Status Updates From The Shub-Niggurath Cycle: T...

"To Clear the Earth" is a story lost and found to me. I remember, in the mid-90s, reading a mythos story that made a deep impression on me. It was cosmic horror writ-large, on an Earth-ending scale, but in more of a science fiction paradigm than horror. The setting was Antarctica (which makes me wonder why it wasn't in the Antarktos Cycle). And here it is, by Will Murray. Doesn't resonate as much now. Four stars.

David Kaufman's "Grossie" might be the most effective story of this anthology (and also has the worst title, though it fits). It's as subtle as Lovecraft is unsubtle. There is a menace of place here and the faint aroma of ancestral evil, just enough to pique the imagination, just enough for the reader to really feel the underlying horror without facing it directly. Don't be fooled by the puerile title. 5 stars

Another Price story, but this one co-authored with Peter H. Cannon, "The Curate of Temphill" reads somewhere between M.R. James and Umberto Eco; meaning I quite liked it. I have to attribute this to the co-authorship(?), something I've done myself with good results. This tale of Templars and heretical prophecies is an unexpected and welcome find in such an anthology. No Old Ones here, but they are not needed. Five *.

"Sabbath of the Black Goat" carried a not-so-surprising ending. Add to this the hyper-compressed, yet somehow thin info dump by Stephen M. Rainey and you have a rushed three stars story. I suspect there was some word count restriction on the story, but whether the story should have been longer or shorter is difficult to say. It's clear, though, that the pulp suit just doesn’t quite fit right.

I wavered on M.L. Carter's "Prey of the Goat". It swung from interesting to hackneyed, back to good, then to trite, wallowing. In the end, I'm in the "meh" camp, with a slight twinge of "interesting," but not interesting enough to take me beyond a three stars assessment. Could-have-beens and all that rot.

. . . and Carter further demonstrates his skilled pen by way of the poem "Visions from Yaddith," which is quoted in the previous story. I'm rather curious which came first? The story? Or the poem? Each path carries some interesting implications about the writing process that I need to ponder on a while. I could see each having its benefits, and I've done both, but without much intentionality. I must think on this.

Lin Carter may have been a better writer of Lovecraftian tales than Lovecraft himself. "Dreams in the House of Weir," a story steeped in the mythos, but with just a modicum more of restraint than HPL lacked, teases the horror out instead of bashing readers over the head with it. There's a slow pull on the thread of cosmic horror here that unwinds one's sanity. If your dreams become wondrous, you should start to fear.

It's not the story that sang to me. Glen Singer's "Harold's Blues" is an old tale, a very tried and true tale, about selling one's soul for music. You already know the story, from start to finish. But the register in which this was sung . . .well, that's where the magic lies. That old, dark magic that brings songs and storms and screams in the night. Familiar, but unsettling. Four stars.

Odd that a story so poor as Price's should be followed by a sandal and sorcery story so nearly perfect as Richard L. Tierney's "The Seed of the Star God". Price can't write them, but he can pick them! Now I'm wondering if there is a full collection of Simon of Gitta's tales. I would read that! Sword, sorcery, and sacrifice in the decadence of the Roman Empire. SPQR!

During my years as an editor, I had an unbreakable rule that I would never publish my own work in an anthology I was editing. Price, in his . . . uh, work(?) "A Thousand Young" provides a shining example of why every editor should take this ethical stance. I hated this story. It was a twelve year oldest darkest sexual fantasy. Oh, and trigger warning: R***. Yeah, no. No stars, not even one. Just . . .don't.

Careful restraint is not the watchword in John Glasby's "The Ring of the Hyades". Lovecraft's greatest folly: naming the un-nameable, describing the indescribable, leaks into Glasby's writing like a rorschach test of purple prose. The story is alright, but rather predictable for anyone even vaguely familiar with the Mythos. I suppose that makes it a safe read for fans. Three stars.

I've read and enjoyed Ramsey Campbell's "The Moon-Lens" before, and while many consider it something akin to juvenalia, with a structure that pastiche's Lovecraft's own, I still find something intriguing here. It bridges the gap between folk horror and cosmic horror in a way that highlights the strong points of each. Maybe I just have a soft spot for it, as I would likely rate it more highly than others. Four stars.

Even the editor notes the hackneyed subject matter of J.S. Leatherbarrow's "The Ghostly Goat of Glaramara". I agree with the editor's assessment. Three stars.

M.P. Dare tries to channel M.R. James in "The Demoniac Goat". He's largely succesful, but lacks the full gravitas of the master of the ghost story. Still, a decent enough story about an ostensibly dead priest and his pet goat. Well, who was the pet, really? Three stars.

Lewis Spence's "The Horn of Vipula" was pulp as they come, with everything that implies: predictability, a not-so-surprise ending, plot "reaches" like miniature deus-ex-machina, and language that strives to be better than it really is. Meh.

When I read a thorough critical introduction like the one Robert M. Price has here, I wonder "what the heck did you do all day?" I wish I had enough time (and residual income?) to pontificate and document, at length, the many threads that may or may not (Price is clear that all is inconclusive) make up the mythology of Shub-Niggurath.

Must be nice.

To Clear the Earth by Will Murray. Something has appeared in the depths of Antarctica, something forseen by Alhazred’s al-Azif. A little story of action-horror to end the anthology.

Grossie by David Kaufman. An old lady reminisces about a strange happening when she was young. A subtle story, full of implications of inhuman and very human evils.

The Curate of Temphill by Robert M. Price and Peter H. Cannon. A young priest is sent to take over the parish of Temphill after some difficulties with his predecessor. A creepy a d unsettling little story that only hints at the Mythos and is all the stronger for it. Proof that a good story does not need to be peppered with the names of Old Ones and references to dreadful tomes created by HPL.

Sabbath of the Black Goat by Stephen M Rainey. The sabbath comes and Buck Withers is all for letting folks have their religions, but he’s sure something unholy is going on. An enjoyable modernisation of Lovecraft’s dread witch cults with a nuanced nod to Wicca rather than painting everything as monstrous.

Prey of the Goat by Lin Carter. An unexpected gift leads to contact with the Black Goat. This one fell flat aside from the string in the tail, the Mythos names peppering a fairly generic possession story. It’s like a cheap knockoff of the Exorcist whose writer used Shub-Niggurath rather than Pazuzu be a he was a fan of Lovecraft.

Visions from Yaddith by Lin Carter. An excerpt of the weird poetry referenced in the previous story.

Dreams of Yaddith by Lin Carter. A scholar seeks a quiet residence to carry out his work and finds himself dreaming of another world.

Harold’s Blues by Glen Singer. An young musician makes a deal with strange power for the skill and music he desires. A classic sort of deal with the devil story with a little Mythos added in.

Seed of the Star-God by Richard L. Tierney. Simon of Gitta attempts to stop an unholy union that will spell doom to the world. My first experience of Tierney’s Simon of Gitta stories, enjoyable Lovecraft lite with a side of sword and sandal adventure.

A Thousand Young by Robert M. Price. An indolent young student is drawn down the path of the Libertine into depths even his jaded mind could not imagine. A disturbing story of sex and perversity with a sharp Mythos ending.

The Ring of the Hayden’s by John Glasby. A student of the occult seeks a way to hide from the ire of Hastur the Unspeakable. This was bad. Trite and amateurish attempts at horror full of things told rather than shown and overloaded with Mythos references. This anthology gets one more chance, another stinker like this and it’s getting DNF.

The Moon-Lens by Ramsey Campbell. An unfortunate traveller finds himself in Goatswood at a most auspice time. One of Campbell’s early works, it treads a fine line between charming fan pastiche and genuine Mythos tale, and is very enjoyable for it.