Best of Black Wings: Tales of Lovecraftian Horror
Edited by S. T. Joshi.
The six volumes in the Black Wings series, from which these “Best of” tales are selected, stand as a monument to H. P. Lovecraft’s incalculable and unassailable influence on contemporary weird fiction, and so the time seemed right for a retrospective volume that exhibits the choicest items from the series. The task of selection was not a simple or straightforward one, for every tale in the series had some claim to be chosen; let it then be said that this volume does not contain necessarily the “best” stories, but rather the most representative stories in the series. If this selection leads readers back to the many other tales featured in those volumes, then its purpose will have been adequately served.
— S. T. Joshi
Contents:
- Lesser Demons — Norman Partridge
- Howling in the Dark — Darrell Schweitzer
- Passing Spirits — Sam Gafford
- When Death Wakes Me to Myself — John Shirley
- The Abject — Richard Gavin
- Dahlias — Melanie Tem
- Bloom — John Langan
- Thistle’s Find — Simon Strantzas
- Houdini Fish — Jonathan Thomas
- Artifact — Fred Chappell
- Cult of the Dead — Lois H. Gresh
- The Dark Sea Within — Jason V Brock
- Night of the Piper — Ann K. Schwader
- The Woman in the Attic — Robert H. Waugh
- The Walker in the Night — Jason C. Eckhardt
- The Organ of Chaos — Donald Tyson
- Voodoo — Stephen Woodworth
- The Shard — Don Webb
- To Move Beneath Autumnal Oaks — W. H. Pugmire
- Lore —Wade German
S. T. Joshi
S. T. Joshi is a leading authority on H. P. Lovecraft and the author of The Weird Tale (1990), The Modern Weird Tale (2001), The Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos (2008), and other critical and biographical studies. His biography, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (1996), won the British Fantasy Award and the Horror Writers Association award; it has now been published in an unabridged edition as I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft (2010). Joshi has prepared corrected editions of Lovecraft's fiction, poetry, and essays, and is working on a long-range project to publish Lovecraft's collected letters. He has also done work on Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, Lord Dunsany, and other writers. He has received the World Fantasy Award, the International Horror Guild Award, and the Distinguished Scholarship Award from the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. He lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Leslie, and numerous cats.
Black Wings
Black Wings consists of six primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.