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Demiurg
For more than thirty years, Michael Shea has been making his own distinctive contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos devised by H. P. Lovecraft—an entire universe of gods and monsters that hundreds of writers have imitated. But Shea has done a lot more than merely mimic Lovecraft’s prose or add a new god or “forbidden book” to the Mythos. In his Mythos tales, Shea has infused his own unique vision and perspective.
The much-reprinted “Fat Face” takes us into the seedy underworld of prostitutes and drug dealers in San Francisco, while other tales such as “Dagoniad,” “Copping Squid,” and “Tsathoggua” vividly meld Lovecraftian cosmic horror with the contemporary world of California, with its swimming pools and beachcombers. Shea was also fascinated with Lovecraft’s novel of Antarctic horror, At the Mountains of Madness, and his stories “Under the Shelf” and “Beneath the Beardmore” take us to that frozen land of death and terror.
The title story, “Demiurge,” is a previously unpublished novella that draws upon Lovecraft’s tales of psychic possession in its chilling portrayal of a nameless monster who may be the harbinger of the overthrow of the entire human race.
The much-reprinted “Fat Face” takes us into the seedy underworld of prostitutes and drug dealers in San Francisco, while other tales such as “Dagoniad,” “Copping Squid,” and “Tsathoggua” vividly meld Lovecraftian cosmic horror with the contemporary world of California, with its swimming pools and beachcombers. Shea was also fascinated with Lovecraft’s novel of Antarctic horror, At the Mountains of Madness, and his stories “Under the Shelf” and “Beneath the Beardmore” take us to that frozen land of death and terror.
The title story, “Demiurge,” is a previously unpublished novella that draws upon Lovecraft’s tales of psychic possession in its chilling portrayal of a nameless monster who may be the harbinger of the overthrow of the entire human race.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
219 people are currently reading
542 people want to read
About the author
Michael Shea
73 books196 followersFor the British author of thrillers and non-fiction see Michael Shea
Michael Shea (1946-2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author who lived in California. He was a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and his works include Nifft the Lean (1982) (winner of the World Fantasy Award) and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) (later republished together as The Incomplete Nifft, 2000), as well as The ARak (2000) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985).
Michael Shea (1946-2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author who lived in California. He was a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and his works include Nifft the Lean (1982) (winner of the World Fantasy Award) and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) (later republished together as The Incomplete Nifft, 2000), as well as The ARak (2000) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 24, 2018
I remember the exact moment when I first encountered H.P. Lovecraft’s work. It was eighth grade, and I had just walked out of the lunch room onto the Mission Junior High School courtyard when I heard someone behind me yell my name. I turned, bracing for a fight (which happened frequently at that school – think bully jocks and all that rot), but found one of my good friends, John Hayes (who has since passed away from a heart attack, just a few years ago) running up to me with a book in his hand. “Do you want this?” he asked. The cover was that of a skull with brains exploding out of holes in the top of its head entitled Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. I was intrigued. If I recall correctly, John said something like “My mom says I can’t keep this book. Do you want it?”. My response was something like “hellz, yeah”! Thanks, Mrs. Hayes!
And so, my journey into Lovecraft and those who shared his mythos began. I can honestly say that this book changed my life and sent me in directions I otherwise would never have explored. It was a rich stepping off point for many of my interests in life (existentialism, philosophy in general, avant classical music, surreal cinema, etc). It has made my life richer. Since then, I have read much and written a few pieces that would be considered “Lovecraftian,” along with a piece or two (read and written) that riff directly off of Lovecraft’s creations.
I still hold a great deal of fondness of weird fiction. Not “Weird” with a capital “W”, necessarily. This has become a marketing category that I’m becoming unenchanted with. Well, not “becoming,” now that I’ve finished this book. I am, I think, fully ready to leave “Weird” fiction for “weird” fiction. I still love the strange, the metaphysical, love cosmic horror and the “Lovecraftian,” but more as a concept than as a marketing category/genre.
I have heard a great deal about Michael Shea’s work and how amazing it is. Forgive my bluntness, but, while Shea’s writing style is excellent, his ideas, characters, and plots are mostly hackneyed. Yes, I know, that’s no way to talk about a dead man who can’t defend himself, but really: as a thirteen-year old, I would probably have loved this work. But I’ve grown up a little and my reading tastes have matured, as a result. I see the potential for greatness here – Shea’s writing, as I have said, is quite good, borderline exquisite, at times. But the matrix in which the beautiful syntax is set happens to be broken or, at best, boring. It’s like setting a single diamond in the middle of a bracelet that is composed of glass baubles. The diamond is cheapened by its setting, and the baubles look even worse in comparison.
With that, here are my story notes:
Groveling at the altar of Lovecraft, no matter how eloquently, is still groveling at the altar of Lovecraft. Clever turns of phrase cannot save a weak, thin, and most of all, unsubtle story. My disenchantment with the "mythos" grows. This is fanfic. Well-written fanfic, but fanfic nonetheless. Two stars to "Fat Face," and I think that's being overly generous. I hope this collection improves or . . . lem!
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" sings prettily, but the lyrics are shallow and hackneyed. Three stars and I am quickly losing all patience with this collection. (note that I did read to the end, surprisingly).
In "The Presentation," street art meets comix meets the 1% meets . . . something . . . beyond. While I didn't enjoy the metaphysical aspect of it, this was a pretty good story. The writing, the syntax, the vocabulary were all impressive, but the metafictional aspect of it was quite jarring. Not great, but worth the read. Three stars floating in space around a cosmic blob in the void.
“The Pool”: Again with the metafiction and the outright references to Lovecraft and the extreme strain to my willing suspension of disbelief? Is there no subtlety? Bleh. One step closer to lemming this. (note again that I showed great restraint in not tossing this book). Two stars. If there's another two star, I'm quitting. (I didn’t – shame on me). Life's too short, even with well-written sentences. A waste of talent. But hey, I'm not Shea. Still, bleh.
"The Recruiter" is the kind of story I was hoping for from this collection. A modern dirge of timeless dread. An existential survey of the landscape of death and being. And not one mention of Cthulhu or any of his cronies, at least not directly. Four stars. Pushing on . . .
"The Battery" is a pulp fiction story in the vein of Lovecraft. Maybe too much in the vein of Lovecraft. Frankly, I couldn't get excited about the characters, the premise, or all the Lovecraftian doo-dads. Two stars.
"Copping Squid" is a great story. Far and away better than all the other stories in this collection. Sacrifice and complicity create a tangled web, with some deep characterization, as a result. The horror is just as much in the inner contemplation of decisions as it is in the outward cosmic forces that feed on the universe. This story is a darkly wonderful exploration of agency and respectful awe vis-a-vis stark terror. Five stars. Does this long story make it worth it to buy the whole collection? No. Not by a long shot. But it’s a great story that deserves your attention. Unfortunately, I don’t know where else you might find it. Remember my earlier analogy about a diamond among baubles? Yeah . . .
Dear "Dagoniad", I'm sorry, but we just can't go on like this. Your blunt granting of "mythos" knowledge (and your characters even call it "mythos" knowledge) to common hookers is, well, just obscene. Not because of the hookers, mind you, but because of the unashamed way in which you spit in the face of willing suspension of disbelief. It’s not a wink and a nudge, it’s like you’re opening your trench coat and exposing yourself to strangers on the street. You're the kind of story that would take it for granted that everyone reads Lovecraft and knows everything about the mythos because they read it. Yuck! Uh-uh. No more. We can't go on. One star. Next story up, please.
I'm torn. Some of the writing in "Tsathoggua" is exquisite, Especially the segments about Maureen's transformation. But, again, "deus ex machina" comes in the form of someone, introduced halfway through the story with no preamble, who just happens to have all this mythos knowledge. Honestly, it's getting really, really tiresome. Three stars.
Nothing really happened "Beneath the Beardmore". The protagonists didn't do much protagonizing, and there was a lot of explaining about Shoggoths and tentacles and stuff. But the characters were flat and unimpressive. Meh. All the trimmings and none of the substance of cosmic horror. The poetic voice of the "guide" was at least intriguing. But only intriguing enough to earn three stars.
When I read the words Great Old Ones Ale near the beginning of the story, I thought that "Momma Durtt" might end up a puerile, trivial, mimetic, unoriginal,, silly, bleached-out shell of worn-out Lovecraftian elements that tried in vain to be funny and horrific and the more it tried the worse it became, until it nose-dived into a downward spiral of inane dreck.
And I was right. One star.
Why, yes, of course every Antarctic submarine researcher carries a Tommy gun with them, just in case. And riding a submarine down an icy slope like a bobsled is perfectly believable. Isn't it? "Under the Shelf" comes in under three stars. Two, to be exact.
"Demiurge" is an interesting take on what it's like to be an alien intelligence possessing others' bodies that ends as the most ridiculous thing in the entire collection. It was pretty good until the last page, then, UGH! Three stars.
In essence, my problem is with the bare-faced mansplaining that goes on in the guise of some expert on “the mythos” suddenly showing up out of nowhere and exposing all the mysteries of said “mythos” to protagonists who either just accept what is given them or become so awestruck that you expect them to suddenly yell out “dude, that’s totally rad!” whenever a Shoggoth appears (and Shea had an unhealthy obsession with Shoggoths). It got old. It’s still old. Maybe I’m just getting old. But I can’t do this anymore. Going forward, I am very likely to avoid anything that directly takes Lovecraft’s creatures as inspiration, at least those, like this, that are borderline fanfic (if not outright fanfic). I’m all about the cosmic horror, all about strange stories, but I think I’ve done with tentacles in my fiction. I’ve got plenty of boardgames and roleplaying games if I want tentacles. I am banishing them from my plane of existence. Ia, Ia!
September 4, 2021
A exceedingly fantastic collection from Shea, showcasing his incredible writing chops and his unique talent for blending terrifying Cthulu mythos based horrors with the stark, gritty underbelly of urban society. Shea's favored protagonists consist of the down and out people of the streets and the rootless underclass, often taking the form of hookers, pimps, addicts, the homeless, the old and the frail. They, and the settings, take on a familiar feel from one story to another. Indeed, several of the stories take place in and around the Hyperion Hotel, a San Francisco flophouse modeled from Shea's own experience as a night clerk in a similarly decrepit establishment.
All of the stories are essentially a mix of the fast-paced, outrageous and sometimes even campy with a truly terrifying foreboding where the great old ones lurk, poised to wreak havoc on our world. Some lean decidedly more in one direction or the other. One is struck by Shea's penchant for not only terrifying readers but also imparting a sense of discovery, awe and exultation at the soul shattering cosmic revelations that are simultaneously bone chilling and miraculous, as well as a sense of defiance in the face of unimaginable evil.
Standouts for me include Fat Face, Beneath the Bearmore, Copping Squid, Tsathoggua and The Recruiter. This last essentially serves as the basis for Shea's magnificent recently published full-length novel Mr. Cannyharme: A Novel of Lovecraftian Terror.
All of the stories are essentially a mix of the fast-paced, outrageous and sometimes even campy with a truly terrifying foreboding where the great old ones lurk, poised to wreak havoc on our world. Some lean decidedly more in one direction or the other. One is struck by Shea's penchant for not only terrifying readers but also imparting a sense of discovery, awe and exultation at the soul shattering cosmic revelations that are simultaneously bone chilling and miraculous, as well as a sense of defiance in the face of unimaginable evil.
Standouts for me include Fat Face, Beneath the Bearmore, Copping Squid, Tsathoggua and The Recruiter. This last essentially serves as the basis for Shea's magnificent recently published full-length novel Mr. Cannyharme: A Novel of Lovecraftian Terror.
January 27, 2018
Well presented collection of some of Michael Shea's Mythos fiction. I'm pleased to recommend this to any Mythos/ Lovecraft fans, as I find the author to be a criminally underrated contributor to the genre.
Though it's been reprinted quite a bit, the story "Fat Face" alone is worth the price of admission for this collection!
Though it's been reprinted quite a bit, the story "Fat Face" alone is worth the price of admission for this collection!
Currently reading
October 7, 2020Wow, gleich die erste Story, FAT FACE, hat mich umgehauen!
Michael Shea erzählt die Geschichte aus der Perspektive einer Prostituierte im Los Angeles unserer Tage. Patti ist psychisch angeschlagen, nimmt Medikamente und hält sich mit Drogen und Alkohol über Wasser. In einem Fenster gegenüber des Hotels, in dem sie ihrem Gewerbe nachgeht, sieht sie häufiger das freundliche Gesicht eines korpulenten Mannes. Patti ist im Herzen ein etwas naives Dorfgewächs geblieben, die gerne freundlich/freundschaftliche Beziehungen zu ihrem sozialen Umfeld pflegt - auch wenn es hauptsächlich aus Zuhältern, Freiern und Nutten besteht. Darum entschließt sie sich, gemeinsam mit einer Freundin FAT FACE - dem dicken Mann von gegenüber - einen "Freundschaftsdienst" zu erweisen. Kurz darauf stürzt ihre ihre Welt immer schneller in einen Abgrund.
Hell und freundlich ist das Leben von Patti von Anfang an nicht, aber als sie in den Strudel der Ereignisse gerät, die hier erzählt werden, wird das Gefühlt der Einsamkeit und Verlorenheit immer greifbarer und bedrückender. Schon allein diese Vorboten des Schreckens vermitteln ein Gefühl des Unbehagens, den ich so oft vergeblich bei Horrorgeschichten suche. Aber es sind tatsächlich nur Vorboten ...
Die Geschichte aus der Perspektive einer nicht gerade intelligenten Nutte zu erzählen und trotzdem den Leser dazu zu bringen, dass er mitfiebert, ist keine kleine Leistung, die Shea hier mit Bravour gelingt. Grundlage der Story ist Lovecrafts Cthulhu=Mythos, den Michael Shea über Jahrzehnte fortgeschrieben hat. Dabei übernimmt er die Elemente, aber nicht HPLs antiquierten Erzählton. Die Shoggothen, die wir aus Berge des Wahnsinns kennen, treffen wir nun im heutigen Kalifornien wieder; von ihrem Schrecken büßen sie dadurch nichts ein, im Gegenteil: Ich wünschte, ich hätte mich bei HPL so gegruselt wie bei FAT FACE!
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT
Ob es eine gute Idee für eine junge Pornodarstellerin ist, sich mit einem Cthulhu=Adepten zu verheiraten, sei dahingestellt. An Scheidung sollte sie dann allerdings besser nicht denken und schon gar nicht später mit einem Pornodarsteller im Schloss des verlassenen Ehemannes Sexfilmchen drehen wollen.
Der dämonische Racheplan läuft wie ein Uhrwerk und irgendwie, ganz irgendwie möchte der Leser sich ja fast die Hände reiben bei so viel Genugtuung, die dem Ex-Mann / Erzähler widerfährt.
Die Rachegeschichte hat viele Anklänge an Poe und Lovecraft, zudem ist sie so bildhaft erzählt, dass ich sie vor meinem inneren Auge wie einen alten SW-Film aus den Hammer Studios ablaufen sah.
(Und als Arno Schmidt-Leser bin ich auch noch mit einer Mondmetapher auf meine Kosten gekommen: "And the moon - that giant, cosmic coin, new-minted"
Michael Shea erzählt die Geschichte aus der Perspektive einer Prostituierte im Los Angeles unserer Tage. Patti ist psychisch angeschlagen, nimmt Medikamente und hält sich mit Drogen und Alkohol über Wasser. In einem Fenster gegenüber des Hotels, in dem sie ihrem Gewerbe nachgeht, sieht sie häufiger das freundliche Gesicht eines korpulenten Mannes. Patti ist im Herzen ein etwas naives Dorfgewächs geblieben, die gerne freundlich/freundschaftliche Beziehungen zu ihrem sozialen Umfeld pflegt - auch wenn es hauptsächlich aus Zuhältern, Freiern und Nutten besteht. Darum entschließt sie sich, gemeinsam mit einer Freundin FAT FACE - dem dicken Mann von gegenüber - einen "Freundschaftsdienst" zu erweisen. Kurz darauf stürzt ihre ihre Welt immer schneller in einen Abgrund.
Hell und freundlich ist das Leben von Patti von Anfang an nicht, aber als sie in den Strudel der Ereignisse gerät, die hier erzählt werden, wird das Gefühlt der Einsamkeit und Verlorenheit immer greifbarer und bedrückender. Schon allein diese Vorboten des Schreckens vermitteln ein Gefühl des Unbehagens, den ich so oft vergeblich bei Horrorgeschichten suche. Aber es sind tatsächlich nur Vorboten ...
Die Geschichte aus der Perspektive einer nicht gerade intelligenten Nutte zu erzählen und trotzdem den Leser dazu zu bringen, dass er mitfiebert, ist keine kleine Leistung, die Shea hier mit Bravour gelingt. Grundlage der Story ist Lovecrafts Cthulhu=Mythos, den Michael Shea über Jahrzehnte fortgeschrieben hat. Dabei übernimmt er die Elemente, aber nicht HPLs antiquierten Erzählton. Die Shoggothen, die wir aus Berge des Wahnsinns kennen, treffen wir nun im heutigen Kalifornien wieder; von ihrem Schrecken büßen sie dadurch nichts ein, im Gegenteil: Ich wünschte, ich hätte mich bei HPL so gegruselt wie bei FAT FACE!
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT
Ob es eine gute Idee für eine junge Pornodarstellerin ist, sich mit einem Cthulhu=Adepten zu verheiraten, sei dahingestellt. An Scheidung sollte sie dann allerdings besser nicht denken und schon gar nicht später mit einem Pornodarsteller im Schloss des verlassenen Ehemannes Sexfilmchen drehen wollen.
Der dämonische Racheplan läuft wie ein Uhrwerk und irgendwie, ganz irgendwie möchte der Leser sich ja fast die Hände reiben bei so viel Genugtuung, die dem Ex-Mann / Erzähler widerfährt.
Die Rachegeschichte hat viele Anklänge an Poe und Lovecraft, zudem ist sie so bildhaft erzählt, dass ich sie vor meinem inneren Auge wie einen alten SW-Film aus den Hammer Studios ablaufen sah.
(Und als Arno Schmidt-Leser bin ich auch noch mit einer Mondmetapher auf meine Kosten gekommen: "And the moon - that giant, cosmic coin, new-minted"
May 13, 2018
Blame Patton Oswalt!
Good mythos fiction not authored by Lovecraft himself is rare, superlative mythos fiction that leaves New England for California, trades fainting Caucasian intellectuals for people on the margins who aren't necessarily white or male and you might as well have ordered unicorn take out. Yet, here we are, with Michael Shea's collection of fiction every bit as concerned with the horrors beyond time and space as it is the lives that brush up against them. I'd never heard of this author prior to Patton's appearance on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast, and I am going to set out to find as much of his work as possible.
Good mythos fiction not authored by Lovecraft himself is rare, superlative mythos fiction that leaves New England for California, trades fainting Caucasian intellectuals for people on the margins who aren't necessarily white or male and you might as well have ordered unicorn take out. Yet, here we are, with Michael Shea's collection of fiction every bit as concerned with the horrors beyond time and space as it is the lives that brush up against them. I'd never heard of this author prior to Patton's appearance on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast, and I am going to set out to find as much of his work as possible.
August 26, 2018
I must confess that I just discovered recently Michael Shea’s fiction thanks to an easter egg in Laird Barron’s Blood Standard. Alas, most of his work seem to be out of print now. However, I came across a collection of Cthulhu mythos tales edited by S.T. Joshi in Dark Regions Press, and I fell in love.
This anthology not only showcases Shea’s craft as a writer, but also goes far beyond the Lovecraftian pastiche. The Cthulhu imagery comes alive in a context that Shea knew well - the San Francisco Bay Area -, offered with his mesmerizing ability of conveying vivid descriptions. But this is not just a Californian version of Lovecraft, Shea shifts the social origin of the main characters in the original Lovecraft stories to the lower circle of outcasts: prostitutes, rootless divorced construction workers, widowers bound to be homeless and drug dealers are in most cases the ones piercing the veil of reality in these tales.
As in all collections, there’s always stories that are better than others, but just for tales like “Fat Face”, “The Pool”, “Tsathoggua”, “The Recruiter”, “The Battery” and the previously unpublished, wonderfully strange, “Demiurge”, this book is worth of a 5-star rating. Even in lesser stories, Shea always manages to deal a haunting marriage of stunning beauty and perversion that makes this collection something to treasure.
This anthology not only showcases Shea’s craft as a writer, but also goes far beyond the Lovecraftian pastiche. The Cthulhu imagery comes alive in a context that Shea knew well - the San Francisco Bay Area -, offered with his mesmerizing ability of conveying vivid descriptions. But this is not just a Californian version of Lovecraft, Shea shifts the social origin of the main characters in the original Lovecraft stories to the lower circle of outcasts: prostitutes, rootless divorced construction workers, widowers bound to be homeless and drug dealers are in most cases the ones piercing the veil of reality in these tales.
As in all collections, there’s always stories that are better than others, but just for tales like “Fat Face”, “The Pool”, “Tsathoggua”, “The Recruiter”, “The Battery” and the previously unpublished, wonderfully strange, “Demiurge”, this book is worth of a 5-star rating. Even in lesser stories, Shea always manages to deal a haunting marriage of stunning beauty and perversion that makes this collection something to treasure.
June 19, 2019
Shea's Bay Area Cthulhu stories have several strengths: mastery of language, scene-building, and high skill with prose. Most neo-Cthulhu stories coming out today never rise above the level of fan fiction, but Shea is a stylist first, and the braiding of his Bay Area world with that of the Old Ones is at a very high aesthetic level. No occult detectives, no scholars seeking after the outre, no armed vigilantes or private dicks, just working people and people too old to work who find a fierce desire within themselves to defend their community when the shadows gather.
Full review:
http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com.jayr...
Full review:
http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com.jayr...
November 15, 2021
Vital
Shea's grasp of the characters of California life is a little astonishing--protagonists as likely to be women as men and from many social classes. This brings a vitality to the mythos stories often absent more faithful Lovecraftian tales. Strongly recommended.
Shea's grasp of the characters of California life is a little astonishing--protagonists as likely to be women as men and from many social classes. This brings a vitality to the mythos stories often absent more faithful Lovecraftian tales. Strongly recommended.
Read
April 30, 2025I tried.
I enjoyed the first story, but then, it began a slow slide downhill, seemingly constructed of shoggoths and HPL references, and the seamy underside of California.
When I read "The Presentation" and realized I'd been so uninterested that, seconds after finishing it, I couldn't tell you what it was about, then did pretty much the same with "The Battery" I knew it was time to bail.
Shea has a good narrative style, but very few of these stories grabbed me in the way a Lovecraftian story should.
DNF, no rating.
I enjoyed the first story, but then, it began a slow slide downhill, seemingly constructed of shoggoths and HPL references, and the seamy underside of California.
When I read "The Presentation" and realized I'd been so uninterested that, seconds after finishing it, I couldn't tell you what it was about, then did pretty much the same with "The Battery" I knew it was time to bail.
Shea has a good narrative style, but very few of these stories grabbed me in the way a Lovecraftian story should.
DNF, no rating.
May 19, 2024
Enjoyable collection of stories!
Michael Shea recently got a bit of a bump in popularity thanks to Cabinet of Curiosity adapting his story The Autopsy into visual format. That spurred me to check out his written word, and I proceeded to start with this collection instead of the one with that story. His writing draws me into his weird fiction and horror worlds. They feel very alive, and are a definite worthy set of entries into the halls of horror and/or fantasy. Check him out!
Michael Shea recently got a bit of a bump in popularity thanks to Cabinet of Curiosity adapting his story The Autopsy into visual format. That spurred me to check out his written word, and I proceeded to start with this collection instead of the one with that story. His writing draws me into his weird fiction and horror worlds. They feel very alive, and are a definite worthy set of entries into the halls of horror and/or fantasy. Check him out!
June 10, 2022
A very good collection of Lovecraftian short stories which, in contrast to other collections, doesn't seem to contain any mediocre ones. Although their scope is more limited, thus lacking in awe-inspiring imagery, they remain highly enjoyable throughout.
December 29, 2022
Having never read Shea, this collection has hooked me, albeit to an oeuvre cut all too short. A master of the Lovecraftian.
December 24, 2018
Excellent book. One of the best publishers. I'll write a longer review after the holidays.
May 30, 2023
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit", "The Pool", Copping Squid", "Dagoniad" are the highlights for me.
February 5, 2024
I was surprised that I did not like these stories very much. The stories did not have realistic characters, and was filled with absurd and unrealistic scenarios. I admit that the whole cosmic horror requires a suspension of belief, but I believe that realistic characters and realistic human interaction, combined with a knowledge of how the real-world works, can make cosmic horror effective. However the scenarios in these stories were frequently absurd- requiring regular suspension of beliefs in how real people behave, how government and private organizations function, and how basic Newtonian physics works.
May 23, 2018
Though there are a few duds in Shea's collection, Fat Face, Copping Squid, and the title giving Demiurge alone are worth the price of admission. In fact, I may write more on Demiurge in a later blog post as I can pretty explicitly tie it into the speculative realism/horror connection more writers are noticing recently.
October 16, 2022
Intended as a tribute but instead exposes Shea as being a generally fairly hit-and-miss writer when it came to Mythos material who never quite wrote anything to equal Fat Face - which, being compiled in the much better Cthulhu 2000 anthology, will already be in many readers' collections. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
January 13, 2019
I ended up not reading the entirety of this book because I couldn't get through several of the stories. There are gems in here, but they are not in the majority, and instead a lot of clunky writing and stereotyped characters.
January 1, 2018
Apart from one or two semi-ok stories, this collection does not hold much of interest for those searching for lovecraftian horrors. I suggest you read some Caitlin Kiernan or Ramsey Campbell instead!
February 19, 2024
Cool cover artwork by Aeron Alfrey, in an apparent illustration of "Beneath the Beardmore." There are a few annoying errors within the text. For example, in his introduction, S. T. Joshi refers to the leadoff novelette, "Fat Face," being set in San Francisco. It is set in Hollywood. (Perhaps an understandable mistake, since many of the stories are set in San Francisco.) He also cites an incorrect publication date for the first edition of same; it was published in 1987 by Axolotl Press--not 1988. And there are a few missteps within the stories, as when a "leech field" is repeatedly referred to in "The Battery." This was probably Shea's error, but still, someone should have proofread this, right? (What Shea meant was a field where pollutants leached into the soil, not a field of blood-sucking invertebrates.) And finally, Demiurge seems a lousy title for this collection, considering the titular story is a dud. Despite these complaints, we owe Joshi a debt for keeping these stories in print, and in a handsome and relatively affordable format.
What about the stories themselves? They run the gamut from excellent to what I would consider unpublishable (except that they are published, here).
"Fat Face" 4/5 stars. Suitably gritty update of the shoggoth menace.
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" 3/5 stars. An interesting revenge story, with references to both Poe and Lovecraft.
"The Presentation" 2/5 stars. Well-written, but somehow didn't quite work for me.
"The Pool" 4/5 stars. This one started slowly, but the climactic scene is something only Shea could have written. I was heartened to see that Shea still had his fastball this late in his career.
"The Recruiter" 1/5 stars.
"The Battery" 3/5 stars. Intriguing on several counts. Shea mixes Lovecraftian and Norse mythology, and the shoggoths make another appearance to good effect.
"Copping Squid" 5/5 stars. Five stars because this is probably the best story in the collection. Again, the final scene is Shea at his very best.
"Dagoniad" 1/5 stars. An extended chase serves as the plot, but fails to captivate.
"Tsathoggua" 2/5 stars. Like "The Battery," an intriguing idea, but goes on at too great a length for what it is; this should have been edited down to short story length, I think.
"Beneath the Beardmore" 2/5 stars. Extreme tourists encounter an apparent serial killer in the Antarctic, but things quickly veer in a completely different direction.
"Momma Durtt" 3/5 stars. I liked this one a lot for the characterization of the criminal protagonist.
"Under the Shelf" 0/5 stars. This has all the earmarks of being an abandoned rough draft. Published posthumously; I have to think that Shea himself would not have consented for this one to see the light of day.
"Demiurge" 1/5 stars. Despite arguments to the contrary, this is not a Cthulhu Mythos story. Shea squeezes a few moments of (black) humor out of this tale, but overall this is below his admittedly high standard.
What about the stories themselves? They run the gamut from excellent to what I would consider unpublishable (except that they are published, here).
"Fat Face" 4/5 stars. Suitably gritty update of the shoggoth menace.
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" 3/5 stars. An interesting revenge story, with references to both Poe and Lovecraft.
"The Presentation" 2/5 stars. Well-written, but somehow didn't quite work for me.
"The Pool" 4/5 stars. This one started slowly, but the climactic scene is something only Shea could have written. I was heartened to see that Shea still had his fastball this late in his career.
"The Recruiter" 1/5 stars.
"The Battery" 3/5 stars. Intriguing on several counts. Shea mixes Lovecraftian and Norse mythology, and the shoggoths make another appearance to good effect.
"Copping Squid" 5/5 stars. Five stars because this is probably the best story in the collection. Again, the final scene is Shea at his very best.
"Dagoniad" 1/5 stars. An extended chase serves as the plot, but fails to captivate.
"Tsathoggua" 2/5 stars. Like "The Battery," an intriguing idea, but goes on at too great a length for what it is; this should have been edited down to short story length, I think.
"Beneath the Beardmore" 2/5 stars. Extreme tourists encounter an apparent serial killer in the Antarctic, but things quickly veer in a completely different direction.
"Momma Durtt" 3/5 stars. I liked this one a lot for the characterization of the criminal protagonist.
"Under the Shelf" 0/5 stars. This has all the earmarks of being an abandoned rough draft. Published posthumously; I have to think that Shea himself would not have consented for this one to see the light of day.
"Demiurge" 1/5 stars. Despite arguments to the contrary, this is not a Cthulhu Mythos story. Shea squeezes a few moments of (black) humor out of this tale, but overall this is below his admittedly high standard.
August 2, 2023
This is going to feel more like a review of the collection itself, rather than of the individual stories. Why? Because I already really enjoy Michael Shea. He's capable of really humanizing more esoteric horror and fantasy by grounding it in believable, identifiable, and realistic characters. He can do action that feels like a more believable Howard. At least, when he's at his best. And the initial half to two-thirds of this collection is some of his best.
Demiurge is as close to a complete collection of every cthulhu mythos related tale that Michael Shea wrote as you're likely to get (there's an outlandishly expensive Centipede Press collection that's probably more complete). I do not necessarily know if that is a good thing.
You see, its essentially the Perilous Press edition of Copping Squid, with a few other stories tacked on to the end. And I mean tacked on. Its clear to see why several of these entries may have been omitted from that collection, as they just don't hold up by comparison. Some of them don't even feel related to the cthulhu mythos besides stylistic similarities to Lovecraft. Taken on their individual merits, there are a couple of fun additional stories though.
Momma Durtt was fantastic, creative, original story about gangsters, truckers, poor small town folk, and maybe some sort of cthonic entity (or something else entirely?). For me, it had echoes of Ambrose Bierce's "Damned Thing."
Under the Shelf fooled me. Its opening with characters preparing to explore the ocean below the ice shelf had me prepped for a Jules Verne, Jacque Cousteau, Abyss, but-with-some-more-horror style adventure. It quickly and surprisingly morphs into one of the most action packed (and to some degree sci-fi channel movie goofy/campy) Shea short stories I've read.
Ultimately, though, none of the individual stories added on to this collection are good enough that you really need to read this in addition to Copping Squid. Barring being a completionist.
Demiurge is as close to a complete collection of every cthulhu mythos related tale that Michael Shea wrote as you're likely to get (there's an outlandishly expensive Centipede Press collection that's probably more complete). I do not necessarily know if that is a good thing.
You see, its essentially the Perilous Press edition of Copping Squid, with a few other stories tacked on to the end. And I mean tacked on. Its clear to see why several of these entries may have been omitted from that collection, as they just don't hold up by comparison. Some of them don't even feel related to the cthulhu mythos besides stylistic similarities to Lovecraft. Taken on their individual merits, there are a couple of fun additional stories though.
Momma Durtt was fantastic, creative, original story about gangsters, truckers, poor small town folk, and maybe some sort of cthonic entity (or something else entirely?). For me, it had echoes of Ambrose Bierce's "Damned Thing."
Under the Shelf fooled me. Its opening with characters preparing to explore the ocean below the ice shelf had me prepped for a Jules Verne, Jacque Cousteau, Abyss, but-with-some-more-horror style adventure. It quickly and surprisingly morphs into one of the most action packed (and to some degree sci-fi channel movie goofy/campy) Shea short stories I've read.
Ultimately, though, none of the individual stories added on to this collection are good enough that you really need to read this in addition to Copping Squid. Barring being a completionist.
January 26, 2024
Demiurge compiles decades of Michael Shea's short fiction based on Lovecraft's mythos. Shea was a fantastically talented pulp writer whose work seems to come into and fall out of print. His best known story, The Autopsy, is one of those works that invariably comes up when fans talk about the greatest weird fiction and horror works, and the rest of his output, although uneven, tends to be compulsively readable at worst and nearly every piece glistens with at least patches of brilliance.
"Subverting" the notoriously racist and classist Lovecraft has become a kind of cottage industry in the past decade or so. Shea, a San Francisco native from back when SF was a much weirder, poorer and dirtier city than the coruscating Technopolis of 2023, subverted HPL from the very beginning by writing with tenderness and sympathy about down and out hustlers, struggling artists, queer folk, trans sex workers, runaway kids, abuse victims and all the other untidy and largely ignored types of people who populated seedy residential motels and the streets of Frisco.
Sometimes these characters come out ahead, sometimes they break even, and sometimes they suffer terrible fates. (Though Shea, who seemed a kind man with a heart of gold, had a penchant for the happy ending when possible.) His treatment of mythos villains and monsters is equally fresh and lively and he has a knack for spelling out elements and details Lovecraft preferred to elide or gesture at or simply bury under a blizzard of polysyllables.
This is a fine collection for readers enamored of Lovecraft's themes and his ability to create moods and who are willing to love a very different verbal and philosophical style.
"Subverting" the notoriously racist and classist Lovecraft has become a kind of cottage industry in the past decade or so. Shea, a San Francisco native from back when SF was a much weirder, poorer and dirtier city than the coruscating Technopolis of 2023, subverted HPL from the very beginning by writing with tenderness and sympathy about down and out hustlers, struggling artists, queer folk, trans sex workers, runaway kids, abuse victims and all the other untidy and largely ignored types of people who populated seedy residential motels and the streets of Frisco.
Sometimes these characters come out ahead, sometimes they break even, and sometimes they suffer terrible fates. (Though Shea, who seemed a kind man with a heart of gold, had a penchant for the happy ending when possible.) His treatment of mythos villains and monsters is equally fresh and lively and he has a knack for spelling out elements and details Lovecraft preferred to elide or gesture at or simply bury under a blizzard of polysyllables.
This is a fine collection for readers enamored of Lovecraft's themes and his ability to create moods and who are willing to love a very different verbal and philosophical style.
October 23, 2023
While remaining true to the Lovecraft Mythos and its pantheon of the Great Old Ones, Michael Shea provides his own more modern unique and entertaining twist on the Mythos in this anthology. Shea moves the focus of the majority of the Lovecraftian horror from the New England east coast to the west coast San Francisco Bay area, although he does return to Antarctica in couple of the stories where HPL set his story "At the Mountains of Madness." There is a running theme throughout the anthology of the Great Old Ones, with the help of their minions, beginning to establish a beachhead on Earth where they seek to reveal themselves to various individuals and either recruit them or physically absorb and merge them into themselves. A quote from the end of the short story "Dagoniad" points this out. ""But I've been hearing things. Before all this I mean. I've been hearing about shoggoths. I've been hearing about Cthulhu himself. " What are you telling me?" "That somehow, this is a focus. That the Great Old Ones are...at the gates. Are picking the locks."" These stories are full of skin-crawling horror that should satisfy fans of H. P. Lovecraft.
May 20, 2019
Shea does something truly extraordinary here - he faithfully recreates the outlines and the emotional impact of Lovecraft's mythos, but sheds the blue-blood New England setting and the upper class, educated white dude protagonists. You wouldn't think that homeless people, prostitutes, drug dealers, and alcoholics would be suitable as Lovecraftian heroes, but Shea makes it seem perfectly natural.
"Copping Squid" is the clear winner of all the stories. Creepy and otherwordly, while grounded and gritty. Loved it.
"Fat Face" is pretty effective too, although the reveal is unsurprising to any savvy mythos reader.
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" and "Dagoniad" are campy fun. I feel like Sam Raimi should adapt "Dagoniad" for film - the super gross-out horror melded with silly slapstick is just his thing.
The other stories range from OK to awful. "Under the Shelf" in particular squanders its strong opening in a laughably stupid climax and resolution.
Worth checking out if you're a Lovecraft fan! Though I did notice that my Kindle version had lots of misprints, unfortunately.
"Copping Squid" is the clear winner of all the stories. Creepy and otherwordly, while grounded and gritty. Loved it.
"Fat Face" is pretty effective too, although the reveal is unsurprising to any savvy mythos reader.
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" and "Dagoniad" are campy fun. I feel like Sam Raimi should adapt "Dagoniad" for film - the super gross-out horror melded with silly slapstick is just his thing.
The other stories range from OK to awful. "Under the Shelf" in particular squanders its strong opening in a laughably stupid climax and resolution.
Worth checking out if you're a Lovecraft fan! Though I did notice that my Kindle version had lots of misprints, unfortunately.
September 29, 2021
When you're thinking of Cthulhu Mythos authors, Michael Shea probably isn't the first name that comes to mind.
These are a bit different from the usual fare but mostly still quite recognizable as Mythos. There are several set in modern-ish San Francisco, two in Antarctica and others here and there. "Under the Shelf" could have been an Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure and "Demiurge" was also a bit borderline as far as being a Mythos story (still a pretty good story, though).
If you liked The Color Out of Time and Nifft the Lean, give this a try.
These are a bit different from the usual fare but mostly still quite recognizable as Mythos. There are several set in modern-ish San Francisco, two in Antarctica and others here and there. "Under the Shelf" could have been an Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure and "Demiurge" was also a bit borderline as far as being a Mythos story (still a pretty good story, though).
If you liked The Color Out of Time and Nifft the Lean, give this a try.
September 18, 2022
It’s not often you can say that every story in a collection is a cracker, but this is one of them. Although not all of the stories have direct references to the Cthulhu Mythos, they’re all extremely thought-provoking, with much of the most horrific aspects of the stories coming from the hopelessness of the lives led by its protagonists.
Although I hadn’t come across his work until long after his death, I can say with certainty that the world of horror fiction is just that bit less interesting without Michael Shea.
Although I hadn’t come across his work until long after his death, I can say with certainty that the world of horror fiction is just that bit less interesting without Michael Shea.
February 28, 2024
Shea's short Cthulhu Mythos fiction is frequently creepy. Lovecraft fans will mostly be pleased. The editor, S. T. Joshi, has put the weaker entries towards the end, as he should. I was amused at myself when I was reading one story set in Antarctica, and my suspension of disbelief accepted giant ice scorpions that cocooned whole whales to the ice but balked at a similarly cocooned polar bear. There are no polar bears in Antarctica---but ice scorpions are OK? We readers of weird fiction are an odd bunch.
June 11, 2020
A very impressive collection. Solid character development, well-crafted plots, and he avoids a lot of the foibles of other Lovecraftian fiction (particularly the preciosity of language). He puts an interesting new spin on shoggoths, Tsathoggua, and Dagon, even creating a more nuanced and empathetic portrayal of the point of view and subjective experience of these creatures and their followers; no mean feat.
October 31, 2018
I read this book because several of the stories were discussed on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. It is excellent weird fiction in the Lovecraft mode, with a cool San Francisco setting and an almost Beat attitude at times. Some of the stories are less successful, but the best ones are superb, and the whole thing hangs together nicely.
May 6, 2019
Outstanding Mythos Tales A Must Read.
Anything by Shea is an excellent read not least because of it’s originality, smooth narrative flow and rich imagery and language/ prose. Shea was a greatly talented writer who you will re-read and re-read. Just for the satisfaction of consuming his work. Devoured Demiurge at one sitting. Read & Enjoy!!
Anything by Shea is an excellent read not least because of it’s originality, smooth narrative flow and rich imagery and language/ prose. Shea was a greatly talented writer who you will re-read and re-read. Just for the satisfaction of consuming his work. Devoured Demiurge at one sitting. Read & Enjoy!!
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