"Lumley fans will welcome this collection of seven longer Cthulhu Mythos tales from the prolific British author (Necroscope),
on whom H.P. Lovecraft was an important influence... Perhaps most
memorable is the 2005 title story, which, despite being set in
Lovecraft's haunted seaport of Innsmouth, avoids Mythos cliches and
comes across as distinctly the author's own." – Publishers Weekly
"Lumley is not only the subgenre's most prolific practitioner but also
arguably its most imaginative... Lumley's knack for nightmarish
scenarios and chilling language puts his writings at the forefront of
contemporary horror fiction." – Booklist
Prior to the first American publication of Brian Lumley's ground-breaking, dead-waking, best-selling Necroscope in 1988 – the first novel in a long-lived, much-loved series – this
British author had for twenty years been earning himself something of a
reputation writing short stories, novellas, and a series of novels set
against H. P. Lovecraft's cosmic Cthulhu Mythos backdrop. A soldier in
1967, serving in Berlin with the Royal Military Police, Lumley
jump-started his literary career by writing to August Derleth, the then
dean of macabre publishers at his home in Sauk City, Wisconsin, telling
of his fascination with the Mythos, and purchasing books by the "Old
Gentleman of Providence, RI." In addition, he sent a page or two of
written work allegedly culled from the various forbidden or "black
books" of the Mythos. Suitably impressed, the master of Arkham House
invited Lumley to write something solid in the Mythos as a possible
contribution to a new volume he was currently contemplating, to be
titled – what else but? – Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. And as might well be imagined, that set everything in motion.
Forty years have passed
since then and a good many words of Mythos fiction written, including
critically acclaimed and award-nominated work, stories that have
appeared in prestigious magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction,
and hardcover volumes from publishers all over the world from the USA
to China and the United Kingdom to Russia. But while Lumley's novels
are all currently available, many of them in hardcover format, his
Mythos short stories and novellas have until now remained uncollected.
Subterranean Press is proud
to correct that omission in volumes that are guaranteed to be the pride
of any collector's library of Mythos works other than tales written by
H. P. Lovecraft himself. Here in this volume are found the novellas;
the future companion volume contains the short stories. And thus the
very best of Brian Lumley's works in this sub-genre, including such
recent tales as The Hymn and The Taint, are collected and presented for the first time in this much more worthy and durable format...
Contents:
- Introduction
- The Horror at Oakdeene
- Born of the Winds
- The Fairground Horror
- The Taint
- Rising with Surtsey
- Lord of the Worms
- The House of the Temple
