“Oh, no,” you groan, upon learning of the release of THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM. “Not another repackaging of H.P. Lovecraft stories we’ve already read and already own.”
“That’s right,” we say. “It’s not repackaging of H.P. Lovecraft stories you’ve already read and already own.”
I’ve read a lot of Lovecraft over the past five years, but even I wasn’t aware that he made more money as a short-story editor and collaborator than he did as an author of same. This new collection from Del Rey finds those rare weird tales that he wrote with amateur writers, completely rewrote, ghostwrote or tweaked. To be honest, you could’ve told me these were 100 percent Lovecraft, and I would’ve believed it, because that’s how they all come off.
All the tell-tale Lovecraftian signs are there: first-person narratives, strange incantations in a foreign tongue, tentacled monsters and supernatural beasts from other dimensions. The title story is a good place to start, if only because John Jude Palencar’s creepy-cool cover illustration casts the perfect mood for it. In the story, a man learns there’s a reason the wax creatures on display at the wax museum look so unusually lifelike: They ain’t wax.
Some other highlights: In “The Trap,” a mirror contains a spot that, when touched, threatens to pull people into it, while “The Electric Executioner” is a strange guy on a train holding a most unusual invention: a wire helmet that he wants to “try out” on the narrator. “The Last Test” pits the San Quentin Penitentiary’s medical director against a strange disease, while in “Ashes,” a chemistry professor’s assistant learns of his boss’ breakthrough that turns a rabbit into a pile of soot, and fears he’s next.
Up until now, the only Lovecraft piece under someone else’s name I read was “Imprisoned with the Pharaohs.” That was good, as are virtually all the 24 pieces waiting to be unearthed in MUSEUM. This anthology is not for Lovecraft newbies, who may be put off by the author’s penchant for anti-brevity and occasional racist remark. It’s for the fans, and editor Stephen Jones rewards them with an introductory essay to put it all in perspective with both history and insight. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• THE BEST HORROR FROM FANTASY TALES edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton
• THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
• CREEPSHOWS: THE ILLUSTRATED STEPHEN KING MOVIE GUIDE by Stephen Jones
• THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
• HORROR: ANOTHER 100 BEST BOOKS edited by Stephen Jones & Kim Newman
• H.P. LOVECRAFT’S BOOK OF THE SUPERNATURAL edited by Stephen Jones
• SUMMER CHILLS edited by Stephen Jones
• THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Antibrevity is a very, very good way to describe Lovecraft’s style!
Gotta get this book – thanks for the review!
You must have come to HPL late in life not to have been aware of these stories. It’s probably impossible, but I’d love to read the original versions of these yarns before Lovecraft made them publishable. Thanks for introducing The Old Gentleman to readers just coming to weird fiction for the first time.
Yep, as in the last five years.