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alids's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a simple lady, I see that Silvia Moreno-Garcia contributes and I read it.
This was quite the addition to my Spooktober reading.
Like with any collection of short stories, you have some that make you sad it's not a full book, and others that you can't figure out why it's included.
I actually enjoyed most of the stories in here, it was mostly the western themed ones I didn't enjoy (that's out of personal preference than any other reason).
This was quite the addition to my Spooktober reading.
Like with any collection of short stories, you have some that make you sad it's not a full book, and others that you can't figure out why it's included.
I actually enjoyed most of the stories in here, it was mostly the western themed ones I didn't enjoy (that's out of personal preference than any other reason).
kamreadsandrecs's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
A grab bag, like a lot of short story anthologies tend to be. Some stories are great, specifically those by:
- Elizabeth Bear
- Charles R. Saunders
- Edward Morris
- Cherie Priest
- John Hornor Jacobs
- Ann K. Schwader
- Steve Duffy
- John Langan
Some, though, were not good. At all. Specifically the ones by:
- T.E.D. Klein
- Brian McNaughton
- Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
The rest are very YMMV. Still, since most are overall decent stories, I'm rating this pretty high.
stanwj's review against another edition
4.0
A surprisingly meaty (and slimy/bloody/gooey) collection of stories using Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Horror anthologies are notoriously uneven in my experience so I was pleasantly surprised at how solid this anthology is. While there is no singular standout story here there are also no outright clunkers that I was tempted to flip past. The weakest efforts are probably those that attempt to mimic Lovecraft's actual writing style, like Brian Lumley's "The Fairground Horror". People probably shouldn't do this.
The highlights include Laird Barron's "The Men from Porlock". While I found his style a bit ponderous at times in his own collection, his concluding story set post-World War I is wonderfully weird, gruesome and filled with men who curse like lumberjacks because they are, in fact, lumberjacks.
Charles Stross imagines weaponizing Cthulhu in "A Colder war" and the results are appropriately horrifying, while Elizabeth Bear's "Shoggoths in Bloom" takes a quieter, science-focused approach to Lovecraft's horrors that makes them almost cute. Almost.
Joe R. Lansdale's "The Crawling Sky" features a sharpshooting preacher out to battle evil Old Testament-style. The speech and manner of the preacher reminded me (favorably) of The Dark Tower's Roland.
The remaining stories cover time periods ranging from the early 20th century to the present day and shift in tone from not-quite-outright comedy to relentlessly grim, with a few detours into "What the hell is happening?" territory. There's really something for everyone here, especially if you like faces filled with writhing tentacles or hair that is actually wriggling sentient worms.
Highly recommended.
The highlights include Laird Barron's "The Men from Porlock". While I found his style a bit ponderous at times in his own collection, his concluding story set post-World War I is wonderfully weird, gruesome and filled with men who curse like lumberjacks because they are, in fact, lumberjacks.
Charles Stross imagines weaponizing Cthulhu in "A Colder war" and the results are appropriately horrifying, while Elizabeth Bear's "Shoggoths in Bloom" takes a quieter, science-focused approach to Lovecraft's horrors that makes them almost cute. Almost.
Joe R. Lansdale's "The Crawling Sky" features a sharpshooting preacher out to battle evil Old Testament-style. The speech and manner of the preacher reminded me (favorably) of The Dark Tower's Roland.
The remaining stories cover time periods ranging from the early 20th century to the present day and shift in tone from not-quite-outright comedy to relentlessly grim, with a few detours into "What the hell is happening?" territory. There's really something for everyone here, especially if you like faces filled with writhing tentacles or hair that is actually wriggling sentient worms.
Highly recommended.
kesnit's review
1.0
I really like the Cthulhu Mythos, so had high hopes for this book. Sadly, the stories are just boring. I kept flipping through, hoping to find one that caught my attention. After a while, I finally gave up.
rknitss's review against another edition
4.0
Expect canon typical violence/gore/sanity torture/sexism and racism.
This isn't for everyone, but I feel this is one of the more excellent Lovecraft Based story collections. I've both read and heard this collection now. The audio book is excellent, filled with great voice work and goes by quickly.
Reading it gives you time to set the book down and succumb to the terror of the unknown and unknowable.
This isn't for everyone, but I feel this is one of the more excellent Lovecraft Based story collections. I've both read and heard this collection now. The audio book is excellent, filled with great voice work and goes by quickly.
Reading it gives you time to set the book down and succumb to the terror of the unknown and unknowable.
arielkirst's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting reads set in the world of HP Lovecraft.
timrosolino's review against another edition
4.0
I kept waiting for this anthology to take a turn and for the quality of the stories to fall off. But I was pleasantly surprised when I reached the end and the turn never happened. I could hug the editor for the fact that all of the stories actually fit the theme of the anthology which in recent years seems to be an issue for editors to pull off. The one star off is really a bit nit-picky, a few of the stories didn't live up to the quality of the rest (still decent though) and there's no information about the authors included etc.
nigellicus's review
5.0
Surprised myself by diving head first into this anthology, since I don;t read as many short stories as I think I should. Lots of great, even classic takes on Lovecraft, whose own works I can take or leave, to be honest. Here we get gothic, noir, dark comedy, lyrical excess, violence, creepiness, creepy violence and oodles of nastiness. Not all the stories quite work out - The Doom That Came To Innsmouth goes south near the end after a promising start and I'm not a fan of John Langan's stuff, but a lot of the rest is spectacularly good, giving me new and old writers to check out. Happy New Year! Cthulu f'thagn!
skjam's review
4.0
Fantasy and horror author H.P. Lovecraft wasn’t a big seller during his lifetime, but the loose setting he created of the Cthulhu Mythos, where humans are only the most recent inhabitants of a cold and chaotic universe, and many of the previous inhabitants are effectively gods, has become one of the most popular sub-genres of horror literature. The twenty-seven stories in this volume are by second- and third-generation Lovecraftian writers.
There’s an encouraging variety of protagonists; professors and prostitutes, hitmen and clergymen. Some of them are from ethnic groups HPL would never have made the heroes of his stories. There’s a variety of tones as well. Of course there’s a number that are straight up creepy horror, but there’s also noir-ish crime fiction and deadpan penny dreadful humor.
The volume opens with “Andromeda Among the Stones” by Caitlín R. Kiernan. A family guards a gate off the Northern California coast; but only one of them was truly born for the job. I found the story rather slight, and one of the weaker ones in the collection.
The closing story is “The Men from Porlock” by Laird Barron. Seven lumberjacks go hunting in the Pacific Northwest. Not all of them are going to be returning. This one makes good use of escalating creepiness, culminating in a scene where a monster makes its menace particularly personal.
Oldest story honors go to Ramsey Campbell’s “The Tugging” from 1976. An art critic in a small British city is having disturbing dreams about Atlantis, which may tie into a comet with unusual gravitation behavior. I’ve read this one before, and it’s interesting as an unintentional period piece. I remember in my youth paging through great bound volumes of yellowing newsprint as the protagonist does here, instead of scrolling through microfilm, or today’s scanned files.
“Black Man with a Horn” by T.E.D. Klein is one of the editor’s favorites, according to the introduction (which is perhaps a little too generous to Lovecraft’s writing skills.) An elderly writer who was a friend of HPL in his youth meets a missionary returning from Malaysia. Over the course of time, the writer learns that at least one thing written by Lovecraft may be uncomfortably close to reality. It is a good story, told well.
I also particularly enjoyed “Lord of the Land” by Gene Wolfe. A Nebraskan teacher is collecting oral history in the Appalachian region. An old man tells him about seeing the “soul sucker”, which seems like a tall tale at first…but it’s actually a warning. This one held my attention fast.
Overall, this is a strong collection with many creepy stories and some marquee writers like Elizabeth Bear, Joe R. Lansdale and David Drake. I should mention that one story features incest and marital rape. Recommended to fans of the Lovecraftian type of horror.
There’s an encouraging variety of protagonists; professors and prostitutes, hitmen and clergymen. Some of them are from ethnic groups HPL would never have made the heroes of his stories. There’s a variety of tones as well. Of course there’s a number that are straight up creepy horror, but there’s also noir-ish crime fiction and deadpan penny dreadful humor.
The volume opens with “Andromeda Among the Stones” by Caitlín R. Kiernan. A family guards a gate off the Northern California coast; but only one of them was truly born for the job. I found the story rather slight, and one of the weaker ones in the collection.
The closing story is “The Men from Porlock” by Laird Barron. Seven lumberjacks go hunting in the Pacific Northwest. Not all of them are going to be returning. This one makes good use of escalating creepiness, culminating in a scene where a monster makes its menace particularly personal.
Oldest story honors go to Ramsey Campbell’s “The Tugging” from 1976. An art critic in a small British city is having disturbing dreams about Atlantis, which may tie into a comet with unusual gravitation behavior. I’ve read this one before, and it’s interesting as an unintentional period piece. I remember in my youth paging through great bound volumes of yellowing newsprint as the protagonist does here, instead of scrolling through microfilm, or today’s scanned files.
“Black Man with a Horn” by T.E.D. Klein is one of the editor’s favorites, according to the introduction (which is perhaps a little too generous to Lovecraft’s writing skills.) An elderly writer who was a friend of HPL in his youth meets a missionary returning from Malaysia. Over the course of time, the writer learns that at least one thing written by Lovecraft may be uncomfortably close to reality. It is a good story, told well.
I also particularly enjoyed “Lord of the Land” by Gene Wolfe. A Nebraskan teacher is collecting oral history in the Appalachian region. An old man tells him about seeing the “soul sucker”, which seems like a tall tale at first…but it’s actually a warning. This one held my attention fast.
Overall, this is a strong collection with many creepy stories and some marquee writers like Elizabeth Bear, Joe R. Lansdale and David Drake. I should mention that one story features incest and marital rape. Recommended to fans of the Lovecraftian type of horror.
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