The Survivor and Others

The Survivor and Others

Jacket illustration by Ronald Clyne for The Survivor and Others
Author H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
Cover artist Ronald Clyne
Country United States
Language English
Genre fantasy, horror short stories
Publisher Arkham House
Publication date
 1957
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 161 pp

The Survivor and Others is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by August Derleth, inspired by some of H. P. Lovecraft's notes left behind after his death. Derleth, Lovecraft's literary executor billed himself as a "posthumous collaborator" with the other writer. It was released in an edition of 2,096 copies. It was reissued in paperback by Ballantine Books in 1962 and 1971.

All of the stories, written after Lovecraft's death in 1937, were completed by Derleth from Lovecraft's notes or outlines.

Contents

The Survivor and Others contains the following tales:

  1. "The Survivor" (Weird Tales July 1954)
  2. "Wentworth's Day"
  3. "The Peabody Heritage"
  4. "The Gable Window" (Saturn 1957)
  5. "The Ancestor"
  6. "The Shadow Out of Space"
  7. "The Lamp of Alhazred"

Except as noted, the stories were original to this volume. "The Gable Window" was originally published under the title "The Murky Glass".[1]

Reception

Anthony Boucher noted wryly that "I can't help feeling that H.P.L. knew very well what he was doing when he left the outlines uncompleted," although he excepted "The Lamp of Alhazred," where "with a flash of inspiration" Derleth introduced Lovecraft as a character and produced "a warmly moving tribute."[2] Avram Davidson concluded that Derleth "does his best to conjure up the late master's prose from its essential salts, but he doesn't make it . . . because he is as sane as they come, and Lovecraft was as nutty as a five-dollar fruitcake."[3]

Everett F. Bleiler, noting that several of these pastiches were modeled on published Lovecraft stories, found all were "routine" except the "much more interesting "The Lamp of Alhazred".[4]

References

  1. ↑ Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections
  2. ↑ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, July 1957, p.92.
  3. ↑ "Books", F&SF, January 1963, pp.48-50
  4. ↑ E. F. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, Kent State University Press, 1983, p.327-28
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