Horror Subgenre Challenge! - hosted by dexlud

Lovecraftian/Cosmic Horror
The universe is big and scary, and we are small and insignificant by comparison. That’s a common theme in the works of H.P. Lovecraft and his successors. Despite his influence on the modern horror genre, Lovecraft didn’t really consider himself a horror writer in his day. He often referred to his own works as “weird fiction,” a term still in use to this day. In a letter to the editor of Weird Tales magazine, Lovecraft wrote, “Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large.” Modern “Lovecraftian” horror writers use a lot of the ideas Lovecraft popularized in his days — ideas like the fear of the unknown and the insignificance of humanity. This subgenre is also known as “cosmic horror.”

Horror novels in this category: At the Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft. Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, by Thomas Ligotti. The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle.
All books added
The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft

The Shadow Over Innsmouth

H.P. Lovecraft

2 hours, 45 minutes • first pub 1936 (editions)

fiction classics fantasy horror dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

Gone to See the River Man

Gone to See The River Man #1

Kristopher Triana

182 pages • first pub 2020 (editions)

fiction horror dark tense medium-paced
Duma Key by Stephen King

Duma Key

Stephen King

611 pages • first pub 2008 (editions)

fiction horror dark mysterious tense medium-paced
The Deep by Nick Cutter

The Deep

Nick Cutter

416 pages • first pub 2015 (editions)

fiction horror science fiction thriller dark mysterious tense medium-paced
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

H.P. Lovecraft

448 pages • first pub 1999 (editions)

fiction fantasy horror mystery science fiction short stories dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Let The Woods Keep Our Bodies by E.M. Roy

Let The Woods Keep Our Bodies

E.M. Roy

196 pages • first pub 2023 (editions)

fiction horror lgbtqia+ mystery dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Edenville by Sam Rebelein

Edenville

Sam Rebelein

11 hours, 35 minutes • first pub 2023 (editions) user-added

fiction horror adventurous dark tense medium-paced
Les Montagnes hallucinées by Gou Tanabe, H.P. Lovecraft, Sylvain Chollet

Les Montagnes hallucinées

H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness #02

Gou Tanabe, H.P. Lovecraft, Sylvain Chollet

338 pages • first pub 2019 (editions)

fiction comics horror manga adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
Rainbow Filth by Tim Meyer

Rainbow Filth

Tim Meyer

104 pages • first pub 2023 (editions)

fiction horror science fiction dark mysterious tense medium-paced
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan

The Red Tree

Caitlín R. Kiernan

385 pages • first pub 2009 (editions)

fiction fantasy horror lgbtqia+ mysterious slow-paced