Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby! and Other Cosmic Insolence [Paperback]

Will Ludwigsen (Author), Matthew Warner (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2006

Oscar Wilde wrote that "the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their entire lack of style." Not satisfied with that, Will Ludwigsen chooses instead to add humor and flair to the horrors that surround us. Why settle for the lesser of evils in your newspaper when you can read an entire book of stories about zombie-exploiting, plesiosaur-chopping, alien-dissecting, robotically-enhanced, lunatics instead? This premiere collection by Will Ludwigsen brings together thirteen of his best horror, mystery, and science fiction stories from magazines such as Weird Tales, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and Cemetery Dance, plus three originals. Though the work of a single deranged author, these varied tales share a flippant disdain for common decency, courtesy, and sense. Witty and irreverent, they remind us that we have more hope than we think--if only because we have wit and irreverence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I have never had more fun reading a collection of horror stories than I did with Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby & Other Cosmic Insolence by Will Ludwigsen. Do not get me wrong, these stories are horror but Ludwigsen tackles each tale with a freshly amusing outlook that creates a body of work that shines with an originality that is hard to come by in the horror genre. With these thirteen original tales, Ludwigsen takes on the all too familiar staples of horror, like zombies, aliens and Cthulhu mythos, with an inventive viewpoint that shows his readers the lighter side of horror. --Horror World, Joe Kroeger

Disturbing is the first word that comes to mind with Cthulhu Fhtagn, and I don't mean it in a bad way! Ludwigsen manages to create an anthology of short-short stories that stretch the imagination and at times, blow it entirely. It is a fantastic collection by a brilliantly twisted author. I also have to note that it is one of the best anthologies I've read. I highly recommend it to any enthusiast of the macabre. --Bitten by Books

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Lethe Press (January 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590210522
• ISBN-13: 978-1590210529
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,141,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Will Ludwigsen's fantasy and horror work has appeared in Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Strange Horizons, and the Interfictions 2 anthology--among many other places.

When he isn't writing fantasy and horror fiction, he writes fantasy and horror non-fiction as a trainer and technical writer for the federal government.

He lives in Jacksonville, Florida, with writer Aimee Payne and two greyhounds, also possibly writers of some sort. His website http://www.will-ludwigsen.com is even stranger than his fiction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Macabre, Gruesome, and Delightful!, October 10, 2008

By 

Jennifer Black (Wyoming) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby! and Other Cosmic Insolence (Paperback)

This fantastic collections by a brilliantly twisted author is one of the best anthologies I've read. Highly recommended to any enthusiast of the macabre.

Anomie
An ill-mannered bum gets a comeuppance in the face of a philosophical teenager.
3.5/5

And Justice for Doll
A child's playworld becomes the fertile breeding ground for a court case of her own invention.
4.0/5

Nessmas
A loch ness monster turns up on the lawn of a Scottish couple.
3.5/5

Speaking Mouth Dog
An allegory for modern art, "Seeing Mouth Dog" is the tale of a blind, mute, and deaf man still able to create "literature".
4.0/5

The Trespasser
An old-style autopsy takes a supernatural turn.
4.0/5

Billy
Set in what some animal activists would call the ideal future, a young girl comes to love a -- literal -- mindless hunk of meat.
4.0/5

Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby!
The book's namesake is a scathing "review" of "musical" Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby!. One of the most imaginative pieces I have ever read.
5.0/5

Soured
A child's dislike of milk proves to be well-founded.
4.5/5

Portrait of the Horror Artist as a Young Man
An "N" in art goes from worse to better.
3.5/5

Raw Recruits
An early attempt at spirit-channeling goes eerily wrong. This is one of my favorite stories in the volume.
5.0/5

Representational Sample
A collection of many strangely gathered items grows, brought together for a mysterious purpose.
5.0/5

Bingo
A retired, drug-sniffing police dog finds a new home with two apartment-bound college students.
4.5/5

You're Welcome
A childhood romance ends tragically -- or does it?
4.5/5

Solidity
Bums have a special place in the fabric of reality -- do we all?
4.5/5

Exit Laughing
A roadtrip through Florida takes a disastrous turn.
4.0/5

Grandpa, What Happens When We Die?
A final, parting poem reminds readers to live for the day.
3.5/5

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4.5/5

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't Be Fhtooled, December 3, 2007

By 

David Berck "cruecut" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby! and Other Cosmic Insolence (Paperback)

This is a collection of short stories by Will Ludwigsen. There aren't any consistent themes or genres represented here, as the stories touch here and there in terms of subject matter.

There are a couple of clever stories that should elicit a chuckle or even an outright laugh. However, the overall quality of the stories is a bit sketchy. The title is also very misleading, which is probably done on purpose, to market the book to fans of the Cthulhu Mythos. There are a couple of stories that can be described as macabre, but only one of those could really be described as belonging in the Lovecraftian genre.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mordant humor, October 6, 2007

By 

Matthew T. Carpenter (Peoria, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby! and Other Cosmic Insolence (Paperback)

Cthulhu Fhtagn, Baby and Other Cosmic Insolence by Will Ludwigsen was a diverting collection of short stories. They sort of defy categorization, being sci fi, horror and dark fantasy. I enjoyed it, but in spite of the title (cynically chosen for commercial appeal?) there is nothing specifically to interest the Lovecraftian collector except the rather lame story that gives the book its title, perhaps the worst story in the book. Even the most devout Cthulhu mythos completist can safely pass this by. Unless, of course, they are not so hidebound in their chosen genre that they can't take a walk on the wild side of Mr. Ludwigsen's imagination. The stories are characterized by enjoyable mordant humor and startling imagery, and are worth reading. I think my favorite image was dismembering the corpse of Nessie with a chainsaw.