H.P. Lovecraft

[vibhandaka]

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a good novel to start out on by H.P. Lovecraft? I've never read Lovecraft before and people keep recommending him to me. Are there any Lovecraft fans here?

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

I'm in the same boat. Haven't read any Lovecraft, but would like to know where to start.

[RavensDestiny]

I would start with The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. I believe there are 16 of his most famous works. They are mostly short stories. The book itself is something like 400 to 500 pages. If you like the short stories you will probably like the longer novels. You get a wide range of his works this way also. Check Ebay, you can probably find a cheap copy. I can't really say I'm a fan of his, but he has quite the imagination.

I recommend Richard Matheson if you have not read any of his.

[zombombie]

I just recently bought H.P Lovecrafts Necronomicon (great name) which is a big hard back beast of a book. I've never read anything by him before but though I'd give it a bash and from what I've read I'm really enjoying it. And like RavensDestiny said, he's got one hell of an imagination!

[DevilxKat]

I recommend any of the Omnibus paperbacks:

H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus Vol 1: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror
H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus Volume 2: Dagon and Other Macabre Tales
H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus Volume 3: The Haunter in the Dark

[chuckwagon]

I would start with The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre.

Very much agreed!!! that was my first paperback Lovecraft book... First story I ever read was "The Rats in the Walls". Probably not his best, but deff a great one for me because it hooked me to his work!! HPL just has a WONDERFUL style of intesity in the way he uses descriptions within the words to really make you feel like you are there!! It's indescribable! Anything you can find with "The Tomb" "The Statement of Randolph Carter" or "The Outsider" would be a great read.... Heck, ANYTHING by Lovecraft is nothing short of excellent!!

Bottom line is that HPL has a way of grabbing you at the very beginning of the story, and making you want to read, and then he takes you into a story that usually has a crazy twist or unexpected turn... IMO, the greatest sci-fi/horror writer of all time!!