Weird Fiction discussion

Wow! We're going all in on H. P. Lovecraft and Lovecraft's world this summer. Personally, I'm perfectly okay with that. No other writer ever has had a greater effect on our genre. Still, one has to set one's expectations to properly enjoy Lovecraft, I think. If one does, it truly is possible, for almost anyone.

With Lovecraft, or more accurately Lovecraft-like work, such as we will be reading in this anthology, normal fictional elements of dialog or quick moving action become less important as story-telling techniques. Mood, ambiance, setting, sophisticated word choices and sentence constructions, things like this that are normally in a story's background, move into the foreground, become another focal point of the story. That's not to say traditional story devices such as plot and dramatic action are ignored or non-existent. They certainly aren't; but they're no longer the only aspect a reader is expected to pat attention to or that are provided for reader appreciation. Atmosphere, world setting, and situation become equally important. Strange things from alien worlds that aren't entirely or rationally explained (at any point in the story) enter into and slowly take over the plot as their consequences become fully realized.

Lovecraft's technique isn't traditional story-telling and takes some adjusting to in order to appreciate. I find the best way to start out with a Lovecraft, or Lovecraft-like story, is to simply try, before starting it, to clear my mind regarding any and all story expectations to the greatest extent I possibly can. It's best, I think, just to read the words on the page one by one, to let them wash over one. One needn't worry about understanding everything that happens on this first reading. Just experience the story. If one gets to the end, and finds enjoyment in some aspects of the story, enough of what happened was no doubt picked up enough for a story reread to be fruitful. For me, the reread goes about 50% quicker because I can fly by the easier parts, slowing only to dwell on the harder parts, the ones I hardly understood at all on the first read, but that on the second become much clearer and now richer for the tapestry of the entire story. These parts typically have the longer paragraphs, richer word choices, and convey the more abstract thoughts of the narrator. The reread is the time to slow down and appreciate the complexity and beauty of the expressions and the thoughts they convey, but only those few sections that may have been confusing on the initial read.

This method works best for me, but admittedly requires some commitment. Reading a story twice to fully appreciate it isn't for everyone. Other fans of Lovecraft no doubt have other methods that work best for them depending on the ways their mind is constructed.

There are a lot of stories in this collection, so many of which have themselves become classics in our genre, or are on their way to becoming so. To do them justice requires two full months, minimum, I think. Add to that, we in the Lovecraft group are reading Lovecraft's two longest published works, a novel and novalla these two months. Spreading this work out over two months is more than sufficiently ambitious.

Let's begin our discussion next week, July 1, or slightly later, shall we? The July 4 weekend is a perfect time to start this collection. Well, for we Americans anyway, because it's a long weekend for us. We began our fight for independence (or committed treason, if you're of many of my Loyalist ancestors' perspective) 246 years ago--began it officially and in earnest that is. I am so glad my work schedule lightens drastically for all of July and the first half of August. Otherwise, I doubt I could keep up!

The following are the contents of the anthology (thank you, ISFDB.org). You might notice about half the entries are short stories (<7,500 words) while the other half are novelettes (long short stories, I think of them: 7,500 to 17,500 words).

ix • Introduction (The Book of Cthulhu) • essay by Ross E. Lockhart
1 • Andromeda Among the Stones • [Dandridge Cycle] • (2003) • novelette by Caitlín R. Kiernan (3.5)
27 • The Tugging • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1976) • novelette by Ramsey Campbell (3.5)
51 • A Colder War • (2000) • novelette by Charles Stross (2)
81 • The Unthinkable • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1991) • short story by Bruce Sterling (2)
87 • Flash Frame • (2011) • short story by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (3)
95 • Some Buried Memory • short story by W. H. Pugmire (1)
103 • The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins • [Ivybridge Twins] • (2011) • short story by Molly Tanzer (4)
125 • Fat Face • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1987) • novelette by Michael Shea (1.5)
149 • Shoggoths In Bloom • (2008) • novelette by Elizabeth Bear
169 • Black Man with a Horn • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1980) • novelette by T. E. D. Klein
205 • Than Curse the Darkness • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1980) • novelette by David Drake
227 • Jeroboam Henley's Debt • (1982) • short story by Charles R. Saunders
239 • Nethescurial • (1991) • short story by Thomas Ligotti
251 • Calamari Curls • (2006) • short story by Kage Baker
263 • Jihad Over Innsmouth • (2007) • short story by Edward R. Morris [as by Edward Morris]
277 • Bad Sushi • (2007) • novelette by Cherie Priest
293 • The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife • short fiction by John Hornor Jacobs
299 • The Doom That Came to Innsmouth • (1999) • novelette by Brian McNaughton
325 • Lost Stars • (2003) • short story by Ann K. Schwader
349 • The Oram County Whoosit • (2008) • novelette by Steve Duffy
381 • The Crawling Sky • [Reverend Jedidiah Mercer] • (2009) • novelette by Joe R. Lansdale
403 • The Fairground Horror • (1976) • novelette by Brian Lumley
435 • Cinderlands • (2010) • short story by Tim Pratt
443 • Lord of the Land • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1990) • novelette by Gene Wolfe
459 • To Live and Die in Arkham • (2010) • short fiction by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
469 • The Shallows • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (2010) • novelette by John Langan
489 • The Men from Porlock • [The Children of Old Leech] • short fiction by Laird Barron

Hopefully I’ll read the stories in this book by this weekend.

Some of the stories I’ve read before and I’m interested in what others think, because I’ve come across differences in opinion.

In another discussion group a person thought highly of “Black Man With A Horn”, as do I, but didn’t care for “The Events of Porath Farm” by T.E.D Kline also. I think highly of both stories.

In another now defunct group a member didn’t care for T.E.D Kline at all, although his tastes are similar to mine in other respects.

I liked “A Colder War” which is like a sequel to At The Mountains of Madness, and can be found online.

“ Nethescurial“ by Ligotti is a good choice for this volume, I think.

“The Men From Polock” by Laird Barron is another good choice.

The last two stories I mentioned are cosmic horror without rote imitation of Lovecraft.

Thanks for the update Ronald. I just checked the tracking on my order and learned it has reached the USPS facility about 30 miles from me. I should be seeing the book hopefully before Monday.

There sure are some big name writers in this anthology. Looking at my table of contents list in message 2, the two I'm most looking forward to reading are the Silvia Moreno-Garcia story (I have heard a lot about her, but not yet read anything she wrote) and the Gene Wolfe story (he is in a lot of anthologies and never disappoints). I nominated a T.E.D. Klein collection last month, but it got outvoted by this anthology. Now I'll get a chance to see if I like his writing. I've heard of most of the other authors, probably read something or another by half of them previously, but nothing specific comes to mind. That will no doubt change once I start reading them and remembering their style.

My copy arrived Saturday. I read the first story already, the novelette (was it really that long) by Caitlín R. Kiernan titled "Andromeda Among the Stones." I count myself fortunate to have viewed the television series The Outer Range starring Josh Brolin a few months back before reading this story. The series helps me understand features of the hole in the ground we also find surprisingly here in this earlier story. (For those who have seen the series and who struggle to define weird fiction to friends, this series is a perfect example you can give them. Notice how it's not strictly speaking science fiction, fantasy, or horror, but has elements of all three, and how much is left unexplained. Perfect weird fiction!)

This was my first exposure to Caitlín R. Kiernan's work. I liked her story here, but there was much I didn't really get that affected the stakes. I see that this is the third of a cycle of stories she wrote. It seems to me an odd decision to print this story in isolation from the first two and can't help wondering if the story might have been clearer had I read the earlier two stories first. Still, this story can stand well enough in isolation, I suppose.

It's about a woman in an unusual family all of whom have unclearly defined supernatural powers. She sees events in time from a broad perspective(view spoiler)[, in paricular the advent of World War I, which is brought about in part by some gates deep under water being neglected (hide spoiler)]. There's some really interesting writing here that's deep and well crafted.

The second story, "The Tugging", another novelette, this time by Ramsey Campbell. This was also my second time reading Ramsey Campbell. One of his novels was the group read for the Literary Horror group last year, upon my nomination if I am not mistaken. This novelette was a lot like the novel of his I read. Lots is taking place under the surface. So it takes a long time for Campbell to set a situation up. Reading a Campbell work therefore requires more patience than is normal. But as in the novel, Campbell doesn't ultimately disappoint. The build up always goes somewhere and you're glad by the end of the ride you came along.

Here, a protagonist is having dream visions that correspond to more in reality than he initially realizes. Then he discovers family members have been withholding key information he needs in order to effectively deal with a dangerous situation. There is great suspense by the end as we wonder if he can possibly handle the menaces.

Like the first story, this one gets 3.5 stars from me. I like it more than a little, but not enough to let's say hunt down others in the series, if there were one, or purposefully seek out more Campbell to read.

I'm going to take a short break from this anthology. I just noticed the author of the first story, Caitlín R. Kiernan, has another story, "Alabaster", in another anthology I began reading last month, The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons. I want to compare that story to "Andromeda Among the Stones."

"Andromeda Among the Stones" by Caitlín R. Kiernan.

A family uses supernatural means to keep evil beings at bay. The daughter saves the world.

This is the second story I've read by Caitlín R. Kiernan. The other story I read quoted the writer of anomalies, Charles Fort. Which I think is cool, considering that she is a published paleontologist (source: Wikipedia). I think this story has Forteanism too, such as the casual mention of books on Atlantis.

3.5 stars

Finally, got a start on this collection and finished the first story. Can someone please explain [spoiler] what the old man Machen actually do to cause the WWI or anything whatsoever other than choosing to settle over the eldritch hole and thus connecting his and his family's lives to that wretched threshold? [/spoiler]

I’ve been thinking about Zina’s question. My thoughts: this is a story that doesn’t spell everything out. I conjecture that an error in a magical operation by Machen let loose evil in the world.
This character has similarities with the writer Arthur Machen besides the name. Arthur Machen’s first wife died, although I don’t know if Arthur Machen had offspring. Arthur Magen was into the occult—he was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Arthur Machen was alive during WWI.

I think I may have a different understanding than Ronald. The following is my interpretation of the story, placed in spoiler tags, which begin and end with symbols < and >, not [ and ], in order to protect those who have not read the story. Serious spoilers abound behind the following tags. I recommend reading the story for yourself before reading my take on it.

(view spoiler)[ In this Kiernan story, as in the television series Outer Range (starring Josh Brolin), there are portals, rifts or tears really, forming bottomless-seeming holes that go into our world that allow demons to come in from another world. The most important of these portals is a rift or tear in the bottom of an ocean somewhere. The portals are kept closed by gates which the Dandridge women have power over because they wield the keys that can keep these gates closed. The men can't do this for reasons not explained. However, the men can see what is happening, what the demons who come through portals left open are doing in our world, perhaps better than the women can.

The father, Machen Dandridge, sees clearly enough. He saw the signs of WW I coming as far back as 1889, but he didn't want to face it. Maybe due to cowardice. Maybe due to underestimation of the danger. "World war?" he thinks. "Napoleon's conquests could have been so termed as well, but Napoleon was dealt with, and his activities didn't spell the end of the world. What could possibly come that would be any worse?"

Machen's son, Avery, a 20th rather than 19th century figure, saw and tried to warn Machen and the other family members. The women took Avery seriously, but Machen put Avery's visions down, imprisoned him, refused to really believe him. The rest of the family could not convince Machen he was making a grievous mistake.

When the Dandridges finally saw the danger in 1914 and admitted there was truly a big problem, it was too late. The mother went ahead and died in order to take the key and try to close the gate. She wanted to try on the gate at the bottom of the ocean, but Machen knew it was useless and buried her in the ground instead. The demons had already come in through the portal and set the final events in motion. The assassination in Sarajevo. The mobilization of troops in Prussia, the Austrians, and then the Germans under the Kaiser.

The issue was only resolved by Meredith's sacrifice at the mother's behest when Meredith used the key to close the gate at the bottom of the ocean. Remember, only women could use the key to hold the line (keep the gate closed). At the end, only Machen was left alive to know what had happened and to live with the knowledge of his failure. (hide spoiler)]

I admit, I'm reading quite a bit into the story. Kiernan doesn't state things as baldly as I do. But I can defend my interpretation from what the text says. This is how I made sense of what I read in any event. I think Kiernan could have stated things more clearly in her novelette herself. Her failure to do so is the main reason I give the story a 3.5 rather than the 4 or more I would otherwise give it had she been more direct in its telling.

I think Dan’s interpretation is better than my initial conjecture.
Machen did make an error. But it was not an error in a magical operation but an error in judgment.

I went on to read the next two stories: "A Colder War" a novelette by Charles Stross, and "The Unthinkable" by Bruce Sterling. I wasn't impressed by either story, both about the Cold War, and give them both just two stars.

I approached the Charles Stross story with dread, frankly. I have tried to read his Accelerando twice, both times DNFing it for being plotless technical gobbldy-gook, a hard SF reader's dream book. And this novel is considered Stross's masterpiece. At least I got through this novelette. It lacks a plot and antagonists, but does have a nominal protagonist, Roger Jourgensen, who is introduced in the first two words of the story.

The words that follow after those two basically describe snapshots of scenes taken from Roger's memories. These scenes depict what Stross must think is cool, secret government stuff like classified intelligence reports with codewords on them to compartmentalize the information, you know, keep it super secret and all. The author name drops agencies like the National Security Agency (he of course gives it its fun nickname The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization based on idiotic "research" by James Bamford). He also mentions the "super secret" National Reconaissance Office, so secret they have their own government website where they say exactly what they do. Stross just name drops with no regard to trying to create a story. Tabloid-like sensationalism of that era proves only that Stross read at least one Tom Clancy novel too many. Names like Col. Ollie North, his secretary Fawn, and Admiral Poindexter all feature. So does Ronnie Reagan. Color me bored to tears. I lived through this time period and didn't understand the interest and sensationalism over intelligence matters then. I sure don't twenty or forty long years later see any value in trying to resurrect this truly uninteresting stuff. It's ancient history.

The Bruce Sterling story is just like the Stross story with its only added virtue being that it's shorter, just eight pages. It is about the Cold War too, a subject I don't enjoy, having lived through and participated in it. Soviet spies in America are playing chess and cards and contemplating their futures as the Cold War comes to an end. Again, there is no real plot, some oblique references to radiation creating strange creatures, a bit of name dropping, the end.

Dan wrote: "I'm going to take a short break from this anthology. I just noticed the author of the first story, Caitlín R. Kiernan, has another story, "Alabaster", in another anthology I began reading last month, The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons I want to compare that story to "Andromeda Among the Stones.""

"Alabaster" was okay, but I clearly came into the middle of a series. Add that to the fact that Kiernan has a style of going around what she's trying to say, and the story, interesting as the setting--backwoods Georgia--and premise--angel commanding the protagonist--was, the plot and the goal was still hard to pin down. That all leaves me still very unsure about Kiernan's writing. (I therefore decided to pull my literary horror nomination of a Kiernan work for next month.)

Onwards in this month's The Book of Cthulhu. So has anyone ever read Silvia Moreno-Garcia? This anthology was published some years ago. I thought she was a rather recent phenomenon. I'm surprised to see her feature in this relatively older collection.

"The Tugging" by Ramsay Campbell

The story has Lovecraftian elements such as dreams, secret library, cults, cosmic phenomenon. In plot driven stories, the protagonist deals with a problem. The problem investigated by the protagonist in this story is to determine if a planet which entered our solar system will bring about the apocalypse.

The story also exhibits the author's style: depictions of decaying urban areas.

I didn't like the ending though.

3.5 stars

Ronald wrote: ""The Tugging" by Ramsay Campbell

The story has Lovecraftian elements such as dreams, secret library, cults, cosmic phenomenon. In plot driven stories, the protagonist deals with a problem. The pro..."

I like your synopsis here. One thing we both forgot to mention about Campbell's writing.... man, there is no mistaking what country his story is set in, is there?

Stories aren't equally good, are they now? About 47 % done there.

I'm resuming reading this anthology now. The Silvia Moreno-Garcia short story was okay. I admit, I didn't care for it at all after my first reading. That's because I didn't understand it. I went at it again and paid more attention the second time. It's a subtle story with a lot happening under the surface. Very original stuff! It was about secret meetings taking place in a porno theater in 1970s Mexico. I liked how we the audience never really knew what was going on there and how the story concluded with us still not really knowing, yet knowing enough. That was a brave authorial choice, but she made it work. I will have to read more of her stuff some time.

I am not even halfway done and I agree that the story quality is very uneven.

"The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins" by Molly Tanzer is my favorite story in the volume so far. It's clear this author put a lot of work into writing it. It's about a set of twins born to a mother who wanted to love her children. But these kids just aren't right. Yes, this theme has been to death. But there were some neat, unexpected twists here I won't spoil that made the story a fun read.

The latest story so far for me, "Fat Face" by Michael Shea was highly disappointing. The protagonist was a prostitute named Patti, which is unusual and not a bad start. But I could not figure out what she was trying to accomplish, other than throw some guy she named Fat Face a free pity screw. I also could not figure out who the antagonist was and what Patti was trying to overcome. This story was sold seperately under ISBN 9780939879137. If you see the fourteen positive reviews on Amazon for it, you can quickly reach the conclusion I missed something here. Maybe I'll go back and give the story another go one day.

I'm disappointed that none of these stories have editorial introductions. The editor, Ross E. Lockhart, pictured on our group homepage this summer, didn't even list the anthology authors at the end and maybe write a couple sentences about each of them. All he gives us is a bunch of randomly ordered stories in a book. This is no way to edit an anthology!

Anyway, I went up to message two just now and edited it to give each story I have read so far my personal rating before I forget the stories' qualities.

Dan wrote: "I am not even halfway done and I agree that the story quality is very uneven.

"The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins" by Molly Tanzer is my favorite story in the volume so ..."
I should have recorded my thoughts story by story too! The Twins story was pretty neat, very stylish and twisty. The Fat face I actually sorta liked. It reminded me of several Doctor Who episodes, and surely these *things* would fit the show. And also Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith (where Tiffany stepped into a dance she shouldn't have and had to spend much effort dealing with the consequences). Silly girl Patti got a whimsical desire to get acquainted closer with some pathetic fat man and steps where she shouldn't have. All in good B-movies level horror-fun.
I wonder what you make of the rest of the stories. I love your thoughtful reviews.

The T. E. D. Klein novelette, "Black Man with a Horn" (1980) really slowed me down. It wasn't bad, just very slow developing and subtle. A man on an airplane ride meets a missionary returning from Malaysia who encountered and unwittingly unleashed a major supernatural menace that seems like Cthulhu invading from another dimension.

The story takes long to get anywhere and much happens off-screen and thus only gets hinted at. I know part of Lovecraft's aesthetic was to not feature too directly menaces. But this story takes that aesthetic to another level and not really to advantage. Klein is clearly a good writer, and the story holds my interest despite my frustration at its slow development. I like the characters for example. But I am now gladder my Klein nomination for group read a couple months ago did not win the poll, at least if this story is representative.

The next read is "Than Curse the Darkness", a novelette by David Drake. Coincidentally, this story appears in another group read we, I think it was just me, did--oh my goodness, was it really as far back as March of last year!--Night & Demons (Discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...). David Drake, a deep thinker and emotionally scarred Vietnam war vet, considered a military science fiction author primarily, wrote a lot of top notch weird during his life that's vastly underrated in my opinion. Reading this one then is a twofer since I haven't made it quite that far yet in 3/2021's group read. Looking forward to it.

Looking back, the black man with a horn was one of the creepiest stories!

I only made it to page 205 earlier when reading this group read, but want to try to finish it. This is an important anthology in the weird fiction field.

In the meantime, I skipped ahead to read the Brian Lumley story, "The Fairground Horror." It was pretty good, four stars. The writing style was very strong. It was a Cain and Abel story about two brothers, one who murders the other and then tries to get away with it.

These brothers are carnival workers in one of those British gypsy festivals we often see in British films. The fair is set up somewhere rural, has tents, is going to move on in a week, and these brothers run the "Tomb of the Great Old Ones" exhibit, charging admission to see the sights on display in the dark.

One of the brothers has true mystical power and is steeped in Lovecraftian lore. He is a mage of sorts and can perform rites, summon Lovecraftian monsters, etc. He does it basically because he's power mad. His older brother is more basic. Everything he does is for money. He reaches the conclusion his younger brother, the mage, is holding out on him, making him angry enough to kill.

As a result the murdering brother is in danger of losing his livelihood because he doesn't know enough Lovecraft lore to run their exhibit. His efforts to correct this deficiency lands him into all sorts of interesting trouble since the exhibit contains artifacts of actual power. I really loved the name-dropping Lovecraftian lore Lumley brought into this tale.

I see this story as possibly being to a large extent autobiographical. Lumley must have felt somewhat alone in the 1960s and 1970s in Europe being so into Lovecraft. Who else was there to join him in this appreciation but a few fellow intellectuals he let into his tent in order to share in the thrills? I get it! Lumley didn't have our GoodReads group to join then.

Fun story! Now back to the Drake story awaiting me on page 205. Ugghh! Drake is awesome, but he is so demanding of his readers' attentions!