Probably every book lover has heard of such an author as Howard Lovecraft. Despite the fact that he died in 1936, the best works of Lovecraft are still popular and terrify readers of all ages. Which is understandable - they are saturated, atmospheric and create a magnificent universe with its laws, history and heroes.
The scariest books
If the reader has decided to begin acquaintance with the writer's work, it is worth listing the best works of Lovecraft. Still, not all of them are equally good. It will be very disappointing if the first few works that come across so disappoint the horror fan that they beat off the desire to continue reading - the connoisseur will not get to the really interesting works of the talented writer.
So, many connoisseurs of the work of Howard Lovecraft believe that the most powerful works are:
- Dagon.
- Outcast.
- The Horror of Dunwich.
- "Hidden Fear."
- "Color from other worlds."
This list contains both short stories and voluminous novels. However, they all share one feature - they can create fear in the heart of the reader with the strongest nerves. So, if you want to test your courage, reading at least a couple of works is definitely worth it. But be careful - the atmosphere of hopelessness and horror is really addictive, and you will probably want to read even more books of the great horror master soon.
Dagon
Talking about the best works of Lovecraft, it is worth starting with this. A short story just a few pages long will make even the reader with the strongest nerves startle. And there is something!
Lovecraft's Dagon is a kind of human diary. After a terrible shipwreck, he was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Here he saw the ancient god Dagon, as well as numerous cultists worshiping him, conducting terrible rites. Despite its small size, the story turned out to be surprisingly atmospheric and eerie.
What is interesting - a nightmare pushed him to write this work of the author, which frightened him so much in his childhood that he struck a memory for life. Many years later, a creatively modified dream brought Lovecraft considerable popularity.
Outcast
The work of Howard Lovecraft "Outcast" was written back in 1921, and published only in 1926. It also represents a story about a man who lived, as long as he remembers himself, in an abandoned and dilapidated castle. Never going beyond its borders, he knew the world around him exclusively from ancient books. And his only friends are rats, spiders and bats. The castle is surrounded by tall trees that do not allow sunlight, so the hero is forced to live in eternal darkness.
Once, tired of such a life, he decides to explore the upper floors of the castle, which he had never climbed before. It is here that the character manages to find the door when he leads not just to another room - to another world. It is similar to the one that is familiar to the hero, but much more alive - the castle is not destroyed here, but is kept in excellent condition. Moreover, it has been significantly expanded and a large number of people have gathered here. However, an attempt to approach them had completely unexpected consequences. The latest sentences of the work completely overturn the whole idea of him, which emphasizes the high skill of the writer.
In one short story, Lovecraft managed to combine fiction, horror and mysticism, seasoning all this with the theme of loneliness and the afterlife. Perhaps, precisely because of this, the work reaches a completely different level, it becomes especially eerie and memorable.
The Horror of Dunwich
Another really creepy work, which can rather be called a story, is much longer than the ones mentioned above. Lovecraft's “Horror of Dunwich” takes the reader to Massachusetts, where old Waitley and his albino daughter named Lavinia live in the small town of Dunwich. In general, this place has always been notorious. Many argued that in the mountains you can sometimes hear a terrible roar, despite the fact that there is no sign of collapses after that. Yes, and the Kozodoi, whom the locals consider as guides to another world, behave extremely strange.
The Waitley family has always been terrifying to the locals. And when Lavinia became pregnant, it is not known from whom, from their estates began to stay away. The born boy was already 10 years old as a grown man, and three years later he grew one more head. Waitley actively bought livestock from local farmers, but he disappeared without a trace on their estate - no one saw herds grazing on the land of strange neighbors. But the worst thing begins when the old man dies, and his daughter disappears in the middle of nowhere. It was after this that the evil that brought Dunwich horror and suffering was released.
The work was first published in 1929 and is adjacent to the popular cycle "Myths of Cthulhu." It was also one of the first to feature the book Necronomicon invented by Lovecraft.
"Hidden Fear"
This story was one of the first written by the great master. In general, Lovecraft's Lurking Fear cannot be called a strong work. However, the writer himself greatly appreciated it. After many experiments, the author came to the genre of horror, which glorified it later.
The nameless protagonist (yes, Lovecraft has quite a few works in which the main character does not have a name) goes with a group of people to Mount Tempest to investigate the numerous rumors associated with her. However, there were not only rumors. More recently, in a nearby village, a series of brutal murders was committed, pulling many reporters into this godforsaken corner. And this mysterious crime is only one step out of many. For over a century, people have been disappearing near Mount Tempest. And never again did anyone manage to see them.
What evil is lurking here? The hero is ready to sacrifice his life to find the answer to this question.
'Color from other worlds "
The action of the story "Color from Other Worlds" Lovecraft takes place in the town of Arkham, Massachusetts. It is worth noting that this fictional city generally occupies a key place in the work of the author - the action of many works takes place here.
The protagonist - an engineer - comes here to conduct research for the construction of a reservoir. Having noticed unusual vegetation and huge dead wastelands, he tries to find out what happened here. However, most locals refuse to speak. He receives the answer from the half-crazy old man. And everything that he says does not fit in with the picture of the real world. But this is the only explanation for what happened. The story is a small excursion into the eerie history of Arkham and will make the reader shudder with the strongest nerves.
Conclusion
This concludes the article. In it, we tried to list the best works of Lovecraft. It is enough to spend only a few evenings to read them. And they will surely leave an indelible mark on the heart of any lover of horrors.