The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants is a collection of short horror stories by British horror fiction author and Mythos contributor Ramsey Campbell published by Arkham House. As it was edited by August Derleth, the stories are considered by this wiki to be set in the Derleth Cthulhu Mythos.
Overview[]
Collected from stories written from 1961 through to 1963, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants contains eleven tales set in the fictional Severn Valley region of England conceived by Campbell for his expansions into the Mythos. The volume is also notable for introducing the fictitious book of lore The Revelations of Gla'aki, a tome which would feature in many of Campbell's later stories, and which would be extensively expanded on by Chaosium for use in their Mythos role-playing games.
The editor of the Inhabitant of the Lake, Lovecraft contemporary and Mythos contributor August Derleth, discouraged Campbell's use of the New England settings created by Lovecraft and employed by Campbell, instead suggesting that he base his stories in an environment more familiar to Campbell. This resulted in the creation of the fictional Severn Valley location, including the towns of Brichester, Goatswood and Clotton.
Publication History[]
Originally published in 1964 by Arkham House, The Inhabitant of the Lake was later reprinted with new forewords as Cold Print in 1985 with three of the original stories removed and others added in their stead. However, the 1993 reissue of Cold Print saw the missing stories reinstated.
In 2011, PS Publishing released an expanded and illustrated print of the book which was promoted as the '50th Anniversary Edition,' counting from when the stories were first begun in 1961. This edition was titled The Inhabitant of the Lake and Other Unwelcome Tenants (which was to have been the first release title, but had to be changed at the last minute due to a miscommunication with the cover illustrator) and featured the original versions of Campbell's stories, before they had undergone revision by Derleth.
Contents[]
- "The Room in the Castle"
- "The Horror from the Bridge"
- "The Insects from Shaggai"
- "The Render of the Veils"
- "The Inhabitant of the Lake"
- "The Plain of Sound"
- "The Return of the Witch"
- "The Mine on Yuggoth"
- "The Will of Stanley Brooke"
- "The Moon-Lens"
Gallery[]
