“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, 18 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 and our family homes.
Shepherded into this physical plane by Jesse Bullington and featuring all original tales from Kirsten Alene, David Yale Ardanuy, Nadia Bulkin, Chesya Burke, Brian Evenson, Gemma Files, Jeffrey Ford, Orrin Grey, Stephen Graham Jones, Asamatsu Ken, Robin D. Laws, Tim Lebbon, Livia Llewellyn, Nick Mamatas, Cameron Pierce, Angela Slatter, Molly Tanzer, and Paul Tremblay, Letters to Lovecraft brings you startling new visions of profound terror.
