Prior to the first American publication of Brian Lumley's ground-breaking, dead-waking, best-selling Necroscope in 1988—the first novel in a long-lived, much-loved series—this British author had for twenty years been earning himself something of a reputation writing short stories, novellas, and a series of novels set against H. P. Lovecraft's cosmic Cthulhu Mythos backdrop. A soldier in 1967, serving in Berlin with the Royal Military Police, Lumley jumpstarted his literary career by writing to August Derleth, the then-dean of macabre publishers at his home in Sauk City, Wisconsin, telling of his fascination with the Mythos, and purchasing books by the "Old Gentleman of Providence, RI." In addition, he sent a page or two of written work allegedly culled from the various forbidden or "black books" of the Mythos. Suitably impressed, the master of Arkham House invited Lumley to write something solid in the Mythos as a possible contribution to a new volume he was currently contemplating, to be titled—what else but?—Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. And as might well be imagined, that set everything in motion.

Years have passed since then and a good many words of Mythos fiction written, including critically acclaimed and award-nominated work, stories that have appeared in prestigious magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, and hardcover volumes from publishers all over the world from the USA to China and the United Kingdom to Russia.

Stories included in this collection:
THE CALLER OF THE BLACK
HAGGOPIAN
CEMENT SURROUNDINGS
THE HOUSE OF CTHULHU
THE NIGHT SEA-MAID WENT DOWN
NAME AND NUMBER
RECOGNITION
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN GUARDIANS
AUNT HESTER
THE KISS OF BUGG-SHASH
DE MARIGNY'S CLOCK
MYLAKHRION THE IMMORTAL
THE SISTER CITY
WHAT DARK GOD?
THE STATEMENT OF HENRY WORTHY
DAGON'S BELL
THE THING FROM THE BLASTED HEATH
DYLATH-LEEN
THE MIRROR OF NITOCRIS
THE SECOND WISH
THE HYMN
SYNCHRONICITY OR SOMETHING
THE BLACK RECALLED
THE SORCERER'S DREAM