The Recluse

A short story.

"The Recluse" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story in the tradition of H. P. Lovecraft. My goal in writing it - aside from creating an entertaining work of fiction - was to have a character that is mysteriously isolated from other humans (much like the narrator of Lovecraft's "The Outsider") discover in his family background an extraterrestrial horror (such as that revealed in Lovecraft's "Fungi From Yuggoth".) In blending themes borrowed from "The Outsider" and "Fungi From Yuggoth", I hoped to create an original weird tale of generational horror.

Most of my horror stories are Lovecraftian in concept and technique, but are not explicitly Cthulhu Mythos stories. This one is an exception, being an overt Mythos tale.

4,200 words.