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Arkham Horror #11.5
Dark Revelations
Nightmares and apocalyptic visions have plagued novelist Gloria Goldberg for her entire life. Although she learned to exorcise her terrors onto the page, she has never revealed the inspiration for her weird tales, not even to fellow author Jamie Galbraith. One day, she is struck by a vision of Jamie begging her to help finish what he started. Moments later, she receives word of his sudden death.
Gloria travels to Arkham at their publisher’s behest to collect Jamie’s current work, but her visions of a devouring sky only intensify. As Gloria reads Jamie’s unfinished book, the story takes hold of her, and the words on the page begin to bleed into reality. Can Gloria find a way to change the end of the story before it heralds the end of the world?
Gloria travels to Arkham at their publisher’s behest to collect Jamie’s current work, but her visions of a devouring sky only intensify. As Gloria reads Jamie’s unfinished book, the story takes hold of her, and the words on the page begin to bleed into reality. Can Gloria find a way to change the end of the story before it heralds the end of the world?
112 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2020
2 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 3, 2020
I picked up this Arkham Horror tie-in even though I don't play Arkham Horror because Amanda Downum wrote it. Fortunately, you don't need to know Arkham Horror or, indeed, anything about Lovecraft or his work to wring plenty of enjoyment from this short, sharp, shivery tale that captures most of the best parts of Lovecraft's oeuvre without the more problematic ones.
January 28, 2021
Gloria was truly heartbroken. Her long time fellow writer, and more importantly, her friend, was gone. James had been her closest contact with the real world and now that he had passed all she had left was the job to go through and put all of his papers in order. Arriving in Arkham though she is unprepared for the events that start to turn her entire world upside down because nothing in Arkham is what it appears. It's when the specter of James himself appears that his real intentions of calling her become apparent.
Fantasy Flight Games created the game of Arkham Horror several years ago. To support and expand that game they have reached out to multiple authors to generate short novellas crafted around new expansion cards that are included in the back of each book release.
In this book, author Amanda Downum drops her readers into the strange occult and supernatural world of all things Arkham. She deftly weaves her characters through some of those more subtle yet damning eddies of the horrors that continue to bang on the doors into our world, trying...always trying...to find their way to a place where they can be gods.
This was my first opportunity to read Amanda's writings. I'll definitely be looking forward to more.
Fantasy Flight Games created the game of Arkham Horror several years ago. To support and expand that game they have reached out to multiple authors to generate short novellas crafted around new expansion cards that are included in the back of each book release.
In this book, author Amanda Downum drops her readers into the strange occult and supernatural world of all things Arkham. She deftly weaves her characters through some of those more subtle yet damning eddies of the horrors that continue to bang on the doors into our world, trying...always trying...to find their way to a place where they can be gods.
This was my first opportunity to read Amanda's writings. I'll definitely be looking forward to more.
August 20, 2025
Another really solid Arkham horror story that has left me somewhat surprised at how good it was.
I would consider myself quite an avid reader of Arkham horror having now read 7 books and I think its safe to say now that following the silver maks at 1 and Drake the great at 2, this book is probably my third favourite from the occult world of Arkham.
The prose was really impressive and a joy to read. The main character was really well written I found the aspects of her being a writer that were explored to be incredibly interesting. The supporting cast of primarily Nora and Ruth worked brilliantly and despite their being no main male characters in its cast this book did not suffer at all.
The plot was really intriguing and the tie ins of having a writer being forced to bring horrific events to life through their stories was a really cool concept. The ending while being safe and simple was still at least satisfactory.
This book isn't one that id call 'special' and therefore it was never close to getting a 5, it is arguably quite safe and simple and just like drake the great perhaps suffers from the Shorter amount of pages it limits itself to. With that being said, it is still a great read full of interesting plot points and well executed ideas.
Very satisfying read.
I would consider myself quite an avid reader of Arkham horror having now read 7 books and I think its safe to say now that following the silver maks at 1 and Drake the great at 2, this book is probably my third favourite from the occult world of Arkham.
The prose was really impressive and a joy to read. The main character was really well written I found the aspects of her being a writer that were explored to be incredibly interesting. The supporting cast of primarily Nora and Ruth worked brilliantly and despite their being no main male characters in its cast this book did not suffer at all.
The plot was really intriguing and the tie ins of having a writer being forced to bring horrific events to life through their stories was a really cool concept. The ending while being safe and simple was still at least satisfactory.
This book isn't one that id call 'special' and therefore it was never close to getting a 5, it is arguably quite safe and simple and just like drake the great perhaps suffers from the Shorter amount of pages it limits itself to. With that being said, it is still a great read full of interesting plot points and well executed ideas.
Very satisfying read.
January 5, 2023
The last novella in the Grim Investigation series and probably one of the best overall. In this story we follow Gloria Goldenberg (the writer) as she tries to finish to write a novel started by another writer who recently passed away. What is more fascinating is that she, since she remembers, has been having visions of strange eerie stuff and this writer also has similar thoughts/visions.
So enters the investigation which is really interesting since we get glimpses of the novel being written and here there isn't really an old one you should thwart the plans but it's another different thing. I like the history behind the novel and the translation and the impact it has on all the previous writers including a french monk.
Overall a very good novella. Lovecraftian and horror stuff creep but not like monsters. It's the ambience...
So enters the investigation which is really interesting since we get glimpses of the novel being written and here there isn't really an old one you should thwart the plans but it's another different thing. I like the history behind the novel and the translation and the impact it has on all the previous writers including a french monk.
Overall a very good novella. Lovecraftian and horror stuff creep but not like monsters. It's the ambience...
December 31, 2022
This is the best Arkham Horror novella so far. Gloria Goldberg was always my favorite character in the board games. Didn’t try her in the card game though.
Maybe next time Gloria we have a game to play!
Maybe next time Gloria we have a game to play!
June 23, 2022
I tend to like stories led by eccentric older women, and this one stars an elderly widowed novelist, a lesbian painter who's into mysticism, and a protective boarding house landlady. I wish it were a movie.
Great story. Novelist Gloria Goldberg has always had terrible visions that she uses to inspire her horror stories. When she travels to Arkham to execute the literary estate of a colleague who died under mysterious circumstances, visions from her stories and his begin to come alive. With the help of a painter and the proprietress of the boarding house she's staying at she must find the root of the evil at work and put an end to it.
Great story. Novelist Gloria Goldberg has always had terrible visions that she uses to inspire her horror stories. When she travels to Arkham to execute the literary estate of a colleague who died under mysterious circumstances, visions from her stories and his begin to come alive. With the help of a painter and the proprietress of the boarding house she's staying at she must find the root of the evil at work and put an end to it.
April 21, 2021
As with most supplement books for games, especially like Arkham, it's not really the greatest literary gem, but among those, it's really fine.
The plot does not hit you with a shovel, word choice is much more sophisticated than usual and overall it has this nice Arkham adventure vibe. I think it's one of the best supplement books from this universe.
The plot does not hit you with a shovel, word choice is much more sophisticated than usual and overall it has this nice Arkham adventure vibe. I think it's one of the best supplement books from this universe.
June 19, 2022
As an addict of 'Magic the Gathering' novels in my youth and a dabbler of Blizzard Entertainment book tie-ins, I've grown up with a bit of a prejudice against books adapted from other products. They never really seem to capture the same feeling you had while playing the video-game/board game/watching the show/etc, and when they're not being out-right terrible and distorting the entire canon as you thought you had it figured out from snippets of flavor text, they tend to hit you over the head with unnecessary references.
The Arkham Files book tie-ins are not really good books, but here I am with four of them in my house now and another ordered and on the way, so they must be doing something right.
If I had to guess, I'd say that 'something' is the very particular genre-blend that Arkham Horror accomplishes of putting 1920's jazz and prohibition, gangsters and feds, guys and dolls aesthetic fun together with lovecraft's big bag of monsters, and stirring in a healthy ladle-full of Robert E Howard's heroics. Lovecraft purists who whinge about a lack of nihilistic, existential horror will certainly not be made happy, and If the big man himself was brought back to life and shown what Fantasy Flight Games was doing to his work I think he'd probably lock himself up in his apartment and spend a good week writing a scathing letter or two about 'decadence' and 'cultural decline'. But Lovecraft also thought that Africans, Jews and just about everyone but white academics were par with inbred fish-people, so who cares what he would have thought? I like my Arkham Files junk food, and if it keeps me busy while I wait for the next LCG cycle to come out, then I'll happily keep on buying these books.
The Arkham Files book tie-ins are not really good books, but here I am with four of them in my house now and another ordered and on the way, so they must be doing something right.
If I had to guess, I'd say that 'something' is the very particular genre-blend that Arkham Horror accomplishes of putting 1920's jazz and prohibition, gangsters and feds, guys and dolls aesthetic fun together with lovecraft's big bag of monsters, and stirring in a healthy ladle-full of Robert E Howard's heroics. Lovecraft purists who whinge about a lack of nihilistic, existential horror will certainly not be made happy, and If the big man himself was brought back to life and shown what Fantasy Flight Games was doing to his work I think he'd probably lock himself up in his apartment and spend a good week writing a scathing letter or two about 'decadence' and 'cultural decline'. But Lovecraft also thought that Africans, Jews and just about everyone but white academics were par with inbred fish-people, so who cares what he would have thought? I like my Arkham Files junk food, and if it keeps me busy while I wait for the next LCG cycle to come out, then I'll happily keep on buying these books.
June 30, 2024
Rating 4
Of the handful of novellas published as tie ins with the Arkham Horror card game, this is probably the closest in style and atmosphere to an original mythos story.
The others were good but very much in the pulp action-adventure-mythos horror style, this one felt slightly more experimental (if that’s the best description) with the disturbing visions and atmosphere that populate a number of the mythos tales. There isn’t a great old one specifically mentioned or hinted at in the story, so far as I can see, more of a general hinting at something trying to ‘get in’ and destroy the world .
The writing style and storytelling took a couple of chapters to get settled in my mind but once it was I thought the novella worked very well indeed.
A definite recommendation for readers of the Arkham horror series or for anyone looking for a different take on a mythos inspired story.
Of the handful of novellas published as tie ins with the Arkham Horror card game, this is probably the closest in style and atmosphere to an original mythos story.
The others were good but very much in the pulp action-adventure-mythos horror style, this one felt slightly more experimental (if that’s the best description) with the disturbing visions and atmosphere that populate a number of the mythos tales. There isn’t a great old one specifically mentioned or hinted at in the story, so far as I can see, more of a general hinting at something trying to ‘get in’ and destroy the world .
The writing style and storytelling took a couple of chapters to get settled in my mind but once it was I thought the novella worked very well indeed.
A definite recommendation for readers of the Arkham horror series or for anyone looking for a different take on a mythos inspired story.
August 31, 2021
This is the last of the Arkham Horror novellas, and probably my least favorite. It is hard to criticize a book set in Arkham as being too implausible, but the plot just didn't grab me. I guess I'm OK with Norman Withers and Carolyn Fern going INTO some crazy dream world, but Gloria Goldberg pulling dead people OUT to the real world was just a step too far.
November 11, 2022
I am an unashamed sucker for the Arkham Files universe and have read several of the novels spun out of this game line. These slim hardcovers are expensive, a frustrating method of distributing alternate cards but in the case of this particular volume - it is also an excellent story. Well paced with some great psychological tension that builds steadily through the story.
November 12, 2022
Was decently enjoyable, though a bit tame compared to the rest. I do feel that the writing was quite good and the story arc was sufficient enough. Overall it was still better than Blood of Baalshandor.
November 12, 2020
Assuming you play Arkham Horror-I enjoyed it.
December 3, 2020
A great short story!
Really enjoyed along with the rest and will be looking for more from the author!
Really enjoyed along with the rest and will be looking for more from the author!
August 14, 2021
A rather boring and uninteresting book set in Fantasy Flight Games's Arkham Horror universe. At least it came with some promo cards for Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
January 25, 2022
More tame than most of the rest of the Arkham novels but enjoyable nonetheless.
January 4, 2021
Another good Arkham Horror novella. I ‘prepped’ for this one the same as I did for the Hour of the Huntress by reading Gloria’s entry in the Investigators of Arkham short story collection. I was planning on reading these in order but when I found out this one has an author protag I just had to bump it up next on my list. 😅
This one has less action than Hour, but it still has the pulp atmosphere you should expect from an Arkham Horror story even if the story itself is more subdued: gambrel roofs, overcast skies, fog and creepy spectres therein, and a new original occult tome!
I’ve seen reviews mention how the usual names like the Necronomicon don’t show up, which is true…. But a new book is here instead! The Liber Omnium Finium makes its debut and I have to say I really liked it. The concept is fresh for the Mythos (that I’m aware of) and the catastrophic results of its existence make it an appropriate addition to the Mythos’ occult library. The Liber’s presence felt sort of similar to something like The King in Yellow which I am alllllll about.
My one minor complaint would be that the side characters didn’t feel as….. Necessary for me in this story? One character’s second appearance was just to get himself mauled and then they never show up again. The only reason for them to be a named character at all was to get abused. And while I can see the eventual purpose of one of the other side characters, it’s hard to think of how the book could have influenced them in the way it does since it doesn’t fit the pattern of other victims of the book and I feel they were included mostly for the (admittedly cool) resolution scene.
The entry Gloria had in the Investigators book didn’t seem to line up with some of the details in this novella, at least if that entry was meant as a prologue like Jenny Barnes' from Hour. A nitpick but a slight problem I had nonetheless.
I also didn’t like the extra color art/setting pieces as much as the ones in “Hour”, but that’s just a personal preference on my part. These extra color pages are in every Arkham Horror novella.
Minor gripes aside, this is definitely a quick fun read for those who are fans of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos or Arkham Horror.
Now, Fantasy Flight, can you please release these latest novellas as ebooks? Pretty please? I’d still get the physical copies for the extra material at the back but for the love of Cthulhu I’d really appreciate being able to read the book itself on my Kindle.
This one has less action than Hour, but it still has the pulp atmosphere you should expect from an Arkham Horror story even if the story itself is more subdued: gambrel roofs, overcast skies, fog and creepy spectres therein, and a new original occult tome!
I’ve seen reviews mention how the usual names like the Necronomicon don’t show up, which is true…. But a new book is here instead! The Liber Omnium Finium makes its debut and I have to say I really liked it. The concept is fresh for the Mythos (that I’m aware of) and the catastrophic results of its existence make it an appropriate addition to the Mythos’ occult library. The Liber’s presence felt sort of similar to something like The King in Yellow which I am alllllll about.
My one minor complaint would be that the side characters didn’t feel as….. Necessary for me in this story? One character’s second appearance was just to get himself mauled and then they never show up again. The only reason for them to be a named character at all was to get abused. And while I can see the eventual purpose of one of the other side characters, it’s hard to think of how the book could have influenced them in the way it does since it doesn’t fit the pattern of other victims of the book and I feel they were included mostly for the (admittedly cool) resolution scene.
The entry Gloria had in the Investigators book didn’t seem to line up with some of the details in this novella, at least if that entry was meant as a prologue like Jenny Barnes' from Hour. A nitpick but a slight problem I had nonetheless.
I also didn’t like the extra color art/setting pieces as much as the ones in “Hour”, but that’s just a personal preference on my part. These extra color pages are in every Arkham Horror novella.
Minor gripes aside, this is definitely a quick fun read for those who are fans of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos or Arkham Horror.
Now, Fantasy Flight, can you please release these latest novellas as ebooks? Pretty please? I’d still get the physical copies for the extra material at the back but for the love of Cthulhu I’d really appreciate being able to read the book itself on my Kindle.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews