New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

(This review contains spoilers -- caution is advised.)

"The final section of the transcript was considerably more interesting, however; it recorded a number of brief scenes that must never have appeared in the finished film. I quote one of them in its entirety:

PLAYROOM, CHURCH SCHOOL -- LATE AFTERNOON.

(DELETED)

INT: This Malay youth has sketched a picture of a demon he calls Shoo Goron.

(To boy) I wonder if you can tell me something about the instrument he's

blowing out of. It looks like the Jewish shofar, or ram's horn. (Again

to Boy) That's all right. No need to be frightened.

BOY: He no blow out. Blow in.

INT: I see -- he draws air in through the horn, is that right?

BOY: No horn. Is no horn. (Weeps) Is HIM,"

That is one of many fine moments in one of the greatest Lovecraftian tales ever penned, "Black Man With A Horn," by T. E. D. Klein. The story had its first publication in this excellent anthology of Mythos fiction edited by Ramsey Campbell for Arkham House. Every time I return to "Black Man With a Horn" it stuns me with its brilliance, similar to the effect of rereading Karl Edward Wagner's classic "Sticks." The tale is told in first person, and it is structured in similar fashion to the way H. P. Lovecraft himself structured tales such as "The Call of Cthulhu," with bits of quotations and news articles and revelations that, piled up, paint a terrifying portrait of supernatural horror. There are many wonderful references to Lovecraft, and here and there we are delighted with a wee quotation from one of HPL's letters (the story begins with the epigraph,

"The Black (words obscured by postmark) was fascinating--I must get a snap shot of him."

--H. P. Lovecraft, postcard to E. Hoffmann Price, 7/23/1934;

and this combination of fanciful play, a wink of the Lovecraftian eye, with a tale that grows more and more terrifying, is delicious. Every time I return to this tale I am tempted to call it my all-time favourite Mythos tale written by someone other than H. P. Lovecraft (a position held by Robert Bloch's magnificent "The Shadow from the Steeple").

Ramsey Campbell's first book was an Arkham House hardcover that was published when he was 19 years old, and it was a collection of Cthulhu Mythos stories. He has now become one of the genre's masters, hailed by some as the most important weird fiction writer since Lovecraft. Although he went through a phase where he tried to write tales that shewed absolutely no Lovecraftian influence, he has, now and again, returned to the Mythos mode. For this book he penned a great wee tale, "The Faces at Pine Dunes." Unlike some modern writers, who feel that the only way to approach the Lovecraftian tale is to treat it with humor, Ramsey's approach is almost always dead serious, and thus chilling. Ramsey has a wonderful talent for evoking a dark and haunting sense of place, and he does so with brilliance in this fine tale.

One curious fragment in the oeuvre of H. P. Lovecraft is "The Book," a thwarted attempt by HPL to write a weird tale based on the opening three poems in his "Fungi from Yuggoth" sonnet sequence. With "The Black Tome of Alsophocus," Martin S. Warnes has completed HPL's fragment, and the tale is published under a dual bi-line with Lovecraft's name first. Such a practice cannot be considered a success unless the living author captures the essence of Lovecraft's singular style. This is something that Derleth tried to do, but could not accomplish, in his less-than-inspired (with some few exceptions) "posthumous collaborations" that are collected in THE WATCHERS OUT OF TIME. Happily, Mr. Warnes succeeds where Derleth did not, and he gives us a tale that is purely Lovecraftian. One wishes that Robert M. Price had included this tale of the Crawling Chaos in his Chaosium Cycle anthology, THE NYARLATHOTEP CYCLE.

I have not yet read any of the many fantasy novels penned by A. A. Attanasio, but I quite enjoy his magnificent tales of the Cthulhu Mythos and have long wished to see an entire book under his bi-line of such tales. (The only other tale of his that I remember reading was "Glimpses," which Gerald W. Page included in his fine Arkham House anthology, DARK THINGS, 1975.) His tale in this book, "The Star Pools," is a rousing adventure story with a subtle Mythos subtext, and it is enormously effective. He has a wonderful talent for characterization and dialogue that one does not always find in Mythos tales.

Other tales include: "Crouch End," a rather silly yet entertaining tale by Stephen King; "The Second Wish," by Brian Lumley; "Dark Awakening," by Frank Belknap Long; "Shaft Number 247," by Basil Copper, and one of the scariest Lovecraftian tales that I have ever read, brilliant; and "Than Curse the Darkness," by David Drake. The cover illustration of the Arkham House hardcover is a delightful work by Jason Van Hollander -- I especially love the landscape of Kingsport as portray'd on ye back cover. Editor Campbell has also supplied an interesting introduction in which he pens a wee history of the Mythos. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in seeing what modern authors have done with this imaginary landscape spill'd from ye mind of our finest dreamer, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Esq.

I was terrified of just about everything after reading this book. Even the great Stephen King writes similarly to Lovecraft! Oh, and speaking of King, with that story "Crouch End"... YIKES! If you want to read this Stephen King story, it is now in Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Sweet dreams...