Cthulhu Reloaded

The Collected Harrison Peel Stories

by David Conyers

The Stars are Right. Humans… prepare for extinction.
Eldritch gods, cosmic horrors, and weird physics are the enemy, striking from nameless dimensions we can’t perceive, destroying us with strangeness beyond human comprehension. Major Harrison Peel understands these Great Old Ones better than anyone. He wishes he didn’t.

Forced into his latest assignment, Peel must confront an alien Outer God known only as the Impossible Object. Held in a secret facility deep in the Australian desert, no two people perceive it the same way, and it conforms to no known properties of the universe. Then the Impossible Object promises to reveal the secrets of everything, or cause all space and time to blink from existence… forever.

Are humans supposed to choose? And if so, can Peel guess the Impossible Object’s intensions? For the fate of everything could rest entirely in his hands…

For fans of weird science fiction, Delta Green and Charles Stross’s The Laundry, the Harrison Peel series is a collection of interconnected cosmic horror stories that explore the world, and the entire universe, of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, stretched across all space and time.

Genres: Horror, Lovecraftian, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos, Adventure

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 24, 2021

About the author

David Conyers is science fiction author and editor from Adelaide, South Australia. He has a degree in engineering from the University of Melbourne, and today works in marketing communications. David’s fiction has appeared in magazines such as Albedo One, Ticon4, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Book of Dark Wisdom, Lovecraft eZine and Jupiter, as well as more than twenty anthologies. His previous books include the science fiction Cthulhu Mythos blended thriller, The Eye of Infinity published by Perilous Press and the prequel The Spiraling Worm co-authored with John Sunseri. Previous anthologies he has edited include Extreme Planets, Cthulhu Unbound 3, Cthulhu’s Dark Cults and Undead & Unbound. His e-books include The Uncertainty Bridge and The Impossible Object.

Reviews

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s a particularly disturbing look at the Cthulhu mythos and how it might interact with modern society. What makes this book so good is that it is comprised of several short novella that follow the same character, an Australian Intelligence Officer, over the course of a couple of decades of his career. We watch him discover the other worldly, and get pulled deeper and deeper into the insanity. Each story is interesting in and of itself, but as they progress and the conspiracies grow and the monsters and their manipulations get revealed, everything becomes so much more disturbing. Earth is on a terrible path toward destruction and it’s not clear that anything can divert it from its doom. I guess I’ll have to read the next book to find out.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Conyers’ fiction reads like a Predator or Aliens movie script. If the cocktail of military sci-fi (think Heinlein Starship Troopers) with some Lovecraftian cosmic horror stirred in sounds good to you, Conyers’ fiction will not disappoint. Punchy stories, believable characters, all in the midst of what seems supernatural but is clearly horrific typifies these stories. These are page-turners. Highly enjoyed. Recommend.

[Meenaz Lodhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ brilliant!
Review to come soon!

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although there was nothing wrong with the stories I just couldn't enjoy the way it was presented. I do have the other two but time in life is limited, and the books are not. Let's see if looking at the books I feel drawn to them.

These are basically short stories and novelletes on Cthulhu focused themes, from jungles of Vietnam to Antarctica to Australia to the USA. For people who enjoy eldritch horror boardgame, these feels just like that.

[Horrificus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conyers is one of THE BEST out there. Period.

In the last 20 years, I have only had the experience of discovering 5 to 10 authors whose work I aggressively hunted down, devoured and reread again and again.
Laird Barron, Peter Watts, Nick Cutter, Peter Clines... (Yeah, I like me some Cosmic Horror.)
This guy is one of my Favorite 3, out of my Favorites.
Cosmic/HPL Mythos/Military/Kaiju/Offworld/SciFi-Horror/Espionage... etc, etc, etc.
Conyers has done a lot of great stuff, but the pile of his work, crammed into this collection, is among the coolest, craziest, creepiest and most cosmic.
It just needs an Audible product now.

[Toddball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

The Harrison Peel stories are among my favorites. Not just Lovecraftian fiction either. David Conyers is an excellent author. This is a revised edition with a new story. On to book 2!

[Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

There arent very many lovecraftian protagonists you like, let alone grow attached to. David Conyers has managed to create a protagonist, Harrison Peel, that goes against everything you think of as a Mythos protagonist. After each story you are driven on to the next to see what happens to Peel and how he develops as a character. Cthulhu Reloaded is my first time visiting Peel and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series when it releases.

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this fusion of Cosmic Horror and X-files with a touch of espionage. I didn't expect all the stories to link to each other (that was a lovely touch and fun to notice). The bald and beautiful (and let's not forget muscular), Harrison Peel is now one of my favorite good guys.

Here are the stories in this collection. I enjoyed them all but Impossible Object and False Containment stood out for me:

Made of Meat
Driven Underground
Impossible Object
False Containment
Tears in Yellow
The Weaponized Puzzle
Weapon Grade
The Elder Codex

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.666 Stars.
This is a good time.

[Sean Brodrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pulse-pounding world-building in the Cthulhu Mythos

David Conyers builds an amazing world, based in the Cthulhu mythos, and strung together by the pulse-pounding adventurs of his hero, Harrison Peel. Peel is a hard-bitten former Australian army officer turned mercenary. Eventually he gets attached semi-formally to U.S. intelligence. Peel has no magic -- only his wits, guts, and luck that runs thin at times. He is forced to make awful choices and takes terrible losses.

Conyers gives his own take on the mythos; the biggest twist is what he does with shoggoths. In his universe, shoggoths are cunning, malevolent creatures rooted in 11 dimensions and determined to run our world. Indeed, one of these shoggoths becomes Peel's nemesis. The adventures will take you from the Australian outback to a lost city in Antarctica to the farthest reaches of time and space. And boy, will you enjoy the ride. Highly, highly recommended.

I'm doing one review for all three books in the collection, because once you start one, you'll want to devour the others. Prepare to be astounded by adventure!

[Blender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful exploration of modern setting mythos

I really enjoyed this book!
The main character is interesting and likeable, but the supporting character cast was well developed and solid as well. The plot was interesting and, although the jumping around in the arc took some getting used to, I think the way and order the author chose to unfold the story worked very well. I can already tell I'm going to be really disappointed when I have no more new Harrison Peel content to consume!
I have been playing the Delta Green rpg and, although it wasn't the reason I started reading this, I feel like this series is going to help give me some context for some of the groups and things we have and may continue to meet along the way, so that's a plus.
Only drawback is that there are some editing issues that could have been addressed (accidental repeated words etc occasionally) but the story is worth it for sure. Also, some readers may struggle with the time shuffling, but knowing ahead of time will hopefully help and he does make it clear when and where you are in each chapter.

[I.O. Adler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovecraftian Monster Romp

This is a military romp through H.P. Lovecraft’s biggest baddies. While a few of the monstrosities go down easy, author David Conyers makes his current-day setting a frightening place.

A shadow war is being waged by Earth’s governments against the creatures, and the main character winds up in the thick of it, spanning the globe from Vietnam to Antarctica to his home country of Australia, and to other dimensions.

The pages kept turning, each chapter of the adventure is snappy, and it never bogged down. A few typos along the way, but not enough to keep me from enjoying the story.

[Chris Plambeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ive added a new favorite writer, and I'm not done with the Amazon sample yet.

I'm done now. And I'm just as enthralled. Take the Daniel Craig James Bond, but Australian, and still active duty Australian Army Intelligence Corp, and mix with Mythos goings-on in the recent past, and serve in a large, chilled glass of good writing... and et voila!

[Matthew Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not anything like HPL's work. Only a few scant words that tie to HPL's stories and honestly this book just wasn't well written. Too many changes in timeline, poor story mechanics, the hero of the story is not likable or developed at all beyond improbable problem solving in odd situations. I will not be continuing the series

[Rubin Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new kind of Cthulu book

Do you like spies stories?
Do you like alien horror?
Do you like P. I. Noir genre?
Then this book is for you. Well written and fast paced, with enough Lovecraftian tentacled horror to see you dreaming of elder gods.

[David Drake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had potential

Peel is an engaging character. This is just a bad book. Waste of $2. Won't be continuing the series. Scam

[Johann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harrison Peel and the Mythos

Major Harrison Peel of the military services of Australia has seen too much hidden behind the veil.
These are stories of how he became a part of a secretive organization that sees an alien threat and wishes to stay ahead of it.

Just like the heroes of Lovecraft, who were more professor types, Major Peel is more of a hands on kind of guy.

I enjoyed this entire collection and am on to the next one.

If you love espionage, LovecraftIan Mythos and a flawed character that has entered madness then these stories are for you.

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent alternative view of the whole Cthulhu mythos. I'm not fond of Lovecraft's writing, just too intense for me, but I enjoyed this.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first real encounter with the H.P. Lovecraft mythos and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were fairly typical action hero types but they weren't dumb and had mostly plausible interactions with the horrors within. Am looking forward to reading the second collection.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fun read- but you have to turn your brain off. Human interactions, the thinking process of government officials, the military, nothing seems to be of this earth. Nothing makes logical sense. In one scene, the US will not bomb a Shaggoth that destroys Sydney for one of the dumbest, least logical reason imaginable. The story, like many cosmic horror stories, holds some interest and the story moves forward rapidly- unfortunately you have to leave your brain behind. Logic, the way physics works, common sense, accurate understanding of military weapons, their capabilities and how they are used, understanding of bureaucracy's - all these are nonexistent. Probably suitable for a Middle grade (7-8th grade) school student. I wish Mr. Conyers had consulted some real military and government officials, as well as some actual human beings to see how humans function and this story could have been a real humdinger.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really sad this didn't work for me. Maybe I'll try it again someday b/c the IDEA sounds so much fun (kind of Delta Green CoC fiction), but it just felt way too clunky and the characters too cardboard for the couple of stories I made it through.

[Manfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories centuring on Major Harrison Peel who investigates Cthulhu appearances. Entertaining for genre fans.

[Timothy Shanahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like it.

There were too many spelling and grammatical errors for me to enjoy this. For hardcore Lovecraft or military sci-fi fans only.

[Tac Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me forever to read this because it was on the Kindle app and I don't read much digitally, but the digital format and this being basically a collection of short stories made it an easy to pickup whenever I was stuck somewhere waiting and didn't want to just doom scroll.

This is a collection of short stories but it's like how Sherlock Holmes is a collection of short stories. These are all stories following primarily one character and it's mostly linear, so it still feels like reading a book and not an anthology.

The intro by Peter Clines makes the point that he doesn't like HP Lovecraft (ironic since he's written a lot of lovecraftian horror himself) because the stories don't contain a lot of action, they're more mood and inevitability, but the Peel stories are mostly action. That's a good reason to read this book. If you like lovecraft horror, but want it in a military setting, these are the books for you.

[Esteban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historias cortas de un agente de los servicios secretos Australianos, que pasa a ser un especialista en los asuntos aliens (Cthulhoideos) en la era moderna, la habilidad especial del protagonista sin duda es que pasa todas las tiradas de cordura, pq aunque las cosas que le pasan son mas allá de inquietantes, y le perturban, no lo hacen tanto como para volverlo loco, lo cual le convierte en un agente importante dentro de la agencia.

Los primeros cuentos están mejor, en los últimos el autor nos lleva de paseo entre tiempos diferentes en cada capitulo y a veces es un poco lioso, quizás lo que al principio parece sorprendete que es como sobrevive el protagonista a todo lo que pasa, al final se convierte un poco en "venga ya!", quizás diferentes personajes y que cada X historias fuesen muriendo seria mas "creible"

Este libro dá +8% Mythos, no tiene conjuros, Tirada de COR 1/1d8

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

CTHULHU RELOADED is a great novel that is exactly my sort of speed. I'm a huge fan of Cthulhu Mythos fiction that incorporates heroic protagonists barely managing to survive against the weird and tentacle-y. After all, I'm the author of Cthulhu Armageddon. Harrison Peel is a major in the Aussie military and constantly encountering the spooky and strange. While I don't think even David Conyers can make the Tcho-Tcho not horribly racist, the rest of the stories are fantastic with fights against shoggoths, Yithian technology, Elder Thing booby-traps, and a sexy King in Yellow exploitation film that actually has a romantic ending. I'm picking up the sequel immediately.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some scares, lots of thrills

Harrison Peel stories are a bit of an oddity of you're more used to the normal Cthulhu Mythos type of story. Sure, there are mad people and numerous deaths. However, Lovecraftian heroes tend to go and and/or die. Peel on the the other hand is a stalwart defender that keeps his wits and the wits of other allies in check. Due to his background as a soldier, there are numerous thrills, but also enough scares and weirdness to remind you that these are in fact Mythos stories.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Peel

There is so much fiction out there that borrows from Lovecraft's mythos. Most of it is self-indulgently written. These Peel stories are not. They're well-crafted (although the edition I read is just riddled with typos and other editing errors), and the protagonists are mostly sympathetic. You can root for Peel to win, and because he is likable, you can want his associates to win. That's important in a story.

[Shawna Mathieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title says it all

What if all of Lovecraft's works were true? What if powerful people knew about them in this day and age? What would they do with this knowledge? Well, stupid, short sighted things that ignore the long game. Thank God we've got Major Harrison Peel to call people out on their idiocy - and pay the price for it in numerous ways. But he always gets back up again because people don't ever learn there are some things far older than us that can't be controlled.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, fun read

This is a fun take on the world of Lovecraft, viewing the nightmarish creatures as aliens and multidimensional creatures (specifically, the 11th dimension, where string theory morphs into membrane theory). There’s some interesting science fun, but it’s not hard SF, it’s just enough to keep it a wild ride.