Like any collection of short stories there is a range of quality, but fans of HP Lovecraft should read this for "The Yellow Sign", "The Great God Pan", "The Spider", and "The Mark of the Beast". And of course "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a masterpiece.

I've been reading this collection for more than 10 years now and finally decided to finish it. The last part of it that I read was Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature" essay. It wasn't terrible but was mostly just plots of stories and novels told in short form with a bit of comment on each.Of the 20 or so stories my favorites were:Poe's -The Fall of the House of Usher-, Clark Ashton Smith's -The Double Shadow-, Marion F. Crawford's -The Upper Berth- and Irvin Cobb's -Fishhead-. But I

I'm embarrassed to say I've only just gotten around to reading this volume I've owned for many years. It starts with Lovecraft's essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" in which he details the history of horror. First there's a brief overview of humanities eternal interest in the frightful and unknown and then it catalogs (starting with The Castle of Otranto) the history of horror literature. It's an important essay and does a great job of giving you an easy history up until the point it was w...

An interesting collection of short stories. This book was originally purchased for me when I was a child and it was too advanced to read. I was interested into getting in H.P. Lovecraft’s works only to find that all he wrote in this was the beginning essay telling about supernatural horror. If you want to read a collection of different, yet well written and some obscure stories and authors, give this a read!

There were some stories I really enjoyed, but they were in the minority. Some of my dislike was the ponderous language but mostly it was that the stories all had so much in common. They were inevitably a story being told by someone who heard the story from someone else who very well may have heard it from someone else. Had to make myself finish it for which I was glad as "The Great God Pan" at the end was one of the best. "The Hog" was the worst.

This book is filled with gripping and chilling short stories of horror. I was almost afraid to read the next word. I read like I was tip-toeing down a dark hallway, trying not to wake some sort of evilness. These stories will drudge up emotions in you that you didn't know you had. Before each story there are analysis of the story and author. This is not only a collection of horror stories but a collection of history of the influx of great writers in the late 19th century.

A cheap trade paper back printed on quickly yellowing pages. All the tales are free online nowadays.

Supernatural horror in literature / H.P. LovecraftThe Signalman / C. DickensThe house and the brain / E. Bulwer-LyttonThe body snatcher / R.L. StevensonThe spider / H.H. EwersThe foot of the mummy / T. GautierThe horla / G. de MaupassantThe fall of the house of Usher / E.A. PoeThe damned thing / A. BierceThe upper berth / F.M. CrawfordThe yellow sign / R.W. ChambersThe shadows on the wall / M.E. Wilkins-Freeman.The dead valley / R.A. CramFishhead / I.S. CobbLukundoo / E.L. WhiteThe double shadow...

First off, what’s with that ridiculous cover? That buggy eyed green walrus man, er, Cthulhu, totally looks like some schlubby guy in a rubber suit! Not really the best image to set up an eerie atmosphere. Anyway, this Barnes and Noble edition reprints H.P. Lovecraft’s long essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature, and then anthologizes some of the stories praised by Lovecraft in this piece. While glimpses of Lovecraft’s tastes and philosophies of horror writing is showcased in the piece, it can

This is a must for all Lovecraft fans. In 1925, one of Lovecraft's friends was publishing his own horror magazine and asked H.P. to write an essay about supernatural weird fiction. What he got was a masterpiece, a comprehensive history of everything that Lovecraft knew about weird literature called "Supernatural Horror in Literature." This long, long essay is a veritable university course in literary history, targeting all the horror, supernatural, weird, ghost, horror and gothic short story wri...

Some stories were very good. I expected to be scared to turn the page, however I was not.

Only for the ill-at-mind

This is a collection of horror stories, mostly from the 1800s or early 1900s, based on H.P. Lovecraft's essay on "Supernatural Horror in Literature."The stories are well-organized and presented. In any collection, there will be stories that match my tastes more than others. I found the book to be an excellent introduction to weird fiction.I would have liked just a little more annotation on the stories, but it's a strong collection and if you're interested in the roots of weird or cosmic horror w...

Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe **** I read the House of Usher almost every year and I find something new every time. There is really great criticism about the vampiric relationship between the Usher siblings. Everyone should read this at least once. The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce ***I really like Bierce's writing. I felt this story could have used a bit more build-up of Morgan's paranoia. All-in-all it had an interesting premise.

I was reading this book off and on, some stories are good but with others the writing and/or story is too dated for me to enjoy.

I used to really like Stephen Jones, but he's lost his way in recent years, picking stories only from his circle of friends.This is an attempt to banish that tag... but publishing a collection of out of copyright stories claiming inspiration to Lovecraft.The stories are ok, but the attempt to get the reader to shell out money in this way is pretty grim.

very good book, I like it

Really enjoyed this. An excellent cross section of classic horror stories, plus Lovecraft's Supernatural in Literature to boot. Definitely a must-read for those looking to dig into the genre's roots.

Another anthology of tales Lovecraft highlighted in his Supernatural Horror in Literature essay. This is enough of a different selection that it is definitely worth owning also, if that's what you're into. And I am.A bonus is that it has Lovecraft's entire essay as the first item in the book so you can read the whole thing for yourself before you begin the stories.

I enjoyed this collection. You can definitely how these authors influenced Lovecraft's writing. There are stories where you could swear you were reading one of his. I really liked "The Foot of the Mummy" and "The Great God Pan" the best.I learned three very important things from this book.1. I need to learn more Latin.2. I really like Gautier, Kipling, Machen and James.and 3. Horror stories can be great pieces of literature.