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Return of the Old Ones: Apocalyptic Lovecraftian Horror Kindle Edition
Tim Curran (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Lucy A. Snyder (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
William Meikle (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Scott T. Goudsward (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Scott R Jones (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Return of the Old Ones will only have one signed edition (deluxe slipcased hardcover) and will feature a similar stamp design to the popular Cthulhu head stamping featured on the World War Cthulhu hardcovers. It will be signed by all contributors and will feature the original color cover artwork by Vincent Chong as color end sheets.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateApril 11, 2017
- File size12482 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B071QWY7B2
- Publisher : Dark Regions Press (April 11, 2017)
- Publication date : April 11, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 12482 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 306 pages
- Lending : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #223,820 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #188 in Horror Anthologies (Kindle Store)
- #407 in Horror Anthologies (Books)
- #742 in Fiction Anthologies
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Lucy A. Snyder is the five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of 14 books:
* Sister, Maiden, Monster
* Halloween Season
* Exposed Nerves
* Garden of Eldritch Delights
* While the Black Stars Burn
* Spellbent
* Shotgun Sorceress
* Switchblade Goddess
* Soft Apocalypses
* Orchid Carousals
* Sparks and Shadows
* Chimeric Machines
* Installing Linux on a Dead Badger
* Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer's Survival Guide
Her writing has been translated into French, Russian, Italian, Czech, and Japanese editions and has appeared in publications such as Apex Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Steampunk World, and Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 5.
She has an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and lives in Ohio. You can follow her on Twitter at @LucyASnyder.
You can learn more at her website: www.lucysnyder.com
BIOGRAPHY
Award winning author Sam Stone began writing aged 11 after reading her first adult fiction book, The Collector by John Fowles. Her love of horror fiction began soon afterwards when she stayed up late one night with her sister to watch Christopher Lee in the classic Hammer film, Dracula. Since then she’s been a huge fan of vampire movies and novels old and new.
Sam's writing has appeared in many anthologies for poetry and prose. Her first novel was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. Like all good authors she drew on her own knowledge and passions to write it. The novel won the Silver Award for Best Horror Novel in ForeWord Magazine's book of the year awards in 2007.
In September 2008 the novel was re-edited and republished by The House of Murky Depths as Killing Kiss. The sequels, Futile Flame and Demon Dance went on to become finalists in the same awards for 2009/2010. Both novels were later Shortlisted for The British Fantasy Society Awards for Best Novel and Demon Dance won the award for Best Novel in 2011. Sam also won Best Short Fiction for her story Fool’s Gold which first appeared in the NewCon Press Anthology The Bitten Word.
In 2011 Sam was commissioned by Reeltime Pictures to write a monologue for their talking heads style Doctor Who spin-off, White Witch of Devil’s End. She was also co-script editor with David J Howe. White Witch, starring Damaris Hayman, will be released on DVD in 2017.
Rights for Sam's first novel Killing Kiss were bought by Verlag Bucheinband lnes Neumann in March 2013 for translation into German. The novel, Todeskuss, was launched in December 2013. Since then Sam sold an original novella, The Darkness Within to AudioGo for Audio and Ebook and has been commissioned by Telos to write several sequels to her hugely successful Steampunk Novella Zombies at Tiffany’s. The audio rights to Zombies At Tiffany’s were subsequently bought by Spokenworld Audio and were made available for download in Halloween 2013. In January 2015 the first novel of her new post-apocalyptic trilogy, Jinx Town - Book 1˗ The Jinx Chronicles, was published by Telos and has been followed by Book 2: Jinx Magic.
An eclectic and skilled prose writer Sam also has a BA (Hons) in English and Writing for Performance and an MA in Creative Writing, which means that she is frequently invited to talk about writing in schools, colleges and universities in the UK. Sam is also frequently invited to appear as a guest at literary events, conventions and Comic Cons in the UK, USA and Canada.
WRITING CREDITS
NOVELS
Posing for Picasso, (Wordfire Press – 2017)
Jinx Bound - Book 3 ˗ The Jinx Chronicles, (Telos Publishing - TBA 2017)
Jinx Magic - Book 2 - The Jinx Chronicles, (Telos Publishing – May 2016)
Jaded Jewel: Book 6 The Vampire Gene Series (Telos Publishing, May 2016)
Kat of Green Tentacles, (Telos Publishing ˗ Aug 2015)
Jinx Town - Book 1 - The Jinx Chronicles, (Telos Publishing - Jan 2015)
The Darkness Within - Final Cut, (Telos Publishing - Feb 2014)
Kat On A Hot Tin Airship¸ (Telos Publishing – Aug 2013)
Silent Sand: Book 5 The Vampire Gene Series (The House of Murky Depths – Sept 2012. Republished, Telos Publishing - 2016)
Hateful Heart: Book 4 The Vampire Gene Series (The House of Murky Depths – Sept 2011. Republished, Telos Publishing - 2016)
Demon Dance: Book 3 The Vampire Gene Series (The House of Murky Depths – Sept 2010. Republished, Telos Publishing - 2016)
Futile Flame: Book 2 The Vampire Gene Series (The House of Murky Depths – July 2009. Republished, Telos Publishing - 2016)
Killing Kiss: Book 1 The Vampire Gene Series (The House of Murky Depths – Sept 2008, Republished, Telos Publishing - 2016)
NOVELS IN TRANSLATION
Gabriel: Memoiren eines Vampirs Band 1. (SLH Publishing - Oct 2016)
Todeskuss (Killing Kiss) (Verlag Bucheinband lnes Neumann, Germany - Dec 2013)
NOVELLAS
And Then There Was Kat, (Telos Publishing, TBA 2017)
Kat and the Pendulum, (Telos Publishing, Nov 2016)
What’s Dead Pussy Kat, (Telos Publishing, Sept 2014)
The Darkness Within, (AudioGo, Oct 2013) Ebook and Large Print Hardback
Zombies at Tiffany’s, (Telos Publishing – Sept 2012)
COLLECTIONS
Cthulhu and Other Monsters, (Telos Publishing – Mar 2017)
Zombies in New York & Other Bloody Jottings (Telos Publishing – Feb 2011)
AUDIO
Freya, The Confessions of Dorian Grey, Audio Play (Big Finish, Nov 2015)
Zombies At Tiffany’s, (Spokenworld Audio, Oct 2013)
The Darkness Within, Novella (AudioGo, Sept 2013) And (Audible, Feb 2014)
Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings, Short Story Collection (AudioGo Oct 2012) and (Audible, Feb 2014)
Walking the Dead, Bonus Short Story in Audio on Zombies in New York, (AudioGo Oct 2012)
SCREENPLAYS
Zombies At Tiffany’s, (In pre-production – 2018 TBC)
Script editor – White Witch of Devil’s End, (Reeltime Pictures, Nov 2014)
Writer – Prologue/The Inheritance, White Witch of Devil’s End, (Reeltime Pictures, Nov 2014)
STAGE PLAYS
Gingerbread House (First showing– 2018 TBC)
SHORT FICTION
Sacrifice, (Short Fiction Contribution), Through A Mythos Darkly, (PS Publishing, 2017 TBA)
The Curse of the Blue Diamond, (Short Fiction Contribution), The Associates of Sherlock Holmes, (Titan Books – 2017 TBA)
Tell Me No Lies, (Short Fiction Contribution), Heroes of Red Hook, (Golden Goblin Press – 2016 TBA)
Three Sisters, (Short Fiction Contribution), The Black Room Manuscripts 2, (Sinister Horror Company – May 2016)
Breaking Point, (Short Fiction Contribution), The Return of the Old Ones, (Dark Regions Press, 2016 TBA)
The Gold of Roatán, (Short Fiction Contribution) Dread Shadows in Paradise, (Golden Goblin Press May 2016)
Sabellaed, (Short Fiction Contribution) Night’s Nieces, (Immanion Press, Dec 2015)
The Puppet Master, (Short Fiction Contribution) Edge Of Sundown (Chaosium,) Feb 2016.
Survival of the Fittest, (Short Fiction Contribution - with David J Howe) Flesh Like Smoke (April Moon Press, Jul 2015)
Fallout, (Short Fiction Contribution) Atomic Age Cthulhu, (Chaosium, May 2015)
Cecile, (Short Fiction Contribution), Tales from the Female Perspective, (Chinbeard Books, May 2015.
The Curse of Guangxu, (Short Fiction Contribution) The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad (Constable and Robinson, April 2015)
Acluaphobia: The Promise, (Short Fiction Contribution) Phobophobias (Western Legends, Dec 2014)
The Book of the Gods, (Short Fiction Contribution), Wicked Women, (Fox Spirit Books, Oct 2014)
The Vessel, (Short Fiction Contribution) The Dark Rites of Cthulhu (April Moon Press, April 2014)
Sonar City, (Short fiction Contribution) Eldritch Chrome (Chaosium, Dec 2013)
The Jealous Sea, (Short Fiction Contribution) Terror Tales of The Seaside, (Gray Friar Press, Oct 2013)
The Last Resort, (Short Fiction Contribution) Fear the Reaper (Crystal Lake Publishing, Oct 2013)
Urban Wolf, ¬(Short Fiction Contribution) Demonologia Biblica (Western Legends Publishing, Feb 2013)
Imogen, (Short Fiction Contribution) The Best of British Fantasy 2013, (Salt Publishing, June 2013)
Imogen, (Short Fiction Contribution) Siblings Collection (Hersham Horror, Sept 2012)
Chillers and Breathers, (Short Fiction Contribution) The Hammer Out Book of Ghosts (Fantom Films, Jan 2012)
Immortal Monster, (Short Fiction Contribution) The Hammer Out Book of Ghosts (Fantom Films, Jan 2012)
The Toymaker’s House (Short Fiction Contribution) Full Fathom Forty (British Fantasy Society, Sept 2011)
Walking the Dead (Short Fiction Contribution) BFS Journal Spring 2011 (British Fantasy Society, March 2011)
Fool’s Gold (Short Fiction Contribution) The Bitten Word (NewCon Press – March 2010)
NON FICTION
Tanith Lee Tribute, Night’s Nieces, (Immanion Press Nov 2015)
Book Club The Many Coloured Land, SFX Magazine, Issue No 253. Autumn 2014
The Boxes, (Childhood Memory Piece) Welsh Celebrity Ghost Stories (Bradwell Books, Sep 2014)
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Edward M. Erdelac is the author of the acclaimed Judeocentic/Lovecraftian weird western series Merkabah Rider, Conquer, Rainbringer: Zora Neale Hurston Against The Lovecraftian Mythos, Andersonville, Monstrumfuhrer, The Knight With Two Swords, and the compiler of Abraham Van Helsing's papers (in Terovolas).
In addition to short story appearances in dozens of anthologies and periodicals, he is an independent filmmaker, an award winning screenwriter, and sometime Star Wars contributor.
Born in Indiana, educated in Chicago, he now lives in the Los Angeles area with his family.
Konstantine Paradias is a writer by choice. At the moment, he's published over
100 stories in English, Japanese, Romanian,German, Dutch and Portuguese and has
worked in a freelancing capacity for videogames, screenplays and anthologies.
People tell him he's got a writing problem but he can, like, quit whenever he wants, man.
His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Tim Curran lives in Michigan and is the author of the novels Skin Medicine, Hive, Dead Sea, and Skull Moon. Upcoming projects include the novels Resurrection, The Devil Next Door, and Hive 2, as well as The Corpse King, a novella from Cemetery Dance, and Four Rode Out, a collection of four weird-western novellas by Curran, Tim Lebbon, Brian Keene, and Steve Vernon. His short stories have appeared in such magazines as City Slab, Flesh&Blood, Book of Dark Wisdom, and Inhuman, as well as anthologies such as Flesh Feast, Shivers IV, High Seas Cthulhu, and, Vile Things. Find him on the web at:
www.corpseking.com
I am a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with over thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. I have had books published with a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press, DarkFuse and Severed Press, and my work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and magazines.
I live in Newfoundland with whales, bald eagles and icebergs for company and when I'm not writing I drink beer, play guitar and dream of fortune and glory.
Scott R. Jones is a Canadian writer living in Victoria, BC, with his wife and two frighteningly intelligent spawn. His stories have appeared in many anthologies in the past decade, as well as Innsmouth Magazine, Pseudopod, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, among others. He’s also the author of the non-fiction work 'When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality' (Martian Migraine Press) and the editor of the anthologies 'RESONATOR: New Lovecratian Tales From Beyond'; 'Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis'; 'A Breath from the Sky: Unusual Stories of Possession'; and 'Chthonic: Weird Tales of Inner Earth'. He was once kicked out of England for some very good reasons.
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Worth the time and read, some interesting takes on the end of everything.
What I’d have to say straight off the bat is how much I enjoy reading Brian M. Sammons’ edited anthologies, especially the ones with a Lovecraftian hue. He has this innate ability to seek out a nice balance of stories and contrasting styles that make for very entertaining and fun anthologies. Well, perhaps “entertaining” and “fun” aren’t strictly the right words to use in this context. This is after all a bleak and nihilistic hued anthology about the Old Ones wiping the slate clean and reclaiming their dominion over humanity. Hardly the epitome of lightness and joy but methinks you’ll most definitely find some things in among the nineteen different apocalyptic perspectives to enjoy. I know I most certainly did! The approach that Sammons has taken with the anthology is to divide the book into three sections that mirrors his introductory quote from The Dunwich Horror; “The Old Ones were, The Old Ones are, and The Old Ones shall be.” So in effect the apocalypse from a prior, during and post event perspective. And it works an absolute treat.
The initial section of the book, “In the Before Times”, kicks things off with Jeffrey Thomas’ disorientating and creepy “Around the Corner.” This follows a tenant in an apartment block called Franklin who begins to experience weird spatial anomalies and distortions that begin to chip away at his sanity. Whether this is the due to suppressed memories from his childhood or due to his neighbors’ curious habits is initially somewhat ambiguous. However, as the visions intensify, the foundations of his world start to crumble and the true nature of reality is laid bare for all to see. What can I say? Jeffrey Thomas is a dab hand at crafting atmospheric and haunting stories that linger in the memory and this is no exception to that. The feeling of something bubbling away just beneath the thin skin of reality is heightened in the surrealistic “Tick Tock” by Don Webb. In this, a conspiracy theorist finds that his ability to distinguish between truth and fiction is about to be sorely tested. It would appear that the dissemination and accrual of all the odd, arcane and downright weird stuff in the world has weakened the fabric of reality so much that something is begin to leak through and manifest itself. It’s a smart and bizarre slice of writing with a really rather hallucinatory ending.
The power of knowledge to distort and influence how one perceives and interprets reality forms the basis of Glynn Owen Barrass’ fantastic “Causality Revelation.” This story reminded me somewhat of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome in places as a hacker called Lloyd helps disseminate a virus called Web Driver Torso through the internet. As the invasive and corruptive data starts to spread, so humanity’s collective consciousness and flesh becomes more malleable and receptive to the influences of a far more insidious and disturbing message. I have to say that I loved the body horror subtext and imagery throughout this though I don’t think I can quite look at electricity pylons with anything other than suspicion after this. In a similar vein to the effect that information can have on opening your eyes to the world around you, Art has the ability to transport and transform your consciousness. In Scott Goudsward’s “The Hidden”, a group of cultists are intent on opening the doorway to their sleeping god by creating a rather unique expression of their belief. In this particular case, you fully understand that saying about sacrificing yourself for your art, especially when you have such an admiring audience wishing to demonstrate their appreciation.
This is something that Jane, the protagonist of Lucy A. Snyder’s “The Gentleman Caller” perhaps could have been more aware of when she accepts a token of thanks from an admirer. The disabled half of a pair of conjoined twins, Jane works on a phone sex line where she receives a curious necklace from one of her regular clients. I can’t help but think of that old childhood saying about being wary of accepting gifts from strangers when reading this. The gift bestows Jane with the power of translocation. Fantastic if you have a deep seated desire to experience how the other half lives, less so when you discover that it can be a one way ticket with serious repercussions. This is the first time I’ve read Snyder’s work but methinks that it will certainly not be the last. It’s a taut and sharp tale.
There’s long been a theory of thought that people who have lost one of their senses have other abilities heightened to compensate. This is an idea dialed up to the max in Tim Curran’s overwhelming “Scratching from the Outer Darkness” as a blind woman starts to hear odd noises that push her increasingly over the edge of sanity and into the arms of those that wait on the other side. I rather liked this story. Curran has a style that can be construed as somewhat over descriptive but here it works a treat in describing the sensory tsunami that washes over Simone Petrioux, leaving her rattled and unsure as to what is real or imagined. This becomes even more pronounced when the veil is lifted from her eyes and she can finally see what lurks beyond. Seeing life filtered through a lens and the skewed perception of reality that this can represent forms the heart of Stephen Mark Rainey’s “Messages from a Dark Deity.” This follows a war correspondent who begins to perceive that something dark and sinister may be hiding in plain sight; perhaps his prolonged exposure to the horrors of conflict and pain have given him the right kind of eyes to see what lurks beneath the mundane skein of reality. It’s another sharp and stylish tale with some rather jarring imagery from the outset.
The second section of the anthology, “Where Were You When the World Ended?” comprises seven stories set during the collapse of civilization. The first of these is the excellent “Time Flies” by Peter Rawlik which chronicles the mass arrival of that race of time traveling observers the Yith to Earth. Their arrival heralds a new Golden Age of prosperity for humanity as they bestow their collective wisdom and technology for the benefit of all. However that old adage about all that glitters is not gold rings very true here. The Yith have ulterior motives for their profligate philanthropy and it doesn’t bode well for those who have become close to them, especially when it is time to leave. I really liked the story that Rawlik tells here. It’s an acutely observed (no pun intended) tale that reinforces the idea that we are but playthings for the amusement of far older forces in the cosmos and how utterly alien emotions such as love and compassion are to them. The futility of having emotions and retaining some semblance of your humanity is laid bare in Tim Waggoner’s bleak “Sorrow Road” as a mother and her ill son find themselves trapped on a freeway in the presence of The Masters. Faced with stark choices about the nature of the world in which she and Danny now inhabit, Kris takes a calculated risk on the basis that compassion and love still have some meaning in this world of death and blind servitude. Suffice to say that it is a really bad judgement call on her part and even more so for her son. I don’t really want to say more about Waggoner’s story except to say that it has a conclusion that kicks like a mule and will stay in your mind’s eye long after you’ve finished reading.
Restoring balance and harmony in the natural world is at the fore in William Meikle’s rip roaring “The Call of the Deep.” Set in a near future world facing environmental collapse and beset by ravening hordes of Deep Ones, the military attempt to turn the tide by modifying the world’s temperature through harmonics. As one would expect, things don’t quite according to plan, especially so when what you broadcast is attuned to a much more primordial pulse. It’s just a great blast of exhilarating Lovecraftian pulp fiction. The quality continues with “Howling Synchronicities” by Konstantine Pariadis as a solitary cosmonaut, Anatoly, finds himself to be both observer and participant in witnessing the collapse of society from his lofty perch aboard the International Space Station. As he watches the world burn and experiences individual perspectives of the apocalypse, you begin to realize that his demeanor mirrors the cold and dark expanse of space from which the Old Ones have come, making him the ideal vessel to channel their words and visions. I can’t fault Pariadis’ storytelling. He’s definitely one of those writers who consistently hit home runs on the writing front.
Our species propensity for violence and inhumanity as a means to resolve issues may be one of the reasons why humanity is so alluring to influence by the Old Ones. It may be one of the themes bubbling beneath the surface of Sam Gafford’s “Chimera” but it could just as well be about the alienation and disconnection of youth or the fine line people consciously draw between stability and chaos. Perhaps I’m fueled by far too much caffeine in my system at this point and am theorizing about what is ostensibly a wolf in sheep’s clothing type of story. Set during a period of planetary upheaval, William Byers is plagued by nightmares and an abusive stepfather. Seeking the key to unlock his mind he decides to join a sleep study group being conducted at Miskatonic University. I think it would be fair to say that the gate that he unlocks is not one any of us in our right mind would want to step through. I’d also say that Sam Gafford is an author you might want to keep your eyes on.
Dreams and how they manifest themselves in reality is explored in “The Last Night on Earth” by Edward Morris. This story has a curious fragmented and disconnected style that feels rather like waking up from a particularly disturbing dream and not knowing where you are, who you are and what is happening. It’s a short burst of delirious like imagery that’s unsettling and effective. Similarly, Neil Baker’s “The Incessant Drone” blurs the distinction between reality and fantasy by depicting the global military attempting to fend off incursions of titanic “Threshers” into our world. As they fight an increasingly desperate battle, they begin to comprehend that the doors of perception swings both ways and what you see is not always what you get. Which is an apt way to describe how this story unfolds as initially it feels like a fun, pulpy mash up of cinematic references; Independence Day, Pacific Rim and The Empire Strikes Back immediately spring to mind, before morphing into something else entirely.
The third section of the anthology, “Life in the Shadow of the Gods”, takes a post apocalyptic perspective on humanity’s attempts to eke out an existence in the new natural order. The first of these stories is the grim and disturbing “Breaking Point” by Sam Stone. This is a raw and brutal slice of horror that examines the lengths that one might go to in order to survive, especially where there are many hungry mouths to feed. I’d have to say that this is one of the most effective stories in here of conveying the bleak futility and horror of life in a post apocalyptic landscape.
By comparison, Edward Erdelac’s “The All Clear” seems almost joyous in its depiction of a subterranean society awaiting the opportunity to reclaim the earth’s surface. Set in a claustrophobic bunker, the surviving descendants of the apocalypse exist in a ritualized version of society with its own language and customs. For the past two hundred and fifty six years, a scout has made a pilgrimage to the surface to check that it is safe, the titular “All Clear.” This rite of passage has yielded no results until the fateful day that one of the scouts returns and it is left to the plucky Nougat to discern the truth. I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Erdelac’s take on the apocalypse. He paints a vivid picture of a world that is vaguely familiar (Scions of Tist) yet also alien and threatening. It feels rather like there is some religious subtext going on with its portrayal of false prophets, blind faith and sacrifice but it does rather underscore the notion that hope and trust are lethal in the context of an inhospitable world bereft of such thinking.
Preserving some spark of humanity is at the forefront of Christine Morgan’s “The Keeper of Memory.” Set far, far into the future, civilization is non existent and the remaining vestiges of humanity scrabble around in the muck eking out an existence. The one overriding impulse in a world ruled by the shadowy Over-Seers and Under-Seers is to survive, unquestioning about the wider world and the implications of being human. The solitary link to the past is provided by the titular character, a traveling storyteller by the name of Mema, who is looking to plant the seeds of rebellion in receptive and fertile minds. This is another solid piece of quality work from the ever reliable Morgan that contradicts the notion that all those touched by the Old Ones are malignant and intent on our destruction.
It is a concept that is central to Scott R. Jones’ “Shoot/Kill/Revel/Repeat” which is for want of better words, a bit f****** mental. Set in the distant future this is a stylistically jarring and hallucinatory jaunt through the dimensional chaos that exists following the return of the Old Ones. Humanity as a species has been irrevocably altered and tainted from its aeon’s long exposure to the psychic and physical manifestations of the Lovecraftian universe. In an attempt to free us, a disparate band of rebellious aberrations and monstrosities seek redemption by attempting to detonate an androgynous bomb of pure human soul at R’lyeh. Well, at least I think that’s what it is about but the story is so out there that I can’t help but sit here and applaud Jones for his writing chutzpah. This is like Guardians of the Galaxy as directed by Stuart Gordon, utterly bonkers and an absolute gem of a story that had me beaming from ear to ear. Top work!
The final story in the anthology, “Strangers Die Every Day” by Cody Goodfellow doesn’t skimp on that feeling of bizarreness as exemplified by its predecessor. Set in and around the small town of Norman, this follows Tobin Thrush as he searches for a kidnapped girl among the cults and sects that now populate the land. This is a place in which sacrificial rites and the unreal go hand in hand with the commonplace and mundane. The story has this bizarre style of religious symbolism and iconography pulsing away in the background whilst throwing violently surrealist imagery and elements of spaghetti western, Noir detective and cosmic horror at you. I can’t quite shake the feeling that this might be what a template for an Alejandro Jodorowsky or Terry Gilliam horror film would read like. It’s a rather startling conclusion to the anthology that left me a bit stunned and breathless.
It is a sentiment that nicely encapsulates how I felt about the experience of reading this huge anthology from Dark Regions Press and Brian M. Sammons. Nineteen distinctive voices crying out as the world burns and the Old Ones return, who knew that the Apocalypse could be so much fun?
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