Cthulhu 2000: Stories

The Diogenes Club #(The Big Fish)

by Jim Turner (Editor), Gahan Wilson (Contributor), Bruce Sterling (Contributor)

A host of horror and fantasy’s top authors captures the spirit of supreme supernatural storyteller H. P. Lovecraft with eighteen chilling contemporary tales that would have made the master proud.
 
“The Barrens” by F. Paul Wilson: In a tangled wilderness, unearthly lights lead the way to a world no human was meant to see.
 
“His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood” by Poppy Z. Brite: Two dabblers in black magic encounter a maestro of evil enchantment.
 
“On the Slab” by Harlan Ellison: The corpse of a one-eyed giant brings untold fortune—and unspeakable fear—to whoever possesses it.
 
“Pickman’s Modem” by Lawrence Watt-Evans: Horror is a keystroke away when an ancient evil lurks in modern technology.
 
PLUS FOURTEEN MORE BLOOD-CURDLING STORIES
 
“Shaft Number 247” by Basil Copper
“The Adder” by Fred Chappell
“Fat Face” by Michael Shea
“The Big Fish” by Kim Newman
“I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket . . . But by God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life!” by Joanna Russ
“H.P.L.” by Gahan Wilson
“The Unthinkable” by Bruce Sterling
“Black Man with a Horn” by T. E. D. Klein
“Love’s Eldritch Ichor” by Esther M. Friesner
“The Last Feast of Harlequin” by Thomas Ligotti
“The Shadow on the Doorstep” by James P. Blaylock
“Lord of the Land” by Gene Wolfe
“The Faces at Pine Dunes” by Ramsey Campbell
“24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai” by Roger Zelazny

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Lovecraftian, Anthologies, Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos, Fantasy

398 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked a handful of stories from this, all were excellent. That may be an unlikely coincidence, or proof that this is a very solid collection. To be sure, some are more Lovecraftian than others, but all chilling reads that I think represent some of the finest work from some of the top authors in the genre.

His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite (5.0) - Supremely chilling tale of two friends exploring their deepest, darkest desires as part of their increasingly futile efforts to feel alive. More vampire tale than Lovecraft, this revolts and sickens more than really frightens or chills, and is guaranteed to make your skin crawl.

Fat Face by Michael Shea (5.0) - Shea's eerily gripping prose resonates as a seemingly innocent prostitute is tempted by otherworldly horrors she can't fathom.

Love's Eldritch Ichor by Esther M. Friesner (5.0) - A rip roaringly hilarious Lovecraftian tale of a romance novel author with some Eldritch friends! A bit ludicrous, a bit snarky, a bit over the top and a bit chilling.

The Last Feast of Harlequin by Thomas Ligotti (4.0) - There's something mesmerizing about Ligotti's grimly evocative prose, despite the run on sentences and unending paragraphs. The narrative approach very much taking a page from Lovecraft, though with a less detached feel - an academic observer drawn into a series of strange phenomena in a mysterious, isolated rural town. The use of clowns as an initial focus feels more hokey and cliche than chilling. As the story progresses this clown motif, a red herring in retrospect, takes a backseat to more eldritch and cosmic horrors.

On the Slab by Harlan Ellison (3.0) - A buried giant is uncovered, with chilling implications for humanity's future. This one failed to really connect, probably due to it's extreme brevity.

24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelazny (5.0) - Outstanding Hugo award winning novella (1986) from SFF master Roger Zelazny. What it's doing in this collection, I don't know. This is a beautifully written, yet strange piece, a stark departure from his usual writing. There are quite a few literary and Japanese cultural references, many of which I did not recognize, yet I don't feel that greatly detracted from my experience. The story is essentially an introspective pilgrimage of a dying woman, a heroine seeking final peace as well as to right a grave situation. There's a wonderful juxtaposition of traditional, pre-industrial Japan and a modern day cyberpunk theme.

[Tijana]

Znate kakvo je uživanje kad naiđete na antologiju koja je stvarno antologija, dakle ne tematski zbornik priča skarabudženih baš za to izdanje niti "presek najboljeg iz prošle godine", nego probrana zbirka priča nastajalih u rasponu od par decenija? Pod uslovom da antologičar, kao ovde, zna šta radi? Veliko uživanje.
Neke od priča su stvarno vrhunske i vode mit o Ktuluu u neočekivanim smerovima - pre svega mislim na Harlana Elisona i Džoanu Ras. Ne kažem ja da je Elison najbolji pisac kratkih priča u vasceloj žanrovskoj fantastici, ali SINE što je dobar. Džoana je, po običaju, jednako surova ali u neizrečenim implikacijama možda i surovija od njega. I Zelaznijeva pripovetka "24 pogleda na planinu Fudži, od Hokusaija" uglavljena je ovde, verujem, manje zato što ima jednu sićušnu referencu na Lavkrafta a više zato što je redak primer priče u kojoj je Zelazni stvarno krajnje uspešno pomirio svoje snobovske literarne pretenzije i žanrovski teren na kome je stvarao.
Neke pripovetke su poštena i solidna savremena razrada Lavkraftovih motiva - tako je “The Barrens” čist Lavkraft plus malo atmosfere iz filma "Deliverance", a priča Remzija Kembela to isto, samo na britanskom terenu. I Popi Z. Brajt i Tomas Ligoti su zastupljeni svojim najkarakterističnijim/najpoznatijim pričama, bilo mi je drago što se antologičar ne usteže da igra na siguricu. Priča Gahana* Vilsona HPL je nekako neočekivano lepa i nežna, možda najprijatnije iznenađenje u celoj zbirci.
Nekoliko pripovedaka su manje ili više smele parodije, od Pikmanovog modema preko Kima Njumana (a šta ste od njega pa očekivali) do priče “Love’s Eldritch Ichor”, veselo-sulude premise, u kojoj se Ktulu i kompanija suočavaju sa izdavačkom kućom specijalizovanom za ljubiće.
Jedini stvarno loši uradci su skandalozno loše napisana priča Bejzila Kopera i delo Brusa Sterlinga. Sterling je još jednom pokazao da ima sve što piscu treba - zanatsku veštinu, maštu, oko za detalj - ali da nema talenta i da sve što napiše ostane mrtvo slovo na papiru.
Sve u svemu, ko voli Ktulua, ili makar želi kratak a dobar presek onoga što je u hororu i oko njega valjalo do 1995, neka se slobodno maši ove knjige :)




*žalim, transkripciona mafijo, i ja dušu imam, ostaje Gahan

[Ana Cristina Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿Qué pasa cuando un grupo de buenos autores se ponen a producir relatos inspirados en el universo Lovecraft? Pues que generan un universo de diversión, en mi caso, por lo menos.

Como en cualquier antología, hay relatos mejores que otros, pero el conjunto nos hace viajar a las profundidades donde reina Ctulhu y eso ya vale la pena.

Situados en épocas y ambientes muy diferentes, ofrecen una variedad de entretenimiento y, por supuesto, incontables guiños al maestro.

Una gozada, sobre todo para fans

[Ernesto · Rating 1 out of 5]

Toda antología corre el riesgo de ser inconsciente, de eso no cabe duda. Esta antología es de las peores que he leído en mucho tiempo. Un par de relatos de mediana calidad y el resto para el olvido.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthology of Lovecraft inspired tales. A little Lovecraft goes a long way with for me, but these aren't bad. I think the best was the first, involving the Jersey Devil.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another anthology of short horror stories written by people who could be said to be under the influence of HP Lovecraft. There are 18 stories in this book, some very very good, some okay, some not so hot. You'll find this to be true in any anthology, actually -- it's not just this book!

Let me point out some of my favorites:
"The Barrens," by F. Paul Wilson (which I had already read, but loved it so much I re-read it here);
"His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," by Poppy Z. Brite;
"The Big Fish," by Kim Newman -- let me add that this one most likely entertained me the most, because even if it was playing fast and loose with the old Innsmouth stories, it was done in pulp style with a wise-cracking noirish detective and I loved it. Not so much for its horror quotient (in fact, parts were downright funny), but just the style...I could see someone reading something like this in the heyday of the pulp magazines).

"Black Man with a Horn," by TED Klein...one of the creepiest stories in here, actually;
"The Last Feast of Harlequin," by Thomas Ligotti, one of my favorite authors
and
"The Faces at Pine Dunes," by Ramsey Campbell, another of my favorite writers of horror.

Overall, a fun collection and well worth the reading time.

[Baal Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding collection of Lovecraftian tales. There's not a single dud in the whole book, and there are a wide variety of approaches. One of my favorites was the story by Joanna Russ Esther M. Friesner, which was a classic Lovecraft style tale done simultaneously as a romance, and as the travails of a woman attempting to get her story published. This one had me laughing out loud, which is pretty rare.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Variado e irregular.-

Género. Relatos.

Lo que nos cuenta. Homenaje a Lovecraft, sus creaciones, mundos, mitos, conceptos y criaturas, desde perspectivas más actuales que las que ofreció el autor en su momento (que no contemporáneas a nosotros en todos los casos) y que nos llevarán a descubrir algo increíble de la mano de una editora en jefe, a conocer a unos diletantes y experimentadores jóvenes, a saber más de la situación en una Guerra Fría bastante particular, a acompañar a un detective privado en una investigación nada común, al hallazgo de una copia del “Necronomicón”, al contacto entre una prostituta y un cliente atípico y a vivir el enamoramiento de un joven, entre otras situaciones.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Ed Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't like the works written by HPL. As editor of this book Jim Turner, an expert on and admirer of his work, says: "To reiterate Lovecraft's weaknesses at this point would be gratuitous, for his technical shortcomings are apparent to even the most insensitive reader; one may as well complain that the Venus de Milo has no arms." To that I reply, VdM once did have arms, but HPL was never without his shortcomings.

That aside, I enjoyed every story in this collection. There aren't many short-story collections I can say that about. And they are very varied. I picked it up simply to read 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai, which is quite good, and to re-read The Last Feast of Harlequin, and then I just kept going. Probably my favorite was "Love's Eldritch Ichor" by Esther M. Friesner, which is a very funny story about a Devil-wears-Prada type editor preparing a story by H.P. Lovecraft for sale in the romance genre. There is one other explicitly comedic story in here. The others are all various forms of horror or weird, not one is less than good.

[Tim Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

_Cthulhu 2000_ is (as one might guess from the title) a collection of recently written short stories set in the universe created by H.P. Lovecraft, none by Lovecraft himself but rather by a variety of different authors. Editor Jim Turner provides a nice introduction to the Lovecraft's writings, drawing attention to two themes in the Cthulhu mythos. One theme is that though Lovecraft is in many ways a horror writer, he did not see the universe in terms of some epic, Biblical struggle between good and evil. Turner writes that a conventional horror writer "presupposes an actively malicious universe;" Lovecraft saw the universe in his stories instead as profoundly indifferent, that the interaction of the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology are so universal and eternal a phenomenon that they are far beyond any meaningful relationship with any species so transient as man, located as he is on such an insignificant planet. Man is a speck, nothing at all, against the horrors in a true piece of Cthulhian fiction. The best he can hope for from the universe is profound indifference. Lovecraft's monsters aren't evil, they just exist, they are almost elemental forces.

A second theme, in many related to the first theme, is that the universe is vast and probably unknowable by man. Some of the horror from Lovecraft's writings comes from the "finite mind grappling with infinite reality," the results of which are often insanity and/or death. Lovecraft himself said humans live on a "placid island of ignorance" amidst "black seas of infinity," and that mankind was not meant to voyage far. Man is better off not knowing the true horrors that lurk in the shadows.

So how well do the eighteen short stories in this volume realize these themes? Pretty well overall I think. Many of the stories depart from Lovecraft's typical mode of writing; most of his short stories were tales (memoirs really) told by men after the fact - sometimes dead or insane at the end of the story - rather than actually accounting events as they happened, often lacking dialogue. Though a few of the stories are in Lovecraft's traditional style, most are not. To me this is quite refreshing.

Several stories to me were exemplary, centering on a seemingly normal person, perhaps an investigator, perhaps not, in what looks like a normal, mundane, mortal world, one that is revealed to be hiding untold horrors unknown to most of humanity. _Black Man with a Horn_ by T.E.D. Klein was an excellent page-turner (I wished it was longer though it was already almost a novella in length), an intriguing tale that wove together elements of Malaysian folklore, a retiring missionary, an elderly horror writer, and some mysterious disappearances in Florida. It had a wonderful atmosphere and the author did a great job of slowly, very slowly, revealing what the horror of the piece was. _The Last Feast of the Harlequin_ by Thomas Ligotti was similarly excellent, the protagonist an anthropological researcher (who specialized in studying the role of the clown in various cultures) traveling to the town of Mirocaw to research a Winter Solstice celebration that was rumored to involve a clown figure. The main character finds more than he bargained for, discovering that there was a great deal more to the festival that initially met the eye. _The Barrens_ by F. Paul Wilson focused on a researcher and his ex-girlfriend, the former obsessed with the phenomenon of pine lights (eerie will o'wisp like globules of light said to haunt the New Jersey Pine Barrens), an obsession that leads the main characters to view the world in an entirely different light.

Several stories were a bit more unusual and I am not sure I understood them. _Shaft Number 247_ by Basil Cooper appeared to be set in the far future, underground, in a highly mechanized and regimented society that either could not survive on the surface of the earth or was afraid to. The Cthulhic element was subtle, almost slight. _The Shadow on the Doorstep_ by James P. Blaylock was well-written, almost poetic, describing the author's encounters with mysterious aquarium shops in various places in California as well as what might or might not have been some horrid apparition on his doorstep late one evening, but the horror and mystery in this piece was very subtle, maybe too subtle.

A couple of stories were humorous, playing with the Cthulhu mythos but not much in the style of Lovecraft, not that they weren't enjoyable. _Pickman's Modem_ by Lawrence Watt-Evans dealt with as one might guess a demonic modem and its effects on its user and _Love's Eldritch Ichor_ by Esther M. Friesner was almost slapstick, the subject a budding young romance writer (!) with some rather unusual friends.

I enjoyed this book a lot, I find it a fairly quick read and a good continuation of Lovecraft's writings. I would love to see a sequel volume.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this collection to all fans of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. This is quality stuff -- some of the best Mythos stories I've ever read, and I've read many.

I have not yet read all of the stories in this collection, but standouts thus far are "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," "Fat Face," "Black Man with a Horn," and "The Barrens." The latter tale has the nice feature of adding the New Jersey pine barrens and the Jersey Devil to the Cthulhu Mythos! This is a welcome bit of local color for Philadelphians like me, who have driven through the pine barrens year after year on the way to the South Jersey shore points. Now you don't have to go to New England to be in Cthulhu country! "Fat Face" has a ~very~ frightening look at what the ~shoggoths~ have been up to lately.

The book includes some stories I'd read before in other collections, like "Black Man With a Horn," and "Shaft Number 247," but since they are excellent tales it is nice to have them all together.
This book would make excellent beach reading for the Jersey shore... but you may not want to drive through the pine barrens on your way back.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Lovecraftian anthology, but this one better than most. The first story in particular, The Barrens, is probably one of my new favorite Mythos stories, and there are some good and some bad. Some striking things:

* The best stories, The Barrens excepted, were among the goofiest ones. There was one about a possessed modem that was quite amusing, and one where Cthulhu and friends are assisting with a romance writer's career that cracked me up.

* The stories that hit me the least, surprisingly, were by the authors I already knew. The Poppy Z. Brite offering felt out of place, and the Zelazny one was just strange (and not in the "of course it's strange" way).

Still, a worthy addition to the canon overall. Glad I scooped this up and found a number of good tales along the way.

[Leothefox · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars in this case means more like 2 1/2. I love love love H.P. Lovecraft and his work and his writing and his adjectives... what I don't always love is other writers taking modern stabs at doing Lovecraft while bringing to it their own personal style. Also, I'm not the biggest fan of the title "Cthulhu 2000", not merely because it recalls that sad ring of the future aspirations we held in the silly old 90s, but because there's more to Lovecraft than the iconic Cthulhu.

...anyhow, the collection: there are some good ones here, some of which are from as early as the 50s (2000 indeed!). I really enjoyed Gene Wolfe's "Lord of the Land" and Joanna Russ's tale with the really long puzzling name (EDIT: Okay, a long puzzling name that's a quote from "Pickman's Model"). Gahan Wilson and Fred Chappell had some nice entries, a little more on the comic side. T.E.D. Klein's "Black Man With A Horn" was amazing, probably the reason the collection is still on my shelf.

Then there's stuff like F. Paul Wilson's "The Barrens", which I wanted to like, but the excess of regionalism and the romance subtext just sank it for me. "Pickman's Modem" is a complete dated embarrassment trying to pioneer internet horror in 1992 (internet horror, which remains an embarrassment today). "Loves Eldritch Ichor" is just goofball stuff, all for laughs and the joke isn't funny. Thomas Logotti's "The Last Feast of Harlequin" might instead be titled "Clown over Innsmouth", which sort of takes a Lovecraftian story route... but all that business about "playing the clown", etc... nope, go back and read "The Festival" instead.

A lot of the other stories just felt half baked or too far from the mark. I'll readily admit that I did not and could not finish Zelazny's "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai" and I doubt I ever will. A dead person boringly narrating from post-death interwebz and never using contractions doesn't really set off the Lovecraft vibe or even the "I didn't mind reading this" vibe.

I got this book back when I was collecting all the Del-Rey Lovecraft collections with their sweet Pallencar covers. By the time I came to buying this one Borders no longer had it on the shelf and I had to order it from them (yes, this was a while ago), and it wasn't entirely worth it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riju's review makes me wonder if we read the same book. Although I do not care for all of the stories Turner selected for his two Arkham House anthologies, I sympathize with his attempt to select from as broad a range of approach and theme as possible, in order to identify innovative and literate approaches to the Lovecraftian milieu. One may dislike the sexual frankness of Poppy Z. Brite's "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" but many, including myself, think it is a brilliant reformulation of the decadent world set forth in Lovecraft's "The Hound". However, to characterize "The Adder" by Fred Chappell, “I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket...But By God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life!” by Joanna Russ, "H.P.L." by Gahan Wilson, "The Unthinkable" by Bruce Sterling, "Black Man with a Horn" by T. E. D. Klein, "The Last Feast of Harlequin" by Thomas Ligotti, "Lord of the Land" by Gene Wolfe, "The Faces at Pine Dunes" by Ramsey Campbell, Harlan Ellison's "On the Slab", or "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai" Roger Zelazny as "drivel, gore, and trash" seems way off the mark. The Newman story is entertaining, but does not invite the same level of dread and contemplation found in any of these others, and the Copper has always seemed much longer than its scenario is capable of supporting - an assessment I would make of most of his work outside FROM EVIL'S PILLOW.

[VanHalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is in my mind, astounding which writers are in this book, whose stories I loathed.

The bulk of the stories within this tome are fantastic, moving playfully amongst the mythos created by Lovecraft, or even stepping into that which followed him in Clarke Aston Smith and others.

However, there are a couple of stinkers. My largest beef being with Poppy Z. Brite, who decided that ripping off The Tomb The Hound (edited on 3/1/15) wouldn't be noticed by those of us reading... or deciding that ripping it off would be an appropriate homage, but decided to in addition hold a vocabulary lesson of the most obsequious and pedantic words possible.

I have heard complaints of William Peter Blatty wearing his vocabulary down your nose like an impressive diamond ring, but this seemed much worse.

But that was one, skippable, short story.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Except for the Kim Newman story (which you can find in several other anthologies, as well as the Diogenes Club compilations), and a sharp futuristic piece from Basil Copper (most unlikely writer of Mythos tales, one has to admit), the rest is mostly gory & pessimistic (especially the semi-erotic Poppy Z Brite piece). However, the collection has another additional jewel: T.E.D Klein's outstanding "Black Man In a Horn". More importantly, according to my humble opinion it can be recommended solely on the basis of one fantastic story: "Love's Eldritch Ichor" by the incomparable Esther M. Friesner. Recommended, with caution.

[Reg Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cthulhu 2000 is a collection of modern Mythos tales inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft. Some of the stories act as almost sequels to some of Lovecraft's works (For example, "Fat Face" is a bit of an ersatz sequel to "At the Mountains of Madness"). Some of the works, like "Pickman's Modem" are downright funny, but many maintain the feel of cosmic horror that Lovecraft more or less invented. While not the best book for someone new to Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, it's an excellent read for fans of the genre.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true mixed bag, but well worth it for the high points.

The Barrens - 5/5 - nice evocation of the Lovecraft feel
Pickman's Modem - 2/5 - silly
Shaft Number 247 - 3/5 - intriguing and disturbing, but ultimately a bit too open-ended for me
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - 3/5 - well, now we know some specifics of what one gets up to when Baudelaire is passe and ennui is leading down the path to grave-robbing. And we probably prefer Howard's elided version. Yikes!
The Adder - 3/5 - promising premise, ridiculous wrap-up
Fat Face - 4/5 - a classic Shea tale, but not as good as "Copping Squid"
The Big Fish - 2/5 - private eye stories aren't my thing
I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket ... But By God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life! - 3/5 - dreamy and compelling, but I don't fully get the connection to Pickman
H.P.L. - 1/5 - Ugh. I hate it when HPL shows up as a character in weird stories, and this is the worst example I've encountered.
The Unthinkable - 2/5 - I'll give the story this -it's unapologetically Out There.
Black Man with a Horn - 5/5 - a must-read for any Lovecraft fan
Love's Eldritch Ichor - 3/5 - self-consciously silly, but fun and has many great turns of phrase
The Last Feast of Harlequin - 4/5 - wasn't confident about the "I study clowns" intro, but it really delves into the folklore research aspect and sticks with you in a nasty (i.e., successful) way
The Shadow on the Doorstep - 1/5 - what even is this? Didn't care, had to plow through it
Lord of the Land - 3/5 - pretty creepy
The Faces at Pine Dunes - 4/5 - very effective first-person account that pulls you in for the ride
On the Slab - 2/5 - I found this to be meh with delusions of profundity
24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai - 4/5 - not sure it's strictly speaking Lovecraftian, despite name-dropping R'lyeh, but it's extremely effective (and affecting) weird fiction

[Scott Radtke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though, I have to admit to be going through a bit of a horror phase or, more specifically, a "Mythos" phase, I was overall pleased with the time spent with this anthology. Cthulu 2000, like most anthologies, is a bit uneven, with stories I loved, others that missed and one that unexpectedly really rubbed me the wrong way. The stories also dug into the Mythos to varying degrees, a fact that will drive some readers to distraction, but I have never been a purist about anything (I find purists to be boring, unimaginative thumbsuckers).

Kim Newman's mashup of mythos with hardboiled detective fiction "The Big Fish" was my hands-down favorite, while the Ramsey Campbell penned "The Faces at Pine Dunes" got on my nerves by overloading a weak story with the crippling weight of excessive adjectives. The rest fell into the middle. With honorable mentions going to "Shaft Number 27" by Basil Copper, and "The Barrens" by F. Paul Wilson. The Lovecraft award goes to Thomas Ligotti and his deeply sad and surreal "The Last Feast of Harlequin," and "Fat Face" by Michael Shea gets the gross out award (though the story's quite atmospheric and well constructed). The award for Having Almost Nothing to do With Lovecraft but What the Fuck, goes to Roger Zelazney for his story "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai," which also happens to be a story I like despite its being absolutely shoehorned in here.

The rest are fine to good, but your mileage will vary, of course. For fans of the Mythos and weird fiction in general this one is worth a read, even if you only get it from the library as I did.

Have a splendid 2017!

Love,

Scott

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost all the stories in CTHULHU 2000 are widely available in other publications, but to have them put in one package is very convenient and makes for a strong overall collection. Especially welcome are tales like Paul Wilson's "The Barrens," TED Klein's "Black Man With a Horn," Michael Shea's "Fat Face," and Fred Chappell's "The Adder" (which I had the honor of first publishing in DEATHREALM #9 quite a few years ago). For someone first delving into the post-HPL Cthulhu mythos, this is a great place to start. There are a few losers in the bunch, but the more "classic" stories easily make up for them. Also recommended for the mythos veteran who's looking for a handy volume of some of this subgenre's strongest tales.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of Lovecraftian short stories, most are well written and I only disliked a couple of them. I’d read some of the stories previously in other collections, but I still enjoyed re-reading them such as "Black Man with a Horn" by TED Klein and "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" by Poppy Z. Brite. Each writer brings their own style to this anthology and it’s interesting to see how Lovecraft influences everyone differently. If you’re a new to Lovecraft or have been a fan for a while I’d recommend this.

[J. Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag, worth it for the gems. The best stories, including those from Wolfe, Ellison, and Zelazny, are the most tangential to Lovecraft's Mythos. They're good stories, not good "Lovecraftian stories." The entries merely aping the Lovecraftian horror style are mostly middling (apart from a notable Ligotti story) and when the tales dip into parody territory ("Pickman's Modem"?) it's nearly unbearable.

[William Sariego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all anthologies from various writers, quality varies. Still, this book deserves a 4.5 rating if Goodreads allowed that. Quite refreshing to see the Mythos moved forward to modern times. In Pickman's Modem, for example, you have a kid who buys a used modem that is demon possessed. After that his online presence is one continual flame war! Such a story was inconceivable when HPL was alive. Enjoy!

[Ah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkably good anthology but I took off a star for the shitty Poppy "Who let her in" Z Brite story which wasn't even Lovecraftian.Neither was Roger Zelzazny's 24 views of Mount Fuji but I liked that one.Also the Michael Shea story Fat Face was truly terrifying and I wish I had never read it but really what do I expect if I keep reading this kind of thing which I keep doing.

[Shawn Pleil · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was mostly good with the exception of....

His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite

which is the worst cthulhu mythos story ever written by the worst writer
to ever contribute to the mythos.

It is not scary
It is a lame ripoff the hound
It is in fact not a cthulhu mythos story at all
and has no real connection cthulhu mythos

[Glenn Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some quite good stories (although I don't remember all, some didn't hold up as well). Bonus points for Zelazny's 24 View of Mt. Fuji, By Hokusai, and Gene Wolfe's Lord of the Land, the ending of which has lodged itself naggingly in my brain.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid, overall. Especially enjoyed the last story.

[Paul Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the course of a discussion with a friend who recommended this book to me, I confessed that while I love fiction and settings that harken to H.P. Lovecraft's body of work, especially the Cthulhu Mythos, I haven't read very much of Lovecraft's work itself, due in large part to the fact that every time I try the style glares at me from the page. Thus, in a way, Cthulhu 2000 might have been exactly up my alley, as it ostensibly contains an assortment of stories told more or less within the Mythos by some solid modern writers. What could go wrong?

In some cases, the answer is: nothing. Granted, it's difficult to effectively review an anthology of short stories by various authors because some are liable to be very good and others less so, possibly even bad which means recommending the book as a whole is sort of impossible and it becomes some kind of oddly calculated scoresheet. In the case of Cthulhu 2000, I think the score falls mostly on the side of worthy reading.

It should be noted perhaps that the title of this collection is somewhat misleading, as these are (for the most part) not modern retellings of Lovecraft classics nor are they the sort of "expected" Mythos tales. As editor Jim Turner says in his introduction, the keys of Lovecraft's Mythos in his eyes are less about specific Elder Gods and creepy cults (though both make a number of appearances throughout the volume) and more about the existence of a sort of indifferent, reality-spanning life or intelligence that, by it's mere fact, renders humanity to a much more insignificant role in the cosmos than we are accustomed to presiding.

Another recurring theme here that is less forgivable is the presence and repeated reference to Lovecraft and his works, even as he appears as a character in several of the tales. For some reason this didn't sit well with me and I found myself missing the sense of discovery and exploration present in other more straightforward tellings of Lovecraft-style stories. Too often here it is accepted as canon that Lovecraft and his work exist within these story settings and, frequently, his work is less fiction than scholarly or occult research. The end result is a sort of posthumous association with academics for Lovecraft that I guess is supposed to lend a certain credence to the more fantastic elements, but I can't fathom why this role couldn't have been played by a fresh take on the beloved scribe character without blaring aloud: "This is a Lovecraftian story!"

My final overall note is that there isn't much in the way of genuine thrills or chills present here. Much like the few actual Lovecraft stories I've read, the subject matter is more gloomy and sinister than creepy and terrifying, perhaps due to the subject matter being so abstract. Often the stories are slow-moving or atmospheric as opposed to gripping, so while there are plenty of good stories here, this isn't what I'd call a compulsively readable book.

To better give a sense of the book, here are micro-reviews for each story contained within.

The Barrens by F. Paul Wilson - One of the few in the traditional Mythos vein, features an increasingly obsessed man on the verge of a new sort of enlightenment, set in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and handily incorporating the Jersey Devil and pine lights into the canon.

Pickman's Modem by Lawrence Watt-Evans - A sort of obvious (and now very outdated) haunted object story.

Shaft Number 247 by Basil Copper - Interesting sort of story about a civilization that lives underground. Lovecraftian in the depiction of creeping madness and obsession with the unknown, but otherwise sort of a tangental inclusion.

His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite - A bland, brief, uninspired voodoo story.

The Adder by Fred Chappell - Despite being one of the premier offenders of the "let's make Lovecraft a scholar instead of a fiction writer," this is a very cool and clever story that mostly focuses on the Necronomicon.

Fat Face by Michael Shea - One of the few stories here that can easily be counted as horror in the non-Lovecraftian sense, it's a well told tale of an unlucky LA hooker and the enigmatic neighbor she feels sorry for.

The Big Fish by Kim Newman - Another of the very few classic Lovecraftish stories, this follows a California Private Investigator looking for a shady Hollywood fixture shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Great setting, great pacing, fun characters and conclusion. One of my favorites.

"I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket...But by God, Eliot, IT WAS A PHOTOGRAPH FROM LIFE!" by Joanna Russ - A quirky little tale (with an incredibly awkward title) about an unlikable man who finally meets a girl who is not at all what she appears to be.

H.P.L. by Gahan Wilson - Possibly the only truly forgivable example of the egregious insertion of Lovecraft as a character, describes a meeting between a Lovecraft-inspired writer with his literary hero.

The Unthinkable by Bruce Sterling - A forgettable, vague wisp of a story.

Black Man with a Horn by T. E. D. Klein - Another fun one, which does a good job of playing with and analyzing the nature of storytelling in order to describe a recurring sighting of a mythic bad omen which seems to leave mystery and destruction in its wake.

Love's Eldritch Ichor by Esther M. Friesner - One of my favorites in the collection, a funny, scary send-up of both publishing, genre mash-ups and the next in line of Lovecraft's writing progenies.

The Last Feast of Harlequin by Thomas Ligotti - Sort of overwrought and altogether too long, but still intriguing story about the fictional town of Micaw and its curious winter solstice celebration. Features one of the best creepy endings in the collection.

The Shadow on the Doorstep by James P. Blaylock - Good at evoking mood and tone, but lacks sufficient plotting to be a really effective story.

Lord of the Land by Gene Wolf - Kind of half-forgettable but does a nice job weaving folklore into a tale that is only lightly seasoned with anything that might be considered Lovecraftian.

The Faces at Pine Dunes by Ramsey Campbell - There's something funky happening at the beginning of this story wherein I wasn't able to get a good handle on the events or characters, even protagonist Michael, until about page three. Even then, my mental picture of him revised several times throughout the course of reading. Not a bad story overall, once you shake off the baffling first few pages.

On the Slab by Harlan Ellison - Breezy, well-told story of a giant creature whose body is found in an apple orchard and the unexpected truth behind its origin.

24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelanzny - The story that incited the recommendation, and my absolute favorite of them all. It has little to do with Lovecraft or Cthulhu or anything Mythos-related (other than a dream sequence and a few offhanded references), but it's a great story that follows a widow who is searching for her husband, who has found a way to exist inside an Internet-like network and has become malevolent.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is a decent tribute collection. Some of the stories more derivative of Lovecraft’s actual style are a bit boring; the stories that simply use Lovecraftian themes as small plot elements and work in their own style are the ones that shine here, though.

[Jorge Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great stories in this one.