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Space Eldritch #2
Space Eldritch II
The cold of interstellar space is again closer than you think as eleven authors -- including New York Times bestseller Larry Correia, Nebula winner Eric James Stone, Amazon #1 bestseller Michaelbrent Collings, and multiple Hugo nominee Howard Tayler -- explore what happens when space opera meets Lovecraftian cosmic horror.
405 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 10, 2013
19 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Nathan Shumate
23 books49 followersNathan Shumate is a Utah author, small-press publisher, assemblage artist and dilettante (although he prefers the term “Renaissance Man”). He has written (and gotten paid for) comic books, screenplays, and various forms of fiction and non-fiction. His short stories have appeared in the magazine Amazing Stories, the anthology Monsters & Mormons, and other venues. He is the publisher and instigator of the Lovecraftian pulp space opera Space Eldritch anthologies. His most recent book is The Shadow Over Vinland, and Other Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, released June 2024. He also unleashed LousyBookCovers.com onto the world, and consults with self-publishing authors at CoverCritics.com about effective indie book cover design.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 2, 2018
Overall, a good collection. There are a few stories where I question how we are getting a first-person account (though one comes up with a rather nice explanation that also expands the story), and there's one that made me realize that I have at least one trigger-issue (and it's not one that I expect to be common enough that anyone will bother labeling it). Interestingly, these are mostly bleaker than Lovecraft's actual works. As a side note, I'm not entirely sure when I actually started this, so the selected start date is more or less arbitrary. It sat in Kindle Limbo for several years after I got to that one story (and I did not reread that one).
A Darklight Call'd on the Long Last Night of the Soul by Michaelbrent Collings (3 stars, 4 tentacles) - Some "planets" are best left alone.
Dead Waits Dreaming by Larry Correia (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Interesting use of dreams (and the lack thereof), and how they connect to Elder Things.
The Implant by Robert J. Defendi (? stars, ? tentacles) - This story pushed my buttons in such a way that I put this collection aside for several years. I vaguely remember it being well-written, but I had no desire to reread it when I picked this up again.
Plague Ship by Steven L. Peck (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - The dangers of visiting other universes.
From Within the Walls by Steven Diamond (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Prison asteroid turns out to be a bit more. Definite echoes of The Dunwich Horror.
Space Opera: Episode Two—The Great Old One Strikes Back by Michael R. Collings (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Beautiful inversion. The POV character is from an insectoid race, and recoils in horror at the bizarre, fleshy creature with only two locked-socket eyes, 2 arms, 2 legs. Of course, there are also Old Ones...
The Queen in Shadow by David J. West (3 stars, 2 tentacles) - Tug of war over supposed eternal mate, with shoggothoi (which gets pluralized as shoggoths). Annoying to have two strong female characters entirely defined by their relationship with this reincarnated male.
The Humans in the Walls by Eric James Stone (4 stars, 3 tentacles) - A sort of Lovecraftian Hitchhiker's Guide, in some respects. Humans hitch rides on godships, .
Seed by D.J. Butler (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Planet of pink worms makes people obsessed with sex. Interesting and well-written, but not really to my taste.
Full Dark by Nathan Shumate (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Eerie space tale. Very Lovecraftian ending. I like .
Fall of the Runewrought by Howard Tayler (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Investigation into a failure at a power plant leads to aerial battle with Kaiju. Started off very interesting, but ... I think the progression from minor incident to world-threatening horror threw me off a bit. Also, I prefer battles with Lovecraftian horrors to be less physical.
A Darklight Call'd on the Long Last Night of the Soul by Michaelbrent Collings (3 stars, 4 tentacles) - Some "planets" are best left alone.
Dead Waits Dreaming by Larry Correia (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Interesting use of dreams (and the lack thereof), and how they connect to Elder Things.
The Implant by Robert J. Defendi (? stars, ? tentacles) - This story pushed my buttons in such a way that I put this collection aside for several years. I vaguely remember it being well-written, but I had no desire to reread it when I picked this up again.
Plague Ship by Steven L. Peck (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - The dangers of visiting other universes.
From Within the Walls by Steven Diamond (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Prison asteroid turns out to be a bit more. Definite echoes of The Dunwich Horror.
Space Opera: Episode Two—The Great Old One Strikes Back by Michael R. Collings (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Beautiful inversion. The POV character is from an insectoid race, and recoils in horror at the bizarre, fleshy creature with only two locked-socket eyes, 2 arms, 2 legs. Of course, there are also Old Ones...
The Queen in Shadow by David J. West (3 stars, 2 tentacles) - Tug of war over supposed eternal mate, with shoggothoi (which gets pluralized as shoggoths). Annoying to have two strong female characters entirely defined by their relationship with this reincarnated male.
The Humans in the Walls by Eric James Stone (4 stars, 3 tentacles) - A sort of Lovecraftian Hitchhiker's Guide, in some respects. Humans hitch rides on godships, .
Seed by D.J. Butler (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Planet of pink worms makes people obsessed with sex. Interesting and well-written, but not really to my taste.
Full Dark by Nathan Shumate (4 stars, 4 tentacles) - Eerie space tale. Very Lovecraftian ending. I like .
Fall of the Runewrought by Howard Tayler (3 stars, 3 tentacles) - Investigation into a failure at a power plant leads to aerial battle with Kaiju. Started off very interesting, but ... I think the progression from minor incident to world-threatening horror threw me off a bit. Also, I prefer battles with Lovecraftian horrors to be less physical.
April 25, 2014
After reading the first book
, I couldn't wait to see if they would do another anthology like this. Thankfully, they did, however unlike the first collection, 'Space Eldritch II' is a lot more hit and miss when compared to the first book.
There were a number of stories that stood out to me and I'm going to talk about them briefly here.
My all time favorite story in this collection is Larry Correia's "Dead Waits Dreaming". The way the story comes together, the way the nightmares and insanity are handled, and the way he handles his characters was simply amazing to read. The science fiction aspect was just the right amount, allowing the mythos aspect plenty of room to grow and neither part over powering the other. The story also ends with an implied horror that left me with goosebumps of both excitement and dread. Correia also handles different mythos elements extremely well without muddling the world or the story with them. Easily one of the best stories.
"Fall of the Runewrought" by Howard Tayler is another good story, this one continuing on from the first collection. (one that I had enjoyed greatly) In this one Tayler gives us a view of the wider world and how the runes affect every day life. Most of the story is a nice mix of military science fiction and builds a good amount of tension while explaining how things work as the story progresses. The tail end of the story, as well as the ending, left me feeling a bit disappointed. The ending itself left me wondering where the rest of the story went, as it cuts off abruptly, almost in the middle of a thought. As for the tail end of the story, it tightrope walks the edge of a deus ex machina solution to the problem Tayler has created and almost feels as if he had written himself into a corner and was trying to get out of it. Yet, in the end, the story itself is still a pretty enjoyable story and up until the last final confrontation, I really had fun reading it.
"The Humans in the Walls" by Steven Diamond was another good story with an amazing concept in its godships. Though I found the male character to be highly annoying (which was the point oddly enough and thus well done), the overall story was both interesting for the character conflicts as well as for the science fiction aspect as well. Everything was handled well and was a great story to read.
"The Implant: by Robert J Defendi was a surprise as I had had some issues with his story "The Fury in the Voice" in the previous collection. This story presented some very neat ideas and continued with a theme that I think was lost in his previous story.
"Seed" by D.J.Butler had a lot of potential, but I felt that the sex aspect was layered on a bit thick, what I felt should have been a subtle hum seemed painted on with broad strokes and became an ignorable factor, even in the opening part of the story. This ruined a lot of the build up to the ending, which was handled really well and was wonderfully horrific. If the sex wouldn't have been such a focal point I think the mythos and horror aspect would have shone more and the story would have been better.
In the end, there are a number of really good stories in this anthology. Looking back, more than I had realized when I had initially set down to write this review. As mentioned, some of the stories didn't stand up as well as the stories did in the original, but there's something in this anthology for everyone. So if you enjoyed the first collection, I highly suggest you pick up this one. If you haven't read it, I suggest you grab the first collection AND this one. The continuity between the two is a really nice touch and I hope it continues if they do a third collection.
, I couldn't wait to see if they would do another anthology like this. Thankfully, they did, however unlike the first collection, 'Space Eldritch II' is a lot more hit and miss when compared to the first book. There were a number of stories that stood out to me and I'm going to talk about them briefly here.
My all time favorite story in this collection is Larry Correia's "Dead Waits Dreaming". The way the story comes together, the way the nightmares and insanity are handled, and the way he handles his characters was simply amazing to read. The science fiction aspect was just the right amount, allowing the mythos aspect plenty of room to grow and neither part over powering the other. The story also ends with an implied horror that left me with goosebumps of both excitement and dread. Correia also handles different mythos elements extremely well without muddling the world or the story with them. Easily one of the best stories.
"Fall of the Runewrought" by Howard Tayler is another good story, this one continuing on from the first collection. (one that I had enjoyed greatly) In this one Tayler gives us a view of the wider world and how the runes affect every day life. Most of the story is a nice mix of military science fiction and builds a good amount of tension while explaining how things work as the story progresses. The tail end of the story, as well as the ending, left me feeling a bit disappointed. The ending itself left me wondering where the rest of the story went, as it cuts off abruptly, almost in the middle of a thought. As for the tail end of the story, it tightrope walks the edge of a deus ex machina solution to the problem Tayler has created and almost feels as if he had written himself into a corner and was trying to get out of it. Yet, in the end, the story itself is still a pretty enjoyable story and up until the last final confrontation, I really had fun reading it.
"The Humans in the Walls" by Steven Diamond was another good story with an amazing concept in its godships. Though I found the male character to be highly annoying (which was the point oddly enough and thus well done), the overall story was both interesting for the character conflicts as well as for the science fiction aspect as well. Everything was handled well and was a great story to read.
"The Implant: by Robert J Defendi was a surprise as I had had some issues with his story "The Fury in the Voice" in the previous collection. This story presented some very neat ideas and continued with a theme that I think was lost in his previous story.
"Seed" by D.J.Butler had a lot of potential, but I felt that the sex aspect was layered on a bit thick, what I felt should have been a subtle hum seemed painted on with broad strokes and became an ignorable factor, even in the opening part of the story. This ruined a lot of the build up to the ending, which was handled really well and was wonderfully horrific. If the sex wouldn't have been such a focal point I think the mythos and horror aspect would have shone more and the story would have been better.
In the end, there are a number of really good stories in this anthology. Looking back, more than I had realized when I had initially set down to write this review. As mentioned, some of the stories didn't stand up as well as the stories did in the original, but there's something in this anthology for everyone. So if you enjoyed the first collection, I highly suggest you pick up this one. If you haven't read it, I suggest you grab the first collection AND this one. The continuity between the two is a really nice touch and I hope it continues if they do a third collection.
January 19, 2016
Space Eldritch II was definitely superior to the first Space Eldritch collection. Most of the stories in this second collection do a much better job of incorporating not just Lovecraftian hyper-intelligent evil tentacle-monsters, but also a true Lovecraftian atmosphere and themes (e.g. seeming insignificance of humanity as compared to the cosmos, human inability to understand vastly superior alien intellects, paranoia that there is something completely "other" somewhere "out there," etc.).
Once again, the contribution by Howard Tayler (Fall of the Runewrought) was far and away the best story in the collection. As with his previous story (Flight of the Runewright, which is set in the same world), it is a great updated take on the concept of madness-inducing "forbidden knowledge" that lies at the heart of so many eldritch tales (and a solid, action-packed military/special forces sci-fi story to boot).
Once again, the contribution by Howard Tayler (Fall of the Runewrought) was far and away the best story in the collection. As with his previous story (Flight of the Runewright, which is set in the same world), it is a great updated take on the concept of madness-inducing "forbidden knowledge" that lies at the heart of so many eldritch tales (and a solid, action-packed military/special forces sci-fi story to boot).
July 15, 2014
I'm not a big fan of Lovecraftian fiction, but am a big fan of Howard Taylor, so I purchased this for "Fall of the Runewrought". (For Howard Taylor fans, "Flight of the Runewright" in "Space Eldritch" is better, but in general I thought this book as a whole was better than it's predecessor.)
I found most of the stories to be reasonably good, less unspeakable unnameables that typical Lovecraftian stuff (yay), I think ancient superpowers and cosmic doom works a lot better in the sci-fi genre. Overall enjoyed.
I found most of the stories to be reasonably good, less unspeakable unnameables that typical Lovecraftian stuff (yay), I think ancient superpowers and cosmic doom works a lot better in the sci-fi genre. Overall enjoyed.
March 13, 2015
I started this book when it appeared on sale and wasn't expecting to be much better than the bundles amazon tends have on sale. This book surprised me. My favorite part of this collection was “Fall of the Runewrought” by Howard Tayler. This had me wishing for more of this universe and actually spurred my purchasing of Space Eldritch
January 21, 2017
Great book. Pseudo continuation of the previous collection. A few typos, one piece not listed in table of contents (free bonus story?) but otherwise a good solid collection of short stories that make you go bump in the night.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews