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mad_about_books's review
5.0
Do the words Cthulhu, shoggoth, or R'lyeh mean anything to you? Have you read the works of August Derleth or Brian Lumley? When you hear Lovecraft, do you shudder inwardly, or think it's something out of a romantic spy novel?
Are you familiar with the Brothers Grimm? Do the names "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Cinderella" remind you of your childhood? After growing up, did you come to realize that these bedtime stories were all pretty scary and could induce nightmares in innocent children?
It has been quite some time since I dipped my toes into Lovecraft's mythos. However, once you have read the original tales, it doesn't take much to bring back the horrors captured therein. On the other hand, fairy tales have become the fodder of several TV shows, so they are pretty much front and center for all of us.
TWICE UPON AN APOCALYPSE is a creative mashup of fairy tales and mythos. In it you will find 23 stories, by a variety of authors, that are both familiar and strange (the stories and/or the writers). With titles like "The Pied Piper of Providence," "Beanstalk," and "Follow the Yellow Glyph Road," it doesn't take much imagination to see the inspiration for these particular stories.
The editors, Scott T. Goudsward and Rachel Kenley, have assembled a smorgasbord of fantasy and horror to keep you up late for several nights. This is not an anthology you will buzz through in one fast reading. There is just too much meat on the bone for that. The serious student of H. P. Lovecraft will feel right at home and will dissect each tale for its faithfulness to the mythos. The reader of fantasy and horror that hasn't read Lovecraft might just be tempted to see what the mythos fuss is all about. In either case, add this to your library and ponder the truth of Elder Gods, Great Ones and Great Old Ones.
I take my reading very seriously, so I read everything to the very end. I would recommend that you more than glance at the biographies of the authors at the end of the book. Many of them have websites where you will find links to more works that will make your skin crawl.
Are you familiar with the Brothers Grimm? Do the names "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Cinderella" remind you of your childhood? After growing up, did you come to realize that these bedtime stories were all pretty scary and could induce nightmares in innocent children?
It has been quite some time since I dipped my toes into Lovecraft's mythos. However, once you have read the original tales, it doesn't take much to bring back the horrors captured therein. On the other hand, fairy tales have become the fodder of several TV shows, so they are pretty much front and center for all of us.
TWICE UPON AN APOCALYPSE is a creative mashup of fairy tales and mythos. In it you will find 23 stories, by a variety of authors, that are both familiar and strange (the stories and/or the writers). With titles like "The Pied Piper of Providence," "Beanstalk," and "Follow the Yellow Glyph Road," it doesn't take much imagination to see the inspiration for these particular stories.
The editors, Scott T. Goudsward and Rachel Kenley, have assembled a smorgasbord of fantasy and horror to keep you up late for several nights. This is not an anthology you will buzz through in one fast reading. There is just too much meat on the bone for that. The serious student of H. P. Lovecraft will feel right at home and will dissect each tale for its faithfulness to the mythos. The reader of fantasy and horror that hasn't read Lovecraft might just be tempted to see what the mythos fuss is all about. In either case, add this to your library and ponder the truth of Elder Gods, Great Ones and Great Old Ones.
I take my reading very seriously, so I read everything to the very end. I would recommend that you more than glance at the biographies of the authors at the end of the book. Many of them have websites where you will find links to more works that will make your skin crawl.
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