The Tales Of Inspector Legrasse

Spawned from the classical horror-hunt of Inspector Legrasse in H.P. Lovecraft's seminal tale "The Call of Cthulhu", the further adventures of Inspector Legrasse have been taken directly from the notes of Professor William Channing Webb of the American Archaelogical Association and written up for your edification by author C.J. Henderson, the dedicated chronicler who has exhaustively reported the occult adventures of Anton Zarnak, Jack Hagee and Teddy London, amongst many others. These seven tales detail the epic confrontation of an unsuspecting mankind with the unimaginable horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. After a wait of over half a century, from the combined hands of H.P. Lovecraft and C.J. Henderson finally come the answers to all the maddening riddles of the legendary first tale of the Cthulhu Mythos, "The Call of Cthulhu". Stories include: "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft, and the following stories by C.J. Henderson: "Patiently Waiting", "To Cast Out Fear", "So Free We Seem", "Locked Room", "Where Shadow Falls" and "Nothing To Fear But Dust". Color cover by Ben Fogletto. Interior frontspiece by Erica Henderson. Introduction by Robert M. Price.

The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in February 1928. Plot: The story consists of three interconnected parts, and is presented as notes belonging to Francis Thurston, a Boston resident investigating the ancient deity Cthulhu. The first part, "The Horror in Clay", concerns a mysterious clay bas-relief depicting Cthulhu. Thurston finds the bas-relief among the belongings of his great-uncle Professor Angell. The bas-relief was created by sculptor Henry Wilcox in March 1925 while half-asleep. At the time Wilcox was haunted by mysterious visions of Cyclopean cities. Angell also discovered reports of local residents — primarily artists, sculptors, architects, and others of a sensitive psyche — experiencing similar nightmares during that period. The next morning, Wilcox was amazed by his creation and took it to Angell, who noted that the bas-relief was reminiscent of a figurine seized by police from members of a New Orleans religious sect in 1907. In the second chapter, "The Tale of Inspector Legrasse", police officer John Legrasse reports at an archaeological society's symposium on his participation in a raid of a sect worshipping Cthulhu, from which the figurine was confiscated. The sect's actions were described as depraved and blasphemous. Local residents feared the sect's orgies, and claimed that human sacrifices were made at these orgies. A team of officers led by Legrasse arrived at the scene in search of several missing squatters. The police detained several sect members, but interrogation yielded little result, as the degraded and insane members stubbornly defended the truth of their cult. One sectarian, Old Castro, proclaimed that Cthulhu's time would come when the stars take a certain position. A phrase chanted by the sect turns out to have been previously used by a tribe of Eskimos, as revealed by one of the symposium's participants.

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." --H. P. LOVECRAFT, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" Howard Phillips Lovecraft forever changed the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable series of stories as influential as the works of Poe, Tolkien, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His chilling mythology established a gateway between the known universe and an ancient dimension of otherworldly terror, whose unspeakable denizens and monstrous landscapes--dread Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Plateau of Leng, the Mountains of Madness--have earned him a permanent place in the history of the macabre. In Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of horror and fantasy's finest authors pay tribute to the master of the macabre with a collection of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition: ¸ The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: The slumbering monster-gods return to the world of mortals. ¸ Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch: A lone farmboy chronicles his last stand against a hungering backwoods evil. ¸ Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell: An avid reader of forbidden books finds a treasure trove of deadly volumes--available for a bloodcurdling price. ¸ The Freshman by Philip José Farmer: A student of the black arts receives an education in horror at notorious Miskatonic University. PLUS EIGHTEEN MORE SPINE-TINGLING TALES!

Includes "The Call of Cthulhu," praised by Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E. Howard as "a masterpiece," and "At the Mountains of Madness," hailed by critic Theodore Sturgeon as "first-water, true-blue science fiction."

After 30 years, it's finally time for the first meeting between Carl Kolchak, the Nightstalker, and the black and evil horror which is the Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft's enduring world of gods and monsters! Kolchak has seen it all, from vampires and zombies to witches, ghosts and even the minions of Hell, itself. By rights, nothing should shake this indomitable reporter anymore. But, when he starts to follow the trail begun by the photographing of a strange sea creature, one more reminiscent of the creature from the black lagoon than a shark or tuna, he suddenly finds himself being drawn into a nightmare world so fantastic, so utterly alien and frighteningly dark that even his massive psychic defenses begin to crumble. For once, Kolchak isn't just following a story. This time, he's crossing the threshold into another reality. One which could possibly destroy both his mind, and the entire world!

"The Call of Cthulhu" by Howard Phillips H. P. Lovecraft is one of the classic horror works, so called “Lovecraft horrors”. American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror; the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fiction featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Christian humanism. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality. Some people adore it, some people find it way too long (reading it is definitely work), but everyone agrees it’s a monumental story that ties together the universe where “The Call of Cthulhu,” The Shadow Over Innsmouth, “The Dunwich Horror,” and lots of other stories exist. A group of explorers go to Antarctica and discover evidence of a previous civilization. I don’t want to spoil the surprises, but I can at least tell you the big discovery the explorers make: There are things that even monsters fear. Famous works of the author Howard Phillips Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Horror at Red Hook, The Shadow Out of Time, The Shadows over Innsmouth, The Alchemist, Herbert West: Reanimator, Ex Oblivione, Azathoth, The Call of Cthulhu, The Cats of Ulthar, The Outsider, The Picture in the House, The Shunned House, The Terrible Old Man, The Tomb, What the Moon Brings. Illustrated by Olga Moss.