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Delta Green Fiction
Delta Green: Tales from Failed Anatomies
"Delta Green: Tales from Failed Anatomies" is a collection of stories by award-winning author and game designer Dennis Detwiller.
These tales of cosmic terror and personal horror span the life of Delta Green, the desperate organization that Detwiller helped create: a group of men and women who have seen the awful truths of reality and struggle to keep those realities at bay as long as they can.
The tales include:
Introduction (by John Scott Tynes)
Foreword: The Alien Thoughts, Part 1 (by Robin D. Laws)
Intelligences (1928)
The File (1942)
Night and Water (1944)
Dead, Death, Dying (1955)
Punching (1964)
The Secrets No One Knows (1968)
Coming Home (1974)
The Thing in the Pit (1977)
Drowning in Sand (1981)
Contingencies (1984)
Philosophy (1993)
Witch Hunt (2015)
After Math (20XX)
Afterword: The Alien Thoughts, Part 2 (by Robin D. Laws)
These tales of cosmic terror and personal horror span the life of Delta Green, the desperate organization that Detwiller helped create: a group of men and women who have seen the awful truths of reality and struggle to keep those realities at bay as long as they can.
The tales include:
Introduction (by John Scott Tynes)
Foreword: The Alien Thoughts, Part 1 (by Robin D. Laws)
Intelligences (1928)
The File (1942)
Night and Water (1944)
Dead, Death, Dying (1955)
Punching (1964)
The Secrets No One Knows (1968)
Coming Home (1974)
The Thing in the Pit (1977)
Drowning in Sand (1981)
Contingencies (1984)
Philosophy (1993)
Witch Hunt (2015)
After Math (20XX)
Afterword: The Alien Thoughts, Part 2 (by Robin D. Laws)
275 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2014
35 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 2, 2016
A good variety of disquieting tales. I constantly struggle with how much I want things to be alluded to me and how much I want them shown. A few times I wished that the narratives were more linear and provided more information, but I have to say there is an effectiveness in leaving the reader struggling to grasp the entities the characters are grappling with. Good for building empathy, if nothing else.
December 20, 2020
I really like the Delta Green setting/genre: secret agents meet cosmic horrors. Chris Carter either co-discovered the genre or ripped off Delta Green when he created The X-Files a year later.
But I really dislike the "agents must kill everyone and each other and themselves at the end of every story" conceit that DG inherited from its pappy, the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. And this collection of short stories leans hard into that conceit. It's gross and tiresome.
There are some cool nuggets of mythos lore in this volume. But they're buried in a lot of aimless prose and military wankery, and outnumbered by awful atrocities, lovingly described and slotted in between the senseless killing sprees and suicides. I'm not even talking about monsters from beyond the stars; that would be cool. I'm talking about the very worst things that human beings can do to each other. It spoiled my enjoyment of the book.
I recommend the stories "Dead, Death, Dying (1955)", "The Thing In the Pit (1977)", "Contingencies (1984)" and "Drowning in Sand (1997)". And I recommend skipping the rest.
But I really dislike the "agents must kill everyone and each other and themselves at the end of every story" conceit that DG inherited from its pappy, the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. And this collection of short stories leans hard into that conceit. It's gross and tiresome.
There are some cool nuggets of mythos lore in this volume. But they're buried in a lot of aimless prose and military wankery, and outnumbered by awful atrocities, lovingly described and slotted in between the senseless killing sprees and suicides. I'm not even talking about monsters from beyond the stars; that would be cool. I'm talking about the very worst things that human beings can do to each other. It spoiled my enjoyment of the book.
I recommend the stories "Dead, Death, Dying (1955)", "The Thing In the Pit (1977)", "Contingencies (1984)" and "Drowning in Sand (1997)". And I recommend skipping the rest.
June 13, 2022
I went into this expecting a half-arsed tie-in. This is nothing of the sort. This is a fine collection of horror stories. Reads like a particularly well done Cthulhu/X-Files fanfic.
October 28, 2014
A mixed bag. By the half way point I was very disappointed. But then it finishes with some stronger stories.
But a real mixed bag though.
But a real mixed bag though.
July 14, 2023
A pretty solid collection of horror stories spanning from WWII through to the modern age. Overall I found the book enjoyable except for the verse (poetry) work at the beginning and end of the novel. Dennis if you're reading this please just stop. The poetry is awful, incoherent and seems like the work of a teenager full of angst.
Ok, that rant about the poetry aside Dennis writes some interesting stories that are typically, in Delta Green style, very bleak and often extremely nihilistic. These aren't stories where the good guys win the day. Cosmic horror, which this novel belongs to the genre of, is a setting where humanity is ultimately alone and stranded in the universe. The forces threatening humanity don't hate us or seek our doom, they simply don't care and will eventually push humanity to extinction because they are unstoppable and seek to expand their presence everywhere, humanity be dammed.
Fans of Lovecraft will probably enjoy this as the fictional group Delta Green's origins begin in Innsmouth in 1928 when, as in Lovecraft's story "The Shadow over Innsmouth", the US military destroyed the town and took hundreds of Deep One hybrids into custody. Realizing the dangers arrayed against the human race the US government forms Delta Green to counter these threats and keep them secret from the public in order to avoid panic.
Ok, that rant about the poetry aside Dennis writes some interesting stories that are typically, in Delta Green style, very bleak and often extremely nihilistic. These aren't stories where the good guys win the day. Cosmic horror, which this novel belongs to the genre of, is a setting where humanity is ultimately alone and stranded in the universe. The forces threatening humanity don't hate us or seek our doom, they simply don't care and will eventually push humanity to extinction because they are unstoppable and seek to expand their presence everywhere, humanity be dammed.
Fans of Lovecraft will probably enjoy this as the fictional group Delta Green's origins begin in Innsmouth in 1928 when, as in Lovecraft's story "The Shadow over Innsmouth", the US military destroyed the town and took hundreds of Deep One hybrids into custody. Realizing the dangers arrayed against the human race the US government forms Delta Green to counter these threats and keep them secret from the public in order to avoid panic.
October 2, 2021
There's a whole industry around certain video/tabletop/role-playing games, and part of it are short-ish books that revolve around concepts or characters from those games. Delta Green is a multi-award-winning role-playing game with its own series of such books, revolving around a secret US goverment agency trying to keep Lovecraftian nightmares from devouring our reality.
So when I picked up Tales from Frailed Anatomies, I expected just some cheap pulp fiction and light Cthulhu-y goodness. What I got was a series of some of the best Mythos stories I've red so far, dripping with dark atmosphere and disturbing happenings. Maybe it's just the case of having a style that really appeals to me, but Dennis Detwiller is someone whose works I will most definitely look for in the future.
If you're a lover of Cthulhu Mythos, do not miss this one!
So when I picked up Tales from Frailed Anatomies, I expected just some cheap pulp fiction and light Cthulhu-y goodness. What I got was a series of some of the best Mythos stories I've red so far, dripping with dark atmosphere and disturbing happenings. Maybe it's just the case of having a style that really appeals to me, but Dennis Detwiller is someone whose works I will most definitely look for in the future.
If you're a lover of Cthulhu Mythos, do not miss this one!
March 20, 2023
This was the first Delta Green novel I've read and it served as a useful introduction. It was very well written... ...but I think this stuff is an acquired taste. The mixture of X-files and Lovecraftian horror is an effective description, but you have to dig the psychological horror the protagonists in these stories go through to enjoy this book.
The book contains a number of stories set in different times starting from the start of the Delta Green program to the future. This gives a good overview of the fictional history of this fictional organization but it did leave me fealing like it was a well-written teaser...
So I will be dipping into Delta Green further...
The book contains a number of stories set in different times starting from the start of the Delta Green program to the future. This gives a good overview of the fictional history of this fictional organization but it did leave me fealing like it was a well-written teaser...
So I will be dipping into Delta Green further...
August 28, 2018
****1/2: Dennis Detwiller is rapidly becoming one of my favorite genre authors. These Delta Green short stories span the history of the organization and deliver the kind of quickly creeping paranoia and bone-chilling horror I’ve come to expect, and oddly savor, from the Delta Green line of fiction. Several of these stories had implications and quandaries I’m still puzzling over, making Delta Green more than just your typical genre junk food. Detwiller’s writing is deft, economical, often subtle with lots of variety among the stories themselves in terms of the type of horror presented.
July 17, 2020
I loved this collection. This is my first Delta Green fiction I have read, and my first experience with Dennis Detwiller. There are a two stories toward the middle that I felt where a little slow but the rest, particularly the last 3 are excellent.
November 20, 2021
Good stuff.
November 16, 2024
Decent enough collection of stories, but I feel the connection to Delta Green as an organization was tenuous.
September 30, 2025
some of the greatest, most nihilistic, gut churning mind warping lovecraftian tales ever told. I crave more of Detweiller's writing its the perfect modern conspiracy filled version of cosmic horror.
July 8, 2015
I had been hearing a number of things about the Delta Green stories and decided to pick this up as an introduction.
The first thing that caught my eye was how each story takes place on an ever progressing timeline, right up until sometime in the future. It is an interesting concept and helped to move everything along as one read through the collection. As each and every person was dealing with the mythos on some level, it was interesting to see someone tackle how they would in each time period.
Most of the stories in this collection are excellent, with only a few that were a bit boring or uninteresting. Detwiller did a good job mixing things up from story to story, mixing the horror up between mythos creatures to Lovecraftian horror and everything in between the two. Overall it was a very nice mix, and kept me engaged throughout the entire book. At no point did I feel that he was more interested in one type of horror over another, and in many points, he did a good job showing that sometimes mankind is the true monster, which I liked.
The writing in this book is handled well, and Detwiller also changes up his writing style for a couple stories which keeps it interesting and engaging. There was maybe one or two stories where it didn't work so well, but in the grand scheme of the collection they are easily lost among the better stories.
All in all, this is a good collection of stories that I rather enjoyed. There was less material about Delta Green as an organization then I was expecting, at least until the blurb at the back of the book, but it still gave enough that any Lovecraft fan will get their fill. This is also a good book for those into military horror stories.
The first thing that caught my eye was how each story takes place on an ever progressing timeline, right up until sometime in the future. It is an interesting concept and helped to move everything along as one read through the collection. As each and every person was dealing with the mythos on some level, it was interesting to see someone tackle how they would in each time period.
Most of the stories in this collection are excellent, with only a few that were a bit boring or uninteresting. Detwiller did a good job mixing things up from story to story, mixing the horror up between mythos creatures to Lovecraftian horror and everything in between the two. Overall it was a very nice mix, and kept me engaged throughout the entire book. At no point did I feel that he was more interested in one type of horror over another, and in many points, he did a good job showing that sometimes mankind is the true monster, which I liked.
The writing in this book is handled well, and Detwiller also changes up his writing style for a couple stories which keeps it interesting and engaging. There was maybe one or two stories where it didn't work so well, but in the grand scheme of the collection they are easily lost among the better stories.
All in all, this is a good collection of stories that I rather enjoyed. There was less material about Delta Green as an organization then I was expecting, at least until the blurb at the back of the book, but it still gave enough that any Lovecraft fan will get their fill. This is also a good book for those into military horror stories.
April 23, 2024
As is always the case with anthologies, the stories in 'Delta Green: Tales from Failed Anatomies' vary substantially in style and quality from one story to the next.
My favorite of the lot was almost certainly 'Coming Home', as it features an early look at a character who goes on to become a heavy hitter in some of the other DG novels and it serves as a fantastic depiction of the specific flavor of insanity experienced by someone who'd been confronted with Cosmic Horror and have later found themselves back in normal life. I loved it.
'Contingencies' was also great, tying itself into the existing mythos logically, exploring an existing and popular thought exercise deftly, and remaining personable enough to stay engaging through it all.
Though I'd read it elsewhere before, 'Drowning in Sand' is brilliant too, touching on some of the most pivotal events in the Conspiracy and showing things from a point of view that could otherwise be easily overlooked.
'Punching' also deserves a mention as it was remarkably subtle for a DG story. If it weren't appearing alongside the others, and if it shirked its single overt reference to the Horror, one could easily mistake this as concerning nothing but one man's troubled time at college and it's fallout.
These stories are the highlights, and they are worth the price of admission.
My favorite of the lot was almost certainly 'Coming Home', as it features an early look at a character who goes on to become a heavy hitter in some of the other DG novels and it serves as a fantastic depiction of the specific flavor of insanity experienced by someone who'd been confronted with Cosmic Horror and have later found themselves back in normal life. I loved it.
'Contingencies' was also great, tying itself into the existing mythos logically, exploring an existing and popular thought exercise deftly, and remaining personable enough to stay engaging through it all.
Though I'd read it elsewhere before, 'Drowning in Sand' is brilliant too, touching on some of the most pivotal events in the Conspiracy and showing things from a point of view that could otherwise be easily overlooked.
'Punching' also deserves a mention as it was remarkably subtle for a DG story. If it weren't appearing alongside the others, and if it shirked its single overt reference to the Horror, one could easily mistake this as concerning nothing but one man's troubled time at college and it's fallout.
These stories are the highlights, and they are worth the price of admission.
July 19, 2016
A BAG OF TALES OF THE "OTHER SIDE" IT IS...
Hello, a great assortment of dark, Lovecraftian horror stories. Very "OUT THERE" and very well written. I really like this man's writing style. Damn good stuff. Thanks.
Hello, a great assortment of dark, Lovecraftian horror stories. Very "OUT THERE" and very well written. I really like this man's writing style. Damn good stuff. Thanks.
June 19, 2014
excellent selection of short stories with a central delta green genre.
diverse, well constructed plots..
very highly recommended
diverse, well constructed plots..
very highly recommended
May 29, 2014
No le doy 6 estrellas porque no puedo. Lovecraft estaría orgulloso, probablemente.
September 14, 2014
A very excellent bit of cosmic horror, can't wait for volume 2
July 30, 2014
Fabulous update to the Delta Green fiction line.
Can't wait until the next installment!
Can't wait until the next installment!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews