Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos H.P. Lovecraft and Others 461pp.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos is an excellent collection of short stories sampled from the long history of Cthulhu. The stories in this volume vary tremendously in terms of quality, most are very enjoyable, but a few are just embarrassing. I think that it is interesting that Lovecraft’s contributions to the volume are actually some of the weaker writing in the book. Lovecraft, in my mind, is a writer much more of ideas than of words. By contrast, August Derleth and Robert Howard wrote some of the best stories this book has to offer.

What makes for a good Cthulhu story?

While Cthulhu is, of course, very much a character in the context of the mythos, I contend that it is just as much a question of atmosphere. In a good Cthulhu story, much like any horror story, we do not see the dread creature from the depths of our fear until the very end, though I do not consider it necessary to ever explicitly see or interact with otherworldly creatures in the story itself. The conflict, the dark horrors must be progressing outside of the characters’ actions. If the protagonists can succeed, it should only be in small ways, against the human agents of eldritch horrors.

One of my favorite aspects of the Cthulhu mythos is that while Cthulhu is most certainly the creation of H.P. Lovecraft-the atmosphere, the characters, the manner of storytelling, everything was established by Lovecraft. However, the mythos has been developed by an ever-increasing community of writers all working together to create an atmosphere of horror and tension. This idea of crowd-sourcing fiction is very interesting to me. Normally, I am not very supportive of fanfiction, but I think that adding to the Cthulhu myth is a very different enterprise.

The notion of Cthulhu stories as myth is a very important element of this distinction. The threads which tie the various Cthulhu stories together are mostly done through a hinted-at presence of otherworldly horror. Rather than taking Francis Thurston from The Call of Cthulhu and telling us a new adventure tracking down the cult around the world, the authors in the shared world of the mythos take the distantly discussed Cthulhu and other Old Gods and places them as the antagonists of new horror. Additionally, writers in the Cthulhu mythos are very conscious of the body of work they are participating in. Almost every story in the volume makes passing reference to books or events from earlier stories.

This volume was a very interesting diversion, a relaxing few afternoons spent delving outside of my normal taste in fiction. One of the nice things about Cthulhu fiction is that it is typically so short that you can read a few stories in one sitting, leading to a wide variety of experience. Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was a quick, enjoyable read, well worth the price. I would highly recommend picking it up for a bit of light reading on a cold, windy day.

Would I recommend Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos? Yes.

Score: 4.5/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? Yes.

-Mr. Cheddar