Harried Philip Kenan is battling a series of bad jobs--and the monsters from H.P. Lovecraft's fiction. While aided in his fight by unorthodox therapist Dr. Lily Metcalf, there is still a problem--he is being drawn back to the dark time, to the Doom That Came to MicroMeg. Can Philip save his estranged lover this time, or will monsters triumph?.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
A dark-humored employee-angst novel, seasoned liberally with the Cthulhu Mythos. Spencer has a wonderful antic wit -- he reminds me of Thomas Disch, as in The Businessman. His hapless hero bounces from one dead-end job (Ralph's One-Day Resumes) to another (corporate giants with names like MicroMeg and Pelidyne), but he can't seem to get away from those monsters. Great scenes in which Xerox machines and fax machines and the industrial sprinklers they install overhead in offices interact with Lovecraft's Elder Gods. Lightweight, as horror novels go, but unusually good fun. Winner of the 1995 International Horror Critics Guild Award for Best Novel.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Word processor Philip Kenan is not just stuck in a series of dead-end jobs in this satirical novel, but trapped in delusional fantasies about undead co-workers and monsters from the horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft as well. An unsuccessful novelist himself, Philip possesses an imagination that creeps out of the shadows and sucks up quotidian reality like a B-movie alien, a quality appreciated by neither his ex-girlfriend nor his semiretired therapist, much less by conventional employers. As Philip struggles with temping, therapy and a new love affair, his sanity gradually crumbles to reveal a far more bizarre universe than that in his unpublishable manuscript. Spencer's goofy conceit of an office-life horror novel spoof is kept afloat by a cast of eccentric co-workers at Ralph's One-Day Resumes and the Pelidyne Corporation, easy cracks about data entry and some ingenious narrative tricks (a flashback related as an out-of-body experience, for example). Although this oddball work is often appealing, Spencer (The Return of Count Electric) ultimately fails to unite satisfactorily the workplace comedy and Philip's deranged imagination.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Adaptation of Lovecraft,
By
This review is from: Resume with Monsters (Paperback)
H.P. Lovecraft always intended his Cthulu mythos to live through other authors' pens. If Lovecraft were alive today he would certainly find William Spencer Browning's treatment most entertaining. In "Resume with Monsters," Browning artfully welds together the infinite horrors of Lovecraft's Old Ones with the modern banalities of life in the corporate world. The result is a book loaded with hilarious dialogue, humorous scenes, and a good deal of light horror.Philip has a big problem. He sees monsters at work, behind every filing cabinet, around every corner, in the eyes of his fellow co-workers, and in motivational pamphlets handed out in his paycheck envelope. In order to maintain his slipping sanity, Philip spends his free time constantly rewriting his sprawling 2000 page book called "The Despicable Quest," a Lovecraftian tome full of references to Azathoth, Yog-Sathoth, and other unpleasant beings from beyond space and time. Philip is aware that spouting off about monsters from dimensions beyond our own tends to alarm people, which brings in Lily, an aging psychologist who promises Philip she can help him through his troubles. Philip probably would not have many problems with his demons if he gave up trying to save his ex-girlfriend Amelia. Philip's relentless quest to expose the monsters coupled with the undying devotion to his book infuriated Amelia, spurring a rancorous split. When she moves to Texas Philip follows her, desperate to convince Amelia that he once saved her from eternal doom when the two worked at MicroMeg, a giant international corporation (the details of which can be found in the section of the book hilariously entitled, "The Doom that Came to MicroMeg). Philip drifts from one low paying job to another, always on the lookout for the reemergence of the evil ones. Not only does Philip see potential evil at his own jobs, there seems to be something seriously astray at Pelidyne, a big company where Amelia just started a new job. It looks like Philip will have to return once again into the belly of the beast. Spencer really has a grasp of Lovecraft's horrific intentions. His style does not reflect Lovecraft's ornate use of the English language, but many of the adventures Philip embarks on mirror a trip through a Lovecraft novel: the weird bending of time and space, the strange rituals of the Old Ones, and the feeling of helplessness one gets when confronting an evil beyond the comprehension of the human mind. I suspect there is a lot of the author in this story. My copy has a painting on the front cover of a man who looks suspiciously like the picture of Browning on the back cover. The detailed descriptions of corporate stupidity and the shrieking mindlessness of working a low paying job tell me that the author spent many years working in the same type of jobs as Philip does in the novel. Anyone who has ever worked in a boring job with high pressure jerks as bosses will recognize and sympathize with Philip's plight. Ultimately, that is the greatest horror in "Resume with Monsters": the pressures of a job in today's world are worse than seeing monsters with dripping scales falling out of a time rip in the ceiling. The comical aspects of the book abound throughout the story. Everything from Philip's confessions about the evil ones to the motivational pamphlets is gut bustingly funny. Be sure and pay attention to the group sessions during Philip's stay in the mental hospital. These scenes are some of the funniest in the book. "Resume with Monsters" is essential reading for Lovecraft fans. Those who are unfamiliar with Lovecraft may want to read at least one collection of his stories before settling into this book because the references to particular entities are meaningless unless you understand the mythos. I am placing Spencer's book in my top five list of books read this year, and I hope you will too.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Resume with Monsters (Paperback)
This wry satire is definately worth a read. Throughout the story you're strung along a surreal journey that has you wondering if the main character is insane or enlightened, and keeps you laughing all the delightful way to an astonishing and funny conclusion. If you haven't, reading Lovecraft and becoming familiar with the Cthulhu mythos will enhance this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Original use for familiar Lovecraftian concepts.,
By sethteroth@hotmail.com (Osan Air Base, South Korea) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Resume with Monsters (Paperback)
Anyone who has read much of Lovecraft and his "family" of writers (August Derleth, Lin CArter, Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch, etc.) is very familiar with the formulaic plot of "inherit/discover something, cross-reference with Abbie Hazred's 'Who's Who of Bad-Moods-With-Tentacles', and end by going mad and die gibbering in an asylum or becoming 'liquiescent horror,'" to the point that it becomes very difficult to surprise the reader any more with the denoument. Mr Spencer, though, has taken the familiar concepts and beasties of the vaunted Cthulhu mythos and woven them into an engaging, truly enjoyable tale. And he does an excellant job of utilizing the old mainstays, such as Yog-Sothoth and ghouls among others, in a way that re-introduces them, rather than re-hashes them. He also does quite well in showing interaction between society at large and one who has come to accept the "truth" of the Old Ones. And while the reading is light, even campy at times (especially the epilogue), it is one of the most intriguing mythos tales I have read. It is this type of writing that is going to keep the mythos fresh and alive.
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