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A review by dark_reader
Return of the Deep Ones and Other Mythos Tales by Brian Lumley
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
<blockquote>"Oh?" He peered up at the grille. "It's not so very long ago that they used to test a woman for pregnancy by injecting a female frog with her urine. If the frog spawned, the woman was pregnant. It actually works."</blockquote> IT'S FUCKING TRUE!!! I was like, what the hell, is this for real? It is! WTF science?
This is one of many collections of Brian Lumley's various shorter works, usually Cthulhu Mythos-related or at least arguably so. As I'm reading through the books I've collected of his I've been encountering repetition. This has become mildly irritating, but not all that long ago it was much more difficult than now to dig up his stories, often published in small quantities and relatively obscure periodicals. Fortunately, even his rarest stories are likely available in e-book format now, so anyone can become a Lumley completionist if they are so inclined.
My rating for this book is solely for the titular <i>Return of the Deep Ones</i>, which before this 1994 collection from Roc was only printed as a three-part serial in 1984. The other gem of this collection is the novella [b:Beneath the Moors|1862250|Beneath the Moors|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1246503089l/1862250._SX50_.jpg|51961098], published on its own in 1974 with only 4000 copies. <i>Inception</i> and <i>Lord of the Worms</i> are more recent and were published in [b:The Compleat Crow|1862256|The Compleat Crow|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329521623l/1862256._SY75_.jpg|1862961], the latter also in [b:The Taint and Other Novellas|757068|The Taint and Other Novellas (Best Mythos Tales)|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387748179l/757068._SY75_.jpg|743181]. I'm going to have to buy that one at some point, along with [b:Haggopian and Other Stories|2248359|Haggopian and Other Stories|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266669735l/2248359._SX50_.jpg|2254235], to further complete my own Lumley experience since there are some stories in each of those I don't yet own in another format, most notably <i>The Sister City</i>, one of his very earliest stories which was later expanded to become Beneath the Moors and previously only seen in an obscure 1969 Arkham House publication.
As for that Deep Ones novella: good stuff! It's a worthy British sequel to Lovecraft's <i>Shadows over Innsmouth</i>, drawing on [b:The Call of Cthulhu|15730101|The Call of Cthulhu|H.P. Lovecraft|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567470807l/15730101._SX50_.jpg|6750943] and [b:At the Mountains of Madness|32767|At the Mountains of Madness|H.P. Lovecraft|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388341769l/32767._SY75_.jpg|17342821] as well, and an engaging horror story even if you haven't read the source material. It is marred only by the insertion of another short story of Lumley's as a chapter, <i>Haggopian</i> (which first appeared in 1973 in <i>Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction</i>). I've already seen Lumley slot an existing short story into a longer work with [b:The Burrowers Beneath|1862255|The Burrowers Beneath (Titus Crow #1)|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1426195388l/1862255._SY75_.jpg|864965], and here at least it seems self-indulgent since it doesn't notably contribute to this story. Rather, it takes something away because the topic of its horror is barely tangentially related. I would have been more impressed if he had simply used the same journalist character as an easter egg (a term that antedates this book, certainly) for die-hard fans to discover. But, Lumley has called Haggopian "one of my personal favourites," so I'll let this go.
This is one of many collections of Brian Lumley's various shorter works, usually Cthulhu Mythos-related or at least arguably so. As I'm reading through the books I've collected of his I've been encountering repetition. This has become mildly irritating, but not all that long ago it was much more difficult than now to dig up his stories, often published in small quantities and relatively obscure periodicals. Fortunately, even his rarest stories are likely available in e-book format now, so anyone can become a Lumley completionist if they are so inclined.
My rating for this book is solely for the titular <i>Return of the Deep Ones</i>, which before this 1994 collection from Roc was only printed as a three-part serial in 1984. The other gem of this collection is the novella [b:Beneath the Moors|1862250|Beneath the Moors|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1246503089l/1862250._SX50_.jpg|51961098], published on its own in 1974 with only 4000 copies. <i>Inception</i> and <i>Lord of the Worms</i> are more recent and were published in [b:The Compleat Crow|1862256|The Compleat Crow|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329521623l/1862256._SY75_.jpg|1862961], the latter also in [b:The Taint and Other Novellas|757068|The Taint and Other Novellas (Best Mythos Tales)|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387748179l/757068._SY75_.jpg|743181]. I'm going to have to buy that one at some point, along with [b:Haggopian and Other Stories|2248359|Haggopian and Other Stories|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266669735l/2248359._SX50_.jpg|2254235], to further complete my own Lumley experience since there are some stories in each of those I don't yet own in another format, most notably <i>The Sister City</i>, one of his very earliest stories which was later expanded to become Beneath the Moors and previously only seen in an obscure 1969 Arkham House publication.
As for that Deep Ones novella: good stuff! It's a worthy British sequel to Lovecraft's <i>Shadows over Innsmouth</i>, drawing on [b:The Call of Cthulhu|15730101|The Call of Cthulhu|H.P. Lovecraft|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567470807l/15730101._SX50_.jpg|6750943] and [b:At the Mountains of Madness|32767|At the Mountains of Madness|H.P. Lovecraft|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388341769l/32767._SY75_.jpg|17342821] as well, and an engaging horror story even if you haven't read the source material. It is marred only by the insertion of another short story of Lumley's as a chapter, <i>Haggopian</i> (which first appeared in 1973 in <i>Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction</i>). I've already seen Lumley slot an existing short story into a longer work with [b:The Burrowers Beneath|1862255|The Burrowers Beneath (Titus Crow #1)|Brian Lumley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1426195388l/1862255._SY75_.jpg|864965], and here at least it seems self-indulgent since it doesn't notably contribute to this story. Rather, it takes something away because the topic of its horror is barely tangentially related. I would have been more impressed if he had simply used the same journalist character as an easter egg (a term that antedates this book, certainly) for die-hard fans to discover. But, Lumley has called Haggopian "one of my personal favourites," so I'll let this go.