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Eldritch Blue: Love & Sex In The Cthulhu Mythos
Love and sex have been an integral part of the Cthulhu Mythos since its inception, and even before. In the vast majority of cases, however, they remain largely in the background, even though they often are a vital plot device, if only by implication. And in those few cases where love or sex is prominently displayed, its purpose is largely to titillate rather than advance the plot. In this anthology are stories that explore various aspects of the relationship between love and sex and the Mythos in a more intimate and open fashion. Their purpose is to show how these ideas, regardless of whether they are used explicitly or implicitly, can be used to present a new spin on classical Mythos story ideas. Warning: these stories deal frankly with sex and sexual relationships. As such they are meant for mature readers. Parental discretion is advised. With stories by James Ambuehl, EP Berglund, Ramsey Campbell, Pierre Comtois, Walter C. DeBill, Jr., Charles Garofalo, CJ Henderson, Randall Larson, HP Lovecraft, Michael Minnis, Robert M. Price, Stephen Mark Rainey, Stanley C. Sargent, Ann K. Schwader, Ron Shiflet, Peter A. Worthy, and more. Selected and formatted by Kevin L. O'Brien, with an introduced by Robert M. Price and artwork by Susan McAdam.
318 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2004
1 person is currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Kevin L. O'Brien
71 books22 followersKevin L. O'Brien was born with a pen in his hand.
Well, not quite, but he has been writing for as long as he can remember, at least since First Grade. Writing has always been his first, true love, but it hasn't always been his career. He worked for 15 years as a biomedical researcher, then for 3 years as a web designer. However, after 35 years of trying to be published in print with little success, he has decided to try his hand at self-publishing. Most of his works will be sold as ebooks through Smashwords, Kindle, and Kobe, but he also plans to make some available for free here on Goodreads.
He writes primarily speculative fiction -- fantasy, science fiction, horror, and their sub-genres -- but he also likes to try his hand at thrillers, suspense, mystery, and even westerns. However, his stories tend to have a fantasy element, no matter how subtle.
Most of his stories involve the following three main characters:
Medb hErenn (http://www.medbherenn.com/) -- One-time queen of Ireland, she is over 3500 years old. A warrior and a sorceress, she cannot be harmed by any weapon made by the hand of man.
Eile and Sunny, Team Girl (http://www.teamgirlforever.com/) -- They are two adorable, vivacious, fun-loving young women whose motto is ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!!! Yet trouble follows them like a love-sick puppy wherever they go.
Sir Differel Van Helsing (http://www.sir-differel.com/) -- The descendent of Abraham Van Helsing and King Arthur, she heads the Caerleon Order, the premier monster-hunting organization of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She commands Dracula, the most powerful vampire extant, and the greatsword Caliburn, better known as Excalibur.
He also writes a series of sword & sorcery tales set in an alternative universe known as the Lands of the Dreams of Men.
Kevin lives in Denver with his family and 4 cats.
Well, not quite, but he has been writing for as long as he can remember, at least since First Grade. Writing has always been his first, true love, but it hasn't always been his career. He worked for 15 years as a biomedical researcher, then for 3 years as a web designer. However, after 35 years of trying to be published in print with little success, he has decided to try his hand at self-publishing. Most of his works will be sold as ebooks through Smashwords, Kindle, and Kobe, but he also plans to make some available for free here on Goodreads.
He writes primarily speculative fiction -- fantasy, science fiction, horror, and their sub-genres -- but he also likes to try his hand at thrillers, suspense, mystery, and even westerns. However, his stories tend to have a fantasy element, no matter how subtle.
Most of his stories involve the following three main characters:
Medb hErenn (http://www.medbherenn.com/) -- One-time queen of Ireland, she is over 3500 years old. A warrior and a sorceress, she cannot be harmed by any weapon made by the hand of man.
Eile and Sunny, Team Girl (http://www.teamgirlforever.com/) -- They are two adorable, vivacious, fun-loving young women whose motto is ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!!! Yet trouble follows them like a love-sick puppy wherever they go.
Sir Differel Van Helsing (http://www.sir-differel.com/) -- The descendent of Abraham Van Helsing and King Arthur, she heads the Caerleon Order, the premier monster-hunting organization of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She commands Dracula, the most powerful vampire extant, and the greatsword Caliburn, better known as Excalibur.
He also writes a series of sword & sorcery tales set in an alternative universe known as the Lands of the Dreams of Men.
Kevin lives in Denver with his family and 4 cats.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 22, 2010
Interesting theme. There are some very good stories in here (eg Anne K. Schwader's 'Mail Order Bride' which is excellent, though available elsewhere), but a lot which is sheer hackwork. One story in particular in which a bunch of evil sea-lions attack seems driven more by sound effects (we literally read 'squelch, squelch' etc) than anything else. Not worth the price I paid for it, but an entertaining light read. Illustrations are fun.
June 13, 2013
Eldritch Blue is a publication of Lindisfarne press. It is a POD book. My overall impression is quite favorable. The production qualities are very high. It is a good quality trade paperback, that should be very durable and provide many years of rereading pleasure. It is somewhat pricier than a comparable Chaosium anthology, but then it has more good stories than the typical Chaosium offering.
In some respects, it is a better concept than the Chaosium series, as there is no attempt made to offer a comprehensive picture of the development of a particular aspect of the Cthulhu mythos. This leads to the inclusion of really poorly written stories in the Chaosium anthologies, just because they may be hypothetically important in getting a picture of the larger concept (The dreadful goat leg stories in the Shub Niggurath Cycle spring to mind). Eldritch Blue is more concerned with gathering together a selection of stories exploring the issues of love and sex in Lovecraftian fiction. I can't recall the page number in Eldritch Blue but for the money it was a generous sampling of stories. The other thing to note, is the overall quality of the stories was better than a typical Chaosium anthology, if not as high as Dead But Dreaming or Cthulhu 2000.
The artwork was by Susan McAdam. The cover was a very striking work, and I think very much emphasized the theme of sex and horror quite well. The interior artwork was enjoyable, although not all as successful. I particularly liked the illustrations for Mail Order Bride, Seduced and The Obsession of Percival Carstairs. Overall the art matched the mood of the story and enhanced the experience, adding to the enjoyability of the book.
For the most part the editing was good, with only a few annoying typos. One was particularly glaring to the rheumatologist in me, in Stacked Actors, but I don't know if it was the editor or the author responsible for misspelling Raynaud's disease. And mislabeling it, when what was meant was Raynaud's phenomenon. Oh, well, no one else would notice.
Do I have several gripes? You bet! First of all, Bob Price always finds a way to drive me crazy! The silly title of his introduction did not sit well with me.
I also found the editor's notes after each story to be near excruciating. They show what I think is a basic wrong-headed view of what Lovecraftian fiction is all about. I'll give an example later, as best as my memory allows. On the other hand, they appear after each work so they are not spoilers, and you can easily skip them. The biographical notes at the end were good.
And as usual, some of these stories are in other anthologies in my collection and some I have read online, leading to duplication. This will always be an issue for the dedicated HPL mythos fan.
Moving on to individual stories (****spoilers may follow****):
Promethes: Where Walks Istasha, by James Ambuehl - well, I'm not a big fan of mythos poetry....
The Tale of Toad Loop, by Stanley C. Sargent - An OK mythos fiction work. Nothing special but not out of place and worth the read, if not a reread.
Goat-Mother, by Pierre Comtois - I found this story to be one of the jewels of the anthology. It was well written, tightly plotted, refreshingly different and had excellent horror elements. I look forward to more stories by Mr. Comtois! Now this is where I had some heartburn with the editor's notes. First of all, I would rate this story as one of the 3 best centering around the Tcho Tcho people I have ever read. The other 2 were Black Man With A Horn by TED Klein, and a novella by Arinn Dembo in the Delta Green: Dark Theaters anthology. All 3 are marvelous stories. All 3 works have completely different takes on the Tcho Tcho. And that's OK! Nothing about Yog-Sothothery has to be internally consistent. I guess I use the term mythos out of convenience because it is shorter to type, but it is not really a unified mythos cycle, where there are rigid rules of interpretation. Vagueness, lack of precision, whatever you call it, allows enormous room for creative authors to develop new ideas on familiar themes for us fans. And for pity's sake, Lovecraftian fiction has no need whatever to correspond with the scientific strictures of our natural world. Who cares about the details of reproduction of these noxious creatures that Pierre Comtois created, and where they fit in with earth biology phylogenetically? The scenes were delightfully creepy and allowed the reader's imagination to run wild. My only word of caution to Mr. Comtois is that there was no need for an italicized ending. The horror was self evident and did not need the emphasis. Bravo!
Beast of Love, by Tracy and James Ambuehl - Now if anyone knows how to dispose of a mythos protagonist it is James Ambuehl! This was a typically fun Ambuehl read, and I look forward to his upcoming new stories in the Lindisfarne series.
The Spawn of Y'lagh, by Randall Larson - This didn't do much for me. It was a very conventional mythos tale, not particularly well written. On the other hand it wasn't dreadfully bad, and it did not detract from the anthology.
Mail Order Bride, by Ann K. Schwader - This is a brilliant story, about intermarriage with the Deep Ones from an entirely original angle. The prose and characterizations were acute. Any gripe? Well this story is already in Strange Stars and Alien Shadows, so it commits the sin of duplication, but in a tale this fine, we'll consider it venial instead of mortal. I wish Ms. Schwader would hurry up and write some more new mythos stories
Family Recipe, by Charles Garofalo - A tightly written story, again about the Deep Ones intermingling with humans, with another original twist. It was a very fun read, although I like other stories here better. I would like to read more by Mr. Garofalo.
Cat's-Paw, by E. P. Berglund - An excellent Shub Niggurath story, with well-drawn characters and enjoyable prose. It held up the high standards of the anthology.
The Faces at Pine Dunes, by Ramsey Campbell - Ramsay Campbell - what can I say- it was a wonderful story. I just wish Mr. Campbell would write some new mythos stuff. Also, it is reprinted from other anthologies.
Dagon's Mistress, by Neil Riebe - This story was only fair, with a conventional mythos plot that had an unusually upbeat turn. Mainly the prose didn't grab me, and the ending didn't ring true for a mythos collection.
The Thing on the Doorstep, by H. P. Lovecraft - Of course, one of HPL's best, so marvelous. However, I counted and I have a zillion other copies in collections I already own. Reduplicate duplication doubled.
The Prodigies of Monkfield Cabot, by Michael Minnis - An interesting take on The Thing on the Doorstep, being a prequel rather than a sequel. It was good, although the plot twists and prose did not sparkle as much as the best stories in here. Nonetheless, not out of place, and better than many stories in Chaosium anthologies. I will certainly get all the collections Lindisfarne publishes of Mr. Minnis' work.
Seduced, by Ronald Shiflet - Brilliant. Just brilliant. Plot, prose, characterization, all superb. One of the very best Shub Niggurath stories I have ever read. Bravo, Mr. Shiflet. I will run, not walk, to buy his collections on this label.
Stacked Actors, by Peter A. Worthy - Now this story gave me a bit of heartburn. I am a fan of Stross and of Delta Green, so I like the subgenre, but this just didn't do it for me. Per the author summaries I know Mr. Worthy is living in Scotland, but I don't know where he is originally from. However, there was no reason to believe this as a story occurring in England. None of the idiom rang true for me; it all seemed very American. Furthermore, the story was way too in medias res. It seemed over half the story was filling us in on background, instead of giving us exposition of the current plot. It also had a very lifted-from-an RPG-scenario feel in a way the best Delta Green does not. Maybe there was too much risk of DG overlap if set in the US? At any rate, if we visit these characters again I hope the emphasis is on the current story, with more attention to plotting and characterization than to setting the stage.
Have You Found Him, by Jean Ann Donnel - A well-written fragment, but too short to really grab me.
The Violet Princess, by Stephen Mark Rainey - A wonderful story by Mr. Rainey, as we all expect. The prose just captured the isolation and frustrated longing of the protagonist beautifully. And I loved the ending.
What Sort of Man, by Walter C. DeBill, Jr. - Another excellent story in an excellent collection, about a man whose family trades with aliens from Carcosa to acquire unusual antiques for their business. Anything I write might give away the plot, so I'll just say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Obsession of Percival Cairstairs, by Charles Black - OK conventional mythos story, predictable but not unenjoyable. Commits the sin of the italicized ending trying to add punch where better prose would have helped more. Not a bad story, certainly would have found a place in a Chaosium anthology.
A Mate For the Mutilator, by Robert M. Price - Price's fiction doesn't really grab me. I liked the plot idea, but the characters were not well developed, and the prose didn't match the best in the anthology. OK, not bad, just not the best I have ever read.
To Cast Out Fear, C. J. Henderson - An OK Anton Zardak story - not my favorite subgenre, but written about the level of Lin Carter, so a plus for fans.
The Surrogate, by Kevin L. O'Brien - Well, I wished I liked it better. Mr. O'Brien knows how to compile an anthology but his writing does not move me. First of all the prose wasn't that great. For example, would any prostitute, even in the Mile High City, ever refer to herself as a doxy? The characters were bland and undeveloped, so it was hard to care what happened to them. I also could not for the life of me figure out why the mother or the prostitute liked her son at all. There was no patina of horror to shade the whole story as is usually required for good mythos fiction, and there was nothing stated or implied that would show if the creature was controlling their minds to make them do its bidding. The prostitute at least should have been utterly numb with fear. And, frankly, Jim Ambuehl would have had her get eaten in a respectable mythos story ending creepfest.
So, I had a highly favorable impression of Eldritch Blue. A handsome production packed with new stories, for the most part extremely well written, with the best soaring to the highest heights of mythos fiction. Any fan would be well advised to spend their hard earned Cthulhu bucks on it.
In some respects, it is a better concept than the Chaosium series, as there is no attempt made to offer a comprehensive picture of the development of a particular aspect of the Cthulhu mythos. This leads to the inclusion of really poorly written stories in the Chaosium anthologies, just because they may be hypothetically important in getting a picture of the larger concept (The dreadful goat leg stories in the Shub Niggurath Cycle spring to mind). Eldritch Blue is more concerned with gathering together a selection of stories exploring the issues of love and sex in Lovecraftian fiction. I can't recall the page number in Eldritch Blue but for the money it was a generous sampling of stories. The other thing to note, is the overall quality of the stories was better than a typical Chaosium anthology, if not as high as Dead But Dreaming or Cthulhu 2000.
The artwork was by Susan McAdam. The cover was a very striking work, and I think very much emphasized the theme of sex and horror quite well. The interior artwork was enjoyable, although not all as successful. I particularly liked the illustrations for Mail Order Bride, Seduced and The Obsession of Percival Carstairs. Overall the art matched the mood of the story and enhanced the experience, adding to the enjoyability of the book.
For the most part the editing was good, with only a few annoying typos. One was particularly glaring to the rheumatologist in me, in Stacked Actors, but I don't know if it was the editor or the author responsible for misspelling Raynaud's disease. And mislabeling it, when what was meant was Raynaud's phenomenon. Oh, well, no one else would notice.
Do I have several gripes? You bet! First of all, Bob Price always finds a way to drive me crazy! The silly title of his introduction did not sit well with me.
I also found the editor's notes after each story to be near excruciating. They show what I think is a basic wrong-headed view of what Lovecraftian fiction is all about. I'll give an example later, as best as my memory allows. On the other hand, they appear after each work so they are not spoilers, and you can easily skip them. The biographical notes at the end were good.
And as usual, some of these stories are in other anthologies in my collection and some I have read online, leading to duplication. This will always be an issue for the dedicated HPL mythos fan.
Moving on to individual stories (****spoilers may follow****):
Promethes: Where Walks Istasha, by James Ambuehl - well, I'm not a big fan of mythos poetry....
The Tale of Toad Loop, by Stanley C. Sargent - An OK mythos fiction work. Nothing special but not out of place and worth the read, if not a reread.
Goat-Mother, by Pierre Comtois - I found this story to be one of the jewels of the anthology. It was well written, tightly plotted, refreshingly different and had excellent horror elements. I look forward to more stories by Mr. Comtois! Now this is where I had some heartburn with the editor's notes. First of all, I would rate this story as one of the 3 best centering around the Tcho Tcho people I have ever read. The other 2 were Black Man With A Horn by TED Klein, and a novella by Arinn Dembo in the Delta Green: Dark Theaters anthology. All 3 are marvelous stories. All 3 works have completely different takes on the Tcho Tcho. And that's OK! Nothing about Yog-Sothothery has to be internally consistent. I guess I use the term mythos out of convenience because it is shorter to type, but it is not really a unified mythos cycle, where there are rigid rules of interpretation. Vagueness, lack of precision, whatever you call it, allows enormous room for creative authors to develop new ideas on familiar themes for us fans. And for pity's sake, Lovecraftian fiction has no need whatever to correspond with the scientific strictures of our natural world. Who cares about the details of reproduction of these noxious creatures that Pierre Comtois created, and where they fit in with earth biology phylogenetically? The scenes were delightfully creepy and allowed the reader's imagination to run wild. My only word of caution to Mr. Comtois is that there was no need for an italicized ending. The horror was self evident and did not need the emphasis. Bravo!
Beast of Love, by Tracy and James Ambuehl - Now if anyone knows how to dispose of a mythos protagonist it is James Ambuehl! This was a typically fun Ambuehl read, and I look forward to his upcoming new stories in the Lindisfarne series.
The Spawn of Y'lagh, by Randall Larson - This didn't do much for me. It was a very conventional mythos tale, not particularly well written. On the other hand it wasn't dreadfully bad, and it did not detract from the anthology.
Mail Order Bride, by Ann K. Schwader - This is a brilliant story, about intermarriage with the Deep Ones from an entirely original angle. The prose and characterizations were acute. Any gripe? Well this story is already in Strange Stars and Alien Shadows, so it commits the sin of duplication, but in a tale this fine, we'll consider it venial instead of mortal. I wish Ms. Schwader would hurry up and write some more new mythos stories
Family Recipe, by Charles Garofalo - A tightly written story, again about the Deep Ones intermingling with humans, with another original twist. It was a very fun read, although I like other stories here better. I would like to read more by Mr. Garofalo.
Cat's-Paw, by E. P. Berglund - An excellent Shub Niggurath story, with well-drawn characters and enjoyable prose. It held up the high standards of the anthology.
The Faces at Pine Dunes, by Ramsey Campbell - Ramsay Campbell - what can I say- it was a wonderful story. I just wish Mr. Campbell would write some new mythos stuff. Also, it is reprinted from other anthologies.
Dagon's Mistress, by Neil Riebe - This story was only fair, with a conventional mythos plot that had an unusually upbeat turn. Mainly the prose didn't grab me, and the ending didn't ring true for a mythos collection.
The Thing on the Doorstep, by H. P. Lovecraft - Of course, one of HPL's best, so marvelous. However, I counted and I have a zillion other copies in collections I already own. Reduplicate duplication doubled.
The Prodigies of Monkfield Cabot, by Michael Minnis - An interesting take on The Thing on the Doorstep, being a prequel rather than a sequel. It was good, although the plot twists and prose did not sparkle as much as the best stories in here. Nonetheless, not out of place, and better than many stories in Chaosium anthologies. I will certainly get all the collections Lindisfarne publishes of Mr. Minnis' work.
Seduced, by Ronald Shiflet - Brilliant. Just brilliant. Plot, prose, characterization, all superb. One of the very best Shub Niggurath stories I have ever read. Bravo, Mr. Shiflet. I will run, not walk, to buy his collections on this label.
Stacked Actors, by Peter A. Worthy - Now this story gave me a bit of heartburn. I am a fan of Stross and of Delta Green, so I like the subgenre, but this just didn't do it for me. Per the author summaries I know Mr. Worthy is living in Scotland, but I don't know where he is originally from. However, there was no reason to believe this as a story occurring in England. None of the idiom rang true for me; it all seemed very American. Furthermore, the story was way too in medias res. It seemed over half the story was filling us in on background, instead of giving us exposition of the current plot. It also had a very lifted-from-an RPG-scenario feel in a way the best Delta Green does not. Maybe there was too much risk of DG overlap if set in the US? At any rate, if we visit these characters again I hope the emphasis is on the current story, with more attention to plotting and characterization than to setting the stage.
Have You Found Him, by Jean Ann Donnel - A well-written fragment, but too short to really grab me.
The Violet Princess, by Stephen Mark Rainey - A wonderful story by Mr. Rainey, as we all expect. The prose just captured the isolation and frustrated longing of the protagonist beautifully. And I loved the ending.
What Sort of Man, by Walter C. DeBill, Jr. - Another excellent story in an excellent collection, about a man whose family trades with aliens from Carcosa to acquire unusual antiques for their business. Anything I write might give away the plot, so I'll just say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Obsession of Percival Cairstairs, by Charles Black - OK conventional mythos story, predictable but not unenjoyable. Commits the sin of the italicized ending trying to add punch where better prose would have helped more. Not a bad story, certainly would have found a place in a Chaosium anthology.
A Mate For the Mutilator, by Robert M. Price - Price's fiction doesn't really grab me. I liked the plot idea, but the characters were not well developed, and the prose didn't match the best in the anthology. OK, not bad, just not the best I have ever read.
To Cast Out Fear, C. J. Henderson - An OK Anton Zardak story - not my favorite subgenre, but written about the level of Lin Carter, so a plus for fans.
The Surrogate, by Kevin L. O'Brien - Well, I wished I liked it better. Mr. O'Brien knows how to compile an anthology but his writing does not move me. First of all the prose wasn't that great. For example, would any prostitute, even in the Mile High City, ever refer to herself as a doxy? The characters were bland and undeveloped, so it was hard to care what happened to them. I also could not for the life of me figure out why the mother or the prostitute liked her son at all. There was no patina of horror to shade the whole story as is usually required for good mythos fiction, and there was nothing stated or implied that would show if the creature was controlling their minds to make them do its bidding. The prostitute at least should have been utterly numb with fear. And, frankly, Jim Ambuehl would have had her get eaten in a respectable mythos story ending creepfest.
So, I had a highly favorable impression of Eldritch Blue. A handsome production packed with new stories, for the most part extremely well written, with the best soaring to the highest heights of mythos fiction. Any fan would be well advised to spend their hard earned Cthulhu bucks on it.
December 23, 2025
I bought this POD collection quite a while ago and it seems to be out of print now (I did a quick check and there were no copies for sale as of posting this). I mention this because at the time this was published, the new Lindisfarne Press was burgeoning with all sorts of plans for books that are written throughout this book but never came to be. I'm not aware of the story of what happened but it gives the feeling of a book either haunted or part of some Mandela universe (even more so when the artwork looks like very dated and extremely weird early CGI assisted nudes). It looks like a collection of Walter C. DeBill's mythos work made it out and maybe one or two more, but Lindisfarne appeared to go down soon after with Mythos Books to follow later (who then also released a collection of DeBill's work, The Black Sutra). It reminds you what a niche interest Cthulhu mythos fiction was around the time and how tenuous every operation was until its resurgence years later.
Anyway, this is an anthology quite similar to those coming out around the same time as the Chaosium anthologues by Robert Price (who provides an introduction here) and a few others, where a theme is chosen, a sprinkling of previously released stories is added and then additional authors were chosen to fill it out. The result is not really quite as lurid as the title might lead to you to believe. Only a few stories are graphically sexual, most are really not, but it does (mostly) successfully tie love and sex to the Cthulhu Mythos. Like a lot of these anthologies, the space is largely taken up by capable but not particularly spectacular pastiches, a handful of things I didn't like much and then about five stories I would say are solid by Pierre Comtois, Randall Larson, Neil Riebe, DeBill and the author. Pride of place go to two stories, Lovecaft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" (which I'd find it hard to believe anyone coming to this book wouldn't have read already) and Stephen Mark Rainey's clever inverted fairy tale "The Violet Princess" (now in his collection Other Gods). Most of these stories can be found elsewhere now, only the Randall Larson (who appears to be more well known for his nonfiction horror contributions) and Neil Riebe (who appears to be more well known for his kaiju stories) stories seem to have gone uncollected, although I may just not be aware of any micropress collections.
So this is probably one for completists, I was starting to look into mythos stories in the early 00s so I managed to find a lot of these before they disappeared, but given most of the stories appearances elsewhere I'd only hunt for this one if you lean towards completism or mythos OCD.
Anyway, this is an anthology quite similar to those coming out around the same time as the Chaosium anthologues by Robert Price (who provides an introduction here) and a few others, where a theme is chosen, a sprinkling of previously released stories is added and then additional authors were chosen to fill it out. The result is not really quite as lurid as the title might lead to you to believe. Only a few stories are graphically sexual, most are really not, but it does (mostly) successfully tie love and sex to the Cthulhu Mythos. Like a lot of these anthologies, the space is largely taken up by capable but not particularly spectacular pastiches, a handful of things I didn't like much and then about five stories I would say are solid by Pierre Comtois, Randall Larson, Neil Riebe, DeBill and the author. Pride of place go to two stories, Lovecaft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" (which I'd find it hard to believe anyone coming to this book wouldn't have read already) and Stephen Mark Rainey's clever inverted fairy tale "The Violet Princess" (now in his collection Other Gods). Most of these stories can be found elsewhere now, only the Randall Larson (who appears to be more well known for his nonfiction horror contributions) and Neil Riebe (who appears to be more well known for his kaiju stories) stories seem to have gone uncollected, although I may just not be aware of any micropress collections.
So this is probably one for completists, I was starting to look into mythos stories in the early 00s so I managed to find a lot of these before they disappeared, but given most of the stories appearances elsewhere I'd only hunt for this one if you lean towards completism or mythos OCD.
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