Reviews

New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird by Paula Guran

Only show reviews with written explanations

benlundns's review against another edition

3.0

Reading an anthology is always a risk. There will probably be some stories that you really like, but what will you have to slog through to get to them? I know about Lovecraft and how his writings has spawned a whole genre. A close cousin to horror, but with more mythical elements and a strong otherworldy feel to them. Like the world just beneath the one we live in, that is always there, but we don't notice unless we walk home on a different route then usual, or go through the wrong doorway in a place we don't recognize. In that respect this book did a good job of giving me that feeling. There were still some stories that were not great but overall the little peeks behind that curtain were overall satisfying.

batbones's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

A fantastic collection, immensely varied and full of surprises. There were so many stories that I refrained from reading it all at once, preferring to experience no more than a couple at a time in order to devote more emotions to each one. This collection was impressively inventive: age-old Lovecraftian tropes and themes lifted and dropped in new worlds, reworked seamlessly into hitherto unexpected situations. Proving once again the irresistible pull of the unfathomable, the power of the mind-altering horror-epiphany of that which stretches and snaps the elastic human imagination. My favourite writers did not fail to justify anticipation (Caitlin R. Kiernan, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman) and I discovered new ones. The dark horses were the best, names you had never known and might never notice again had you never set one bare foot to dip into their world. The second last story ("Mongoose" by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette) was so fascinating that it is with some shame I admit I ignored the final one, intent on letting those feelings of awe conveyed in shivers assist this reader's resurfacing to a duller world.

Favourites: Pickman's Other Model (Caitlin R. Kiernan), Bad Sushi (Cherie Priest), A Study in Emerald (Neil Gaiman), Lesser Demons (Norman Patridge; I really loved the use of distinctive character voice in this one), Details (China Mieville), Mongoose (Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette)

pamwinkler's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

"A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman is fantastic, but I've read it a couple of times already.
"Bring Helena Back" by Sarah Monette was very good.
I liked "Take Me to the River" by Paul McAuley
"The Essayist in the Wilderness" by William Browning Spencer was fantastic.
I've read "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear before, it remains very good.
"Details" by China Mieville I've read before. It's a nice and solid good story.
"Mongoose" by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette is fantastic. I've read it before and I really love it.

carlaabra's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

david_agranoff's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Read many of the stories before. One of my favorite Lovcraftian Novellas is re-printed here. John Shirley's Buried in the Sky. All kinds of good stuff including highlights from Norman Partridge and Cody Goodfellow. The China Mieville of ... Full review coming.

arthurbdd's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Overly reliant on the same limited stable of authors that too many modern Mythos anthologies rely on, and fairly cheaply presented at that. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/cthulhu-mythos-anthologies-are-trash-and-i-hate-them/