Ross E. LockhartReviews

Mostly good and disturbing horror stories. I could only read a few at a time. It took several years to work through the collection.

Fun collection of short stories. The stories, like most horror collections, are uneven in tone and impact.

It's still a great book for October spookiness and the cosmic horrors of Lovecraft's world. It's enjoyable!

Pretty underwhelming. I'm not a big fan of open endings, which most stories had. However! I loved 'Questions and Answers', in my opinion the saving grace of this book.

Great collection of stories set in the mythos of Laird Barron, by some of the best in cosmic horror and weird fiction today.

Usually anthologies have one or two good offerings and the rest are poor. This was just the opposite with a lot of quality work. I particularly liked the work by Jonathan Wood and I'm definitely reading more of him.

A collection of Frankenstein themed stories. My favorites were:
"Thermidor" by Siobhan Carroll
"Sewn into Her Fingers" by Autumn Christian
"The Human Alchemy" by Michael Griffin
"The New Soviet Man" by G. D. Falksen
These four were well written, and made me think about existence and our sense of self.

My least favorite was "Mary Shelley’s Body" by David Templeton. I ended up only reading half the story because I was so bored and just wanted it to be over.

The rest of the stories were good. This is a good anthology for fans of Frankenstein. I enjoyed reading it.

I bought this on a whim, as the ebook was on sale and I was interested in reading the story by Neil Gaiman. To my surprise, it ended up being an enthralling series of stories that I could not put down. They were all well-written, with lots of suspense, plot twists, and spooky vibes. Some of the stories have really stuck with me. I'll consider myself lucky if I find another collection this good.

Tales from a Talking Board compiles stories about various methods of divination and the occult. The introduction details the spiritualism movement, remarkable in both its popularity and lack of unifying text, belief, or rules. The talking board was used as a spiritualist tooll until it became a parlor game. It became creepy when The Exorcist used it as a vehicle for demonic possession. Lockhart also adds a personal touch with a hilarious story of a lying parochial school teacher trying to scare their class with the oujia board.

* Yesnogoodbye by Krist Demeester

Cassandra lives with her abusive father and her best friend is in love with her, but afraid to say anything. Together, the girls call something from the Ouija board with surprising results. This one dealt with everyday troubles like coming to terms with oneself, abuse, and the will to escape your situation as a helpless teen. The supernatural elements brought in power than teens wouldn't usually have. This story had disturbing elements, but had a bittersweet ending. I would love to read Demeester's full length books.

* Weegee, Weegee, Tell Me Do by Anya Martin

An abused wife named Orlaugh goes to vaudeville shows as a release and meets her idol Great Marie Cahill. Marie insists Orlaugh has talent to become a performer and offers her lessons. This story had the most realistic characters. Orlaugh wanted so much more than serving an abusive husband. Marie is aging and sees the end of her career, but she's riding it out as much as she can. Daisy, Orlaugh's best friend, can talk her way out of or into anything and wants the best for her friend. All of them felt like people I knew without being too detailed or wordy. The story is also surprisingly sweet despite the dark subject matter.

* Grief by Tiffany Scandal

A man and woman lose their son and seek out a way to speak to him again. This story was one of the most heartbreaking. Their son unexpectedly lost his battle with cancer. The events leading up to it are so sad. The mother knew something was wrong and kept checking in on him, but when she left for a short time, he died. The parents blamed each other and themselves, isolating each from the other. The depiction of grief feels real and they just want to see their son even one more time. This is a be careful what you wish for plot and the real emotion balanced with the dark supernatural element makes a satisfying short story.

* Deep Into the Skin by Matthew M. Bartlett

A tattoo artist is forced to tattoo a Oujia board on a young girl who was brought by clearly dangerous members of a cult. It's his best work, despite the coerced nature, and he figures the whole thing is over until he receives an invitation to the ritual to follow. This was my favorite story of the bunch. The main character uses his beard, tattoos, and scars as armor against a world that hurt him when he was a nerdy kid. He lives in a seedy town with corruption, black magic, and cults but always held himself apart from all that even though he isn't the most moral person. This event shatters that illusion and plunges him headfirst into that world. The ritual leads to a horrific scene of body horror and unexpected revenge. This story balanced horror and character development the best.

* Haruspicate or Scry by Orrin Gray

A woman has a professor that she forms a bond with and he becomes her father figure. She gets married where the professor gives her away. About the same time she gets pregnant, the professor dies. To honor his last wishes, she does some sort of seance or divination every week to see if he can communicate a line of text previously chosen. This story is well written and unexpected. What I especially liked was the portrayal of the woman. She never really wanted kids and chose to kept her pregnancy because of pressure from her husband and his family. The pregnancy made her miserable and the following birth did nothing to improve it. She doesn't feel much for her baby and struggles to do anything to care for it. I appreciate this portrayal especially since the media pushes this magical bonding that's supposed to make everything perfect. That doesn't happen for everyone and it's nice to see the other side of things that doesn't get acknowledged. The supernatural part sneaks up on you and is deeply unsettling.

While I loved these stories, other stories in the anthology seemed incomplete, like I missed a page. Others didn't feel scary or supernatural enough to merit being part of the collection. I highly recommend the above stories and I wouldn't read most of the other stories again.

A good collection. Some I’d seen before, but some newer ones. I’m always surprised how different writers interpret Cthulhuness. Some are pure WTF, others are really interesting.

Cthulhu Fhtagn!
Edited by Ross E. Lockhart
Word Horde
Reviewed by Karl Wolff

Cthulhu Fhtagn!, edited by Ross E. Lockhart, is an impressive anthology of short stories based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. I enjoyed the variety of the stories within, ranging from the traditional to the innovative. "Dead Canyons" by Ann K. Schwader stood out to me because it brought Lovecraftian cosmic horror into the realm of hard science fiction. On the surface it is about Dr. Susan Barnard and her research team. But Susan's sleep is filled with nightmares. A planetary rover might be possessed. Other stories are more traditional, drawing from the well Lovecraft created in his mythology. There are stories of haunted houses, eccentric artists, and dysfunctional families. A wonderful sampler of cosmic horror. In this uncertain age filled with terrorism, racial tension, police brutality, and political strongmen, the Lovecraftian Mythos is almost reassuring. We are primitive and impotent in the face of the Old Ones, with their insanity-inducing forms and incomprehensible architectural geometries.

(Since CCLaP isn't reviewing short story anthologies anymore, this review is part of clearing out the books still in the backlog.)

Out of 10/8.5

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

Giallo Fantastique is the second in a series of titles we received this year from horror publisher Word Horde, and is pretty similar in makeup to the first title we reviewed, Children of Old Leech; it's another anthology consisting of previous Word Horde authors, in this case combining the Italian "lurid detective" genre known as "Giallo" with the otherworldly supernaturalism known as "Fantastique." And so as such, much again like Children of Old Leech, it's difficult to give one analytical summation of the entire book -- since this is made up of stories from twelve different authors, the quality ranges from okay to great depending on which piece you're talking about -- although in general I can once again confidently state that the overall quality of this anthology is well worth its purchase price. I look forward to starting to tackle the individual novels by individual Word Horde writers we have coming up in our "to-be-reviewed" queue; but for now, here's another compilation that's highly worth your time.

Out of 10: 8.5

Very interesting reads set in the world of HP Lovecraft.

Favorite stories:
Take Your Daughters to Work by Livia Llewellyn
The Big Fish by Kim Newman
Boojum by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
The Black Brat of Dunwich by Stanley C. Sargent

Favorites:
Andromeda among the Stars by Caitlin R. Kiernan
A Colder War by Charles Stross
Flash Frame by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear
Jihad over Innsmouth by Edward Morris
Bad Sushi by Cherie Priest
Lost Stars by Ann K. Schwader
The Shallows by John Langan

A first-rate themed anthology is hard to find. Oh, there are tons of them available, but too often editors seem to simply throw together a couple dozen stories that loosely fit the appropriate theme without giving thought to how well the stories fit with one another. Having suffered through many such anthologies, it came as a pleasant surprise to find Ross E. Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu II, a recent anthology from Night Shade Books which combines good storytelling with good editing.

There are many collections inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, but few of them standout simply because the editors choose stories that are little more than Lovecraft pastiche. In The Book of Cthulhu II, editor Lockhart gathers twenty-four tales that, while inspired by the Mythos, feature the unique voice of each author and work together to create the mood of madness and despair that is the hallmark of good Mythos stories.

Lockhart has included stories by noted fantasy and sci-fi authors Neil Gaiman, Fritz Leiber, and Kim Newman but the true gems of the anthology are from the lesser known writers. Paul Tobin’s “The Drowning at Lake Henpin,” Christopher Reynaga’s “I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee,” both original to the anthology, Stanley C. Sargent’s “The Black Brat of Dunwich,” and A. Scott Glancy’s “Once More, from the Top” alone justify the cover price.

If the book has a flaw, it’s that Lockhart places too many stories inspired by Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” in the first half of the anthology. This makes the book seem a little repetitive when reading the stories in the order they are printed.

Whether new to the Mythos or a longtime fan, readers will find Ross E. Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu II a worthy addition to the Lovecraft world.

Received via NetGalley.

I originally wrote this review for thechantonline.com. It is reposted with permission.½

A hit-or-miss collection. Some fairly lame stories as well as quite good ones. Standouts include Andromeda Among the Stars (Caitlin R Kiernan), The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins (Molly Tanzer), and The Oram County Whoosit (Steve Duffy).½

This is a nice collection of Lovecraft-inspired stories - some are very close uses of the Cthulhu "Mythos", others are more fanciful or take elements of Lovecraft's style or attitude with less clear use of Cthulhu himself - which makes it a nice, varied collection. I think the editor also did a nice job with the arrangement, so that the stories flow well.

I will say that I was quite disappointed in the copyediting on this book, which was so bad that it interfered with my ability to enjoy the stories, because I kept having to stop and read around the copy errors to figure out what was going on. Fully 40% of the quotations are without start quotes or without end quotes, which can lead to confusion about when a quote exists and when it's narrative statement. Words are clearly missing from sentences, and there are misspellings - probably the worst offender of this was the use of "accept" for "except". Errors like these make a book rough going, and I don't know that many readers would keep slogging it out just to enjoy the stories. And that's a real shame, because the stories are compelling, and I found most of them enjoyable and clever! So, A+ for content, but D- for format. I think this may be a new or possibly independent publisher - if so, I hope that they can obtain some better help on proofreading, because it's a good product and a shame to have made it so unnecessarily difficult.

The popularity of all things Cthulhu seems to know no bounds these days and book publishers are taking advantage of that fact. Night Shade Books began planning this book about two years ago. There was a brief delay while they underwent a change in editorial duties but then Ross Lockhart, one of the head honchos at Night Shade took the project over and was able to rapidly bring it to fruition. Publication date was earlier this year. It is a lovely and generous trade paperback with 522 pages of stories. We also get some extra pages with a rather generic introduction and a useful copyright history in the back. We don’t get any authors’ notes, alas. Production qualities are fine; I may have noted a rare typographical error. Cover art is a dramatic Cthulhu attacking a ship, provided by Obrotowy (The only Obrotowy I know invented a tank periscope in WWII; my work internet blocks access to the artist’s website.). It should be noted that the anthology is almost entirely reprints, except for Laird Barron’s The Men from Porlock and John Honor Jacobs’ The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife. On the other hand just because I happen to have all of the anthologies mentioned doesn’t mean anyone else will! I think most buyers will receive a very generous selection of stories by some of the finest prose artists writing mythos fiction these days. I think this point bears emphasis. In the 1970s and 80s much of the mythos fiction published was dreary pastiche, a reiteration of HPL‘s (or worse, August Derleth’s) tired tropes and storylines. Now, however, my favorite genre attracts top quality writers. Even such artists as Neil Gaiman have written a few mythos stories. If you are new to Cthulhu mythos fiction and all you do is pick up a Robert Price edited book in the Cycle series from Chaosium, you will be sorely disappointed. Mr. Lockhart isn’t really attempting to create a greatest hits type book but he certainly did have an eye for producing a volume of good reads. It is not really competing directly with anthologies of all new original fiction; the main competition comes from the still to be published New Cthulhu, due out from Prime Books. Mostly, Mr. Lockhart succeeds in creating a fine volume that will reward just about any reader, from a Cthulhu novice to an old tentacle hand like me. As an aside, I’ll note I suggested a few stories for this book and I think he took me up on one or two. I’ll give a brief thought or two on each story so there may be minor spoilers involved. My bottom line is this is a terrific book. Here are the contents:

Caitlin R. Kiernan - Andromeda among the Stones – Ms. Kiernan is one of the current marvel’s of Lovecraftian publishing. Her short stories routinely are masterpieces and Threshold is one of the very best Lovecraftian (not Cthulhu mythos) novels ever written. In a characteristic ambiguous and layered story of the struggle to protect humanity from unthinkable horror Ms. Kiernan again delivers a remarkable story, with brilliant descriptive prose and deftly drawn characters.

Ramsey Campbell - The Tugging – Unlike most of the stories here, The Tugging is rather dated, originally published in 1976. This is closer to when Mr. Campbell was more imitative of Lovecraft and was just developing his own voice. The setting is the author’s own Brichester in the Severn Valley, a location he has used so effectively in so many stories. Even back then Mr. Campbell’s gifts with prose were evident. Derived from HPL, yes, but still very original, and very well written, I found it be fresh now as when I originally read it.

Charles Stross - A Colder War – For me A Colder War is one of the very best Cthulhu mythos stories of the last 20 years. Mr. Stross brilliantly weaves together cold war political themes and Lovecraftian horror. It presages his series of novels about Bob Howard and the Laundry.

Bruce Sterling - The Unthinkable – This story also considers the use of Lovecraftian supernatural horrors as strategic weapons in the Cold War. It was a decent read but suffers in comparison to A Colder War.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Flash Frame – Ms. Moreno-Garcia deserves wider recognition for her efforts with the independent publishers and online forum, Innsmouth Free Press. Flash Frame is brilliant, not overtly Cthulhu mythos but definitely Lovecraftian in feel. It also has heavy echoes of Robert Chambers. A reporter investigates a classic film. Wonderful stuff.

W. H. Pugmire - Some Buried Memory – Mr. Pugmire often writes of death and transfiguration. His dreamy stories about transitioning between states of being is constantly absorbing. Here he explores Lovecraftian ghouls. The events in the story are not so important as the mood they invoke; sometimes I think he is striving for anoesis in prose.

Molly Tanzer - The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins – Ms. Tanzer’s work was originally published in Historical Lovecraft. It creates a somber mood from late 1700s England in the mansion of a decaying aristocratic family. For me it was pretty good, nothing more, particularly flanked by such impressive work.

Michael Shea - Fat Face – Fat Face may be the best story about shoggoths ever written, although Charlie Stross and Elizabeth Bear in this book may have something to say about that! Mr. Shea beautifully evokes a decadent San Francisco and the hapless life of a prostitute while spinning a horrific yarn. Fat Face is one of the top five stories in this book.

Elizabeth Bear - Shoggoths in Bloom – Ms. Bear was awarded the Hugo Award for Shoggoths in Bloom, a meditation on what it means to be a slave from the perspective of a descendent of slaves in Jim Crow America.

T. E. D. Klein - Black Man with a Horn – Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Black Man with a Horn is one of the best Cthulhu mythos stories ever written, one of the best stories ever about the Tcho Tcho people.

David Drake - Than Curse the Darkness – Here’s another story that I found OK, but not much more, as an English noblewoman goes into the heart of darkness to thwart Nyarlathotep.

Charles R. Saunders - Jeroboam Henley's Debt – I’ve always meant to read Mr. Saunders’ Imaro stories, probably fine reading for a Conan fan like me. Jeroboam Henley’s Debt is more about African mysticism and only has one throw away reference to Shub Niggurath. While a decent read I think of all the stories here it’s the one that doesn’t really belong in terms of content.

Thomas Ligotti - Nethescurial – The anthology continues from strength to strength with the wonderful Nethescurial from Thomas Ligotti. More Lovecraftian than Cthulhu mythos, an antiquarian or anthropologist loses himself in a manuscript.

Kage Baker - Calamari Curls – Somewhat played for humor and somewhat a story of supernatural horror, Calamari Curls depicts the vicissitudes of having the wrong address in a fading California town. OK for me but not much more.

Edward Morris - Jihad over Innsmouth – What a great story! It’s spies vs Cthulhu in the air, in the backdrop of the paranoia since 9/11.

Cherie Priest - Bad Sushi – Bad Sushi was OK for me but not much more, as an aging sushi chef an ex-soldier from Japan has to figure out what is in the new fish that is having such a terrible effect on his customers.

John Hornor Jacobs - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife – Moody, evocative and a little bit sad, a lonely woman abandoned in someway by her husband is pursued, and alas, caught, by a customer at her restaurant.

Brian McNaughton - The Doom that Came to Innsmouth – Another absolutely brilliant story. Mr. McNaughton died in 2004 at the unreasonably young age of 69. Only now do we realize what we lost. The story hooks the reader by way of the American soft spot for those who are persecuted for their religion, and then turns everything upside down. This is one of the best Cthulhu mythos stories ever.

Ann K. Schwader - Lost Stars – Ms. Schwader isn’t nearly as prolific with mythos fiction as I think she should be. Here Egyptian and mythos themes are woven together in a story of resurrection and its cost.

Steve Duffy - The Oram County Whoosit – This is the first time I’ve read Mr. Duffy’s wonderful Lovecraftian tale. Deep time and alien physiology are strong themes used to frame the characters’ difficulty comprehending the horror they are facing.

Joe R. Lansdale - The Crawling Sky – OK, the prose of the initial section of The Crawling Sky is magnificent, alone worth the price of the book. My goodness Mr. Lansdale spins an entertaining yarn of transdimensional evil.

Brian Lumley - The Fairground Horror – Of all the stories in this book, this is the one I think is a lame read. It dates from 1976 when Mr. Lumley was heavily influenced by Derleth while writing mythos pastiches. Tired tropes are evoked and no tension developed in a tale of a carnie side show operator trying to cash in on his brother’s occult doings.

Tim Pratt - Cinderlands – I’ve never read anything by Mr. Pratt before. I’ll remedy that when I see his story coming out in New Cthulhu. I thought this was another gem, very evocative and quite Lovecraftian about a man who decides to refurbish the wrong house.

Gene Wolfe - Lord of the Land – I am not the biggest Gene Wolfe fan; mostly I find him over-rated. That said, Lord of the Land is quite well written and has a very nice creepy feel of ancient horrors and alien possession, using the Lovecraftian dev ice of a folklore expert poking around where he shouldn’t.

Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - To Live and Die in Arkham – One day Mr. Pulver will be recognized as a giant in the field of mythos fiction. His prose is like poetry, his imagery is acute. A hit man in Arkham rethinks his options.

John Langan - The Shallows – The Shallows originally saw print in the marvelous anthology Cthulhu’s Reign. My second read of it was as good as the first. It is post apocalyptic mythos fiction of the best sort. The Shallows is horrifying and indescribably melancholy. Mr. Langan is another wonderful prose stylist.

Laird Barron - The Men from Porlock – I became a lifelong fan of Mr. Barron with the first story I ever read by him, Old Virginia, a brilliant mythos story. The Men from Porlock showcases all of his strengths. He brilliantly uses the geography of Washington and the northwest, like HPL used topography from New England. His unhurried prose allows us to get inside the skin of his characters. Tension is gradually developed before it is ratcheted up to unbearable levels. What a marvelous way to end a wonderful anthology.

In summary, The Book of Cthulhu showcases many of my favorite modern Cthulhu mythos authors and has a selection which includes some of the very best such stories ever written. If you have read any Lovecraft or are wondering why all the fuss about fiction influenced by or based on his creations, The Book of Cthulhu is a great place to start. You will not be disappointed. Highly recommended. At Amazon’s discounted pricing it’s practically a steal.