H P Lovecraft Short Story Combo Volume 3

note : the image is the best I can find for a booklet that seems out of print.
No copyright infringement intended, only usage for the review


Book –H P Lovecraft Short Story Combo Volume 3

Author: H P Lovecraft

Score: 6/10
Year: 1918-1920 (original stories) ; 2015 (this paperback booklet edition) 

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN 9781506018904

Pages 28 

There are three stories comprised in this combo volume 3 : The Statement of Randolph Carter, the Reminiscence of Dr Samuel Johnson, and, Polaris. 

The Statement of Randolph Carter which can also be read in the Necromicon, is the very first HP Lovecraft story that I instead of reading, I actually heard being read by my wife, as a home-made audiobook/booktube video. In this short story, written in December 1919 and first published in The Vagrant magazine in May 1920, Carter, found in a state of shock, recollects the scary circumstances of his occultist friend, Harley Warren's disappearance during their research expedition to a graveyard. 

After this story, which I really loved, I thought I'd read some more, but didn't feel ready to face the giant Necromicon, which we do own, so I decided to find which other HP Lovecraft stories I could lay my hand on during this lock-down, and found this combo volume 3 on goodreads, and the following two stories as online versions on hplovecraft.com, I'll link each of the stories individually. 

I'll start with linking The Statement of Randolph Carter also present on said website. 

Although I liked the narrative style, giving a particular voice and accent to the narrator, I found a Reminiscence of Dr Samuel Johnson, which is set in London in the late 1730's, far less interesting. Indeed, he sets his true, much older age than he had hitherto shared, and recounts befriending other intellectuals and several anecdotes, including the creation of a club and their various meetings, but the onslaught of successive names and incidents showing friendships based on mutual jealousy and pompous, self-absorbed and self-declared importance of knowledge to be rather tedious and also annoyingly unpleasant as the characters aren't likable. 

 (check this link for translating the Latin phrase within the story). 

Polaris written in 1918 (possibly in May) is narrated by an un-named person, who, watching the moon and stars from his window, either imagines or recalls failing his duty as watchman, in the face of possible invasion of his homeland, in this overall well written short story, that is imaginative in the concept of either real or imaginary recollections, the narrative and style are pleasant.