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Acolytes of Cthulhu
Noted Lovecraftian scholar R.M. Price assembles this unique Lovecraft-influenced collection of twenty-eight rare tales, from such diverse authors as Neil Gaiman, Jorges Luis Borges, Manly Wade Wellman, and Gustaf Meyrink. Spanning from the 1930s to the 1990s, this kaleidoscopic collection is a triumph of interdimensional threats, ritual magic, and cosmic horrors.
Contents:
Doom of the House of Duryea, by Earl Pierce, Jr..
The Seventh Incantation, by Joseph Payne Brennan.
From the Pits of Elder Blasphemy, by Hugh B. Cave & Robert M. Price.
The Jewels of Charlotte, by Duane Rimel.
The Letters of Cold Fire, by Manly Wade Wellmann.
Horror at Vecra, by Henry Hasse.
Out of the Jar, by Charles R. Tanner.
The Earth-Brain, by Edmond Hamilton.
Through the Alien Angle, by Elwin G. Powers.
Legacy in Crystal, by James Causey.
The Will of Claude Asher, by C. Hall Thompson.
The Final War, by David H. Keller.
The Dunstable Horror, by Arthur Pendragon.
The Crib of Hell, by Arthur Pendragon.
The Last Work of Pietro De Opono, by Steffan B. Aletti.
The Eye of Horus, by Steffan B. Aletti.
The Cellar Room, by Steffan B. Aletti.
Mythos, by John Glasby.
There are More Things, by Jorge Luis Borges.
The Horror Out of Time, by Randall Garrett.
The Recurring Doom, by S.T. Joshi.
Necrotic Knowledge, by Dirk W. Mosig.
Night Bus, by Donald R. Burleson.
The Pewter Ring, by Peter Cannon.
John Lehmann Alone, by David Kaufman.
The Purple Death, by Gustav Meyrinck.
The Mists of Death, by Richard F. Searight and Franklin Searight.
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, by Neil Gaiman.
Contents:
Doom of the House of Duryea, by Earl Pierce, Jr..
The Seventh Incantation, by Joseph Payne Brennan.
From the Pits of Elder Blasphemy, by Hugh B. Cave & Robert M. Price.
The Jewels of Charlotte, by Duane Rimel.
The Letters of Cold Fire, by Manly Wade Wellmann.
Horror at Vecra, by Henry Hasse.
Out of the Jar, by Charles R. Tanner.
The Earth-Brain, by Edmond Hamilton.
Through the Alien Angle, by Elwin G. Powers.
Legacy in Crystal, by James Causey.
The Will of Claude Asher, by C. Hall Thompson.
The Final War, by David H. Keller.
The Dunstable Horror, by Arthur Pendragon.
The Crib of Hell, by Arthur Pendragon.
The Last Work of Pietro De Opono, by Steffan B. Aletti.
The Eye of Horus, by Steffan B. Aletti.
The Cellar Room, by Steffan B. Aletti.
Mythos, by John Glasby.
There are More Things, by Jorge Luis Borges.
The Horror Out of Time, by Randall Garrett.
The Recurring Doom, by S.T. Joshi.
Necrotic Knowledge, by Dirk W. Mosig.
Night Bus, by Donald R. Burleson.
The Pewter Ring, by Peter Cannon.
John Lehmann Alone, by David Kaufman.
The Purple Death, by Gustav Meyrinck.
The Mists of Death, by Richard F. Searight and Franklin Searight.
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar, by Neil Gaiman.
480 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2000
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500 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Price
405 books240 followersRobert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.
A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.
A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 27, 2023
Ku mojemu zaskoczeniu — zawsze lepiej dogaduję się z autorami, którzy idą drogą Lovecrafta, niż z samym Lovecraftem, choć to jego teksty są jednymi z najlepszych w uniwersum Cthulhu. I wiadomo, w takich zbiorach są opowiadania lepsze i gorsze, ale spędziłam udany czas, więc złego słowa ode mnie nie usłyszycie!
August 17, 2014
Do you want terror-inducing stories of the great cosmic entity known as Cthulhu? Do you want to feel fear as you read short tales of the Elder Ones and their coming destruction of our planet? Do you want to further your knowledge of H.P.Lovecraft's seminal horror creation? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then my suggestion is to look somewhere else. "Acolytes of Cthulhu" is quite a disappointment when it comes to adding to the Lovecraft anthologies.
I probably shouldn't complain that much, as I got this anthology for a measly sum of 5 bucks (thank you Barnes and Noble for your coupons and book exchange policy), but even then, I can't say it was a good $5 spent. The problem with "Acolytes" is that it suffers from the anthology curse. That is, it promises multiple stories centered around one subject, yet it fails to complete that promise. I get that sometimes it's hard to collect 20-25 short stories on things, but it CAN be done (look at Lockhart's "Book of Cthulhu" anthology to see what I mean). "Acolytes of Cthulhu" is a perfect example of a lofty goal that cannot be reached.
Maybe, if the title had been different, I wouldn't feel as duped or as bummed out as I feel after finishing it. "Acolyte" is an assistant or follower of a person, place, or thing, right? And if they are followers of Cthulhu, you would expect the beast to feature prominently throughout the collected stories. Well, like me, you'd be wrong. Of the 28 stories here, only 3 (yes, 3) deal with Cthulhu. That is just about 10% of the 469 pages dedicated to the name plastered all over the cover. Instead, what we get are 25 other shorts about vampires, haunted houses, and demon children. I understand that most of these were influenced and inspired by H.P. Lovecraft (since the guy didn't stick to his mythos for his entire career), but why would an editor or publisher purposely mislead readers into thinking they were going to embark on a lengthy collection of Cthulhu related themes?
Now, let's talk about the stories themselves. Maybe if they were good, I could look past the obvious lack of Cthulhu and still give this anthology a solid 3 star rating. Yet, these were also a general disappointment. Granted, most of them weren't especially bad (however Wellman's and Borges's were pretty awful as was "The Final War" by Keller), it's just that the majority of them weren't that good. I get that these are older, and were published many years ago, but that still doesn't change the fact that they were, for the most part, boring. They plodded along, moving slowly and far-too-gothicy, focusing more on melodrama and setting than actual substance. Again, I get these were written for the pulp press of the 30's and 40's, and readers views and abilities have changed, but there is nothing wrong with trying to find more modern and exciting stories to break up the monotony.
I can say that there were 2 stories in here that really stood out as original and intriguing, and surprise, surprise, had NOTHING to do with Cthulhu. "The Earth Brain" by Edmond Hamilton was a nice twist on "The Mountains of Madness" and "The Crib of Hell" by Arthur Prendragon was a fun little story about deformed, evil offspring.
I probably shouldn't complain that much, as I got this anthology for a measly sum of 5 bucks (thank you Barnes and Noble for your coupons and book exchange policy), but even then, I can't say it was a good $5 spent. The problem with "Acolytes" is that it suffers from the anthology curse. That is, it promises multiple stories centered around one subject, yet it fails to complete that promise. I get that sometimes it's hard to collect 20-25 short stories on things, but it CAN be done (look at Lockhart's "Book of Cthulhu" anthology to see what I mean). "Acolytes of Cthulhu" is a perfect example of a lofty goal that cannot be reached.
Maybe, if the title had been different, I wouldn't feel as duped or as bummed out as I feel after finishing it. "Acolyte" is an assistant or follower of a person, place, or thing, right? And if they are followers of Cthulhu, you would expect the beast to feature prominently throughout the collected stories. Well, like me, you'd be wrong. Of the 28 stories here, only 3 (yes, 3) deal with Cthulhu. That is just about 10% of the 469 pages dedicated to the name plastered all over the cover. Instead, what we get are 25 other shorts about vampires, haunted houses, and demon children. I understand that most of these were influenced and inspired by H.P. Lovecraft (since the guy didn't stick to his mythos for his entire career), but why would an editor or publisher purposely mislead readers into thinking they were going to embark on a lengthy collection of Cthulhu related themes?
Now, let's talk about the stories themselves. Maybe if they were good, I could look past the obvious lack of Cthulhu and still give this anthology a solid 3 star rating. Yet, these were also a general disappointment. Granted, most of them weren't especially bad (however Wellman's and Borges's were pretty awful as was "The Final War" by Keller), it's just that the majority of them weren't that good. I get that these are older, and were published many years ago, but that still doesn't change the fact that they were, for the most part, boring. They plodded along, moving slowly and far-too-gothicy, focusing more on melodrama and setting than actual substance. Again, I get these were written for the pulp press of the 30's and 40's, and readers views and abilities have changed, but there is nothing wrong with trying to find more modern and exciting stories to break up the monotony.
I can say that there were 2 stories in here that really stood out as original and intriguing, and surprise, surprise, had NOTHING to do with Cthulhu. "The Earth Brain" by Edmond Hamilton was a nice twist on "The Mountains of Madness" and "The Crib of Hell" by Arthur Prendragon was a fun little story about deformed, evil offspring.
February 12, 2008
From what I gather as I read this book, the authors who have contributed to this volume are all "acolytes of Cthulhu," meaning (as Price notes in his introduction) that they all have in their own way paid tribute to Lovecraft through their writings, either in style or in content. And what a fine collection this is; probably one of the better horror samplers I've ever read. Of course, this is an anthology, but imho, there's only one story in here I'd single out as a "how the hell did this get in here" type thing. Other than that one (which shall remain nameless, although I'll bet if you're along for thrill of getting the willys, you'll know which one it is), the collection here is a mish-mosh of horror that you should definitely read alone and with the lights down low. For the first time, I can't pick a favorite, although "The Earth Brain" and "The Will of Claude Ashur" were 2 that really spooked me.
If you are an HPL fan, not necessarily a Mythos fan since most of these stories do not directly address the Mythos, then you will enjoy this book. I wish people wrote like this nowadays -- the stories are gut-level creepy and don't have to depend on gore or slasher-type scenarios to be scary.
I am very proud to have this book as a part of my HPL/Fedogan and Bremer collection. Highly recommended, even if you just want to read the stories for their horror benefit! If you're reading it and come across stories related to the Mythos and you aren't familiar with the names, drop everything and go to the source himself: Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
contents list:
Pierce, Earl -- Doom in the House of Duryea
Brennan, Joseph Payne -- The Seventh Incantation
Eddy, CM -- Black Noon
Rimel, Duane -- The Jewels of Charlotte
Wellman, Manly Wade -- The Letters of Cold Fire
Hasse, Henry -- Horror at Vecra
Tanner, Charles -- Out of the Jar
Hamilton, Edmond -- The Earth-Brain
Powers, Elwin G. -- Through the Alien Angle
Causey, James -- Legacy in Crystal
Thompson, C. Hall -- The Will of Claude Asher
Keller, David -- The Final War
Pendragon, Arthur -- The Dunstable Horror
Pendragon, Arthur -- The Crib of Hell
Aletti, Steffan -- The Last Work of Pietro de Apono
Aletti, Steffan -- The Eye of Horus
Aletti, Steffan -- The Cellar Room
Glasby, John -- Mythos
Borges, Jorges Luis -- There are More Things
Garrett, Randall -- The Horror Out of Time
Joshi, ST -- The Recurring Doom
Mosig, Dirk -- Necrotic Knowledge
Burleson, Don -- Night Bus
Cannon, Peter -- The Pewter Ring
Kaufman, David -- John Lehmann Alone
Meyrinck, Gustav -- The Purple Death
Searight Richard and Franklin Searight -- The Mists of Death
Gaiman, Neil -- Shuggoth's Old Peculiar
If you are an HPL fan, not necessarily a Mythos fan since most of these stories do not directly address the Mythos, then you will enjoy this book. I wish people wrote like this nowadays -- the stories are gut-level creepy and don't have to depend on gore or slasher-type scenarios to be scary.
I am very proud to have this book as a part of my HPL/Fedogan and Bremer collection. Highly recommended, even if you just want to read the stories for their horror benefit! If you're reading it and come across stories related to the Mythos and you aren't familiar with the names, drop everything and go to the source himself: Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
contents list:
Pierce, Earl -- Doom in the House of Duryea
Brennan, Joseph Payne -- The Seventh Incantation
Eddy, CM -- Black Noon
Rimel, Duane -- The Jewels of Charlotte
Wellman, Manly Wade -- The Letters of Cold Fire
Hasse, Henry -- Horror at Vecra
Tanner, Charles -- Out of the Jar
Hamilton, Edmond -- The Earth-Brain
Powers, Elwin G. -- Through the Alien Angle
Causey, James -- Legacy in Crystal
Thompson, C. Hall -- The Will of Claude Asher
Keller, David -- The Final War
Pendragon, Arthur -- The Dunstable Horror
Pendragon, Arthur -- The Crib of Hell
Aletti, Steffan -- The Last Work of Pietro de Apono
Aletti, Steffan -- The Eye of Horus
Aletti, Steffan -- The Cellar Room
Glasby, John -- Mythos
Borges, Jorges Luis -- There are More Things
Garrett, Randall -- The Horror Out of Time
Joshi, ST -- The Recurring Doom
Mosig, Dirk -- Necrotic Knowledge
Burleson, Don -- Night Bus
Cannon, Peter -- The Pewter Ring
Kaufman, David -- John Lehmann Alone
Meyrinck, Gustav -- The Purple Death
Searight Richard and Franklin Searight -- The Mists of Death
Gaiman, Neil -- Shuggoth's Old Peculiar
April 6, 2025
Część opowiadań bardzo ciekawa, inne to nieporozumienie. Daje naciągane 4.
October 25, 2014
The four stars are for Lovecraftians only, otherwise you may be entertained but wonder what the fuss is about - for non-Lovecraftians this is a three star job, entertaining and amusing and no more.
But for Lovecraftians, Robert M. Price has managed to find a rich vein of stories derivative of Lovecraft (or sometimes Derleth who is a very different proposition) ranging from the 1930s through to the 1990s.
Five are from the old Weird Tales stable and the stories tend (though only 'tend') to get better as the century proceeds and pulp becomes something closer to 'literature'.
There are some duds (the dreadful Dr. David Keller's being most notable in this category) but the overall standard is pretty solid.
A couple of 'sports' from the very young S. T. Joshi (almost a tribute to him) and from Neil Gaiman (which actually made me laugh out loud once or twice) add a bit of fun.
The two 'high literary' contributions show Borges at his most elliptic and obscure and that Meyrink was capable of writing utter schlock, showing perhaps that Lovecraftian tales should be left to the experts.
But once we put all this aside, Price has uncovered a number of writers who wrote little and one wishes had written more, notably Arthur Pendragon and Steffan B. Aletti in the 1960s.
Perhaps they simply fell into the lean years between the pulps and the later rediscovery of Lovecraftian 'eldritch horrors' as a rich seam for popular culture and literary studies alike.
The five stories by these two writers might be judged pastiches by some but the tone is almost perfect for the tradition, offering us rather fine throw-backs to the best of an earlier era.
Of the generous helping of 29 tales, I would say that at least two thirds pass muster as stories and add value to the canon, which is way ahead of most such anthologies. Nearly all have some historical value.
Definitely one for collectors of Lovecraftian material and those interested in the history of pulp horror fiction but perhaps not a book that we might expect to appear in the Times Literary Supplement.
November 17, 2017
Review for the collection:
Overall, Acolytes of Cthulhu, a collection of Lovecraft-inspired short stories edited and collected by Robert M. Price, is a fantastic collection chock full of eerie, unsettling, and downright frightening stories examining the nature of humanity, the relationship between science and the occult, and the insignificant role humans play in the vast, unknowable universe. If you’re a fan of cosmic or gothic horror, this will be a great collection for you, filled with lots of great stories written by notable authors who faithfully utilize the conventions of the genre that we know and love, as well as come up with their own modern storytelling conceits.
However, something that I found incredibly disappointing was the following. Not only was there not a single female author included in this collection (nor many female characters of any importance), but also the especially bad stories (Legacy in Crystal, The Final War) were varnished with a thick layer of disgusting misogyny. Be better, Robert M. Price: collect stories that are diverse in voice and representation. I know for a fact that some of the best Lovecraft-inspired horror out there is written by women. So go find their work and include it in your future Lovecraft collections.
My reviews of the individual short stories can be found in my reading progress, but my favorite stories in the collection were: From the Pits of Elder Blasphemy, The Letters of Cold Fire, Horror at Vecra, The Earth-Brain, The Will of Claude Ashur, The Crib of Hell, The Cellar Room, The Horror Out of Time, John Lehmann Alone, and Mists of Death.
Review for the final story:
Neil Gaiman’s “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” is about an American tourist exploring the British seaside when he stumbles across an odd fishing village filled with strange and slightly disgruntled people. It’s exactly the kind of fun, whimsical, referential silliness one would expect Gaiman to make of the Cthulu mythos. 4/5 stars.
Overall, Acolytes of Cthulhu, a collection of Lovecraft-inspired short stories edited and collected by Robert M. Price, is a fantastic collection chock full of eerie, unsettling, and downright frightening stories examining the nature of humanity, the relationship between science and the occult, and the insignificant role humans play in the vast, unknowable universe. If you’re a fan of cosmic or gothic horror, this will be a great collection for you, filled with lots of great stories written by notable authors who faithfully utilize the conventions of the genre that we know and love, as well as come up with their own modern storytelling conceits.
However, something that I found incredibly disappointing was the following. Not only was there not a single female author included in this collection (nor many female characters of any importance), but also the especially bad stories (Legacy in Crystal, The Final War) were varnished with a thick layer of disgusting misogyny. Be better, Robert M. Price: collect stories that are diverse in voice and representation. I know for a fact that some of the best Lovecraft-inspired horror out there is written by women. So go find their work and include it in your future Lovecraft collections.
My reviews of the individual short stories can be found in my reading progress, but my favorite stories in the collection were: From the Pits of Elder Blasphemy, The Letters of Cold Fire, Horror at Vecra, The Earth-Brain, The Will of Claude Ashur, The Crib of Hell, The Cellar Room, The Horror Out of Time, John Lehmann Alone, and Mists of Death.
Review for the final story:
Neil Gaiman’s “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” is about an American tourist exploring the British seaside when he stumbles across an odd fishing village filled with strange and slightly disgruntled people. It’s exactly the kind of fun, whimsical, referential silliness one would expect Gaiman to make of the Cthulu mythos. 4/5 stars.
April 8, 2017
Ah, as antologias... nada contra, inclusive tenho amigos que organizam e escrevem para.
(Eu também escrevo para e já pensei em organizar, então, quer dizer.)
Mas ainda assim: "ah, as antologias". *Suspiro*.
Vejam, a intenção é boa: "vamos reunir um panorama de artistas que escreveram ou se interessam por X", mas a realização quase sempre deixa a desejar. De boas intenções é pavimentada a estrada para o inferno, etc. Por que eu continuo lendo antologias? Pelo trabalho arqueológico, pelo desejo de um curador de fato criterioso, porque eu tinha um cupom da Amazon pra gastar... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Isto posto, o nome da antologia engana: Acólitos de Cthulhu nos faz pensar em contos nos quais o Grande Antigo Tentacular favorito da cultura pop aparece. Mas, no fim das contas, é uma coletânea baseada no universo do Lovecraft - ou seja, Cthulhu que é bom, quase não há.
(Eu também escrevo para e já pensei em organizar, então, quer dizer.)
Mas ainda assim: "ah, as antologias". *Suspiro*.
Vejam, a intenção é boa: "vamos reunir um panorama de artistas que escreveram ou se interessam por X", mas a realização quase sempre deixa a desejar. De boas intenções é pavimentada a estrada para o inferno, etc. Por que eu continuo lendo antologias? Pelo trabalho arqueológico, pelo desejo de um curador de fato criterioso, porque eu tinha um cupom da Amazon pra gastar... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Isto posto, o nome da antologia engana: Acólitos de Cthulhu nos faz pensar em contos nos quais o Grande Antigo Tentacular favorito da cultura pop aparece. Mas, no fim das contas, é uma coletânea baseada no universo do Lovecraft - ou seja, Cthulhu que é bom, quase não há.
July 28, 2022
Being an anthology, it was a mixed bag. I liked a few of the stories, and of course Neil Gaiman is always a treat.
October 18, 2021
'The Acolytes of Cthulhu' was a 'mixed bag' read. Being an anthology of short stories written by authors who took inspiration from the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, it consisted of 28 tales of Lovecraftian horror, Cthulhu Mythos, and the supernatural.
There were some stories which were great, some which were plainly awful, and some which lay in the middle. However it was nice to see various authors trying to pay homage to the master of cosmic horror and displaying their talent for storytelling. For fans of Lovecraftian Horror, it is a good way to pass time.
The stories I found the most captivating were 'Doom of the House of Duraya' by Earl Pierce Jr., 'Legacy in Crystal' by James Causey, 'The Will of Claude Ashur' by C. Hall Thompson (jn my opinion the best one out of the whole collection), 'The Crib of Hell' by Arthur Pendragon, 'The Horror out of Time' by Randall Garrett (one of the strangest plot twists I've ever read), 'The Recurring Doom' by S. T. Joshi and 'The Pewter Ring' by Peter Cannon.
Overall Rating ⭐⭐⭐ (actually 3.5 out of 5).
There were some stories which were great, some which were plainly awful, and some which lay in the middle. However it was nice to see various authors trying to pay homage to the master of cosmic horror and displaying their talent for storytelling. For fans of Lovecraftian Horror, it is a good way to pass time.
The stories I found the most captivating were 'Doom of the House of Duraya' by Earl Pierce Jr., 'Legacy in Crystal' by James Causey, 'The Will of Claude Ashur' by C. Hall Thompson (jn my opinion the best one out of the whole collection), 'The Crib of Hell' by Arthur Pendragon, 'The Horror out of Time' by Randall Garrett (one of the strangest plot twists I've ever read), 'The Recurring Doom' by S. T. Joshi and 'The Pewter Ring' by Peter Cannon.
Overall Rating ⭐⭐⭐ (actually 3.5 out of 5).
September 1, 2025
Mediocre - another collection of forgettable stories based on that over rated misogynistic racist H P Lovercraft. I can't think of a subject that has caused so much bad story telling as the Cthulhu 'mythos'. I can't imagine anything less frightening then the stuff Lovecraft and his acolytes produced. You want real horror - try being black, native American, Japanese, Chinese, etc. and searching for acceptance, justice, or just not to be exploited or lynched at the time Loveecroft wrote. That is true, lived, horror. Try being a rebel against the USA in the Phillipines at that time - there is a guarantee of torture and death. You don't need spooky monsters from out of space to give you nightmares.
This collection is a waste of paper.
This collection is a waste of paper.
November 1, 2014
Possibly the best Lovecraftian anthology I have read. Only a few of the stories disappointed. Not all involved mighty Cthulhu, and a few were not overtly connected to the Mythos at all -- yet all were Lovecraftian in spirit.
September 18, 2018
Tales of varying quality, scrapes a 3 stars, but if I find the book on sale second-hand, I'll get it for the handful of very good stories.
The stories within Acolytes range in calibre between narratives worthy of Lovecraft - some of which update his mythos for the modern era, and some of which add extra detail to it - and some dire pap, such as the hilariously awful 'The Final War.' This tale, which was likely written in Lovecraft's lifetime, bears the hallmarks of being composed around too many sci-fi fans and before the copyright was up on Lovecraft's works. That has got to be the reason why Chthulu is represented as a giant hypnotic toad and not in the form with which we are all familiar with him. How undignified. Ever wonder where the Hypno-Toad in Futurama came from? Wonder no more. Chthulu, in this narrative, lives with the Elder Gods on Saturn, because why not? Maybe he found we humans too noisy and annoying. Ry'leh isn't under the sea, he isn't dead but dreaming, there aren't any fish-men or strange cultists and he's trying to take over Earth using a bloody spaceship and a dorky mechanoid dark legion called the Machine Men. OK, so I've found out where Bruce Dickinson got his inspiration from, but who the heck is scared of 60s style robots? Chthulu's plan also includes breeding some kind of superwoman by mating some semi-beast, semi-man humans together. The male of these beings has got to be the inspiration for ManBearPig on South Park, or I'm a Dutchman's aunt. The crowning glory of this laughable story is that the Elder Gods all speak English for some reason, and yes, completing the cheese, they refer to humanity as Earth-Men. Basically I am delighted that 'Final War' was included because it's really funny, and it is the basis for a plethora of cultural references that seem to hinge on others being as astonished as I at how awful this story really is, but it's not part of the Lovecraftian universe. Chthulu may as well have been called Bob, or maybe Krankor from the Japanese B movie Prince of Space, in this narrative.
As for the others: a couple of them were scary enough to get me to sleep with the light on, which is saying a fair bit. A number also dispensed with the epic racism of many of Lovecraft's original tales (I'm sure everyone recalls, for example, how a slur ended up in 'The Rats in the Walls' despite there not actually being any ethnic minority characters in that pretty horrifying story...) and that's a decent development. In one story, there is a further twist: the hero's attempt to outwit some Chthulu worshippers in Haiti hinges on his stroking their prejudices by feigning racist indifference to their savage murder of his local friend, rather than the horror and fury he truly feels. That story finishes with ****SPOILERS!!!!*** ghosts led by Baron Samedi killing the Chthuluists with a machete, which is a pretty badass close, though it could have been more dramatically represented. This story probably left many gnashing their teeth by sarcastically emphasising how cultural relativism is a really bollocks defence against ancient evil and human sacrifice, however. Towards the end of the anthology, we also get our first non-white hero (yay!) who, apart from being very very cool, is a direct descendent of Lovecraftian Big Bad / villain of villains... oh, guess. The flipside of this is the inclusion of a story that is in fact MORE racist than Lovecraft (mentions the Aryan race?! Are you actually kidding me?!!!) and, in another otherwise fantastic story about an alien being, with a genuinely gripping cliffhanger ending, being suddenly blindsided with a bout of grotesque and random anti-Semitism, like some kind of horrible incident at a student rally. I have no doubt that the quietly condemnatory depiction of sectarianism in Scotland in that same story confused the heck out of some Stateside readers, whereas I thought it was a pretty solid expose of a genuine ancient evil that really plagues the UK, and it's just a shame the prejudice against Jews wasn't given the same savage treatment.
Neil Gaiman chips in at the end with a sardonic representation of Chthulu worshippers in a British coastal town and a visiting American tourist. I found this mainly damn amusing, apart from the depiction of the ploughman's lunch. Gaiman: I've tasted American 'cheddar.' Or rather, I haven't. We don't even sell that muck as value cheese in this country. Further British cultural influences were seen in the gloriously unPC depiction of *deep breath* some Chthuluist chavs in one of the other stories. Yep, I did say that. Never in my life did I think Owen Jones et al would find reason to get angry about a Lovecraftian knockoff story, but there it is...
Worth a read overall, inspiring, but I wouldn't say it was a classic.
The stories within Acolytes range in calibre between narratives worthy of Lovecraft - some of which update his mythos for the modern era, and some of which add extra detail to it - and some dire pap, such as the hilariously awful 'The Final War.' This tale, which was likely written in Lovecraft's lifetime, bears the hallmarks of being composed around too many sci-fi fans and before the copyright was up on Lovecraft's works. That has got to be the reason why Chthulu is represented as a giant hypnotic toad and not in the form with which we are all familiar with him. How undignified. Ever wonder where the Hypno-Toad in Futurama came from? Wonder no more. Chthulu, in this narrative, lives with the Elder Gods on Saturn, because why not? Maybe he found we humans too noisy and annoying. Ry'leh isn't under the sea, he isn't dead but dreaming, there aren't any fish-men or strange cultists and he's trying to take over Earth using a bloody spaceship and a dorky mechanoid dark legion called the Machine Men. OK, so I've found out where Bruce Dickinson got his inspiration from, but who the heck is scared of 60s style robots? Chthulu's plan also includes breeding some kind of superwoman by mating some semi-beast, semi-man humans together. The male of these beings has got to be the inspiration for ManBearPig on South Park, or I'm a Dutchman's aunt. The crowning glory of this laughable story is that the Elder Gods all speak English for some reason, and yes, completing the cheese, they refer to humanity as Earth-Men. Basically I am delighted that 'Final War' was included because it's really funny, and it is the basis for a plethora of cultural references that seem to hinge on others being as astonished as I at how awful this story really is, but it's not part of the Lovecraftian universe. Chthulu may as well have been called Bob, or maybe Krankor from the Japanese B movie Prince of Space, in this narrative.
As for the others: a couple of them were scary enough to get me to sleep with the light on, which is saying a fair bit. A number also dispensed with the epic racism of many of Lovecraft's original tales (I'm sure everyone recalls, for example, how a slur ended up in 'The Rats in the Walls' despite there not actually being any ethnic minority characters in that pretty horrifying story...) and that's a decent development. In one story, there is a further twist: the hero's attempt to outwit some Chthulu worshippers in Haiti hinges on his stroking their prejudices by feigning racist indifference to their savage murder of his local friend, rather than the horror and fury he truly feels. That story finishes with ****SPOILERS!!!!*** ghosts led by Baron Samedi killing the Chthuluists with a machete, which is a pretty badass close, though it could have been more dramatically represented. This story probably left many gnashing their teeth by sarcastically emphasising how cultural relativism is a really bollocks defence against ancient evil and human sacrifice, however. Towards the end of the anthology, we also get our first non-white hero (yay!) who, apart from being very very cool, is a direct descendent of Lovecraftian Big Bad / villain of villains... oh, guess. The flipside of this is the inclusion of a story that is in fact MORE racist than Lovecraft (mentions the Aryan race?! Are you actually kidding me?!!!) and, in another otherwise fantastic story about an alien being, with a genuinely gripping cliffhanger ending, being suddenly blindsided with a bout of grotesque and random anti-Semitism, like some kind of horrible incident at a student rally. I have no doubt that the quietly condemnatory depiction of sectarianism in Scotland in that same story confused the heck out of some Stateside readers, whereas I thought it was a pretty solid expose of a genuine ancient evil that really plagues the UK, and it's just a shame the prejudice against Jews wasn't given the same savage treatment.
Neil Gaiman chips in at the end with a sardonic representation of Chthulu worshippers in a British coastal town and a visiting American tourist. I found this mainly damn amusing, apart from the depiction of the ploughman's lunch. Gaiman: I've tasted American 'cheddar.' Or rather, I haven't. We don't even sell that muck as value cheese in this country. Further British cultural influences were seen in the gloriously unPC depiction of *deep breath* some Chthuluist chavs in one of the other stories. Yep, I did say that. Never in my life did I think Owen Jones et al would find reason to get angry about a Lovecraftian knockoff story, but there it is...
Worth a read overall, inspiring, but I wouldn't say it was a classic.
February 18, 2019
I have a theory, having read this book and looking forward to starting "Black wings of cthulhu", a sister compendium of H.P. Lovecraft inspired works from the same publisher;
Nobody who is TRYING to write like H.P. Lovecraft ever succeeds in replicating his style or the dread characteristic to his stories. Rather, they only manage to evoke a superficial similarity, a "Close enough" impression.
getting the bad out of the way first; Acolytes seems to aim for star power with the cover listing high profile authors amongst the contributors, the most recognizable & dubious being Neil Gaiman. I know Gaiman from "Anansi Boys" and later his renditions of norse mythology (which I'm currently on again off again trying to read through) and understand his writing to be humorous first, emotional second, and only ever dread inducing last in order to deliver a greater pay-off in the end. his contributions were obviously not trying to be H.P.'s style, and honestly that's the best you could hope for. He wasn't trying to be like Lovecraft, he simply took the universe and mythology and made it his own. Unfortunately, H.P. Lovecraft's work isn't meant to be humorous jaunts poking fun at itself. It's not even intended as horror as the genre is understood. H.P. Lovecraft sells us nihilism bound in paper and leather, a picture of our world where all mankind is is just so much unimportant dust under the fingernails of creatures which we can't possibly understand, which bearing witness to, merely seeing such ancient beings, causes the mind to shatter like a stained glass window near a golf course driving range. It's not something that holds up well to light hearted jokes and humor, at least not when it's billed as following Lovecraft's example.
Aside from maybe two stories out of the bunch, none of them were particularly memorable to me, chiefly because they were focused on the costumes of the old ones and not their substance. tentacles and monsters, less embodiments of an uncaring universe and more attack of the self aware homage to the octo-monster from the sunken city.
Other than that I can recommend this book highly to anybody who wants something of a mixed bag of Cthulhu mythos stories that run the gambit of amusing to spooky. every story is well written, even if most follow a similar formula to the others. Neil Gaiman's contributions are the most memorable by far, but read more like his work than anything else with a few names changed to fit the setting. Only one or two of the stories had dialogue exchhanges that felt clunky or cheesey. There was one story halfway through the book (The Horror Out of Time) which I do remember because it was so well handled and carried with it such an unexpected twist that i was left grinning from ear to ear and just asking myself "Wait, WHAT? did they really just manage to pull that off?!?" I had to re-read the story just to see how well my expectations were subverted. if that sounds vague, there's a reason for it.
The worst part of this collection of stories is how frequently their inspiration is clearly quoted or outright referenced, feeling like the latest Hollywood nostalgia re-sale cash-grab blockbuster than an honest homages to their source, a source which defined an entire genre pre-dating science fiction.
The best part of this collection is that every story has it's own voice, it's own take on the cthulhu mythos, and contributes an interesting rendering of material which has become so heavily referenced in today's pop culture.
Read it if you want something to tide you over between read throughs of Lovecraft's works, while you wait until the original tales of cthulhu and friends to fade from the fore-front of your mind into the hazy dreams.
Nobody who is TRYING to write like H.P. Lovecraft ever succeeds in replicating his style or the dread characteristic to his stories. Rather, they only manage to evoke a superficial similarity, a "Close enough" impression.
getting the bad out of the way first; Acolytes seems to aim for star power with the cover listing high profile authors amongst the contributors, the most recognizable & dubious being Neil Gaiman. I know Gaiman from "Anansi Boys" and later his renditions of norse mythology (which I'm currently on again off again trying to read through) and understand his writing to be humorous first, emotional second, and only ever dread inducing last in order to deliver a greater pay-off in the end. his contributions were obviously not trying to be H.P.'s style, and honestly that's the best you could hope for. He wasn't trying to be like Lovecraft, he simply took the universe and mythology and made it his own. Unfortunately, H.P. Lovecraft's work isn't meant to be humorous jaunts poking fun at itself. It's not even intended as horror as the genre is understood. H.P. Lovecraft sells us nihilism bound in paper and leather, a picture of our world where all mankind is is just so much unimportant dust under the fingernails of creatures which we can't possibly understand, which bearing witness to, merely seeing such ancient beings, causes the mind to shatter like a stained glass window near a golf course driving range. It's not something that holds up well to light hearted jokes and humor, at least not when it's billed as following Lovecraft's example.
Aside from maybe two stories out of the bunch, none of them were particularly memorable to me, chiefly because they were focused on the costumes of the old ones and not their substance. tentacles and monsters, less embodiments of an uncaring universe and more attack of the self aware homage to the octo-monster from the sunken city.
Other than that I can recommend this book highly to anybody who wants something of a mixed bag of Cthulhu mythos stories that run the gambit of amusing to spooky. every story is well written, even if most follow a similar formula to the others. Neil Gaiman's contributions are the most memorable by far, but read more like his work than anything else with a few names changed to fit the setting. Only one or two of the stories had dialogue exchhanges that felt clunky or cheesey. There was one story halfway through the book (The Horror Out of Time) which I do remember because it was so well handled and carried with it such an unexpected twist that i was left grinning from ear to ear and just asking myself "Wait, WHAT? did they really just manage to pull that off?!?" I had to re-read the story just to see how well my expectations were subverted. if that sounds vague, there's a reason for it.
The worst part of this collection of stories is how frequently their inspiration is clearly quoted or outright referenced, feeling like the latest Hollywood nostalgia re-sale cash-grab blockbuster than an honest homages to their source, a source which defined an entire genre pre-dating science fiction.
The best part of this collection is that every story has it's own voice, it's own take on the cthulhu mythos, and contributes an interesting rendering of material which has become so heavily referenced in today's pop culture.
Read it if you want something to tide you over between read throughs of Lovecraft's works, while you wait until the original tales of cthulhu and friends to fade from the fore-front of your mind into the hazy dreams.
March 14, 2025
Chcesz zanurzyć się w mrocznej otchłani kosmicznego horroru? „Akolici Cthulhu” to zbiór opowiadań, który przenosi czytelnika w mroczne zakamarki wyobraźni, gdzie granice między rzeczywistością a kosmicznym horrorem zacierają się w niepokojący sposób. Wydana przez wydawnictwo Vesper antologia stanowi prawdziwą ucztę dla miłośników twórczości H.P. Lovecrafta, oferując szeroki wachlarz historii inspirowanych jego ikonicznym uniwersum. Jeśli nie znacie Lovecrafta tutaj dzięki pisarzom, jakich poznasz będziecie mieli lekki przedsmak tego, co czeka na was w książkach autora. Nie tylko treść zasługuje na uwagę – spójrzcie na okładkę, która jest po prostu rewelacyjna. Muszę uprzedzić, że od pierwszych stron książka wciągnie was w atmosferę niepokoju i tajemnicy. Każde opowiadanie to odrębna podróż w głąb ludzkiej psychiki, konfrontowanej z nieznanym i niewyobrażalnym. Autorzy zręcznie tworzą sugestywne opisy, które pobudzają wyobraźnię i wywołują dreszcze.
Różnorodność stylów i tematyki sprawia, że „Akolici Cthulhu” to lektura, która nie pozwala się nudzić. Od klasycznych opowieści o starożytnych kultach i zapomnianych bóstwach po bardziej współczesne interpretacje lovecraftowskiego mitosu – każdy znajdzie tu coś dla siebie. Antologia ta udowadnia, że dziedzictwo Lovecrafta wciąż inspiruje i fascynuje, a jego wizja kosmicznego horroru pozostaje aktualna i przerażająca. Wśród autorów, których opowiadania znalazły się w zbiorze, warto wymienić takie nazwiska jak Neil Gaiman, Jorge Luis Borges czy S.T. Joshi. Każdy z nich wnosi do antologii swój unikalny styl i perspektywę, tworząc bogaty i zróżnicowany obraz lovecraftowskiego uniwersum.
„Akolici Cthulhu” to nie tylko zbiór opowiadań, to także, według mnie taki hołd dla mistrza kosmicznego horroru. Każde opowiadanie to odrębna podróż w głąb ludzkiej psychiki, konfrontowanej z nieznanym i niewyobrażalnym. A uwierzcie mi, ciarki przechodzą po każdym rozdziale. To doskonała okazja, aby zapoznać się z twórczością różnych autorów, którzy czerpią inspirację z dorobku Lovecrafta. Antologia oferuje szeroki wachlarz historii, od klasycznych po współczesne interpretacje lovecraftowskiego mitosu. Książka zawiera wiele interesujących informacji o autorach i ich twórczości. Najważniejsze jest to, że ta pozycja jest obowiązkowa dla każdego fana horroru. To mroczna i wciągająca lektura, która pozostawi w czytelniku niezatarte wrażenie.
Różnorodność stylów i tematyki sprawia, że „Akolici Cthulhu” to lektura, która nie pozwala się nudzić. Od klasycznych opowieści o starożytnych kultach i zapomnianych bóstwach po bardziej współczesne interpretacje lovecraftowskiego mitosu – każdy znajdzie tu coś dla siebie. Antologia ta udowadnia, że dziedzictwo Lovecrafta wciąż inspiruje i fascynuje, a jego wizja kosmicznego horroru pozostaje aktualna i przerażająca. Wśród autorów, których opowiadania znalazły się w zbiorze, warto wymienić takie nazwiska jak Neil Gaiman, Jorge Luis Borges czy S.T. Joshi. Każdy z nich wnosi do antologii swój unikalny styl i perspektywę, tworząc bogaty i zróżnicowany obraz lovecraftowskiego uniwersum.
„Akolici Cthulhu” to nie tylko zbiór opowiadań, to także, według mnie taki hołd dla mistrza kosmicznego horroru. Każde opowiadanie to odrębna podróż w głąb ludzkiej psychiki, konfrontowanej z nieznanym i niewyobrażalnym. A uwierzcie mi, ciarki przechodzą po każdym rozdziale. To doskonała okazja, aby zapoznać się z twórczością różnych autorów, którzy czerpią inspirację z dorobku Lovecrafta. Antologia oferuje szeroki wachlarz historii, od klasycznych po współczesne interpretacje lovecraftowskiego mitosu. Książka zawiera wiele interesujących informacji o autorach i ich twórczości. Najważniejsze jest to, że ta pozycja jest obowiązkowa dla każdego fana horroru. To mroczna i wciągająca lektura, która pozostawi w czytelniku niezatarte wrażenie.
March 4, 2023
I saw a review of this collection of “weird” short stories that just ripped apart — mostly, seemingly having to do with some animus toward the editor of the book — and ultimately came down saying this series of stories were sub-par and weren’t worth the time it takes to read. I would not agree with that. I would agree that a number of the stories were tangentially, if not at all, connected to the Cthulhu mythos and many of them were not brilliant. But I found a number of them to be really good and chilling and tickling that itch of Lovecraftian lore.
Since the book does contain stories spanning from around Lovecraft’s time to the near present, there’s a lot of the similar racism (though it reads more pastiche to the originator than it does the outright disdain for the other that ol’ HP got down with) and sexism, and Orientalism that can be problematic and maybe means many of these authors — most of whom many readers will never have heard of — should stay unknown.
But I think there’s something to be said for reading all kinds of stories. Brilliant ones and mediocre ones. And, as just a few in this collection were: bad stories. That’s how we learn what is good and bad. And the interesting thing is learning that even authors you might conventionally like might also write things you don’t care for. (That would be the Neil Gaiman story that ends the collection.) It was Gaiman and ST Joshi (renowned Lovecraft scholar), as well as Jorge Luis Borges, whose names I recognized, but it was the inclusion of Randall Garrett that made this a must buy for me. (Full disclosure: I adapted one of Garrett’s short stories as a graphic novel.) And I’ll be honest, his story wound up being pretty much not related to Cthulhu at all, but the twist he takes on the idea really made me smile because he got me! It instantly made me go back and read the story again.
Anyway, overall I liked the book!
Since the book does contain stories spanning from around Lovecraft’s time to the near present, there’s a lot of the similar racism (though it reads more pastiche to the originator than it does the outright disdain for the other that ol’ HP got down with) and sexism, and Orientalism that can be problematic and maybe means many of these authors — most of whom many readers will never have heard of — should stay unknown.
But I think there’s something to be said for reading all kinds of stories. Brilliant ones and mediocre ones. And, as just a few in this collection were: bad stories. That’s how we learn what is good and bad. And the interesting thing is learning that even authors you might conventionally like might also write things you don’t care for. (That would be the Neil Gaiman story that ends the collection.) It was Gaiman and ST Joshi (renowned Lovecraft scholar), as well as Jorge Luis Borges, whose names I recognized, but it was the inclusion of Randall Garrett that made this a must buy for me. (Full disclosure: I adapted one of Garrett’s short stories as a graphic novel.) And I’ll be honest, his story wound up being pretty much not related to Cthulhu at all, but the twist he takes on the idea really made me smile because he got me! It instantly made me go back and read the story again.
Anyway, overall I liked the book!
October 2, 2023
Howard Phillips Lovecraft to jeden z pisarzy zajmujący szczególne miejsce w moim serduchu. ✨️🖤✨️Jego twórczość wyjątkowo do mnie trafia i ze wszystkich książek, jakie wyszły spod pióra tego autora i które poznałam, nie było chyba jeszcze takiej, która by mi się nie spodobała. 🤷♀️ Z dużą chęcią sięgam również po tytuły powstałe w wyniku inspiracji twórczością Lovecrafta. Dobrym tego przykładem są "Kroniki Arkham", czyli cykl zbiorów opowiadań. 📚 Dziś będzie co nieco o jego trzecim tomie zatytułowanym "Akolici Cthulhu".
W tej odsłonie serii redaktor R.M. Price zebrał 28 opowiadań 27 autorów, w wyniku czego powstała antologia barwnych i różnorodnych historii rodem ze świata wybitnego H.P. Lovecrafta. 🖤 Są to intrygujące, fascynujące i przerażające twory, a każdy z nich w jakiś sposób nawiązuje do dzieł kultowego pisarza. 😍 Pomysły na przedstawienie ich na swój sposób mieli tu między innymi Jorges Luis Borges, Gustav Meyrink, S.T. Joshi, Elwin G. Powers, Manly Wade Wellman, Peter Cannon czy nieoceniony Neil Gaiman. 🥰 Każda znajdująca się w tej antologii historia utrzymana jest w klimacie grozy i każda ma w sobie coś wyjątkowego. Jedne potrafią zmrozić krew w żyłach, 😱 inne wywołują zaś jedynie ciarki na ciele. Jednego możecie być pewni - wszystkie mocno niepokoją i sprawiają, że myślimy o nich na długo po skończeniu lektury.
W "Akolitach Cthulhu" mamy do czynienia z demonicznymi mocami, mrocznymi, przeklętymi miejscami, przedziwnymi istotami, niebezpiecznymi klątwami i zaklęciami czy starymi, przeklętymi księgami. 🫣 W tych opowiadaniach, oprócz klasycznej grozy i horroru, znajdziemy również domieszkę fantastyki. Tak jak pisałam wcześniej, różnorodności w tej antologii nie brakuje i jestem pewna, że każdy znajdzie w niej coś dla siebie. 👌 Ja, czytając "Akolitów Cthulhu", byłam w siódmym niebie. Gorąco polecam❗️😊
W tej odsłonie serii redaktor R.M. Price zebrał 28 opowiadań 27 autorów, w wyniku czego powstała antologia barwnych i różnorodnych historii rodem ze świata wybitnego H.P. Lovecrafta. 🖤 Są to intrygujące, fascynujące i przerażające twory, a każdy z nich w jakiś sposób nawiązuje do dzieł kultowego pisarza. 😍 Pomysły na przedstawienie ich na swój sposób mieli tu między innymi Jorges Luis Borges, Gustav Meyrink, S.T. Joshi, Elwin G. Powers, Manly Wade Wellman, Peter Cannon czy nieoceniony Neil Gaiman. 🥰 Każda znajdująca się w tej antologii historia utrzymana jest w klimacie grozy i każda ma w sobie coś wyjątkowego. Jedne potrafią zmrozić krew w żyłach, 😱 inne wywołują zaś jedynie ciarki na ciele. Jednego możecie być pewni - wszystkie mocno niepokoją i sprawiają, że myślimy o nich na długo po skończeniu lektury.
W "Akolitach Cthulhu" mamy do czynienia z demonicznymi mocami, mrocznymi, przeklętymi miejscami, przedziwnymi istotami, niebezpiecznymi klątwami i zaklęciami czy starymi, przeklętymi księgami. 🫣 W tych opowiadaniach, oprócz klasycznej grozy i horroru, znajdziemy również domieszkę fantastyki. Tak jak pisałam wcześniej, różnorodności w tej antologii nie brakuje i jestem pewna, że każdy znajdzie w niej coś dla siebie. 👌 Ja, czytając "Akolitów Cthulhu", byłam w siódmym niebie. Gorąco polecam❗️😊
January 27, 2020
Some of the stories in this book were good, some were okay, some were boring, and several were good but I am not sure that they belonged in a "Cthulhu" book - they were supernatural horror but not really cosmic.
There was an unfortunate amount of racism in the book too, and while that is generally historically accurate, I am not sure that it was done right. While white people may have been racist, that doesn't mean that every black, Asian, or "Indian" person was actually a worshipper of evil monsters who sacrificed innocent white people. In most cases for this book, if it had a non-white person in it, they were somehow evil or responsible for evil. A couple of the stories didn't have this, but most of them that had non-white characters had those non-white characters as the bad guys in some way. I mean there is a difference between "white people were racist" and "white people had good reason to be racist because non-white people are going to raise Cthulhu to devour us all!" If you want to be historically accurate, and not just true to Lovecrafts racist attitude, then you might want to try the former and not the latter. Just a suggestion.
There was an unfortunate amount of racism in the book too, and while that is generally historically accurate, I am not sure that it was done right. While white people may have been racist, that doesn't mean that every black, Asian, or "Indian" person was actually a worshipper of evil monsters who sacrificed innocent white people. In most cases for this book, if it had a non-white person in it, they were somehow evil or responsible for evil. A couple of the stories didn't have this, but most of them that had non-white characters had those non-white characters as the bad guys in some way. I mean there is a difference between "white people were racist" and "white people had good reason to be racist because non-white people are going to raise Cthulhu to devour us all!" If you want to be historically accurate, and not just true to Lovecrafts racist attitude, then you might want to try the former and not the latter. Just a suggestion.
August 28, 2022
Price's introduction to this collection includes a risible rant about how Lovecraft fandom should be a select club of people who "get it" and trying to make the Mythos mainstream is doomed to fail and he despises seeing cosplayers at conventions.
It's a really odd take, especially when it boils down to "other people are doing Lovecraft fandom wrong" - you would think someone with that attitude would be more discerning about the stories they select for their anthologies, but instead The Acolytes of Cthulhu is all over the place in terms of tone, literary ambition, pulp quotient, and overall quality.
Still, Price is discerning in one respect: in a collection with dozens of stories, not one is by a woman. That's not a great look. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
It's a really odd take, especially when it boils down to "other people are doing Lovecraft fandom wrong" - you would think someone with that attitude would be more discerning about the stories they select for their anthologies, but instead The Acolytes of Cthulhu is all over the place in terms of tone, literary ambition, pulp quotient, and overall quality.
Still, Price is discerning in one respect: in a collection with dozens of stories, not one is by a woman. That's not a great look. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
April 20, 2022
I’m really only rating half a book here and the only stories that I enjoyed were Out of the Jar by Charles R. Tanner and The Earth-Brain by Edmond Hamilton. If I had read these stories on their own it probably would have been better.
Though the inclusion of Doom of the House of Duryea by Earl Peirce Jr is good I had already read it earlier this year.
So while this isn’t what I wanted it did hold some good things in the pages I read. But unfortunately just not good enough to want to read the rest.
Though the inclusion of Doom of the House of Duryea by Earl Peirce Jr is good I had already read it earlier this year.
So while this isn’t what I wanted it did hold some good things in the pages I read. But unfortunately just not good enough to want to read the rest.
Read
July 30, 2024DNF for now.
While some of the stories have been nice enough, the intro was such a drag that I eventually skipped over it. While it's marketed as a book regarding Lovecraft's Cthulu and other creatures, some of the stories have little to nothing to do with the whole 'cosmic horror' shtick.
I have no real drive to finish the book, so I think I'll start up something else until I feel like attempting this again. Perhaps it's the format of short stories that I just don't like, but this book didn't catch my attention at all.
While some of the stories have been nice enough, the intro was such a drag that I eventually skipped over it. While it's marketed as a book regarding Lovecraft's Cthulu and other creatures, some of the stories have little to nothing to do with the whole 'cosmic horror' shtick.
I have no real drive to finish the book, so I think I'll start up something else until I feel like attempting this again. Perhaps it's the format of short stories that I just don't like, but this book didn't catch my attention at all.
October 29, 2025
Look. this is for folks who love Lovecraft. those who don't should stay away from this dark knowledge stuff. There are quite a few deep dives and harder stories to find in here.
Lots of out of print collected bits, mostly not Branston pickle like stories that can tickle the missing dread in your life.
If you have too much dread, or suffer from cosmic horror or even the more common existential dread -- just don't. Everyone else, come bath in the water off Innsmouth and other scenic and exotic locations.
Lots of out of print collected bits, mostly not Branston pickle like stories that can tickle the missing dread in your life.
If you have too much dread, or suffer from cosmic horror or even the more common existential dread -- just don't. Everyone else, come bath in the water off Innsmouth and other scenic and exotic locations.
January 7, 2017
This anthology was a collection of stories set in the Cthulhu Mythos, by authors other than Lovecraft. The good news is, a lot of it is very faithful to Lovecraft's general style. The bad news is, see the good news. Long stretches of this were kind of a slog. but there were some bright spots, like the Gaiman story.
August 17, 2017
This collection does vary a bit - as other reviewers have noted, not all the stories are truly "Lovecraftian." For instance, the Manley Wade Wellman story is basically a traditional black magic yarn. Still, there are some excellent stories, including Edmond Hamilton's "The Earth-Brain", and Neil Gaiman's very tongue-in-cheek "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar".
June 23, 2019
For the most part pretty good selection of lovecraft inspired or like stories. There were a couple that sort of fell flat for me, and one while the tale was interesting the narrators comments sort of threw me. Otherwise, there were some good twists I didn’t see coming, and other just straight enjoyable tales.
March 5, 2020
A Great Collection of Short Stories of the Cthulhu Mythos
This is one of the best collection of stories that I have read in a long time. While some O liked better than others there was not one I did not like. Some I felt could had been written by Lovecraft. An excellent collection. Highly Recommended.
This is one of the best collection of stories that I have read in a long time. While some O liked better than others there was not one I did not like. Some I felt could had been written by Lovecraft. An excellent collection. Highly Recommended.
February 6, 2020
This is a fun collection of stories in the Lovecraftian vein. Some are good, some are great, some are fairly bad. Doom of House of Duryea, The Will of Claude Ashur, The Pewter Ring and John Lehmann Alone all stood out as the best stories.
March 9, 2021
Some of the stories in the first half are only Mythos stories by author association or a great leap of the imagination. The second half is much stronger, especially “John Lehman Alone,” but there are some real duds in here as well.
July 28, 2021
Some of these were good, most were meh, and a few were bad. Cthuhlu anthologies are generally a very mixed bag leaning toward not-very-good, sadly. I think the majority of these stories date from the 1940s and 50s. Nothing to shout about for sure.
July 15, 2019
One of the better collections of C'Thulhu mythos stories. Some if them are exceedingly short, but most of them were quite spooky and enjoyable.
June 26, 2020
The quality of these short stories is fluctuating, with low highs but very deep lows.
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