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The 20 Best Lovecraftian Horror Books – Ultimate Guide

It’s always hard to believe that such prolific and influential writers died in relative obscurity during their time. The works of authors like Poe, Hemingway, and the focus of this list, HP Lovecraft all put out numerous works during their time on earth just to die penniless and unknown, with their stories only being read by niche fiction readers.

Those readers become writers though, and as always when writers become popular, they influence others and those that come after, leading to a newfound rediscovery by the mainstream eventually. That eventually has finally arrived for Lovecraft, with the author’s work seeing even more readers now than ever before thanks to the bones of what would become an extensive, collaborative mythos. These are the 20 Best Lovecraftian horror books to spring from his influence.

The 20 Best Lovecraftian Horror Books

Revival by stephen king.

To be honest it feels like a spoiler to put Revival on this list. The cosmic horror of the book is a constant sense of dread throughout, but everything gets flipped into overdrive in the final act when the literal and figurative curtains are pulled back.

What starts as a man seeking out a miracle worker that helped him long ago through his use of lightning ends up as a terrifying realization about reality and existence beyond anything humans can comprehend. One hell of an escalation, and a terrifying one at that.

Buy it on Amazon

The Croning by Laird Barron

Barron has risen above as a torchbearer of sorts for Lovecraftian horror, even going so far as to inspire his own mythos around the Old Leech character. There’s an entire cosmic pantheon of terrifying beings revealed in The Croning that just scratch the surface of Barron’s horror.

Following one man who uncovers a vast conspiracy of old gods and monsters that have ruled the world for centuries, he has to set out and solve the mystery of just what he and his family have to do with everything, risking everything to find the secret.

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

This actually predates most of Lovecraft, being published first in 1909. Hodgson was a little ahead of his time though, and this story of two fishermen finding a diary near a chasm in the ground is some of the most cosmic dread to ever hit the page.

The framing story isn’t anything special, but the diary entries are the real meat of the story. The entries start normal enough with a man moving his elderly sister into a strange home the locals avoided. Before long strange happenings and the discovery of a door to an otherworldly abyss in the cellar bring about even more terrors that would later inspire stories like Uzumaki by Junji Ito.

John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin

This was one of my entry points to cosmic horror, and I still have my copy branded with Pargin’s former pen name. This book has everything but the kitchen sink thrown into a tale of cosmic horror and comedy. It’s Everything Everywhere All At Once meets Trainspotting to make the most accurate comparison possible.

Two regular guys try a new street drug called Soy Sauce. The drug actually causes them to see various parallel dimensions filled with terrible creatures beyond their imagination. This leads to a dash through dimensions fighting everything from monsters made from cuts of meat, to gods.

The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umeda

I recently got my hands on the collectors’ editions of this and they’re some of the nicest hardcovers of a manga I’ve ever seen. The art is basic when it comes to the characters and regular settings, but the space beyond the classroom is rendered in stark contrast to everything else which makes it even more terrifying.

The story and writing are what shine, showing a Japanese school in the mid-60s as it’s suddenly plucked from its usual spot and put in a seemingly foreign land, surrounded by deadly wastes and rolling dunes of darkness and sand. We see the story from the perspective of Sho, a sixth grader who goes to school after an emotional argument with his mother.

The horror takes a moment to start, instead introducing Sho and his situation, as well as a couple of other key characters. The mystery of what’s happened to them becomes secondary quickly as the adults of the school spiral into madness, and it becomes the sixth grader’s responsibility to keep the younger children safe.

The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

Hailey Piper has been making waves in the horror scene, bringing a blend of LGBT+ romances, cosmic horror on the most massive scale possible, and the deconstruction of what we know as Lovecraftian along with it. The Worm and His Kings is a short, fast-paced read that can be rushed through in an afternoon and leave you thinking about it for weeks.

On the surface a story of one woman trying to find her missing girlfriend, but as the book descends into the sewers it also falls quickly into a dark underground full of cults and creatures alike, all serving an ancient power beyond our knowing.

Dead Sea by Tim Curran

There’s nothing more Lovecraftian than unknowable terrors in the deep ocean, which is exactly what Tim Curran does hereafter flipping the premise on its head. There’s a palpable dread of whatever monstrosity could be thrown at the crew of an outdated freighter that gets suddenly transported to another ocean in reality.

The real terror of the book is the isolation of it all though. There’s a skeleton crew at best, with the old ship due for decommission at any time thanks to everything being out of date. Thanks to that it’s a very tight-knit and unknowing POV as they have to rely on a physicist who’s seen too much to get them back.

The Fisherman by John Langan

This book is simply beautiful in how it unfolds, and I love it more every time I pick it up. There’s an amazing amount of depth in both the framing story and historical account nestled within. That said, it does take a hot minute to get going, but when it does it brings along some of the creepiest Lovecraftian energy I’ve ever seen.

The historical record, which is set up as the second act of the book, is a deliciously great slow burn that leads the characters into a descent into literal and figurative madness, culminating in a confrontation with an ancient being of evil.

The framing story is a tragedy of love and loss, following two men going through their respective tragedies and bonding over a love of fishing before one learns of the events of long ago and attempts to change his tragic life.

Move Under Ground by Nick Manatas

Cthulhu versus the Beat Generation isn’t something you would expect, but it works in the strangest of ways here in Manatas’ Lovecraftian tribute to the likes of Kerouac and Ginsberg. The story is more of a sendup of Kerouac’s On the Road, but instead, the road trip is set off by the unrelenting forces of Cthulhu causing the forbidden city of R’yleh to pop up on the American west coast.

The book is fun and has plenty of great easter eggs and little jokes about the very real people behind the characters in the novel, meanwhile, the cultists of Cthulhu they come up against are perfectly creepy.

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw

One private detective versus an abusive step-father that’s actually an eldritch horror. Seems pretty intimidating until we find out that the detective is also an ancient being that’s not new to this game. Khaw weaves a taut cat-and-mouse piece that can be read in a single sitting but amps up the Lovecraftian spooks and eerie underworld to the max.

The Great White Space by Basil Copper

All at once a thrilling adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones and an overwhelming Lovecraftian horror pervading the background, this novel got relatively foreshadowed in mainstream talk of the genre until recently, making a crawling, slithery comeback to the scene.

An expedition crew sets out to find the “Great White Space” which is supposedly a gateway to another dimension. Journeys through a forgotten underground city is only the beginning of the danger as the team remembers too late that doors open both ways.

Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell

As a film buff, I love this book and think it deserves far more credit in the Lovecraftian fiction sphere, though Ramsey has made his mark over his long career. The story of a cursed film is one that’s lived on as long as cinema has existed, but this story takes it to another level by involving death, madness, and eldritch terrors beyond understanding.

One man goes on an ever-escalating quest to find the origins of the cursed films, tracking down cast and crew who are keeping secrets from the public about what happened during filmmaking.

The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons

A summer camping trip in the New Jersey Pine Barrens goes horribly wrong as the teens involved are picked off one by one, victims of each other and the surrounding forest. Tense and character-driven, the story doesn’t go quite where you expect as the forest becomes alive and the group begins to splinter even further.

Remina by Junji Ito

I took a nice break the other night and gave Remina another read since it had been a while. It’s even more disturbingly gruesome than I remember, with Junji Ito’s art standing out as some of his creepiest ever made. 

A star appears from a black hole sixteen lightyears from the Earth, and shares both a name and birthday with the daughter of its discoverer, Remina. Unfortunately, the star begins moving toward Earth at an alarming rate and devours everything in its path as humanity decides to sacrifice Remina herself as the only way to stop the impending doom.

That Which Should Not Be by Brett J Talley

Taking from Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos directly, Talley forms a story of one man venturing against terrifying cults and untold ancient evil to prevent the end of the world. His mission is undercut by four tales he hears from sailors, all of whom have had some encounter with the unknown he’s looking for.

Reanimatrix by Peter Rawlik

Lovecraftian horror meets pulpy detective novel as one man tries to solve the murder of a girl, uncovering supernatural truths beyond a gruesome underworld. There is a ton of fun in the pulp rush of it while also having great scares littered throughout.

But it on Amazon

Ring Shout by P Dieli Clark

A book set in historic Georgia a small group has to band together to fight the Ku Klux Klan and the cosmic horrors they’re attempting to summon. Clark plays with the conventions in much the same way as Lovecraft Country , turning the tropes and racism of Lovecraft on its head while delivering a terrifying story about overcoming hate and racism.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Sometimes when you move into a new place you find something you don’t quite expect. It’s not usual that said thing is a trapdoor leading down into an unknowing abyss though. The new homeowners have fun with the newfound toy at first before discovering that although things can go in, others can come out.

One Last Gasp by Andrew C. Piazza

World War II is already horrifying enough, involving some of the worst atrocities man has ever committed, and One Last Gasp only enhances that with tales of a mansion that defies reason surrounded by dozens of Axis soldiers. The Allied troops within have to think quickly and move even quicker to survive the onslaught outside and the monster within the mansion hunting them.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

Another entry that flips the racism and prejudice of Lovecraft on its head, The Ballad of Black Tom takes the author’s Horror at Red Hook and sets it from the POV of a young black man going through town at the time, witnessing the events of Lovecraft’s classic story unfold.

These twenty Lovecraftian books should keep you thinking about the terrifying knowledge beyond human comprehension, or at least considering it. Taking that terrifying fear of the unknown that Lovecraft established all those years ago, these books will occupy that fine space in your bookshelf that you just might find growing mysteriously over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is lovecraftian horror.

Lovecraftian horror can also be filed under cosmic horror, mostly relating to anything that can’t be explained or known by human perception. Lovecraftian is of course named after the famous author whose works eventually popularized the idea of ancient gods, maddening tears in reality, and humans worshiping things beyond existence.

Who are some Lovecraftian horror authors?

Most authors these days attribute at least a little influence to Lovecraft, and it’s hard not to when the author’s works are nearing a century old. Laird Barron, John Langan, and Hailey Piper are just a few of the big names making waves in the scene.

What defines a Lovecraftian horror?

The strongest indicator that you’re dealing with a Lovecraftian horror is some fear of an unknown factor. The characters won’t know it’s there, but the audience will know that there’s something just beyond their knowledge influencing and crafting whatever may befall the characters.

What is Lovecraft’s best work?

You’re going to find pretty popular (and well-earned) sentiment toward The Call of Cthulhu , and for good reason considering the proliferation the character has gotten throughout the years. At the Mountains of Madness, though, is my personal favorite for getting that true sense of Lovecraft’s signature dread and unknowing fear.

What’s with all the tentacles and fish?

Your guess is as good as mine, but many attribute the appearance of tentacles and fascination with the sea in multiple Lovecraft stories to the author’s fear of the ocean and upbringing on the New England coast. Lovecraft was noted as being an extremely fearful and anxious man, terrified of everything from other races to air conditioners. There’s also the acknowledgment that despite the influence, much of Lovecraft’s writing has strong tones of the author’s racism, unfortunately.

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8 Modern Cosmic Horror Books for a Post-Lovecraft World

Jessica Avery

"Jessica has been a voracious reader since she was old enough to hold chapter books right side up. She has an MA in English from the University of Maine, and has been writing about books online since 2015. She started out writing about the Romance genre, but in recent years she has rekindled her love for Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy, with an emphasis on works of queer fiction. You can follow her on Twitter , Bluesky , and Instagram .

View All posts by Jessica Avery

Real life is full of existential dread right now, so what better way to deal with that stressor than indulging in the catharsis of some good modern cosmic horror books? Sure the world is on fire. Literally, in some instances. But cosmic horror is there to remind us that it could definitely get worse. (I will not make a tentacle joke, I will not make a tentacle joke, I will not—) Most folks know how cosmic horror got started, and that when it comes to the sub-genre Lovecraft still tends to loom large, so I won’t go into the history here. I definitely recommend you check out Sarah S. Davis’s Introduction to Cosmic Horror post, because she does a great job of breaking down the whys and wherefores of the cosmic horror sub-genre.

Instead, we’re going to talk about some of the amazing modern cosmic horror books that have been published in the last five years and were therefore definitely not written by Lovecraft. Like I said, Lovecraft looms large and it’s hard to escape him in the realm of cosmic horror, so some of these titles do engage directly with Lovecraft’s universe. Others, though, choose to abandon his opus entirely and strike out in new directions, exploring and interrogating the themes and concepts of the sub-genre.

Modern Cosmic Horror Books

Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan

For a novella, Kiernan’s cosmic horror Agents of Dreamland , the first in her Tinfoil Dossier series, packs in a lot of narrative. A cult leader surrounds himself with followers drawn by the promise of transcendence. A government special agent known only as the Signalman tries to track down information about an inexplicable event that haunts him. An interplanetary probe goes dark, and something far beyond our galaxy has made contact. Somewhere, outside of time, an unknown woman studies the past and the future for the means to save humanity. If you end up enjoying Agents of Dreamland , rejoice! The sequel, Black Helicopters , is already out and the third book in the series, The Tindalos Asset , will be out October 13!

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Most horror and fantasy readers are familiar with Victor LaValle’s work, and that includes his brilliant reimagining of one of Lovecraft’s most bigoted works , “The Horror at Red Hook.” LaValle’s novella shines a bright light not just on the racism of Lovecraft’s original work but also on the terrible truth that all the cosmic horrors of the world are distant nightmares compared to the violence humans visit on each other. In short, The Ballad of Black Tom probably has ol’ H.P. spinning in his grave, and isn’t that what we all want? Charles Tester is a hustler, doing what ever he has to to keep his father housed and fed, and he makes his money peddling dangerous magics to desperate or eager people. But when his most recent delivery opens a door to more power than he’s ever encountered, Tester finds himself under the eye of something old and dangerous.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin’s fantasy has always leaned on the dark side of the genre, so I am absolutely ecstatic that with her most recent novel she’s made the leap in to full-fledged cosmic horror. In a version of our world where cities have souls called avatars, the avatar of New York City has vanished. Now five new avatars must rise to take its place: the city’s iconic five boroughs personified. Beneath the city, something old and powerful is waking up, and if the city’s five protectors cannot find a way to work together, the ancient evil beneath its streets will destroy New York entirely.

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

Like a lot of the modern cosmic horror books on this list, Emrys’s Winter Tide engages directly with Lovecraft’s original opus, drawing on one of his iconic settings: Innsmouth. In 1928 the government relocated the people of Innsmouth, taking them as far as possible from their home ocean and their sleeping gods. They deposited them in dusty camps in the desert and left them to die. Aphra and Caleb Marsh were the only ones to survive their camp. Now, the same government that destroyed her people needs Aphra’s help recovering dangerous secrets they that they believe the Communists have stolen from Miskatonic University. In Emry’s continuation of the story of Innsmouth, she makes a point of subverting Lovecraft’s frequent racism and xenophobia by drawing inspiration from America’s violent history of relocating and imprisoning those it fears. Humans are the real monsters here.

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw

If cosmic horror noir is your jam, you need to add Khaw’s Persons Non Grata novellas to your reading list. Hammers on Bone and its sequel A Song for Quiet are an excellent mix of arcane horrors and hardboiled detective work. John Persons is a P.I. with a talent for handling the ancient and abominable, being ancient and somewhat abominable himself. Which makes him the perfect person to hunt down the stepfather of his newest client, a man infected with a monstrous alien presence.

Everything That’s Underneath by Kristi DeMeester

DeMeester’s work is an example of my favorite form of cosmic horror, steeped in powerful, unsettling nature imagery, with the horrors coming from deep below rather than behind the stars. It’s the gritty, earthy feel of folk horror meets the vast, unknowableness of cosmic horror, and I could eat it with a spoon. In her debut short story collection Everything That’s Underneath DeMeester pens 18 stories of terrifying cosmic folk horror that drag her readers into the dark corners of the world and the human soul.

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

Another Lovecraft tie-in, Kij Johnson’s book is about the titular Professor Vellitt Boe, who teaches at Ulthar Women’s College (a reference to Lovecraft’s short story “The Cats of Ulthar”). Ulthar is one of the villages in the Dreamlands of Earth, and when one of Professor Boe’s most talented students runs away to the waking world with a dreamer she’s fallen in love with, it’s up to Boe to bring her back. But the journey to retrieve her missing student takes Boe far across the Dreamlands and deep into the secrets of her own past.

The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

Hello to my most anticipated read of November, and the book I’m most looking forward to as 2020 (finally) draws to a close. Not only does Hailey Piper’s forthcoming release with new indie publisher Off Limits Press have an absolutely GORGEOUS cover, it also promises to be cosmic horror dream of a novella. Set in the New York City of the ‘90s, where it’s easy for people to just disappear and never to be seen again, Worm’s protagonist Monique is on a quest to find her missing girlfriend Donna. But it’s not just Donna who has vanished, and as other impoverished women start to disappear from the city streets, Monique begins to hear rumors of monsters stalking the city’s underbelly. In order to save Donna, Monique must follow the rumors deep into the world below New York, a subterranean kingdom of creatures, cultists, and an even more terrible, ancient evil lurking there in the dark.

Happy reading folks! Try not to gaze too long at the places between the stars, or the corners of this world that seem too dark. You never know what you might awaken.

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8 Lovecraftian Fiction Recommendations

Home » All Reviews » 8 Lovecraftian Fiction Recommendations

Howard Phillips Lovecraft remains one of the more controversial writers of the 20th century. A fantasy and science fiction visionary, he helped create a whole new concept of horror with his weird fiction concepts. The Great Old Ones, Necronomicon, Nyarlathotep, and creatures like the Deep Ones have resonated with generations of readers. He was also personally kind of a dick with racial beliefs extreme even by his time (so much so that Robert E. Howard told him to dial it the fuck down) as well as politics we can safely say were “questionable.”

Nevertheless, his perhaps most admirable quality as a writer was the fact that he was never afraid to let alone else play with his toys. An early advocate of what we’d now call “open source” writing, he happily shared concepts and ideas with his fellow writers. There’s a reason so many unnameable horrors and weird gods appear in Robert E. Howard’s work. Also, he and Robert Bloch of Psycho fame took turns killing each other off in their stories. Howard Phillips would be delighted at the longevity of his creations and the fact that he has entertained thousands of people through things like the Call of Cthulhu tabletop games or Re-Animator movies.

Speaking as the author of the Cthulhu Armageddon books as well as participant in such anthologies as Tales of the Al-Azif and Tales of Yog-Sothoth , I thought I would share some of my favorite post-Lovecraftian fiction created by writers willing to play around with HPL’s concepts.

The Trials of Obed Marsh

By matthew davenport.

Obed Marsh remains one of HPL’s more fascinating characters despite the fact he never appears on screen. A sea captain, he sold the entirety of his community’s souls and future to the Deep Ones in exchange for gold as well as fish. However, in any time there is economic despair, it becomes understandable when you might be willing to make a deal with the (Sea) Devil. Matthew Davenport is also the author of the Pulpy fun Andrew Doran novels but this remains my favorite of works.

he Exciting Prequel to Lovecraft’s Shadow Over Innsmouth!

Innsmouth was a corrupted and fallen town, consumed by its greed and controlled by the Esoteric Order of Dagon. In 1928, the Federal Government destroyed Innsmouth and the nearby Devil Reef based on claims made by a man who had visited the town.

Four years after the mysterious disappearance of Robert Olmstead, the man who sent the FBI to Innsmouth, his closest friend has discovered new evidence into the reality of what Innsmouth truly was: He has found the Journal of Captain Obed Marsh.

The journal paints an intense scene of a vibrant town and how it takes only one man’s good intentions to pave the way to Hell itself.

Or in this case…to Y’ha-nthlei.

What can test a man so intensely as to break him from his righteous path?

Only the journal can shed light on that.

These are the Trials of Obed Marsh.

The Atrocity Archives

By charles stross.

Combing the absolute horror of the Great Old Ones with the mundanity of being a British civil servant, even one that just happens to be a field agent and spy. The Laundry is a fantastic book that is somehow humorous, terrifying, and philosophical all at once. Bob Howard is a great character and is the only man in the world who can stand against the forces of darkness through the power of mathematics. Except, really, he knows he’s eventually going to lose and he’s mostly just trying to delay CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN for a few years at best.

NEVER VOLUNTEER FOR ACTIVE DUTY …Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob’s under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe – but then he went and got Noticed. Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, parallel universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than a full system reboot to sort this mess out …This is the first novel in the Laundry Files.

by Peter Clines

Peter Clines and I were notably both coming up in Permuted Press when that company got bought out by people who subsequently began printing Oliver North and other Far Right authors. Abandoning ship, both of us found better deals. I was overwhelmed by how much I loved his Ex-Heroes books where superheroes fought zombies. They had their flaws but got better each book until they were cancelled. 14 is even better as our protagonists are staying at a surreal apartment building where the mysteries of what its purpose as well as horrors is an onion to unpeal.  

Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.

There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.

Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much.

At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbour across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s. Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends.

The Elder Ice

By david hambling.

Despite the popularity of the Call of Cthulhu games, there’s a surprising lack of Lovecraftian detective fiction out there. You’d think the company would have been marketing books like TSR had been fantasy in the Eighties and Nineties. The Harry Stubbs series, starting with the Elder Ice, is as close to it as I’ve found. A WW1 British boxer, he is always coming within a hair’s breadth of destruction at the Mythos’ hands but avoids enough of it to keep his sanity and life. For the most part.

About The Elder Ice

Lovecraftian weird fiction set in 1920s London.

In this atmospheric novella, ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is on the trail of a mysterious legacy. A polar explorer has died, leaving huge debts and hints of a priceless find. His informants seem to be talking in riddles, and Harry soon finds he isn’t the only one on the trail — and what he’s looking for is as lethal as it is valuable. The key to the enigma lies in an ancient Arabian book and it leads to something stranger and more horrifying than Harry could ever imagine.

Harry may not be an educated man, but he has an open mind, the bulldog persistence and a piledriver punch — all vital for survival when you’re boxing the darkest of shadows.

The story of mystery and horror draws on HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and is inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s incredible real-life adventures.

The Burrowers Beneath

By brian lumley.

The Titus Crow series is one of the biggest influences in my writing career because it is such an incredibly batshit crazy series. A Sherlock Holmes and Watsonian pair of occultists, Titus Crow and his assistant Henri de Marigny start with a war against a new Great Old One sending monstrous sandworm-esque monsters around the world to hunt them. Then it goes from there. I love this book and think its the Masks of Nyaralthotep literary equivalent I always needed.

the Borrowers Underneath

The Titus Crow novels are adventure horror, full of acts of nobility and heroism, featuring travel to exotic locations and alternate planes of existence as Titus Crow and his faithful companion and record-keeper fight the gathering forces of darkness wherever they arise. The menaces are the infamous and deadly Elder Gods of the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Chthulu and his dark minions are bent on ruling the earth–or destroying it. A few puny humans cannot possibly stand against these otherworldly evil gods, yet time after time, Titus Crow defeats the monsters and drives them back into the dark from whence they came. Volume One contains two full novels, The Burrowers Beneath and The Transition of Titus Crow .

The Ballad of Black Tom

By victor lavalle.

Victor LaValle has a complicated relationship with HPL, being a man of color who loved the writings of the author but felt excluded by his world. Adapting The Horror of Red Hook, Victor LaValle tells the story of a (not very good) jazz musician who finds himself immersed in a complicated occult conspiracy with the police, an eccentric millionaire, plus unlimited power to a man who might be able to overthrow a corrupt power structure.

About The Ballad of Black Tom

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn’t there.

Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father’s head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?

Lovecraft Country

By matt ruff.

Probably the most famous book on this, Lovecraft Country has already been adapted into a series by HBO that (sadly) only lasted one season. The story of a family of motorist guide writers who find themselves invited to a millionaire occultist’s home only to become involved in a series of fascinating encounters with the supernaturals. The book is, in my opinion,better than the series as well as significantly lighter. Which is impressive given how dark the book can be at times.

About Lovecraft Country

Now an HBO® Series from J.J. Abrams (Executive Producer of  Westworld ), Misha Green (Creator of  Underground ) and Jordan Peele (Director of  Get Out )

The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.

Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide —and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.

At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn—led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb—which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his—and the whole Turner clan’s—destruction.

A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.

The Litany of Earth

By ruthanna emrys.

The top recommendation here is by Tor reviewer, Ruthanna Emrys. An interesting interpretation of HPL’s world from a reversed position. Basically, the Deep Ones and their human families were put in internment camps as of The Shadow of Innsmouth but released after WW2. Aphra Marsh is one of the few survivors and is struggling to reintegrate into American society. Dealing with a cult of white people who have misinterpreted her people’s religion, it sets up the excellent Innsmouth Legacy books. It is available for free on the Tor site: https://www.tor.com/2014/05/14/the-litany-of-earth-ruthanna-emrys/

About The Litany of Earth

The state took Aphra away from Innsmouth. They took her history, her home, her family, her god. They tried to take the sea. Now, years later, when she is just beginning to rebuild a life, an agent of that government intrudes on her life again, with an offer she wishes she could refuse. “The Litany of Earth” is a dark fantasy story inspired by the Lovecraft mythos.

C.T. Phipps

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Mammoth Book of Cthulhu : New Lovecraftian Fiction

For more than 80 years H. P. Lovecraft has inspired writers of horror and supernatural fiction with his dark vision of humankind's insignificant place in a vast, uncaring cosmos. At the time of his death in 1937, Lovecraft was virtually unknown, but from early cult status his readership expanded exponentially; his nightmarish visions laying down roots in the collective imagination of his readers. Now this master of the macabre is accepted as part of the literary mainstream, as an American author of note, and the impact of his work on modern popular culture - in literature, film, television, music, the graphic arts, gaming and theatre - has been profound. As Stephen King wrote in Danse Macabre, the shadow of H. P. Lovecraft 'underlies almost all of the important horror fiction that has come since.' Today, Lovecraft's themes of cosmic indifference, the utter insignificance of humankind, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history remain not only viable motifs for modern speculative fiction, but are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal. This outstanding anthology of original stories - from both established award-winning authors and exciting new voices - collects tales of cosmic horror inspired by Lovecraft from authors who do not merely imitate, but reimagine, re-energize, and renew the best of his concepts in ways relevant to today's readers, to create fresh new fiction that explores our modern fears and nightmares. From the depths of R'lyeh to the heights of the Mountains of Madness, some of today's best weird fiction writers traverse terrain created by Lovecraft and create new eldritch geographies to explore . . . With stories by: Laird Barron, Nadia Bulkin, Amanda Downum, Ruthanna Emrys, Richard Gavin, Lois H. Gresh, Lisa L. Hannett, Brian Hodge, Caitlin R. Kiernan, John Langan, Yoon Ha Lee, Usman T. Malik, Helen Marshall, Silvia Moreno, Norman Partridge, W. H. Pugmire, Veronica Schanoes, Michael Shea, John Shirley, Simon Strantzas, Sandra McDonald, Damien Angelica Walters, Don Webb, Michael Wehunt and A.C. Wise

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The Lovecraft eZine

A horror community, podcast, blog, micro-press, and more.

Here are 10 new Lovecraftian books you should know about!

If you’re looking for more Lovecraftian fiction to read, you’re in luck! Here’s a list of ten new (or upcoming) Lovecraftian books:

Carter and Lovecraft , by Jonathan L. Howard :  “A Pandora’s box loaded with all the wonderfully twisted stuff I love, including a two-fisted homicide cop turned PI, warped realities, a mysterious bookstore, the Cthulhu mythos, a dash of romance, and creepy fish-men. What’s not to love? Jonathan L. Howard knows how to show his readers a wickedly good time.” ― Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of  Dead Ringers

Delta Green: Extraordinary Renditions , edited by Shane Ivey :  Lovecraftian cosmic terror meets modern-day conspiracy in 18 tales of horror and personal apocalypse!

The Dulwich Horror , by David Hambling :  Inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, this stylish new collection of adventure stories fizzes with wit and invention. They can be enjoyed separately, but read them in one sitting and the pieces fit horribly together into a larger and more terrible nightmare. These tales constitute David Hambling s initial foray into the realm of Lovecraftian fiction. The fertility of imagination, the crisp character delineations, and the smooth-flowing prose that we find in these seven tales leave us wishing for more of the same, and Hambling will no doubt oblige in the coming years. For now, we can sit back and relish a brace of stories that not only evoke the shade of the dreamer from Providence, but which that dreamer himself would have enjoyed to the full. S. T. Joshi (from his foreword)

A Mythos Grimmly , edited by Jeremy Hochhalter :  Fairy tales and Lovecraftian Mythos collide in this mash-up anthology. These short stories, crafted by some of today’s finest Mythos authors, merge the maddening unknowns of Lovecraft with the dark morality tales of yesteryear, bringing a shred of light into the horrific corridors that are built from such a melding.

Apotheosis: Stories of Human Survival After The Rise of The Elder Gods , edited by Jason Andrew :  Humanity struggled to grow and evolve as a species for thousands of years forever caught in the shadow of a dread threat known only to a devoted few. When the stars are right, the Old Ones will return to claim utter dominion of this world. Lovecraft Mythos stories often climax at the moment of the fateful return of the Elder Gods and the audience is left to ponder what might happen next. This anthology features stories about humanity under the reign of the Elder Gods and ancient terrors.

Tales of Alhazred , by Donald Tyson :  Ten new tales from the mad Arab who wrote the NECRONOMICON! Artwork by Frank Walls.

The Idolaters of Cthulhu , edited by H. David Blalock :  There are those who chant the eldritch songs, who gather in nameless places to celebrate the return of the great Old Ones. For millennia their tales have not been told. Within these haunted pages you will find their stories of yearning, terror, murder, and a faith that defies the understanding of humanity. Come and look into the minds of the Idolaters of Cthulhu!

The Trials of Obed Marsh , by Matthew Davenport :  The Exciting Prequel to Lovecraft’s “Shadow Over Innsmouth”. Four years after the mysterious disappearance of Robert Olmstead, the man who sent the FBI to Innsmouth, his closest friend has discovered new evidence into the reality of what Innsmouth truly was: He has found the Journal of Captain Obed Marsh.

Tesla & Malone: Lightning’s Call, Book One , by Vincent J. LaRosa :  It’s summer in New York City. All is quiet and peaceful. Or is it? An ancient evil is about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting island populace. Former Civil War cavalry sergeant Denis Malone struggles to live a normal civilian life but the nightmares persist and gain strength. What do these haunting visions mean? Meanwhile – Nikola Tesla, his eight years long search for the Cult of Five Stars nearly over, has just arrived in the city from overseas. Not a penny to his name, the young man has only his inventions and his wits to combat the ancient evil that is about to be summoned down from the sky. Can he find the Cult Leader in time to stop the ritual? Or will the girl be sacrificed and horrors run free upon the earth, starting with New York City? With unlikely aid in the form of Denis Malone, Tesla is about to find out!

The Atomic Sea , by Jack Conner :  A thousand years ago, the sea began to change, and the change spread. Now the boiling, toxic, lightning-wreathed Atomic Sea has encompassed every ocean on the planet, and the creatures that live in it have become mutated and unnatural. The sea’s taint can infect any human who comes in contact with it or with unprocessed seafood, killing them . . . or altering them. No one knows why the sea has become this way or what it portends, only that it’s irrevocably changed the world.

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4 responses to “ Here are 10 new Lovecraftian books you should know about! ”

John Dies At The End and it’s sequel are must-reads. Basically, it’s the manchild Lovecraftian Horror.

Some interesting looking stories. Thanks for sharing.

The Lovecraft mythos will never die … it just continues to haunt and inspire.

That is a good line. Well done.

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