Customer Reviews

Miskatonic University

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

 

 

Like a previous reviewer, I expected this book to be an anthology of Lovecraft pastiches. Hey, I like them as much as the next guy, but yet another collection of pastiche is nothing to get excited about. I was excited to see a set of stories set in Lovecrafft country, using some of his caracters, places, and books, without necessarily trying to imitate his writing style. The book starts out with a real kicker, "Kali Yuga Comes". Even though it is set in the middle of a series, I was immediately hooked on the intensity of the story and plot device of the return of Kali. Why invent space aliens and impronouncable gods when we have an easily accessible mythology with fanatics and a cult broken up only a few generations ago? And why Kali is there is the real kicker...

"Her Misbegotten Son" is an excellent novella - I was really wound up with the characters. It's been a long time since a mythos tale sucked me in this hard. I know the author has done a superb job when I have to check how the story ends before reading the middle because the tension is unbearable.

"To Be As They" is a vignette showing the relationship between a master's candidate and her advisor when an unusual artist paints an unrequested portrait. The fate of the two lovers is only hinted at, but is both grotesque and repulsive. There are so many ways that this story could have been done wrong, but the character interactions were pulled off masterfully. Much better work than I expected in this kind of collection.

"The Sothis Radiant": as was mentioned before, this is an excellent story. This is what cosmic horror would look like in our day. It's the end of the universe - in slow motion. But not slow enough. After reading this story, I had to put down the book and stare into space for awhile.

"The Play's the Thing" and "Ghoulmaster" just tickled my fancy.

As I said before, the strongest aspect of this collection is taking a Lovecraftian setting and doing whatever the author wants in that universe. Many authors want to write like Lovecraft without understanding what really makes his stories hold together. I have much rather enjoyed seeing Miskatonic University explored in the style of each individual author. I can't recommend this collection highly enough.

Miskatonic University is a mass market paperback from Daw, dating back to 1996. I have no idea if there was an earlier or limited edition. I've had a copy for about 5 years but for some reason never got around to reading it until now. Perhaps I read it in anticipation of William Jones' anthology Tales out of Miskatonic University, due any time now from Mythos Books. Unlike Arkham Tales, Miskatonic University owes nothing to Chaosium's rpg Call of Cthulhu. Perhaps because of this, it fares better. Editorial chores were shared by Martin H. Greenberg and Robert Weinberg, who did a fine job of choosing quality stories. This is the duo that gave us Lovecraft's Legacy back in 1990, a pretty good mythos anthology for its time. Physically, the book has held up well over the years and used copies are available for cheap on line. Cover art by Jim Warren is suitably creepy, although not especially memorable. Overall I really liked most of the stories and was kicking myself for not taking the plunge sooner.

A Letter from the President to Incoming Students by Stefan Dziemianowicz serves as an introduction, and is a modestly humorous walk through MU's hallowed halls. I could take it or leave it.

Kali Yuga Comes by Tina Jens (a writing instructor at Columbia College) is part of a series of stories about a secret society dedicated to supernatural investigations. Ms. Jens also edited Cthulhu and the Coeds, a collector's item but really only of interest to VERY dedicated collectors. At first I thought this story was going to be a fast paced, breezy romp of an adventure, but it had a very dark undercurrent and horrific denouement that the blame for which was placed squarely on the shoulders of the protagonist.

Teachers by Mort Castle was a very affectionate (and fitting) tribute to Robert Bloch, who had died only shortly before publication of the anthology. Mr. Caste has edited books on writing horror. Hmmm, lots of writing instructors and editors represented here.

Her Misbegotten Son by Alan Rodgers (editor of the superb McNaughton series at Wildside Press) was, for me, a Lovecraftian misfire. It was well written and I enjoyed the breathless action sequences, but killing Keziah Mason and the Dark Man aspect of Nyarlathotep just did not work. Maybe HPL had Keziah Mason recoil from a crucifix, but Dreams in the Witch House was not his best work.

Scavenger Hunt by Brad Linaweaver (who has a few other lackluster mythos efforts to his name) was pretty darned good! A literature student ends up getting the best prize in the annual MU scavenger hunt.

Black Celebration by Jay Bonansinga (who moved on away from HPL with the success of his horror writing career) was a nice edgy piece about a young man whose pounding rock riffs pierce the veil of reality. It reminded me a bit of Rainey's fugue devil and his fascination with sound as a dimension.

To Be as They by Stephen Mark Rainey is superb, the creepy and effective jewel of the anthology. This story introduces us to the preternaturally gifted painter, Ivan Luserke. With so many years gone by it's not surprising that this story was reprinted in Mr. Rainey's collection, The Last Trumpet.

Second Movement by Benjamin Adams (who co-edited the very enjoyable Children of Cthulhu anthology with John Pelan, and has written some Delta Green stories) was absorbing, about a professor at good ole MU studying the script that composes the Pnakotic Manuscripts. This attracts the unwelcome attentions of a reporter who is not what he seems. I pretty much liked it.

Dreaming of Dead Poets by Jane Lindskold (who has not essayed any other mythosish stuff, as far as I know) was OK, readable if not doing too much for me. A writer and an artist start to have shared dreams or visions. Through this they discover a plot the deep ones have to steal a nuclear submarine and make R'lyeh ascend.

Mandelbrot Moldrot by Lois H. Gresh (who wrote a few mythos stories over the years) was about an AI searching for patterns in ultimate chaos. Pretty good premise, fair execution. It was readable but probably my least favorite story here.

The Smile of a Mime by Billie Sue Mosiman (a new name to me) was pretty good, with good enough prose for me to wish she had written a few more mythos stories. A young student discovers that some of the books found in the stacks at the MU library can be used to cross the veil. Her response is not typical for a protagonist in a mythos story.

The Sothis Radiant by Will Murray (a scholar of Lovecraft's writing) was terrific, showing appreciation of HPL's cosmicism. Why is the observatory at MU locked up, anyway?

The Play's the Thing by Christie Golden (another new name to me) tells about a drama student who has to come up with a dramatic scenario based on published literature and uses his professor's notes on Al Azif for inspiration. Again, I liked it pretty well even if the prose didn't blow me away.

Ghoulmaster by Brian McNaughton pays homage to HPL's ghouls is Mr. McNaughton's vivid, inimitable prose. It is a fine conclusion to a fine anthology. This story appears in the Wildside book Even More Nasty Stories.

So what can I say? I was completely entertained by this book; the best stories are superb and the lesser lights were still quite readable. Used copies are dirt cheap so there is no reason not to give it a go. I liked it better than Arkham Tales or Frontier Cthulhu, if not as well as Dead But Dreaming. I wish I had seen it back in 1996 but hey, better late than never..

I came to the anthology Miskatonic University with the expectation of finding some bad pastiche. What I found instead were some interesting stories that brought a fresh approach to Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Mort Castle's story, "Teachers," was a moving tribute to the late Robert Bloch. "Her Misbeggon Son" by Alan Rodgers was the more interesting of the two sequels to Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch House" and an interesting take on Mythos fatalism. "The Smile of a Mime" was a horrific portrait of just what sort of students might want to attend Miskatonic. All in all, a well-above-average effort for people following in Lovecraft's footsteps

I think I was drawn to this book because I wish that such a place as Miskatonic University really existed. Think of it, a place where both conventional science and the occult could be seriously studied side-by-side. Now that's an interdisciplinary approach to education....

I ordinarily do not read "theme" collections of short stories, especially when I have never heard of most of the contributors. However, in this case it works. The theme seems to have inspired the writers to do some exceptional work. It may not be Lovecraft, but for the most part it is in the spirit of the master by people who understand and appreciate his work.

There are thirteen stories (how appropriate) to this collection, plus an introduction from the President of the university. This intro in briefly describing the mission, history, and facilities of Miskatonic really sets the tone and atmosphere for the rest.
Heck, I'm tempted to mail out a transcript to Miskantoic University, Arkham, Massachusetts- if I only had the zip code....

This collection is an original anthology, in which a bunch of authors write stories specifically for the collection with a central theme in common. As often happens in such collections, the writing quality is uneven, and the "common theme" elements often seem like they've just been thrown in. This one is actually better than what I've come to expect from original anthologies, though.

Writing stories based on H.P. Lovecraft's work is a perilous endeavor because HPL fans can be pretty demanding. If you go to www.dejanews.com and search for miskatonic anthology, you can find some discussion in the alt.horror.cthulhu newsgroup about why people did or didn't like the stories in this collection

Even though some of the stories in here aren't strictly Lovecraftian in that they don't include elements of the Mythos, almost all of them retain a great Lovecraftian atmosphere of ancient darkness, tainted ancestry and cosmic horror. A few are less than great, but I think the good ones make up for the ones I didn't like. Among my favorites-

The Sothis Radiant- This story starts out small and mundane and then builds up to a horrible revelation that affects not just our world but the gallaxy. It has a really chilling ending.

Ghoulmaster- A man dubbed "Ghoulmaster" because of the horror stories he writes runs into the real thing.

Her Misbegotten Son- This one stars Keziah Mason and the Dark Man from "Dreams in the Witch-House", by HPL. Here we get to see how different children can be from their parents.

For fans of Lovecraftian fiction this is an excellent collection. Alot of fun! 5 thumbs up *grin*.

Even though these stories were not written by H.P. Lovecraft. They are definitely worth reading. Pure fright and fun.