bookwomble's review
3.0
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers, where half-stars are available and I gave this book 3.5 stars.
I've been reading Lovecraft for 40 years, so I'm probably about to qualify as one of the Old Ones myself. While there's nothing here to touch the master at his best, nonetheless there are some very enjoyable stories in Cthulhu Lives!.
The Book Description says that we have here "Seventeen cosmic horror stories with a modern sensibility," which was not, to my mind, a good sign. To me the "modern sensibility" usually means excessive use of bad language, gore, sex and urban slang that is going to date very quickly. Happily, there is little of that here and the quality of writing is generally very good.
Lovecraft's allusiveness in describing the Old Ones was characteristic of the Mythos and any attempt to describe them in detail would have broken the spell. However, he often gave very detailed descriptions of the lesser races and use of some newly described horrors could have been made, but I guess that's a minor criticism.
The stories that really stood out for me were:
1884 by Michael Grey. An alternate history, steampunk story which I could easily see being expanded to a novel. Reminiscent of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. Celebrity cameos: Benjamin Disrali and HRH Queen Victoria.
Hobstone by G.K. Lomax. Modern day urban setting, with an obsessional slow descent into madness theme. In addition to Lovecraft, I thought I detected something of an influence from the excellent film Quatermass and the Pit in this one.
On the Banks of the River Jordan by John Reppion. Nice use of epistolary narrative, with emails taking the place of letters and journals. The setting in modern-day Liverpool was attractive to me, living as I do only a 45-minute's journey from the site of the horrors described! But a very good story regardless of that personal link. Reppion's use of his protagonist's research into real and imagined folk-lore is a nice reflection of Lovecraft's use of the scholar-"hero".
Scritch, Scratch by Lynne Hardy is one of the more allusive stories of the collection and very atmospheric. An isolated village, an even more isolated "old dark house," shadowed woods, rats and an eccentric old geezer. I really liked this one.
The Highland Air by Gethin A. Lynes. A period piece that does homage to The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Enough said.
If you like your horror less blood-splattered, then there will be something in here for you to enjoy.
I've been reading Lovecraft for 40 years, so I'm probably about to qualify as one of the Old Ones myself. While there's nothing here to touch the master at his best, nonetheless there are some very enjoyable stories in Cthulhu Lives!.
The Book Description says that we have here "Seventeen cosmic horror stories with a modern sensibility," which was not, to my mind, a good sign. To me the "modern sensibility" usually means excessive use of bad language, gore, sex and urban slang that is going to date very quickly. Happily, there is little of that here and the quality of writing is generally very good.
Lovecraft's allusiveness in describing the Old Ones was characteristic of the Mythos and any attempt to describe them in detail would have broken the spell. However, he often gave very detailed descriptions of the lesser races and use of some newly described horrors could have been made, but I guess that's a minor criticism.
The stories that really stood out for me were:
1884 by Michael Grey. An alternate history, steampunk story which I could easily see being expanded to a novel. Reminiscent of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. Celebrity cameos: Benjamin Disrali and HRH Queen Victoria.
Hobstone by G.K. Lomax. Modern day urban setting, with an obsessional slow descent into madness theme. In addition to Lovecraft, I thought I detected something of an influence from the excellent film Quatermass and the Pit in this one.
On the Banks of the River Jordan by John Reppion. Nice use of epistolary narrative, with emails taking the place of letters and journals. The setting in modern-day Liverpool was attractive to me, living as I do only a 45-minute's journey from the site of the horrors described! But a very good story regardless of that personal link. Reppion's use of his protagonist's research into real and imagined folk-lore is a nice reflection of Lovecraft's use of the scholar-"hero".
Scritch, Scratch by Lynne Hardy is one of the more allusive stories of the collection and very atmospheric. An isolated village, an even more isolated "old dark house," shadowed woods, rats and an eccentric old geezer. I really liked this one.
The Highland Air by Gethin A. Lynes. A period piece that does homage to The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Enough said.
If you like your horror less blood-splattered, then there will be something in here for you to enjoy.
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