Can Anyone Identify This Lovecraftian Anthology For My Wife?

December 31, 2024 2:53 AM

My wife was reading a Lovecraftian anthology a few years ago and is trying to find it again but hasn't had any luck - any chance anyone recognizes it? It's apparently around 1000 pages long, spanning from early 1900s stories to ones written fairly recently.

The two stories she remembers well are one about a boarding house in which people keep dying in a specific room (with the narrator mimicking the actions of someone in the window of the house opposite it), and another set in Innsmuth with the main character and his cousin being fish people. (Or part fish-people, at least.) We'd be super-grateful if anyone can think what it could be!

posted by eternalhedgehog to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Many anthologies of weird fiction, cosmic horror, and/or Lovecraftian fiction follow the structure you describe -- from 19th or early 20th century classics right up to the time of the anthology's publication. I'm drawing a blank on the first story, though it sounds like it could be a Ramsey Campbell or even Thomas Ligotti story. The second is undoubtedly Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth," or a pastiche of it, or an extension of it -- there have been many, many of both.

You might point her at this list and see if anything stands out. I can't off the top of my head think of the names of the super-long anthologies I've seen, but there have been plenty over the years in the 500-1000 word range. Good luck!
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:55 AM on December 31, 2024

Best answer: I’m betting it’s The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:01 AM on December 31, 2024 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: It is The Weird, showbiz_liz - thank you! cupcakeninja, really appreciate the list you sent too.
posted by eternalhedgehog at 5:12 AM on December 31, 2024 [2 favorites]

Cheers! And I should have thought of The Weird, which is sitting on a shelf right behind me.
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:41 AM on December 31, 2024