The Lancer
Lovecrafts: An Author’s Pick!
(Or Purple
Edged Eldritch Horror!)
Hey folks,
Being the self confessed publicity whore
that I am, when it comes to this blog that is, I’m always on the lookout for
ways to increase the readership. So my newest brilliant idea was to write all
the famous writers, artists and editors who I have access to and asked them if
they have fond memories of any particular horror anthologies from 50s, 60s or
70s. I even promised to only moderately exploit their kindness my not
mentioning their names. And so far several have been very kind and answered.
The great Chet Williamson even went out of his way to tell me that he didn’t
mind having his name dropped! So here it is……..
How’s that
for impressive!
Anyways,
Mr. Williamson replied that he greatly enjoyed, among several others, the H. P.Lovecraft editions published by Lancer Books. Yes, the folks who gave us the famous Robert E. Howard "
Conan" paperbacks with the iconic Frank Frazetta covers and the controversial
editorship of L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter. Those people who gave us
paperbacks with purple dyed edges were also the first folks to bring out
successful HPL paperbacks. There were a few before, but the Lancers were
responsible for introducing HPL to masses of paperback readers. Now if only
they had done this for Clark Ashton Smith. To my knowledge there were 3
volumes. They were “The Dunwich Horror”, “The Colour out of Space” and “The
Case of Charles Dexter Ward”. Since I only own the first two they’ll be the only
ones covered today.
If you are
reading this blog then I’m pretty sure that you know all about HPL and the
“Cthulhu Mythos”. But I’ll go over it real quick just to play it safe in case
some of you actually have no idea about what I’m writing about.
So here’s
the “Cliff Notes” Lovecraft……
HPL was a
reclusive man from Providence Rhode Island who wrote wonderful stories for
“Weird Tales” magazine. He invented his own mythology, which forms the backdrop
to many of his stories, dealing with a group of ancient powerful god like
beings who used to rule the earth gazillions of years ago. They got banished to
dimensions unknown and to this day and they, with the help of cultists and
human/frog-fish men hybrids, are still trying to come back. Most of these SF Horror
tales take place in and around New England. These were written as contemporary
stories at the time which gives them a really nifty retro 1920s/1930s groove.
Most of Mr. Lovecraft’s protagonists usually ended up dead, insane, mutated or
some combination of the 3. They also liked to write journal entries while being
eaten alive by unspeakable horrors from other dimensions. Mr. Lovecraft’s
stories and life have been psychoanalyzed to death so we won’t go into it here.
Mr. Lovecraft has a bazillion imitators since he allowed other writers to add
to and to use the already existing pantheon of beings he created for his
stories. Mr. Lovecraft liked the words “eldritch” and "batrachian" quite a bit.
In Mr. Lovecraft’s universe there were lots of very old books full of forbidden
prehistoric lore which were contantly kept under lock and key in big European
libraries, but which every inbred hillbilly wizard seemed to have a copy of. Mr. Lovecraft, who died sick and poor, is now
a multi million dollar industry today.
Now back
to the books.
I can’t
begin to describe how much I love ALL of Mr. Lovecraft’s stories. My first
introduction to HPL was through the “Scholastic Book club” and then the post “Lin
Carter”/ pre “Michael Whelan”, “John Holmes” editions from the early7middle
1970s.
They aren’t for everyone and have, sadly,
almost become clichéd jokes thanks to critical over emphasis on his writing
style and his odd themes and monsters being used for humor. The abundance ofCthulhu references in modern culture has dulled the over all impact of Mr. Lovecraft's stores and “Cthulhu Plush Toys" hasn’t helped
matters either. “Cthulhu” even makes guest appearances on “South Park”. So we have millons of people who
know his monsters, but not nearly enough people who actualy know his writings.
I find this sad. If you didn’t discovery him as a kid, then I don’t think you
could get into him as an adult. Lovecraft was an avid amateur astronomer and (I
think) atheist who was fascinated by, at the time, new theories on the
immensity and age of the universe. So he didn’t bother writing about ghosts and
vampires. He wrote about an immense, unknowable universe that was, if not
hostile, then at least totally indifferent to humanity. Great stuff,, which was,
for it’s time, totally mind blowing and groundbreaking. I love this stuff so much!!
(This time
I mean it…)
Now back to
the books.
With quickie synopses.
My copies.
The
Dunwich Horror
Lancer
Books. March 1969. Second edition.
Contents:
H. P. Lovecraft and His Work by August
Derleth
In the Vault
(I steal from dead people!)
Pickman's Model
(You are what you pose. or Children shouldn't eat (with) dead things.)
The Rats in the Walls
(A moving plea for Veganism.)
The Music of Erich Zann
(Crazy old man makes crazier music for the Spheres.)
The Haunter of the Dark
(Don’t break into old abandoned churches
in the Polish part of town.Don't even bother, just move on down the bloch. .)
The Dunwich Horror
(If your crazy daddy fixes you up on a
blind date with an extra-dimensional monster
god then for god’s sake take a pack of Trojans along!)
The Thing on the Doorstep
(Transgender fishman-hybrid necrophilia honeymoon.
Kinda.)
The Colour
Out of Space and Others.
Lancer
Books. March 1969. Third edition
Contents:
The Colour
out of Space
(Don’t
drink the shiny water!)
The
Picture in the House
(You eats
what you is.)
The Call
of Cthulhu
(Don’t
answer!!!)
Cool Air
(Without
proper refrigeration (dead) things tend to spoil quickly.)
The
Whisperer in Darkness
(There’s
fungi lobstermen from Pluto in them thar hills!)
The
Terrible Old Man
(Yeah, go
ahead and break into the weird old guys house.)
The Shadow
Out of Time
(Proves
that Cthulhu will not return during mans tenure on this planet!)
These two
volumes are more or less an “HPL’s Greatest Hits”. They are a breakdown of
“Arkam House’s” “The Dunwich Horror and
Others”. For some stupid reason both “The Outsider” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth”
have been omitted. Even though these are a “best of” collection”, they neglect
his earlier stuff that is just as good (in my opinion).
As far as
the covers go, these are pretty pedestrian. What was coming a few years later
from Lin Carter’s “Adult Fantasy Series” from Ballantine would blow these out
of the water and set new standards for “Lovecraftian” cover art. All in all
though, you have to give Lancer credit for making these available for a mass
public and for helping make HPL a household name. At least in better houses
that is.
Original
Arkham House contents:
- H. P. Lovecraft and His Work by August Derleth
- In the Vault
- Pickman's Model
- The Rats in the Walls
- The Outsider
- The Colour out of Space
- The Music of Erich Zann
- The Haunter of the Dark
- The Picture in the House
- The Call of Cthulhu
- The Dunwich Horror
- Cool Air
- The Whisperer in Darkness
- The Terrible Old Man
- The Thing on the Doorstep
- The Shadow Over Innsmouth
- The Shadow Out of Time
Well, that's it for this weeks installment.
Thank you very much for stopping by.
And thank you very much Mr. Williamson!
What's that? There's something breaking through the barrier! It's! Unspeakable! Tentacles are reaching across tying to draw me through!! Must type faster! Help! Must use the spell! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!!!!!! ARRRGHHH!!!!!!!!! SLURP!!!! Nom! Nom! nom! Thud!
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