A review by theesotericcamel
The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron by

4.0

The first thing I ever read by Laird Barron was his "Occultation" anthology. I liked almost all the stories within it, but I also found him to be rather mainstream and conventional. The stories and ideas seemed to be pretty straight forward and very easy to read at the time. I did enjoy the collection very much, but it seemed rather forgettable. That is why when I was given tribute anthology as a gift, I wasn't so eager to read it at first. But I am very glad that I did. A lot of interesting ideas and disturbing imagery, with a liberal dash of cosmic horror. Many voices that were apparently riffing off of Laird Barron's aesthetic. And many recurring themes, like the cult of broken circle and worm-like deities, along with the Black Book... I don't remember coming across these in "Occultation" but I was intrigued. Through this anthology, I was introduced to Barron's original mythos via other writers and their take on it. It was a mythos that I had failed to notice in my first readings, but am eager to go back and hunt for them now that I've been introduced to them. This tribute anthology is full of fantastic stories by many big names in the Weird Fiction circle. Contributors include Gemma Files, Michael Cisco, T.E. Grau, Richard Gavin, Joseph S. Pulver, among others. The stories, although inspired by Laird Barron, are also very much the product of the writer itself too. And all the stories within are solid. It was an enjoyable anthology, which reacquainted me Barron's work in such a way that I want to give him another shot.