*PDF SAMPLE This is a small sample of the first Volume of “H.P. Lovecraft. Complete Fiction Annotated,” anthology in two volumes, by Nighttime Editions. The first Volume in- cludes the Cthulhu Mythos stories, while the second has Lovecraft’s Collaborations (including more Mythos tales), other horror stories, parodies, and the Dream Cycle. This pdf includes five complete stories with footnotes, exactly like its paperback counterpart. These are: - Dagon (pg. 7) - The Nameless City (pg. 13) - The Call of Cthulhu (pg. 25) - The Hound (pg. 53) - The Festival (pg. 61) About the footnotes: H. P. Lovecraft is known for his usage of archaic and uncommon words and references to various artists, writers, mythological themes, scientific terms, other Mythos works, etc., the footnotes added in this collection are meant to be a quick description for these and in some cases to add a small explanation of the context; they are meant to be as unintrusive as possible. Unfortunately, there are some pag- es that cannot be helped and need to have more than 50% of footnote space. Also, many people will be familiar with many terms, if that is your case, please don’t be annoyed by it, keep in mind that this book is meant to be for everyone, including young readers and non-native English speakers. Most references to the Cthulhu Mythos do not have an annotation, this would make the footnotes too intrusive and I think it’s the work of the reader to catch these references. Only a few exceptions were made for some obscure allusions. Lastly, footnotes repeat themselves in different stories, but never within the same story. Order of reading: The order of the stories here presented is only a suggestion, you can read them in any order you like. This text was compiled and released on https://nighttimeeditions.wordpress.com This book is licensed for distribution under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0). This means that it can be shared and remixed freely, but not used commercially and requires attribution. The two complete Volumes are mainly available in amazon UK and Canada. But they could be available in other areas, please search them in amazon. Volume 1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08TYJYCCD https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08TYJYCCD Volume 2 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08VBH5LZG https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08VBH5LZG https://nighttimeeditions.wordpress.com 5 Introduction to the Cthulhu Mythos he Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined Tby August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify the settings, tropes, and lore that were employed by Lovecraft and his literary successors. The name Cthulhu derives from the central creature in Lovecraft’s short story “The Call of Cthulhu,” first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. Although the short story “Dagon,” published in 1919, is considered the start of the mythos, “The Call of Cthulhu” is the first story to really expand the pantheon of Great Old Ones and its themes. An ongoing theme in Lovecraft’s work is the complete irrelevance of man- kind in the face of the cosmic horrors that apparently exist in the universe. Lovecraft made frequent references to the “Great Old Ones,” a loose panthe- on of ancient, powerful deities from space and parallel dimensions who once ruled the Earth and have since fallen into a deathlike sleep. In these stories, Lovecraft embraced the philosophy of cosmic indifference, later named Cos- micism, a literary philosophy attributed to Lovecraft which states “that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic ex- istence.” The most prominent theme is humanity’s fear of their insignificance in the face of an incomprehensibly large universe; a fear of the cosmic void. Lovecraft contemporaries who wrote stories within the Mythos are: Rob- ert E. Howard (well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and re- garded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre), Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, August Derleth, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, among others. After Lovecraft’s death in 1937; many writers wrote within the Cthulhu Mythos universe. August Derleth being the most prominent, although he changed basic aspects of it. Because of this, Richard L. Tierney, a writer who also wrote Mythos tales, later applied the term “Derleth Mythos” to distin- 6 guish Lovecraft’s works from Derleth’s later stories, which modify key tenets of the Mythos. Whatever a story is canon or not withing the Mythos is sometimes un- clear; Lovecraft never had the occasion to publish a statement about what is or is not canon for the Cthulhu Mythos. In his letters, he referred to a story of this kind as a “Yog-Sothothery” and to the whole as the “Arkham cycle” (specifically stating “The Colour Out of Space” and “The Dunwich Horror” to be part of it). Also, he makes small references to the Mythos here and there in stories totally unconnected to the core elements of the Mythos. In this first Volume you will find the most commonly accepted canon stories of the Cthulhu Mythos. In the second Volume you’ll find the Mythos tales that Lovecraft wrote in collaboration with other authors, the rest of stories that might or might not be considered part of the Mythos and the rest of narrative Lovecraft wrote. 7 Dagon am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and Ishall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate. When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess, though never fully realise, why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death. It was in one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific that the packet of which I was supercargo fell a victim to the German sea-raider. The Great War1 was then at its very beginning, and the ocean forces of the Hun2 had not completely sunk to their later degradation; so that our vessel was made legitimate prize, whilst we of her crew were treated with all the fairness and consideration due us as naval prisoners. So liberal, indeed, was the discipline of our captors, that five days after we were taken, I managed to escape alone in a small boat with water and provisions for a good length of time. When I finally found myself adrift and free, I had but little idea of my surroundings. Never a competent navigator, I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars that I was somewhat south of the equator. Of the longitude I knew nothing, and no island or coast-line was in sight. The weather kept fair, and for uncounted days I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun; waiting either for some passing ship, or to be cast on the shores of some hab- itable land. But neither ship nor land appeared, and I began to despair in my solitude upon the heaving vastnesses of unbroken blue. The change happened whilst I slept. Its details I shall never know; for my slumber, though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous. When at last I awaked, it was to discover myself half sucked into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see, and in which my boat lay grounded some distance away. 1 The Great War: World War I, 1914 to 1918. 2 Hun: In World War I, British and English-language propaganda referred to Ger- mans as Huns, in order to paint them as savage barbarians. 8 H. P. Lovecraft - Cthulhu Mythos Though one might well imagine that my first sensation would be of won- der at so prodigious and unexpected a transformation of scenery, I was in reality more horrified than astonished; for there was in the air and in the rotting soil a sinister quality which chilled me to the very core. The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other less describable things which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain. Perhaps I should not hope to convey in mere words the unutterable hid- eousness that can dwell in absolute silence and barren immensity. There was nothing within hearing, and nothing in sight save a vast reach of black slime; yet the very completeness of the stillness and homogeneity of the landscape oppressed me with a nauseating fear. The sun was blazing down from a sky which seemed to me almost black in its cloudless cruelty; as though reflecting the inky marsh beneath my feet. As I crawled into the stranded boat I realised that only one theory could explain my position. Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval, a portion of the ocean floor must have been thrown to the surface, exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathom- able watery depths. So great was the extent of the new land which had risen beneath me, that I could not detect the faintest noise of the surging ocean, strain my ears as I might. Nor were there any sea-fowl to prey upon the dead things.