Letters to Lovecraft

Letters to Lovecraft

EIGHTEEN WHISPERS TO THE DARKNESS

‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’

So begins H. P. Lovecraft’s essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” arguably the most important analysis of horror ever written. Yet while hordes of writers have created works based on Lovecraft’s fiction, never before has an anthology taken its inspiration directly from the literary manifesto behind his entire mythos…until now.

Like cultists poring over a forbidden tome, eighteen modern masters of horror have gathered here to engage with Lovecraft’s treatise. Rather than responding with articles of their own, these authors have written new short stories inspired by intriguing quotes from the essay, offering their own whispers to the darkness. They tell of monsters and madmen, of our strange past and our weirder future, of terrors stalking the winter woods, the broiling desert, and eeriest of all, our bustling cities, our family homes.

Corresponding with the darkness are:
Kirsten ALENE • David Yale ARDANUYASAMATSU Ken
Nadia BULKIN • Chesya BURKE • Brian EVENSON
Gemma FILES • Jeffrey FORD • Orrin GREY
Stephen Graham JONES • Robin D. LAWS • Tim LEBBON
Livia LLEWELLYN • Nick MAMATAS • Cameron PIERCE
Angela SLATER • Molly TANZER • Paul TREMBLAY

Author and first-time editor Bullington (The Folly of the World) explores macabre maestro H.P. Lovecraft’s enduring legacy in this deeply satisfying anthology. … The stories in this essential compilation are as diverse as the contributors, and together they form a wonderful confluence of criticism and creativity.

Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

There is a lot of Lovecraftian ephemera out there and sometimes it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Letters to Lovecraft strikes me as an intelligent attempt to do something different and as such should be applauded…It is the first time that I have come across Stone Skin Press, but based on the evidence presented here, it is not going to be my last.

SFF World

Pub Date: 1 December 2014
ISBN-13: 9781908983107
Price: £8.99/£13.99
Format: B Format – 198x129mm
Binding: Paperback
Extent: 280 pages
ebook: Included

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3 comments on “Letters to Lovecraft
  1. Gary McMahon says:

    Hi, is Letters to Lovecraft out yet? It seems like a long time ago since I pre-ordered the book…

    • Jesse Bullington says:

      Hi Gary,

      I know some of the pre-orders have already arrived and the rest should be en route now, but I’ll double check your ticket to make sure everything is in order. More soon, very sorry for the delay, and thanks for your patience!

  2. Gary McMahon says:

    Many thanks, Jesse.

    Please drop me an email if there’s any kind of problem.

    Cheers.

22 Pings/Trackbacks for "Letters to Lovecraft"
  1. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and as a holiday treat to our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. First up is Brian Evenson’s “Past Reno,” a piece that takes us on an increasingly disquieting drive through the wastelands of the desert, and the mind… […]

  2. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and as a holiday treat to our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. We started this series with a Brian Evenson story about how you really, really can’t go home, but Nadia Bulkin’s “Only Unity Saves the Damned” poses the opposite problem: what happens when you can’t leave in the first place? Sleepy hometowns can be like snares, tightening around you even as you try to escape, and sometimes growing up in these places can blind you to the all-too-real horror that surrounds you, pressing closer and closer… […]

  3. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and as a holiday treat to our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today we bring you “______” by Paul Tremblay, which starts out as a literal day at the beach before the arrival of an attractive and overly-familiar stranger casts a pall over the afternoon. Tremblay brilliantly conveys how sometimes the scariest thing in the world isn’t an alien horror or a bloody-handed maniac or even losing control over our own bodies, it’s how eagerly we sometimes stick our hands into a bees nest, even when we really ought to know better… […]

  4. […] Letters to Lovecraft is a new anthology edited by the fabulous Jesse Bullington. I have a story in it. And check it out, the story has like the sickest title ever. […]

  5. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and as a holiday treat to our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. For Boxing Day we bring you Livia Llewellyn’s nightmarish “Allochthon,” a family outing the likes of which you’ll never forget… […]

  6. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and as a holiday treat to our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today we’ve got a little bit of downhome weirdness courtesy of Stephen Graham Jones’ “Doc’s Story,” and you can bet your bottom dollar this ain’t no shaggy dog tale… […]

  7. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and as a holiday treat to our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. As the death knell for 2014 tolls out across the world, we bring you a glimpse of Tim Lebbon’s “The Lonely Wood.” By placing a grieving atheist in a house of God, Lebbon poses a philosophical question that underpins both religion and cosmic horror: which is more terrifying, the idea that we’re alone in this universe, or that we’re not? […]

  8. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today’s entry comes from Cameron Pierce, and features that ancient struggle of man vs. fish. Considering this piece is aptly titled “Help Me,” it may not end up being the sort of catch our protagonist wants to boast about… […]

  9. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today we turn our attention to Asamatsu Ken, who is both a prolific author and the foremost authority on all things Lovecraft in his native Japan. His tale “Glimmer in the Darkness”(translated by Raechel Dumas) entwines the extraterrestrial theories of John Keel with both Lovecraft’s Mythos and, more intriguing still, his biography… […]

  10. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Few authors can successfully juggle absurdest humor with a palpable sense of dread, but Jeffrey Ford is in a class of his own. We think his “Order of the Haunted Wood” is just the thing to get you bright eyed and bushy tailed on a cold Monday in the depths of January… […]

  11. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today’s piece is “Only the Dead and the Moonstruck” by Angela Slatter, a haunting meditation on grief, loss, and darker things still that stalk us when all the world ought to be asleep… […]

  12. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. To usher you off into the weekend we’ve got something by Gemma Files, a midwinter excursion to “That Place.” With a master’s touch Files invokes that nigh-universal childhood ritual of inventing odd games to play, exclusive games that only a privileged few ever even learn of, and combines the richly esoteric workings of young imaginations with a chilling proposal. It’s just the thing for these long winter nights when you’re trapped inside the house… […]

  13. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today’s piece comes from the incomparable Chesya Burke, and takes us on a chilling journey the likes of which Lovecraft himself never dared imagine… […]

  14. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today’s entry comes to us in the form of a a screenplay by gentleman skeleton Orrin Grey. One has to wonder, though, is this an adaptation of a story by horror maestro Gordon Phillips, or something more biographical? […]

  15. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today’s piece is an appetizer from David Yale Ardanuy’s “One Last Meal, Before The End,” and marks the debut of an exciting new writer. It takes us far from the comforts and security of the modern world, depositing us in a remote trading post in the waning days of the 18th century. As snows blow in to blanket the American Northeast, this may be just the thing to warm you up… […]

  16. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Today’s entry comes from Kirsten Alene, and takes us to a strange university where stranger things are afoot. This may not be Miskatonic U, but credit hours from one may be applied at the other… […]

  17. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. We close out this week with a salty sea story from Robin D. Laws, a yarn that takes us all the way from the Portsmouth docks to a sun-drenched atoll in the South Pacific. Nice as that may sound, though, this desert isle is less Gilligan’s Island and more William Hope Hodgson by way of David Cronenberg… […]

  18. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to ring in the new year for our readers we’ll be posting excerpts from each of the stories. Our penultimate piece comes from Molly Tanzer, and takes us on a post-apocalyptic poaching expedition through a strangely-altered version of London… […]

  19. […] Letters to Lovecraft is our newest genre-blending anthology of original fiction, and to give readers a taste of what they can expect we’ve been posting excerpts from each of the stories. We now come to the haunting final piece of the collection, “The Semi-Finished Basement” by Nick Mamatas. […]

  20. […] H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) edited by S.T. Joshi Letters to Lovecraft edited by Jesse Bullington, published by Stone Skin Press (Where you’ll find the story […]

  21. […] H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) edited by S.T. Joshi Letters to Lovecraft edited by Jesse Bullington, published by Stone Skin Press (Where you’ll find the story […]

  22. […] Jeffrey Ford, Gemma Files, Robin D. Laws, and Nick Mamatas. • Stone Skin Press’s site has this description. • Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “The stories in this essential compilation […]

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