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New Cthulhu #2
New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird
Many of the best weird fiction writers (and creators in most other media) have been profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos H.P. Lovecraft created eight decades ago. Lovecraft's themes of cosmic indifference, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history—written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread—are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it. A few years ago, New Cthulhu : The Recent Weird presented some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction from the first decade of the twenty-first century. Now, New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird brings you more eldritch tales and even fresher fiction inspired by Lovecraft.
480 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2015
33 people are currently reading
591 people want to read
About the author
Paula Guran
97 books211 followersPaula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. She is also senior editor of Prime's soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 16, 2017
I think this might better have been called New Cthulhu: The Long Shadow of Innsmouth or a similar title. Almost half of the stories in here seemed to deal with Innsmouth or Deep Ones in some way or another. And that's no surprise. It's a great horror topic. I know that it's easy to read The Shadow Over Innsmouth as explicitly racist fearmongering about the dangers of interracial marriage--I remember the comment made by Rafael Chandler on the Miskatonic University Podcast about how Lovecraft would view him as "some combination of human and Latino"--but there's just as valid a reading that it's about the dangers of heredity. Lovecraft's father went mad when Lovecraft was very young, and his mother also suffered a nervous breakdown and died in the hospital as well. Lovecraft feared this possibility of madness for his entire life, and that's easy to see in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." A man's descent comes back to haunt him, and it changes him, changes the way he thinks and views the world, until he is unrecognizable to his previous self and his old convictions are entirely forgotten. But, with demonic fish people.
The Litany of Earth is printed in this book, but I had already listened to it on The Drabblecast and so reviewed it separately at that link.
In contrast, I liked, "The Same Deep Waters as You"'s take on the essential humanity of demonic fish people a lot better. The host of an Animal Whisperer-type show is brought in to speak with the prisoners that the government carted off from its raid on Innsmouth, because they're all reacting strangely to the Bloop and the government wants to know what's going on. She achieves some understanding, but the understanding changes her, and it's not until at the end when she's rowing out to Devil Reef and her daughter is asking where they're going that it becomes obvious how much. That's how I like my Lovecraftian stories--the horror is that knowledge is fundamentally dangerous, not just dangerous because of the uses to which it might be put. As the saying goes, there are things that man was not meant to know.
"Fishwife" is an exploration of how the deep ones' bargain would come to seem attractive. A lot of interpretations of where hybrids come from seem to focus more on coercion, and there is that in the original story, but in addition to being overplayed rape-as-horror I think that misses the point. It's real horror when people choose to make the bargain of their own free will. "Fishwife" doesn't have hybrids in it, but it does have a dying fishing town that is revitalized when a man washes up from the ocean and tells them about a god that will answer their prayers. A real god, under the sea, who can give them what they want in exchange for blood. In that way it's not really cosmic horror, since there's a very clear "sacrifices -> god answers prayers" dynamic that isn't cosmic horror in the slightest, but it's still a good story about how chronic low-grade hopelessness drives people to commit horrible acts, and all the more so when those acts work. At the end, when they go into the water, the change is mostly cosmetic. They lost their humanity long ago.
"Bloom" isn't specifically about deep ones, but does deal with themes of transformation when a couple finds a biohazard cooler by the side a of the road with a strange piece of biological matter inside. This one I mostly liked for the language, talking about flowers repeatedly as a metaphor for something that the point-of-view character couldn't understand. Especially when the husband changed at the end, and it was described as partially a twisting of space, partially an opening up, partially a wet blooming of flowers, and partially something else that that was indescribable. Even though I would have preferred a bit more at the end, the imagery makes up for it.
"The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward" is another story I heard on the Drabblecast, and it's one I mostly liked for the setting. What's not to like about non-Euclidian living starships, creatures pulled from Jabberwocky, and reanimation of the dead? There's not much of horror here, when the protagonists are being chased by zombies or trying to blast a mad scientists with electrical cables, but I don't really care. I'd love more stories set in this universe.
I've read all of the Laundry Files novels, but until now, none of the short stories. I'd heard that Equoid did unicorns well in a Lovecraftian way, the way that The Rhesus Chart did Lovecraftian vampires, but if anything it was even better than I expected. Evolution as a parasite that uses humans to complete its spawning cycle? The "horn" as fusion of shelled, snail-like male to equine female, the way that anglerfish mate. Having to find the sessile spawning mother--the basis of Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath and its Thousand Young. I liked "The Same Deep Waters as You" better, but "Equoid" was a close second.
"The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft" is a horror story of a different kind, of finding out that our icons have feet of clay. I wrote above about how it's possible to view "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" without racist overtones, but it's impossible to do that with Medusa's Coil. The introduction focuses on that as well, pointing out that Lovecraft's bigotry is simultaneously repulsive and also probably how he able to infuse his stories with such horror. As a mild example, much has resulted from Lovecraft's hatred of seafood. But it's not only seafood that he hated.
New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird took almost nine months in library transit to reach me. I put in a request for it last December and then it sat on my mantle while I worked my way through other books. It was worth the wait, though--this was probably my favorite short story collection of Cthulhu mythos works that I've read in the last few years.
The Litany of Earth is printed in this book, but I had already listened to it on The Drabblecast and so reviewed it separately at that link.
In contrast, I liked, "The Same Deep Waters as You"'s take on the essential humanity of demonic fish people a lot better. The host of an Animal Whisperer-type show is brought in to speak with the prisoners that the government carted off from its raid on Innsmouth, because they're all reacting strangely to the Bloop and the government wants to know what's going on. She achieves some understanding, but the understanding changes her, and it's not until at the end when she's rowing out to Devil Reef and her daughter is asking where they're going that it becomes obvious how much. That's how I like my Lovecraftian stories--the horror is that knowledge is fundamentally dangerous, not just dangerous because of the uses to which it might be put. As the saying goes, there are things that man was not meant to know.
"Fishwife" is an exploration of how the deep ones' bargain would come to seem attractive. A lot of interpretations of where hybrids come from seem to focus more on coercion, and there is that in the original story, but in addition to being overplayed rape-as-horror I think that misses the point. It's real horror when people choose to make the bargain of their own free will. "Fishwife" doesn't have hybrids in it, but it does have a dying fishing town that is revitalized when a man washes up from the ocean and tells them about a god that will answer their prayers. A real god, under the sea, who can give them what they want in exchange for blood. In that way it's not really cosmic horror, since there's a very clear "sacrifices -> god answers prayers" dynamic that isn't cosmic horror in the slightest, but it's still a good story about how chronic low-grade hopelessness drives people to commit horrible acts, and all the more so when those acts work. At the end, when they go into the water, the change is mostly cosmetic. They lost their humanity long ago.
"Bloom" isn't specifically about deep ones, but does deal with themes of transformation when a couple finds a biohazard cooler by the side a of the road with a strange piece of biological matter inside. This one I mostly liked for the language, talking about flowers repeatedly as a metaphor for something that the point-of-view character couldn't understand. Especially when the husband changed at the end, and it was described as partially a twisting of space, partially an opening up, partially a wet blooming of flowers, and partially something else that that was indescribable. Even though I would have preferred a bit more at the end, the imagery makes up for it.
"The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward" is another story I heard on the Drabblecast, and it's one I mostly liked for the setting. What's not to like about non-Euclidian living starships, creatures pulled from Jabberwocky, and reanimation of the dead? There's not much of horror here, when the protagonists are being chased by zombies or trying to blast a mad scientists with electrical cables, but I don't really care. I'd love more stories set in this universe.
I've read all of the Laundry Files novels, but until now, none of the short stories. I'd heard that Equoid did unicorns well in a Lovecraftian way, the way that The Rhesus Chart did Lovecraftian vampires, but if anything it was even better than I expected. Evolution as a parasite that uses humans to complete its spawning cycle? The "horn" as fusion of shelled, snail-like male to equine female, the way that anglerfish mate. Having to find the sessile spawning mother--the basis of Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath and its Thousand Young. I liked "The Same Deep Waters as You" better, but "Equoid" was a close second.
"The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft" is a horror story of a different kind, of finding out that our icons have feet of clay. I wrote above about how it's possible to view "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" without racist overtones, but it's impossible to do that with Medusa's Coil. The introduction focuses on that as well, pointing out that Lovecraft's bigotry is simultaneously repulsive and also probably how he able to infuse his stories with such horror. As a mild example, much has resulted from Lovecraft's hatred of seafood. But it's not only seafood that he hated.
New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird took almost nine months in library transit to reach me. I put in a request for it last December and then it sat on my mantle while I worked my way through other books. It was worth the wait, though--this was probably my favorite short story collection of Cthulhu mythos works that I've read in the last few years.
June 11, 2019
One of the better anthologies I've read in awhile, especially of Lovecraftian stories. The book definitely is stronger in the first half, with the latter stories becoming progressively weaker, often suffering from the author either sledgehammering you with Lovecraft references or producing a story that they believed to be Lovecraftian, but lacked any real connection or resemblance to H.P.'s work whatsoever. As I hoped, I found the John Langan tale "Bloom" to be among the very best of the lot, and a perfect example of a Lovecraft influenced story without being a blatant copy or reference to his lore.
February 10, 2016
This is good fiction at best and fanfiction and gospel of the evil ways of H.P. Lovecraft at worst.
Just reading the introduction almost apologizing for associating itself with the controversial author of the Cthulhu Mythos - makes me want to stop reading. But like many other protagonists the curiosity is greater than the fear of the unknown, and when the introduction ends with something close to 'we remedied the ill views of HPL by adding all things which he seemingly loathed', the focus shift from enjoying the unknown horrors to recognize the shoehorned and evangelic preaching in the text.
Granted there are good stories in there somewhere, It's just hard to get rid of the preaching spirit set in the very first paragraphs of the book. If this is not enough of a flagellation the order of the stories is so that the first half is locked in on the theme of 'the Innsmouth look' which could make the best text disappear in the lack of identity. While there are good stories hiding in here, you will feel yourself drowning long before you realize that the bad ones spoiled the good ones.
Just reading the introduction almost apologizing for associating itself with the controversial author of the Cthulhu Mythos - makes me want to stop reading. But like many other protagonists the curiosity is greater than the fear of the unknown, and when the introduction ends with something close to 'we remedied the ill views of HPL by adding all things which he seemingly loathed', the focus shift from enjoying the unknown horrors to recognize the shoehorned and evangelic preaching in the text.
Granted there are good stories in there somewhere, It's just hard to get rid of the preaching spirit set in the very first paragraphs of the book. If this is not enough of a flagellation the order of the stories is so that the first half is locked in on the theme of 'the Innsmouth look' which could make the best text disappear in the lack of identity. While there are good stories hiding in here, you will feel yourself drowning long before you realize that the bad ones spoiled the good ones.
Currently reading
July 14, 2024"The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft" by Marc Laidlaw - Douglas is an early fan of Lovecraft who attempts to meet his idol but it doesn't go well for Douglas because he is black.
"Fishwife" by Carrie Vaughn - wc
"Fishwife" by Carrie Vaughn - wc
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2024
The Same Deep Waters As You / Brian Hodge - 10/10
Mysterium Tremendum / Laird Barron - 4/10
The Transition of Elizabeth Haskings / Caitlín R. Kiernan - 10/10
Bloom / John Langan - 3/10
At Home with Azathoth / John Shirley - 5/10
The Litany of Earth / Ruthanna Emrys - 10/10
Necrotic Cove / Lois Gresh - 8/10
On Ice / Simon Strantzas - 7/10
The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward / Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette - 8/10
All My Love, A Fishhook / Helen Marshall - 10/10
The Doom That Came to Devil Reef / Don Webb - 8/10
Momma Durtt / Michael Shea - 7/10
They Smell of Thunder / W. H. Pugmire - 7/10
The Song of Sighs / Angela Slatter - 8/10
Fishwife / Carrie Vaughn - 10/10
In the House of the Hummingbirds / Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 7/10
Who Looks Back? / Kyla Ward - 2/10
Equoid / Charles Stross - 1/10
The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft / Marc Laidlaw - 10/10
Mysterium Tremendum / Laird Barron - 4/10
The Transition of Elizabeth Haskings / Caitlín R. Kiernan - 10/10
Bloom / John Langan - 3/10
At Home with Azathoth / John Shirley - 5/10
The Litany of Earth / Ruthanna Emrys - 10/10
Necrotic Cove / Lois Gresh - 8/10
On Ice / Simon Strantzas - 7/10
The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward / Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette - 8/10
All My Love, A Fishhook / Helen Marshall - 10/10
The Doom That Came to Devil Reef / Don Webb - 8/10
Momma Durtt / Michael Shea - 7/10
They Smell of Thunder / W. H. Pugmire - 7/10
The Song of Sighs / Angela Slatter - 8/10
Fishwife / Carrie Vaughn - 10/10
In the House of the Hummingbirds / Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 7/10
Who Looks Back? / Kyla Ward - 2/10
Equoid / Charles Stross - 1/10
The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft / Marc Laidlaw - 10/10
September 1, 2015
This anthology, as one would expect, is very focused on Lovecraft lore. Themes of horror and the supernatural emerge repeatedly. The best of the inclusions built on that lore, and even updated the canon, without feeling fettered. Less excitingly, some stories merely felt like fan fiction--perhaps staying true to tradition to a fault.
In my rating and reviewing each story included, I gave one 5-star rating and six 4-star ratings. My average for the 19 tales and novellas was just over 3 stars. My favorite of the bunch was Caitlin R. Kiernan's heart-breaking "The Transition of Elizabeth Haskings". The dysmorphia inherent in Lovecraft's Innsmouth urban legend is treated tenderly like a slow battle against cancer.
In the batch of 4-stars, two fantastic novellas stood out. Equoid by Charles Stross is a Hugo Award-winning detective noir hunt for other-dimensional carnivorous unicorns that reads like a British Harry Dresden crossed with Men in Black. In complete contrast, "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward" by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear updates the Frankenstein myth with an off-Earth tale at the outer fringes of humanity. The four short stories touched on issues of race [Marc Laidlaw's "The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft"], generational relationships [Helen Marshall's "All My Love, A Fishhook"], social morality [Carrie Vaughn's "Fishwife"], and life after a concentration camp in Ruthanna Emrys' "The Litany of Earth".
The rest of the stories are:
Barron, Laird--"Mysterium Tremendum"--3 stars
Langan, John--"Bloom"--3 stars
Shea, Michael--"Momma Durtt"--3 stars
Shirley, John--"At Home With Azathoth"--3 stars
Strantzas, Simon--"On Ice"--3 stars
Ward, Kyla--"Who Looks Back?"--3 stars
Gresh, Lois H.--"Necrotic Cove"--2 stars
Hodge, Brian--"The Same Deep Waters As You"--2 stars
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia--"In the House of the Hummingbirds"--2 stars
Pugmire, W. H.--"They Smell of Thunder"--2 stars
Slatter, Angela--"The Song of Sighs"--2 stars
Webb, Don--"The Doom that Came to Devil's Reef"--2 stars
I'm consistently impressed with the anthology compiling done by editor Paula Guran. I've read five others of hers previously:
After the End: Recent Apocalypses --4 stars
Extreme Zombies --4 stars
Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep --4 stars
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: 2015 -4 stars
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 --4 stars
In my rating and reviewing each story included, I gave one 5-star rating and six 4-star ratings. My average for the 19 tales and novellas was just over 3 stars. My favorite of the bunch was Caitlin R. Kiernan's heart-breaking "The Transition of Elizabeth Haskings". The dysmorphia inherent in Lovecraft's Innsmouth urban legend is treated tenderly like a slow battle against cancer.
In the batch of 4-stars, two fantastic novellas stood out. Equoid by Charles Stross is a Hugo Award-winning detective noir hunt for other-dimensional carnivorous unicorns that reads like a British Harry Dresden crossed with Men in Black. In complete contrast, "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward" by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear updates the Frankenstein myth with an off-Earth tale at the outer fringes of humanity. The four short stories touched on issues of race [Marc Laidlaw's "The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft"], generational relationships [Helen Marshall's "All My Love, A Fishhook"], social morality [Carrie Vaughn's "Fishwife"], and life after a concentration camp in Ruthanna Emrys' "The Litany of Earth".
The rest of the stories are:
Barron, Laird--"Mysterium Tremendum"--3 stars
Langan, John--"Bloom"--3 stars
Shea, Michael--"Momma Durtt"--3 stars
Shirley, John--"At Home With Azathoth"--3 stars
Strantzas, Simon--"On Ice"--3 stars
Ward, Kyla--"Who Looks Back?"--3 stars
Gresh, Lois H.--"Necrotic Cove"--2 stars
Hodge, Brian--"The Same Deep Waters As You"--2 stars
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia--"In the House of the Hummingbirds"--2 stars
Pugmire, W. H.--"They Smell of Thunder"--2 stars
Slatter, Angela--"The Song of Sighs"--2 stars
Webb, Don--"The Doom that Came to Devil's Reef"--2 stars
I'm consistently impressed with the anthology compiling done by editor Paula Guran. I've read five others of hers previously:
After the End: Recent Apocalypses --4 stars
Extreme Zombies --4 stars
Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep --4 stars
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: 2015 -4 stars
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 --4 stars
December 16, 2020
A pretty good Cthulhu mythos collection.
There were several good stories about Innsmouth and the deep ones.
I really liked Charles Stross' story about (shudder) UNICORNS.
The final story was particularly shocking.
Only a few stories that were weak and/or that I've read recently.
There were several good stories about Innsmouth and the deep ones.
I really liked Charles Stross' story about (shudder) UNICORNS.
The final story was particularly shocking.
Only a few stories that were weak and/or that I've read recently.
August 5, 2022
Overly reliant on the same limited stable of authors that too many modern Mythos anthologies rely on, and fairly cheaply presented at that. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/202...
March 24, 2018
Kind of picked through this one.
December 31, 2018
İlk kitap daha iyi gibiydi. Bunda aksayan öyküler vardı.
March 22, 2019
Solid, occasionally brilliant modern Lovecraftian collection, although the Deep Ones seem to be a bit overrepresented.
August 2, 2020
Trying to find good new weird fiction isn't easy. Fortunately, Paula Guran has done the leg work. Thank you!
February 14, 2022
A solid collection, while not as consistent as volume 1, it is still a good follow up anthology.
November 27, 2025
Not my thing, really, but still somewhat interesting.
March 26, 2016
This book was given my roommate as a gift. He, being engrossed in a very lengthy series of science fiction novels, asked if I might like to read it first and I, a fan of such eldritch horror since childhood and a former editor of similar collections, readily agreed, making it my bedtime book.
Like most such collections (19 stories, >19 authors), the character and quality of the stories are various. Most are rather contemporary in setting and a disproportionate number of them deal with the proto-ichthyians associated with Lovecraft's fictional Massachusetts port of Innsmouth. Still, given the fact that none of the authors are as yet famously established, this collection should interest those who've read and enjoyed Lovecraft's original works.
Like most such collections (19 stories, >19 authors), the character and quality of the stories are various. Most are rather contemporary in setting and a disproportionate number of them deal with the proto-ichthyians associated with Lovecraft's fictional Massachusetts port of Innsmouth. Still, given the fact that none of the authors are as yet famously established, this collection should interest those who've read and enjoyed Lovecraft's original works.
September 24, 2016
Pek umutla başlamadığım bir kitaptı ancak genel olarak ortalama bir memnuniyet sağladı diyebilirim. Maalesef yeni nesil Cthulhu Mythos yazarlarının hayal gücü, öykünün kahramanını Marsh ya da Whateley ailelerinin bilmemkaçıncı kuşaktan üyesi yapmaktan çok öteye gitmemiş. Yine de özellikle uzayda geçen The Wreck of Charles Dexter Ward bence umut veren bir çalışma. Benim çok sevdiğim Charles Stross şaka ya da parodi olarak tanımlanabilecek bir Laundry öyküsünü anlamsızca uzatmış ve lezzetsiz hale getirmiş, buna biraz şaşırdım. Kitap üzerine genel değerlendirmem olumlu.
March 22, 2016
Bessere und mittelmäßige Geschichten wechseln sich ab, wie das bei so Sammlungen eben ist. Nicht bei allen ist der lovecraftsche Geist von kosmischem Horror und persönlichem Verfall getroffen, aber insgesamt gibt es wenig zu meckern. Was heraus sticht ist die lange Kurzgeschichte/Novelette Equoid von Charles Stross, die mit einer originellen Mythenverquickung und starker, witziger Sprache aufwartet.
June 1, 2015
Largely comprised of the same authors as volume 1, which doesn't offer much variation between volumes, but does allow for a sense of familiarity. An equally good collection, and again a great introduction to the contemporary wider mythos.
April 29, 2015
I love Guran's anthologies because the stories explore the political and religious implications of Lovecraft's worldview, coupled with some good old-fashioned horror and even humor.
July 13, 2015
some good stories. some editing issues. not much else to say on this one.
January 14, 2016
I didn't really get into any of the stories in this anthology except for Equoid by Charles Stross. I was already a fan of Stross's Laundry series and found it up to his usual standard.
May 10, 2016
As with any collection of tales, some are a pleasure to read, other not so much.
July 13, 2016
It's a little weird that the editor specifically chose certain authors based on their gender and sexual preference. Still, the stories were decent.
May 22, 2017
A nice collection of Lovecraft Mythos horror.
I, of course, recommend it.
I, of course, recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews