The Watchers Out of Time: Fifteen Soul-Chilling Tales by H. P. Lovecraft

Unlike some readers, I actually read the covers and realized this wasn't original stories from HP Lovecraft. However, the are heavily inspired by his works, included some of his notes and unfinished stories. Most Lovecraft fans will enjoy this book for its Lovecraftian flavor. There is a bit of a repetition in some of the story lines (old houses and dead mysterious relatives, etc). But in an age where horror is dumbed down, this is as close as you can get to Lovecraft or Poe. A great companion to the three part Lovecraft collection from Del Ray: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft and The Road to Madness.

I loved these stories thirty years ago when I was a clueless Cthulhu Mythos kid, and I still enjoy some of them to-day. The worst offenders are those tales that merely steal entire plots from Lovecraft, such as "The Shuttered Room" and "The Shadow out of Space" -- two of the worst stories in the book, unimaginative and dull. Many of these stories were based on entries found in Lovecraft's Commonplace Book. For one of my forthcoming books (the revised/expanded edition of DREAMS OF LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR) I recently wrote a 10,000 word prose-poem sequence entitled "Uncommon Places," each segment of which was inspired by entries in Lovecraft's Commonplace Book. According to Derleth's theory and practice, I can refer to my new piece as having been a posthumous collaboration between H. P. Lovecraft and W. H. Pugmire. But I shan't.

I must disagree with the more vitriolic reviews of this edition. For one thing, it's great to have all of these stories in one place. I don't have the time or the money to hunt down all of the Arkham House pressings of these stories. Secondly, though these are clearly not quite up to the caliber of "real" Lovecraft stories, they are very enjoyable-certainly for someone who has all of the Lovecraft stuff. And last but not least, though his name is not printed as largely as Lovecraft's, it very clearly says, "and August Derleth" on the cover of the book. I'd say if you're a Lovecraft fan who has everything, this book is a fine addition to your collection. Sure, it would have been nice to have had S.T. Joshi do the annotating on this, but truthfully that's about my only complaint. As I said, very enjoyable.

This book was somewhat of a dissapointment to me, a devoted Lovecraft fan, because it contains only one story by the Great Old One. The rest is written by August Derleth, Lovecraft's friend and one of those who made the master's work famous after his untimely death. Derleth is, however, not a bad writer, but can in no way be compared with the original. Most of the stories deal with the things we already know; old, infamous mansions in isolated townships, warlock ancestors, witchcraft and unnameable things in basements and attics. Sure, this is all very exciting, but we have read it before and, most important of all, we have read it better written.

I have long been an H.P. Lovecraft fan, and when I pick up a book with his name on it, I expect the best. I see different sides to his persona reflected in each story, and the more you read this man, the more lurid and lucid his images become, reflecting back onto past stories. Then one day you get a chill down your spine coming after reading the right book of his, and you realize the depth of H.P. Lovecraft's terror is too great, too black, and has no bottom. This was that book.