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If one were looking for a selected readings textbook to teach a course on the development of the Cthulhu Mythos then this revised version of the original 1969 anthology would be an excellent choice. Sure, the long time Mythos fan probably has read most of these tales, but having them arranged in one collection in semi-chronological order helps the neophyte to understand how the different authors contributed to and helped develop the Mythos canon up through the end of the 1970's. For the long time fan, this is simply one of those books that is needed for your collection to be complete.

      The late Jim Turner provides the introduction to this Arkham House 50-year anniversary edition, and his insights are interesting in themselves. While dismissing a "preponderance" of the Mythos pastiches published since Lovecraft's time as "abominable rubbish"—a quote from E. Hoffman Price—Turner points out that the stories included in this volume are among the "few successful works that have been influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos". While I don't agree with his low assessment of the majority of such stories, I do agree with him that this anthology contains some of the best of the stories written between the 1920's and the 1970's.

      The following tales are presented thusly,

• "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!", Introduction by Jim Turner
• "The Call of Cthulhu", by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Return of the Sorcerer", by Clark Ashton Smith
• "Ubbo-Sathla", by Clark Ashton Smith
• "The Black Stone", by Robert E. Howard
• "The Hounds of Tindalos", by Frank Belknap Long
• "The Space-Eaters", by Frank Belknap Long
• "The Dweller in Darkness", by August Derleth
• "Beyond the Threshold", by August Derleth
• "The Shambler from the Stars", by Robert Bloch
• "The Haunter of the Dark", by H. P. Lovecraft
• "The Shadow from the Steeple", by Robert Bloch
• "Notebook Found in a Deserted House", by Robert Bloch
• "The Salem Horror", by Henry Kuttner
• "The Terror from the Depths", by Fritz Leiber
• "Rising With Surtsey", by Brian Lumley
• "Cold Print", by Ramsey Campbell
• "The Return of the Lloigor", by Colin Wilson
• "My Boat", by Joanna Russ
• "Sticks", by Karl Edward Wagner
• "The Freshman", by Philip Jose Farmer
• "Jerusalem's Lot", by Stephen King
• "Discovery of the Ghooric Zone", by Richard A. Lupoff

      Turner views the best of the Mythos literature as those stories imbued with Lovecraft's cosmic vision. His own favorite seems to be Lupoff's "Discovery of the Ghooric Zone" , a rousing romp through 400 years of past and (mostly) future history, as well as the outer reaches of the solar system. Some of the other stories are more in the Gothic derivative vein of the Mythos, rather than the cosmic, but all are intensely readable. My own favorites are Bloch's "Notebook found in a Deserted House", told in the idiom of a young country boy facing peril in the backwoods; Campbell's "Cold Print", about a purveyor of banned books who goes to one too many old bookshops; and the original "The Call of Cthulhu", Lovecraft's great story that continues to impress me after multiple readings, told as it is from several points of view while maintaining interest and cohesiveness throughout.

      Obviously this is a must buy for the serious devotee of Mythos fiction, H. P. Lovecraft, and weird fiction in general. My advice is to get a copy and reread it often.

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