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Review: H. P. Lovecraft: Nightmare Countries (The Master of Cosmic Horror)


H. P. Lovecraft: Nightmare Countries (The Master of Cosmic Horror)
By S.T. Joshi
New York: Metro Books, c2012,
ISBN: 9781435141520, $19.98

NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!

If there is one thing to be said about books on Lovecraft, it is that you cannot go wrong with anything written by S.T. Joshi. The closest thing to a personal biographer, this author is today’s resident expert on all things Lovecraft and this book does not disappoint. Almost a coffee table book in size, it is worth every penny of its $19.98 price. The 160-page, glossy textured tome contains photographs of everything from family and locales, to images of documents, magazine covers, death certificates and Lovecraft’s personal drawings and drafts. Joshi pulls no punches and lets us see the real Lovecraft in all his glory and tragic foibles. For the Lovecraft fan, this is a must-have collector’s piece.

As a writer, my favorite thing about this book is seeing images of the actual original draft pages of some of Lovecraft’s works – his handwriting, his self-editing, the doodles of how he saw his monsters. There is nothing like looking directly at the beginnings of some of the greatest horror fiction ever written. And it is all on sale right now at Barnes and Noble in the discount section…So don’t waste another moment. Head to the sale aisle and look for the waving tentacles. I give it five out of waving five…

KC Redding-Gonzalez

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