A Cthulhu Mythos anthology is a type of short story collection that contains stories written in, or related to, the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction launched by H. P. Lovecraft. Such anthologies have helped to define and popularize the genre.
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by writer August Derleth and published by Arkham House in 1969, is considered the first Cthulhu Mythos anthology. It contained two stories by Lovecraft, a number of reprints of pieces written by members of Lovecraft's circle of correspondents, and several new tales written for the collection by a new generation of Cthulhu Mythos writers. It was published in an edition of 4,024 copies.
Derleth prefaced the collection with "The Cthulhu Mythos", an outline of his (sometimes controversial) views on the development and content of the Mythos. In this introduction, Derleth prematurely declared the genre to be dead--"for certainly the Mythos as an inspiration for new fiction is hardly likely to afford readers with enough that is new and sufficiently different in execution to create a continuing and growing demand".[1]
Lin Carter later wrote that Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos "marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the Mythos for many reasons, and one of the most important was that it introduced a number of new writers in the Mythos."[2]
Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, November 1990 (variant contents). This later revised edition, edited and introduced by Jim Turner, drops the stories by Shea and Wade and the two by Lumley and adds the following seven tales:
The book collects 12 fantasy tales and poems by various authors that either influenced or were influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos stories of H. P. Lovecraft, including one story by H. P. Lovecraft himself, with an overall introduction and notes by Carter.
Contents
The contents are:
"Introduction: About The Spawn of Cthulhu and H. P. Lovecraft" (Lin Carter)
The Disciples of Cthulhu was edited by Edward P. Berglund and published by DAW Books in 1976. Berglund later described it as "the first professional, all-original, Cthulhu Mythos anthology".[3]
Perhaps responding to the introduction to Derleth's collection, Berglund wrote in his preface: "Whether or not there is a market for the Cthulhu Mythos stories, established and amateur writers will continue to write them for their own and their friends' amusement and enjoyment. It is inevitable that one or more readers of this volume will be influenced into trying his hand at writing within the Cthulhu Mythos genre."
When the collection was reprinted by Chaosium in 1996, the Carter and Brennan stories were replaced by "Dope War of the Black Tong", a new Robert M. Pricepastiche of Carter and Robert E. Howard, and "Glimpses" by A. A. Attanasio, which was supposed to be published in the original Disciples but ended up in the Arkham House anthology Nameless Places instead.
New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was edited by Ramsey Campbell and published by Arkham House in 1980 in an edition of 3,647 copies. In his introduction, Campbell noted that "[i]n recent years the Mythos at times has seemed in danger of becoming conventionalized," despite the fact that "Lovecraft's intention and achievement was precisely to avoid the predictability and resultant lack of terror which beset the conventional macabre fiction of his day." Therefore, Campbell wrote, "in this anthology I have tended to favor less familiar treatments or uses of the Mythos.... They contain few erudite occultists, decaying towns, or stylistic pastiches.... Indeed, one of our tales hints at the ultimate event of the Mythos without ever referring to the traditional names."[4]
One story in the book is an expansion, by Martin S. Warnes, of Lovecraft's fragment "The Book".
Arkham House released a revised edition of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos in November 1990, edited by Jim Turner with a substantially different selection of stories, reflecting the editor's disdain for "Mythos pastiches in which eccentric New England recluses utter the right incantations in the wrong books and are promptly eaten by a giant frog named Cthulhu." It was released in an edition of 7,015 copies.
Turner eliminates some authors from the earlier edition (totalling four stories, those by Wade, Shea and two by Lumley) --while still suggesting that "a few of the earliest pieces in this volume...now seem like pop-cultural kitsch." The added seven stories, he writes, are from "the relative handful of successful works that have been influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos...exemplifying the darkly enduring power of H. P. Lovecraft over a disparate group of writers who have made their own inimitable contributions to the Mythos."[5]
Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos was edited by Robert M. Price and published by Fedogan & Bremer in 1992. In an introduction, Price provides a "sketch of the Lovecraft Mythos and its evolution into the Cthulhu Mythos"—raising a defense of August Derleth's interpretation of the Mythos along the way. Price writes that his intent in making selections was to assemble "an alternate version" of Derleth's Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, though limited in scope to the writers of the pulp era. He included several pieces long out of print or reprinted only in obscure fanzines, and tried to focus on "stories in which certain important Mythos names or items are either first mentioned or most fully explained by the author who created them".[6]
Cthulhu's Heirs was edited by Thomas M. K. Stratman and published by Chaosium in 1994. With the exception of contributions by Ramsey Campbell and Hugh B. Cave, the stories included are original to the collection. Stratman describes the tales as "more than 20 writers' visions into the landscape of Lovecraft Country."[7]
The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H. P. Lovecraft was edited by D. M. Mitchell and published by Creation Books in 1994. Declaring that "Lovecraft has suffered much at the hands of unmindful critics and even more from uninspired and talentless imitators," Mitchell declares that the collection's goal is "to dig deeper, to bypass the superficial and access the subterranean channels of archetype and inspiration with which Lovecraft was connected.... [Lovecraft] crafted morbid and disturbing allegories of social and biological upheaval--cryptically prophetic and spiritually exploratory--this latent content of his work now needs excavating."[9]
Some of the stories in the collection — such as those by Burroughs and Ballard — were not inspired by Lovecraft, but were seen by Mitchell as sharing his "visions of cosmic alienation". In those stories that make direct references to the Cthulhu Mythos, they are "used only in passing--in the same informal way in which Lovecraft himself intended."[10]
Cthulhu 2000: A Lovecraftian Anthology was edited by Jim Turner and published by Arkham House in 1995 in an edition of 4,927 copies. As in his earlier collection, Turner criticizes the "latter-day Mythos pastiche" as simply "a banal modern horror story, preceded by the inevitable Necronomicon epigraph and indiscriminately interspersed with sesquipedalian deities, ichor-oozing tentacles, sundry eldritch abominations, and then the whole sorry mess rounded off with a cachinnating chorus of "Iä! Iä!"-chanting frogs." He declares that "the works collected in the present volume are not great Lovecraft stories; they rather are great stories in some way inspired by Lovecraft."[11]
The New Lovecraft Circle was edited by Robert M. Price and published by Fedogan & Bremer in 1996 in an edition of 2,000 copies. Presenting the book as a sequel to Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos, which focused on the circle of writers around Lovecraft that were collected in the first half of Derleth's Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, Price declares that "the present collection means to ape the second half, to commemorate that dawn of a new era of Mythos fiction." He describes the contents as "little known and seldom seen stories by most of the seven members of the New Lovecraft Circle numbered by Lin Carter and by other, more recent adepts as well, for the tradition grows. The cult will not be stamped out."[12]
Song of Cthulhu was published by Chaosium in July 2001, edited by Stephen Mark Rainey. This themed anthology featured stories about using music to interact with the various entities from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, as typified in Lovecraft's story, "The Music of Erich Zann", which is included in the anthology. Cover art by Harry Fassl.
The Children of Cthulhu, published by Ballantine Books in 2002, was edited by John Pelan and Benjamin Adams. In the introduction, the editors wrote:
For this collection, we asked authors to break past the '[if it ain't broke,] don't fix it' mentality and bring Lovecraft's original concepts kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.... The stories in this collection range from the historical to the futuristic. What they share is each writer's reaction to the vision of H. P. Lovecraft and an affinity for his core concepts.:[13]
All the stories are original to the volume with the exception of Poppy Z. Brite's "Are You Loathsome Tonight?", which originally appeared in her 1998 collection of the same name.
Cthulhu Unbound was published by Permuted Press on March 30 2009. It was edited by John Sunseri and Thom Brannan. The volume is a “cross-genre” anthology, telling Lovecraft-inspired comedies, space opera, hardboiled noir, etc.
Cthulhu Unbound 2 was published by Permuted Press on July 31, 2009. It was edited by John Sunseri and Thom Brannan. The volume is a “cross-genre” anthology, telling Lovecraft-inspired stories that are comedies, space operas, hardboiled noir, etc. Cover art by Michael Dashow.
Cthulhu's Reign was published by DAW in April 2010. It was edited by Darrell Schweitzer. The volume's twist is that the dreaded revival of the fearsome "Great Old Ones" who once ruled the Earth is not a future possibility, but an event that has actually come to pass.
Historical Lovecraft was published by Innsmouth Free Press on April 20, 2011. It was edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. Subtitled Tales of Horror Through Time, this is a history-themed anthology with stories taking place in various time periods, chronologically ordered into three sections: "Ancient History", "Middle Ages" and "Modern Era". The theme was partly inspired by the editors' historical interests and partly from Lovecraft's extrapolations of frightening pasts for humanity that extended back to the Paleolithic and even further. This was a popular theme in Weird Tales at the time and used by many other authors, including Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith.
“Found in a Trunk from Extremadura” was first published as “Manuscrit trouvé dans une malle d'Estrémadure” in the French anthology HPL 2007. This is its first appearance in an English translation. All other stories are original to this anthology.
New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird was published by Prime Books in November 2011. It was edited by Paula Guran. The volume collects stories by those Guran identifies as "New Lovecraftians" who, Guran says, "re-imagine, re-energize, renew, re-set, and make Lovecraftian concepts relevant for today."
Black Wings was published by PS Publishing on May 1, 2010. It was edited by S. T. Joshi. In this anthology as editor, Joshi's goal was to assemble a collection of stories influenced by the works and core tenets of H. P. Lovecraft, while avoiding the rigid structure of the Cthulhu Mythos as defined by August Derleth and others. In his introduction, Joshi states that "It is to be noted how many stories in this anthology do not mention a single such name from the Lovecraft corpus; and yet they remain intimately Lovecraftian on a far deeper level. Indeed, the very notion of writing a "pastiche" that does little but rework Lovecraft's own themes and ideas have now become passé in serious weird writing".[15] Three of the stories are direct or indirect sequels to Lovecraft's story "Pickman's Model" and Lovecraft himself appears as a character in several tales. Only one story, Stanley C. Sargent's "The Black Brat of Dunwich" is a reprint, all other stories are original to this anthology.
The book was republished by Titan Books on March 20, 2012. Their reprint changed the title to Black Wings of Cthulhu, a practice Titan continued for all their reprints of the Black Wings series.
The Book of Cthulhu II was published by Night Shade Books in October 2012. It was edited by Ross E. Lockhart.
Three stories, Paul Tobin's "The Drowning at Lake Henpin", Christopher Reynaga's "I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee" and Laird Barron's "Hand of Glory" are original to the volume.
Cthulhu Unbound 3 was published by Permuted Press on October 9, 2012. It was edited by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers. The volume is a “cross-genre” anthology of four Cthulhu Mythos novellas.
Contents
The contents are:
"Unseen Empire" by Cody Goodfellow
"MirrorrorriM" by D.L. Snell
"Nemesis Theory" by Tim Curran
"The R’lyeh Singularity" by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons
The volume is a "cross-genre" anthology of Lovecraft-inspired stories and poems, with original art by World Fantasy Award–winning artist John Coulthart. Datlow's stated goal with the anthology was "to avoid the pastiches...to use stories that have not been overly reprinted...[and] showcase Lovecraftian-influenced stories by at least some authors not known for that kind of story."[16] Only one story, John Langan's "Children of the Fang" is original to the volume.
New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird was published by Prime Books in April 2015. It was edited by Paula Guran. The volume is a sequel to Guran's 2011 anthology New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird.
Cthulhu Fhtagn! was published by Word Horde on August 15, 2015. It was edited by Ross E. Lockhart. This anthology is a follow-up to Lockhart's previous books The Book of Cthulhu and The Book of Cthulhu 2 but, unlike them, contains only previously unpublished stories. The stories are a mix of the serious and humorous and cross many genres. Some of the stories are based on specific works by H. P. Lovecraft. The title is taken from a chant spoken in Lovecraft's 1926 story "The Call of Cthulhu" and, in Lockhart's interpretation, is taken to mean "House of Cthulhu".
There are no reprints in this anthology; all the stories appear here for the first time.
Contents
The contents are:
"Introduction: In His House at R’lyeh..." by Ross E. Lockhart
"The Lightning Splitter" by Walter Greatshell
"Dead Canyons" by Ann K. Schwader
"Delirium Sings at the Maelstrom Window" by Michael Griffin
"Into Ye Smoke-Wreath’d World of Dream" by W. H. Pugmire
She Walks in Shadows was published by Innsmouth Free Press on October 13, 2015. It was edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. Its publication was funded by a successful Indiegogo campaign[17] and contains entirely original stories, all of them written by women. Writing for The Mary Sue, Jessica Lachenal stated that it "could be one of the neatest Lovecraftian anthologies to date."[18]
Contents
The contents are:
"Bitter Perfume" Laura Blackwell
"Violet Is the Color of Your Energy" by Nadia Bulkin
An anthology set in Australia, Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 1, edited by Steve Proposch, Christopher Sequeira, and Bryce J. Stevens, was published in Melbourne in 2017.[19]Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 2 followed in 2018.[20]
Notes
^August Derleth, "The Cthulhu Mythos", Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.
^Proposch, Steve; Sequeira, Christopher; Stevens, Bryce; Campbell, Ramsey (writer of introduction); based on HP Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu, eds. (15 May 2017). Cthulhu deep down under. Volume 1. IFWG Publishing Australia (published 2017). ISBN978-1-925496-45-1. Retrieved 7 May 2020. Celebrated horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's first major tale of his Cthulhu Mythos began an entire sub-genre of the macabre, and in that story he made Australia a crucial location in his supernatural universe. Now, a group of Australia's most accomplished writers of speculative fiction return to the promise of the master...((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
^Proposch, Steve; Sequeira, Christopher; Stevens, Bryce, eds. (August 2018). Cthulhu deep down under. Volume 2. Rawlik, Peter (writer of introduction); based on HP Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu. IFWG Publishing Australia (published 2018). ISBN9781925496994. Retrieved 7 May 2020. H. P. Lovecraft pioneered a fusion of terror and science fiction themes, and is widely credited as having invented the sub-genre of 'cosmic horror'. While America's New England was the focus and setting for many of Lovecraft's tales, the Southern Hemisphere held a fascination for him. Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica were featured locations in his Mythosian novellas....
References
Jaffery, Sheldon (1987). Future and Fantastic Worlds: A Bibliographic Retrospective of DAW Books (1972-1987). Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. p. 74. ISBN1-55742-002-5.
Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. pp. 45, 53, 57–58, 60, 252, 254–255.
Joshi, S.T. (1999). Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. pp. 104–105, 146, 161, 166. ISBN0-87054-176-5.
Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 103–104, 126, 136–137, 139. ISBN0-7864-1785-4.
