The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia Paperback – August 1, 2008

This is a necessary resource for anyone serious about the Cthulhu Mythos. Whether you are a writer, gamer or an enthusiast of HP Lovecraft and other horrors, this book is highly recommended. The information in this book is great for creating plot hooks, or what stories to search for to learn more about a specific topic for further exploration.Need to find out more about Ubbo-Sathla to write a time travel story about wizards?Look up Ubbo-Sathla, find out that Clark Ashton Smith wrote Ubbo-Sathla, and that god is mentioned in the Book of Eibon. You'll find an appendices about the Necronomicon.More importantly Dan Harms included a guide on how to handle and use others intellectual property from a non-legalistic standpoint, but more from a standpoint of being ethically creative while respecting to the continuity.Somewhere in storage I have the second edition of this book, but I have a digital copy on my iPhone, laptop and desktop computer. For my podcast I find this to be a great resource.Unfortunately I have occasionally ran across instances where Mr. Harms references a story that is no longer in print and hard to find(even after contacting the author or the story). That would be my only gripe. Otherwise this is wonderful, also I am happy that it is a book that covers literature as well as RPG source material due to the fact that the two have become intertwined in the last 30+ years. I am also thankful that the book doesn't rely on any goofy lovecraftian tricks, spooky typefaces or faux-aged paper. It's nice to have some people take this space monster business seriously.

I'm glad I got this book. It's a straight-up reference book, and that includes annotations so you know which author(s) used whatever beast, location, etc. I really appreciated that because that means I get to read novels, short stories, and novellas I'd not already ready or in many cases even known about. The only thing I'd like for the book to have included was some illustrations, and that's a small quibble. -- For the money, this book's a really good one to have on your horror shelf. Recommended. 9/10

comprehensive and complete. I love this reference! If you're a HPL fan, you need this reference. If you'ever gotten a headache trying to remember what story(ies) had a certain thing/god/item/ritual/whatever in it, this is for you. If you're trying to put together a good idea of exactly what something is, this book has it. It will not take the place of reading a story, but it can help you remember which stories you want to read. It does go beyong just HPL, and it makes notice of when the information comes from Derleth or someone else. It is not exhaustive in going into every single author who has written in the Mythos, but that's good, because discriminating carefully avoids the need to catalog every internet fanfic ever written. The author does not dwell on a lot of the HPL/Derleth controversies - which is also good, because that really should be a separate text - think ST Joshi if you're looking for that.

The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia is a great resource for fans of the Cthulhu Mythos, fans of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, fans of weird fiction, and fans of cosmic horror. There is a great amount of detail in the book on creatures, gods, and characters in the mythos. A listed bibliography and listed stories for each entry is great and helps expand a reader's suggested reading for the genre.The book itself is a dense tome, and often reads like an academic work with no illustrations as well as keeping a large amount of entries down to a paragraph. There is an exceptional amount of entries, a great many are not works of Lovecraft himself but of other authors.The biggest issue with this book is a lack of a Table of Contents, an index, or any way to find a particular entry quickly. For a dense 400 page book, this is a major hindrance and one that can't be overlooked.

Been looking for this for some time and found it on Amazon. If your a Lovecraftian this book is for you. Helps define who, what, where and how things make sense in this book. Great read.

I liked this book, interesting information I didn’t know!

I'm very pleased with the book, though I did not expect Shannon Appel's Timeline in Appendix D. to have been omitted from this Edition from the Second Edition. In short, "Oh well...".

I have to agree with everything Mr. Carpenter wrote ahead of me. There's not much more I can add to that, honestly. It's a wonderful, straightforward reference book, and if you're a fan of the mythos, definitely pick this book up!I'm curious how it compares to the Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, however. A year or two ago, we attempted to order it and were informed that it would never be printed again and gave up trying to purchase it. We certainly won't be dishing out the 99$ for a used paperback. We guessed that this was the answer to the discontinued book, but we aren't certain.