The most recommended Lovecraftian horror books

Despatches is narrated by a war correspondent covering the Gallipoli campaign of WWI and effortlessly fuses classic literature and Lovecraftian horror.

I loved the epistle format and the periodic language, and I found it hard not to consider the book in the same vein as the classic works of HG Wells or Jules Verne. Like all books in the genre I have enjoyed, Despatches questions war and the nature of those who wage it, and if, even in humankind’s darkest moments, there is always some sense of hope amongst the carnage.

Or perhaps the irony that, as humanity fights with itself, it fast becomes blind to more pressing, potent enemies waiting for the opportunity to usurp all. There is genuine excitement to the final act and the story’s conclusion is poignant and heartfelt, making for an exhilarating and satisfying read.

As a horror writer, I have a thick skin for horror writing. Charles Stross is one of the few authors whose darkest work still chills me when I read it. He’s also one of the most purely enjoyable self-confessed inheritors of Lovecraft’s mantle—teasing and subverting it constantly, while effortlessly tipping readers from chuckles to shivers. His humour only reinforces the horror. I rate The Fuller Memorandum highest in his Laundry Files series of sardonic occult espionage—rich in slightly reframed historical detail, compulsive as any thriller, quietly chilling in its implications.

I first read H.P. Lovecraft when I was in college. His Cthulhu Mythos instantly grabbed my imagination. Lovecraft was a large part of the reason I started writing horror. Even back then, his disdain for foreigners and Black people and anyone else whose ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, the way his did, was apparent. In recent years, Lovecraft’s racism has become a hot topic. That’s why I like this book: because it urns the usual Lovecraft trope of evil monsters from another dimension on its head by bringing the monsters closer to home, in the form of the horrors of the Jim Crow era. 

Similar to Cioran, Ligotti has a profoundly dark worldview, but not one that is unearned.

Ligotti’s own experiences with anhedonia and despair seep through his writing. I cannot get enough of it. Through his prose, he creates his own world wherein doom is assured and life seems like a poorly written, performed, and directed play that is in profoundly bad taste.

It may seem like work like this would depress you, but for me, it gives me a sense of understanding. Someone out there, even if it’s just Ligotti’s characters, has felt that gloom.

Published by the makers of the Arkham Horror board and card games, the four novellas in this book follow characters from the game, giving them depth and background, bringing them to life.

This book is a perfect example of taking an existing license and transporting it to a new medium. The writing itself is modern and accessible while the stories take place in the prohibition era. What I enjoyed most is that these stories show Lovecraft created more monsters than just Cthulhu.

There is more danger in Lovecraftian fiction than one horrible, sleeping god.

Thomas Ligotti is one of the few writers whose work genuinely, profoundly scares me. His vision is underscored by an all-too-convincing commitment to pessimistic philosophy (which is accessibly detailed in his 2010 book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race). Songs of a Dead Dreamer is haunted by the philosophical outlooks of E. M. Cioran, Arthur Schopenhauer, H. P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allan Poe, but Ligotti’s fixation on marionettes, dolls, and the illusory nature of human agency is singular and distinctive. This is a masterpiece of existentially disturbing dark literature.   

This collection by the gifted Nigerian author who excels at evoking a haunting sense of beauty with words, is sure to delight anyone that enjoys throwing themselves off a literary cliff to see words and images fly by like many-splendored birds.

These are stories that will transport you to changed versions of our world with exquisite prose. Familiar and not. Dark and beautiful and occasionally terrifying they run the gamut from dark fantasy to science fiction to cosmic horror. Often set in Nigeria and using, Yoruba mythology, folklore, and legends as jumping-off points this is an immersive and strange book that defies categorical taxonomy.

Vivid, colorful, and just downright beautiful to read, I was moved by this collection, and you probably will be too.

I was honored to have appeared alongside F. Paul Wilson at a book signing for Dark Delicacies, the premiere horror bookshop in Burbank, CA. He autographed a copy of The Barrens and Others for me. That night, I took it back to my hotel room and devoured it. Mr. Wilson may not be the household name of Stephen King or Clive Barker, but he is just as talented. What makes this collection even better is Wilson's introductions to the stories. This is a first-rate collection of first-rate tales, ranging from Lovecraftian to Western supernatural, with many mysterious combinations in between. Read this book, and you will be a F. Paul Wilson fan for life.

This is possibly a more Lovecraftian selection than a Holmesian one, as the monsters and the unfathomable world of Lovecraft and Cthulhu really dominate thematically. The sinister darkness of Lovecraft really comes through here.

It’s a little heartbreaking to see Holmes in over his head, struggling with non-Euclidian magic, but very well done and a gripping story.

I loved this book so much that I lost sleep while reading it. Like the main character, Abe, I feel most at peace while I’m near water. Abe uses fishing to fill a void after his wife dies. I use it to cleanse my thoughts; it can get a bit busy in my head sometimes.

The book is about loss, healthy and unhealthy choices, friendship, betrayal, and scary monsters. It includes four of my favourite things: engaging characters, beautiful writing, water, and horror.

Horror is my comfort blanket, and this book is full to the brim with it; lots and lots of cosmic horror coupled with sorcery and monsters: some huge and others human, many dead and some alive.