Historical Lovecraft

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Editor), Paula R. Stiles (Editor), Andrew G. Dombalagian (Contributor)

Historical Lovecraft, a unique anthology blending historical fiction with horror, features 26 tales spanning centuries and continents. This eclectic volume takes the readers through places as varied as Laos, Greenland, Peru, and the Congo, and from antiquity until the 20th century, pushing the envelope of Lovecraftian lore. William Meikle's inquisitor tries to unravel the truth during a very hostile questioning. Jesse Bullington narrates the saga of a young Viking woman facing danger and destruction. E. Catherine Tobler stops in Ancient Egypt, where Pharaoh Hatshepsut receives an exquisite and deadly gift. Albert Tucher discovers that the dead do not remain silent in 10th century Rome. These are tales that reimagine history and look into the past through a darker glass. Tales that show evil has many faces and reaches through the centuries. Tales that will chill your heart. Join us in our journey through horror and time, if you dare. Stories Regina Allen, Jesse Bullington, Nathalie Boisard-Beudin, Mason Ian Bundschuh, Andrew G. Dombalagian, Mae Empson, Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas, Orrin Grey, Sarah Hans, Travis Heermann, Martha Hubbard, Nathaniel Katz, Leigh Kimmel, Meddy Ligner, William Meikle, Daniel Mills, Aaron Polson, Y. Wahyu Purnomosidhi, Alter S. Reiss, Josh Reynolds, Julio Toro San Martin, Bradley H. Sinor, Molly Tanzer, Albert Tucher, E. Catherine Tobler, Bryan Thao Worra.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Lovecraftian, Fiction, Fantasy, Cthulhu Mythos

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2011

About the author

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of several novels, including Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. She has also edited a number of anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu's Daughters). Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding anthology of Lovecraftian fiction. The historical fiction theme piqued my interest. Lots of authors were previously unknown to me, so I was hesitant to pick this one up - but, I'm glad I did. I will be seeking out more work by many of the authors. Highlights for me were 'Shadows of the Darkest Jade' by Sarah Hans, 'The Saga of Hilde Ansgardotti' by Jesse Bullington, 'The Far Deep' by Joshua Reynolds, 'The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins' by Molly Tanzer, and 'Black Hill' by Orrin Gray.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of Lovecraftian tales from the folks at Innsmouth Free Press. The stories, set throughout history and around the globe, work the mythos into settings from Paleolithic Mesopotamia to the U.S. oil rush. Excellent, scary stuff.

[Tristan Tarwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where history's mysteries lay gaping open, there 'Historical Lovecraft' goes, seeing to fill in the holes in time and human knowledge with eldritch horror and terrors from beyond the stars. At least that's what a good portion of the short stories contained within the book admit to using as their inspiration, which is fine by me. As someone who enjoys history and the unexplained, as well as someone who digs H.P. Lovecraft I was very happy with the answers the stories in this anthology had to offer. When I finished this book ( I was dreading finishing it, just because I was enjoying it that much), I vowed to reread it, and soon. I was going to let my spouse read it but he may have to wait while I devour the book again.

My personal faves were 'Black Hill,' an interesting take on an oil operation, 'Deus Ex Machina,' especially as an ex theatre geek, 'Shadows of the Deepest Jade,'...honestly, there wasn't a story that I didn't enjoy, though there were ones I definitely preferred over others. Innsmouth Free Press did a great job picking a wide array of subject matters and time periods. I thought the Modern Era stories would be less interesting but 'Black Hill' is honestly one of my favorites and happens within the last 200 years. Cultures, religions and governments are all fair game and rattled by not only Cthulhu but shoggoths, The Old Ones, Nyarlathotep, The Deep Ones, all answering the questions put forward by the stories. If you are only interested in stories told in the same voice of HP Lovecraft this is probably not the book for you. However, if you can appreciate that fear is eternal and calls out in a variety of voices, as well as have a thing for the ideas that Lovecraft put forth? You need to check this book out.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm in this book. And while it might be poor form to review a book you're in, and while I certainly wouldn't do it for any kind of pro site or anything, my goal with Goodreads is to record everything I read, which includes stuff I'm in, and besides, there's a lot of other good stuff in here that's worth talking about.

First off, Historical Lovecraft is a different kind of Lovecraft anthology than usual, in my opinion. It's at least as focused on the history part of the title as it is the Lovecraft part, and almost all of the writers involved really seem to know their stuff. There's a lot of great pieces in here, including stuff by Jesse Bullington, Daniel Mills, and Aaron Polson, among others. Definitely my favorite story, though, is Molly Tanzer's amazing "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins." I'm notorious for my hyperbole, but let me assure you that I'm not engaging in any of it when I say that it's one of the best stories I've read in years, hands down.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spectaular mix of historical fiction and Lovecraft lore. If you're Lovecraft fan, you won't be disappointed. I found the pieces set in ancient history the most appealing, but the tales span a broad range of time and many unique takes on Lovecraft's mythology. A must read for Lovecraft fans.

[Tarl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, should be an interesting theme, right? Stories featuring Lovecraft's stuff or at least a general feeling of it. You know what? There are stories in here that deserve a flat out 5/5 rating, and this book would and should have gotten higher. The problem is, there were stories in this book that I finished and was left wondering just what, if anything, was Lovecraftian in it. I mean, there were stories that didn't even have a Lovecraftian feel to it.

If it was just one, I could let it go. But it wasn't. It wasn't even just two. And I was left wondering just how desperate Silvia was to get more stories NOT set in the Victorian age to put out this anthology. I also find it sad that there wasn't more stories set in pre-modern times in this collection.

The best of the batch would be the story about the young priestess who has to sacrifice her lover because she has failed the gods. (I have been trying to find who wrote it, and failed as it doesn't seem to be posted anywhere) It has the benefit of being memorable, of being of an unusual real culture, and of being a good all around story.

If you are a Lovecraft fan, pick this collection up. If you are just a so so one, pick up the electronic copy and save yourself some money. If you are just curious, pass this book by.

[David Agranoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the concept of this collection. Ever since Lovecraft encouraged others to play with his mythos, that open door has lead almost everyone to crash the party. Stories set in the mythos throughout history is a valid idea, I am little underwhelmed with the execution. Certainly different periods of history are all there, but I found the stories to be a little ho-hum. A great indication of that was that by the time I finished the collection I had to thumb back through the book to even remember the stories. I didn't really have a favorite.

Some stories like Sarah Hans' 'Shadow of the Darkest Jade' had a great concept but the first paragraph copied Lovecraft opening style so closely I found myself rolling my eyes. In her defense we have all done it writing mythos stuff. One thing I did like is that the stories were all pretty short, sometimes I think was a curse that Lovecraft was paid by the word.

If you are serious about having a complete Loveraftian collection this book could be an important addition. I think there are plenty of nuggets for the readers who are addicted to all things from the unknowable and unspeakable beyond. For the general reader or fan of Lovecraftian fiction I don't think much new ground is explored and to me that is a problem. I am not sure if it was on purpose but the authors who are almost always in Lovecraftian collections such as Michael Shea, CJ Henderson and Cody Goodfellow were absent. That hurt this book in my opinion, such they are almost always there but those three authors not only understand the mythos deeply they are consistent about breaking new and interesting ground.

That was the piece that was missing for me. That is not to say there were not cool stories, but as an anthology I think hardboiled Cthulhu was a better example of an anthology that explored Lovecraft in a a new genre

[L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical Lovecraft is a clever gathering of stories of good and evil, magic and reality from the dawn of time to present day. It is organized by era--antiquity, Middle Ages, etc. therefore the reader can, like me, pick first to read their era of interest. I did--antiquity. As it is with all collections of stories such as this, there are favorites, and the pick of a favorite is purely subjective. My favorite, because of its well formed character, the imaginative use of the historical setting and the uniqueness of the story, is The Good Bishop Pays the Price, by Martha Hubbard. I recommend to you the good bishop Probus and his scribe, Timos and their quirky doings in the backwaters of the Byzantine Empire. 'Amundsen's Last Run' by Nathalie Boisard-Beudin is a stand-out as well. The author's style of story telling is brilliant, taking what seems to be a normal object--as normal as an iceberg can be--and taking it to the ultimate level of speculation, making it an object of dark secrets and mystical(if not dastardly) happenings. Although William Meikle's story 'Inquisitor' contains the usual canards about the Inquisition, I ended up liking the story because of its unusual presentation.

This is a good and fun anthology, the variety of stories and styles making it a great read for a lazy summer day. Although I encountered a couple of stories of dubious understanding of the historical setting and insistence on the politically correct to the detriment of imagination, I gave the anthology five stars because it is overall wonderful and well written, containing a lot of knowledge and research in history by the authors.

[James Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of (ostensibly) Lovecraft-influenced stories set throughout the ages. Ranging from ancient Mesopotamia to the modern world, it is divided into three sections: Ancient History, Middle Ages, and the Modern Era. The stories often incorprate the hisotry of legends of the time periods and cultures in question, something Lovecraft himself was fond of doing. With some of the stories, the connetion to the Cthulhu mythos is fairly blatant, with others marginal at best (more in spirit than content). As with most collections, this is a mixed bag. However, as far as collections go I have to say these tales are consistently pretty dang good.

James Pratt, author of 'When Dead Gods Dream: A Collection of Lovecraftian Short Stories'

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads. Let me start out by stating that I have never read anything by Lovecraft which might be why I just couldn't get into the book. Some of the stories were pretty good and I'd rate 3 or more stars, but some I didn't like at all. The writing was bad and the storylines were confusing in some stories. They just weren't very fleshed out. Others were good and read like mythology from various cultures. These were enjoyable. I think if I was a fan of Lovecraft maybe I would have understood and enjoyed them more.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really grateful I read Swords v Cthulhu before this (as it happens, I picked it up looking for more like SvC) because otherwise I might have written off the whole idea. These stories are almost universally too short, amateurish, constrained by either narrowly literal or absurdly off-base notions of what makes fiction "Lovecraftian," or all of the above. More than that, many of the stories indulge one or both of two habits I find quite annoying. At least half of them just give Cthulhu the Ancient Aliens treatment. The Norse disappeared from Greenland? Fishmen. The Plague of Justinian? Nyarlathotep. Roald Amundsen mysteriously dies in a plane crash? Haunted ice. Oh, and those non-Christian people worshiping strange gods, and even giving them human sacrifices? They weren't crazy--those were real shoggoths and stuff. In other words, the second annoying habit is that they just buy in completely to Lovecraft's identification of his eldritch deities with gods in non-Western religions. Which, of course, sucks, but it's also a super boring premise for a story, as this collection amply illustrates. So many of these are like "I'm a high priest in an exotic past setting! Oh no, I'm being killed by the monstrosity I worshipped!"

I'm being a bit hyperbolic--many of these stories are fine, and in a collection where they were the worst, they wouldn't seem that bad. But the cumulative effect of so many stories with so little interest in crafting immersive historical settings, and so much interest in stupid mysteries and boring Lovecraft references, is that it kind of all seems bad by association. The one exception kind of proves the pattern. Molly Tanzer's 'The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins' stands so far above the rest of the stories that it's kind of shocking. But it does so by being so different from the rest of them, basically unrecognizable as part of the same anthology, that it makes the rest seem all the more repetitive and uninspired. That said, I'd be remiss if I didn't single out the good ones. Jesse Bullington's story, while falling into all the pitfalls I mentioned above, is still great because he brings some style and competence and poetry to it. Orrin Grey's story is fairly unique in setting and concept, echoes of Cyclonopedia but fun. An Idol for Emiko crafts enough of its village setting and has a sufficiently unusual story to mostly work. Otherwise, some of them are more embarrassing and underwhelming than others (the one that includes letters from R'lyeh to a secret agent in the Kremlin was a serious secondhand cringe for me), but they're not enough to carry the collection.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The promise of this anthology is great; perhaps that is why I judge so strongly. Some of the stories are great - Sarah Hans' tale of wandering monks is easily my favorite in this anthology - but others seem stuck in a Lovecraftian pastiche.

Perhaps that was the point, but I was hoping for more stories where both the setting and storytelling style changed more from HPL's own work. Worth picking up, mind you, but not a must-buy.

[David Elkin]

Haven't started yet, but it looks like an interesting collection.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does "Lovecraftian" mean, anyway? It's often taken as just the addition of tentacles and creepy fishmen, or maybe just throwing a few Great Old Ones names in with real world occultism the way the Simon Necronomicon does, or maybe using "cyclopean" and "rugose" every chapter. It's true that all that does occur in Lovecraft, but rarely does anything described as Lovecraftian ever seem to draw from Through the Gates of the Silver Key or The Mound or The Street.

Though admittedly, the world is better with fewer things inspired by "The Street."

These were the main thought I had when I was reading Historical Lovecraft. I guess that the actual description does say horror and doesn't mention anything about even being inspired by Lovecraft, and the introduction just mentions that they were hoping that fans of Lovecraft as well as historical fiction would enjoy it. As a fan of both, though perhaps one more than the other, I did enjoy it, but I didn't enjoy all parts of it equally.

A lot of the stories felt to me like just historical horror stories that were thrown in to help include certain time periods but had basically no Lovecraft connection at all. For example, "Pralaya: the Disaster" is about an old kingdom on Malaysia, the earthquake that causes volcanic eruptions, and the people moving to safety. That's pretty much it. Other than some throw-away lines about creepy temples up on the hillside, there's no Lovecraft in here at all, and barely any horror unless the unrelenting indifference of nature to human suffering counts as horror, which admittedly a pretty good case could be made for. "The City of Ropes" is about tenth-century Rome and Italian politics and a dead woman put on trial, but no amount of the writer describing how creepy the protagonist found the woman's corpse or even the protagonist pleading her case before the prince as though possessed made it Lovecraftian. It was just a ghost story, and that only by implication.

"Silently, Without Cease" is about the Plague of Justinian, which is cool, but is a straight devil's bargain story with Nyarlathotep in the place of the devil, which is bad. I get that Nyarlathotep shows up in Dreams in the Witch-house in essentially that capacity, but the difference there is that it doesn't have any speaking lines and it's all the interpretation of the protagonist. In "Silently, Without Cease," it literally walks in and offers Justinian the devil's bargain. Boring. "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins" is a straightforward "Fall of the House of Usher"-style tale of a cursed family with terrible secrets. Having the boy speak "R'lyehian" and the girl have gills doesn't make it Lovecraftian.

I don't have the space, and you probably don't have the patience, for me to keep going on like that, so instead I'll talk about the stories I did like.

"Black Leaves" is about creepy trees, essentially, but I actually liked it a lot because it manages to effectively convey that sense of the Other that Lovecraft used to great effect. It's difficult to write about ordinary things that are different enough to be wrong and awful--see the infamous chicken that is not a chicken scene--but I thought the story did a good job. "What Hides and What Returns" is on a similar theme, and though it's not quite as effective, I still liked it. Though I admit that I'm a bit more leery of the "white people come seeking ancient wisdom from colonized culture, find out terrible secret, and suffer" trope now than I was when I first read Lovecraft, but "What Hides and What Returns" does it as well as it can be done. It has a non-white protagonist, for one thing.

My favorite stories were absolutely "The Chronicle of Aliyat son of Aliyat" and "The Saga of Hilda Asgardóttir," which both shared the common characteristic of being written in the style of the cultural literature they were drawn from--Biblical narrative and Icelandic saga, respectively. The constant poetic dual repetition in "The Chronicle" was exactly how Biblical poetry sounds when read, and all the dialogue in "The Saga" was written in verse. "The Saga" also had the classic ending of an Icelandic saga but through a Lovecraftian lens, and on further thought, "The Saga of Hilda Asgardóttir" is definitely my favorite story from Historical Lovecraft.

There's also a Sherlock Holmes story in here too, and while "The Second Theft of Alhazred's Manuscript" isn't amazing, I thought it was nice enough. And "Black Hill" wins points for the observation that modern society is built on oil, and oil is basically ancient corpses, meaning we are all grave-digging necromancers.

"An Interrupted Sacrifice" was great because it's one of the few stories in the book that actually deals with madness. Most of the stories have ordinary people without any sign of distress or harm. For exampple, "Inquisition" has a shoggoth being put to the question with apparently no problems, which I find a bit improbable, but "An Interrupted Sacrifice" has people who are alien to our perspective--they're fine with human sacrifice, for example--but still come away broken and changed by their contact with the Outside. It has has my two favorite individual parts of the book: a deity named "Spider Decapitator God," which is probably the most metal deity name I've ever seen, and my favorite quote:

An open eye called to the sky.
The blood of man called to the land.
A mind broken free – insanity – called to the sea.

And if that's not a perfect sum up of a lot of Lovecraft's work, I ask you, what is?

There are a few treasures in here, but I mostly found it either uninspired or I was curious why it was here at all. The rating I gave it based on the number of stories I liked compared to the ones I didn't, but it's a bit higher than that might suggest because I found most stories to be passing at best. There were only a few I loved, but I didn't hate any of them, so the final rating doesn't imply that half the stories are good, because they aren't. I'm glad I got this on sale, but if it is on sale, the stories that are good are worth the price of the others.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing concept, the stories well.... there are some gems here but after a while the stories become dult and star to blend together.

★★★★★
•The God Lurking in Stone, Andrew Dombalagian
•Shadows of the Darkest Jade, Sarah Hans
•An Idol for Emiko,Travis Heermann
•Silently, Without Cease, Daniel Mills

★★★★
•The Seeder From the Stars, Julio Toro San Martin
•The Chronicle of Aliyat Son of Aliyat, Alter S. Reiss

★★★
•Ahuizotl, Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas
•The Second Theft of Alhazred’s Manuscript, Bradley H. Sinor
•Deus ex Machina, Nathaniel Katz
•The Far Deep, Joshua Reynolds
•The Good Bishop Pays the Price, Martha Hubbard

★★
•The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins, Molly Tanzer
•If Only to Taste Her Again, E. Catherine Tobler
•The City of Ropes, Albert Tucher
•Inquisitor, William Meikle
•Black Leaves, Mason Ian Bundschuh
•Black Hill, Orrin Gray

★
•An Interrupted Sacrifice, Mae Empson
•Pralaya: The Disaster, Y.W. Purnomosidhi
•The Saga of Hilde Ansgardóttir, Jesse Bullington
•City of Witches, Regina Allen
•Red Star, Yellow Sign, Leigh Kimmel
•Amundsen’s Last Run, Nathalie Boisard-Beudin
•Ngiri’s Catch, Aaron Polson
•What Hides and What Returns, Bryan Thao Worra
•Found in a Trunk from Extremadura, Meddy Ligner

[Cristina Urdiales · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes a number of Lovecraft inspired stories starting from the stone age until XIX century. As in any multi-autor story compilation, some tales are really good, some are just ok and some are -in my humble opinion- better forgotten as soon as possible (plus there is one unrelated to Lovecraft that has been freely included for no apparent reason other that to point out that there's a whole series by the author with the same characters; really, dudes?). Still, if one is a Lovecraft fan -i.e. the target population of the book- they'll probably enjoy it as a whole.

[The Smoog · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been looking forward to getting my hands on this collection for a while now, but unfortunately for the most part it fails to deliver. While there are a handful of good stories, for the most part they’re just pretty "meh," and there are a couple that are plain bad/confusing (as well as one that was really only a history lesson). The standouts here for me were Travis Heermann's "An Idol for Emiko" and Molly Tanzer's "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins," most of the others are instantly forgettable or simply a chore.

[Dawn Cancellieri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of theme anthologies, but this one felt a little forced to me. There were some great historical stories in their own right, but it seemed that some of the horror elements were shoehorned into the story, as well as the Lovecraft themes, reducing their effectiveness. Some of the stories appeared to have been written at another time, then reworked to fit the theme of the anthology as the horror and Lovecraft elements felt superfluous and even confusing.

[Geof Sage · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this had been good. I wish it had done anything but be bland and dull and disappointing. Only one of the stories rose above the rest and only two of the remainder had any staying power.

I'm especially disappointed because Mexican Gothic channeled all of this better; maybe Silvia Moreno-Garcia is simply a better author than (co-)editor.

[Athena Beanbowl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this anthology actually. I picked this out because of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's name and for Lovecraft. It's out of publication so I had to download a pdf to my kindle. I'm happy I was able to find a copy because I loved this. The stories go in order of historical timeline, so it began in medieval period. I love medieval history and eldritch horrors, so it was perfect.

[Marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous anthology that adds to - and engages with - the Lovecraftian mythos. I particularly enjoyed the stories set in ancient time periods, which were so far up my alley that they might as well have been written for me specifically.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Innsmouth Free Press is a Canadian micro-publisher of dark/supernatural fiction and horror, with a focus (as their name implies) on the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. The submissions page for this particular anthology called for "Historical fiction with a Lovecraftian twist" (up to 1937, the year of Lovecraft's death) with an emphasis on multiculturalism. That last part especially caught my interest. His ideas may have been original, but Lovecraft was mired in deep racism that was excessive even by the standards of his own day. Most notably, the various cults and cosmic horrors they worship are associated with marginalized communities such as immigrants, the poor, the disabled and mentally ill, and racial and ethnic minorities. The deformed mutants and "blasphemous fish-frogs" of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" represent the dangers of miscegenation and the foreign pollution of Anglo-America, with a final revelation that recalls the infamous "one-drop rule." The sanity-shattering monstrousness of an Eldrtich Abominations comes from its sheer alienness rather than any special ability. At its core, Lovecraftian horror is about fear of the unknown and unfamiliar (and not to mention sex and seafood).

Historical Lovecraft, on the other hand, takes the Lovecraft out of New England and sets him down in Africa, Europe, China, Indonesia, Latin America, and the Middle East, where a Byzantine bishop, a Javanese medicine man, Laotian guides, Stalinist officials, and a Moche priestess face terrors from the stars above and from the earth and waters below. It's like that moment of recognition between the Polynesian medicine man and the Yankee sailors in Pierre Comtois's "The Old Ones' Signs" from Tales Out of Innsmouth: "He says he knew we would come around to see him sooner or later. That any normal man, even sickly looking white men, would be repulsed by what had happened to his own people and be compelled to seek out their own kind. . . We white men always think ourselves the superior of other races, and now we can see just how closely related we really are to them." It is no longer a threat of foreign freaks and their arcane gods threatening Massachusetts but a diverse array of humans dealing with powerful beings and dark forces in a variety of culturally-prescribed manners. Though not quite a deconstruction - scary things are still pretty scary - Historical Lovecraft explores how people from different backgrounds might deal with the reality of Cosmic Horror.

Despite the global setting, the stories together reveal a general procession from a "primitive" acceptance of the fantastic to the modern outlook that interprets the supernatural as unnatural violations of scientific law. The "Ancient History" and "Middle Ages" sections tend to place Cthulhu & Co. in the context of established practices and beliefs. Y.W. Purnomosidhi's "Pralaya: The Disaster" is unusual in that nothing Lovecraftian actually happens, but the primeval force of the Mount Merapi volcano is subtly likened to a sleeping monster (such as Cthulhu) that brings destruction upon its awakening. This pagan idea of nature as something alive and active in its own right is ironically revisited in Orrin Gray's "Black Hill," set in the oil fields of the American Midwest in the early 1900s. Possibly the most modern piece is Bradley H. Sinor's "The Second Theft of Alhazred's Manuscript," which follows Sherlock Holmes and Watson on the trail of a missing edition of the Necronomicon. Holmes's faith in science and logic simply does not allow room for old-fashioned superstition and other such nonsense. Even the extraordinary events of the case are blamed on a "hallucinogenic of some sort pumped into the room via the gas outlets."

Although most of the stories were unique and entertaining in their own ways, the crown jewel of the collection isn't until the very end. "Found in a Trunk from Extremadura" by Meddy Ligner (a French translation!) is a circular, non-linear narrative that it begins and ends with that trademark Lovecraftian madness. (It is also the only Mythos work I've ever read besides the webcomic Lovecraft is Missing that includes the Master himself as a character without being hokey about it.) Also of note is Sarah Hans's "Shadows of the Darkest Jade," which inverts the old "Mighty Whitey vs. Savage Cultists" trope by putting a pair of Tibetan Buddhist monks in the role of civilized outsiders who stumble upon something too horrible to describe. Really the only story I disliked was "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins" by Molly Tanzer, which seemed intent on outdoing itself in shock value. Along with the "antiquated" prose it was more eye-rolling than anything else.

Historical Lovecraft is the first book from the Innsmouth Free Press that I've read and I was not disappointed. They are a great publisher with a commitment to increasing the visibility of women and people of color in speculative fiction and I salute them for it. Even if you don't get to one of their books, the website is still well worth a visit.

Original Review

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of these seemed amateurish, but mostly some pretty decent Cthulhu Mythos stories.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was cleaning up some kindle downloads a while back, I realized that my husband had downloaded Historical Lovecraft years ago, which was good news to me because a) I had wanted to read it for a long time and b) sadly, it seems no longer available, which is a real shame because this is a wonderful anthology of Lovecraftian stories set in historical times around the world and (thankfully!) not all in Victorian England (save for one).

Starting with a prehistoric tale, we are taken through Laos, Peru, a Viking saga, decaying Dark Ages Rome, Soviet Russia (one of my favorites) and so many more times and places all centering on classic Lovecraftian themes and tropes. Some stories were a bit weak (I glazed over at yet another Sherlock Holmes-meets-Lovecraftian-themes but I supposed you almost have to include them at this point) but the outing for a relatively obscure collection (co-edited by now renowned horror author Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Innsmouth Free Press ‘zine editor Paula Stiles) is exceptionally strong and I really which it would get rereleased (or even a follow-up!).

Highly recommended for fans of Lovecraftian horror (naturally) and historical horror.

[Kimmo Makinen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical Lovecraft

"The addition of tentacles does not a Lovecraftian story make", would Yoda say if he ever would read this collection of short stories that
should encompass tales of Lovecraftian-influenced mystery and horror set in different periods of Terra's history. The concept - while intriguing in itself - barely holds water here as the vast majority of stories included in this collection have absolutely nothing to do with Lovecraftian fiction in neither verse, themes nor style. What's more condemning is that a number of stories have little if anything to do with horror fiction being merely dramatic accounts of events with somewhat mysterious backdrops. Some do, however, resonate deeply with how HPL saw the universe in his fiction but those stories are too far and few between. In fact the addition of Mythos/Lovecraftian elements in many stories feel overly self-indulgent and/or forced to the point of awkwardness.

Quite the number of stories didn't live up to the expectations boldly set forth in the title - Historical Lovecraft. In fact I find the title teetering on the edge of calculated deception as the material included was in many cases just historical tales with nary a hint of Lovecraftian mystery being present. While I was not impressed with the anthology in it's entirety, I did find some hidden gems that saved this collection from oblivion. Namely the stories by Jesse Bullington (The Saga of Hilde Ansgardottir), William Meikle (Inquisitor), Molly Tanzer (The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins) and Sarah Hans (Shadows of the Darkest Jade). Many other included stories played it too safe or didn't play at all. Some had no business in this collection and some I found simply boring and dull. It tells a lot that in some cases I found the interludes telling about the authors more intriguing and engaging than the actual stories they had written. Rating an anthology becomes that much harder when the included stories have no common denominators whatsoever (apart from being fictive short stories), do not follow a predefined structure or guideline, thematic concept or style.

The concept should span stories of Lovecraftian influence set in different time periods. The anthology partly fails this premise. While some of the stories adhere to the premise, too many are simply mystery stories with slapped on hints of the Old Ones to sugar coat the stories into fitting this collection. I don't regret picking up the anthology since I did find some thrilling enjoyment within it's array of uneven stories (quality-wise) but all in all I feel that the few better stories are unfortunately drowned out by lesser works. Thus my rating is a mere 2/5.

[Lianne Burwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always find anthologies difficult to review, since there are going to be stories that work for each reader and stories that didn't. There's also the question of theme anthologies, since you if you read multiple anthologies on a theme, you're going to see stories repeated. In the case of this anthology, only one story was one I had previously read.

Historical Lovecraft takes on the Lovecraft mythos (although there was one story that I still don't see as being very Lovecraftian at all), and sets stories in various historical periods, roughly divided into Ancient times, the Middle Ages, and more Modern times.

My favorite stories were:

The Seeder From the Stars by Julio Toro San Martin is set in the ancient middle east, where wars were a constant part of life, and a priestess summons up dark forces to protect her father's lands and the conflict with a man who was an adopted child turned rebel.

Silently, Without Cease by Daniel Mills is set during a time of plague in Constantinople, in which the emperor is offered a choice where neither choice was really a good one.

The Good Bishop Pays the Price by Martha Hubbard had an interesting twist with religious men sent into the mountains to burn banned books, but the books are alive, and they fight back.

City of Witches by Regina Allen is a story set in Africa during the slave trade, and set in ruins deep in the jungle, where a slaver and a slave have to work together to survive.

An Idol for Emiko by Travis Heermann takes the story of Innsmouth and does a variation set in Japan.

The Second Theft of Alhazred's Manuscript by Bradley H Sinor caught me off guard, because it's a Sherlock Holmes story in which he investigates the theft of a copy of the Necronomicon.

Ngiri's Catch by Aaron Polson is another story of Colonial Africa, from the point of view of a child fleeing war on a refugee river boat.

Amundsen's Last Run by Nathalie Boisard-Beudin is the tale of the end of the famous explorer on a return to Antarctica, but gives it a Lovecraftian twist.

Red Star, Yellow Sign by Leigh Kimmel involves Cthulhu cults controlling the Soviet government.

Unfortunately there were also a few stories that just did not work for me, which lowers the score for the anthology as a whole. Still, it was definitely worth the price of admission.

[Heidi Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical Lovecraft is a collection of mostly pretty good weird stories, albeit one in which the editors seem to be using the term "Lovecraftian" pretty loosely. (No, you don't have to use the words "Cthulhu" or "fhtagn"; but a story about people fleeing a volcanic eruption isn't necessarily "Lovecraftian." Especially if it ends with happy resettlement.)

The book is divided into sections -- "Ancient History," "Middle Ages" and "Modern Era" -- and I felt the stories generally improved as they got closer to the modern section. Ironically, the Great Old Ones don't seem to mesh with Mesopotamia (or Egypt or Rome) as well as one might think.

Still, Historical Lovecraft contains a number of entertaining tales: Molly Tanzer's comically twisted Gorey-meets-Lovecraft "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins"; William Meikle's chilling "Inquisitor"; and the Innsmouth-influenced "An Idol for Emiko" by Travis Hermann are standouts. There's also a fun Sherlock/Lovecraft mash-up (two great things that go great together!) called "The Second Theft of Alhazred's Manuscript," by Bradley Sinor. (And I just noticed every one of those is found in the "Modern Era" section.)

It's often hard to rate an anthology with the star system, since the material therein can vary wildly. Some of these stories are 4.5s, but some are only 2.5s. I'm going with a 3 star average here. Borrow it or get it cheap on Kindle . . . this one's probably not worth precious shelf-space.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two things I love: Lovecraftian fiction and anthologies. These stories are some very good example of the first, but a few of the stories show that this isn't the best example of the latter. There are some stories here that aren't really Lovecraftian, one of which isn't even a horror story. However, the bulk of these short stories are good, scary, tentacular tales of terror.

The juxtaposition of a dark supernatural influence in some of history's darkest moments is a chilling reminder that we really don't know what happened in days long gone, and we may never know why someone would choose to do the things they do, especially when those things are actions that would seem incomprehensible in normal circumstances. Perhaps something from...outside affected them.

When HPL and his friends wrote their stories they included each others' characters, locations and "eldritch tomes" in their stories creating a sense that, maybe, these magical texts and legends were really true. This volume capitalizes on that feeling by using actual historical events as backdrop or context for the stories. The reality of the settings, if not the actual events, adds an extra level of spooky.

[Ada Hoffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is for the most part a delightful collection of stories in diverse settings and by diverse authors. The stories are entertaining and go by at a quick pace. They range throughout a huge variety of historical settings, from the Neolithic to the early 20th century, and on five of the seven continents. Sometimes the Lovecraftian implications of a particular historical event are explored; some authors explore how historical non-Western cultures with non-Western ways of dealing with mythology might have reacted to the presence of Lovecraftian beings; other times the setting is merely a refreshing new location for a familiar Lovecraftian story arc.

I would have given four stars if not for the presence of several stories which make use of very blatantly ableist tropes. In particular, more than one story features a developmentally disabled character who is portrayed only as a burden and annoyance to their family and then somehow becomes a vector for cosmic evil. From a publisher which is otherwise very devoted to progressive re-imaginations of Lovecraft's mythos, I found this disappointing.

[Jeff Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite ending with the worst story of the collection, this series of historical tales were quite enjoyable. Lovecraft often wove historical facts into his stories to give them a sense of past and drawing a more epic scope. Many of these tales succeed in doing the same. Whether they are directly referencing HPL or his creations, or just capturing the style of cosmic horror that he was so well known for. I have read a number of Lovecraftian short story collections. This is far from the best. But just as far from the worst as well. There are a number of really intriguing tales in this collection.