Letters to Lovecraft: Eighteen Whispers to the Darkness

Authors: Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Ford, Robin D. Laws, Tim Lebbon, Jesse Bullington (Editor)

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."

So begins H. P. Lovecraft’s essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” arguably the most important analysis of horror ever written. Yet while hordes of writers have created works based on Lovecraft’s fiction, never before has an anthology taken its inspiration directly from the literary manifesto behind his entire mythos . . . until now. Like cultists poring over a forbidden tome, 18 modern masters of horror have gathered here to engage with Lovecraft’s treatise.

Rather than responding with articles of their own, these authors have written new short stories inspired by intriguing quotes from the essay, offering their own whispers to the darkness. They tell of monsters and madmen, of our strange past and our weirder future, of terrors stalking the winter woods, the broiling desert, and eeriest of all, our bustling cities and our family homes. This collection is a unique contribution to the booming Lovecraft/Cthulhu craze that will stand out from the pack due to its one-of-a-kind premise.