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Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books
The Innsmouth Cycle: The Taint of the Deep Ones
Book by Lovecraft, H. P.
233 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1997
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227 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Price
405 books240 followersRobert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.
A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.
A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 4, 2020
An interesting anthologies that collects the tales that which influenced H.P Lovecraft "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" such as Robert W. Chambers "The Harbor-Master" and Fish Head by Irvin S. Cobb to stories and poetry inspired by his work such as " The Deep Ones" by James Wade and After Innsmo by Ann K. Schwader
July 24, 2021
By now, pretty much everyone who follows me knows that I am a massive fan of cosmic horror and Lovecraft (as a writer, not a person). As such, it will be no surprise that I have devoured yet another anthology dedicated to this genre.
The stories in this collection are dedicated to the mythology of Innsmouth and the Deep Ones; this includes the infamous "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft himself, as well as a couple of stories predating that legendary tale that provided inspiration for it.
I enjoyed all of these stories. They stuck close to the titular subject and introduced new ideas whilst also fleshing out old ones. I disliked certain concepts used - such as the idea that Lovecraft and his stories about Innsmouth and Cthulhu exist in the same universe as the events of those stories - but it is easy enough to overlook those in favour of the powerful stories I read.
Other than "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", a few favourites were "The Innsmouth Head", "Live Bait" and "Devil Reef".
I was perhaps less fond of the two James Wade entries in this collection - they didn't connect with me in the same way as the others - but that is not to say they are bad pieces of writing.
If you are a fan of Lovecraft, this is definitely one worth picking up, and it's also a good read if you want some creepy stories about humans turning into fish monsters.
All of these Chaosium editions also include introductions by Robert M. Price, as well as short editorial passages for each story that contextualise them and give his thoughts on how they relate to central themes. These are always entertaining to read.
I have to give this collection 5/5⭐. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.
Iä, iä, Cthulhu fhtagn.
The stories in this collection are dedicated to the mythology of Innsmouth and the Deep Ones; this includes the infamous "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft himself, as well as a couple of stories predating that legendary tale that provided inspiration for it.
I enjoyed all of these stories. They stuck close to the titular subject and introduced new ideas whilst also fleshing out old ones. I disliked certain concepts used - such as the idea that Lovecraft and his stories about Innsmouth and Cthulhu exist in the same universe as the events of those stories - but it is easy enough to overlook those in favour of the powerful stories I read.
Other than "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", a few favourites were "The Innsmouth Head", "Live Bait" and "Devil Reef".
I was perhaps less fond of the two James Wade entries in this collection - they didn't connect with me in the same way as the others - but that is not to say they are bad pieces of writing.
If you are a fan of Lovecraft, this is definitely one worth picking up, and it's also a good read if you want some creepy stories about humans turning into fish monsters.
All of these Chaosium editions also include introductions by Robert M. Price, as well as short editorial passages for each story that contextualise them and give his thoughts on how they relate to central themes. These are always entertaining to read.
I have to give this collection 5/5⭐. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.
Iä, iä, Cthulhu fhtagn.
December 26, 2024
Introduction: 4/5
Of Yogarneth-Lahai: 3/5
The Harbor-Master: 4/5
Fishhead: 3/5
The Shadow over Innsmouth: 5/5
The Deep Ones: 3/5
A Darker Shadow over Innsmouth: 2/5
The Innsmouth Head: 2/5
Innsmouth Gold: 4/5
Custos Sanctorum: 4/5
Rapture in Black: 3/5
Live Bait: 5/5
Devil Reef: 4/5
The Transition of Zadok Allen: 1/5
Three Poems: 3/5
Of Yogarneth-Lahai: 3/5
The Harbor-Master: 4/5
Fishhead: 3/5
The Shadow over Innsmouth: 5/5
The Deep Ones: 3/5
A Darker Shadow over Innsmouth: 2/5
The Innsmouth Head: 2/5
Innsmouth Gold: 4/5
Custos Sanctorum: 4/5
Rapture in Black: 3/5
Live Bait: 5/5
Devil Reef: 4/5
The Transition of Zadok Allen: 1/5
Three Poems: 3/5
January 23, 2024
A few months ago, I found myself in possession of a number of Chaosium’s Cthulhu Mythos anthologies edited by Robert Price. After going a blasphemously long time without reading much from them, I decided it would be fun to binge my way through one-by-one while doing comprehensive reviews of each.
We begin at tainted Innsmouth. The original story by HPL is a mixed bag for me. It is some of his stronger writing and often hailed as his “only action story.” (If you ignore a certain cephalopod being nailed in the head with a steamboat.) The story is indeed praiseworthy, but for many fans the evident undertone of xenophobia and racism has… tainted that legacy somewhat. Despite this, the fishing town remains the most publicized part of Lovecraft’s canon aside from old squid-beard himself. Going into this anthology, I’m very curious to see how modern writers approach this underlying thematic problem. That said, I will try not to over-inject the racial element into my singular story reviews unless it is especially relevant to my enjoyment or lack thereof.
Let’s begin:
Note: My numbered ratings are not supposed to be at all “objective.” I have no specific across-the-board measure that I hold literature to, and I’ve no interest in making one. These numbers are strictly here to compare the stories within the book to each other in terms of qualitative assessment. (i.e., A 9/10 for a story in The Innsmouth Cycle is not necessarily better than a 1/10 in The Nyarlathotep Cycle.) Stories that are especially different from their peers may not be ranked at all.
“Of Yoharneth-Lahai” by Lord Dunsany: I don’t have much to say about this entry. It is very short and more like a prose poem than a story. It describes one of Pegana’s many gods, who is responsible for bringing dreams at night. Eventually I will read The Complete Pegana and have better context for Dunsany’s writings, but for now all I can say is it has nothing to do with Innsmouth (other than Lovecraft borrowing some of the nonsense syllables).
“The Harbor Master” by Robert W. Chambers: What an unexpected prize! I have yet to read The King in Yellow, but this little story raised my anticipation for that venture a hundred-fold. It follows a man who is sent to investigate the alleged capture of a pair of extinct birds. He finds them, and something far more unusual. “Harbor Master” is charming, funny, and full of character (not to mention charming and funny characters). Frankly, it’s a breath of fresh air if you’ve spent a lot of time reading HP’s material and that of his imitators. I didn’t find it terribly scary, but I’ll take interesting over scary any day. The ending was rather weak, but other than that no complaints. An easy 8 out of 10.
“Fishhead” by Irvin Cobb: I have mixed feelings on this one. Cobb’s tale concerns a man with a fish-like visage, his unnatural behavior, and the hatred that both of these things attract. The racist elements of the story did put me off. The title character’s disfigurement is portrayed as the consequence of his mixed-race heritage. It is more ambiguous here than in most of HPL’s work how the racial aspect of the story is meant to be perceived. The antagonists are obviously bigoted, so maybe we are supposed to be on Fishhead’s side. Considering how emphasized his otherness is by the text though, I have trouble giving the author the benefit of a doubt. 3/10, not great but readable.
“The Shadow Over Innsmouth”: I don’t have much interest in reviewing HPL’s actual stories, especially the mainstream ones. It’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” If you are even thinking about buying this kind of compilation, you’ve already read it. And if you haven’t, you should. But you can do that for free online. Here’s your homework: If you want to know if you have any chance of enjoying this book, look up and read “The Shadow” first. That will tell you more than I ever could.
“The Deep Ones” by James Wade: This is a pretty straight forward modernized (for the 60s) reinterpretation of HPL’s style and structure. We trade out the landscape of arcane New England for decadent California, and the racism of the thirties and forties for the homophobia of the sixties. In this story, a researcher of parapsychology travels across the country to be a part of an eccentric scientist’s research into interspecies communication. Upon arrival he meets the scientists’ assistant, a woman with an odd appearance and a special relationship to a dolphin. “The Deep Ones” has many of Lovecraft’s strengths and weaknesses. The story overall is eerie and disturbing, but characters are deliberately flat and some of the Mythos references feel kinda forced. As a modern reader, I also can’t help being put off by the aforementioned homophobia and the characters’ tacit acceptance of sexual assault. I did enjoy the story, but it left me uncomfortable and not in the way a frightening tale is meant to. Arguably that makes Wade HP’s truest successor. 6/10.
“A Darker Shadow Over Innsmouth” by James Wade: Oh boy, just the palate cleanser I needed. If I read this story in isolation expecting a Lovecraftian yarn, I would be mightily pissed off. As an oddball within a collection of more conventional stories though, it is hilarious. To keep it short and spoiler-free, a man well versed in eldritch lore travels to Innsmouth only to encounter more contemporary evils. Definitely a worthy inclusion.
“The Innsmouth Head” by Franklyn Searight: Eh, it was alright. After an unusual fishing trip, a man brings home a trophy to put on his wall. The aquatic, hybrid head takes a supernatural hold over the man and begins to use him for nefarious ends. The story has a very Derleth view on the Mythos, which is not my cup of tea. It also has that issue where the principal characters know way too much about the world for anything to feel eldritch or arcane, but this is a problem that goes all the way back to Lovecraft himself. 4/10, it’s not bad I’m just not excited by it.
“Innsmouth Gold” by Henry J. Vester III: Now we’re getting into the good stuff. “Gold” is an excellent companion piece to “The Shadow” that compliments the original without retreading much of the same ground. A man comes into possession of a crown made with unrecognizable material, and covered in sinister art. For his find, he is dragged into the sinister rituals and conspiracies of Innsmouth. It is classically Lovecraft, and not in the way that makes me think the author is just rewriting HP’s old stories. The last third of story is faster paced than I would like, but other than that excellent. 8/10.
“Custos Sanctorum” by Roger Johnson: Possibly the best story here aside from “The Shadow.” Maybe tied with “Harbor Master.” Writing a story from the perspective of the monster is easy. Writing a story from the perspective of the monster that makes them sympathetic without contradicting the original is hard. This story is set in a town like Innsmouth, but with very different practices and history. Told in the form of letter, it details the process of a citizen from one Deep One-infected burg attempting to migrate to a sister township. Overall, it’s less of a horror story and more of a small-town politics story. 9/10.
“Rapture in Black” by Stephen Mark Rainey: Despite it having been written over thirty years ago, the modernity of this story gave me whiplash. Not that all the rest are old, but every story up to now seemed primarily influenced by Weird Tales. Rainey’s story is something different. Set in a modern city, “Rapture” follows normal people with normal concerns whose lives brush up against the edge of the eldritch and uncanny. It has a strikingly different tone from the previous stories, but I think this type of voice is important to any Innsmouth compilation trying to be comprehensive. 8/10.
“Live Bait” by Stanley C. Argent: There’s a trope that crops up very often in Cthulhu Mythos fiction, and typically I detest it. That is when Lovecraft’s stories somehow exist as public fiction in settings where they are also verifiably true. This is one such story, but I like it. Where in most instances this trope feels like a byproduct of laziness, a way in which characters can know just as much as the reader without having anything explained to them, here it gives the proceeding a feeling of surrealism. As the protagonist realizes just how accurate Lovecraft was, we drift further and further from the safe harbor of reality. An enjoyable experiment, 7/10.
“Devil Reef” by John Glasby: There’s nothing here to write home about. A thief hears about Innsmouth’s secret wealth and decides to pull a caper. It is exactly what you would expect, barring a sudden ending that had me rolling my eyes. This is the second story in this collection to abruptly introduce a certain infamous Old One with little fanfare or build up, and in my opinion, it makes the whole story seem cheap. 4/10.
“The Transition of Zadok Allen” by Lewis Theobald III: And now for the last full story, and the fifth one I won’t be giving a number rating. “Transition” is an oddball, a cross between fairy tale and biblical style. Essentially it is an epilogue to the original story that gives an ambiguous answer to what happened to the titular character. I kind of like it, but I could see people feeling another way.
Three poems: Poetry isn’t my speed generally, but I will give this my best shot. The first (“Shadow Over Innsmouth” by Virginia Anderson) is, I suppose, just a description of Innsmouth’s situation, if anything. I don’t like it, not only because it’s redundant, but also because the rhyme scheme feels random and annoying. The second (“Innsmouth-Dread City by the Sea” by R. Flavie Carson) explores the often-overlooked plight that Innsmouthers suffer beneath. A shadow, if you will. It has a unique angst to it and sounded good when I read the syllables under my breath (I love my ABBA rhyme scheme.) The third (“After Innsmouth” by Anna K. Schwader) is mostly a summary of the last act of “The Shadow.” That description may make the poem sound redundant in a compilation that includes the original fable, but I dig it. The rhymes and tempo are solid, Schwader has a very present poetic voice even synopsizing someone else’s work, and it just feels right to round up this anthology by revisiting the main themes of the original.
Final thoughts: I enjoyed this anthology more than I expected. Many short story collections have a problem where, similar to an album, they front load the quality work and then leave the last chunk of the book full of C-minuses and D-pluses. This book almost flips that, and the mostly chronological nature of the anthology creates a feeling of progression even though many of the stories aren’t linked to each other. Where the racism is concerned, I can’t say Innsmouth has left behind its original sin, but modern writers are definitely more capable of confronting the issue than HPL and his predecessors. For any hardcore Cthulhu fanboys, this is a worthy addition to your libraries. For those looking for an “in” either to the Innsmouth lore or the Mythos as a whole, this is a decent place to start (although I recommend you first read most of Lovecraft’s bibliography).
We begin at tainted Innsmouth. The original story by HPL is a mixed bag for me. It is some of his stronger writing and often hailed as his “only action story.” (If you ignore a certain cephalopod being nailed in the head with a steamboat.) The story is indeed praiseworthy, but for many fans the evident undertone of xenophobia and racism has… tainted that legacy somewhat. Despite this, the fishing town remains the most publicized part of Lovecraft’s canon aside from old squid-beard himself. Going into this anthology, I’m very curious to see how modern writers approach this underlying thematic problem. That said, I will try not to over-inject the racial element into my singular story reviews unless it is especially relevant to my enjoyment or lack thereof.
Let’s begin:
Note: My numbered ratings are not supposed to be at all “objective.” I have no specific across-the-board measure that I hold literature to, and I’ve no interest in making one. These numbers are strictly here to compare the stories within the book to each other in terms of qualitative assessment. (i.e., A 9/10 for a story in The Innsmouth Cycle is not necessarily better than a 1/10 in The Nyarlathotep Cycle.) Stories that are especially different from their peers may not be ranked at all.
“Of Yoharneth-Lahai” by Lord Dunsany: I don’t have much to say about this entry. It is very short and more like a prose poem than a story. It describes one of Pegana’s many gods, who is responsible for bringing dreams at night. Eventually I will read The Complete Pegana and have better context for Dunsany’s writings, but for now all I can say is it has nothing to do with Innsmouth (other than Lovecraft borrowing some of the nonsense syllables).
“The Harbor Master” by Robert W. Chambers: What an unexpected prize! I have yet to read The King in Yellow, but this little story raised my anticipation for that venture a hundred-fold. It follows a man who is sent to investigate the alleged capture of a pair of extinct birds. He finds them, and something far more unusual. “Harbor Master” is charming, funny, and full of character (not to mention charming and funny characters). Frankly, it’s a breath of fresh air if you’ve spent a lot of time reading HP’s material and that of his imitators. I didn’t find it terribly scary, but I’ll take interesting over scary any day. The ending was rather weak, but other than that no complaints. An easy 8 out of 10.
“Fishhead” by Irvin Cobb: I have mixed feelings on this one. Cobb’s tale concerns a man with a fish-like visage, his unnatural behavior, and the hatred that both of these things attract. The racist elements of the story did put me off. The title character’s disfigurement is portrayed as the consequence of his mixed-race heritage. It is more ambiguous here than in most of HPL’s work how the racial aspect of the story is meant to be perceived. The antagonists are obviously bigoted, so maybe we are supposed to be on Fishhead’s side. Considering how emphasized his otherness is by the text though, I have trouble giving the author the benefit of a doubt. 3/10, not great but readable.
“The Shadow Over Innsmouth”: I don’t have much interest in reviewing HPL’s actual stories, especially the mainstream ones. It’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” If you are even thinking about buying this kind of compilation, you’ve already read it. And if you haven’t, you should. But you can do that for free online. Here’s your homework: If you want to know if you have any chance of enjoying this book, look up and read “The Shadow” first. That will tell you more than I ever could.
“The Deep Ones” by James Wade: This is a pretty straight forward modernized (for the 60s) reinterpretation of HPL’s style and structure. We trade out the landscape of arcane New England for decadent California, and the racism of the thirties and forties for the homophobia of the sixties. In this story, a researcher of parapsychology travels across the country to be a part of an eccentric scientist’s research into interspecies communication. Upon arrival he meets the scientists’ assistant, a woman with an odd appearance and a special relationship to a dolphin. “The Deep Ones” has many of Lovecraft’s strengths and weaknesses. The story overall is eerie and disturbing, but characters are deliberately flat and some of the Mythos references feel kinda forced. As a modern reader, I also can’t help being put off by the aforementioned homophobia and the characters’ tacit acceptance of sexual assault. I did enjoy the story, but it left me uncomfortable and not in the way a frightening tale is meant to. Arguably that makes Wade HP’s truest successor. 6/10.
“A Darker Shadow Over Innsmouth” by James Wade: Oh boy, just the palate cleanser I needed. If I read this story in isolation expecting a Lovecraftian yarn, I would be mightily pissed off. As an oddball within a collection of more conventional stories though, it is hilarious. To keep it short and spoiler-free, a man well versed in eldritch lore travels to Innsmouth only to encounter more contemporary evils. Definitely a worthy inclusion.
“The Innsmouth Head” by Franklyn Searight: Eh, it was alright. After an unusual fishing trip, a man brings home a trophy to put on his wall. The aquatic, hybrid head takes a supernatural hold over the man and begins to use him for nefarious ends. The story has a very Derleth view on the Mythos, which is not my cup of tea. It also has that issue where the principal characters know way too much about the world for anything to feel eldritch or arcane, but this is a problem that goes all the way back to Lovecraft himself. 4/10, it’s not bad I’m just not excited by it.
“Innsmouth Gold” by Henry J. Vester III: Now we’re getting into the good stuff. “Gold” is an excellent companion piece to “The Shadow” that compliments the original without retreading much of the same ground. A man comes into possession of a crown made with unrecognizable material, and covered in sinister art. For his find, he is dragged into the sinister rituals and conspiracies of Innsmouth. It is classically Lovecraft, and not in the way that makes me think the author is just rewriting HP’s old stories. The last third of story is faster paced than I would like, but other than that excellent. 8/10.
“Custos Sanctorum” by Roger Johnson: Possibly the best story here aside from “The Shadow.” Maybe tied with “Harbor Master.” Writing a story from the perspective of the monster is easy. Writing a story from the perspective of the monster that makes them sympathetic without contradicting the original is hard. This story is set in a town like Innsmouth, but with very different practices and history. Told in the form of letter, it details the process of a citizen from one Deep One-infected burg attempting to migrate to a sister township. Overall, it’s less of a horror story and more of a small-town politics story. 9/10.
“Rapture in Black” by Stephen Mark Rainey: Despite it having been written over thirty years ago, the modernity of this story gave me whiplash. Not that all the rest are old, but every story up to now seemed primarily influenced by Weird Tales. Rainey’s story is something different. Set in a modern city, “Rapture” follows normal people with normal concerns whose lives brush up against the edge of the eldritch and uncanny. It has a strikingly different tone from the previous stories, but I think this type of voice is important to any Innsmouth compilation trying to be comprehensive. 8/10.
“Live Bait” by Stanley C. Argent: There’s a trope that crops up very often in Cthulhu Mythos fiction, and typically I detest it. That is when Lovecraft’s stories somehow exist as public fiction in settings where they are also verifiably true. This is one such story, but I like it. Where in most instances this trope feels like a byproduct of laziness, a way in which characters can know just as much as the reader without having anything explained to them, here it gives the proceeding a feeling of surrealism. As the protagonist realizes just how accurate Lovecraft was, we drift further and further from the safe harbor of reality. An enjoyable experiment, 7/10.
“Devil Reef” by John Glasby: There’s nothing here to write home about. A thief hears about Innsmouth’s secret wealth and decides to pull a caper. It is exactly what you would expect, barring a sudden ending that had me rolling my eyes. This is the second story in this collection to abruptly introduce a certain infamous Old One with little fanfare or build up, and in my opinion, it makes the whole story seem cheap. 4/10.
“The Transition of Zadok Allen” by Lewis Theobald III: And now for the last full story, and the fifth one I won’t be giving a number rating. “Transition” is an oddball, a cross between fairy tale and biblical style. Essentially it is an epilogue to the original story that gives an ambiguous answer to what happened to the titular character. I kind of like it, but I could see people feeling another way.
Three poems: Poetry isn’t my speed generally, but I will give this my best shot. The first (“Shadow Over Innsmouth” by Virginia Anderson) is, I suppose, just a description of Innsmouth’s situation, if anything. I don’t like it, not only because it’s redundant, but also because the rhyme scheme feels random and annoying. The second (“Innsmouth-Dread City by the Sea” by R. Flavie Carson) explores the often-overlooked plight that Innsmouthers suffer beneath. A shadow, if you will. It has a unique angst to it and sounded good when I read the syllables under my breath (I love my ABBA rhyme scheme.) The third (“After Innsmouth” by Anna K. Schwader) is mostly a summary of the last act of “The Shadow.” That description may make the poem sound redundant in a compilation that includes the original fable, but I dig it. The rhymes and tempo are solid, Schwader has a very present poetic voice even synopsizing someone else’s work, and it just feels right to round up this anthology by revisiting the main themes of the original.
Final thoughts: I enjoyed this anthology more than I expected. Many short story collections have a problem where, similar to an album, they front load the quality work and then leave the last chunk of the book full of C-minuses and D-pluses. This book almost flips that, and the mostly chronological nature of the anthology creates a feeling of progression even though many of the stories aren’t linked to each other. Where the racism is concerned, I can’t say Innsmouth has left behind its original sin, but modern writers are definitely more capable of confronting the issue than HPL and his predecessors. For any hardcore Cthulhu fanboys, this is a worthy addition to your libraries. For those looking for an “in” either to the Innsmouth lore or the Mythos as a whole, this is a decent place to start (although I recommend you first read most of Lovecraft’s bibliography).
January 25, 2015
One of my favorite Lovecraft stories is "Shadow over Innsmouth," so I'm a little disappointed in this volume of pastiches and sequels (for the record, my favorite volume in this series remains _The Hastur Cycle_, which really concerns Robert Chambers's _Yellow Sign_ stories more than any Lovecraftian material). Editor Price applies his usual erudite knowledge of anthropology, religion, and literature to the volume and the individual stories and poems, and some of the later works (particularly "Live Bait") are quite good. However, most of the stories included here merely retread Lovecraft's tale in slightly different circumstances or with slightly different characters. I think this is so because Lovecraft's original story is one of the few that does not lend itself to a more Mythos-focused treatment by other authors; although Cthulhu is mentioned briefly, the story is mainly concerned with the Deep Ones and their interbreeding with humans, a limited scope for other writers to work with and make their own (not to mention that the entire issue of interbreeding raises some rather unsavory racist connotations that have grown out of favor in American society lately, thank Heaven). Even the two pieces included that display where Lovecraft got the name Y'ha-nthlei (a short plotless piece by Lord Dunsany), the idea for the Deep Ones morphology (a less-than-perfect Robert Chambers story called "The Harbor Master"), and the "Innsmouth look" (a horrible story called "Fish Head") are less than engaging. Readers interested in Mythos fiction can safely skip this volume (unless, like me, you're a completeist about this sort of thing... :) ).
April 20, 2010
Really I would give this book 4 1/2 stars for the sheer entertainment factor.The stories,by and large,are well written and touch on some of the unknowns that I have read over the course of many books about Innsmouth.
The first part of the book starts with Lord Dunsany and Robert Chambers to give an idea of what was out there being written before Lovecraft came on the scene.Also there was a story by Irvin S. Cobb that nicely describes the 'fish-faced' critters that inundate Innsmouth.
We then have Lovecrafts' story which I have to say is one of my favorites by him.
Then we are on to the meat of the book with stories by James Wade x 2,Frank Searight,Henry Vester,Roger Johnson,Stephen Rainy,Stanley Sargent,John Glasby and Lewis Theobald.
The book even ends up explaining what ever happened to Zadock Allen with a happy ending to boot.
Overall I was very satisfied and did not find a single story that I didn't like which is unusual for me and anthologies.It may have helped that there was only 13 stories in the book but the editor did a fine job in picking stories for clarity of point and interest in what is beyond Lovecrafts' story.
The first part of the book starts with Lord Dunsany and Robert Chambers to give an idea of what was out there being written before Lovecraft came on the scene.Also there was a story by Irvin S. Cobb that nicely describes the 'fish-faced' critters that inundate Innsmouth.
We then have Lovecrafts' story which I have to say is one of my favorites by him.
Then we are on to the meat of the book with stories by James Wade x 2,Frank Searight,Henry Vester,Roger Johnson,Stephen Rainy,Stanley Sargent,John Glasby and Lewis Theobald.
The book even ends up explaining what ever happened to Zadock Allen with a happy ending to boot.
Overall I was very satisfied and did not find a single story that I didn't like which is unusual for me and anthologies.It may have helped that there was only 13 stories in the book but the editor did a fine job in picking stories for clarity of point and interest in what is beyond Lovecrafts' story.
April 5, 2020
Interesting collection including the source stories for HPL's original and and 8 subsequent stories set around the Innsmouth mythology. Some take the location elsewhere; some take the story into times after the end of HPL's story, one is set around the same time. I found them all enjoyable.
October 26, 2017
If I were a Deep One…. glub glub. :D
This was such a welcoming breath of fresh air after some of the eye rolling moments of Winter Tide. Some of these stories even managed to present the point of view of more benign Deep Ones without taking away the eerie atmosphere of most Weird Fiction stories or completely turning them into helpless victims. Robert M Price’s “The Transition of Zadok Allen” was a delightful example of this, with poetic prose and dialogue that reminded me of the Bible (given Price’s background, I can’t stay I’m surprised). I love that epic fantastical style.
I’ll always love Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, and it was a delight to read here again with the lens of insightful commentary provided by Price’s introduction. Reading the precursor stories by Lord Dunsany and Irvin S. Cobb were entertaining as well as informative. Chamber’s “Harbormaster” was unfortunately less so; it builds up well and then kind of falls on its face.
I think that’s one of the best things about these Chaosium Cycle books: they’re good collections of all of some of the most relevant stories surrounding a Mythos monster/place. You get all of the stories that likely inspired Lovecraft, and then some of the most relevant stories that were created based around Lovecraft’s own story. And to help save a lot of these stories from disappearing forever in obscure out of print fanzines.
Some of my other favorites included Custos Sanctorum, Darker Shadow Over Innsmouth, Live Bait, Devil Reef, Innsmouth Gold, and After Innsmouth…. Needless to say, I basically loved the entire collection (with the biggest miss for me being Wades’ The Deep Ones, which seems to be a minority opinion).
This was overall a really strong anthology and highly recommended for fans of the Cycle series and Deep Ones.
This was such a welcoming breath of fresh air after some of the eye rolling moments of Winter Tide. Some of these stories even managed to present the point of view of more benign Deep Ones without taking away the eerie atmosphere of most Weird Fiction stories or completely turning them into helpless victims. Robert M Price’s “The Transition of Zadok Allen” was a delightful example of this, with poetic prose and dialogue that reminded me of the Bible (given Price’s background, I can’t stay I’m surprised). I love that epic fantastical style.
I’ll always love Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, and it was a delight to read here again with the lens of insightful commentary provided by Price’s introduction. Reading the precursor stories by Lord Dunsany and Irvin S. Cobb were entertaining as well as informative. Chamber’s “Harbormaster” was unfortunately less so; it builds up well and then kind of falls on its face.
I think that’s one of the best things about these Chaosium Cycle books: they’re good collections of all of some of the most relevant stories surrounding a Mythos monster/place. You get all of the stories that likely inspired Lovecraft, and then some of the most relevant stories that were created based around Lovecraft’s own story. And to help save a lot of these stories from disappearing forever in obscure out of print fanzines.
Some of my other favorites included Custos Sanctorum, Darker Shadow Over Innsmouth, Live Bait, Devil Reef, Innsmouth Gold, and After Innsmouth…. Needless to say, I basically loved the entire collection (with the biggest miss for me being Wades’ The Deep Ones, which seems to be a minority opinion).
This was overall a really strong anthology and highly recommended for fans of the Cycle series and Deep Ones.
May 28, 2025
The Robert-Price-edited, Chaosium-published Call of Cthulhu fiction series takes to the shadow-haunted streets of Lovecraft’s abode of the Deep Ones and their semi-human kin. This volume follows what is turning out to be a familiar pattern for many of the volumes in the set: lead off with some of the stories that inspired (or may have inspired) the central tale, insert Lovecraft’s opus, and then follow up with several variations on the theme. This time around nearly all of the entries are worth a look. I admit I wasn’t fond of one of the pre-Lovecraft tales, an unpleasant, trite little bit of racist crud called “Fishhead,” though Lovecraft’s explicit mention of it in his own work suggests that including it was a good idea for scholarly rather than aesthetic reasons. Other than that, though, fans of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” should thoroughly enjoy what most of the authors herein included have done with the icthyous, batrachian horrors from beneath the waves.
July 7, 2014
The Innsmouth Cycle is my favorite so far in the Chaosium "Cycle" series of books. While it is still plagued by typos (to a lesser degree than many in the series) as well as Robert Price's Spoiler-iffic introductions to each story, this collection has some genuinely surprising twists, exciting new views on a theme that can easily become pastiche, and was just generally a truly enjoyable read.
Of special note were "Live Bait", "The Harbor Master", and "The Deep Ones".
Of special note were "Live Bait", "The Harbor Master", and "The Deep Ones".
June 21, 2016
Henry J. Vester's "Innsmouth Gold" alone is worth the price of this anthology. That is absolutely one of my all-time favorite Innsmouth stories and felt like it could have been written by Lovecraft himself. Vester does a fantastic job evoking the menace and mystery surrounding everyone's favorite decaying backwater and puts his own spin on erudite Lovecraftian prose with bits of light humor. "Custos Sanctorum" is also a great alternate POV.
October 10, 2012
My favorite Lovecraftian story collection yet.
February 12, 2016
A collection of stories based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. These are, to me, only slightly better than the original Lovecraft stories. Just not a fan of his writings. Not recommended
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