The Horror In The Museum & Other Revisions (1989) - Plot & Excerpts
I begin this review with a confession. I stole this book.At the age of 12, I found this in my school library. I borrowed it, devoured it and loved it so, so much that I couldn’t bear to part with it. So I lied to the library staff, telling them that I’d lost the book. They charged me a fee, but I was more than happy to pay, because it meant the book was mine. And still is!This is the book that introduced me to Lovecraftian and Cthulhu fiction. I’ll never forget the thrills, chills and sheer joy that came to me when reading. Ever since, when I’ve gone back and read it, I still experience those feelings and I believe this is one of the finest anthologies out there.IMPORTANT NOTE - For some reason, the ‘70s UK edition (Panther paperback) I read has different stories to the US editions. Some are missing, and others are included (the C. M. Eddy ones). I’ve listed the entire contents in my book in any case.We open with the titular story of THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM by Hazel Heald. As with all the stories collected in this anthology, H. P. Lovecraft isn’t actually the author; but he had a hand in helping the individual authors give a distinctly Lovecraftian feel to their work, so his presence is obvious. This effort, by Hazel Heald, is truly top dollar: packed with hideous creatures, plenty of suspense and foreboding and some gruelling, slithering horror. Thoroughly engrossing stuff.THE CRAWLING CHAOS, by Elizabeth Berkeley, is less effective, more of a macabre fantasy than true horror. It concerns an opium eater’s vision of a future Earth transformed into alien landscape, and packs some impressive detail. The next, Sonia Greene’s FOUR O’CLOCK, is a straightforward story of supernatural revenge, with nothing very memorable about it.Hazel Heald’s second story is WINGED DEATH and it’s another cracker. The diary format is put to fantastic use in the story of a doctor in African breeding a horrific revenge on a rival. I found this sickening, disturbing stuff and I’ve never looked at a common bluebottle in the same way since.C. M. Eddy, Jr.’s THE LOVED DEAD is the book’s most controversial work, a much-banned tale of a ghoulish necrophile scouring the countryside, looking for food and more besides. The descriptive text provokes images of dank crypts, rotting corpses and filthy hovels and as a whole the story is a masterpiece of the grotesque. The author’s follow-up, THE GHOST-EATER, is less memorable and a more traditional pulp horror outing, but still an atmospheric effort set in some haunted woods.William Lumley’s THE DIARY OF ALONZO TYPER is Lovecraft through and through: a man living in a haunted house discovering something unnameable beneath the foundations of the building. There are slimy trails in the basement, ancient gods and rituals, standing monoliths and a hero whose adventures are contained within an abruptly-ending journal. I loved it to bits.THE ELECTRIC EXECUTIONER, by Adolphe de Castro, is a lesser effort about a man trapped in a train carriage with a psychopath, but not without merit. It’s a classic two-hander with moments of suspense and a macabre climax.And then we have the last story. My personal favourite, and indeed one of my favourite Lovecraftian stories of all time: THE MOUND, by Zealia Bishop. This is splendid stuff. In essence, an archaeologist investigates a strange burial mound in Oklahoma which is reputed to be haunted. He soon uncovers a complex series of events involving a historical diary and a whole subterranean world outside of man’s knowledge. This is a lengthy story, told at novella length, and quite slow moving in places, but I loved every second of it. It builds atmosphere admirably and has an undercurrent of unseen horror running throughout, right up until a memorable climax. For me, this is brilliance in writing, and on par with Lovecraft’s best work. A tremendous way to end what is one of the greatest horror anthologies of all time.
The other side of Lovecraft. His works are well known, but he also ghost wrote or revised many tales for other authors (mostly amateur but even a couple professionals).About two-thirds of this book are tales he mostly wrote. Some of these works are quite good, up there with his best. The Mound, in particular, about a subterranean city and lost race. Out of the Aeons, about a mummy for pre-historic times is a strong tie in with Robert Howards prehistory (Conan and co). The title story, The Horror in the Museum I didn't like at first, but could be the strongest tale in the book. Other stories are fairly pedestrian, just given a veneer of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Last Test, for instance, about a mad scientist. Or The Man of Stone, about a crazy artist that turns people into stone.About of the third of the book are tales that were mostly written by the other person, but Lovecraft had a hand in. Most of these are totally forgettable, plot wise. Lovecraft mostly seems to have help out in the descriptions in them.
What do You think about The Horror In The Museum & Other Revisions (1989)?
It's something quite different from everything I've read before. To be honest I didn't thought I would like it when I first saw it, since it's about horror and that kind of things. But as I kept reading the short stories of the master of horror H.P. Lovecraft, I really started liking it. As mentioned before, it IS different. The perspective is dark, and the way it's written keeps the classic, formal literature of the time when Lovecraft lived. There are some stories that creep down into the reader and attack the most basic human fears, making you feel close and showing you what true horror is.
—Natalia
H.P. Lovecraft nunca nadó en la abundancia. Para ir subsistiendo, y visto que sus narraciones no le aportaban la independencia económica que hubiese deseado, se vio obligado a recurrir a trabajos de revisión, corrección y/o reescritura de relatos de autores en ciernes. En ‘Más allá de los eones y otras historias en colaboración’ se recogen una amplia selección de las narraciones que Lovecraft firmó junto a estos escritores.La presente antología, prologada y traducida estupendamente por José María Nebreda, se divide en dos tipos de revisiones, de primer y segundo orden. Las revisiones de primer orden contienen que relatos que Lovecraft reescribió totalmente. La ambientación y la prosa recuerdan absolutamente al Maestro. En cuanto a las revisiones de segundo orden, el estilo de Lovecraft está más diluido, aunque siguen siendo igual de interesantes y sugerentes.Estos son los veinticuatro relatos incluidos en ‘Más allá de los eones y otras historias en colaboración’:COLABORACIONES I:-La Pradera Verde, de Winifred Virginia Jackson y H.P. Lovecraft.-El caos reptante, de Winifred Virginia Jackson y HPL.-La última prueba, de Adolphe de Castro y HPL.-El verdugo eléctrico, de Adolphe de Castro y HPL.-La maldición de Yig, de Zelia Bishop y HPL.-El montículo, de Zelia Bishop y HPL.-La cabellera de la medusa, de Zelia Bishop y HPL.-El hombre de piedra, de Hazel Heald y HPL.-El horror en el museo, de Hazel Heald y HPL.-Muerte alada, de Hazel Heald y HPL.-Más allá de los eones, de Hazel Heald y HPL.-El horror del cementerio, de Hazel Heald y HPL.-El diario de Alonzo Typer, de William Lumley y HPL.COLABORACIONES II:-El horror en Martin’s Beach, de Sonia H. Greene y HPL.-Cenizas, de C.M. Eddy, Jr. y HPL.-El devorador de fantasmas, de C.M. Eddy, Jr. y HPL.-Querida muerte, de C.M. Eddy, Jr. y HPL.-Sordo, mudo y ciego, de C.M. Eddy, Jr. y HPL.-Dos botellas negras, Wilfred Blanch Talman y HPL.-La trampa, de Henry S. Whitehead y HPL.-El árbol en la colina, de Duane W. Rimel y HPL.-La exhumación, de Duane W. Rimel y HPL.- “Hasta que todos los mares”, de R.H. Barlow y HPL.-El océano de la noche, de R.H. Barlow y HPL.En resumen, se trata de una antología imprescindible para el seguidor del solitario de Providence.
—Oscar
German edition - German review:Dieser Band versammelt Geschichten verschiedener Autoren, die vom "Meister" H.P. Lovecraft überarbeitet wurden. Insgesamt eine eher durchwachsene Mischung mit keiner einzigen wirklich guten, einigen mittelmäßigen und einigen schlechten Erzählungen. Erzählerisch ragt qualitativ "Das Haar der Medusa" ("Medusa's Coil") heraus, das aber in seinem offenen Rassismus eher degoutant ist. Als Horrorgeschichte funktioniert meines Erachtens "Der Fluch des Yig" ("The Curse of Yig") am besten. Andere Geschichten wie z.B. "Aus Äonen" ("Out of the Eons") und "Das letzte Experiment" ("The Last Test") waren in ihrer Belanglosigkeit und epigonalen Uninspiriertheit eher nervig. Die Titelgeschichte fand ich noch erträglich, auch wenn die Effekte zu dick aufgetragen waren; hier wäre weniger mehr gewesen.Alles in allem nur etwas für Komplettisten, die auch das letzte Fitzelchen Lovecraftschen Schaffens noch lesen wollen, aber alle anderen sind mit einer Relektüre der eigentlichen Lovecraft-Stories besser beraten. Dieser Band ist, wie es im Englischen so schön heißt: "forgettable".
—Felix
