Tales Of The Cthulhu Mythos (1998) - Plot & Excerpts
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!…but not forever: If the Universal Church of the Congregation of His Most Cosmically Cyclopean and Magisterial Mightiness, the Impenitent, Indomitable and Indefatigable Cthulhu (aka He With Whom One Does Not Fuck) ever designates a single tome as its bible, then this collection will surely be the one chosen as its most revered scripture*. This is the Rolls Royce of mythos anthologies with nary so much as a single turd in the sacred punchbowl.* I must qualify this statement by pointing out that I have not yet read Cthulhurotica (hubba hubba) and if ever a book was going to challenge based on title and cover art alone, then this would be it. Still, it seems unlikely that any work has a shoggoth's shot in Hell of unseating this ensemble of excellence. In addition to magical sermons by H. P. Lovecraft himself, the First Prophet of Cthulhu, all of the upper-echelon, inner circle preachers of Eldrtich Doctrine are represented here: Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belkanp Long, Robert Bloch and August Derleth. Yes, they are all here. Plus a veritable who's who of the best talent to ever scratch pen across parchment in the name of "The Mountain That Walks," including Henry Kuttner, Fritz Leiber, Stephen King, Karl Edward Wagner, Philip Jose Farmer, Colin Wilson, Ramsey Campbell, Joanna Russ, Richard A Lupoff and Brian Lumley. Are you starting to see just how inspired this work is?THE STORIES:While I’m not going to summarize each of the stories, I want to share the complete list of delectable nom nom nomminess included within. The selections include: “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft“The Return of the Sorcerer” by Clark Ashton Smith“Ubbo-Sathla” by Clark Ashton Smith“The Black Stone” by Robert E. Howard“The Hounds of Tindalos” by Frank Belknap Long"The Space-Eaters" by Frank Belknap Long"The Dweller in Darkness" by August Derleth"Beyond the Threshold" by August Derleth"The Shambler from the Stars" by Robert Bloch“The Haunter of the Dark” by H.P. Lovecraft"The Shadow from the Steeple" by Robert Bloch“Notebook Found in a Deserted House” by Robert Bloch"The Salem Horror" by Henry Kuttner“The Terror from the Depths” by Fritz Leiber“Rising with Surtsey” by Brian Lumley“Cold Print” by J. Ramsey Campbell"The Return of the Lloigor" by Colin Wilson“My Boat” by Joanna Russ“Sticks” by Karl Edward Wagner“The Freshman” by Philip Jose Farmer“Jerusalem’s Lot” by Stephen King“Discovery of the Ghooric Zone” by Richard A. LupoffHis Dread Dreaminess is most pleased... Amen, amen and Tekeli-li, Tekeli-li.Now each of the above stories are gold and should be pondered, analyzed and meditated upon in order to bring you closer to His Surly Tentacleness. However, I do want to call out a few pieces that I found particularly full of awesome:1. The Call of Cthulhu: The best of the best. I previously gave this story a big fat hug so rather than regurgitate it, I will simply link you to my bout of gushy right here: Steve’s Gushing Praise of The Call of CthulhuHowever, I do feel the need to plop down again the best opening line of any mythos story ever and the one that encapsulates the essence of the whole shebang: The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age2. The Hounds of Tindalos:Frank Long's brilliant mythos installment featuring funky math, non-euclidean geometry, some mondo powerful psychotropic drugs and a mind-warping phildickian plot that comes together and works beautifully. This story could have escaped Long's control several times and become a bravely-intentioned mess. However, this never happens and Long produced one of the most uniquely outstanding lore stories I’ve read. They are lean and athirst...all the evil in the universe was concentrated in their lean, hungry bodies? Or had they bodies? I saw them only for a moment, I cannot be certain. Tis truly a religious experience for the faithful. 3. Notebook Found in a Deserted House: Nothing uniquely mythos-related happens here but I mention it only because of how much fun I had reading it. Robert Bloch tells stories that just pull you into them and this "diary" of a young boy experiencing all kinds of jitter-causing spookiness is a great time. 4. The Terror from the Depths:Fritz Leiber's singular contribution would only rate good if I was judging purely from a plot perspective. However, this one makes the honor role because it is a masterful homage and gushing love letter to all of the great mythos stories that came before it. During the course of the story, fragments of a dozen different mythos tales are called in to contribute. From "The Call of Cthulhu" to “The Mountains of Madness” to "The Dunwich Horror" to "Dagon" to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...to handful of non-Lovecraft stories (several of which are in this collection). This was a Cthulu Mythos version of Where's Waldo as well as a stroll down memory lane. I loved it. 5. Rising with Surtsey:Brian Lumley absolutely knocks the ball out of the park with this terrific, haunting tale that uses the mythos as a launching pad for a tale that is both cosmically vast and a deeply personal tragedy. One of the best Cthulhu tales I've read. 6. Sticks:I am so bummed that there is not considerably more Karl Edward Wagner material to read. I snap up everything of his I can find and have loved all of it. This story exudes creepy and touches only tangentially on the mythos...but it is enough. As a horror story, this is lights out. I would have felt remiss had I not paid it homage here. 7. The Freshman:A bizarre tale of inverted morality and sick choices as a new student arrives to learn the dark arts at Miskatonic University. You can forget about the playful magics of Hogwarts, this place and the professors will have you shitting Shaggoths in your skivvies.For fans and followers of the mythos, this is as good as it gets. So it is written…so it shall be read. Here endeth the lesson. All hail His Lordship Cthulhu.5.0 stars.
Depuis le temps que je lis des adaptations de l'Appel de Cthulhu, il était temps que je lise le texte originel, celui qui est à l'origine de bien des œuvres plus ou moins magnifiques...Les nouvelles de Lovecraft étant courtes, elles sont regroupées dans plusieurs recueils, mais je ne peux que vous conseiller que de lire les recueils de la même maison d'édition. En effet, le regroupage des nouvelles est assez random, ce qui fait que d'un éditeur à l'autre, ce n'est pas les même. Cette présente édition regroupe:-Celui qui chuchotait dans les ténèbres-La couleur tombée du ciel-La peur qui rôde-La tourbière hanté-Par-delà le mur du sommeil-L'appel de CthulhuToutes les nouvelles commencent par le même schéma: une approche d'un monde/d'une créature surnaturelle par un oeil rationnel et scientifique, puis qui plonge petit à petit dans ce surnaturel, allant jusqu'à l'horreur par moments. Lovecraft met en scène des créatures venant de mondes qui ne sont pas sur notre plan d'existence, qui interagissent d'une manière ou d'une autre avec l'être humain. Le tout est conté à la manière d'un journal que le personnage principal nous livrerait, d'abord avec beaucoup de rigueur, puis en glissant doucement dans le fantastique avec de plus en plus d'incertitudes et de craintes. On voit ainsi l'approche rationnelle qu'avait le narrateur de notre monde s'effriter petit à petit pour laisser place à une multitude de "vérités" qui dépassent l'entendement.Ce format ne laisse place qu'à très peu de dialogues et beaucoup de descriptions, qui ne sont pas sans me déplaire pour ma part. Écrites aux alentours de 1920-1930, ces nouvelles sont intemporelles, elles auraient pu être écrites hier, ça aurait été pareil, et c'est ce qui fait tout leur charme.En bref, pour ma première plongée dans le monde de Lovecraft, j'en sort pleinement satisfaite et me donne envie de continuer sur cette lancée!
What do You think about Tales Of The Cthulhu Mythos (1998)?
Took me weeks to finish this book. And I really wanted to read it. Cthulhu is fundamental, and every time I read Call of Cthulhu I want to read Terry Pratchett's Jingo. And I think about Buffy. And Hellboy. And Ozzy. And Girl Genius. And Sandman. And Merciful Fate. And Darkover. And The Eternals. And Metallica. [And I could go on]. But all of the overt and unconscious racism and sexism makes it tough going. tThere’s a lot of good writing here. Not just Lovecraft, but Fritz Leiber! Stephen King! Joanna Russ! tBut reading this excellent compilation makes me realize that unmitigated horror just doesn’t hold my attention. Yeah yeah eldritch, yeah yeah mucous. Yeah yeah, seminal texts of my genre. But horror unmitigated by humor and/or radical feminist agenda just doesn’t hold my attention. HPL put his thumb on the terror that lurks just past what we can see. But it’s the terrors I can see that worry me. Hail unknown! There might be Vulcans.
—Laura
There's a simplistic yet sinister element to Lovecraft's writing. It's not the kind of work that gets your heart pounding or your adrenaline rushing in vicarious fear. What this mythos does instead is build a slowly-creeping dread that impacts you hours, days, weeks, months, and years after reading. One of Lovecraft's most-famous quotes is "Of all the emotions of mankind, none is more powerful or primal than fear. And of those fears, none is more powerful or primal than fear of the unknown."The power of the fear instilled by this collection is not immediate, it is not loud. It's like watching the tide slowly ebb and flow, a new fixture in your psyche that will permanently color your understanding of the nature of fear.
—Kevin
If nothing else, this book taught me that I am apparently not a fan of Lovcraftian fiction. Sure, "The Call of Cthulhu" is a fun read, and certainly a classic in the sci-fi pantheon, but the slew of imitations that this book collects from Lovecraft's contemporaries and correspondents were cookie-cutter boring. Scientist/writer/philosopher discovers occult object, researches it against the advice of others, goes crazy and/or dies. The end. Of the stories I did read, Joanna Russ's "Our Boat" and Stephen King's "Jerusalem's Lot" were the true standouts, though it must be said that not even King did something particularly novel with the Lovecraft mythos.
—Patrick
