"British novelist Lumley began his writing career as an H.P. Lovecraft
emulator. This nostalgic collection, the second of two volumes (after
2007's The Taint and Other Novellas)
of Lumley's best Cthulhu Mythos tales, demonstrates that his work
improves the more he moves away from his model, as in the simple and
unflinching title story." – Publishers Weekly
"Lumley's knack for spinning inventively gruesome scenarios provides hours of agreeably unsettling entertainment." – Booklist
"Still, the contents include over twenty stories, a meaty volume
indeed, and one that will keep any fan of Lumley's Cthulhu mythos work
well satisfied for a good long while. Each story has an introduction by
the author, mainly detailing the story's genesis and publication. Along
the way, other little tidbits get tucked in – I, for one, had no idea
that Lumley used to be an avid hang glider – which gives the collection
as a whole the sense of an old friend walking the reader through his
bookshelf. Clearly, the book was put together with love, and with
affection for the stories it contains. Many of them were written in the
'60s and '70s, and as such they deserve some veneration as important
landmarks in the evolution of Lovecraftian writing." – Green Man Review
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 fiction other than tales written
by H. P. Lovecraft himself. Here in this book are found the shorter
stories. Thus the best of Brian Lumley's works in this sub-genre are
collected and presented for the first time in this much more worthy and
durable format...
Contents:
- Introduction
- The Caller of the Black
- Haggopian
- Cement Surroundings
- The House of Cthulhu
- The Night Sea-Maid Went Down
- Name and Number
- Recognition
- Curse of the Golden Guaradians
- Aunt Hester
- The Kiss of Bugg-Shash
- De Marigny's Clock
- Mylakhrion the Immortal
- The Sister City
- What Dark God?
- The Statement of Henry Worthy
- Dagon's Bell
- The Thing from the Blasted Heath
- Dylath Leen
- The Mirror of Nitocris
- The Second Wish
- The Hymn
- Synchronicity or Something
- The Black Recalled
- The Sorcerer's Dream
