Cthulhu's Heirs: New Cthulhu Mythos Fiction [Paperback]

Thomas M. Stratman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Chaosium (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568820135
• ISBN-13: 978-1568820132
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the worst collection Chaosium has put out, August 7, 2004

By 

Alexander Scott (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cthulhu's Heirs: New Cthulhu Mythos Fiction (Paperback)

This isn't the worst collection Chaosium has put out. That's not really a great way to start a review, but hey, I didn't write this book either. Many of these are fanzine-pastiches, others are poorly written; by this, I mean that the ideas are not developed enough that the reader feels immersed in the story, or else the author tried to convey madness or temporal-spatial dislocation by writing in a confusing and disjointed manner. It takes skill to accomplish this successfully, or the device falls flat. I'll list some of my preferred stories below:

"KADATH/ The Vision and The Journey": a poem about a dreamquest like Randolph Carter's. Just seeing the prose narrative transformed to poetry is interesting. I give it some points for novelty.

"The Franklyn Paragraphs": This is one of Ramsey Campbell's more famous Lovecraftian works. If you follow his branch of the Mythos, this is an important story, although you can also get it in COLD PRINT.

"Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock": I think this is a second-rate tale of sexual perversion, but the trap at the end gave it a twist. Hey, if it's your thing...

"Those of the Air": A more personal retelling of "The Dunwich Horror." Why does no one ever feel sympathy for the Son of Yog-Sothoth?

"The Scourge": At first I thought it was a story about another unspeakable tome, but it is really about one man's expiation of his failures to the Old Ones.

"Star Bright, Star Byte": What possibilities does virtual reality offer cultists for the summoning of their gods? An interesting story hook that hasn't been developed before.

The rest are uninspiring; not necessarily bad, but they don't stand out. I'd rate it as a maybe-read rather than a must-read.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Extremely inconsistent group of new Cthulhu Mythos tales, May 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cthulhu's Heirs: New Cthulhu Mythos Fiction (Paperback)

This is volume 4 from Chaosium's series of Cthulhu Mythos fiction. The Cthulhu Mythos was created by H.P. Lovecraft in a series of short stories published in the 1920's and 30's. In this mythology, the earth was previously inhabited by alien, "godlike" entities who will return "when the stars are right". Many writers have added to the underlying mythology since Lovecraft's death including Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, and Brian Lumley. This book contains little that is of the quality you'd find from those authors. This volume contains 16 new works of fiction & 2 stories from the 60's, one by Hugh B. Cave and one by Ramsey Campbell. These two older stories were the only ones I enjoyed very much. Many of the rest were extremely amateur. You can find on the WWW short stories of equal quality that will cost you nothing. Overall, not a book I would recomend.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I contest the will!, January 23, 2000

By 

Seth Bunke - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cthulhu's Heirs: New Cthulhu Mythos Fiction (Paperback)

If these are Cthulhu's heirs I contest the will. This was summarilly the worst expression of Lovecratf's weird fantast genre. The imbecilic overtones and dishwater plots reflect more the 1980's "Nightmare on Elm street" style of teenie slasher films far closer than any resemblance of the erudite and late Mr. Lovecraft.

It is a sheer marvel that these works could be published under the aegis of the continuation of Lovecraft's deeply intricate world and mythology. The book is an insult, it demeans use even as liner for a parakeet cage.