P. Lovecraft, the creator of Cthulhu Mythos, is the acknowledged modern master of the macabre, but he also worked with many younger pulp writers. Collected here are a dozen of their experiments in arcane terror, unearthly horror, and inhuman evil. Adding his inimitable touch, Lovecraft revised these tales of terror into frightful shadows of his own unique imagination. "Lovecraft's fiction is one of the cornerstones of modern horror."—Clive Barker "H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the 20th century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."—Stephen King

    It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixteenth volume of its celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in June 1970. It was the first themed collection of Smith's works assembled by Carter for the series. The stories were originally published in various fantasy magazines in the 1930s, notably Weird Tales. The book collects one poem and all sixteen tales of the author's Zothique cycle, set on the Earth's last continent in a far distant future, with an introduction and map and epilogue by Carter. Contents:"Introduction: When the World Grows Old", by Lin Carter "Zothique" (poem) "Xeethra" "Necromancy in Naat" "The Empire of the Necromancers" "The Master of the Crabs" "The Death of Ilalotha" "The Weaver in the Vault" "The Witchcraft of Ulua" "The Charnel God" "The Dark Eidolon" "Morthylla" "The Black Abbot of Puthuum" "The Tomb-Spawn" "The Last Hieroglyph" "The Isle of the Torturers" "The Garden of Adompha" "The Voyage of King Euvoran" "Epilogue: The Sequence of the Zothique Tales", by Lin Carter