Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2014 May #2 H(oward) P(hillips) Lovecraft (1890â1937) posthumously earned a reputation for outstanding short story writing in the horror genre. The irony is that, during his lifetime, he appeared in print only in the so-called pulp magazines and appreciation for his work was modest. But as expressed in Alan Moore's on-target introduction here, in the years following Lovecraft's death, the "mesmerizing power of his language and imagination" gained him a wider and more enthusiastic readership than he would have ever imagined for himself. The foreword by Leslie S. Klinger is a highly informative history of the horror genre and a trenchant summary of Lovecraft's life, all of which preface the primary section of this giant book, a presentation of 22 of Lovecraft's most significant stories, each fully annotated with identifications of people and places, definitions of unfamiliar vocabulary, and background explanations of mentioned literary works. This impressive book can be used two ways, either for checkout in circulating horror collections or for in-house-only reference. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2014 August #4
Klinger's most controversial claim in this new compilation is that the late horror maestro Lovecraft's work encapsulates the fears of the average man. Stories such as "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" and "At the Mountains of Madness" seem at best tangentially related to the unifying theme of the "Arkham cycle" that Klinger advances. His outline of the historical evolution of horror literature provides useful insight into the influences on Lovecraft's style and the evolution of the pulp magazine industry that gave him a literary outlet. The biographical entry skims the surface of a complex individual's life, but the presence of several apparently clashing views illustrates the difficulty and ultimate futility of rendering a single verdict on a writer. Despite Klinger's stated goal of expanding Lovecraft's audience, the exhaustive historical background and biographical information he supplies (familiar to readers of 2004's The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes) will appeal more to the fan than the neophyte, and with Lovecraft's 125th birthday just around the corner, in 2015, committed enthusiasts may prefer to discuss new scholarly analysis rather than revisit familiar ground. (Oct.)
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