by H. P. Lovecraft
“He did not speak until we were on a dark stretch
of road, and when he did his voice seemed utterly unfamiliar. It was deeper,
firmer, and more decisive than I had ever known it to be; while its accent and
pronunciation were altogether changed—though vaguely, remotely, and rather
disturbingly recalling something I could not quite place. There was, I thought,
a trace of very profound and very genuine irony in the timbre—not the flashy,
meaninglessly jaunty pseudo-irony of the callow “sophisticate”, which Derby had
habitually affected, but something grim, basic, pervasive, and potentially
evil. I marvelled at the self-possession so soon following the spell of
panic-struck muttering.”
Originally published in Weird
Tales in January of 1937. Many people are critical of this story- probably
for the same reasons they are down on The
Dreams in the Witch House. Despite being undeniably a part of the Cthulhu
Mythos, it A) doesn’t add to them, it simply plays of older elements; and B) is
a return to heavy supernatural elements- rather than science fiction ones.
While both of these are true, it is not a terrible story, just a not a
groundbreaking one.
Done almost similar to Herbert
West: Reanimator - only with on a psychic level, we see a man with tastes
for the occult who marries a woman from Innsmouth (and we all remember the
bizarre interbreeding with the Deep Ones from The Shadow Over Innsmouth) with strange features- similar to those
of the Deep Ones. The man then begins acting strangely, discussing an evil
effect his wife his having over him and eventually begins to change and develop
strange mannerisms. Eventually culminating in the titular Thing on the
Doorstep- which is a very nice twist, if you read the story.
As I said before there are many standards of the Cthulhu Mythos in
this story: Miskatonic University, Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, The
Necronomicon, Azathoth, Shub-Niggurath, Shoggoths, and so on. But the story
does not add to them in any manner. Even the mind transference part was done
before (and better) in The Shadow Out of
Time. It is a fun read, just don’t expect one of Lovecraft’s greatest
creations.
Listed below are a film adaptation of the story and the audiobook
by Horror Babble. Enjoy and Caveat Emptor!
Film Adaptation
Audiobook
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