S.T. Joshi

M. P. Shiel (1865-1947) was a British author of many novels and tales, all written in a distinctively rich and mellifluous prose, and H. P. Lovecrafts discovery of the work of Shiel in 1923 was electrifying.Overwhelmed with the brilliance of The House of Sounds, Lovecraft wrote an enthusiastic letter to Weird Tales, calling it the most haunting thing I have read in a decade. Lovecraft also relished several other stories from Shiels story collections, Shapes in the Fire (1896) and The Pale Ape (1911), including such tales as Xelucha, Huguenins Wife, and The Bride. In 1927 Lovecraft was engulfed by The Purple Cloud, rhapsodizing over its breathtaking vision of a world bereft of nearly all human and animal life.This volume, part of the Lovecrafts Library series, presents the first major selection of Shiels work in thirty years. Reprinting the works that Lovecraft prized most highly among Shiels bountiful output, it allows the modern reader to imbibe of that high level of horrific magic which Lovecraft himself found so rapturous.

Sixteen stories inspired by the 20th century's great master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft, and his acknowledged masterpiece, At the Mountains of Madness, in which an expedition to the desolation of Antarctica discovers evidence of an ancient ruin built by horrific creatures at first thought long-dead, until death strikes the group. All but two of the stories are original to this edition, and those reprints are long-lost works by science fiction masters Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Silverberg.

Through his collaborations with todays most talented and acclaimed practitioners of Lovecraftian fiction, editor S. T. Joshi has made the Black Wings of Cthulhu series essential for every library of horror and the macabre. Volume four offers up seventeen new masterpieces, each exploring the roots of fear employed so famously by the master himself, H. P. Lovecraft.

Fourteen brand-new stories of the macabre, plus two rare works inspired by H.P. Lovecrafts legendary novella AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS "One of the greatest short novels in American literature, and a key text in my own understanding of what literature can do." Michael Chabon With its terrifying account of a doomed scientific expedition, Lovecrafts masterpiece has influenced many of the finest authors in modern fiction. Inspired by his dark mythos of cosmic abominations clawing at the edge of our reality, these writers have enthusiastically embraced... THE MADNESS OF CTHULHU Featuring never-before-seen tales by Heather Graham Lois H. Gresh Caitlin R. Kiernan J. C. Koch Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. Darrell Schweitzer Michael Shea John Shirley William Browning Spencer Melanie Tem Jonathan Thomas Donald Tyson K. M. Tonso Harry Turtledove Plus two long-lost classics of Lovecraftian fiction by Arthur C. Clarke Robert Silverberg

As Stephen King will attest , the popularity of the occult in American literature has only grown since the days of Edgar Allan Poe. American Supernatural Tales celebrates the richness of this tradition with chilling contributions from some of the nations brightest literary lights, including Poe himself, H. P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Nathaniel Hawthorne, andof course Stephen King. By turns phantasmagoric, spectral, and demonic, this is a frighteningly good addition to Penguin Classics.

El enfoque inicial de este segundo volumen se centra en un increíble florecimiento de la escritura weird a principios del siglo XX. Figuras como Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, M. R. James y H. P. Lovecraft elevaron la ficcion extraña a un nivel artistico nunca antes visto, y su trabajo continua inspirando a escritores hasta el dia de hoy. Otros autores como Walter de la Mare, L. P. Hartley y William Hope Hodgson tambien contribuyeron con importantes novelas e historias. La influencia de Lovecraft se extendio a nuevos sucesores como Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Robert Bloch y Fritz Leiber. En los años siguientes a la muerte de Lovecraft, una nueva generacion de escritores -encabezada por Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson y Charles Beaumont- llevaron el horror a un nivel mas terrenal y al ambito de la vida cotidiana. Su trabajo sento las bases para la irrupcion extraordinaria del weird como un fenomeno superventas en la obra de Ira Levin, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, y muchos otros. Al mismo tiempo, literatos como Ramsey Campbell, T. E. D. Klein y Thomas Ligotti continuaron expandiendo los limites de la ficcion extraña en obras del mas alto pulido literario. Hoy en dia, escritores como Caitlin R. Kiernan, Dennis Etchison, y muchos otros continuan explorando nuevas direcciones.

El enfoque inicial de este segundo volumen se centra en un increíble florecimiento de la escritura weird a principios del siglo XX. Figuras como Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, M. R. James y H. P. Lovecraft elevaron la ficcion extraña a un nivel artistico nunca antes visto, y su trabajo continua inspirando a escritores hasta el dia de hoy. Otros autores como Walter de la Mare, L. P. Hartley y William Hope Hodgson tambien contribuyeron con importantes novelas e historias. La influencia de Lovecraft se extendio a nuevos sucesores como Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Robert Bloch y Fritz Leiber. En los años siguientes a la muerte de Lovecraft, una nueva generacion de escritores -encabezada por Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson y Charles Beaumont- llevaron el horror a un nivel mas terrenal y al ambito de la vida cotidiana. Su trabajo sento las bases para la irrupcion extraordinaria del weird como un fenomeno superventas en la obra de Ira Levin, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, y muchos otros. Al mismo tiempo, literatos como Ramsey Campbell, T. E. D. Klein y Thomas Ligotti continuaron expandiendo los limites de la ficcion extraña en obras del mas alto pulido literario. Hoy en dia, escritores como Caitlin R. Kiernan, Dennis Etchison, y muchos otros continuan explorando nuevas direcciones.