It took me quite a while to finally make it through this hefty number, but I'm sure glad that I did. Any fan of horror in any sense of the word has a love or at the very least, a great deal of respect for a man by the name of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. H.P. Lovecraft is the man who gave us nightmares long before Stephen King ever sat in front of a typewriter. The father of
Re-Animator and the king of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft is truly the premiere name when it comes to composers of literary horror. The wonderful people at
Titan Books have recently released their first volume of stories inspired by H.P. Lovecraft with
Black Wings of Cthulhu: Twenty-One Tales Of Lovecraftian Horror. Titan Books goes to say "
The modern masters of Lovecraftian fiction offer up 21 brand-new, utterly terrifying, and thoroughly entertaining short stories of horror and the macabre. Taking their inspiration from works by Lovecraft himself, prominent writers such as Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brian Stableford, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Shea, Darrell Schweitzer, Donald R. Burleson, and David J. Schow delve deep into the psyche, expanding on concepts HPL created and taking them in new directions. The result is stories that are wholly original, some even featuring Lovecraft himself as a character. Black Wings editor S.T. Joshi is the recognized authority on all things Lovecraftian, and is famous for his restorations of the Lovecraft's original works. He has assembled a star-studded international line-up in a book that is essential for every horror library." This compilation has a great deal of variety in that some tales are better than others and each story feels dramatically different from another. Some of the stories will quite honestly, ruin your entire day and others will make your skin crawl. It's not exactly the sort of book to read to the kids and it's definitely not a pick-me-up. However, there really isn't a bad story in the bunch. It's just that some were so dramatically compelling, they out shined the tamer of the tales. At around 500 or so pages, it's not a quick read and to be completely honest, I think that's how it should be. Terror isn't meant to be rushed through, it's meant to creep through every single hair folicle and fester in every crevice of our brains. Any fan of Lovecraft will find this to be a perfect addition to their collection and horror fans in general will find themselves stricken with a great deal of entertainment.
THE STORIES INCLUDED ARE AS FOLLOWS:“Pickman’s Other Model (1929)” by Caitlin R. Kiernan
“Desert Dreams” by Donald R. Burleson
“Engravings” by Joseph S. Pulver, Jr.
“Copping Squid” by Michael Shea
“Passing Spirits” by Sam Gafford
“The Broadsword” by Laird Barron
“Usurped” by William Browning Spencer
“Denker’s Book” by David J. Schow
“Inhabitants of Wraithwood” W.H. Pugmire
“The Dome” by Millie L. Burleson
“Rotterdam” by Nicholas Royle
“Tempting Providence” by Jonathan Thomas
“Howling in the Dark” by Darrell Schweitzer
“The Truth about Pickman” by Brian Stableford
“Tunnels” by Philip Haldeman
“The Correspondence of Cameron Thaddeus Nash” annotated by Ramsey Campbell
“Violence, Child of Trust” by Michael Cisco
“Lesser Demons” by Norman Partridge
“An Eldritch Matter” by Adam Niswander
“Substitution” by Michael Marshall Smith
“Susie” by Jason Van Hollander
You can purchase
Black Wings of Cthulhu: Twenty-One Tales Of Lovecraftian Horror
0 comments:
Post a Comment