Happy Holidays Cover by Freas

Happy Holidays

New Eldritch Tomes and A Night in Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

When I heard Roger Zelazny's last book was intended to be read one day at a time during October culminating with Halloween, I had to get me one. I am a huge Zelazny fan, not for the Amber series which seems to get a lot of press, but for works like, "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" (Hugo), This Immortal (Hugo), "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" (Nebula), Lord of Light (Hugo) etc. At the time I ordered it I did not realize it was a mythos tale. (Zelazny's "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai " is also a great mythos short story.) 

A Night in Lonesome October is told by a watchdog named Snuff. Snuff watches things including creatures interred in mirrors, wardrobes or steamer trunks for his master Jack. Jack is magician who also has a magic knife and a bad attitude if anyone bothers his dog. Jack and a number of other characters like The Count, or the Good Doctor, who seems to collect body parts with the help of a misshapen assistant will be quite familiar to the reader. There are also witches werewolves, Russian priests and mad vicars. All of them have converged in the countryside outside London. Most have animal companions, The witch Mad Jill has a cat called Graymalk, and there is a squirrel named Cheeter, a blacksnake named Quicklime, a rat named Bubo. All these characters are divided into two groups openers and closers although who belongs to which group is not evident at the beginning of the book. There are also other characters like a great detective whose role is not clear. I have to admit I forgot to start on the first of Oct. so I read about a third of the book in one sitting until I caught up. Then I read a day at a time, it was quite hard to wait. Most of the interactions in the book are between Snuff and the other animals, who often compare notes when they meet. Each is seeking some advantage for their side. Snuff spends a great deal of his time mentally mapping the locations of the other participants to determine one particular spot in the landscape. I loved this. As the story unfold the characters of Snuff and the other animals are fleshed out. Also some unlikely friendship are formed. I have always felt Zelazny was an autumnal writer and he captures it beautifully here. The story here is sometimes charming and whimsical, sometimes more horrific as one might expect. We even have a short trip to Lovecraft's Dreamland. Elements of the mythos increasingly seem to appear within steampunk or vice versa and while there are no dirigibles here the Victorian era, with all of it's most beloved characters including the "experiment man" are in fine form for yet another turn on the Halloween stage. I will be reading this every Oct. how could I not. 

A couple of acquisitions from PS Publishing, Mountains of Madness Revealed edited by Darrell Schweitzer 2019. I have a number of anthologies edited by Schweitzer and they have been among my favourites so I ordered his latest right away.

https://www.pspublishing.co.uk/mountains-of-madness-revealed-hardcover-edited-by-darrell-schweitzer-4895-p.asp

I have read a number of works by T.E.D. Klein, "Black Man with a Horn" and "The Events at Poroth Farm" so when Caitlin R. Kiernan mentioned this book in the introduction to her latest book, I thought I should try it

https://www.pspublishing.co.uk/the-ceremonies-trade-paperback-by-ted-klein-4424-p.asp

Boo!!

“The dismembered limbs of dolls and puppets are strewn about everywhere. Posters, signs, billboards, and leaflets of various sorts are scattered around like playing cards, their bright words disarranged into nonsense. Countless other objects, devices, and leftover goods stock the room, more than one could possibly take notice of. But they are all, in some way, like those which have been described. One wonders, then, how they could add up to such an atmosphere of…isn’t repose the word? Yes, but a certain kind of repose: the repose of ruin.” 

Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Thomas Ligotti

Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire May 3. 1051 - March 26, 2019

  Some weeks ago I received a catalogue from a bookseller I have been dealing with for over 30 years. The first things I purchased from him (he had a table at an antique show I think ) was Frank Belknap Long's The Rim of the Unknown with a wonderful Herb Arnold cover, my wife also purchased all five volumes of Lovecraft's Selected Letters for my birthday. I have purchased many other things over the years and always scan his catalogue eagerly when it appears though I rarely buy Arkham House as I have a number of the less expensive ones and some of the others are beyond the parameters of my pension. He had a copy of The Mask of Cthulhu  which I discussed in the post below. But again I resisted the urge to spend that much.

https://dunwichhorrors.blogspot.com/2019/07/new-arrivals.html

But a copy of The Survivor caught my eye, it seemed more fiscally approachable. I had always been indifferent to the white and purple Ronald Clyne dust jacket until now. Also the stories were Lovecraft Derleth "posthumous collaborations" written after Lovecraft's death. Which are now considered a bit gauche in some circles. A brief summary of these works can be found at this link.  

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/derleth.aspx

But now the dust jacket seemed totally appropriate to the strange haunted landscapes of these stories. When I began reading Lovecraft I was in elementary school and made no distinctions between the works of the master and the collaborations and pastiches that followed. The first works I read, borrowed from a friend were Ballantine editions with the John Holmes covers. The first book I owned however was a "posthumous collaboration"  a Ballantine edition  of The Lurker on the Threshold with a rather strange cover by Murray Tinkleman, that my mother gave me for Christmas, sadly I did not keep my early copy when I found a Arkham House edition. Then I read the words (Donald A Wollheim's copy), stamped in the back. That Wollheim, early SF fan, Futurian, author, editor and the founder, which his wife Elsie Balter Wollheim, of DAW books.  I ordered The Survivor right away. While I waited, I hate waiting, I had a book which I knew discussed the controversy about August Derleth's contributions to the mythos.  So I pulled out A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the "Cthulhu Mythos" by John D. Haefele. I am still working through the book but it was the introduction by mythos author Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire that held my attention. 

"I have always considered the book’s title story one of the finest Lovecraftian tales that I have ever read; but I was a little doubtful about the rest of the book, because I entered Lovecraft fandom in the early 1970s, at a time when there was a growing amount of anti-Derleth sentiment. I was at the time far more a Cthulhu Mythos fanboy than a pure Lovecraftian. As a Mormon missionary in Northern Ireland, I had been influenced by my correspondence with Robert Bloch to read weird fiction, and the first titles of Lovecraft that I picked up were used paperback editions found in wee bookshops. Upon returning home from my mission, I read Derleth’s original edition of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (still, for me, the finest Mythos anthology) and Lin Carter’s Love- craft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos, the combined reading of which convinced me that becoming an established Mythos author was my destiny. I loved the Mythos, but I had been taught that Derleth’s tales were sub-literary dreck, and that the posthumous collaborations were a criminal act. "

and 

"Thus, in early 2011, I picked up my Arkham House edition of The Survivor and Others, determined to read the stories with fresh eyes and unpolluted mind. I was no longer a clueless Cthulhu kid; I was a sixty year old man who had dedicated decades of his life to writing Lovecraftian weird fiction. I read the first story and was confirmed in my long-held opinion that it is excellent. Carefully, slowly, I read the other tales in the book, and after reading a story I would comment on it in a YouTube video. My opinion of the book was now completely my own, and I found it quite wonderful. It was, in some ways, a shocking experience. I was so ready to confirm my opinion that “The Shadow out of Space” was nothing more than a pathetic rip-off of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow out of Time.” It was nothing of the kind. "

from Pugmire's introduction to A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos, Origins of the "Cthulhu Mythos"  by John D, Haefele.

In an earlier post I discussed how much I enjoyed reading Caitlin R. Kiernan lovely reminiscence concerning her first experience with the works of H.P. Lovecraft in her new collection Houses Under the Sea from Subterranean Press. The first book she encountered was (1965) Arkham House edition of Dagon & Other Macabre Tales.  

http://dunwichhorrors.blogspot.com/2019/10/new-eldritch-tomes.html

She notes that 

"I discovered not only the title story, but such dark gems as “The Hound,” “The Strange High House in the Mist,” “The Lurking Fear,” “The Doom That Came to Sarnath,”"



She goes on to say

"at the time, I had no idea that that were far from Lovecraft's best stories. and it would be several years yet before I'd figure that out...,"

Kiernan is correct The Hound,” “The Strange High House in the Mist,” “The Lurking Fear,” all seem to be considered minor tales, but they are among my favourites as well. These two introductions have helped remind me that any work or author that is well known will attract an ever expanding ring of critical  accretions, good and bad. In the end however we should not allow this veritable critical shoggoth to devour the work itself. The stories themselves should remain the property of the girl on the Trussville, Alabama school bus, the Mormon missionary in Northern Ireland, or the geeky kid in Windsor Ontario.

I had read some of Pugmire's stories in the past so I began a more systematic search though my anthologies and the internet for more of his work. It was only then I learned that Pugmire had passed away in March of this year at the age of 67 not that much older than I am. Pugmire's friend S.T. Joshi has offered an extended remembrance of his passing. His blog does not offer separate links so you have to scroll down to the entry for March 31, 2019.

http://stjoshi.org/news.html

March 31, 2019 — My Friend, Wilum Pugmire

John D. Haefele discussed it here.

https://donherron.com/rediscovered-from-one-derleth-devotee-to-another/

Since then I have read and enjoyed more of Pugmire's work and purchased a number of his books with plans for a couple more. I will be looking at some of his stories in future posts. Here however I want to thank him for his introduction to Haefele's book. Pugmire gave me back my early enjoyment of Derleth's work as well as his own wonderful stories, and when I look thru my copy of The Survivor I will think of him as well as Wollheim. 

Cover/Photo Credits:

Photo of W.H. Pugmire by Michael J. Contos, from back cover of The Strange Dark One

A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the "Cthulhu Mythos"s ,cover by Leo Grin

The Doom That Came to Sarnath, cover by the wonderful Gervasio Gallardo

Monstrous Aftermath: Stories in the Lovecraftian Tradition, cover by Matthew Jaffe, design Barbara Briggs Silbert

 The Strange Dark One: Tales of Nyarlathotep, cover by Jeffrey Thomas

The Fungal Stain and Other Dreams, cover by Richard H. Knox

Two by Tonso: The Testament of Alexander Fletcher & Last Rites

"To flee from the unspeakable, as some of lesser mettle have from time to time suggested, and take refuge in the craven surrender of madness or the complacent ignorance of a new Dark Age may be acceptable behavior for those who lack the strength of will to take up arms against what at first might seem a sea of insurmountable troubles; but even should his defiance prove in the end to be in vain, a man of fortitude can, at the very least, demonstrate to those who insist upon troubling such as he that they had best be prepared to deal with the inevitable consequences," The Testament of Alexander Fletcher (1)

Today I want to look at two stories by K.M. Tonso, "The Testament of Alexander Fletcher" and "Last Rites". I will note that K.M. Tonso is a pen name for Gaèl Baudino, an American writer with several series of fantasy novels to her credit. The very fact that I am writing about these stories indicates that I found some merit in them. I will use this post to explain why. It was only after reading "The Testament of Alexander Fletcher" recently that I remembered that I had read "Last Rites" some years ago. I rated it as ok at the time. I had some reservations then, which I will discuss below.

I do want to look at "The Testament of Alexander Fletcher" first, however. I read it in The Worlds of Cthulhu, edited by Robert M. Price. The plot of the story unfolds as a fairly standard mythos tale. Fletcher is a British academic born in Dorset, England. His area of study is the influence of the mythical civilization of Leng on the Sumerians. He is about to deliver a lecture on his completed research, which will ensure his graduation and possibly a post at the university. Then he will marry his fiance Florence, but disaster strikes when a few days before the lecture, he collapses. After several hours Fletcher awakens. But he is not well; he has lost some motor skills, and his speech is affected. His fiance Florence is summoned, but after seeing Fletcher, she claims he is not the same man and flees never to return. Fletcher does deliver his lecture, but his claims are so outlandish and wild that his academic career is ruined. At the time, he was largely unconcerned and he embarked on three years of travels around the globe, visiting strange cults and libraries housing collections of forbidden books. Then having returned to his parents' home, he constructs an unknown device in their shed. Things come to a head when a strange man of foreign mien is seen to breaking into the shed. There follows a great deal of noise and smoke. When the family investigates the device is in ruins, the notes Fletcher has kept during the last three are burning in the stove and he is unconscious on the floor. The first thing Fletcher does when he wakes up is ask for Florence. It seems he has no memory of the previous three years.

Fans of the work of H.P. Lovecraft will observe similarities to his story, "The Shadow Out of Time". In this story, the mind of Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee, a lecturer at Miskatonic University, is displaced by that of a member of The Great Race of Yith. The alien then spends five years using Peaslee's body to research Earth, especially several strange cults. Meanwhile, Peaslee occupies the body of the alien located in an unknown city in Earth's distant past. Like Fletcher, Peaslee awakens only to find he has been abandoned by most of his family with his reputation in ruins. But while Peaslee quietly tries to rebuild his life, Fletcher wants revenge. And just how you can be avenged on a race of sentient cone-shaped plants that lived 250 million years ago is the substance of the tale. 

The second story by Tonso that I want to discuss is "Last Rites" which appeared in The Madness of Cthulhu edited by S.T. Joshi. This is the story of a student at Miskatonic University named Alf (Alfred?) Marsh and his advisor Dr. Paul Dyer. It is only when Marsh turns to the study of geology that Dyer warns him it is a perilous subject, mentioning his father, William Dyer. Intrigued Marsh does some research and learns about the Miskatonic University expedition to the Antarctic and the discovery of the Elder Things, Shoggoths and the Mountains of Madness. He also learns that William Dyer's claims have been disproved by the Starkweather-Moore expedition some years later. Not only were there no Elder Things or Shoggoths, but the mountains themselves had disappeared. ( I have to admit the geological shenanigans required to accomplish this were the basis for my reservations the first time I read this story). Whether this is a sign, I have matured or regressed, I am not sure. But now I acknowledge that if I wanted scientific rigour, I probably would not be reading about strange prehuman cults, winged extraterrestrial cucumbers and massive protoplasm steam shovels run amok. The knowledge that this ruined Dyer senior's career does not dissuade March for the study of geology. Eventually, he and Dyer become colleagues and housemates. They specialize in the study of oceanic geothermal vents, and it is this study that leads them to a very unusual reunion. 

I would now like to make some general remarks about Tonso style in these stories. It is somewhat mannered and convoluted, and some sentences require rereading. Especially in Testament, her vocabulary can be a bit unusual or archaic; the word sputum appears both stories, for example. Perhaps it could be a deliberate attempt to skirt parody in specific passages.

"That my praxis resulted in real, perceptible, and physical effects I could not deny, and it was with a mixture of elation and disgust that I regarded the results of my first operations: elation because I knew that I had now come into possession of the key that would unlock the means of my revenge, "The Testament of Alexander Fletcher  (151)

I do want to mention that Testament is a revenge drama in the best tradition of the weird tale, and some might, for that reason, find it unpleasant. All I can do is point you to the stories of the father of the Weird Tale, Edgar Allen Poe and let decide for yourself. I think Tonso is also channelling H.P. Lovecraft in the story. 

Fletcher, for example, notes he is not proud of his actions. But excuses them because the many of the cultists that fall prey to his machinations are described as inconsequential vagrants, mere gypsies and their families, ill-mannered foreigners, not only those who might have added in his dislocation but their mates and mewling spawn as well. I am pretty sure this is parody folks. One thing that interested me is that Fletcher eventually came to contrast his reaction to his experience with the response of Peaslee. 

To some extent, the concept of revenge may also inform "Last Rites", but what attracted me to the story was the friendship between Dyer and Marsh, the invocation of mood in the portrayal of the life of academic bachelors. "But it seems now that I have once more followed in my mentor's footsteps, for the house is again empty and still, furniture settled in like brown smoke, curtains drawn, the kitchen, the study, the laboratory and my bedroom the only areas that see use." (213)

What attracted me to these stories? I will say I liked them better upon rereading. I think it was the fact that for me, they fell comfortably within the long continuum of not just the mythos tale but the weird tale in general. They were based on two of Lovecraft's best-known works but presented me with me a new focus or interpretation. I felt Tonso had troubled over the writing of them, matching vocabulary, sentence structure and characterization with the mood she wished to convey. I enjoyed them.

I started this post with the opening paragraph of "The Testament of Alexander Fletcher "  I suspect that passage alone should be enough to interest most H.P.L. fans

New Eldritch Tomes

I have been waiting for this collection of Caitlin R. Kiernan's mythos tales from Subterranean Press for quite some time. As I noted in an earlier post, she provides a lovely reminiscence concerning her first experience with the works of H.P. Lovecraft in the introduction.

Lovecraft and I

Oh, where to start. 

"I’ll begin here, with the day I first encountered H. P. Lovecraft. Oddly,  I found him in Trussville, Alabama on a yellow school bus. I was seventeen years old."

https://subterraneanpress.com/horror-thriller/preorders/houses-under-the-sea

I have to admit I have always been iffy on Lee Brown Coye's cover for the (1965) Arkham House edition of Dagon & Other Macabre Tales until now. Now after reading Kiernan's introduction, I treasure it. And I will be reading "Dagon" again with new eyes as well.

And how could I resist. The contents are listed at the following link.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?343905

Ride the Star Wind edited by Caroline Dombrowski and Scott Gable.

Tor's Great Lovecraft Reread is a valuable resource. I don't necessarily always agree with their conclusions, that's life. But given the vast amount of mythos material published, it is handy to have someone identify the most noteworthy collections and anthologies. I often track down the stories they feature, both old and new. 

It was there I found the wonderful anthology Ride the Star Wind: Cthulhu, Space Opera, and the Cosmic Weird edited by Caroline Dombrowski and Scott Gable. It sports a lovely cover by Nick Gucker. The title is based on the quote below which appears in the book

"Madness rides the star-wind . . . claws and teeth sharpened on centuries of corpses . . . dripping death astride a Bacchanale of bats from night-black ruins of buried temples of Belial . . . —HP Lovecraft, “The Hound” 

One thing I am finding interesting is the different threads that have emerged from Lovecraft work and that of the other writers of weird tales/new weird style stories. We still see many faithful pastiches with writers revisiting many of the iconic locations, both real and fictional, including Providence, Innsmouth, Arkham etc. There are also occult detectives with elements from Sherlock Holmes, Blackwood's John Silence, William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki, and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe etc. However we are also seeing a more inclusive literature which features more women and minorities both as writers and characters. One trend I am especially interested in is the increasing use of science fiction elements in these stories. Two of Lovecraft's last works "The Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow Out of Time" and "The Color Out of Space" considered by many his greatest story all owe more to science fiction than the supernatural. I have read three stories from this anthology so far and enjoyed all of them 


Lucy Snyder's “Blossoms Blackened Like Dead Stars” was covered by the reread
at the link below. Since they have provided a great synopsis my comments will be brief.

https://www.tor.com/2019/05/29/kudzu-from-beyond-lucy-snyders-blossoms-blackened-like-dead-stars/

Beatrice Munoz is a Special Space Operations recruit aboard the warship Apocalypse Treader. Beatrice was a botanist following in the footsteps of her father Giacomo Rappaccini Munoza, She was working on the International Lunar Research Station studying plant alkaloids when the spawn of Azathoth attacked both the Moon and Earth. The only other recruit we are introduced to is Joe Jorgensen a huge white supremacist whose family was killed in the attack on San Angelo, Texas. Joe has since has realized that all humans must stand together regardless of race. Joe and Beatrice will be part of a force intended to attack the spawn using captured technology and some innate abilities that their training is designed to bring out. Snyder's story openly includes elements from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter”. Whether this makes it a pastiche, a tribute, a nod to I am not sure. I do not think it matters, since we are firmly in pastiche territory with the reread, this site and the anthology itself. What it is is effective. I loved it, I agree with Ruthanna's comment that it is important that the story remains that of Beatrice. Joe is an interesting addition, and plays a useful role in providing background and later, collaboration for Beatric'e experiences, but Beatrice is the star. I have not read Hawthorne's story, I have read about it, and on a trip to Gallegos Islands a young girl told my wife and I her version, which I recognized from my background reading. (She was sharing the Pringles we had bought to use the containers to transport my poster of Darwin's finches.) I have always remembered that. I really enjoyed this story, Snyder has merged the works of two classic weird author's into a compelling story. She has also provided a science fiction twist I loved and a female protagonist I really enjoyed. 

Hawthorne's story was covered by the reread here.

https://www.tor.com/2016/09/07/juggling-allegories-nathaniel-hawthornes-rappaccinis-daughter/

Illustration by Yves Tourigny

I found this Hawthrone collection the other day so I will be reading his story shortly. The cover is unattributed. 

The Children of Leng  by  Remy Nakamura

"My children are on their way to the surface of Leng. I send them only because the risk of staying is greater than the risk of venturing forth. You cast us adrift in a deadly universe against such terrible odds. If you receive this, I strongly advise against future missions, speaking as one parent to another."

Illustration by Mike Dubisch

This story is told from the point of view of nine year old Mirai one of a lineage of clones aboard the generation starship Amankawa. The ship was launched from Earth many years ago three ships were launched but contact with the other two has ceased. There are two other living clones of her lineage, Yukiko who is part of the advance party to the moon Leng, a mars analog where they hope to settle, and Grandma who is 80 years old. Another clone referred to as Auntie Kiyomi has died of burns and is currently held in a cylinder in the Ancestral Grove before being recycled into the habitat. The living clones indulgent in a form of ancestor worship and visit the grove to pray and provide offering. The Amakawa is divided into three habitats each with a controlling AI. Mirai lives in Hab Three which is run by Momma Calliope. The clones in the other habits maintained by the AI's Thalia and Urania are all dead or brain damaged so the clones of Hab 1 are all that are left and Leng appears to be their only chance. More diverse voices writing within the somewhat flimsy boundaries of the mythos means more diverse stories. Here we have a engrossing story of space travel with an Asian or Oriental flavour very different from the conventional tropes New England of Lovecraft's preferred landscape. Nakamura's story is also interesting in that the society is a matriarchy. He has blended the many elements together seamlessly. And it feels very much like a mythos despite the many tropes of science fiction that inform it. I was also interested in the fact that there were three ships and three habitants perhaps a nod to Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama? I was reminded of the works of writers like like Aliette de Bodard and Yoon Ha Lee who are offering us a very different view of mankind's exploration of outer space and the far future.

Sense of Wonder by Richard Lee Byers

Illustration by Michael Bukowski

The protagonist of Byers story Pablo Valdez is basically the engine of a ship exploring the universe for habitual planets that can be used by Earth colonists. But there is no FTL here instead Valdez has a patron. This patron enables Valdez to transport the ship to a number of preselected destinations. And it all is perfectly safe as he explains while discussing his abilities with another crew member,

“But not how the physics work, or what Yog . . . the consciousness truly is, or even why it’s willing to help us. You’re the one who communes with it. Do you have any idea?” I shrug. “It’s everywhere and everywhen. So vast and powerful that obliging us is no more difficult than not obliging us. It grants our petitions in the same sense that you grant permission to the bacteria in your intestines to go on doing what they do.”

Another great story. I really enjoyed how Byers enlivened the staid space exploration story with a little Yog-Sothoth gate action, wouldn't Wilbur Whateley be jealous. But despite the fact Yog-Sothoth is a mechanism and not the baddie the universe is a scary place.

As quick look at three stories I really enjoyed in one of my favourite anthologies. I am a bit rushed today so I apologize for any typos, omissions or oversights etc. Sorry about the spacing Yog-Sothoth did it.

New Eldritch Tomes / Matt Cardin

  I have not posted in quite a while. Since my wife and I have a trip planned in a couple of weeks, I wanted to sneak in a couple of posts.

First some new arrivals. I have long been a fan of Donald Wandrei so when I saw this post on Ralph E. Vaughan's Book Scribbles I was intrigued. I have several of Wandrei's books, but the items from Necronomicon Press looked very interesting. I found a vendor that had both books at a reasonable price and ordered them. (Thanks Ralph) Sadly he could not find the poetry volume. I have been on a bit of a Bradbury kick lately, so I ordered this edition of The October Country at the same time. I loved the cover illustration. The artist was not credited in the ISFDB database. 

http://bookscribbles.blogspot.com/2011/12/eternal-wandrei.html  

This summer I read some well-written mythos tales and some that were quite disappointing. I will not identify them. I have decided in all my blogs to focus on the positive unless I am extremely offended. Some time ago, I added Matt Cardin's blog, The Teeming Brain to the list of blogs I follow. When I returned from the cabin, I checked to see if I had any of his work on hand. I had read half of his short story "Teeth" in the anthology The Children of Cthulhu when I decided to order his collection of short stories To Rouse Leviathan. While I was waiting for the book to arrive, I looked around to see what else was on my shelves. I realized I had read and liked his short story "The New Pauline Corpus" in one of my favourite mythos anthologies Cthulhu's Reign edited by Darrell Schweitzer.

In "Teeth" Jason, a lecturer at Terence University, meets up with his friend Marco while visiting the library. Marco, a brilliant visiting student from Guatemala, is triple majoring in physics, philosophy, and history. Marco is usually quite friendly, but today he seems to be obsessed with something he is writing. Marco invites Jason back to his room and presents him with a spiral notebook. He instructs Jason to look at page 46. While he flips through the book, Jason notices it consists mostly of quotations. Page 46 contains an elaborate and beautifully executed mandala. The illustration begins to move, and Jason realizes he is "staring into a nightmare of abyss of endless teeth." Jason passes out. Marco wakes Jason up, gives him a couple of pills to relax him and begins to tell Jason of his research. It seems that Marco has been attempting to understand the true nature of reality. He then asks if people want to know the truth about their lives, "To know why we are here, why we live and die, why it thunders and rains? Most of all, to know who and what we are." Marco has concluded that most people cannot handle the truth preferring illusion instead. At this point, he gives Jason the notebook to read telling him they will talk later. He also tells him to avoid looking at the mandala a second time. 

 I will leave my discussion of the plot here focusing instead on why I liked this story so much. I find Cardin's writing conveys the moods or impressions of his characters quite concisely. Jason's feeling of despair and oppression upon reading the notebook are presented effectively in two or three lines. Jason's anxiety seemed to be a natural outgrowth of reading the journal. We are spared the neat summary of the pantheon of mythos deities that you so often get at this point in a pastiche. instead Lovecraft's cosmicism is subtly represented, and the reactions of both Marco and Jason fall within the Lovecraftian tradition.

Also part of the joy of mythos inspired stories for me lies in recognizing echos of Lovecraft's work. I enjoy reading something new and imaginative, but with a flavour of Lovecraft, not just Wilbur Whateley renamed. 

Mild spoilers follow, in "Teeth" I see faint echos of so many stories, "Dagon", "Nyarlathotep", "The Dreams in a Witch-House", "The Rats in the Walls", "The Call of Cthulhu" that I could not help but enjoy it. 

Cardin's "The New Pauline Corpus" begins with an unidentified narrator reading a letter or letters from a renegade Protestant theologian (Paul) to his Catholic friend Francis. The letters contain his theological musings interspersed with visions of a horrific new reality of wrecked cities, flames, night gaunts and a strangely altered humanity. 

" I turn my eyes skyward and see the gargoylish figures still commanding the open air between the coiling columns of smoke. Rubbery black demonid shapes with smooth black faces and leathery wings swoop and careen like flakes of ash on a hot wind." 

A voice speaking from behind him, and addressing the narrator as "My Son" urges him to reread the letters. There is some information or nuance that is escaping him. The voice also reminds him, "but remember that we are waited upon". Indeed even as he reads, the narrator is aware of "the ocean roar of voices" from outside.

For Cthulhu has risen, not at least initially, as the raving monster seen only by the crew of certain ill-fated merchant ships. Rather images of Cthulhu and R'lyeh have appeared to humanity as a form of beatific vision that heralds a "New Awakening."  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatific_vision

In my mind, this was a great read. I was only sorry I did not know enough theology to understand many of the references and their significance. It is interesting to read a mythos tale which deals with the issues of Christianity when faced with the revelations of Lovecraft's cosmicism, something Lovecraft ignored.

"The philosophy of cosmicism states "that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence."(4)

"Lovecraft's cosmicism was a result of his complete disdain for all things religious"

"As such, Lovecraft's cosmicism is not religious at all, but rather a version of his mechanistic materialism."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmicism

Lovecraft's narrators often share his mechanistic materialism. In his stories Lovecraft does not deal in detail with what the reality of what the mythos means for conventional religion because religion did not interest him. Also since the calamity is normally avoided within the story the bulk of humanity are spared the knowledge of their actual place in the universe.

Indeed, in stories like "The Dreams in a Witch-House" the narrator exhibits nothing but disdain for the superstitious  (conventionally religious) immigrants. This despite the fact that in the end the immigrants prove to be correct, their children are being menaced by a witch.

Cardin on the other hand really embraces this topic. His story contains not only biblical quotes, but quotes from religious thinkers like Luther. Nothing should be taken at face value. As the story progresses, it raises more and more questions, the nature and timing of the letters, the identity of the various characters, the nature of reality. After my first reading I noted the story was good with an interesting religious theological focus. After my second reading, my copy was a mass of underlining and marginal. Cardin's writing style in this story fits the subject matter.  It is beautifully in character with the proposed setting and mood of the story as demonstrated by the quote that follows.

 "that instead of pointing directly toward spiritual and metaphysical truths, the great concepts, words and icons of our tradition were in fact mere signals, hints, clues, that gestured awkwardly toward reality whose true character was and is far different from and perhaps even opposite to the surface meanings?" 

He understands Lovecraft work but explores the different issues that it raises. Since this anthology collects stories about what happens after Cthulhu rises there is ample scope for Cardin to address the wider ramifications. This scope and Cardin's obvious interest in religion are what distinguish this story from the bulk of the mythos writing. And his use of night gaunts, rare in a non-Dunsany style tale is brilliant.

Cover credits

To Rouse Leviathan: Cover Art Michael Hutter, design Daniel V. Sauer

Studies in Weird Fiction: Robert H. Knox

The October Country: unattributed

The Children of Cthulhu: Dave McKean

Cthulhu's Reign: unattributed