Customer Reviews

The Book of Cthulhu

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are fan of Lovecraft this IS the book for you. I have slogged my way thru dozens of Cthulhu inspired anthologies and this is by far the best! The Editor, Ross J. Lockheart of Night Shade books has assembled an all star collection of stories that buries the competition in its' utter elder goodness. This collection of stories was lovingly assembled from a myriad of sources, spanning from 1976 to today.

This book has many things going for it, including amazing stories and sheer girth. This book is meaty, the kind of meaty that would fill up the ravenous gullet of even the hungriest Deep One. But as we often hear size is not an indicator of success. Lockheart has shown just how much he truly he loves the Cthulhu Mythos with this anthology. I was amazed at all of the collected author's abilities to re-capture the weighty and elaborate writing style that made Lovecraft so amazing. While some of the stories reflect the time period they were written, all of the horrible goodness they contain is timeless.

I enjoyed not only the way the stories were placed in the book, but the veritey of time periods that the stories occurred in. From the Gold Rush to the Cold War and periods on either side of those, this collection covered so many ages it showed just how timeless horror can be.

For me this is the best Cthulhu anthology out there hands down! If you like Horror, you'll love this. I would honestly give this six stars if I could. Buy this it is worth every cent!

I am honor'd to have a weird tale in this magnificent anthology from Night Shade Books, the publishers who brought us the wonderful volume of Lovecraft's complete poems, THE ANCIENT TRACK. This anthology is perhaps the very finest representation I have yet beheld of reprints from modern horror writers paying homage to H. P. Lovecraft. Some of these tales are already classics of their kind. T. E. D. Klein's "Black Man with a Horn" may be the single finest Lovecraftian tale ever penned (which merely means that it is my personal favorite), a perfect tale that evokes nameless horror and literary friendship. No other writer of the present age has brought the Mythos into modern time as smoothly and effectively as the amazing Michael Shea; his Lovecraftian fiction is rooted to Lovecraft's original vision and yet is vibrantly contemporary, and as weird as you wanna be. Ann K. Schwader is one of the genre's finest poets (her new book of Lovecraftian poetry has been published by Hippocampus Press and includes her sonnet sequence concerning Lavinia Whateley), and she is well represented in this volume. If you haven't read Laird Barron's two collections from Night Shade Books, THE IMAGO SEQUENCE and OCCULTATION, you have yet to experience the most powerful new voice we have. Barron blends skillful craftsmanship with an imagination of staggering originality, and he will scare the ichor out of ye. John Langan's premier collection, MR GAUNT AND OTHER UNEASY ENCOUNTERS, presented an amazing gathering of stories that, rooted as they are in the traditions of horror, raise those traditions to a level of amazing capacity; and, like Laird Barron, presents us with one of modern horror's finest stylists. Joseph S. Pulver's two collections from Hippocampus Press have assured him a solid place in the annals of literary horror; his prose is brutally poetic, it gets into your system and freaks your mind. Brian Lumley is represented in this book with one of his finest efforts, and Thomas Ligotti shows us why he is one of this era's Masters of the Weird Tale. Caitlin R. Kiernan has given us many superb novels, but she is equally engaging in the short story form; she is like some dark hypnotist who lures you into a realm from which, as long as dreams are dreamt, we never fully escape. Ramsey Campbell is one of our most respected writers of supernatural and suspense fiction, original and captivating. Most of the tales in this book are not easily found, which increases our gratitude to an editor who knows where to find the good rare stuff. The only serious omission among authors is Karl Edward Wagner, who surely belongs in this book.

My own story has an amusing history. I had decided to try and get away from writing obvious Lovecraftian tales. I had been reading an anthology of tales in the New Weird genre, and I thought, groovy, I'm gonna write a series of urban phantasies that have nothing to do with H. P. Lovecraft. I invented a City of Exiles, Gershom--it was going to be a modern city of utter strangeness. But when I think of exiles, I immediately think of Oscar Wilde; & so I invented a character whom I called "Sebastian Melmoth"--& if you are familiar with Wilde's biography you will understand the significance of the name. And then I surrounded him with friends of Wilde, and suddenly my "modern" non-Lovecraftian city became Victorian London with a little dash of fin-de-siecle Paris. And then I wrote a story of a woman from Boston who has a very Lovecraftian pedigree. & thus my plans were thwarted, and a new Lovecraftian locality rose from ye ashes of my wither'd brain. Oh well.

One of the great things about this book is that it includes material that is rare and difficult to find. Some stories appeared originally as chapbooks, others first appeared in magazines such as WEIRD TALES and FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, and others were published in small press anthologies with limited print runs. Best of all, the story by LAIRD BARRON is original to the book and sees its very first publication in THE BOOK OF CTHULHU! (And--Brave man!--he used the word "eldritch" in ye tale! Ia!)

Great Yuggoth, what a rad and awesome anthology this is, THE BOOK OF CTHULHU. One wishes to ye black stars that it will spawn innumerable sequels.

I am utterly confused by The Book of Cthulhu. According to all the advertising and the introduction this was supposed to be a retrospective of the best Cthulhu Mythos stories. Don't just take my word for it ". . .Lockhart has delved deep into the Cthulhu canon, selecting from myriad mind-wracking tomes twenty seven sanity shattering stories . . ." or "A hand picked selection representing the best post-Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos literature . . ."

So, based on this I'm looking forward to seventy years of Cthulhu scoured from the depths of rare fanzines ad hard to find paperbacks, topped off with some of the more interesting things published in the last decade.

Sadly not so. This is stuff, good stuff, but not a deep delve into the canon. In fact lets analyze that concept because frankly I claim false advertising. Of the 27 stories 16 are from 2000 or later, 2 are brand new, so more than half of this anthology is less than twelve years old. In fact, the earliest stories are from 1976 both from Disciples of Cthulhu: Lumley's Fairground Horror and Campbell's The Tugging, so the whole thing only spans thirty five years. Two stories from the seventies, three from the 80s, four from the 90s. Wow talk about a slanted pick. What exactly does post-Lovecraft mean? Oh and be clear there is no Derleth, no Carter, no Myers, no King, no Chabon, no Wagner, no Brennan. I mean really, you couldn't include Price's Wilbur Whateley Waiting?

Please don't misunderstand me, these stories are good, most of them, but I don't think its the book that was described. The deep delve was limited to the last 35 years and drew mostly from very mainstream magazines or other Cthulhu themed anthologies. So much was missed, and for such a fat book it seems to add very little to the shelf that wasn't already there. If your new to the genre this might be a nice anthology to have, but if your a collector, prepare to be adding just a few stories that you haven't seen before.

I have read nearly every Lovecraft-inspired collection from text to graphic novels, and this is hands-down one of the most interesting, eclectic, and spot-on accurate dives into the world of Lovecraft. Most collections, while enjoyable in different ways, usually focus on one or two of the stronger themes in Lovecraft's fiction. For example, I've read entire anthologies where the only common theme is psychological madness with a "so weird it sends me to kill myself or die mysteriously" outcome. In The Book of Cthulhu, Ross E. Lockhart shows his understanding of the many themes within other Lovecraft works.

Each story here is not a repetition of the one before, which keeps it fresh. A good example (and my favorite story of the collection), is The Unthinkable, by Bruce Sterling. It's a story that sets itself within a Lovecraftian realm, but instead of merely being a variation of a theme, serves as almost a sequel or continuation of Lovecrafts ideas. "What if the truth got out, and we were able to harness this power as a species?" Instead of being a retread of the same type of story, it builds faithfully on the already establish world that Lovecraft created.

Instead of being just another stale reminder of why we read Lovecraft's work, this collection is a compliment to all the brilliant madness we love to delve into. :)

The Book of Cthulhu, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (2011), containing:

Caitlin R. Kiernan - Andromeda among the Stones

Ramsey Campbell - The Tugging

Charles Stross - A Colder War

Bruce Sterling - The Unthinkable

Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Flash Frame

W. H. Pugmire - Some Buried Memory

Molly Tanzer - The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins

Michael Shea - Fat Face

Elizabeth Bear - Shoggoths in Bloom

T. E. D. Klein - Black Man With A Horn

David Drake - Than Curse the Darkness

Charles R. Saunders - Jeroboam Henley's Debt

Thomas Ligotti - Nethescurial

Kage Baker - Calamari Curls

Edward Morris - Jihad over Innsmouth

Cherie Priest - Bad Sushi

John Hornor Jacobs - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife

Brian McNaughton - The Doom that Came to Innsmouth

Ann K. Schwader - Lost Stars

Steve Duffy - The Oram County Whoosit

Joe R. Lansdale - The Crawling Sky

Brian Lumley - The Fairground Horror

Tim Pratt - Cinderlands

Gene Wolfe - Lord of the Land

Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - To Live and Die in Arkham

John Langan - The Shallows

Laird Barron - The Men from Porlock

An excellent anthology of mostly reprinted Lovecraftian stories, all of them dating from 1976 onwards. The Book of Cthulhu is quite heavy on 21st-century Cthulhuiana, which is fine -- most of the stories are excellent, several are harrowing, and many come from relatively small-press magazines and anthologies I would otherwise not have encountered.

There's some thematic grouping here, noticeable from the titles of what I call the Innsmouth Dining section (starting with "Calamari Curls" and running through "The Doom that Came to Innsmouth"), but also apparent in sections devoted to shoggoths, historical Lovecraft, and invasion from space and other dimensions.

The original-to-this-anthology concluding story, Laird Barron's "The Men from Porlock" (Google the title -- it's a literary reference), is one hell of a capper; standouts from writers other than the old reliables like Ramsey Campbell, David Drake, Joe Lansdale, Caitlin Kiernan, TED Klein, and Michael Shea include "Cinderlands", "Flash Frame", "The Oram County Whoosit", "The Shallows", "Bad Sushi" and "A Colder War." Editor Ross Lockhart does a splendid job of selecting a very broad range of approaches to Lovecraftian themes and variations.

Many stories specifically reference the Cthulhu Mythos not at all, instead building upon what Ramsey Campbell has called the first principles of Lovecraft's approach to horror -- the accumulation of telling, often quasi-documentarian detail in service to an overarching concern with the sublimely horrific. Lovecraft's children include all those 'found footage' horror movies currently dominating the marketplace, and stories like "The Oram County Whoosit" present a similar approach, one that's both contemporary and emergent from similar Lovecraftian constructions like "The Colour Out of Space" or "The Whisperer in Darkness."

But we also get some brilliant new takes on familiar themes and creatures in "Shoggoths in Bloom" and "A Colder War", both of which provide a fascinating blend of the Mythos and a fairly 'hard' science fictional approach. The shoggoths in bloom become surprisingly sympathetic; the shoggoths in Michael Shea's nauseating (in a good way) "Fat Face" really aren't sympathetic at all -- but the humans may be worse. A nice juxtaposition of stories using everybody's favourite freight-train-car-sized slaves of the Great Old Ones.

I could quibble with the selection of the stories from some of the writers (I'd pick Gene Wolfe's "The Tree is my Hat" over the already-reprinted "Lord of the Land", which has a somewhat clunky exposition section towards the end; the Lumley story is too much of an early, Lovecraftian pastiche from a writer who improved remarkably over his long career). I could quibble with the selection of some of the stories, though there's really only one clunker here. I will quibble with the copy editing, which is strangely awful in a handful of stories and perfectly fine in others. Weird!!! Highly recommended.

I'm really new to Cthulhu and H.P. Lovecraft. But I know what I love and I loved The Book of Cthulhu!! A friend introduced me to Lovecraft earlier this year and I started hunting for his books in used bookstores and at the library, so when I got the chance to read The Book of Cthulhu I couldn't wait to get started. And I was not disappointed on bit.

There are twenty seven stories in this anthology and there's something here for everyone! Being so new to Lovecraft, I did some research and from what I've learned, Night Shade Books and editor Ross E. Lockhart have assembled some of the finest Lovecraftian stories out there. I learned that many are quite rare and have been around for a long time. I wish I was more of an expert on Lovecraft. But maybe this newbie can offer a fair review because I have no preference towards one author or another.

I really enjoyed most all of the stories, they were well crafted with enough weirdness and off-kilter vestiges that I stayed pretty creeped out by them. A couple of the stories that really got to me were Gene Wolfe's "Lord of the Land", with his truly icky alien possession and Ann K. Schwader's tale that brings in what I think of as Egyptian mythos. I love most all things Egyptian.

I don't want to try to pretend to know the histories and the legends behind these entertaining authors. What I can say is that I enjoyed the read, each author brought something different and very entertaining to the anthology. I say: try something new. If you like to be weirded out, made to question your regular reading material, then for goodness sake...read "The Book of Cthulhu", step out of your comfort zone and enjoy coloring outside the lines in these short stories. Who knows? You may find yourself on a search engine looking up Lovecraft!

4 out of 5 stars!

This is one of the very best anthologies of modern Lovecraftian fiction I've come across, right up there with Ellen Datlow's Lovecraft Unbound from a few years back. Unlike Datlow's antho, though, this is primarily reprints rather than original fiction, so the collector would do well to consult the table of contents prior to committing. It's a gorgeous tome, with a handsome layout and serious girth--editor Ross Lockhart has put together a massive collection, and his selection is wonderfully broad and interesting in a subgenre that often feels boring, predictable, and narrow. There were a few pieces I was unimpressed with, but that's how it goes with virtually any antho, and the quality of most of the stories is very high indeed. For brevity's sake, I'll single out my five favorite pieces:

Caitlín R. Kiernan's "Andromeda among the Stones," which is one of the best stories I've read by Kiernan. As anyone who is familiar with her work can attest, this is saying something, indeed.

Charles Stross's "A Colder War," which takes a premise that seems destined for camp and instead turns out one of the most unsettling pieces in the entire collection.

Molly Tanzer's "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins," a story that takes two nigh-impossible to pull-off elements--a pastiche of 18th century literature and a humorous approach to Lovecraftian weirdness--and delivers a tremendously entertaining story that is every bit as witty and amusing as it is profoundly wrong.

John Langan's "The Shallows" is a melancholic ode to humanity, with all its petty weaknesses, cruelties, and failings. Incomprehensible cosmic horrors and the end of the world pale in comparison to the incomprehensibly horrific nature of our fellow man and our own personal, quiet armageddons.

Laird Barron's "The Men from Porlock," which builds on the Pacific NW mythos Barron has built for himself in such earlier works as the Shirley Jackson award winning "Mysterium Tremendum." This may well be his best entry yet, at least for a history buff like myself--this is period horror at its very best, and the nuance of Barron's detail with the beauty of his voice combine to create a masterpiece of Lovecraftian horror.

Honorable mention go to the stories by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, W.H. Pugmire, Charles R. Saunders, and Thomas Ligotti, but, really, there aren't a lot of duds in this one--as I said, one of the very best anthologies of Lovecraftain fiction I've come across. Highly recommended.

The popularity of all things Cthulhu seems to know no bounds these days and book publishers are taking advantage of that fact. Night Shade Books began planning this book about two years ago. There was a brief delay while they underwent a change in editorial duties but then Ross Lockhart, one of the head honchos at Night Shade took the project over and was able to rapidly bring it to fruition. Publication date was earlier this year. It is a lovely and generous trade paperback with 522 pages of stories. We also get some extra pages with a rather generic introduction and a useful copyright history in the back. We don't get any authors' notes, alas. Production qualities are fine; I may have noted a rare typographical error. Cover art is a dramatic Cthulhu attacking a ship, provided by Obrotowy (The only Obrotowy I know invented a tank periscope in WWII; my work internet blocks access to the artist's website.). It should be noted that the anthology is almost entirely reprints, except for Laird Barron's The Men from Porlock and John Honor Jacobs' The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. On the other hand just because I happen to have all of the anthologies mentioned doesn't mean anyone else will! I think most buyers will receive a very generous selection of stories by some of the finest prose artists writing mythos fiction these days. I think this point bears emphasis. In the 1970s and 80s much of the mythos fiction published was dreary pastiche, a reiteration of HPL`s (or worse, August Derleth's) tired tropes and storylines. Now, however, my favorite genre attracts top quality writers. Even such artists as Neil Gaiman have written a few mythos stories. If you are new to Cthulhu mythos fiction and all you do is pick up a Robert Price edited book in the Cycle series from Chaosium, you will be sorely disappointed. Mr. Lockhart isn't really attempting to create a greatest hits type book but he certainly did have an eye for producing a volume of good reads. It is not really competing directly with anthologies of all new original fiction; the main competition comes from the still to be published New Cthulhu, due out from Prime Books. Mostly, Mr. Lockhart succeeds in creating a fine volume that will reward just about any reader, from a Cthulhu novice to an old tentacle hand like me. As an aside, I'll note I suggested a few stories for this book and I think he took me up on one or two. I'll give a brief thought or two on each story so there may be minor spoilers involved. My bottom line is this is a terrific book. Here are the contents:

Caitlin R. Kiernan - Andromeda among the Stones - Ms. Kiernan is one of the current marvel's of Lovecraftian publishing. Her short stories routinely are masterpieces and Threshold is one of the very best Lovecraftian (not Cthulhu mythos) novels ever written. In a characteristic ambiguous and layered story of the struggle to protect humanity from unthinkable horror Ms. Kiernan again delivers a remarkable story, with brilliant descriptive prose and deftly drawn characters.

Ramsey Campbell - The Tugging - Unlike most of the stories here, The Tugging is rather dated, originally published in 1976. This is closer to when Mr. Campbell was more imitative of Lovecraft and was just developing his own voice. The setting is the author's own Brichester in the Severn Valley, a location he has used so effectively in so many stories. Even back then Mr. Campbell's gifts with prose were evident. Derived from HPL, yes, but still very original, and very well written, I found it be fresh now as when I originally read it.

Charles Stross - A Colder War - For me A Colder War is one of the very best Cthulhu mythos stories of the last 20 years. Mr. Stross brilliantly weaves together cold war political themes and Lovecraftian horror. It presages his series of novels about Bob Howard and the Laundry.

Bruce Sterling - The Unthinkable - This story also considers the use of Lovecraftian supernatural horrors as strategic weapons in the Cold War. It was a decent read but suffers in comparison to A Colder War.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Flash Frame - Ms. Moreno-Garcia deserves wider recognition for her efforts with the independent publishers and online forum, Innsmouth Free Press. Flash Frame is brilliant, not overtly Cthulhu mythos but definitely Lovecraftian in feel. It also has heavy echoes of Robert Chambers. A reporter investigates a classic film. Wonderful stuff.

W. H. Pugmire - Some Buried Memory - Mr. Pugmire often writes of death and transfiguration. His dreamy stories about transitioning between states of being is constantly absorbing. Here he explores Lovecraftian ghouls. The events in the story are not so important as the mood they invoke; sometimes I think he is striving for anoesis in prose.

Molly Tanzer - The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins - Ms. Tanzer's work was originally published in Historical Lovecraft. It creates a somber mood from late 1700s England in the mansion of a decaying aristocratic family. For me it was pretty good, nothing more, particularly flanked by such impressive work.

Michael Shea - Fat Face - Fat Face may be the best story about shoggoths ever written, although Charlie Stross and Elizabeth Bear in this book may have something to say about that! Mr. Shea beautifully evokes a decadent San Francisco and the hapless life of a prostitute while spinning a horrific yarn. Fat Face is one of the top five stories in this book.

Elizabeth Bear - Shoggoths in Bloom - Ms. Bear was awarded the Hugo Award for Shoggoths in Bloom, a meditation on what it means to be a slave from the perspective of a descendent of slaves in Jim Crow America.

T. E. D. Klein - Black Man with a Horn - Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Black Man with a Horn is one of the best Cthulhu mythos stories ever written, one of the best stories ever about the Tcho Tcho people.

David Drake - Than Curse the Darkness - Here's another story that I found OK, but not much more, as an English noblewoman goes into the heart of darkness to thwart Nyarlathotep.

Charles R. Saunders - Jeroboam Henley's Debt - I've always meant to read Mr. Saunders' Imaro stories, probably fine reading for a Conan fan like me. Jeroboam Henley's Debt is more about African mysticism and only has one throw away reference to Shub Niggurath. While a decent read I think of all the stories here it's the one that doesn't really belong in terms of content.

Thomas Ligotti - Nethescurial - The anthology continues from strength to strength with the wonderful Nethescurial from Thomas Ligotti. More Lovecraftian than Cthulhu mythos, an antiquarian or anthropologist loses himself in a manuscript.

Kage Baker - Calamari Curls - Somewhat played for humor and somewhat a story of supernatural horror, Calamari Curls depicts the vicissitudes of having the wrong address in a fading California town. OK for me but not much more.

Edward Morris - Jihad over Innsmouth - What a great story! It's spies vs Cthulhu in the air, in the backdrop of the paranoia since 9/11.

Cherie Priest - Bad Sushi - Bad Sushi was OK for me but not much more, as an aging sushi chef an ex-soldier from Japan has to figure out what is in the new fish that is having such a terrible effect on his customers.

John Hornor Jacobs - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife - Moody, evocative and a little bit sad, a lonely woman abandoned in someway by her husband is pursued, and alas, caught, by a customer at her restaurant.

Brian McNaughton - The Doom that Came to Innsmouth - Another absolutely brilliant story. Mr. McNaughton died in 2004 at the unreasonably young age of 69. Only now do we realize what we lost. The story hooks the reader by way of the American soft spot for those who are persecuted for their religion, and then turns everything upside down. This is one of the best Cthulhu mythos stories ever.

Ann K. Schwader - Lost Stars - Ms. Schwader isn't nearly as prolific with mythos fiction as I think she should be. Here Egyptian and mythos themes are woven together in a story of resurrection and its cost.

Steve Duffy - The Oram County Whoosit - This is the first time I've read Mr. Duffy's wonderful Lovecraftian tale. Deep time and alien physiology are strong themes used to frame the characters' difficulty comprehending the horror they are facing.

Joe R. Lansdale - The Crawling Sky - OK, the prose of the initial section of The Crawling Sky is magnificent, alone worth the price of the book. My goodness Mr. Lansdale spins an entertaining yarn of transdimensional evil.

Brian Lumley - The Fairground Horror - Of all the stories in this book, this is the one I think is a lame read. It dates from 1976 when Mr. Lumley was heavily influenced by Derleth while writing mythos pastiches. Tired tropes are evoked and no tension developed in a tale of a carnie side show operator trying to cash in on his brother's occult doings.

Tim Pratt - Cinderlands - I've never read anything by Mr. Pratt before. I'll remedy that when I see his story coming out in New Cthulhu. I thought this was another gem, very evocative and quite Lovecraftian about a man who decides to refurbish the wrong house.

Gene Wolfe - Lord of the Land - I am not the biggest Gene Wolfe fan; mostly I find him over-rated. That said, Lord of the Land is quite well written and has a very nice creepy feel of ancient horrors and alien possession, using the Lovecraftian dev ice of a folklore expert poking around where he shouldn't.

Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - To Live and Die in Arkham - One day Mr. Pulver will be recognized as a giant in the field of mythos fiction. His prose is like poetry, his imagery is acute. A hit man in Arkham rethinks his options.

John Langan - The Shallows - The Shallows originally saw print in the marvelous anthology Cthulhu's Reign. My second read of it was as good as the first. It is post apocalyptic mythos fiction of the best sort. The Shallows is horrifying and indescribably melancholy. Mr. Langan is another wonderful prose stylist.

Laird Barron - The Men from Porlock - I became a lifelong fan of Mr. Barron with the first story I ever read by him, Old Virginia, a brilliant mythos story. The Men from Porlock showcases all of his strengths. He brilliantly uses the geography of Washington and the northwest, like HPL used topography from New England. His unhurried prose allows us to get inside the skin of his characters. Tension is gradually developed before it is ratcheted up to unbearable levels. What a marvelous way to end a wonderful anthology.

In summary, The Book of Cthulhu showcases many of my favorite modern Cthulhu mythos authors and has a selection which includes some of the very best such stories ever written. If you have read any Lovecraft or are wondering why all the fuss about fiction influenced by or based on his creations, The Book of Cthulhu is a great place to start. You will not be disappointed. Highly recommended. At Amazon's discounted pricing it's practically a steal.

There's a big paradox in Mythos fiction. Mainly that Lovecraft's horror is about the things outside of our sphere existence and the terror of the unknown and yet many Mythos writers, to stay true to Lovecraft, work closely with the Mythos and deal in known quantities. So how can Mythos fiction stay true to Lovecraft's vision while still playing to the strengths we love it for? Ross Lockhart's compilation does this. He combines some of the best in Mythos fiction, sci fi and fantasy with authors whose work we may not have been exposed to as much or may not have expected to write Lovecraftian fiction. Reading through these stories, the Lovecraftian elements are diverse, every piece strange in its own way, every piece still outre because the known quantities are not dealt with in a way we've seen before and with pieces we've read in other anthos. To truly embrace Lovecraft we must embrace the weird and the different and we must embrace the potential for distinctive and surprising Lovecraftian visions and this anthology does this remarkably well. If you're looking for quality, insight and creativity, this is for you. If you're looking for Mythos reprints that stray three feet outside of your comfort zone, you can get them practically anywhere.

The Book of Cthulhu ($15.99 Nightshade Books) edited by Ross E. Lockhart--overall rating--five stars--highly recommended for fans of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, literary horror in general, and great writing.

27 stories inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, the author who created the Cthulhu mythos many years ago. If you haven't read Lovecraft, or don't know who he is, think of him this way: he's the J.R.R. Tolkien of horror. His fiction is impressive and very readable today, and I've thoroughly enjoyed his short stories. If you haven't read Lovecraft, find a collection of his short stories that features "The Call of Cthulhu" and dive in, then buy this book to see the evolution of the world he created.

The Book of Cthulhu is an anthology of short stories featuring authors who have written tales that carry on the Cthulhu tradition, as Lovecraft wanted. The editor, Ross Lockhart compiled most of these largely literary stories from other sources, packaging them up nicely, and also presents a few new ones. It's hard to review so many stories, but I'll give each one a line or more, and all of the stories had good qualities, but I connected with some more than others. Everyone has different tastes, and if you're looking for lots of gore or crazy action this isn't for you, but if you like to read some of the best authors writing today, check this out.

The stories:

Caitlin R. Kiernan: Andromeda Among the Stones--five stars, (new story). This is arguably the best story in the anthology. It evokes everything that Lovecraft created and more. The alien horror of the otherside and the sacrifices that must be made to keep the evil at bay are real and palpable in this brilliantly written and menacingly beautiful story set (mostly) in the early 1900's just before World War I. A terrible apocalypse can be averted, perhaps, if a terrible cost is paid, and the family in this story is right there at the edge of the sea, staring into the depths of the void. Brilliant story.

Ramsey Campbell: The Tugging--four stars. Fascinating story about an astronomer and a wandering planet that is coming closer to Earth. It's appearance is a harbinger of doom that is driving poor Ingels mad, as he knows it's much more than a planet. Why can't everyone else see what's coming?!?!

Charles Stross: A Colder War--five stars. A completely awesome story set during the Cold War told by a master writer. You think nuclear bombs are bad. They turn out to be nothing to worry about when the power of the Elder Gods can be harnessed and used for world ending destruction. Great story featuring top secret reports, Cthulhu bombs, and well, the end of life on Earth as we know it.

Bruce Sterling: The Unthinkable--three stars. Interesting and short piece also set in an alternate history cold war setting where the supernatural horrors are walking around, and a couple of aging cold war spies have a chat about the world.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Flash Frame--four stars. This was a cool story but it made me go, huh? It was awesome and interesting, and I liked it, but I think I would need to read it again to really get everything. It's very literary and author has great skill, no doubt, in painting pictures with words.

W.H. Pugmire: Some Buried Memory--four stars. A high-brow tale about a "found foundling" woman who is extremely ugly. The descriptions were awesome.

Molly Tanzer: The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins--five stars. One of the most awesome and horrifying stories in the anthology about two disgustingly awful children, who should probably have been drowned at birth, though the girl wouldn't have drowned . . . . This was such a creepy and cool story, and I loved the narrator's voice. Great story.

Michael Shea: Fat Face--three stars. Too subtle for my taste, but an interesting character study about a woman who has a lot of problems. Horror.

Elizabeth Bear: Shoggoths in Bloom--four stars. This story has won some major awards, and I liked it a lot, but I just didn't connect with it on all levels, hence four out of five stars. Still, it's worth a read just to see what the fuss is about. I admired Bear's skill and can see why Shoggoths in Bloom was so critically acclaimed. Solid story.

T.E.D. Klein: Black Man with A Horn--three stars. Somewhat meandering and quiet story about an old man, who is/was a writer, and is near the end of his life. I liked the story, but it was too slow for my tastes.

David Drake: Than Curse the Darkness--five stars. This was the most powerful story in the book for me. I loved it, and was blown away. David Drake is a master and he really hits the dark note of the Cthulhu mythos on this one. This tale is set in darkest Africa and is somewhat reminiscent of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, with a very supernatural twist. The natives resort to dark magic to get revenge upon their Belgian colonial oppressors at the turn of the century, and some white people come up river to stop what is coming. The characters were awesome and this was an extremely entertaining story.

Charles R. Sanders: Jeroboam Henley's Debt--three and a half stars. More dark magic out of Africa, with an interesting twist.

Thomas Ligotti: Nethescurial--three stars. A little slow, a little dense, too quiet, and in the style of some of Lovecraft's works. I just didn't connect with it, but could appreciate what the author accomplished.

Kage Baker: Calamari Curls--three stars. Well done story, but I wasn't in the mood for the brand of humor contained here.

Edward Morris: Jihad over Innsmouth--four stars. Freaking cool story about a character who wages his own war aboard an airliner. Very spooky story and so Twilight Zone.

Cherie Priest: Bad Sushi--five stars, best character story in the book. I'd heard how awesome Cherie Priest is and now I know why. No other story in the book paints a more complete and awesome picture of a character. In this case a World War II Japanese veteran who works in an American Sushi restaurant. Lets just say that when his boss changes sushi suppliers things get really bad at the restaurant. Note: beware anyone who is addicted to sushi.

John Horner Jacobs: The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife--three stars (new story). I didn't connect with the characters in the short slice of life kind of story.

Brian McNaughton: The Doom that Came to Innsmouth--five stars. Wow, what a horrifying story about a sick and demented character. This is about a former resident of Innsmouth, a town Lovecraft invented, who returns home to reconnect with his roots. Dark, black, slimy, roots.

Ann K. Schwader: Lost Stars--five stars. Great character story about a gal who starts going to an occult group and finds out the Egyptian High Priestess in charge is the real deal. This would make a great Twilight Zone episode.

Steve Duffy: The Oram County Whoosit--five stars. Brilliant story, and Lovecraft would be so proud of Steve Duffy's tale, which recounts the discovery of a thing (actually a couple of things--or whoosits) that had been buried for millions of years, and should have been left deep in the ground.

Joe R. Lansdale: The Crawling Sky--five stars. One of my favorite stories in the anthology. A tough preacher comes across a small town with problems. Lansdale is a master and I loved how he presented the story and the characters. His style and skill are brilliant. His stories and books are among my most favorite reads.

Brian Lumley: The Fairground Horror--three stars. Creepy, and nasty, but I just didn't connect with this one.

Tim Pratt: Cinderlands--five stars. This awesome story pays homage to Lovecraft's classic, The Rats in the Walls. I loved this one and it was pretty much perfect. Highly recommended.

Gene Wolfe: Lord of the Land--two stars. A lot of interesting stuff, but a little too slow for me. I did enjoy all the Egyptian and occult references though.

Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.: To Live and Die in Arkham--five stars. Very graphic story about some deplorable characters. This one will wake you up and punch you in the throat. Horror all the way through.

John Langan: The Shallows--two stars. Very literary, very slow, too much telling for me. This one just wasn't my taste, but I know some people will love this one.

Laird Barron: The Men From Porlock--five stars (new story). Very awesome ending to The Book of Cthulhu. It features some lumberjacks going on a deer hunt and finding a strange community in the forest, and interrupting something they should not have interrupted. Mayhem and murder abound in this horror story of epic Stephen King proportions. Highly recommended.

In summary (according to my personal taste), there are 11 five star stories, 5 four star, and lots of other good ones that will please readers of varied interests. Fans of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and horror in general will love this book. Highly recommended.

Paul Genesse

Editor of The Crimson Pact anthology series

[...]