; More Chain Lightening [an essay]; Old England and the "Hyphen" [an essay]; Revolutionary Mythology [a commentary]; Americanism [an essay]; The League [a commentary]; Bolshevism [an essay]; Some Repetitions on the Times [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Antiquarian Travels [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Vermont -- A First Impression [an essay]; Observations on Several Parts of America [an essay and literary parody]; Travels in the Provinces of America [an essay and literary parody]; An Account of Charleston [an essay and literary parody]; Some Dutch Footprints in New England [an essay]; Homes and Shrines of Poe [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Amateur Journalist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] In a Major Key [a commentary]; The Dignity of Journalism [a commentary]; Symphony and Stress [a reply to another writer]; United Amateur Press Association: Exponent of Amateur Journalism [a guide]; Les Mouches Fantastique [a commentary]; For What Does the United Stand? [a commentary]; Amateur Journalism: Its Possible Needs and Betterment [the text of a speech]; What Amateurdom and I Have Done for Each Other [a commentary]; Lucubrations Lovecraftian [an ensemble of commentaries and replies to other writers]; A Matter of Uniteds [a commentary]; Mrs. Miniter -- Estimates and Recollections [a remembrance]; Some Current Motives and Practices [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Epistolarian [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] (without listing each one, six letters-to-the-editor and three private letters); [By Joshi:] Personal [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Brief Autobiography of an Inconsequential Scribbler [a commentary]; Within the Gates [the text of a speech]; A Confession of Unfaith [a commentary]; Commercial Blurbs [a collection of advertising copy]; Cats and Dogs [an essay]; Some Notes on a Nonentity [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Bibliography [a listing of the sources for the Lovecraft texts used in this volume]

(I've somewhat arbitrarily drawn a distinction above between "essay" and "commentary". By the former, I mean more or less self-standing nonfiction pieces; by the latter, nonfiction pieces that refer to the periodical in which they were to be placed or to a specialized audience being addressed.)

As one can see, this is one long and complicated hodgepodge of selections. There's good news and bad news here.

The good news is that this book brings into a collected bound volume many interesting pieces, including certain works of short fiction that were omitted from Arkham House's four volumes of Lovecraft's fiction, that were either long out of print or only available in chapbooks from tiny specialty publishers (mainly Necronomicon Press).

The bad news is what this book isn't. It purports to fill in the fictional pieces omitted in the same publisher's forementioned four-volume set, yet in turn omits two Lovecraft collaborations, "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast" and "The Slaying of the Monster", that were (finally) first published the year before in chapbook form. Moreover, Arkham House, which was originally established to publish and promote the writings of Lovecraft, should be publishing multiple organized collections of Lovecraft's complete works, not a crazy quilt omnibus that in effect belittles his literary importance.

The editor of this collection, S. T. Joshi, is not to blame here: He'd love to edit a systematically arranged, complete set of the works of Lovecraft. Blame the August Derleth Estate, which controls Arkham House and seems to prefer publishing mediocre s/f anthologies to properly honoring Lovecraft.

This is the final volume to date in Arkham House's decades-long effort to get Lovecraft between hard covers. With a literary style honed on the finest 18th Century models, Lovecraft is a continuously interesting writer, and this volume covers a vast miscellany of his output, from hilarious dime-novel imitations written by the pre-teen Lovecraft, to some of the last heartrending notebook entries from just before his untimely death. If you love Lovecraft, you need this one.

Miscellaneous Writings is an extensive and impressive collection of works by the famous and ground-breaking horror author H. P. Lovecraft, who is perhaps best known for creating Great Cthullu and other primordial cosmic entities. This volume compiles Lovecraft's little-known letters, essays, short stories, and much more spreading the gamut from nonfiction to personal to instructional to commentaries on social issues. To put it plainly, this Arkham House edition of H.P. Lovecrafts' Miscellaneous Writings is a mandatory addition to the reading list of dedicated Lovecraft fans and scholars who would learn more about this enigmatic and influential author through his erudite and deftly penned correspondences and writings.

For scholarly-minded Lovecraft readers who can manage the hefty price (this volume is put out by a publisher specializing in reference books for libraries, such books usually being very expensive because of low print runs and then storing these titles on inventory for many years rather than remaindering them), this is a "must-have" reference and research tool. Joshi and Schultz are, respectively, THE leading figure and one of the leading figures in Lovecraftian scholarship, and they've assembled something that is most helpful, that merits high praise for accuracy and assiduousness.

That said, the priorities of AN H.P. LOVECRAFT ENCYCLOPEDIA are somewhat perverse and leave something to be desired.

Astoundingly, there's no discussion whatsoever of Lovecraft's philosophical beliefs, a matter that coauthor Joshi has elsewhere written, and nearly all contemporary Lovecraftian scholars agree, is essential to an understanding of Lovecraft's works and life. Why not? In the preface, Joshi and Schultz write: "No separate entry on Lovecraft's philosophical thought is included here, as the topic is too complex for succinct discussion." (p. xi.) How "succinct" are we talking here, one wonders? General information encyclopedias manage to summarize the "thought" of the great original figures Western philosophy in articles ranging from a few sentences to a few pages. Surely something calling itself AN H.P. LOVECRAFT ENCYCLOPEDIA could muster a few paragraphs or a few pages about the nature of the "philosophical thought" of Lovecraft himself. (By such reasoning, there shouldn't even be such a thing as general information encyclopedias, since the sum of human knowledge is assuredly "too complex" to fit into a work of 30-odd volumes.)

This unwillingness here to do the obvious may be the flipside of a trait of the authors: a difficulty with being succinct when the situation calls for it (which is what encyclopedias are all about in the first place). A huge portion, if not most, of the book is occupied by astonishingly long synopses of Lovecraft's fictional works.

There is, of course, good reason to include synopses of Lovecraft's writings in an encyclopedia devoted to him: to help the scholarly-minded reader sort out his various writings, and to jog the reader's memory as to what transpires in the fictional works. But Joshi and Schultz detail so much that it's as if they're addressing those who've never read the texts and never plan to. Succinctness seems to be a hard pill indeed for the authors to swallow.

So what's the harm in long synopses? First, if the reader's goal is just to have his memory jogged, the amount of reading entailed is so great that a synopsis may be little more help than simply skimming through the text itself. Second, publishers impose page limits on a book like this, and so space used inappropriately is space subtracted from other things.

Already discussed has been how this work incongruously omits any discussion of philosophy. But also omitted are entries for the various supernatural (or, often really, alien) beings in Lovecraft's fiction, because, argue the authors, they "do not figure as 'characters' in any meaningful sense in the tales", despite the fact that fictional persons and places in Lovecraft's works receive entries. There seems to be some unexplained double-standard at work here.

I have a suspicion as to why this double-standard is there. The authors are justly contemptuous of the August Derleth-inspired "Cthulhu Mythos" bunk that so lamentably remains in circulation, and so may be revolted that any highlighting of the likes of Cthulhu, the Old Ones, etc. could be taken as buttressing the spurious notion that there's a Derlethian pantheon of "gods" on which Lovecraft and his colleagues had collaborated.

If that's Joshi's and Schultz's underlying motivation for treating these entities differently from other proper names, then they're to be faulted for letting the "Mythos" help define Lovecraftian studies. Moreover, scholarly-minded Lovecraftians should be able to use a Lovecraft encyclopedia as part of their arsenal to debunk misconceptions, and so including entries on Lovecraft's supernatural/alien entities that set the record straight as to what they're each about may be the most important components of that arsenal.

Collaborative compiled by Lovecraftian experts S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia is an exhaustive reference filled with an impressive wealth of biographical and literary lore about one of the best-known writers of supernatural horror in the 20th century. Filled cover to cover with bibliographical information, the encyclopedia lists entries in A to Z format of people Lovecraft knew, characters in his books, and much more. An extensive, scholarly reference especially for Lovecraft enthusiasts, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia is an essential, core, indispensable reference work for students of Lovecraft's life and work.

Both this book, AN H.P. LOVECRAFT ENCYCLOPEDIA and its companion volume issued at the same time by Greenwood, THE COMPLETE H.P. LOVECRAFT FILMOGRAPHY are highly recommended. Both books are scholarly, authoritative and well written. These two excellent works encompass the highest level of scholarship about Lovecraft and should be read by every fan and student of Lovecraft. Bravo to Greenwood for these two volumes.

ab is the master of setting. his stories has the most powerful settings. in addition he is the best at describing the conflict between the primal and the modern man. alas, he was never good at endings. some of his stories end will enough, but many a time there is something destroying. the guy decides just to walk away, for example. oh, well

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I was recently directed to an outstanding author, famous for haunting, scary, engrossing stories, whose work I hadn't read before. Algernon Blackwood, is his name, and he was called to my attention by the editor of a White Nationalist web page, who posted "Willows" on his web site as example of excellent White art.

After reading the story, I couldn't get it out of my mind, so I searched the web for information, and ultimately bought this book from Amazon. "Willows," is among the stories collected here, and it is better than most; but, as a whole, the entire book is great entertainment.

Blackwood, has been compared to Edgar Allen Poe, in his ability to create psychological tension, and palpable unease that creeps up on the reader, and remains awhile. There is great subtlety in the author's presentation of Nature and its relationship to Mankind.

There are nine Blackwood stories in this 374 page book, including about twenty five pages of Explanatory Notes, which shed light on the author and the stories. A number of other Blackwood stories are collected in other books, also available at amazon.

A good choice for a rainy night of reading, alone, in an isolated location.

These are profoundly unsettling stories that reveal the darker forces that co-exist in the world alongside mankind. These are literate and thoughtfully chilling tales, whereby Blackwood buildings a sense of unease and gradual terror through his careful and atmosphericly descriptive prose.

Although this anthology features a couple of obvious choices ("The Willows" and "The Wendigo"), the editor has also added a few of Blackwood's lesser known stories, which is the reason that this collection is requisite. As usual, S.T. Joshi has done a splendid job of offering thorough and insightful notes about each tale at the end of the collection. Highly-recommended.

I enjoyed much about this reader. The selections appear to be chosen as much for their literary qualities as for their defense of atheism, making for very pleasurable reading. Additionally, Joshi introduced me to a few historical atheists I had not heard of before, as well as a few figures I had heard of, but had not known were atheists. So I do feel enriched for having read it. However, three aspects of the reader bothered me. First, Joshi's introduction is too militant, and will unjustly ward off even reasonable religious folks, who would otherwise profit from the selections that follow. Second, the literary emphasis notwithstanding, a "reader" on atheism really should include selections from modern atheistic philosophers of religion, such as J. L. Mackie and Michael Martin. Finally, though I do not myself believe in an afterlife, the question of immortality is perfectly separable from the question of whether or not there is a god, and so it bothered me that Joshi included in his reader on "atheism" a section against immortality. But with these qualifications, my impression of the reader was, overall, a very favorable one, and I believe this book should be on the list of every person who wants to learn more about atheism.

This is a marvelous and eclectic assortment of essays by freethinkers throughout the ages, including Thomas Paine, David Hume, Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin, Gore Vidal, Carl Sagan, and Robert Ingersoll. Each essay is beautifully crafted by writers who knew the fine art of constructing a powerful and persuasive essay; each is riveting in its insight or its candor. While a few of the essays are no longer politically correct (e.g. with references to "lesser minds"), the core theses remain vibrant and still ring true.

While religionists will scarcely find an uplifting sentence in this collection, there is still much to recommend this book to such an audience. First, it dispels many of the common myths about atheists: that they lack morals, that they reject god for selfish reasons, that they are ignorant of theism, that there is no meaning in their lives, that they cling to their own religious dogmas, etc. Second, it provides an interesting glimpse into the religious views of a wide assortment of freethinkers, which will challenge your core beliefs, such as "life after death" and "absolute morality".

As an atheist, I found this book an absolute joy to read. Compared to the contorted logic that religionists often indulge to lend an air of respectability to their dogmas, these essays are positively bursting with the wit and acumen that only seem to spring from unfettered minds. Each essay does its part to clear away the cobwebs of mysticism. I will close with two of my favorite quotes from the book. I chose these quotes not only for their insightfulness, but equally for their mastery of language. This will give you a taste of what awaits you in this book.

page 49: Leslie Stephen, commenting on religionists: "They feel rather than know. The awe with which they regard the universe, the tender glow of reverence and love with which the bare sight of nature affects them, is to them the ultimate guarantee of their beliefs. Happy those who feel such emotions! Only, when they try to extract definite statements of fact from these impalpable sentiments, they should beware how far such statements are apt to come into terrible collision with reality."

page 140: David Hume, commenting on the tendency with which religionists embellish dogmas: "Every virtue, every excellence, must be ascribed to the divinity, and no exaggeration will be deemed sufficient to reach those perfections, with which he is endowed. Whatever strains of panegyric can be invented, are immediately embraced, without consulting any arguments of phenomena: It is esteemed a sufficient confirmation of them, that they give us more magnificent ideas of the divine objects of our worship and adoration."

Great compilation of short essays from all the great minds in atheism and agnosticism including: Robert Ingersoll, Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, H.L. Mencken, Thomas Paine, Walter Kaufman, Benedict Spinoza, Gore Vidal, and many more.

If you're not very familiar with freethought/atheism/agnosticism, this book is the perfect place to begin your study and expand your mind.