The best and worst of the Cthulhu Mythos

[Graf von Altenberg Ehrenstein]

Well, at least Howard liked The Black Stone.
Coming to think of it, it may be due to the translation I read. My first encounter with Lovecraft were also German versions and those were butchery! Even the titles sound stupid and I didn `t understand why so many people like that stuff until I got my hands on original texts. Perhaps I should give Robert E. another shot and just may be this toad monster thing will turn out into something less embarassing...

As an adult my taste has evolved (thank deity of your choice) and now I just want James Boon to hurry up and get get GET Charles Boone already.

That `s exactly what I liked about the story. The slow pace comfy creepiness makes me whish I had a fireplace.

[Genus Unknown]

just may be this toad monster thing will turn out into something less embarassing...

If I remember correctly, it is a toad monster, but it's an awesome toad monster.  But whatever. If you don't like it, you don't like it. You're objectively wrong, but that's OK. 

(I kid of course.)

[Vulpine]

I got into REH not long after I got into HPL, I found the collection 'Cthulhu' and grabbed it, and right next to it was the first 'Conan' by Del Rey.  The pseudo history of the Hyborian age caught me, and I haven't looked back.  I blame HPL and REH for sparking my history addiction.

But back to the thread, personally I think Karl Wagner's 'Sticks' is up there in the top 10.  Stross's 'A Colder War', most anything by Tierney.  I'm also a big fan of Ramsey Campbell (especially his early stuff, yes it's copies of HPL,
but it's fun) and Brian Lumley. 

Worst.  I honestly don't know, I've read some clunkers over the years, but I guess I'm just an optimist, the bad stories kind of fall by the wayside, and I remember the stuff I like.

[T. Kelly Lee]

Notebook Found in a Deserted House is one of the few post-HPL mythos stories that really gets the vibe right and it was certainly Bloch's best stab at it. 

Cold Print is just a great early Campbell story and a good read.  It's my second favorite in the collection. 

I like Howards Black Stone - it's a cool mythos read and I enjoy this kind of output by him far more than his mainstream pulp stuff.  Sorry - it is what it is. 

Sadly, a lot of the stories in that anthology are greatly reduced by comparison.  Return of the Lloigor is just really dreadful.  Colin Wilson did best to stay far removed from HPL - his writing style just never worked for it.  His attempts are odd because Wilson himself referred to HPL as being a bad writer(!). 

Finally - the Derleth stories.  Man, I always feel bad for August Derleth.  He wrote too much - and, as such, never achieved a classic.  The opposite of HPL in many ways.  Instead of craftsmanship he had output.  He wrote more Solar Pons stories than Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes.  But Solar Pons is unmemorable.  Same with Derleth's mythos stuff - it's just no damn good.