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Mask of the Other
In 1991, a squad of US soldiers in Iraq stumbled across the wreckage of Saddam Hussein’s secret occult weapons program. Mask of the Other tells their story.
In 1974, something two armies couldn’t kill was buried under the wreckage of Varosha, during the invasion of Cyprus. Over the next three decades, teams of Turkish soldiers repeatedly attempted to poison it, burn it, or blow it to bits. They only succeeded in keeping it pent up, waiting.
In 2001, a skirmish in rural Afghanistan somehow escalated to the point that an entire village was wiped out, along with most of the personnel of a private military company. The only survivors were four Americans suspected of looting Iraqi antiquities a decade earlier.
In 2004, those same Americans were hired to provide security for a mining firm looking to restart operations on the abandoned island of Hashima. Both they, and the man who hired them, knew that the island’s abandonment in 1974 had left it as the home to far worse things than smugglers and squatters.
Mask of the Other takes modern ghost towns, low-intensity combat zones, international espionage and corporate intrigue, weaving them together with the ineffable horrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. It’s a war story, a survival tale, and an account of existential survival against incredible threats.
In 1974, something two armies couldn’t kill was buried under the wreckage of Varosha, during the invasion of Cyprus. Over the next three decades, teams of Turkish soldiers repeatedly attempted to poison it, burn it, or blow it to bits. They only succeeded in keeping it pent up, waiting.
In 2001, a skirmish in rural Afghanistan somehow escalated to the point that an entire village was wiped out, along with most of the personnel of a private military company. The only survivors were four Americans suspected of looting Iraqi antiquities a decade earlier.
In 2004, those same Americans were hired to provide security for a mining firm looking to restart operations on the abandoned island of Hashima. Both they, and the man who hired them, knew that the island’s abandonment in 1974 had left it as the home to far worse things than smugglers and squatters.
Mask of the Other takes modern ghost towns, low-intensity combat zones, international espionage and corporate intrigue, weaving them together with the ineffable horrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. It’s a war story, a survival tale, and an account of existential survival against incredible threats.
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First published December 17, 2011
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About the author
Greg Stolze
146 books58 followersGreg Stolze (born 1970) is an American novelist and writer, whose work has mainly focused on properties derived from role-playing games.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 24, 2015
Full disclosure: I provided Japanese language consultation on this book and received a free copy in recompense.
For most of the time I was reading Mask of the Other, I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. It's somewhat disjointed, jumping forward and backward multiple times through a period of 15 years. It follows multiple plots, which aren't really related except through the characters that exist in them. It's not a gripping psychological drama about the interior lives of the characters, but it's also not a suspenseful thriller that made me ache to turn the pages--well, except during some of the action sequences. The stereotypical Lovecraftian story has a protagonist that's a fainting aesthete or antiquarian, but Mask of the Other is about a group of American military (and later ex-military), so their mindset is about as far as possible from Lovecraft's protagonists. Except maybe Gustaf Johansen from The Call of Cthulhu, and even he is permanently mentally scarred from what he witnesses. That doesn't happen as much here, at least not overtly, but I suspect that's because we don't see as much of the characters' internal life as in a Lovecraft story. The book is much more focused on a recounting of the things that happen.
In one way, the book is actually really buying into the philosophy behind Lovecraft's mythos. The universe has no greater meaning. Things happen due to random chance and operation of natural processes. People die horribly and their deaths have no meaning. The universe is as it is.
That's not to say that Mask of the Other is a series of random events that are totally disconnected, though. The main group--Rick, Dirty John, Hamid, Doug, Bandit--is consistent throughout the book, and all the viewpoint chapters from characters who aren't part of this group either directly relate to things the group are doing or are a setup for events that occur later in the story. The rock band that disappears on the island of Hashima sets the stage for a return to island later in the narrative, and the several chapters set on Cyprus play up the menace appropriately long before the protagonists set foot on the island. There isn't really a consistent narrative stream, though, due to the jumps through time and the occasional flipping to other perspectives, though it does gradually narrow down as the novel builds toward its climax.
I think it led to a problem that I didn't really care that much about what happened to anyone, though. That's why I didn't shelve this as a horror book, even though it is one. Horror relies on worrying about what might happen to people you care about, even if it's only in the somewhat superficial sense as a reader relating to a favorite character, and I never formed a connection with anyone in the story. And it's not like there was no attempt to draw me in. When[REDACTED] died due to a mishap with the titular Mask of the Other, I didn't particularly care and didn't miss them, even though there was a viewpoint chapter where we learned about their family and some parts of their childhood. It wasn't enough to really form a bond, for me.
Hmm. On second thought, I think I'm thinking about it the wrong way. As I mentioned, the action scenes were real page-turners for me, even if I didn't find much suspense in the rest of the story. While I didn't really care about the individual characters or what happened to them, I was quite invested in the team as a whole. The action sequences were page turners because various terrible things happened in the chapters where the ex-military guys weren't the viewpoint characters, including wiping out everyone within. So, I think I was a bit uncharitable above, but nonetheless, the individual characters didn't really do much for me.
There was a part at the end, though, that really stuck out so much for me that it raised my opinion of the entire book. There's one scene where, due to eldritch circumstances, one character ends up in mental contact with an ancient monstrosity that's beyond mortal comprehension:
Too often, a Lovecraftian universe is treated as an actively hostile one instead of just an uncaring one, like there's something in the fabric of existence that has it out for humanity. In that mindset, humanity is uniquely screwed up, unable to comprehend the real truth of the universe, unlike all those other species out there who do just fine. People seem to forget that Cthulhu got hit by a boat, and even though the stars were right and it did awaken, the end result was a few artists and "sensitives" going mad and...that's it, really. Or that the Old Ones had a civilization that lasted billions of years and then were overthrown and destroyed by their own creations. Or that Nyarlathotep is fantastically powerful, intelligent, and capable, and yet its entire life is bound up in fulfilling every whim of a being that is incapable of understanding it exists. A Lovecraftian universe does not play favorites with anyone except through the momentary actions of chance, and I especially like stories that remember that.
Finally, there are some great reimaginings of standard Lovecraftian horrors within, though I don't want to say more to avoid spoilers.
While it started slow, Mask of the Other went out with a bang, and a different bang than I expected. For anyone who's curious about Lovecraft but is put off by shrieking college professors or ruminations about the horrific nature of reality, I'd especially recommend it. For everyone else, it's a good non-standard Lovecraftian tale that doesn't go over ground that's been trod into a muddy morass.
For most of the time I was reading Mask of the Other, I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. It's somewhat disjointed, jumping forward and backward multiple times through a period of 15 years. It follows multiple plots, which aren't really related except through the characters that exist in them. It's not a gripping psychological drama about the interior lives of the characters, but it's also not a suspenseful thriller that made me ache to turn the pages--well, except during some of the action sequences. The stereotypical Lovecraftian story has a protagonist that's a fainting aesthete or antiquarian, but Mask of the Other is about a group of American military (and later ex-military), so their mindset is about as far as possible from Lovecraft's protagonists. Except maybe Gustaf Johansen from The Call of Cthulhu, and even he is permanently mentally scarred from what he witnesses. That doesn't happen as much here, at least not overtly, but I suspect that's because we don't see as much of the characters' internal life as in a Lovecraft story. The book is much more focused on a recounting of the things that happen.
In one way, the book is actually really buying into the philosophy behind Lovecraft's mythos. The universe has no greater meaning. Things happen due to random chance and operation of natural processes. People die horribly and their deaths have no meaning. The universe is as it is.
That's not to say that Mask of the Other is a series of random events that are totally disconnected, though. The main group--Rick, Dirty John, Hamid, Doug, Bandit--is consistent throughout the book, and all the viewpoint chapters from characters who aren't part of this group either directly relate to things the group are doing or are a setup for events that occur later in the story. The rock band that disappears on the island of Hashima sets the stage for a return to island later in the narrative, and the several chapters set on Cyprus play up the menace appropriately long before the protagonists set foot on the island. There isn't really a consistent narrative stream, though, due to the jumps through time and the occasional flipping to other perspectives, though it does gradually narrow down as the novel builds toward its climax.
I think it led to a problem that I didn't really care that much about what happened to anyone, though. That's why I didn't shelve this as a horror book, even though it is one. Horror relies on worrying about what might happen to people you care about, even if it's only in the somewhat superficial sense as a reader relating to a favorite character, and I never formed a connection with anyone in the story. And it's not like there was no attempt to draw me in. When
Hmm. On second thought, I think I'm thinking about it the wrong way. As I mentioned, the action scenes were real page-turners for me, even if I didn't find much suspense in the rest of the story. While I didn't really care about the individual characters or what happened to them, I was quite invested in the team as a whole. The action sequences were page turners because various terrible things happened in the chapters where the ex-military guys weren't the viewpoint characters, including wiping out everyone within. So, I think I was a bit uncharitable above, but nonetheless, the individual characters didn't really do much for me.
There was a part at the end, though, that really stuck out so much for me that it raised my opinion of the entire book. There's one scene where, due to eldritch circumstances, one character ends up in mental contact with an ancient monstrosity that's beyond mortal comprehension:
Too often, a Lovecraftian universe is treated as an actively hostile one instead of just an uncaring one, like there's something in the fabric of existence that has it out for humanity. In that mindset, humanity is uniquely screwed up, unable to comprehend the real truth of the universe, unlike all those other species out there who do just fine. People seem to forget that Cthulhu got hit by a boat, and even though the stars were right and it did awaken, the end result was a few artists and "sensitives" going mad and...that's it, really. Or that the Old Ones had a civilization that lasted billions of years and then were overthrown and destroyed by their own creations. Or that Nyarlathotep is fantastically powerful, intelligent, and capable, and yet its entire life is bound up in fulfilling every whim of a being that is incapable of understanding it exists. A Lovecraftian universe does not play favorites with anyone except through the momentary actions of chance, and I especially like stories that remember that.
Finally, there are some great reimaginings of standard Lovecraftian horrors within, though I don't want to say more to avoid spoilers.
While it started slow, Mask of the Other went out with a bang, and a different bang than I expected. For anyone who's curious about Lovecraft but is put off by shrieking college professors or ruminations about the horrific nature of reality, I'd especially recommend it. For everyone else, it's a good non-standard Lovecraftian tale that doesn't go over ground that's been trod into a muddy morass.
December 21, 2016
Highly recommended for fans of the Cthulhu mythos or fans of Greg Stolze's previous work. The narrative includes three seemingly separate strands that come together in a satisfying way. Lovecraft wrote techno-thrillers for his time with cutting edge technology - this book is part monster story, part military thriller with a strong influence on the journeys of the different characters.
Those characters felt believable and interesting, even the ones that appeared only briefly. I always wanted to know more about what would happen to them, even as I dreaded the likely results. The monsters were another highlight; they drew on the established Lovecraftian lore, but I felt each one was given some new, chilling depth. There are ideas and imagery here that any Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green gamemaster could easily steal and use in their games.
I can't go into details without spoiling the plot, but I also felt the book was well-researched, which definitely added to the horror. I don't know much about the military or firearns, but those sections seemed believable and real. I do know a fair bit about biology and I really enjoyed how the book combined some modern concepts in biology (briefly) with now-classic monsters.
There's also a sample chapter on the author's website if you are undecided.
Those characters felt believable and interesting, even the ones that appeared only briefly. I always wanted to know more about what would happen to them, even as I dreaded the likely results. The monsters were another highlight; they drew on the established Lovecraftian lore, but I felt each one was given some new, chilling depth. There are ideas and imagery here that any Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green gamemaster could easily steal and use in their games.
I can't go into details without spoiling the plot, but I also felt the book was well-researched, which definitely added to the horror. I don't know much about the military or firearns, but those sections seemed believable and real. I do know a fair bit about biology and I really enjoyed how the book combined some modern concepts in biology (briefly) with now-classic monsters.
There's also a sample chapter on the author's website if you are undecided.
October 25, 2020
All modern Lovecraft Mythos writing is basically fan fiction. However, if we can get past any pretentiousness, we can admit that much fan fiction is quite good.
And this is good.
In addition to solid writing, it does two things very well. First, it transplants the world of Lovecraft from early 20th century to early 21st century in a believable way. Science has advanced and so do the explanations that accompany the horror of the Mythos.
Second, and this is something much Lovecraft fan fiction gets wrong, is the antagonistic entities in the story aren't hostile to humans in any way that we could understand. They're simply so alien as to be incomprehensibly horrifying. "Human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large," and neither do they in this story. Mr. Stolze not only captures that, but makes it the crux of his tale.
And this is good.
In addition to solid writing, it does two things very well. First, it transplants the world of Lovecraft from early 20th century to early 21st century in a believable way. Science has advanced and so do the explanations that accompany the horror of the Mythos.
Second, and this is something much Lovecraft fan fiction gets wrong, is the antagonistic entities in the story aren't hostile to humans in any way that we could understand. They're simply so alien as to be incomprehensibly horrifying. "Human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large," and neither do they in this story. Mr. Stolze not only captures that, but makes it the crux of his tale.
March 5, 2018
Greg Stolze es un veterano diseñador de juegos de rol (y uno de mis favoritos), y un eficaz escritor de ficción, a menudo (la que le conozco yo) ambientada en los mundos de dichos juegos. En su faceta de escritor siempre se mostró como un artesano eficaz, pariendo libros como A Hunger like fire que, sin ser obras magistrales, eran amenos, interesantes y siempre con algunas ideas muy originales.
A Hunger Like Fire
En esta ocasión, se supera, y ha traído lo que creo que es, sin exagerar, un clásico que añadir al canon de los Mitos de Cthulhu, una historia de cómo los Mitos pervierten, retuercen y destrozan todo lo humano que tocan, y añadiendo además una reinterpretación maravillosa de dos criaturas clásicas de los Mitos, y cómo funcionan. Los personajes protagonistas, sus diálogos, sus decisiones, son una maravilla de leer.
La única pega es que, en la primera mitad del libro, los continuos saltos adelante y atrás en el tiempo hacen un poco difícil en ocasiones seguir bien el hilo, y a veces he tenido que retroceder un poco para releer el inicio del capítulo y orientarme. Pero bueno, nada grave.
Hacía mucho que pillé este libro de oferta, y no sé por qué no le había hincado el diente. Lo releeré muchas veces. Lo recomiendo muchísimo.
A Hunger Like Fire
En esta ocasión, se supera, y ha traído lo que creo que es, sin exagerar, un clásico que añadir al canon de los Mitos de Cthulhu, una historia de cómo los Mitos pervierten, retuercen y destrozan todo lo humano que tocan, y añadiendo además una reinterpretación maravillosa de dos criaturas clásicas de los Mitos, y cómo funcionan. Los personajes protagonistas, sus diálogos, sus decisiones, son una maravilla de leer.
La única pega es que, en la primera mitad del libro, los continuos saltos adelante y atrás en el tiempo hacen un poco difícil en ocasiones seguir bien el hilo, y a veces he tenido que retroceder un poco para releer el inicio del capítulo y orientarme. Pero bueno, nada grave.
Hacía mucho que pillé este libro de oferta, y no sé por qué no le había hincado el diente. Lo releeré muchas veces. Lo recomiendo muchísimo.
April 11, 2023
Despite feeling difficult to get into, and dominated by macho US military characters, and jumping back and forth in time a bit too readily, this was a really good read. Being familiar with the author through his work on table top rpgs, I wasn't expecting the writing to be quite this good even though I did expect the world-building to be above average.
Five stars because I can't give 4.5, which I would have liked to because of the annoyance of having to take notes to remember years and names.
Five stars because I can't give 4.5, which I would have liked to because of the annoyance of having to take notes to remember years and names.
April 8, 2012
To get this out of the way quickly, I really enjoyed this book. It's cleanly and energetically written, with a great premise and well-realised characters.
Here's the blurb:
A sample chapter is available here.
Honestly, that blurb covers a great deal of what I was going to discuss as part of explaining why you should read the book.
Mask of the Other covers a number of different characters across several different timeframes, and they are all clearly rendered, interesting, and frequently flawed people. The dialogue was particularly impressive for me, doing a great deal to characterise everyone and how they relate without feeling forced. It's also frequently as funny as it is horrible and profane, and we've all known people like that.
Or at least, I have.
This book is an energetic modern exploration of the Lovecraft mythos, and there are points of easter-egg crossover with A Wind At The Window from the Greg Stolze free fiction library, and with the Delta Green RPG game-line from Arc Dream publishing.
I enjoyed it, and I'd be interested in a sequel.
As another point of interest, this book has the most imaginative, alien and disturbing rendition of that I've seen anywhere, and that includes Lovecraft's work.
Here's the blurb:
In 1974, something came out of the sea during the invasion of Cyprus, killing Greeks and Turks indiscriminately until it was bombed into dormancy and entombed.
In 1988 a rock band disappeared while filming on an abandoned island-town off the coast of Japan.
In 1991, a squad of US infantry was attacked in Iraq by a bulletproof, invisible entity.
"Mask of the Other" connects these disparate events, as a group of soldiers plunder the remnants of Saddam's occult weapons program and attempts to engage with creatures of an inhuman mythos... as equals.
It does not go well for them.
A sample chapter is available here.
Honestly, that blurb covers a great deal of what I was going to discuss as part of explaining why you should read the book.
Mask of the Other covers a number of different characters across several different timeframes, and they are all clearly rendered, interesting, and frequently flawed people. The dialogue was particularly impressive for me, doing a great deal to characterise everyone and how they relate without feeling forced. It's also frequently as funny as it is horrible and profane, and we've all known people like that.
Or at least, I have.
This book is an energetic modern exploration of the Lovecraft mythos, and there are points of easter-egg crossover with A Wind At The Window from the Greg Stolze free fiction library, and with the Delta Green RPG game-line from Arc Dream publishing.
I enjoyed it, and I'd be interested in a sequel.
As another point of interest, this book has the most imaginative, alien and disturbing rendition of that I've seen anywhere, and that includes Lovecraft's work.
December 3, 2014
Mask of The Other is a book about US soldiers fighting monsters and bringing trauma home from the war with them based on an old-school pen and paper RPG, but... it's much more than just that.
Based on that blurb you'd assume it'll be a stars and bars bum-bag wearing cretin of a novel. All jingo and black and white and desperate homo-eroticism, but somehow it consistently subverts your expectations. All of our soldiers are flawed, sad men, and the book following them for ~15 years really gives you the impression that they only grow moreso with age. You really come to care for these guys, you root for them in conflict because you don't want them to die, rather than because oo-rah semper fi kill the monsters. It's a subtle difference, but a really important one.
The dialogue is punchy and funny, the paranormal elements are dealt with in a very no-nonsense, entertaining way while retaining a lot of mystery and menace and the ending is one of the most wonderfully ambiguous and downbeat things I have read in a long time.
This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and that has really stuck with me. A frankly miraculous thing for military-horror-fiction. Or HORMILF, if you prefer.
Based on that blurb you'd assume it'll be a stars and bars bum-bag wearing cretin of a novel. All jingo and black and white and desperate homo-eroticism, but somehow it consistently subverts your expectations. All of our soldiers are flawed, sad men, and the book following them for ~15 years really gives you the impression that they only grow moreso with age. You really come to care for these guys, you root for them in conflict because you don't want them to die, rather than because oo-rah semper fi kill the monsters. It's a subtle difference, but a really important one.
The dialogue is punchy and funny, the paranormal elements are dealt with in a very no-nonsense, entertaining way while retaining a lot of mystery and menace and the ending is one of the most wonderfully ambiguous and downbeat things I have read in a long time.
This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and that has really stuck with me. A frankly miraculous thing for military-horror-fiction. Or HORMILF, if you prefer.
October 10, 2014
An interesting mixture between a Three-kings inspired story of a squad of marines who stumble upon an ancient relic and cosmic horror fiction. Definitely not a substantial read, but interesting enough, particularly given the crap-fiction kick I am on :^]. A number of unresolved plot points, but that is fairly par for the course for cosmic horror.
November 18, 2023
I became aware of Greg's writings through his work for Arc Dream Publishing on the Delta Green roleplaying game. I assumed this work would involve cosmic horror elements and was correct, so fans of Lovecraft might find this novel worth their time.
This was my first time reading any of Greg Stolze's fiction and I very much enjoyed this novel. I found it a bit slow to get into the narrative at first but quickly found myself enjoying the ride.
This novel doesn't have anything to do with the Delta Green RPG but the elements involved are relatable enough that fans of one will probably enjoy the other.
As said earlier I'd recommend this to fans of cosmic horror or Delta Green. I'm looking forward to checking out some of Greg's other writings.
This was my first time reading any of Greg Stolze's fiction and I very much enjoyed this novel. I found it a bit slow to get into the narrative at first but quickly found myself enjoying the ride.
This novel doesn't have anything to do with the Delta Green RPG but the elements involved are relatable enough that fans of one will probably enjoy the other.
As said earlier I'd recommend this to fans of cosmic horror or Delta Green. I'm looking forward to checking out some of Greg's other writings.
December 13, 2020
Great book. The mythos aspect is tantalizingly slow to develop through a series of entertaining episodes, mostly military missions, and across four decades. The "plot" is not a direct shot from incitement to conclusion, which is good. You don't know what's coming. And the strong characters keep you invested in the story.
Compared to Stolze's other novels, there's a lot of military fetishism, i.e. acronyms and hardware names.
Compared to Stolze's other novels, there's a lot of military fetishism, i.e. acronyms and hardware names.
March 2, 2021
Realistic while set in a fantastic version of the modern world, Stolze brings diverse threads together to tell a weird and horrifying story.
January 22, 2024
Really good. Very delta green fiction-esque. Would recommend, especially for those of you hungry for more lore.
January 2, 2016
The Mask of Other is probably one of the best books I've read in a long time. Following a diverse cast of characters including a Japanese doctor, a crew of Gulf War I vets, and an Army IAD investigator as they try to make sense of a variety of bizarre circumstances. It reminds me a lot of David Conyers Harrison Peel saga both for its military aspects (though slightly more realistic) and it's Cthulu connections.
First, the writing is great. The author did sine great research and some good go-to proofreaders apparently. The dialogue, description, and characterization is all believable, varied, and clever. The characters are likable without being perfect, the action is clear, and the storyline is both understandable and entertaining. The patois that he uses is both enriching for the characters and well done. It's something that I definitely wish more authors did because it made the story and the dialogue feel a heck of a lot more fun.
There's little I didn't like about this book. I would guess that if pushed, there are a few technical discrepancies, but not many.
Overall, highly recommended.
First, the writing is great. The author did sine great research and some good go-to proofreaders apparently. The dialogue, description, and characterization is all believable, varied, and clever. The characters are likable without being perfect, the action is clear, and the storyline is both understandable and entertaining. The patois that he uses is both enriching for the characters and well done. It's something that I definitely wish more authors did because it made the story and the dialogue feel a heck of a lot more fun.
There's little I didn't like about this book. I would guess that if pushed, there are a few technical discrepancies, but not many.
Overall, highly recommended.
February 12, 2012
Read right on the heels of a couple of Delta Green novels from Dennis Detwiller. This one drops the Delta Green setting in exchange for a more straightforward Cthulhu Mythos in modern times angle, and involves some Desert Storm vets who acquire a magical weapon and fall into mercenary work after their suspected-of-looting discharges. An updated riff on Deep Ones and shoggoths play the main mythos roles.
As actiony popcorn reading went, it was better-focused and structured in general than the DG books I read before it, so I ended up reading them in the right order.
As actiony popcorn reading went, it was better-focused and structured in general than the DG books I read before it, so I ended up reading them in the right order.
February 12, 2015
I love Greg Stolze's body of work, I adore Lovecraft's Mythos, They are bound together elegantly and effectively in this book. Bringing the horrors out of time to the current era... they're all scary for new reasons that still hold true to the old. The characters are believable, the tension is slow-burning and palpable throughout- I once heard the horror described as 'the feeling that something is coming,' and from the outset I had feared for the protagonists, and I was not disappointed. A fantastic read- hope to see more like it soon.
April 11, 2016
Mask of The Other is a gut-wrenching Lovecraftian story that feels fresh and new enough to be enjoyable.
To be very honest I did struggle with the fact that some of the protagonists are some battle-hardened US soldiers (they weren't easy to relate to), but Stolze's ability with voices and almost journalistic eye to detail made up for it on the long run.
Serious fun if you're into modern-day, globalised Lovecraftiana.
To be very honest I did struggle with the fact that some of the protagonists are some battle-hardened US soldiers (they weren't easy to relate to), but Stolze's ability with voices and almost journalistic eye to detail made up for it on the long run.
Serious fun if you're into modern-day, globalised Lovecraftiana.
May 16, 2016
I enjoyed it. The first few sections and the end read like the novelization of a role-playing game (which they are) but the middle transcends the source material. I think certain chapters would stand alone as excellent short horror stories, especially the one about the music video. Some very creepy moments.
January 5, 2012
Awesome, awesome book. I'm going to be having nightmares for ages. That and cackling at the gaming ideas it keeps on giving me.
If you are a fan of Cthulhu Mythos fiction, then this book is highly recommended.
If you are a fan of Cthulhu Mythos fiction, then this book is highly recommended.
August 1, 2014
A good book interleaving several strands of 'things man was not meant to know' against an interesting backdrop of the first Gulf War and a private military organisation. Well worth it if you like a modern take on the Cthulhu Mythos.
December 20, 2020
There is a difference between the Persian Gulf War and OEF/OIF. The author either confuses the timelines or just doesn't know the difference. If the characters served in the Persian Gulf war in the early 1990's and they were in their early 20's they would be in their middle 50's today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2012
Loved it. Very delta green like atmosphere. Really enjoyed the time shifting.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews