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Shadows Over Innsmouth #3
Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth
FINAL SHADOWS GATHER...
The final volume in the trilogy that began with the World Fantasy Award-nominated Shadows Over Innsmouth (1994) and Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth (2005), containing stories by Ramsey Campbell, Adrian Cole, John Glasby, Brian Hodge, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Brian Lumley, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, Angela Slatter, Michael Marshall Smith, Simon Kurt Unsworth and Conrad Williams, along with an Innsmouth poem by H.P. Lovecraft and a “posthumous collaboration” between the author and August Derleth.
Once again taking Lovecraft’s original 1931 novella as inspiration, we are introduced to the Massachusetts seaport and its ichthyoid denizens years before that fateful FBI raid. From there, Dagon’s blasphemous spawn spread out across the globe, while the offspring of that decaying fishing town undergo their own, often bizarre, metamorphoses.
As the world changes, so through eldritch rituals and human sacrifices the Deep Ones’ masters—the terrifying Great Old Ones themselves—prepare to escape their prisons when the stars are right, so that they may once again reclaim the Earth as their own.
As the waters continue to rise, mankind begins its ultimate struggle for survival against a pantheon of dark gods and their batrachian foot-soldiers . . .
The final volume in the trilogy that began with the World Fantasy Award-nominated Shadows Over Innsmouth (1994) and Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth (2005), containing stories by Ramsey Campbell, Adrian Cole, John Glasby, Brian Hodge, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Brian Lumley, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, Angela Slatter, Michael Marshall Smith, Simon Kurt Unsworth and Conrad Williams, along with an Innsmouth poem by H.P. Lovecraft and a “posthumous collaboration” between the author and August Derleth.
Once again taking Lovecraft’s original 1931 novella as inspiration, we are introduced to the Massachusetts seaport and its ichthyoid denizens years before that fateful FBI raid. From there, Dagon’s blasphemous spawn spread out across the globe, while the offspring of that decaying fishing town undergo their own, often bizarre, metamorphoses.
As the world changes, so through eldritch rituals and human sacrifices the Deep Ones’ masters—the terrifying Great Old Ones themselves—prepare to escape their prisons when the stars are right, so that they may once again reclaim the Earth as their own.
As the waters continue to rise, mankind begins its ultimate struggle for survival against a pantheon of dark gods and their batrachian foot-soldiers . . .
331 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
37 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Jones
277 books344 followersStephen Jones is an eighteen-time winner of the British Fantasy Award.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 2, 2017
This book was jam packed full of great Lovecraftian mythos stories.
There was an August Derleth story that often gets misattributed to being a co-creation with Lovecraft. The story was "Innsmouth Clay".
The stories that stood out the most to me were "The Arcbishop's Well" by Reggie Oliver, "The Fish Bride" by Caitlin R. Kiernan, "The Same Deep Waters As You" by Brian Hodge, and "The Winner" by Ramsey Campbell.
I am looking forward to reading the other two books in this series as my summer Lovecraft reading continues.
There was an August Derleth story that often gets misattributed to being a co-creation with Lovecraft. The story was "Innsmouth Clay".
The stories that stood out the most to me were "The Arcbishop's Well" by Reggie Oliver, "The Fish Bride" by Caitlin R. Kiernan, "The Same Deep Waters As You" by Brian Hodge, and "The Winner" by Ramsey Campbell.
I am looking forward to reading the other two books in this series as my summer Lovecraft reading continues.
June 12, 2022
Like many adolescents, I read pretty much all of Lovecraft in cheap paperback editions back in high school. Since then I've seen several of the film adaptations and read two biographies of the author, encouraged by my roommate and friends in the horror-writing community.
I usually find 'horror' fiction and cinema boring. Lovecraft was an exception, albeit in childhood. One instance was upon reading his 'Colour Out of Space' while I was babysitting my little brother. That freaked me so much that I turned on all the lights until our parents got home. The other instance was a movie related to the whole Innsmouth theme. I had gone to see it at Park Ridge's Pickwick Theatre alone and at dusk. When it got to the scene of the trap door being opened in the subbasement I freaked out, running all the way home in the dark. That film, whatever it was, and 'The Exorcist' have been the only two fictional films which have horrified me.
This is a London-published volume of a series of books related to the Innsmouth theme. That's Lovecraft's fictional coastal village inhabited by fishy mutants in service to ancient, underwater powers aiming to conquer earth. Two of the bits claim to have been at least co-written by Lovecraft himself, the other short stories vary a lot in quality, from one to four stars by my reckoning.
Lovecraft maintained a science column in the papers for a time, concentrated on astronomy. Characteristic of his horror is the sense that human civilization, Earth itself, is very tiny, very young, in the vastness of space and time--and that there may be larger, older factors who regard us much as we regard insects. That, of course, is the case and can, if contemplated seriously, have a sobering effect.
I usually find 'horror' fiction and cinema boring. Lovecraft was an exception, albeit in childhood. One instance was upon reading his 'Colour Out of Space' while I was babysitting my little brother. That freaked me so much that I turned on all the lights until our parents got home. The other instance was a movie related to the whole Innsmouth theme. I had gone to see it at Park Ridge's Pickwick Theatre alone and at dusk. When it got to the scene of the trap door being opened in the subbasement I freaked out, running all the way home in the dark. That film, whatever it was, and 'The Exorcist' have been the only two fictional films which have horrified me.
This is a London-published volume of a series of books related to the Innsmouth theme. That's Lovecraft's fictional coastal village inhabited by fishy mutants in service to ancient, underwater powers aiming to conquer earth. Two of the bits claim to have been at least co-written by Lovecraft himself, the other short stories vary a lot in quality, from one to four stars by my reckoning.
Lovecraft maintained a science column in the papers for a time, concentrated on astronomy. Characteristic of his horror is the sense that human civilization, Earth itself, is very tiny, very young, in the vastness of space and time--and that there may be larger, older factors who regard us much as we regard insects. That, of course, is the case and can, if contemplated seriously, have a sobering effect.
May 17, 2020
At first glance this seems like the sort of anthology I'd avoid. I tend to steer clear of themed anthologies, not that I haven't enjoyed a few in the past, but ideally when I read a collection I want to be completely surprised from one story to the next. And these are inspired by a single story!
Furthermore, though I adore Lovecraft, I hate "Lovecraftian." Most authors haven't a clue what Lovecraft was about; they think putting a tentacle monster in makes it Lovecraftian.
But the author list was promising. I knew Brian Lumley and Caitlin Kiernan got Lovecraft. I knew Brian Hodge would turn in something good. And even though I usually don't like Ramsey Campbell's work, I knew at least his submission wouldn't be something cheap.
Of the authors new to me, I particularly liked Kim Newman's entry, a somewhat lighthearted tale in the "boy detective" vein.
Despite all the stories being spun out of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and its surrounding mythology, they are all quite varied in style and approach. There really wasn't a bad one in the book.
Furthermore, though I adore Lovecraft, I hate "Lovecraftian." Most authors haven't a clue what Lovecraft was about; they think putting a tentacle monster in makes it Lovecraftian.
But the author list was promising. I knew Brian Lumley and Caitlin Kiernan got Lovecraft. I knew Brian Hodge would turn in something good. And even though I usually don't like Ramsey Campbell's work, I knew at least his submission wouldn't be something cheap.
Of the authors new to me, I particularly liked Kim Newman's entry, a somewhat lighthearted tale in the "boy detective" vein.
Despite all the stories being spun out of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and its surrounding mythology, they are all quite varied in style and approach. There really wasn't a bad one in the book.
June 22, 2020
This is another collection of Lovecraft homage, a cottage industry in the horror genre. Getting Lovecraftian stories published seems to be relatively easy nowadays, like shooting fish in a barrel. Before getting to the text, I want to mention the fine ink lines on the splendid illustrations by Randy Broecker. They reminded me of the classic work of Robin Jacques, who illustrated children’s books long ago, including some by Andre Norton.
The opening shot is ‘Innsmouth Bane’ by John Glasby which tells the story of Obed Marsh, the dodgy sea captain who changed the town forever. The narrative is on that hoary old manuscript tucked away in a secret place and was written by Jebediah Allen, a god-fearing Baptist. It’s not a great yarn but it does nicely capture the feel of Victorian pulp fiction.
There’s a very different flavour to Kim Newman’s ‘Richard Riddle, Boy Detective’ in ‘The Case of the French Spy’. Dick, Violet and Ernest are on holiday in Lyme Regis and are alarmed when a mad clergymen smashes to pieces an ammonite they have found. The Reverend Mister Sellwood knows that the Earth is only six thousand years old and all evidence to contrary is the devil’s work. ‘The Case Of The French Spy’ also features a prisoner kept since the Napoleonic war and was inspired stylistically by ‘Swallows And Amazons’ and ‘Emil And The Detectives’, said the author. That’s an odd approach to Lovecraftian subject matter but there are amusing moments and it works surprisingly well.
‘Innsmouth Clay’ is credited to Lovecraft himself and August Derleth but is probably more by the latter who took charge of the great man’s legacy after his death. Jeffrey Corey is a sculptor who takes up residence near Innsmouth and works on a statue of a sea goddess using odd clay washed up on the beach. It’s nicely done but, though the plot may be Lovecraft’s, the scripting is not. Ye olde fiction atmosphere is maintained by the device of journal entries telling the story.
That method is also used for Reggie Oliver’s interesting tale about ‘The Archbishop’s Well’ which transplants the piscine horror to his fictional south-west England town of Morchester. There’s an ancient well in the grounds of the cathedral which some of the modern clergy want to close off and convert into a drinking fountain for the tourists. The story is set in 1939 and features a Wodehouse-style fool by the name of Bertie. Oliver’s clergymen brought to mind those of Anthony Trollope in fictional ‘Barchester’ so, with Lovecraft, there’s a three-way tribute going on in this yarn. The sense of menace builds nicely to a surprisingly action-packed climax. I liked it.
Even more, I liked the hard-nosed private eye getting enmeshed in Lovecraftian myth in ’You Don’t Want To Know’ by Adrian Cole. New York sleuth Nick Stone is hired by three fishy looking characters to murder a man called Stefan Zeitsheim as soon as he gets off the boat from Odessa. Nick’s no assassin but he’s soon convinced he’ll be dead himself if he doesn’t take the case. This is a fast-paced thriller which also develops the premises of Innsmouth in an interesting and logical way. The hard-boiled detective story is often teamed up with horror themes nowadays, usually to good effect.
This volume is blessed with three stories from Caitlin R. Kiernan. She seems to have a thing about horrible lovers. In ‘Love Is Forbidden, We Croak And Howl’- also collected in ‘Lovecraft’s Monsters’ – she gave us a ghoul paired with one of the daughters of Innsmouth. This time it’s a normal man. A writer, actually. Well, they are strange. ‘Fish Bride’ is mostly set in a bedroom with the fellow thinking about his odd situation. It’s almost plotless but Kiernan’s fine writing carries it off.
Her second story ‘On The Reef’ describes a macabre ceremony performed on Devil’s Reef, near Innsmouth, by the light of a Halloween moon. Fashioned in dense text, with scarcely a word of dialogue, it is very like the work of the man who inspired this volume. Finally, she donates ‘The Transition Of Elizabeth Haskings’, about a reclusive woman in a small town. You’ll never guess what her secret is unless you look at the title of the book.
‘The Same Deep Waters As You’ by Brian Hodge also appeared in ‘Lovecraft’s Monsters’ and I praised it to the skies in that review. No need to repeat here. It’s great.
The small island of Alderney, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Britain, is the setting for ‘The Hag Stone’ by Conrad Williams. Usual theme but lots of visceral dream imagery effectively conveys the atmosphere of something ancient and rotten lurking in the water. This one starts slow, almost like a Victorian novel, but draws you in stealthily and makes your flesh creep.
Ramsay Campbell started out doing Lovecraftian fiction and still dips his toe in those dark waters now and again. ‘The Winner’ has Jessop entering a dingy dockside pub because his ferry has been delayed and finding the locals a bit threatening. I think all pub frequenters have done this occasionally. The author builds the sense of menace slowly with dialogue worthy of a Harold Pinter play. Ramsay Campbell is well regarded in the field and one really should get round to reading more of his stuff.
Continuing with the boozy theme, I identified with the protagonist of ‘The Chain’ by Michael Marshall Smith. Thanks to my own research, I can affirm that he accurately portrays the process of buying two bottles of wine, just to save another shopping trip, finishing one and then starting the other even though you know you shouldn’t. The hangover is also well described. The story is set in Carmel, California where there seem to be no down and outs at all. Why? (Hint: it isn’t Clint.) Our hero is a painter and there are interesting thoughts on the creative process.
Angela Slatter gives us a long story set in a school where Doctor Croftmarsh is a teacher and translator with a patchy memory. There’s more to the school than meets the eye and a lot more to the staff. ‘The Song of Sighs’ was entertaining but I liked her short piece better. ‘Rising, Not Dreaming’ is more musical, in fact, it’s about a harpist lulling the bad old gods to keep them asleep beneath the sea.
‘The Long Last Night’ by Brian Lumley also dealt with the more powerful creatures of Lovecraft lore who have come to Earth and twisted London into a tower. Two survivors team up on a mission to the centre of the peril, wading through the flooded Underground system and avoiding the marine servants of the dark gods. Lumley drops hints so you think you know what’s going to happen but there are a few unexpected twists.
There was extensive flooding in south-west England a couple of years ago and global warming was much mentioned. Simon Kurt Unsworth dramatises this with a television crew reporting and a cameraman finding unexpected things in the water. The TV presenters are disdainfully referred to as ‘the talent‘, the implication being that the film crew and support staff do all the useful work. I wonder if real-life crews see it that way. The story maintained an atmosphere of menace.
The only problem with these stories is that the writers can’t really surprise anyone acquainted with Lovecraft lore and the basic piscine premise of Innsmouth. The creepy build-up of some protagonists finding strange goings-on leads inevitably to the conclusion that men have bred with fishy things and are lurking about. The various authors do a good job with the atmosphere, the plot and the characters but the element of surprise, which was essential to the Spanish Inquisition, is not possible. On the other hand, fans of this sub-genre know that and are probably looking for variations on a theme by HPL rather than something startlingly original. It’s a splendid collection with a high standard of writing but there’s an inevitable sameness about much of it. For this reason, I recommend reading it in small doses over a period of time; but I do recommend reading it.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
The opening shot is ‘Innsmouth Bane’ by John Glasby which tells the story of Obed Marsh, the dodgy sea captain who changed the town forever. The narrative is on that hoary old manuscript tucked away in a secret place and was written by Jebediah Allen, a god-fearing Baptist. It’s not a great yarn but it does nicely capture the feel of Victorian pulp fiction.
There’s a very different flavour to Kim Newman’s ‘Richard Riddle, Boy Detective’ in ‘The Case of the French Spy’. Dick, Violet and Ernest are on holiday in Lyme Regis and are alarmed when a mad clergymen smashes to pieces an ammonite they have found. The Reverend Mister Sellwood knows that the Earth is only six thousand years old and all evidence to contrary is the devil’s work. ‘The Case Of The French Spy’ also features a prisoner kept since the Napoleonic war and was inspired stylistically by ‘Swallows And Amazons’ and ‘Emil And The Detectives’, said the author. That’s an odd approach to Lovecraftian subject matter but there are amusing moments and it works surprisingly well.
‘Innsmouth Clay’ is credited to Lovecraft himself and August Derleth but is probably more by the latter who took charge of the great man’s legacy after his death. Jeffrey Corey is a sculptor who takes up residence near Innsmouth and works on a statue of a sea goddess using odd clay washed up on the beach. It’s nicely done but, though the plot may be Lovecraft’s, the scripting is not. Ye olde fiction atmosphere is maintained by the device of journal entries telling the story.
That method is also used for Reggie Oliver’s interesting tale about ‘The Archbishop’s Well’ which transplants the piscine horror to his fictional south-west England town of Morchester. There’s an ancient well in the grounds of the cathedral which some of the modern clergy want to close off and convert into a drinking fountain for the tourists. The story is set in 1939 and features a Wodehouse-style fool by the name of Bertie. Oliver’s clergymen brought to mind those of Anthony Trollope in fictional ‘Barchester’ so, with Lovecraft, there’s a three-way tribute going on in this yarn. The sense of menace builds nicely to a surprisingly action-packed climax. I liked it.
Even more, I liked the hard-nosed private eye getting enmeshed in Lovecraftian myth in ’You Don’t Want To Know’ by Adrian Cole. New York sleuth Nick Stone is hired by three fishy looking characters to murder a man called Stefan Zeitsheim as soon as he gets off the boat from Odessa. Nick’s no assassin but he’s soon convinced he’ll be dead himself if he doesn’t take the case. This is a fast-paced thriller which also develops the premises of Innsmouth in an interesting and logical way. The hard-boiled detective story is often teamed up with horror themes nowadays, usually to good effect.
This volume is blessed with three stories from Caitlin R. Kiernan. She seems to have a thing about horrible lovers. In ‘Love Is Forbidden, We Croak And Howl’- also collected in ‘Lovecraft’s Monsters’ – she gave us a ghoul paired with one of the daughters of Innsmouth. This time it’s a normal man. A writer, actually. Well, they are strange. ‘Fish Bride’ is mostly set in a bedroom with the fellow thinking about his odd situation. It’s almost plotless but Kiernan’s fine writing carries it off.
Her second story ‘On The Reef’ describes a macabre ceremony performed on Devil’s Reef, near Innsmouth, by the light of a Halloween moon. Fashioned in dense text, with scarcely a word of dialogue, it is very like the work of the man who inspired this volume. Finally, she donates ‘The Transition Of Elizabeth Haskings’, about a reclusive woman in a small town. You’ll never guess what her secret is unless you look at the title of the book.
‘The Same Deep Waters As You’ by Brian Hodge also appeared in ‘Lovecraft’s Monsters’ and I praised it to the skies in that review. No need to repeat here. It’s great.
The small island of Alderney, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Britain, is the setting for ‘The Hag Stone’ by Conrad Williams. Usual theme but lots of visceral dream imagery effectively conveys the atmosphere of something ancient and rotten lurking in the water. This one starts slow, almost like a Victorian novel, but draws you in stealthily and makes your flesh creep.
Ramsay Campbell started out doing Lovecraftian fiction and still dips his toe in those dark waters now and again. ‘The Winner’ has Jessop entering a dingy dockside pub because his ferry has been delayed and finding the locals a bit threatening. I think all pub frequenters have done this occasionally. The author builds the sense of menace slowly with dialogue worthy of a Harold Pinter play. Ramsay Campbell is well regarded in the field and one really should get round to reading more of his stuff.
Continuing with the boozy theme, I identified with the protagonist of ‘The Chain’ by Michael Marshall Smith. Thanks to my own research, I can affirm that he accurately portrays the process of buying two bottles of wine, just to save another shopping trip, finishing one and then starting the other even though you know you shouldn’t. The hangover is also well described. The story is set in Carmel, California where there seem to be no down and outs at all. Why? (Hint: it isn’t Clint.) Our hero is a painter and there are interesting thoughts on the creative process.
Angela Slatter gives us a long story set in a school where Doctor Croftmarsh is a teacher and translator with a patchy memory. There’s more to the school than meets the eye and a lot more to the staff. ‘The Song of Sighs’ was entertaining but I liked her short piece better. ‘Rising, Not Dreaming’ is more musical, in fact, it’s about a harpist lulling the bad old gods to keep them asleep beneath the sea.
‘The Long Last Night’ by Brian Lumley also dealt with the more powerful creatures of Lovecraft lore who have come to Earth and twisted London into a tower. Two survivors team up on a mission to the centre of the peril, wading through the flooded Underground system and avoiding the marine servants of the dark gods. Lumley drops hints so you think you know what’s going to happen but there are a few unexpected twists.
There was extensive flooding in south-west England a couple of years ago and global warming was much mentioned. Simon Kurt Unsworth dramatises this with a television crew reporting and a cameraman finding unexpected things in the water. The TV presenters are disdainfully referred to as ‘the talent‘, the implication being that the film crew and support staff do all the useful work. I wonder if real-life crews see it that way. The story maintained an atmosphere of menace.
The only problem with these stories is that the writers can’t really surprise anyone acquainted with Lovecraft lore and the basic piscine premise of Innsmouth. The creepy build-up of some protagonists finding strange goings-on leads inevitably to the conclusion that men have bred with fishy things and are lurking about. The various authors do a good job with the atmosphere, the plot and the characters but the element of surprise, which was essential to the Spanish Inquisition, is not possible. On the other hand, fans of this sub-genre know that and are probably looking for variations on a theme by HPL rather than something startlingly original. It’s a splendid collection with a high standard of writing but there’s an inevitable sameness about much of it. For this reason, I recommend reading it in small doses over a period of time; but I do recommend reading it.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
November 14, 2024
One of the finest of HPL mythos collections and certainly one of the finest with a specific theme, this is the last book in the trilogy of anthologies Stephen Jones created based on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." There are no bad stories in this anthology. Its finest is the much-reprinted Brian Hodge classic "The Same Deep Waters As You," a masterpiece of combining the modern with a quick reference from the original stories, honestly one of the best post-HPL mythos stories ever written. Also excellent are stories by Reggie Oliver, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and Conrad Williams. What is left is solid work by the other authors with maybe a few that lean to reasonable pastiche, but honestly the writing is largely very good for this sort of thing.
April 1, 2018
I'm not sure I've read any Cthulhuian literature before, despite being well aware of the Old Gods through various media including a one-man play. This has now been rectified by reading this book, which mixes work from H. P. Lovecraft himself and August Derleth with more recent writers. And rather good they all are as well, taking Lovecraftian tales into new areas to show how truly far-reaching the Old Ones are.
January 3, 2022
3.75 Rounded up.
There are some great stories in this short story collection, the majority of them stayed faithful to the creepy Innsmouth atmosphere, however I would have liked to see more creepiness and less attempts to overly characterize characters who I couldn't really care about in several pages worth of a story. My least favourite story was the one with the pretentious painter and his holier than thou attitude, the ending felt rushed and it was the only Lovecraftian nod in the story, but it seemed more like a quick afterthought to conclude an awful character.
There are some great stories in this short story collection, the majority of them stayed faithful to the creepy Innsmouth atmosphere, however I would have liked to see more creepiness and less attempts to overly characterize characters who I couldn't really care about in several pages worth of a story. My least favourite story was the one with the pretentious painter and his holier than thou attitude, the ending felt rushed and it was the only Lovecraftian nod in the story, but it seemed more like a quick afterthought to conclude an awful character.
November 14, 2018
Good, not necessarily to my taste, would have been better to dip into it as read it straight through. So many fish things! It (obviously) got a bit repetitive. Some good stories in there though - unusually for a short story anthology, the hit rate was around 75% for me
October 17, 2017
Even the contribution by Reggie Oliver, 'The Archbishop's Well' didn't impress me, even though it was the best story in this anthology.
May 3, 2018
Pretty weak.
August 17, 2021
Every bit as good as the previous two volumes and features a couple of my favourite stories from the collection, You Don't Want To Know, The Chain and Into The Water.
February 3, 2022
The sanity-blasting third volume.
June 3, 2022
I'm a sucker for Lovecraft anthologies and this one is pretty good. Some tales are better than others but most hit the mythos sweet spot.
November 6, 2023
3.5 stars.
Review to come :)
Review to come :)
April 6, 2015
'Respected horror anthologist Stephen Jones edits this collection of 17 stories inspired by the 20th century’s master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” in which a young man goes to an isolated, desolate fishing village in Massachusetts, and finds that the entire village has interbred with strange creatures that live beneath the sea, and worship ancient gods.'
I always get nervous whenever I read stories influenced or inspired by one of the greats – I get even more nervous when the work is directly related to the original work of the author. I get the feeling that I’m going to be horribly disappointed in a L. Sprague de Camp ‘Conan the Liberator’-type way; a great author in his own right who seemed to totally miss the mark of what makes Conan great.
Thankfully, ‘Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth’ doesn’t give me that feeling but it does leave me with the sense that there was something lacking, that the stories within were relying on Lovecraft’s work to give the stories credibility, rather than the stories standing on their own. Could this be personal bias, being the Lovecraft fan that I am? Perhaps I expected too much? Maybe.
This is not to say that the stories are bad, or pale pastiches or emulations of Lovecraft’s work. In fact, the stories themselves are an enjoyable read and I found myself speeding through the book at a decent pace. The stories do vary in quality and none of them are bad, but then they’re not truly outstanding. If I had to be pinned down on a comment I’d have to say that I simply enjoyed them.
The stories are:
THE PORT – a poem by H.P. Lovecraft
INNSMOUTH BANE by John Glasby
RICHARD RIDDLE, BOY DETECTIVE in "The Case of the French Spy" by Kim Newman
INNSMOUTH CLAY by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
THE ARCHBISHOP'S WELL by Reggie Oliver
YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW by Adrian Cole
FISH BRIDE by Caitlin Kiernan
THE HAG STONE by Conrad Williams
ON THE REEF by Caitlin R. Kiernan
THE SONG OF SIGHS by Angela Slater
THE SAME DEEP WATERS AS YOU by Brian Hodge
THE WINNER by Ramsey Campbell
THE TRANSITION OF ELIZABETH HASKINGS by Caitlin Kiernan
THE CHAIN by Michael Marshall Smith
INTO THE WATER by Simon Kurt Unsworth
RISING, NOT DREAMING by Angela Slater
THE LONG LAST NIGHT by Brian Lumley
If I had to pick the not-authored-by-Lovecraft stories that I enjoyed the most, it would have to be Kim Newman’s ‘RICHARD RIDDLE, BOY DETECTIVE in "The Case of the French Spy"’ – a sort of Famous Five-meets-Lovecraft, sans two kids and a dog, and written in an adventurous tone reminiscent of the Enid Blyton classics. It’s fun and a refreshingly different take on the Mythos, which makes for a fresh and strangely enjoyable story, even when the blood is flying and the heads are rolling.
My second choice is Caitlin R. Kiernan’s story ‘THE TRANSITION OF ELIZABETH HASKINGS’ – it was suitably creepy and the body horror – in this case the transformation of a human being into something else and all that entails both physically and mentally - is disturbing. It’s a very short story but I found it quite powerful.
‘Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth’ is a good book filed with some well written short stories, but I do think that, considering the source material, I spent too much of my time and efforts comparing these new stories to Lovecraft’s original work. Considering that the stories are all linked in some way to the original story that’s almost inevitable, so perhaps I’ll revisit the stories again later in the future and try to purge my mind of all things HPL, and try to approach the stories differently. I can recommend the book, especially to Lovecraft fans.
I always get nervous whenever I read stories influenced or inspired by one of the greats – I get even more nervous when the work is directly related to the original work of the author. I get the feeling that I’m going to be horribly disappointed in a L. Sprague de Camp ‘Conan the Liberator’-type way; a great author in his own right who seemed to totally miss the mark of what makes Conan great.
Thankfully, ‘Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth’ doesn’t give me that feeling but it does leave me with the sense that there was something lacking, that the stories within were relying on Lovecraft’s work to give the stories credibility, rather than the stories standing on their own. Could this be personal bias, being the Lovecraft fan that I am? Perhaps I expected too much? Maybe.
This is not to say that the stories are bad, or pale pastiches or emulations of Lovecraft’s work. In fact, the stories themselves are an enjoyable read and I found myself speeding through the book at a decent pace. The stories do vary in quality and none of them are bad, but then they’re not truly outstanding. If I had to be pinned down on a comment I’d have to say that I simply enjoyed them.
The stories are:
THE PORT – a poem by H.P. Lovecraft
INNSMOUTH BANE by John Glasby
RICHARD RIDDLE, BOY DETECTIVE in "The Case of the French Spy" by Kim Newman
INNSMOUTH CLAY by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
THE ARCHBISHOP'S WELL by Reggie Oliver
YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW by Adrian Cole
FISH BRIDE by Caitlin Kiernan
THE HAG STONE by Conrad Williams
ON THE REEF by Caitlin R. Kiernan
THE SONG OF SIGHS by Angela Slater
THE SAME DEEP WATERS AS YOU by Brian Hodge
THE WINNER by Ramsey Campbell
THE TRANSITION OF ELIZABETH HASKINGS by Caitlin Kiernan
THE CHAIN by Michael Marshall Smith
INTO THE WATER by Simon Kurt Unsworth
RISING, NOT DREAMING by Angela Slater
THE LONG LAST NIGHT by Brian Lumley
If I had to pick the not-authored-by-Lovecraft stories that I enjoyed the most, it would have to be Kim Newman’s ‘RICHARD RIDDLE, BOY DETECTIVE in "The Case of the French Spy"’ – a sort of Famous Five-meets-Lovecraft, sans two kids and a dog, and written in an adventurous tone reminiscent of the Enid Blyton classics. It’s fun and a refreshingly different take on the Mythos, which makes for a fresh and strangely enjoyable story, even when the blood is flying and the heads are rolling.
My second choice is Caitlin R. Kiernan’s story ‘THE TRANSITION OF ELIZABETH HASKINGS’ – it was suitably creepy and the body horror – in this case the transformation of a human being into something else and all that entails both physically and mentally - is disturbing. It’s a very short story but I found it quite powerful.
‘Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth’ is a good book filed with some well written short stories, but I do think that, considering the source material, I spent too much of my time and efforts comparing these new stories to Lovecraft’s original work. Considering that the stories are all linked in some way to the original story that’s almost inevitable, so perhaps I’ll revisit the stories again later in the future and try to purge my mind of all things HPL, and try to approach the stories differently. I can recommend the book, especially to Lovecraft fans.
Currently reading
May 24, 2024"Innsmouth Clay" by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth - Jack's friend Corey begins to suspect he shares kin with the Deep Ones. When Corey disappears Jack disposes of his estate and rows out to Devils Reef. Jack is shocked to encounter the creature Corey has become along with his mate swimming in the water.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2015
Very clever. Especially liked Reggie Oliver's contribution that mixes H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James. Really nice illustrations.
June 5, 2015
More short stories based upon works of H. P. Lovecraft...
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