Lovecraft's Brood: Nineteen Tales of Cosmic Horror

by Ellen Datlow (Editor), Conrad Williams (Contributor), Steve Rasnic Tem (Contributor)

Fans of H. P. Lovecraft will rejoice in (and recoil from) these nineteen mesmerizing tales of cosmic horror. This long-awaited sequel to the bestselling anthology Lovecraft’s Monsters is once again presided over by expert horror editor Ellen Datlow (FEARS, Body Shocks). Lovecraft’s Brood is a must-add to any horror fan’s library… or else.

“Superstar editor Datlow makes no missteps.” — Publishers Weekly

A prison guard and a convict have an affair fueled by the hallucinations of fungal spores. Squatters arrive in a weird train station where they unearth a strange idol. Researchers discover skin thieves instead of normal turtles. A mescal-tasting tour turns utterly terrifying. An old woman stitches a portal that is disrupted by a nameless cat.

Discover the Mythos as you’ve never experienced it before. These dizzying new spins on classic Lovercraftian themes will leave you disoriented but hopefully sane (we make no promises).

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories

320 pages, ebook

Published July 21, 2026

About the author

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for forty years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short stories and novellas for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited about one hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year series, The Doll Collection, Mad Hatters and March Hares, The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, Edited By, and Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles.
She's won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for "outstanding contribution to the genre," was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.

Reviews

[Becky Spratford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in the June 2026 issue of Booklist and on the blog: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2026/06... [link live on 6/4]

Three Words That Describe This Book: Cosmic Dread, anthology, madness

John Coulthart -- illustrations-- the illustrations before each story are a nice touch. They are like an interpretational drawing to summarize the story. Not just the plot but the appear as well. This is a very nice touch.

This is the second in a dulology. The first was Lovecraft's Monsters which focused on exactly that-- monsters from his mythos.

But here, we have 19 previously published stories-- all from the 21st Century-- but names you know well, a little, a maybe not at all. This time, focusing on cosmic fear as Lovecraft defined it and then showcased in his works.

Datlow's introduction plainly and clearly defines this Lovecraftian brand of fear that leads to madness, all steeped in the realization that the universe is indifferent to humanity and that the human mind cannot comprehend the truths that make the vastness of the universe tick, that to peer behind the veil of our perceived reality will break you-- your mind and body.

These Cosmic stories therefore plant their profound dread into the reader's body. Existential terror grows out from our guts and infects our minds.

Too often "Lovecraftian" stories or anthologies don't explain in plain terms what is going on, what the intention of this work is. There is a bar to entry for novices when it comes to all things "Lovecraftian." It keeps new comers out. This anthology welcomes them in and paired with the first one-- Lovecraft's Monsters it serves as a great introduction to Lovecraft's legacy.

Some of my favorite stories are "The Note" by Paul Tremblay where a couple goes on a walk, the wife reads the note on a neighborhood door, and then the next day disappears. It is told from that point on as the husband (a Tremblay stand in) suffers from not knowing what happened and what the note even said.

Wendy Wagner has a great take on the weird roadside hotel off the interstate trope

But one of the shortest is also my favorite. It is by T Kingfisher entitled "Agent of Chaos." and it is best set up by its perfect first sentence, "It was a blustery day in November when the kitten accidentally ripped open the fabric of reality." Just read it.

Read the first anthology as well and search out work by the people in the top here. Any Datlow anthology is a great readalike.

[Rhiannon Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories isn’t bad, but most of them, individually, also weren’t great. A couple of standouts:

Once Seen - Conrad Williams has a bit of a cosmic detective noir feel to it that has a lot of uneasy abstract imagery. Its inevitable conclusion was obvious but also very Lovecraftian in its simplistic end.

Sideways - Ray Cluley was very effective and creepy with its other-dimensional mystery and weird cosmic angles and liminal spaces.

Agent of Chaos - T. Kingfisher is a perfect blend of cosmic horror and humour. Loved it.

The Beholder’s Share - Caitlín R. Kiernan – as always, I love Kiernan’s writing. It never ceases to make me feel uncomfortable and full of dread.

Halogen Sky - Wendy N. Wagner was a fantastic liminal space vibe of all hotels being the same, creepy hotel (I’ve always believed this.) It’s also an excellent story of a life stripped away through sameness. This one will haunt my sleep.

One Possible Shape of Things To Come - Brian Hodge was excellent. An engineered apocalypse and the end of society as we know it via a deeply disturbing affliction of children and the always effective ‘weird angles and architecture’ theme. I loved this story.

My overall discontent with this collection is the majority of the tales, while ostensibly horror, didn’t provide that frisson of apprehension, the subconscious and existential dread that gets stuck in your hind brain and doesn’t leave. These stories aren’t meant to be part of the Elder God mythos, and that’s fine. I’ve always been a fan of all Lovecraft tales, but they all have a very specific ‘feel’ to them and I was expecting at least that to be the underpinning of such a collection. Mostly I felt somewhat bored and annoyed that the stories didn’t meet that brief for me. Again, they weren’t necessarily bad (although some were as dull as paint drying) but my expectation – given the title of the collection – wasn’t really met.

My thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for the early copy of this book!

Average overall rating: 3.42 (rounded up to 4 as the good ones were worth slogging through the bad ones)

1. Once seen - Conrad Williams
About guys becoming so obsessed with a woman they gouge their own eyes out
Very film noir. Not my usual style of writing but the creep factor was there. It was a bit poetic and abstract so I wasn’t sure what really happened. 3/5

2. Mister Ainsley - Steve Rasnic Tem
Very creepy story about an alien man meeting a campaigner for the Conservative Party. Honestly kind of weird and short and not super interesting. An interesting idea though, and a little dash of horror. 2/5

3. Sideways - Ray Cluley
Eerie story about the death of a test pilot due to possible alien creatures.
A bit slow, not creepy enough to keep my interest over its length. 2/5

4. Empty Shells on a Cold Shore - Jacob Steven Mohr
Creepy turtle beach scientific trip turns into peeling shells off a humanoid and people possibly dying??
This was trippy but very short, it did succeed in creeping me out though. 3/5

5. The Keep Quiet - Aaron Dries
Creepy five years of photographs at her window story.
Now THIS was spooky, the concept was interesting and it zipped through the years without feeling too rushed somehow. Very cool. 4/5

6. Agent of Chaos - T Kingfisher
A kitten makes an ancient summoning symbol on the ground while batting some yarn around.
I mean, this might just be the most adorable and eerie short story I’ve ever read. And anything with kittens is always amazing in my books. Cosy and cute. 5/5

7. The Beholder’s Share - Caitlin R Kiernan
About a creepy stack of books that seems to invade the owners mind and transform them.
A bit too poetic for my liking, lots of quotes and theorising, but had the creepy vibes that I like in a horror short story. 4/5

8. Backbite - Norman Partridge
Two brothers running from danger and people who want to hurt them. This one wasn’t really creepy, more sad. Lots of death and fighting and a creepy Jade statue. I wasn’t really engaged with this one. 2/5

9. Eat the Wyrm - Elizabeth Hand
Two people trek to Greenland to taste a black market alcohol with a creepy wyrm in it. Very short, too much intro and not enough about the wyrm or what happens after they drink. 2/5

10. The Note - Paul Tremblay
A note on a house leads to a man’s wife to walk out on him for no reason.
I didn’t like this story, it felt far too windy and confusing with nowhere near enough creepy vibes. 1/5

11. A strange form of life - Laird Barron
Creepy prison-based cordyceps story.
Decently creepy and mind bending, also I love this kind of zombie vibe as I loved The Last of Us. 5/5

12. Call of the Void - l’appel du Vide- Carol Gyzander
Creepy obsession with a statue or rock formation on a hike.
Okay, a bit surreal, not bad. 3/5

13. Hypnopompia- L. Marie Wood
Man hallucinating (?) waking up and time going crazy, the world boiling to death. Very short and sweet, loved the vibe for what it was. 5/5

14. Volcano - Livia Llewellyn
A girl and guy both working at their university as sewing staff - while time seems to go strange and something interacts with them from a creepy hallway. A long one here, which was nice as I got to know the main girl and how she is seemingly floating in life and has no idea where she wants to go. Not bad. 4/5

15. Halogen sky - Wendy N Wagner
Creepy hotel off a desert road, two girls and a dog stay in the small town that seems to be both real and not real.
Very creepy, a part close to the end actually got my heart racing - one of the good ones! 5/5

16. Wind Come Down the Mountain - A C Wise
A man camps out in the mountain, trying to solve the mystery of why another man disappeared in the same mountain area. Long and prosey, not that creepy and not my style. 2/5

17. Infantum - Ian Rogers
Women become spontaneously pregnant with something demonic(?) and are looked after at a secret base. Kind of mind bendy and surreal, a classic short story of this type. 4/5

18. Diving Deep - Gary McMahon
Creepy smooth hole created in ice that couldn’t have been naturally formed, a diver explores it. Slightly unsatisfying ending as the diver seems to know what’s happening but I didn’t have the slightest idea. That was probably the point but still, decently unnerving either way. 4/5

19. One Possible Shape of Things to Come - Brian Hodge
A sad story of children suddenly dying after standing in the corner of their rooms because “they” told them to. An interesting take on an alien invasion, and honestly it seems like a very effective one. It was less creepy and more sad, but a very well written story. 5/5

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellen Datlow, editor and anthologist extraordinaire, returns with Lovecraft's Brood: Nineteen Tales of Cosmic Horror, a follow up of 2014's Lovecraft's Monsters. These 19 stories were all previously published, but gathered here show the breadth of horror building on (and thankfully avoiding the flaws of) H. P. Lovecraft.

Under 350 pages in length, the 19 stories are lean, some building slowly, others starting of with the deep frights and sometimes explaining what has happened, but often showing that too much knowledge is often what drives you insane.

Selected stand outs:

T. Kingfisher - "Agent of Chaos." What happens when a kitten plays with antique yarn?

Ian Rogers - "Infantum" Over 1000 women had immaculate conceptions then went into comas. A fertility doctor called in to discover why sees the project through to its end.

Brian Hodge - "One Possible Shape of Things to Come". Children do weird and troubling things in their sleep and it becomes a question of how does society address this sudden crisis?

Dark, disturbing and sometimes playful horror short stories.


I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Press for an advance copy of this new horror collection that looks at the creatures that wait for us not to pay attention, the things at the corner of the eye, the ones that lurk beyond, and even sideways where we least expect them.

Horror is the one genre I don't remember what made me a fan of. The gateway drug, or book, like Sherlock Holmes for mystery, Star Wars for science fiction, The Hobbit for fantasy. I know i loved creature stories, Bigfoot and Yeti, but what brought me to horror escapes my memory. Or maybe it was always there, waiting for me to plunge into the depths the depths of evil, the human soul, the vast cosmos. I do know that I have been enjoying the collections edited by Ellen Datlow for as long as I can remember. Datlow has a keen eye for finding works, known and known only to Datlow, who can create a Lament Configuration of a short story collection, guaranteed to show pleasures, while tearing the soul apart. Or worse. Lovecraft’s Brood edited and compiled by Ellen Datlow, is a sequel of sorts to the beloved Lovecraft's Monsters, this time featuring on the creatures that live in the darkness behind our eyes, our spaces, or deep within heart.

The book contains nineteen stories, of various length, some very short, some almost novella sized. Lovecraft is more of an aura, rather than building on tales from his Dreams and mythos. Many deal with people just trying to do their jobs, jobs that bring them to dark places. A photographer of crime scenes who gets caught up in a series of suicides, all dealing with blinding. A diver under the ice cap who finds a perfect tunnel, one designed by the hands of man. Test pilots flying experimental planes that don't go high, don't go fast but sideways in space, and maybe time. Even those who care for nature coming across strange things in a turtle preserve. Some stories are violent, some sedate in their evil, one is even hysterically funny. All though are quite good.

I have been reading a lot of short stories recently, including collections. This has to be one of the strongest horror collections I have read in quite a long time. Datlow can not only find the right story, Datlow can set the pace of the book perfectly. The stories hook one right away, both the first Once Seen, and the third Sideways give the reader an idea what is coming. Stories about things that go bump, gurgle, even make slushing noises in the dark. It is rare that I enjoy all the stories in a book, some skipping does happen, and while all the stories might not have hit the same way, I read them all. And added quite a few names of authors I need to look out for. I must give a shout out to the T. Kingfisher story Agent of Chaos. The times have been bad recently, this story made me laugh out loud at numerous points. I really want to read a whole book on this character, and the imaginary cults, and fictional ways how yarn, yes real yarn is made.

Ellen Datlow's name is good enough for me to know I will be reading a well-curated collection, and I was not wrong. A strong unsettling group of stories, for jaded horror readers, and new people. In fact this would be a good place for those new to the genre to start, with a list of authors that are really worth reading more of.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be clear, this is NOT an anthology about Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, eldritch old gods, or tentacled monstrosities; there are such anthologies out there, and Datlow has several under her name - but this isn't one of them. "Lovecraft's Brood" is Lovecraftian only in the very general sense of hitting the right note, the right mood, the creepiness and the uncanniness, the bleak atmosphere, which only Lovecraft's best cosmic horror tales achieve. There's enough cosmic horror inside to satisfy readers of Lovecraft-inspired stories, but the emphasis lies more on weirdness, dread, and paradoxicality, and less on confrontations with monsters or alien entities with an explicit agenda. The book thrives on ambiguity and cosmic uncertainty - some stories drowning in it to the point of indeterminacy and abstraction, others just nodding towards it, acknowledging it only in the blink of an eye (a huge bloodshot eye, admittedly). To put it bluntly, this is an anthology of 20 high quality stories (all reprints, mind) meant to reveal the way (and not so much the terrain) Lovecraft opened to horror; to capture a feeling, a reading experience, a powerful effect - make the reader feel uncomfortable, nervous, unsure, cold, and insignificant, under the gaze of things which never explicitly appear, but whose gravity of presence suffocates, tortures, and occasionally exterminates.

The stories collected point to a generation of writers who've taken Lovecraft's nihilistic message to heart, and brought its impact onto the page with no apology offered or even needed. Sometimes, a story will reinterpret the message as the threat of extinction (Brian Hodge's "One Possible Shape of Things to Come," a brilliant tale of children dying while looking at corners); transformation (Ian Rogers' "Infantum," about mysterious pregnancies); infection ("Once Seen" by Conrad Williams, the opening story, about a viral threat to the mind; Caitlin R. Kiernan's "The Beholder's Share," a finely textured (in fact, baroque) display of erudition, about eleven cursed books driving a man slowly insane); or invasion (Ray Cluley's "Sideways," a richly detailed story of a US pilot flying an experimental aircraft, and dying under mysterious circumstances). A story blends the otherwordly with body horror (Jacob Steven Mohr's "Empty Shells on a Cold Shore"), while another combines it with urban horror (Aaron Dries' "The Keep Quiet"). One goes for tongue-in-cheek horror comedy (T. Kingfisher's "Agent of Chaos," starring a cat), and another just for a single memorable image (Elizabeth Hand's "Eat the Wyrm"). And a couple of tales are on entirely their own level (Paul Tremblay's metafictional "The Note"; Laird Barron's surreal "a strange form of life")!

Neither an homage nor any kind of mash-up, "Lovecraft's Brood" delivers creepy and wildly inventive, solid stories, by some of the best authors in the business. Worth picking it up and devouring it from beginning to end!

[Allie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7/5

Lovecraft's Brood is an eerie homage to H.P. Lovecraft's iconic "cosmic dread" calling card.

It features nineteen tales written by nineteen authors as they delve into the hallmark of Lovecraft's work: alien creatures, otherworldly horrors, and beings beyond our earthly understanding.

One of the standouts in this book is Empty Shells on a Cold Shore by Jacob Steven Mohr. This one was particularly eerie and left me with a disturbed feeling. The fascinating choice of making the characters sea turtle watchers had me hooked immediately, and then the creepy turn it takes after that had me contemplating what the effects of the character's actions would be for long after I finished.

I also enjoyed The Keep Quiet by Aaron Dries, which entices the reader by creating an entity that is already named - and has a name that leaves you feeling unsettled. The characters' lot in life is tragic and yet relatable in some ways, despite being a worst-case scenario. Her desire to turn to an entity that might provide her any semblance of recognition is sad, but understandable. The ending leaves you sympathetic to a lonely woman with nothing to live for, yet who wants to live nonetheless.

Agent of Chaos by T. Kingfisher is a wonderful reprieve from the decidedly serious nature of the other stories and presents you with a whimsical take on the classic "gateway to hell." Using an oblivious kitten as the doer of evil is hilarious and adorable at the same time, and the ending leaves you chuckling and in a better mood than when you started the story.

The Note by Paul Tremblay is another one that left me unsettled and wondering at the events in the story. I think it leaves just enough to the imagination, but I feel like the eerie feeling partially drops off midway through the story and I felt more confused than anything. However, that could be intentional, so I won't criticize Tremblay too hard for that. Overall, this one leaves you haunted and a little confused.

Volcano by Livia Llewellyn may have been my favorite story in the book because I love an immoral main character. The main character of this story is very selfish and a little bit childish, but she's a wonderful main character to follow because you get the feeling right from the beginning that she's definitely going to do the WRONG thing in any given situation lol. This one was super exciting at the beginning but I felt like the energy kind of dipped off midway through and I was less invested in the characters after they start their actual work on the furniture. It seems like a lot may have been skipped over - like the finding of the weirdness in the room past the fan. Ultimately, I wish the reader had been included a little more in the events towards the end of the story.

Overall, this is a fun, haunting collection of stories that didn't totally blow my mind, but I felt the collection itself was put together well and very on theme.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellen Datlow has compiled an impressive collection of 19 previously published stories written by well-known authors in the horror genre. In her introduction, she makes the claim that each story is, in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft’s own writing, “infused with cosmic dread”. On reading the stories, it becomes clear that she has been eminently successful in doing so.



If you enjoy the genre, I strongly recommend this book. You will meet old friends among the authors and perhaps make some new ones. There are certainly a few that I hope to catch up with. If you are new to the style, then you are in for a treat. 



The 19 stories are of varied length and, despite (or maybe because of) their homage to Lovecraft’s style, sufficiently different to interest the reader and imbue a sense of foreboding. 



Other features of Lovecraft’s work are a sense of inevitability and impersonality. The events that unfold are unstoppable. They happen, not because of who the protagonists are but of what is causing them. Those familiar with H.P. Lovecraft will recognise the hand of the Old Ones in some stories or strange cults in others. “Infantum”, by Ian Rogers, brings to mind the perils of ‘unnatural angles’ as beings cross dimensions to restructure our planet. This tale left me with a sense of how alone we must be in the Universe and how much it simply doesn’t care. 



The stories are of different lengths, making the book an ideal read depending on the time available. One of the shortest, “Eat the Wyrm”, by Elizabeth Head, packs a powerful punch and is my favourite story. I’ll never be able to drink mezcal without a flashback! In another slightly longer tale, “Hypnopompia” by L. Marie Wood, it appears that the Old Ones are back. In a longer, apparently simple story, “Agent of Chaos”, a kitten almost unleashes horror into the world whilst playing with a length of wool spun, I believe, from the Black Goat of the Woods. This draws us neatly back to Lovecraft.



I have only mentioned a small number of stories to try to give an idea of the rich variety as well as why this book is titled “Lovecraft’s Brood”. Most stories hit the mark. There are one or two that don’t quite. This is because it never becomes fully clear what is happening and what the intention of the story is. 


In summary, this is a very readable collection of stories, most of which successfully conjure the notion of cosmic horror and existential dread in the style of H.P. Lovecraft.


Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for my eCopy

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ordered direct from publisher. I feel like I should just walk over to their office in the Mission instead of making them deliver.

The previous Datlow anthology, pub. date 2016, Children of Lovecraft (AI search result helpfully clarifies, "H.P. Lovecraft himself had no biological children"), had a persuasive, if arbitrary, theme--everyone working in cosmic horror since the 1920s must be understood as one of his "children." But it also picked out future big names--Files, Jones, Langan, Barron. She's also got the equally crucial Lovecraft Unbound and Lovecraft's Monsters, which boasts by far the most heavy hitters.

On the other hand, wow, are there a LOT of HPL anthologies out there, truly a brain-smashing non-Euclidean quantity, such that this collection cannibalizes other anthologies, and its ambit is a bit confusing, since its earliest stories are 20 years old. Which means we're in, and maybe have to be in?, meta-meta territory, as with the Caitlín Kiernan story that's a classic cursed-book tale featuring all the dread titles we know and love, the familiarity of which she evades via distance and allusions to the whole HPL meta canon that go back to the Bloch/HPL triptych wherein they kept killing each other off in fiction. So a lot of these do something interesting with what anyone reading this will recognize as a very familiar set of conventions, though not all--the number of times someone looks through a door and sees...nothing, not even darkness, is at least five or six. But we do get a Lovecraftian supermarket in Paul Tremblay's excellent story, a Lovecraftian summer job in Livia Llewellyn's (which I'd read before in another anthology, itself a sequel to the classic Dark Forces, so now we're at the second derivative, I guess) and a Lovecraftian exurb in Wendy Wagner's, as well as marooned members of the Great Race hiding in plain sight and an outstanding Lovecraftian twisting of The Right Stuff in Ray Cluley's story. Plus Barron, whose slangy poetry pretty much always works for me.

Is this stuff scary, after all these years? Intermittently. Tremblay's is spooky, as is Cluley's, but Brian Hodge's closer is the only one that feels like "horror" in the sense of actually distressing this reader, at least. A solid anthology, but one where I was sporadically overcome by a sense of sameness over the last 100 or so pages. I guess we need one wherein Datlow chooses the best stories from all of her anthologies. Let's be straightforward and call it Lovecraft's Derivatives.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a particular kind of audacity required to tamper with cosmic dread. Not borrow it, not politely nod in its direction, but grab it by the lapels and shake loose the dust of decades. That’s what Lovecraft’s Brood, edited by Ellen Datlow, attempts—and more often than not, it succeeds with a kind of feral intelligence that would make the Old Gentleman of Providence twitch uneasily in his grave.

This isn’t pastiche. Thank whatever indifferent gods still bother to listen, it is not another parade of tentacles and musty libraries and professors who trip over their own adjectives. Datlow has assembled writers who understand that Lovecraft’s real contagion wasn’t Cthulhu, it was insignificance. The smallness of humanity. The cold arithmetic of a universe that doesn’t even bother to notice us failing. These stories take that infection and let it metastasize into modern anxieties—identity, displacement, colonial rot, inherited nightmares that don’t politely stay buried.

And here’s the surprise: the anthology has teeth. Some of these stories don’t just whisper cosmic horror; they bite down and refuse to let go. They drag Lovecraft’s themes out of the early 20th century—kicking, snarling, shedding problematic skin—and rebuild them with voices Lovecraft himself would never have imagined, much less welcomed. That tension is the book’s electricity. It hums beneath every page.

Not every piece detonates. A few feel like they’re orbiting the idea of cosmic dread rather than plunging into its gravity well. But even the near-misses are interesting failures, and I’ll take an ambitious misfire over another obedient homage any day. The best entries here don’t worship the mythos; they interrogate it, dismantle it, and then rebuild it into something stranger and more unsettling.

Datlow, as usual, curates with a surgeon’s precision and a saboteur’s grin. The result is an anthology that understands Lovecraft better than most Lovecraft imitators: the terror isn’t the monster. The terror is that the monster doesn’t care whether you exist.

And when that realization finally lands—quietly, inexorably, like the tide coming in while you’re busy arguing with your own shadow—you’ll understand why this book lingers. Not as homage. Not as tribute.

As infection.

[Acantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This suffered with its name and premise. If it had been billed as just horror, or even 'weird' horror, then I think it would have worked better. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it still, but I wouldn't have been left feeling quite so cheated and disappointed. Cosmic horror is so easy to do the basic building blocks for, and so hard (it seems, based on this book) to get it right. Cosmic horror is existential dread, forbidden knowledge, and madness, and while a few of these stories skirt the edge, none really feel like they fully belong in the genre. Also I think maybe two out of nineteen actually mention an eldritch god, which isn't a requirement but its an easy enough win.

My favourite, by far, was the entry by T. Kingfisher. However, I'm honest enough to admit that it's my favourite because I love the author and I loved the story, but it was too 'cosy' to be cosmic horror. Its a nice spin on it, but it isn't Lovecraftian enough.

Another stand out was the one about test pilots, that had a lot of of cosmic horror elements but I finished it feeling as if I had read a story that belonged in an episode of The Twilight Zone rather than sitting in cosmic horror.

Then there were a few that were less stories and more pitches for stories, ideas that never went anywhere or developed into an actual story. And finally there was one where nearly half of the limited page count was devoted to setting up the character and her behaviour which had exactly zero bearing on what happened to her because it happened to someone else too who was nothing like her. The pacing was the scariest thing in that tale.

I'm sorry, I wanted to like it so much, I love cosmic horror but this scared me in all the wrong ways.

~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review~

[Chevonnika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will review each individual story based off a points system and give a briefing of the ones I enjoyed the most and the over cohesion of the compilation

1.Once Seen 2.5/5
2.Mister Ainsley 3/5
I enjoyed this one quite a bit, one of the shorter ones but it definitely provided little bread crumbs of who Mister Ainsley really is.
3.Sideways 3/5
4.Empty Shells on Cold Shore 2/5
5.The Keep Quiet 2/5
6.Agent Of Chaos 4/5
While written very well and it is very cute, this is more of a 'cozy' horror. I dont think it fits with the rest of the stories but it is really good.
7.The Beholders Share 4/5
I really enjoyed where this story was taking us, I even forgot it was suppose to be a lovecraftian horror before it got to the end...which I did not care for but the build up was great.
8.Back Bite 3/5
9.Ear The Wyrm 1.5/5
10.The Note 3.5/5
11.A Strange Form Of Life 2/5
12.Call Of The Void 2.5/5
13.Hypnopompia 2/5
15.Volcano 4/5
I like how this one is written and I enjoy the characters and inner dialogs, definitely a more character driven piece.
16.Halogen Sky 3/5
17.Wind Come Down the Mountain 2.5/5
18.Infantum 1.5/5
19.Diving Deep 3.5/5
20.One Possible Shape of Things to Come 4/5
I had really enjoyed the concept of this one, started off a bit exorcist like and turned a bit more scifi horror, a lot of impending doom and mystery.


Overall the complimation was okay, the shorter stories being a hit or a miss. I do not thinking labeling these stories as 'love craftian' is the best because not all of them gave that vibe. It is more of a general scifi short story horror/thriller/mystery. Some stories are shorter than others so it is good for a casual read.

[Tobie Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC received from Netgalley

My rating - 3.5/5, rounded down to 3 for goodreads

Lovecraft's Brood is a good anthology of (mostly) cosmic horror stories from a great selection of writers, most of whom were knew to me. They have a varying level of connection to Lovecraft's mythos - some very much in the style of Lovecraft, some with little more than a cursory nod - but all have a sense of the terror that Lovecraft's stories bring.

My favourites from this collection are:

"Mister Ainsley" by Steve Rasnic Tem - This comes at the uncanny and cosmic horror from the other side, that of the eldritch creature. There's an excellent sense of uneasiness that builds throughout.

"Agent of Chaos" by T. Kingfisher - A story that uses cosmic horror to comedic effect, whilst still staying faithful to the sense of eldritch terrors waiting at the edges of reality. It has an excellent opening line - "It was a blustery day in November when the kitten accidentally ripped open the fabric of reality".

"The Beholder's Share" by Caitlin R. Kiernan - This is the story closest to Lovecraft's style, and it is an excellent example of it. This was the first of Kiernan's work I have read, and I'm definitely going to seek out more.

"Backbite" by Norman Partridge - Another more explicitly Lovecraftian. I loved the writing, setting and characters here - the narrator and his brother are both transients and this nature is captured very well. I definitely think this could have been longer. Great ending as well.

"Diving Deep" by Gary McMahon - A great mix of Mountains of Madness with the feeling of claustrophobia and weirdness of the Enigma of Amigara Fault

[Janereads10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Lovecraft’s Brood and its collection of 19 stories gave me a wonderful sense of nostalgia. As a child, I was a huge fan of The Twilight Zone, and this book perfectly delivered that vibe. As a collection, I really appreciated the sequencing; the pacing is excellent, especially the way the shorter pieces are interspersed between the longer ones.

A few standouts for me:

"Mister Ainsley" by Steve Rasnic TemThe story follows an unassuming campaigner who finds himself trapped in the house of a solitary old man. Reading it feels suffocating, building toward a final twist that is absolutely ghoulish.

"Sideways" by Ray CluleyThis story features a pilot recalling his past and present while fulfilling a promise to take on the personal duties of his captain and friend. I loved how Cluley combined the character dynamics—the pilots, their wives, and families—with a tragic ending for the captain. The conclusion is brilliant, using a metaphor of "holes" to represent the main character’s disease.

"Agent of Chaos" by T. KingfisherIn this one, a kitten playing with an old ball of yarn inadvertently opens a chasm for otherworldly beings to enter. All of this happens while two women are preoccupied talking about radiators and church. While the playful kitten gives it a lighter feel, the stakes had me at the edge of my seat.

"Halogen Sky" by Wendy N. Wagner. A couple on a road trip stops at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. This had creepy vibes from the start and completely blew my mind. It begins as a normal scene before escalating into weirdness followed by pure dread. I found myself reading and re-reading this story, feeling trapped every single time. It is easily my favorite in the collection.

Each of the nineteen stories delivered that specific brand of dread I enjoy in its own unique way.

Thank you Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

[Stefan Nordin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This was not what I was expecting from the title. Datlow says in her foreword that the stories in this volume are based on Lovecrafts ideas of cosmic horror more than his actual mythos. I guess that’s fine but it feels a bit like false marketing when most of the stories aren’t Lovecraftian (or contains cosmic horror) at all. It should probably been marketed as a collection of weird horror and leave ol ´HP out of it.
With that being said it wasn’t a bad collection but it wasn´t outstanding either. The one real standout was T. Kingfisher wonderful short about a kitten who tears the fabric of reality by mistake. That story alone makes this collection worth owning.
I also enjoyed the stories that actually were neo-Lovecraft. There where som cool takes on the mythos for example in The beholders share by Caitlin R Kiernan which riffed on The case of Charles Dexter Ward and Haunter of the dark in a very enjoyable way.
Diving deep by Gary McMahon felt related to At the mountains of madness but with a modern and claustrophobic take. Another favorite was One possible shape of things to come by Brian Hodge where the weird geometry from Dreams in the witchhouse shows up again.
Not a bad collection but if you`re looking for mythos there are other that fits the bill better.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for sending me an advance copy of this book.

Overall, I REALLY enjoyed this. Most of the stories had me going "WHAT THE F-" and ending the story with my jaw hanging open and that's exactly what I want from my Lovecraftian fiction. There were a few that I struggled with (I couldn't finish The Beholder's Share and I genuinely don't remember what happened in Empty Shells on a Cold Shore and The Keep Quiet), but there were some STELLAR stories in here. My top ones were Agent of Chaos (the cutest ever Lovecraftian protagonist), Sideways, Eat the Wyrm, The Note, Hypnopompia, Halogen Sky, and Infantum, but really, I enjoyed most of them. Even the ones I didn't like, I could appreciate what they were trying to do, I just wasn't the right audience for it.

Most anthologies, it is a bit of hit and miss in regards to the stories, but this was a really strong anthology that I enjoyed reading, and I think I'll even go back and reread some of them. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves Weird Fiction, cosmic horror, horror short stories, and just bizarre tales in general. I'm also going to look into some of these authors to read more of them - of course I know T Kingfisher and Paul Tremblay, but most of these authors were new to me!

[Nina S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC. The following is my honest review.

Ellen Datlow has been editing fantasy, science fiction, and horror short stories for over forty years. Some of her anthologies, like The Devil and the Deep and When Things Get Dark are among my favorite short story anthologies, with pieces I still think about years after having read them. So I was happy to be able to snag an eARC of her latest anthology, Lovecraft’s Brood. In her introduction, Datlow states her intention to gather stories that create what Lovecraft called “a profound sense of dread, and of contact with unknown spheres and powers,” regardless of whether or not they reference specifically Lovecraftian entities or places. She definitely succeeded in this endeavor. Some highlights:

“Sideways” by Ray Cluley: For all that human smallness in the face of an indifferent universe is a major theme in cosmic horror, the strongest stories in this anthology are the ones that convincingly portray people’s relationships to each other. In “Sideways,” the main characters are a group of test pilots. Doing the most dangerous job in the world has created a bond between them that no one else can really understand. The vividness of the characterization pulled me into the story and made me really hope (even though I knew it was futile) that they’d make it away from their encounter with the eldritch unscathed. This one was so good that as soon as I finished it, I bought Cluley’s solo collection All That’s Lost.

“Backbite” by Norman Partridge: This is one of the ones that does reference a specific Lovecraft story, but Partridge makes it his own. Again, human relationships are at the center of the story, in this case the relationship between brothers. There are some great edge-of-your-seat action scenes in this one as well.

“The Note” by Paul Tremblay: The concept of a mimetic hazard—a piece of knowledge, often in written form, that harms or corrupts anyone who perceives it—is a common trope in Lovecraft’s stories. Tremblay creates a great story of a mimetic hazard here, a story filled with unsettling and creepy moments.

“Call of the Void—L’appel du vide” by Carol Gyzander: Most of Lovecraft’s stories are set in New England, so the landscapes tend to be those you’d find in the northeastern US. A Lovecraftian story set in the deserts of the southwest is a breath of fresh air.

“Halogen Sky” by Wendy Wagner: This story created a wonderful sense of disorientation, and I loved the concept behind it. The deliberate sameness of hotels or fast food restaurants of the same franchise really does make it feel like they could all be one place, like you could slip out of one and into another.

[Tzia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh I so wanted to love this. As a huge fan of horror and Lovecraft this seemed so far up my street it was practically on my doorstep but it just didn't deliver.

I know that with any collection of stories you're going to get variable quality, and that some are going to fulfil the overall brief of the collection more than others - so I knew I wasn't going to love every word written here. Unfortunately I found myself actively disliking the majority of the stories, either because they missed the brief entirely or because I just didn't find them to be overly good.

There were some stories I genuinely enjoyed and some which weren't to my taste but were worth reading but overall quite disappointing. I think if this was marketed as a collection of general horror or weird fiction it might have been better received but as it is, it's a no from me.

- Thanks to NetGalley for granting me the ARC in exchange for an honest review -

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual Rating 3.5

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for than honest Review.

I was really hoping to love all of these stories, but only a handful hit for me at all. Some of the stories felt more like incomplete ideas. If it were for the below entries, this would have been rated much lower for me from my tastes.

The standouts for me were:
• Sideways by Ray Cluley
• The Keep Quiet by Aaron Dries
• Agent of Chaos by T. Kingfisher ✓
• The Note by Paul Tremblay ✓
• Call of the Void by Carol Gyzander
• Volcano by Livia Llewellyn
• Halogen Sky by Wendy N Wagner
• One Possible Shape of Things to Come by Brian Hodge ✓

T. Kingfisher and Paul Tremblay really knocked it out of the ballpark with their stories.

And Brian Hodges story might be my favorite from this collection.

I just really wish more of these would have hit for me, but they can't all be bangers.

[Cat Treadwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many Lovecraft anthologies turn out to just have the same stories seen many times before. I went into this one hopeful of something new - and as expected, Ellen Datlow does not disappoint!

This is one of the darkest HPL collections I've ever read. It doesn't shy away from anything, be it death or worse. Madness is to be found on every page, whether subtle or explicit, and every author has crafted a new scenario that I'd never have imagined (which may be a good thing!).

From damp wetness to hallucinogenic visions, each story here deserves its own space, a pause after reading to really digest what you just saw. I've no doubt I'll be both recommending this and returning to it in future, as well as looking up some new authors to see what insanity they bring next!

I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher but the above opinions are entirely my own.

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a Lovecraft reader for more than 50 years, and his stories can still send chills down my back. Lovecraft's Brood is an anthology of nineteen stories written in the style of Lovecraft by authors both famous and debut, horror and beyond. Brood follows the excellent Lovecraft's Monsters, also edited by Ellen Datlow. These authors flex their writing skills by giving readers an experience in fewer pages than most chapters in a novel. The stories mix genres to prove the power of horror crosses into every crevice of reading. As always, some stories are better than others, but all of them are guaranteed 5-star reads that you'll be excited to share with your reading circle.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.
Ellen Datlow has curated another anthology of horror stories inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. While a few are straight up Lovecraftian in nature, the majority are more of the existential dread and indescribable terrors of cosmic horror. I liked the vast majority, with the ones that really stood out for me were "Sideways" by Ray Cluley, "Agent of Chaos" by T. Kingfisher, "The Beholder's Share" by Caitlin R. Kiernan and "One Possible Shape of Things to Come" by Brian Hodge.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of weird, creepy horrors, but not as full on Eldritch/cosmic as you might think from the description of the collection.

I enjoyed a number of the stories, but some didn’t catch my interest, felt a bit too far off topic, or not fully fleshed out.

A few were really intense and had my heart racing. Loved T. Kingfisher’s story of a kitten who opens a portal into a hell realm.

Thank you to NetGalley, the authors, editor, and Tachyon Publications for a copy.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd be remiss if I didn't start with the obvious: precious few of these feel Lovecraftian. Even adjusting accordingly, this isn't a particularly strong collection.

Standouts:

Once Seen: Because I hate eye stuff.

The Note: This feels -if not Mythos-timely given Backrooms.

[Christian Orton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these range from pretty terrible to bleh, but the standouts are as follows:

“Sideways”
“Deep Diving”
And then the shell story (can’t remember full title) but it comes after “Sideways.”

[Happy Goat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does editor Ellen Datlow ever deliver less than a 5/5 anthology? I think not! Great variety and the authors were not stereotypical or expected with the theme at all.

[Kayleigh Dobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite anthologies of the year!