The Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft (Hardcover)

by John Pelan (Author) "When the boy upstairs got hold of a pellet gun and fired snips of potato at passing cars, I took a turn..." (more)
Key Phrases: charge box, warrant card, Lady Langdon, Long Meg, The Golden Gallimaufry (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
While H.P. Lovecraft himself encouraged other authors to expand his horrific universe with stories of their own, the Cthulhu mythos has spawned so many slavish imitators that it tends not to seem so scary these days. Editors John Pelan and Benjamin Adams seek to remedy that with The Children of Cthulhu, an anthology of 21 stories by modern macabre masters. Contributors were asked to avoid trotting out old Lovecraftian clichés and instead to write stories that bring the true horror of Cthulhu right into the modern world. The results are mostly terrific. Offerings from Poppy Z. Brite ("Are You Loathsome Tonight?"), Caitlín R. Kiernan ("Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea"), China Miéville ("Details"), and L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims ("A Victorian Pot Dresser") are the best of the bunch. Many of the stories are reminiscent of the Vertigo line of DC Comics, with dark, urban settings and gross-out violence, so the book is more likely to appeal to readers of contemporary horror than to fans of classic Lovecraft. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly
If the 23 contributors to this uneven anthology avoid the obvious Cthulhu Mythos clich‚s, none comes close to emulating Lovecraft's trademark cosmic horror. Typical is the two editors' collaborative "That's the Story of My Life." Set in Arkham with "its aged, gambrel-roofed neighborhoods," this brisk tale relies for its effect on a twist out of Damon Knight, not on any Lovecraftian atmosphere. Richard Laymon's "The Cabin in the Woods," a tribute to H.P.L.'s "The Whisperer in Darkness," shares a rural Vermont setting, but its action-oriented, dialogue-laden plot is the antithesis of the master's. "A Victorian Pot Dresser," by L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims, in which an old piece of furniture hungers for sacrificial virgins, seems to be inspired by Lovecraft at his more ludicrous. The better stories deal with the Lovecraftian theme of outsideness, in particular Poppy Z. Brite's grotesque portrait of Elvis Presley's last days, "Are You Loathsome Tonight?" (the book's one reprint). Steve Rasnic Tem's homage to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "Outside," with its aquatic horror and decayed seaport, nicely evokes some of the brooding menace of Lovecraft's classic tale. And Caitl¡n R. Kiernan, in her stylish "Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea," does a turn on the lure of oceanic terrors with a bow to Lewis Carroll. To be preferred to most Lovecraft imitations, these 21 tales will likely please mainstream horror fans more than H.P.L. purists. Agent, Jennifer Jackson at Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Jan. 2)Forecast: Like the amphibious Deep Ones who threaten to expand beyond Innsmouth, Lovecraft-inspired fiction is starting to invade the genre mainstream. If this and similar anthologies take a beating in the larger marketplace, expect a hasty retreat into the shadowy recesses of the small press realm.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (January 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345449266
• ISBN-13: 978-0345449269
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,055,856 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly not really Lovecraftian, but decent enough., March 18, 2004

By	Michael C. Kessler (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Children of Cthulhu (Paperback)

Most of the stories in this anthology adopt the trappings of Lovecraft's tales, but none of the style. The most loyal of the bunch is China Mieville's entry. The remainder of the tales drop names or refer to classic tales to remind the reader of the nature of the anthology. A few of the tales, such as "A Victorian Pot Dresser," begin well, but soon decend into stadard horror cliches, with tight little endings that follow standard movie logic. What's missing, what's forgotten, is that most of the dread that Lovecraft evoked in his stories came not from the events in themselves, but from the greater implications of those events -- the knowledge that humanity is supremely insignificant is the wider world and, despite the realization of this horror, we can never understand why, the very nature of reality being invisible to our inferior biology and intellect. Most of these stories skip such implications and head straight for the gruesome monsters and the spattering blood with a near-complete lack of subtlety.

Best to skip this one and stick with older material, if not Lovecraft himself. Most of the anthologies published by Chaosium are far superior.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovecraft's themes, not his prose style, February 17, 2002

By	Steven Kaye "Librarian-for-hire" (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The authors of this collection do an excellent job of using Lovecraft's themes (alienation, atavism, family secrets, the true horrific nature of the cosmos) and his influences (Dunsany, Machen, Poe) while for the most part avoiding cliched devices and plots.

While there are stories set in Arkham or involving Shub-Niggurath (to cite two examples), the stories are interesting in their own right, rather than being excuses to add new lore. Horror is a constant element, with some stories sliding over into science-fiction or fantasy, and there's variation in how the narrative is structured, in the voice of the narrator and the prose styling.

This is going to be the anthology to beat in the field of Mythos fiction.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superior Mythos Anthology, March 2, 2002

By	"chazdexward" (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews

This new anthology is one of the best of recent Cthulhu Mythos literature, 21 exceptional stories that are fresh, imaginative and most of them quite witty. These are not run of the mill pastiches. The writers attempt to provide a different approach to the material, and for the most part are quite successful. Among the best ones are: "The Cabin in the Woods" by Richard Laymon, "Sour Places" by Mark Chadbourn, "The Firebrand Symphony" by Brian Hodge, "Princpals and Parameters" by Meredith L. Patterson and (if you like a good "joke" story) "Are you Loathsome Tonight?" by Poppy Z. Brite. The last one is an Elvis Presley Mythos tale. The recent, exceptionasl new book "The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography" has a chapter on mythos tales that could be successfully adapted to the screen. Well some of the tales in this new anthology could also apply to this category as well. "Children of Cthulhu" clearly shows that the Cthulhu Mythos is not moribund, but is continuing to grow in new directions. Recommended!