Necronomicon is a selection of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories. For those who don’t know, ‘Necronomicon’ is a fictional ‘Book of the Dead’ by a ‘mad Arab’ that appears in Lovecraft’s work, which contains stories of the ‘Old Ones’ (old gods) and how to summon them.
I know Lovecraft is a problematic author in many ways but I still really love his work. Lovecraft’s legacy is a complex one, as he was both racist and classist, but he did moderate as he got older. His social attitudes were common for his time, especially in New England where he grew up, and he still wrote some great horror stories.
I’m familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos (not an expert, but familiar) but was not much familiar with Lovecraft’s work and I thought this would be a good place to start.
This collection had almost 40 short stories in it, and I had some definite favorites:
‘The Rats in the Walls’ – a story about a man who returns to ancestral roots and discovers some family secrets are better left undiscovered. This story also features a black cat that reminds me very much of my own black cat. In later editions the cat was named ‘Black Tom’ but in earlier editions and as originally published, the cat was named ‘N*ggerMan.’ Yes, quite problematic. In the edition I listened to, they used the original name, which was so completely distracting that it often took me out of the story. I know the context, but it was still distracting. I won’t say I am prejudice free, but to my credit, and to the credit of my entire family on both sides, we don’t use the ‘n’ word and never have. I find it quite repulsive. I know some people use it, but as a 30 something white female of European decent, I don’t out of respect and it’s not mine to use. I read the story again later, with the cat’s new name, and it was much better. It’s a good story, all in all, and I really liked it. It was probably my favorite in the entire book. If you do read it, try to read a later edition with the cat named ‘Black Tom.’ Full disclosure, my black cat’s name is Tybalt, Prince of Cats.
‘Herbert West, Reanimator’ – this story is about a man who reanimates the dead, hence the title. Needless to say, the reanimation of the dead doesn’t go well. Supposedly this was to be a parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (a book I hated, by the way – 300ish pages dedicated to the whining of a deadbeat dad). This is considered to be one of Lovecraft’s weaker works and I can see why that is, but I still really liked it. The narrator made it rather enjoyable, and the ending felt good. Very creepy.
‘The Thing on The Doorstep’ – in which the protagonist explains he’s just killed his best friend but isn’t a murderer. It’s as weird as it sounds, but very good.
‘The Call of Cthulhu’ – this is the first story in the the Cthulhu Mythos, published in 1928. The narrator slowly but surely discovers the cult of Cthulhu, and meets Cthulhu up close. The atmosphere is great in this story. You know what’s coming, and it builds slowly. I enjoyed it tremendously.
‘The Dunwich Horror’ – another tale that is considered to be a part of the core of the Cthulhu Mythos. A very unattractive woman has a very unattractive son with an unknown father. That father is revealed/or heavily implied to be the Lovecraftian deity Yog-Sothoth. It goes pretty poorly for the village of Dunwich after that. I enjoyed this one, but not quite as much as ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’
There were a couple of other Cthulhu Mythos stories in there but ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘The Dunwich Horror’ were my two definite favorites.
I really enjoyed these stories. I went out and bought a hardcover of Lovecraft’s complete works afterwards. It’s still in my TBR pile but that’s where I went back and reread ‘The Rats in the Walls.’
Lovecraft is a huge influence on horror writing, and I don’t regret reading his stuff, even though some of it has issues. His stories are imaginative, creepy, and sometimes even quite funny. Personally, I’d skip Necronomicon and just buy a complete collection, so you can read the whole thing. I don’t usually enjoy highlights being chosen for me, although I’d say this was the exception. Now I’m going to read all the stories anyway, so I probably should have just done this from the start. To each his own. But I did enjoy this immensely. No regrets.
Tag Archives: authors: h.p. lovecraft
Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
Meddling Kids
Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids was one of my favorite books in 2018. In fact, it might be one of my favorite books ever.
In a Scooby Gang meets Lovecraft adventure of horror and comedy, four former child detectives and a descendant of their faithful weimaraner – an equally faithful weimaraner – take another look at their last case which, due to the bizarre nature of the case, one of them still cannot believe was simply a guy in a mask.
Andy, who convinces the others to reinvestigate, pinpoints that case as the trigger that destroyed their lives, haunted by the memories of their nights out in the forest. Andy is a tomboy, now butch lesbian, with a criminal record wanted in several states. Kerry, child genius and would be biologist – is plagued by nightmares, unable to finish college, and descending into alcoholism. Nate (the nerd) checks himself into and out of mental institutions, and Peter (the Golden Boy) becomes a successful Hollywood actor until he takes his own life not long after Kerry starts college. Peter now manifests as a hallucination that only Nate can see and hear.
As a devoted Scooby Doo fan, there was no chance that I wasn’t going to read this book. As a less devoted Lovecraft fan, there was no chance that I wasn’t going to read this book. And as a not devoted but totally remembers reading the stories Nancy Drew fan, there was no chance that I wasn’t going to read this book.
If you’re looking for a logical detective story, you’re not going to find it here. What you will find is a tale of broken people who reunite to unbreak themselves, just a little bit. In spite of the fact that you’re basically dealing with three broken people, a telepathic dog, and broken hallucinated person, this book is fun and funny. I laughed out loud quite a few times.
I don’t think this book is for everyone. This book draws heavily on those child detective stories we all read as kids, as well as Scooby Doo, and it draws a lot from the Cthulhu mythos. If you don’t like any of those things, it’s probably not a book for you, as those things don’t seem to be for everyone. Cthulhu especially doesn’t seem to appeal to a lot of people, and a lot of younger people don’t seem to be all that familiar with it. It just feels like a lot of people aren’t going to get the book because they’re not going to be familiar with its brilliant campiness and nostalgia.
Put another way: if you only like watching Scooby Doo, you probably won’t like this book. People never fail to amaze me in that they went into a book expecting to read a novel length version of Scooby Doo, this isn’t what it was, and they hated it. DUH, you idiots, it was never supposed to be a novelized version of Scooby Doo.
One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen leveled at the book is that the writing was all over the place. It was, but I took at least some of that to be part of the point. And anybody who has read The Supernatural Enhancements knows Edgar Cantero does weird stuff like that. I didn’t love The Supernatural Enhancements because the story was meh and I expected more. I felt like I got exactly what I expected here.
I saw one or two people complaining the story was transphobic but I missed that. I’m always a bit hesitant to label people “phobes” anyway and overall I’m usually an insensitive cow, but I feel like transphobic here was a leap. I don’t assume trans people are evil because of this book. I never did anyway, but here we are.
Anyway, I recommend this book highly, even though I know a lot of people aren’t going to like it, and honestly…I don’t care. It was good, nostalgic, campy fun and totally in line with what I expected from Cantero and from a book inspired by a cartoon, a horror author, and some detective books. It’s not a novelization of Scooby Doo.
Oh, and it is most definitely not a kids book.
Cheating on Books
My mother is a voracious reader. She’d probably read more books by the time she was 10 than I have in my entire life (nearly 26 years), and I’m not exactly a light reader myself.
The other day, she informed me that she was reading three books at once. Three.
I can only read one book at a time. If I’m reading multiple books, no reading really gets done. For example, I’ve been reading both The Complete Works of HP Lovecraft and The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, and I’m barely getting any reading done at all, because I spend most of my time trying to decide which I should read, and feeling guilty that I’m not reading the other.
That’s right: I feel like I’m cheating on one book with another. And I feel guilty about it. AND I really do need to finish this Stephen King book, as I’ve been in the middle of it for months now.
But it seems that many people read more than one book at once. Is it even important to be faithful to the book you’re reading and give it your undivided attention? It doesn’t have feelings, but as anyone knows, you can have a sort of love affair with a book that the book doesn’t actively participate in except that it is the object of your affection.
Maybe that’s why I suck at reading more than one book at once. I have a deep, involved relationship with whatever I’m reading, and it’s hard to have more than one meaningful relationship at once.
Am I a weirdo? I’m a weirdo. I’ll still probably be faithful to my book.
words in scarlet ink 