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The essential Halloween reading list in 10 books 

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Reading lists

8 classic and chilling tales

The Shadow out of Time

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books 
 
‘Assuming that I was sane and awake, my experience on that night was such as has befallen no man before’ 
 
After five years of 'strange amnesia', Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee remains haunted by madness and memories that cannot be real. Desperate for answers he travels to Western Australia, joining an archaeological excavation into Earth’s deep past. 
 
Journey with Peaslee to discover his fate in the story described by author Lin Carter as ‘Lovecraft’s single greatest achievement in fiction’.

H. P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1890. Self-educated, he worked as a freelance writer, journalist and ghostwriter. His best work - including some sixty or so short stories - was published from 1923 onwards in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. He died in 1937, in poverty and virtually unknown; today he is recognized as one of the great masters of supernatural fiction.

‘Assuming that I was sane and awake, my experience on that night was such as has befallen no man before’ 
 
After five years of 'strange amnesia', Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee remains haunted by madness and memories that cannot be real. Desperate for answers he travels to Western Australia, joining an archaeological excavation into Earth’s deep past. 
 
Journey with Peaslee to discover his fate in the story described by author Lin Carter as ‘Lovecraft’s single greatest achievement in fiction’.

The Colour Out of Space

The master of weird fiction, H. P. Lovecraft combines cosmic fantasy with creeping horror in these three tales of malevolent alien forces, body-switching and travel across the space-time continuum. 
 
'Evil, in Lovecraft, is universal, pervasive' Michael Chabon 
 
'His prescience and novelty seem more and more remarkable ... shows a deeply modern horror at the universe' Guardian 
 
'A unique and visionary world of wonder, terror and delirium' Clive Barker

One of the most influential popular authors of the 20th century

It casts a spell . . . fiction like Lovecraft's can be brutally hypnotic

H. P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1890. He was self-educated and lived in his birthplace all his life, working as a freelance writer, journalist, and ghostwriter. His best work - including some sixty or so short stories - was published from 1923 onwards in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. He died in 1937, in poverty and virtually unknown; today he is recognized as one of the great masters of supernatural fiction.

In the deep glens of Massachusetts, in the wild hills of Vermont, and in Australia's sandy wastes, unfathomable things lurk. Things that shine with an unnatural light, that speak and buzz strangely in the night, that prowl in the mind. Things not of our Earth. 
 
Widely considered to be the most significant writer of supernatural tales in the twentieth century, H.P. Lovecraft made a profound contribution to science fiction. From their singularly creepy atmospheres to their portrayal of extraordinary creatures and happenings, the three stories included in this collection - 'The Colour Out of Space', 'The Whisperer in the Darkness' and 'The Shadow Out of Time' - are peerless examples of the genre.

At the Mountains of Madness

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'To that flash of semi-vision can be traced a full half of the horror which has ever since haunted us' 
 
An expedition to Antarctica goes horribly wrong as a group of explorers stumbles upon some mysterious ancient ruins, with devastating consequences. At the Mountains of Madness ranks among Lovecraft's most terrifying novellas, and is a firm favourite among fans of classic horror. 
 
The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories

Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by award-winning director Guillermo del Toro. 
 
 Howard Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Storiesbrings together a dozen of the master's tales - from his early short stories 'Under the Pyramids' (originally ghostwritten for Harry Houdini) and 'The Music of Erich Zann' (which Lovecraft ranked second among his own favourites) through to his more fully developed works, 'The Dunwich Horror', 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward', and 'At the Mountains of Madness'. The book presents the definitive corrected texts of these works, along with Lovecraft critic and biographer S. T. Joshi's illuminating introduction and notes to each story. 
 
 Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life. His relatively small body of work - three novels and sixty short stories - has nevertheless exercised an incalculable influence on horror and supernatural fiction.

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale

A definitive collection of stories from the unrivaled master of twentieth-century horror in a Penguin Classics Deluxe edition with cover art by Travis Louie. 
 
Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisioning mankind as a tiny outpost of dwindling sanity in a chaotic and malevolent universe. S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft's preeminent interpreter, presents a selection of the master's fiction, from the early tales of nightmares and madness such as "The Outsider" to the overpowering cosmic terror of "The Call of Cthulhu." More than just a collection of terrifying tales, this volume reveals the development of Lovecraft's mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a canonical- and visionary-American writer.

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales

An introduction to the weird and unsettling world of H.P. Lovecraft, master of horror and pioneer of 'weird fiction'

The twentieth century horror story's dark and baroque prince

Dark, weird tales about tentacled beasts, ancient artifacts that ooze unidentifiable slime and baby-eating cultists eager to bring about the end of the world

Lovecraft found a voice that was profoundly his own -- and brought horror into the 20th century. His best stories sent the gothic into collision with science fiction and offered a bleak vision of a world whose thin veneer of civilization was being stripped away by an implacable zeal for knowledge

The founding father of what has become known as "weird fiction''...Lovecraft has nothing in common with Anita Brookner

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island on August 20, 1890. His father, a traveling salesman, suffered a nervous breakdown three years later and was hospitalised until his death in 1898, from a form of syphilis. Lovecraft's family experienced financial difficulties after the death of his grandfather in 1904, and the shame of this deeply affected the young writer. His relationship with his mother was severely troubled, and she was also hospitalised after a nervous breakdown in 1919. After a brief marriage and a period living in Brooklyn where he first began publishing his stories in the magazine Weird Tales, Lovecraft returned to Providence where he continued to write stories, and supported himself through ghost-writing. He continued to be plagued by money problems, and died in relative poverty on March 15, 1937. His numerous stories, novellas and poem were never collected and properly published during his lifetime.

An introduction to the weird and unsettling world of H.P. Lovecraft, master and pioneer of horror. 
 
 Between these pages you will find things that lurk, things that scurry in the walls, things that move unseen, things that have learnt to walk that ought to crawl, unfathomable blackness, unconquerable evil, inhuman impulses, abnormal bodies, ancient rites, nameless lands best left undiscovered, thoughts best left unspoken, doors best left closed, names best forgotten. 
 
 You have been warned.

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'It was a monstrous constellation of unnatural light, like a glutted swarm of corpse-fed fireflies dancing hellish sarabands over an accursed marsh (...)' 
 
H.P. Lovecraft was perhaps the greatest twentieth century practitioner of the horror story, introducing to the genre a new evil, monstrous, pervasive and unconquerable. At the heart of these three stories are terrors unthinkable and strange: a crash-landing meteorite, the wretched inhabitant of an ancient castle and a grave-robber's curse. 
 
This book includes The Colour Out Of Space, The Outsider and The Hound.

And Other Stories

The Dunwich Horror

Part of our Gothic Classics series - ten terrifying tales of the supernatural - eerie visitations, revenge from beyond the grave, vampire love and many other macabre manifestations from masters of the genre

Deadly forces are about to be awakened &hellip; 
 
In the degenerate, unliked backwater of Dunwich, Wilbur Whately, a most unusual child, is born. Of unnatural parentage, he grows at an uncanny pace to an unsettling height, but the boy&rsquo;s arrival simply precedes that of a true horror: one of the Old Ones, that forces the people of the town to hole up by night, fearful for their lives, by day able only to trace the wreckage wrought by the gigantic, unseen monster. 
 
In this and other tales of the macabre, H. P. Lovecraft weaves unearthly fantasies of creatures beyond conception &ndash; existing between the spaces of the dimensions we know.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. This Penguin Classics edition brings together a dozen of the master's tales - from his early short stories 'Under the Pyramids' (originally ghostwritten for Harry Houdini) and 'The Music of Erich Zann' (which Lovecraft ranked second among his own favourites) through to his more fully developed works, 'The Dunwich Horror', 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward', and 'At the Mountains of Madness'. 
 
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories presents the definitive corrected texts of these works, along with Lovecraft critic and biographer S. T. Joshi's illuminating introduction and notes to each story.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. This Penguin Classics edition brings together a dozen of the master's tales - from his early short stories 'Under the Pyramids' (originally ghostwritten for Harry Houdini) and 'The Music of Erich Zann' (which Lovecraft ranked second among his own favourites) through to his more fully developed works, 'The Dunwich Horror', 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward', and 'At the Mountains of Madness. 
 
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories presents the definitive corrected texts of these works, along with Lovecraft critic and biographer S. T. Joshi's illuminating introduction and notes to each story.

The Call of Cthulhu And Other Weird Stories

Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisioning mankind as a tiny outpost of dwindling sanity in a chaotic and malevolent universe. S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft's preeminent interpreter, presents a selection of the master's fiction, from the early tales of nightmares and madness such as "The Outsider" to the overpowering cosmic terror of "The Call of Cthulhu." More than just a collection of terrifying tales, this volume reveals the development of Lovecraft's mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a canonical – and visionary – American writer.

Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisioning mankind as a tiny outpost of dwindling sanity in a chaotic and malevolent universe. S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft's preeminent interpreter, presents a selection of the master's fiction, from the early tales of nightmares and madness such as 'The Outsider' to the overpowering cosmic terror of 'The Call of Cthulhu'. More than just a collection of terrifying tales, this volume reveals the development of Lovecraft's mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a canonical – and visionary – American writer.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island on August 20, 1890. His father, a traveling salesman, suffered a nervous breakdown three years later and was hospitalised until his death in 1898, from a form of syphilis. Lovecraft's family experienced financial difficulties after the death of his grandfather in 1904, and the shame of this deeply affected the young writer. His relationship with his mother was severely troubled, and she was also hospitalised after a nervous breakdown in 1919. After a brief marriage and a period living in Brooklyn where he first began publishing his stories in the magazine Weird Tales, Lovecraft returned to Providence where he continued to write stories, and supported himself through ghost-writing. He continued to be plagued by money problems, and died in relative poverty on March 15, 1937. His numerous stories, novellas and poem were never collected and properly published during his lifetime.

In the decaying hills of Dunwich, something monstrous stirs 
 
Wilbur Whateley is a strange child – of uncertain parentage, growing to abnormal size at abnormal speed. Shunned by the villagers of Dunwich, Wilbur and his grandfather set out on tending to their own plan. But the otherworldly can’t be kept tame forever. The Dunwich Horror is H. P. Lovecraft’s terrifying tale of strange beings, forbidden knowledge and the power of unseen forces – and what follows when the wrong things are allowed to take root. 
 
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

H. P. Lovecraft

S. T. Joshi

One of the masters of 'weird fiction', H. P. Lovecraft expanded the vast boundaries of the horror genre with his vividly imagined stories of exotic and fantastical otherworlds, nightmarish dreamscapes and the supernatural terrors lurking beneath the surface of small-town America. 
 
The shadow of New England's witch-hunting past hangs over many of the tales, as in 'The Shunned House' and 'The Dreams in the Witch House', in which malevolent spectres return to haunt the region. Others, such as 'From Beyond' and 'The Shadow Out of Time', depict the catastrophic results when cosmic channels of time and space are opened, while stories such as 'Polaris' and 'The Doom that Came to Sarnath' portray the downfall of mythical civilizations.

H. P. Lovecraft

Books by H. P. Lovecraft

Series by H. P. Lovecraft

Brief Encounters52 Books

Penguin Gothic Classics1 Book

Articles featuring H. P. Lovecraft

Where to start reading the Penguin Archive collection

8 classic and chilling tales

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