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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
lovecraftian horror, and edward gorey cover art, too!,
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This review is from: The Dark Beasts and Eight Other Stories from the Hound of Tindalos (Mass Market Paperback)
f.b. long was one of h.p. lovecraft's inner circle of friends; this volume collects some of his shorter pieces. great collection, hard to find in decent condition! edward gorey fans take note, too: great early (book published in 1964) cover illustrations by the man, both front and back!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Frogs, Snakes, and Amnesiacs,
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This review is from: The Dark Beasts and Eight Other Stories from the Hound of Tindalos (Mass Market Paperback)
In 1946, Arkham House published a collection of twenty-one stories by Frank Belknap Long entitled _The Hounds of Tindalos_. It was accompanied by marvelous cover by Hannes Bok depicting one of these non-Euclidian beasts. Later paperback editions dropped three tales and split the remaining stories into two volumns: _The Hounds of Tindalos_ (1963) and _The Dark Beasts_ (1964). This is the second paperback volumn. It contains nine stories in all, published between 1924 and 1942. Four are from _Unknown_, two are from _Weird Tales_, and the remaining three are from _Astounding_, _Marvel Tales_, and _Super Science Stories_. Long was heavily influenced by his friend and mentor, H.P. Lovecraft. But I believe that in many ways, Long is the better storyteller. His plots are better constructed, and his style is crisper and clearer. He can handle dialogue more effectively.
Four stories involve monsterous variations of some animal: "The Dark Beasts" (frogs), "A Stitch in Time" (turtles), "Death-Waters" (snakes), and "The Ocean Leech" (a giant leech). Here is a glimpse of the last: The thing upon the deck spread out and became broader at its base. It reared into the air a livid appendage encircled with monstrous pink suckers. We could see the suckers loathsomely at work in the moonlight, opening and closing and opening again. We were affected by a queer aromatic stench and we felt an overpowering sense of physical nausea. (103-104) Unlike Lovecraft, who usually reserves his horror until the end of the story, Long introduces his monster at the begining of the tale and keeps it onstage. I don't recall reading many stories about census takers in recent years. But during the 1940s, there seems to have been a fair number of fantasy stories about them. Perhaps it was because the Census Taker was a figure who could be sent to all kinds of strange places to find all sorts of strange... people. I remember stories of this sort by Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch, and Mary Elizabeth Counselman. But Long's "Census Taker" is arguably the cleverest of the lot. Another fixture of the forties was the Victory Garden. While Long never identifies the plot of land of "Step Into My Garden" as a Victory Garden-- for one thing, it is a flower rather than a vegetable garden-- there still seems to be something topical about this tale. Also having something of a 1940s flavor is "The Refugees," in which an overly egotistical fiance is taught some manners by the Little People. There remain two stories-- one science fictional, one a fantasy. It is hard nowadays to write a credible story about a lone scientist working out of his own private laboratory and making all sorts of fantastic discoveries. But back in the thirties and forties you could get away with this-- and do you know, they can still be fun to read today. "The Flame Midget" is one such story. It reminds me a bit of Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God". The fantasy is a piece called "It Will Come to You," about a fellow who has some gaps in his memory that lead to disasterous consequences. None of these stories are classics. But they are all good-- solidly good. They are well worth your time. If you can, get the edition with the orange and black wraparound cover by Edward Gorey. It is an extra bonus.
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