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The Lovecraft Squad #3
Dreaming
In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
The Armies of the Night are rising. Such clandestine cults as the Olde Fellowes and the Esoteric Order of Dagon, who worship a group of ancient deities called the Great Old Ones, are harnessing occult powers to open the doorways to the Dreamscape and other dimensions beyond space and time.
Now something big is coming—something that is already sowing the seeds of madness and chaos into the psyche of the world—and only the agents of the Human Protection League stand between this rising tide of evil and the enslavement and eventual destruction of the human race itself . . .
Set against such historic events as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, San Francisco’s “Summer of Love,” the first Moon landing, the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, and the Watergate break-in, the dedicated members of the Lovecraft Squad battle supernatural threats all across the world—and from beyond the stars.
Featuring original contributions by: Stephen Baxter, Brian Hodge, Sean Hogan, Lisa Morton, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, John Llewellyn Probert, Lynda E. Rucker, Angela Slatter, and Michael Marshall Smith.
The Armies of the Night are rising. Such clandestine cults as the Olde Fellowes and the Esoteric Order of Dagon, who worship a group of ancient deities called the Great Old Ones, are harnessing occult powers to open the doorways to the Dreamscape and other dimensions beyond space and time.
Now something big is coming—something that is already sowing the seeds of madness and chaos into the psyche of the world—and only the agents of the Human Protection League stand between this rising tide of evil and the enslavement and eventual destruction of the human race itself . . .
Set against such historic events as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, San Francisco’s “Summer of Love,” the first Moon landing, the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, and the Watergate break-in, the dedicated members of the Lovecraft Squad battle supernatural threats all across the world—and from beyond the stars.
Featuring original contributions by: Stephen Baxter, Brian Hodge, Sean Hogan, Lisa Morton, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, John Llewellyn Probert, Lynda E. Rucker, Angela Slatter, and Michael Marshall Smith.
- GenresHorror
368 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2018
3 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Jones
282 books347 followersStephen Jones is an eighteen-time winner of the British Fantasy Award.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 26, 2020
Review of THE LOVECRAFT SQUAD: DREAMING created by Stephen Jones.
Review by Trevor Kennedy for PHANTASMAGORIA SPECIAL EDITION SERIES #2: THE LOVECRAFT SQUAD.
“Very little of what you’ve been told, all your life, is true.”
(Stephen Baxter, The Lovecraft Squad: Waiting)
IMAGINE A WORLD where the writings of famous pulp horror author H. P. Lovecraft are not actually fiction, but real. Prophecies even. In this world, those nefarious cosmic gods known as the Great Old Ones are attempting to break back into our reality after many millennia of ancient slumber, waiting patiently for the correct time, when the stars are right. When they inevitably return, death, destruction and insanity await the entirety of the human race and not a single soul will be spared from their terrifying, unfathomable madness. There is some hope out there, however…
Please meet The Lovecraft Squad, or as they’re more officially known, the Human Protection League (HPL). They’re the good guys (well, for the most part anyhow), set up by J. Edgar Hoover and Agent Nathan Brady in the 1930s, their secret legacy leaving a vital footprint on the history of the twentieth century and beyond, an alternate history, one that you won’t hear talked about much in media circles or ordinary day-to-day life. But some of us, those of us in the know, have heard of their adventures and can only gasp in awe at their bravery as the final Eldritch War approaches…
Created by maverick editor/anthologist Stephen Jones, The Lovecraft Squad series is an epic, era-hopping collection of connected Mythos tales that I firmly believe Howard Phillips Lovecraft himself would be very proud of.
Prologue: The Black Ship by Reggie Oliver
In true Lovecraft fashion, an academic looks back over historical manuscripts regarding certain “Olde Fellowes”, an ancient text titled Nekronomikon (sic) and a doomed ship, Speedwell, one which was originally intended to accompany the Mayflower on its voyage to the New World, but its captain soon finds himself forced to take a detour to a rather sinister island, in a dark Mythos tale that involves timeless cosmic entities, Native American tribes, sinister cults, cannibalism and a journey into insanity - almost literally!
Superb, and a classic Lovecraftian story!
The Dreams in the White House by Lisa Morton
In 1963, Special Agent Frank Elwood Jr. of the Human Protection League and his team find themselves investigating Innsmouth-style ichthyoid creatures, with some help from the strangely-deformed Agent Randolph Carter and his visions from the Dreamscape, J. Edgar Hoover, and Robert Kennedy and his brother - none other than the President of the United States of America himself, John Fitzgerald - whose very realistic dreams may not only pose a threat to his own life, but also be connected to the future of the entire human race…
A cracker from Lisa Morton, with loads of intrigue and mystery in proper X-Files/conspiracy theorist-style.
Weird Shadows Over Innsbruck by Brian Hodge
Luna and Claude from “The Junior G-Men” are back, now adults in the 1960s, older and wiser and still fighting the good fight against alien entities more terrifying than any commie Ruskie could ever be. This time they’re investigating, along with an Israeli Mossad agent, strange happenings at a skiing resort in the Swiss Alps which appear to be connected to a Nazi scientist, The Philadelphia Experiment and a Bigfoot-type creature that H. P. Lovecraft once wrote about…
An engaging, finely crafted episode in the series, with an emotional ending.
The Window of Erich Zann by Michael Marshall Smith
San Francisco, 1967, the Summer of Love. To get away from the drugs and chaos of the hedonistic hippy lifestyle, a young, vulnerable woman named Marion moves out of her shared accommodation to live in a building by the bay owned by a curious older man. There, she experiences a series of vivid dreams and visions of earlier settlers to the city and what physically lies beneath the tenement, along with a strange, otherworldly melody. But what does it all mean and could it be just some part of an acid flashback?
Atmospheric, emotional and at times disturbing (subtly handled and reminding the reader that the real world is much more horrific than any fantasy land), Michael Marshall Smith is a class act.
The Dunwich Horrors by John Llewellyn Probert
The Lovecraft Squad’s Jonathan Mount and his trusty sidekick Emelia Shaver pay visit to the remote English seaside town of Dunwich in Suffolk to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an Agent Curtis. Whilst there, they encounter a crumbling old church on a cliff top and some rather odd-looking locals with a penchant for worshipping ancient sea monsters…
This is a lot of fun with the exchanges and chemistry between Mount and Shaver brimming with quick-fire one-liners, the dynamic duo seemingly an enjoyable homage to John Steed and Emma Peel from The Avengers. I also smiled at the references to the classic ‘60s Patrick McGoohan series The Prisoner and M. R. James (I think!).
A very (welcome) British addition to TLS.
The Shadow Over the Moon by Stephen Baxter
In a sequel to the previous volume’s “The Color Out in Space” by the same author, rocket pilot Magnolia Jones returns in an adventure set in 1969 where she has to travel to the Moon on another covert mission to find out what exactly happened up there to the astronauts Spender and Hamilton and also thwart a conundrum involving the time-travelling Yith and the Color, this time with an ape named George…
Just like Baxter’s previous story in the series, this is some good, gory sci-fi/horror hijinks, extremely well researched too, with strong references to the works of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and others, including humorous takes on lines from Planet of the Apes and Dr. Strangelove. Oh, and puppeteer Gerry Anderson of Thunderbirds fame faked the Moon landing in ‘69, you know, not Stanley Kubrick…
Into the Dreamlands by Angela Slatter
In that odd place between the Dreamscape and our world, the tragic (and oft-times cannibalistic, dining regularly on the insane) Agent Randolph Carter is visited by one of the Cats of Ulthar named Atalal. Kadath has fallen and the Gates between the worlds are closing. The gods are at war and only one man can help them now.
With the aid of his superior, Professor Miracle Brady (daughter of Nathan and Ellie) and the returning Ward Kindred (Lovecraft’s former tutor), the mutant-like Agent Carter makes a return to the Dreamlands for, perhaps, the very last time…
To pull off such a bizarre story (talking cats and other such hallucinatory imagery), playing it, for the most part, completely straight (there is some sly intentional humour in there too, it must be noted), you would have to be a writer of great skill, someone akin to Lovecraft himself, I would imagine. But Angela Slatter nails it in this bonkers - and at times rather gory - cosmic horror story. Brilliant!
Water Gate by Sean Hogan and Lynda E. Rucker
Early 1970s. The alcoholic, burnt out Agent Harry Rooks has a secret rendezvous with his bosses at the HPL, directors Nathan Brady and J. Edgar Hoover, concerning President “Tricky Dicky” Nixon. Agent Springer is on the case too, a female operative who also just happens to be part cyborg (think Bionic Woman), thanks to a government experiment her parents were involved with. The case, in itself, is connected to that unpleasant-smelling fishing port of Innsmouth and a certain hotel complex named the Watergate…
Intrigue abounds in a freaky fishy fable from Hogan and Rucker, based on one of the greatest (real life) conspiracy theories of them all.
Voodoo vs. Cthulhu! by Kim Newman
Madness engulfs New York City when tons of fish inexplicably fall from the sky. The first year of the New Age is beginning. Brutal, savage cult wars are going down in the mean streets of Harlem and its surrounding areas. There’s some serious badass voodoo on display, along with zombis connected to “Honkey” Herbert “Re-Animator” West, a descendant of Erich Zann, the macabre painter Richard Pickman, and the “Supernatural Soul Sister” herself - Nefertiti Bronze, who just happens to be raising an army to face the diabolical legions of the Great Old Ones with some serious jive! Can you dig it?
Wow! This is pretty epic. Told at a breakneck speed and packed to the rafters with non-stop action and gore, I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this before - Lovecraft’s otherworldly insanity mixed with blaxploitation coolness, with large dollops of laugh-out-loud humour and pop culture references thrown in for good measure!
Something very special indeed from Newman.
Cool Air by Lisa Morton
1975. Agent Diane Masterton, Deputy Director Jefferson and others of the HPL are tasked with investigating an overnight attack on the League’s headquarters in the capital city by entities unknown. Director Brady is on the missing list and it looks like there’s a traitor in the midst. The long-missing Agent Randolph Carter may be involved too, along with a centuries-dead Frenchman…
An interesting one again from Lisa Morton that climaxes in a whopper of a twist (I really wasn’t expecting it)!
Epilogue: The Cats of Arthur by Peter Atkins
Some feisty feline frolics are the catnip dish of the day when the HPL’s husband and wife team of Mr. James and Tabitha investigate the mysterious decapitation of a rich old poet with a particular fondness for cats. To be continued in the next book. Purr-fect…
Overall, The Lovecraft Squad is a superb literary epic that creator Stephen Jones and every single author involved should be very proud of.
It works on several levels, the rich variety of connected tales contained crossing most, if not all, of the sub-sections within the whole of the Dark Fantasy genre and beyond (horror, fantasy, science fiction, haunted houses, ghosts, witchcraft, zombies, voodoo, conspiracy theories, aliens, cyborgs, pulp fiction, gun-toting gangsters and their glamorous molls, Nazis, classic adventure serials, body horror, tentacled monsters, mutants, serial killers, cannibals, urban legends, evil cults, angry gods, mysticism, crazy wizards, ancient curses, mad scientists, small town secrets, social commentary, et cetera, et cetera - you name it and you’ll find it in there somewhere!) while at the same time keeping its feet firmly planted in the Mythos created by Lovecraft. An updated version of the work of the author perhaps, while at the same time honouring it, and appealing to fans of HPL and non-fans together. Twentieth century history like you’ve never seen (or read) it before (and the history of the last century is always something that has fascinated me since I was a young boy).
There’s an emotional core to it as well, a love and respect for the stories of Lovecraft, and the writers are clearly having a great time too.
In my opinion, I feel it would also make an exceptional - and unique - television/streaming service series if done correctly and creative control remained with Jones and co.
Also worthy of mention are the extraordinarily lifelike pulp-style front cover paintings by Douglas Klauba.
But how, I hear you ask, would the man himself feel about the series if he were alive today? I honestly believe Howard Phillips Lovecraft would be profoundly flattered and bowled over by it all. Go check it out for yourselves and see what you think. The dreaded Cthulhu demands it.
The Lovecraft Squad series is published by Pegasus Books and is available to purchase from Amazon and many other outlets throughout the world.
Review by Trevor Kennedy for PHANTASMAGORIA SPECIAL EDITION SERIES #2: THE LOVECRAFT SQUAD.
“Very little of what you’ve been told, all your life, is true.”
(Stephen Baxter, The Lovecraft Squad: Waiting)
IMAGINE A WORLD where the writings of famous pulp horror author H. P. Lovecraft are not actually fiction, but real. Prophecies even. In this world, those nefarious cosmic gods known as the Great Old Ones are attempting to break back into our reality after many millennia of ancient slumber, waiting patiently for the correct time, when the stars are right. When they inevitably return, death, destruction and insanity await the entirety of the human race and not a single soul will be spared from their terrifying, unfathomable madness. There is some hope out there, however…
Please meet The Lovecraft Squad, or as they’re more officially known, the Human Protection League (HPL). They’re the good guys (well, for the most part anyhow), set up by J. Edgar Hoover and Agent Nathan Brady in the 1930s, their secret legacy leaving a vital footprint on the history of the twentieth century and beyond, an alternate history, one that you won’t hear talked about much in media circles or ordinary day-to-day life. But some of us, those of us in the know, have heard of their adventures and can only gasp in awe at their bravery as the final Eldritch War approaches…
Created by maverick editor/anthologist Stephen Jones, The Lovecraft Squad series is an epic, era-hopping collection of connected Mythos tales that I firmly believe Howard Phillips Lovecraft himself would be very proud of.
Prologue: The Black Ship by Reggie Oliver
In true Lovecraft fashion, an academic looks back over historical manuscripts regarding certain “Olde Fellowes”, an ancient text titled Nekronomikon (sic) and a doomed ship, Speedwell, one which was originally intended to accompany the Mayflower on its voyage to the New World, but its captain soon finds himself forced to take a detour to a rather sinister island, in a dark Mythos tale that involves timeless cosmic entities, Native American tribes, sinister cults, cannibalism and a journey into insanity - almost literally!
Superb, and a classic Lovecraftian story!
The Dreams in the White House by Lisa Morton
In 1963, Special Agent Frank Elwood Jr. of the Human Protection League and his team find themselves investigating Innsmouth-style ichthyoid creatures, with some help from the strangely-deformed Agent Randolph Carter and his visions from the Dreamscape, J. Edgar Hoover, and Robert Kennedy and his brother - none other than the President of the United States of America himself, John Fitzgerald - whose very realistic dreams may not only pose a threat to his own life, but also be connected to the future of the entire human race…
A cracker from Lisa Morton, with loads of intrigue and mystery in proper X-Files/conspiracy theorist-style.
Weird Shadows Over Innsbruck by Brian Hodge
Luna and Claude from “The Junior G-Men” are back, now adults in the 1960s, older and wiser and still fighting the good fight against alien entities more terrifying than any commie Ruskie could ever be. This time they’re investigating, along with an Israeli Mossad agent, strange happenings at a skiing resort in the Swiss Alps which appear to be connected to a Nazi scientist, The Philadelphia Experiment and a Bigfoot-type creature that H. P. Lovecraft once wrote about…
An engaging, finely crafted episode in the series, with an emotional ending.
The Window of Erich Zann by Michael Marshall Smith
San Francisco, 1967, the Summer of Love. To get away from the drugs and chaos of the hedonistic hippy lifestyle, a young, vulnerable woman named Marion moves out of her shared accommodation to live in a building by the bay owned by a curious older man. There, she experiences a series of vivid dreams and visions of earlier settlers to the city and what physically lies beneath the tenement, along with a strange, otherworldly melody. But what does it all mean and could it be just some part of an acid flashback?
Atmospheric, emotional and at times disturbing (subtly handled and reminding the reader that the real world is much more horrific than any fantasy land), Michael Marshall Smith is a class act.
The Dunwich Horrors by John Llewellyn Probert
The Lovecraft Squad’s Jonathan Mount and his trusty sidekick Emelia Shaver pay visit to the remote English seaside town of Dunwich in Suffolk to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an Agent Curtis. Whilst there, they encounter a crumbling old church on a cliff top and some rather odd-looking locals with a penchant for worshipping ancient sea monsters…
This is a lot of fun with the exchanges and chemistry between Mount and Shaver brimming with quick-fire one-liners, the dynamic duo seemingly an enjoyable homage to John Steed and Emma Peel from The Avengers. I also smiled at the references to the classic ‘60s Patrick McGoohan series The Prisoner and M. R. James (I think!).
A very (welcome) British addition to TLS.
The Shadow Over the Moon by Stephen Baxter
In a sequel to the previous volume’s “The Color Out in Space” by the same author, rocket pilot Magnolia Jones returns in an adventure set in 1969 where she has to travel to the Moon on another covert mission to find out what exactly happened up there to the astronauts Spender and Hamilton and also thwart a conundrum involving the time-travelling Yith and the Color, this time with an ape named George…
Just like Baxter’s previous story in the series, this is some good, gory sci-fi/horror hijinks, extremely well researched too, with strong references to the works of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and others, including humorous takes on lines from Planet of the Apes and Dr. Strangelove. Oh, and puppeteer Gerry Anderson of Thunderbirds fame faked the Moon landing in ‘69, you know, not Stanley Kubrick…
Into the Dreamlands by Angela Slatter
In that odd place between the Dreamscape and our world, the tragic (and oft-times cannibalistic, dining regularly on the insane) Agent Randolph Carter is visited by one of the Cats of Ulthar named Atalal. Kadath has fallen and the Gates between the worlds are closing. The gods are at war and only one man can help them now.
With the aid of his superior, Professor Miracle Brady (daughter of Nathan and Ellie) and the returning Ward Kindred (Lovecraft’s former tutor), the mutant-like Agent Carter makes a return to the Dreamlands for, perhaps, the very last time…
To pull off such a bizarre story (talking cats and other such hallucinatory imagery), playing it, for the most part, completely straight (there is some sly intentional humour in there too, it must be noted), you would have to be a writer of great skill, someone akin to Lovecraft himself, I would imagine. But Angela Slatter nails it in this bonkers - and at times rather gory - cosmic horror story. Brilliant!
Water Gate by Sean Hogan and Lynda E. Rucker
Early 1970s. The alcoholic, burnt out Agent Harry Rooks has a secret rendezvous with his bosses at the HPL, directors Nathan Brady and J. Edgar Hoover, concerning President “Tricky Dicky” Nixon. Agent Springer is on the case too, a female operative who also just happens to be part cyborg (think Bionic Woman), thanks to a government experiment her parents were involved with. The case, in itself, is connected to that unpleasant-smelling fishing port of Innsmouth and a certain hotel complex named the Watergate…
Intrigue abounds in a freaky fishy fable from Hogan and Rucker, based on one of the greatest (real life) conspiracy theories of them all.
Voodoo vs. Cthulhu! by Kim Newman
Madness engulfs New York City when tons of fish inexplicably fall from the sky. The first year of the New Age is beginning. Brutal, savage cult wars are going down in the mean streets of Harlem and its surrounding areas. There’s some serious badass voodoo on display, along with zombis connected to “Honkey” Herbert “Re-Animator” West, a descendant of Erich Zann, the macabre painter Richard Pickman, and the “Supernatural Soul Sister” herself - Nefertiti Bronze, who just happens to be raising an army to face the diabolical legions of the Great Old Ones with some serious jive! Can you dig it?
Wow! This is pretty epic. Told at a breakneck speed and packed to the rafters with non-stop action and gore, I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this before - Lovecraft’s otherworldly insanity mixed with blaxploitation coolness, with large dollops of laugh-out-loud humour and pop culture references thrown in for good measure!
Something very special indeed from Newman.
Cool Air by Lisa Morton
1975. Agent Diane Masterton, Deputy Director Jefferson and others of the HPL are tasked with investigating an overnight attack on the League’s headquarters in the capital city by entities unknown. Director Brady is on the missing list and it looks like there’s a traitor in the midst. The long-missing Agent Randolph Carter may be involved too, along with a centuries-dead Frenchman…
An interesting one again from Lisa Morton that climaxes in a whopper of a twist (I really wasn’t expecting it)!
Epilogue: The Cats of Arthur by Peter Atkins
Some feisty feline frolics are the catnip dish of the day when the HPL’s husband and wife team of Mr. James and Tabitha investigate the mysterious decapitation of a rich old poet with a particular fondness for cats. To be continued in the next book. Purr-fect…
Overall, The Lovecraft Squad is a superb literary epic that creator Stephen Jones and every single author involved should be very proud of.
It works on several levels, the rich variety of connected tales contained crossing most, if not all, of the sub-sections within the whole of the Dark Fantasy genre and beyond (horror, fantasy, science fiction, haunted houses, ghosts, witchcraft, zombies, voodoo, conspiracy theories, aliens, cyborgs, pulp fiction, gun-toting gangsters and their glamorous molls, Nazis, classic adventure serials, body horror, tentacled monsters, mutants, serial killers, cannibals, urban legends, evil cults, angry gods, mysticism, crazy wizards, ancient curses, mad scientists, small town secrets, social commentary, et cetera, et cetera - you name it and you’ll find it in there somewhere!) while at the same time keeping its feet firmly planted in the Mythos created by Lovecraft. An updated version of the work of the author perhaps, while at the same time honouring it, and appealing to fans of HPL and non-fans together. Twentieth century history like you’ve never seen (or read) it before (and the history of the last century is always something that has fascinated me since I was a young boy).
There’s an emotional core to it as well, a love and respect for the stories of Lovecraft, and the writers are clearly having a great time too.
In my opinion, I feel it would also make an exceptional - and unique - television/streaming service series if done correctly and creative control remained with Jones and co.
Also worthy of mention are the extraordinarily lifelike pulp-style front cover paintings by Douglas Klauba.
But how, I hear you ask, would the man himself feel about the series if he were alive today? I honestly believe Howard Phillips Lovecraft would be profoundly flattered and bowled over by it all. Go check it out for yourselves and see what you think. The dreaded Cthulhu demands it.
The Lovecraft Squad series is published by Pegasus Books and is available to purchase from Amazon and many other outlets throughout the world.
January 21, 2020
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.0 of 5
How did I not know about this series until book three?!
The premise: There are cultist out there (such as Olde Fellowes and the Esoteric Order of Dagon) who are trying to disrupt Order and they do it by going through dimensions of space and time. There is an organization set up to combat these cultists: The Lovecraft Squad - fighting agents of Cthulhu since everywhen!
The book is a collection of short stories - although if I have one major complaint about the book, this is never really made clear. There are a number of authors listed on the title page, but there is no table of contents page. We start out with "The Story So Far..." and then a prologue ("The Black Ship") and then to "One | The Dreams in the White House" and then to "Two | Weird Shadows Over Innsbruck" etc. There is no author listed for each chapter or each story, so it looks like a novel, but I was really confused when we never came back to the events of a chapter. But when I read this as a series of connected short stories, it made much more sense.
The Lovecraft Squad fight off all kinds of supernatural creatures through some really significant events throughout history. From the assassination of President Kennedy to the Watergate break-in to landing on the moon we follow squad members - who often know how the events are supposed to turn out.
This was delightfully fun. Crossing H.P. Lovecraft with The X Files - that's how I see this - is kind of brilliant. Once I caught on how to read this, I really enjoyed it.
I also have to say that the cover art (as depicted here) by Douglas Klauba is spot-on perfect and really, this was one of the things that first caught my eye about this book. I have a real fondness for 1950's-70's pulp literature, especially YA for boys, and there was a 'look' about the covers that let you know immediately what was inside. Think Christopher Cool:
Or Mike Mars:
Or Tom Corbet:
This cover has that same effect for me.
I do wish I knew who had written which parts, because there are some of the pieces that were stronger than others and it's always nice to build up a library of authors whose work you enjoy.
The authors who contributed here are:
Peter Atkins
Stephen Baxter
Brian Hodge
Sean Hogan
Lisa Morton
Kim Newman
Reggie Oliver
John Llewellyn Probert
Lynda E. Rucker
Angela Slatter
Michael Martin Smith
Looking for a good book? If you enjoy the dark strangeness of H. P. Lovecraft and the energizing mysteries of The X Files, you should really enjoy The Lovecraft Squad: Dreaming, created by Stephen Jones.
I received a digital copy of the book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
How did I not know about this series until book three?!
The premise: There are cultist out there (such as Olde Fellowes and the Esoteric Order of Dagon) who are trying to disrupt Order and they do it by going through dimensions of space and time. There is an organization set up to combat these cultists: The Lovecraft Squad - fighting agents of Cthulhu since everywhen!
The book is a collection of short stories - although if I have one major complaint about the book, this is never really made clear. There are a number of authors listed on the title page, but there is no table of contents page. We start out with "The Story So Far..." and then a prologue ("The Black Ship") and then to "One | The Dreams in the White House" and then to "Two | Weird Shadows Over Innsbruck" etc. There is no author listed for each chapter or each story, so it looks like a novel, but I was really confused when we never came back to the events of a chapter. But when I read this as a series of connected short stories, it made much more sense.
The Lovecraft Squad fight off all kinds of supernatural creatures through some really significant events throughout history. From the assassination of President Kennedy to the Watergate break-in to landing on the moon we follow squad members - who often know how the events are supposed to turn out.
This was delightfully fun. Crossing H.P. Lovecraft with The X Files - that's how I see this - is kind of brilliant. Once I caught on how to read this, I really enjoyed it.
I also have to say that the cover art (as depicted here) by Douglas Klauba is spot-on perfect and really, this was one of the things that first caught my eye about this book. I have a real fondness for 1950's-70's pulp literature, especially YA for boys, and there was a 'look' about the covers that let you know immediately what was inside. Think Christopher Cool:
Or Mike Mars: Or Tom Corbet:This cover has that same effect for me.
I do wish I knew who had written which parts, because there are some of the pieces that were stronger than others and it's always nice to build up a library of authors whose work you enjoy.
The authors who contributed here are:
Peter Atkins
Stephen Baxter
Brian Hodge
Sean Hogan
Lisa Morton
Kim Newman
Reggie Oliver
John Llewellyn Probert
Lynda E. Rucker
Angela Slatter
Michael Martin Smith
Looking for a good book? If you enjoy the dark strangeness of H. P. Lovecraft and the energizing mysteries of The X Files, you should really enjoy The Lovecraft Squad: Dreaming, created by Stephen Jones.
I received a digital copy of the book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
November 24, 2018
See full review at www.criminalelement.com
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews