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chmccann's review
3.0
A true mixed bag, but well worth it for the high points.
The Barrens - 5/5 - nice evocation of the Lovecraft feel
Pickman's Modem - 2/5 - silly
Shaft Number 247 - 3/5 - intriguing and disturbing, but ultimately a bit too open-ended for me
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - 3/5 - well, now we know some specifics of what one gets up to when Baudelaire is passe and ennui is leading down the path to grave-robbing. And we probably prefer Howard's elided version. Yikes!
The Adder - 3/5 - promising premise, ridiculous wrap-up
Fat Face - 4/5 - a classic Shea tale, but not as good as "Copping Squid"
The Big Fish - 2/5 - private eye stories aren't my thing
I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket ... But By God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life! - 3/5 - dreamy and compelling, but I don't fully get the connection to Pickman
H.P.L. - 1/5 - Ugh. I hate it when HPL shows up as a character in weird stories, and this is the worst example I've encountered.
The Unthinkable - 2/5 - I'll give the story this -it's unapologetically Out There.
Black Man with a Horn - 5/5 - a must-read for any Lovecraft fan
Love's Eldritch Ichor - 3/5 - self-consciously silly, but fun and has many great turns of phrase
The Last Feast of Harlequin - 4/5 - wasn't confident about the "I study clowns" intro, but it really delves into the folklore research aspect and sticks with you in a nasty (i.e., successful) way
The Shadow on the Doorstep - 1/5 - what even is this? Didn't care, had to plow through it
Lord of the Land - 3/5 - pretty creepy
The Faces at Pine Dunes - 4/5 - very effective first-person account that pulls you in for the ride
On the Slab - 2/5 - I found this to be meh with delusions of profundity
24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai - 4/5 - not sure it's strictly speaking Lovecraftian, despite name-dropping R'lyeh, but it's extremely effective (and affecting) weird fiction
The Barrens - 5/5 - nice evocation of the Lovecraft feel
Pickman's Modem - 2/5 - silly
Shaft Number 247 - 3/5 - intriguing and disturbing, but ultimately a bit too open-ended for me
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - 3/5 - well, now we know some specifics of what one gets up to when Baudelaire is passe and ennui is leading down the path to grave-robbing. And we probably prefer Howard's elided version. Yikes!
The Adder - 3/5 - promising premise, ridiculous wrap-up
Fat Face - 4/5 - a classic Shea tale, but not as good as "Copping Squid"
The Big Fish - 2/5 - private eye stories aren't my thing
I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket ... But By God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life! - 3/5 - dreamy and compelling, but I don't fully get the connection to Pickman
H.P.L. - 1/5 - Ugh. I hate it when HPL shows up as a character in weird stories, and this is the worst example I've encountered.
The Unthinkable - 2/5 - I'll give the story this -it's unapologetically Out There.
Black Man with a Horn - 5/5 - a must-read for any Lovecraft fan
Love's Eldritch Ichor - 3/5 - self-consciously silly, but fun and has many great turns of phrase
The Last Feast of Harlequin - 4/5 - wasn't confident about the "I study clowns" intro, but it really delves into the folklore research aspect and sticks with you in a nasty (i.e., successful) way
The Shadow on the Doorstep - 1/5 - what even is this? Didn't care, had to plow through it
Lord of the Land - 3/5 - pretty creepy
The Faces at Pine Dunes - 4/5 - very effective first-person account that pulls you in for the ride
On the Slab - 2/5 - I found this to be meh with delusions of profundity
24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai - 4/5 - not sure it's strictly speaking Lovecraftian, despite name-dropping R'lyeh, but it's extremely effective (and affecting) weird fiction
ederwin's review
5.0
I don't like the works written by HPL. As editor of this book Jim Turner, an expert on and admirer of his work, says: "To reiterate Lovecraft's weaknesses at this point would be gratuitous, for his technical shortcomings are apparent to even the most insensitive reader; one may as well complain that the Venus de Milo has no arms." To that I reply, VdM once did have arms, but HPL was never without his shortcomings.
That aside, I enjoyed every story in this collection. There aren't many short-story collections I can say that about. And they are very varied. I picked it up simply to read [b:24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai|20839082|24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai|Roger Zelazny|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393788285l/20839082._SX50_.jpg|40191101], which is quite good, and to re-read [b:The Last Feast of Harlequin|25538803|The Last Feast of Harlequin|Thomas Ligotti|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431631691l/25538803._SY75_.jpg|45329476], and then I just kept going. Probably my favorite was "Love's Eldritch Ichor" by [a:Esther M. Friesner|33502|Esther M. Friesner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1309628445p2/33502.jpg], which is a very funny story about a Devil-wears-Prada type editor preparing a story by H.P. Lovecraft for sale in the romance genre. There is one other explicitly comedic story in here. The others are all various forms of horror or weird, not one is less than good.
That aside, I enjoyed every story in this collection. There aren't many short-story collections I can say that about. And they are very varied. I picked it up simply to read [b:24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai|20839082|24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai|Roger Zelazny|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393788285l/20839082._SX50_.jpg|40191101], which is quite good, and to re-read [b:The Last Feast of Harlequin|25538803|The Last Feast of Harlequin|Thomas Ligotti|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431631691l/25538803._SY75_.jpg|45329476], and then I just kept going. Probably my favorite was "Love's Eldritch Ichor" by [a:Esther M. Friesner|33502|Esther M. Friesner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1309628445p2/33502.jpg], which is a very funny story about a Devil-wears-Prada type editor preparing a story by H.P. Lovecraft for sale in the romance genre. There is one other explicitly comedic story in here. The others are all various forms of horror or weird, not one is less than good.
sdiaz's review
3.0
A mixed bag of Lovecraft inspired tales. Some are straight forward imitations (The Barrens, which I really enjoyed), some are slightly tongue-in-cheek (Pickman's Modem, my favorite tale in the collection though it is extremely dated), some only tangentially touch on the mythos as easter eggs (24 Views of Mt. Fuji, which was not bad), and some use either the author or the mythos as primary characters (Fat Face, was probably the creepiest of the tales).
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