Cthulhu's Dark Cults
icarp...@aol.com
of Cthulhu fiction series. Lovecraft is getting more attention than
ever before, CoC has been a popular role playing game for years, the
Cthulhu fiction market is booming and Dungeon & Dragons based books
are best sellers, so it was only a matter of time before Chaosium took
the plunge. In Cthulhu's Dark Cults, as explained in editor David
Conyers' introduction, the stories are based on classic Chaosium
gaming scenarios. The author list includes many of those who helped
create some of these same COC scenarios or who regularly enjoy the
game. The best CoC type fiction has been the Delta Green anthologies
and novels from Pagan Publishing. The first such book from Chaosium,
Arkham Tales, was pretty successful. The main difference was the
generally higher quality of the writing from Delta Green. Except for a
few clunkers I was very entertained by Arkham Tales, so I was eager to
read Cthulhu's Dark Cults. Here are my up front caveats. I am a
Cthulhu mythos fiction fan so I am predisposed to like this genre.
However, I do not play any rpg (my D&D days are long behind me and I
never played CoC). I am completely unfamiliar with any of the
scenarios these stories were based upon. A die hard CoC aficionado
might have a different perspective than me, with a better grasp of the
background. This is like Arkham Tales. The stories stand or fall on
their own merits as far as I'm concerned; their connection to CoC does
not influence my opinion.
Cthulhu's Dark Cults is a trade paperback typical for Chaosium. There
are 235 pages of text, plus an informative introduction from Mr.
Conyers and a few pages of minibiographies about the authors (good
luck ever reading a serious bio about Cody Goodfellow). List price is
$14.95 with a discount to $10.17 by Amazon; it is also available for
free shipping if you order more than $25 worth of stuff (with, say,
The Tindalos Cycle). All in all this is a pretty good buy for the
money. The cover art is pretty attractive, silhouetted cultists
dancing before an idol (*maybe* it's an idol...) but the name of the
artist is not listed in the book as far as I can tell; hopefully
someone can enlighten me. Production qualities are good but there are
some word substitution typos. For the most part I enjoyed reading this
book with a few exceptions noted below. The best stories are as good
as those in any Cthulhu mythos anthology around these days. Minor
spoilers may follow so skip the rest if that bothers you. Here are the
contents:
The Eternal Chinaman by John Sunseri - Mr. Sunseri has co-edited the
very successful Cthulhu Unbound anthologies, had appearances in Hard
Boiled Cthulhu and Horrors Beyond II, and co-wrote a story collection
with David Conyers, The Spiraling Worm. Set in 1920's San Francisco,
this story follows a rough and tumble sailor who returns to the US and
falls in with his cousin, who has made the mistake of acquiring an
item from the menacing figure of the title. I enjoyed The Eternal
Chinaman well enough, particularly the action bits and the vivid final
conflagration, but if I have to nitpick, in some ways I found that it
was too obviously derived from an rpg scenario, particularly at the
end. Some of the phrases fell clangingly on my ear considering the
first person viewpoint was an uneducated sailor: "...aware that I
might instantly burst into flames and disintegrate by the godly powers
that suffused the joint -" Suffuse and joint? I don't mean to be too
critical because I did quite like the story.
Captains of Industry by John Goodrich - Mr. Goodrich is just starting
his career as a published author. The Patriot was among the many
highlights of Cthulhu Unbound 1. Two impoverished immigrant factory
workers, struggling to live and struggling in the battle for workers'
rights, infiltrate and industrialists' dinner party to try to get some
leverage. They run afoul of the Hermetic Order of the Silver Twilight.
Once again Mr. Goodrich gives us a rousing story of superior quality.
His characters come alive on the page and the action is actually heart
wrenching.
Perfect Skin by David Witteveen - Mr. Witteveen co-wrote Devil's
Children, a CoC scenario from the early 1990s. The only other story I
ever read by him was Ache, a pretty good yarn in Hard Boiled Cthulhu.
In Istanbul a newlywed English couple, the Drakes, come to enjoy the
exotic sights but alas the husband, unbeknownst to his wife, has had
underhanded dealings with the Brotherhood of the Skin. As Mrs. Drake
tries frantically to discover what has become of her new husband a
military officer attaché to the British embassy strives to keep her
from harm. The pacing and action are quite good and the ending was
jarringly unexpected. Perfect Skin is a winner.
Covenant of Darkness by William Jones - Here I have some heartburn.
Mr. Jones, head honcho at Elder Signs Press (one of my favorite
companies), works tirelessly in the field of dark fiction. He has
edited quite a few anthologies I have enjoyed, including Horrors
Beyond and Frontier Cthulhu, and has written fiction and CoC
scenarios. My issue is that Covenant of Darkness appears in his
collection of linked short stories, The Strange Cases of Rudolph
Pearson. While I liked the story, I was not thrilled that we didn't
get something new, like everything else in Cthulhu's Dark Cults, and I
also think Covenant of Darkness works better in context than as a
stand alone.
The Whisper of Ancient Secrets by Penelope Love - Years ago I read
Unseen in Made in Goatswood but heck if I can remember it. I
definitely will dig up my copy and re-read it because The Whisper of
Ancient Secrets was outstanding, placing us in the mind of a dabbler
in ancient secrets who has lost most of his humanity in his struggle
to complete his experiment. The viewpoint and structure were
strikingly vivid and original.
Old Ghost by Peter A. Worthy - Mr. Worthy has made numerous
contributions to Lovecraftian and related fiction, notably editing the
anthology Rehearsals for Oblivion, which was a rousing success. He had
proposed an anthology devoted to Nyarlathotep a few years ago but
apparently never found any publisher, which is really too bad for us
fans. While some of his stories have not jazzed me, Old Ghost was
pretty darned good, my favorite story by Mr. Worthy. An ex-minister
comes to Shanghai mostly because he is at a loss with what to do with
himself in the aftermath of the Great War. By happenstance he ends up
in the middle of the machinations of the Bloated Woman, a secretive
cult. I was absorbed beginning to end.
The Nature of Faith by Oscar Rios - Mr. Rios has written CoC scenarios
but this is the first story by him that I have read. An ancient
history professor at Columbia comes across a Celtic coin that appears
to have been minted in the New World. He traces it back to Dunwich.
While I liked the plot and the ending, I wasn't convinced by The
Nature of Faith. The characters were pretty much one dimensional and
their dialogue didn't ring true for residents of Dunwich. Similar to
The Eternal Chinaman there was a very `lifted from a rpg scenario'
feel.
The Devil's Diamonds by Cody Goodfellow - You never know what to
expect from Cody Goodfellow. I view Radiant Dawn as a towering
masterpiece of Cthulhu mythos fiction and I have pretty much enjoyed
everything he has written. His Perilous Press has some good things on
the horizon as well. Set in the Galla tribal lands of Kenya, a
representative of the British crown is sent to investigate excesses at
a diamond mine. While readable, I liked this story rather than loved
it. I think the constraints of dealing within a rpg scenario shackled
him too much, like some others here.
Requiem for the Burning God by Shane Jiraiya Cummings - Mr. Cummings
has published quite a few short stories but I swear I can't think on
any that I have read. Some mercenaries are hired to provide security
at a mine in Peru. One finds out more than is good for his health.
This was an action story more than suspense or mystery; as such I
liked it but I think the canvas was too broad. First the main
character, Max Calder, leads his small band expertly in infantry
operations and then he pilots a small plane to attack a ship. After
that he is able to use an antiaircraft weapon. OK, this is too much
scrutiny for what is actually a fun bit of pulp fiction.
Sister of the Sands by David Conyers - I really like David Conyers;
writing. Impossible Object, published in several places, is a
brilliant little piece. Sister of the Sands is just great. An
Australian intelligence officer based in Cairo assists a woman lost in
the desert and becomes mixed up with the Brotherhood of the Black
Pharaoh. This was a bang up way to close a successful anthology.
On the whole I really enjoyed Cthulhu's Dark Cults and thought it was
well worth the money; most of the stories were very good and I did not
dislike anything. I doubt anyone will come to it de novo, as their
first experience with modern Lovecraftian fiction. Certainly CoC
fanatics all already bought a copy. For more casual mythos readers I
still think there are plenty of good reads here. While Goodrich,
Witteveen, Conyers and Worthy particularly shine, pride of place has
to go to The Whisper of Ancient Secrets by Penelope Love. I hope she
writes more Cthulhu stories for us soon. Due next from Chaosium is
R'lyeh Rising; I would love to read it but there is often a lag of
several years from when a Chaosium title is submitted to when it gets
published.
Matt
John Goodrich
John Goodrich
David Conyers
Cheers
David
cynick
>
> Covenant of Darkness by William Jones - Here I have some heartburn.
> Mr. Jones, head honcho at Elder Signs Press (one of my favorite
> companies), works tirelessly in the field of dark fiction. He has
> edited quite a few anthologies I have enjoyed, including Horrors
> Beyond and Frontier Cthulhu, and has written fiction and CoC
> scenarios. My issue is that Covenant of Darkness appears in his
> collection of linked short stories, The Strange Cases of Rudolph
> Pearson. While I liked the story, I was not thrilled that we didn't
> get something new, like everything else in Cthulhu's Dark Cults, and I
> also think Covenant of Darkness works better in context than as a
> stand alone.
I'm halfway through Cthulhu's Dark Cults at the moment (pretty good so
far), but I didn't recognise Covenant of Darkness. So I checked Jones'
Pearson collection, and it *isn't* in there - so it appears to be
original to this book.
icarp...@aol.com
>
> I'm halfway through Cthulhu's Dark Cults at the moment (pretty good so
> far), but I didn't recognise Covenant of Darkness. So I checked Jones'
> Pearson collection, and it *isn't* in there - so it appears to be
> original to this book.
Wow. If true I made a big blunder. My copy of Rudolph Pearson is
packed away wih the rest of my books so I can't check; it was quite
similar to the other stories. Thanks for the info; I'll change my
Amazon review and double-check when I can
Matt
David Conyers
"Covent of Darkness" is a reprint, but it did not appear in the
Rudolph Pearson anthology. It does reference events that happen in
that collection however. William was originally planning on writing a
new tale for Cthulhu's Dark Cults, but other commitments required him
to pull out. Rather than not have a tale by William, I elected to have
a reprint.
There were discussions of a sequel to CDC, with stories set in the
game in the modern era, however that project died.
Regards
David
cynick
> "Covent of Darkness" is a reprint, but it did not appear in the
> Rudolph Pearson anthology. It does reference events that happen in
> that collection however. William was originally planning on writing a
> new tale for Cthulhu's Dark Cults, but other commitments required him
> to pull out. Rather than not have a tale by William, I elected to have
> a reprint.
>
> There were discussions of a sequel to CDC, with stories set in the
> game in the modern era, however that project died.
>
> Regards
> David
OK, Matt clearly has a larger Cthulhoid library* than me :-)
I just knew I didn't recognise it from the Chaosium collection; where
was it originally published?
John Goodrich
>
> OK, Matt clearly has a larger Cthulhoid library* than me :-)
> I just knew I didn't recognise it from the Chaosium collection; where
> was it originally published?
>
> *(http://www.librarything.com/catalog/cynick/cthulhu)
Horror Carousel #3 (2005)
John Goodrich
icarp...@aol.com
Very impressive!!
I only have a very few rpg books so I cannot match your CoC
collection. Certainly you have pointed out some books I don't have
including Lovecraft's Book by Lupoff, The Arcanum by Wheeler, and,
most intriguingly (and unaffordably), Ex Libris Miskantonici by
Stanley. I am ordering Goomi's Unspeakable Vault of Doom #1 and 2 as
we speak. I also made no effort at duplication, if I have one version
of Ancient Exhumations, say. Also, with Shadows Beand and some of
these others, I have been very resistant to going down the road of
stories where HPL is used as a character, but it looks like I'm
slipping.
A lot of what I have that you don't are very poor novels, probably
better avoided. You can see if you go to my lists on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/byauthor/A1P58UJ3B7ARFW/ref=cm_aya_bb_lists
Here are some books you might like:
The Cthulhu Cult by Dakan (check out lulu.com)
Where Goeth Nyarlathotep by Reiner
Threshold by Kiernan - her other novels more deal with ghouls and
their culture; Threshold is very Lovecraftian
3 novels by Brian McNaughton: Gemini Rising, Downward to Darkness and
Worse Things Waiting. Nasty Stories has some good stuff in it also.
I did not notice if you have Queen of K'n-yan by Ken but it is
wonderful.
Other Gods by Rainey overlaps your collection but I think there were a
few new things in there.
I have not yet read The Sleep that Rescues, the latest Teddy London
book.
You must get The Imago Sequence by Barron, Copping Squid by Shea,
Degrees of Fear by Henderson (although there will be duplication),
Wireless by Stross ( for A Colder War), Weird Words by Clore.
I did not see A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny, with Gahan
Wilson's illustrations!
I also did not notice Strange Stars and ALien Shadows by Schwader, or
either of the Horrors Beyond anthologies.
Blue Devil Island by Rainey is supposed to be very good but I still
have not read it.
The Book of the Black Sun by Thomas is reasonably priced at lulu.com.
When They Came by Webb has terrific prose.
The art book A Lovecraft Retrospective from Centipede Press will set
you back a pretty penny but you won't regret it one bit.
OK, now that I have spent your next 6 months paychecks...I really like
your site. Is this public software? Did you have to scan in all of
your book covers?
Like I said, very impressive!
Matt
cynick
You can enter 200 books for free, or as many as you want for $10
(annual sub) or $25 (lifetime). It works off a variety of databases
(Amazon, Library of Congress, etc.) All you do is enter the ISBN and
that’s pretty much it. Covers for some of the more obscure tomes in my
collection needed scanning, but overall I’ve found it invaluable in
keeping my library organised.
Most of the books you listed are on my Amazon wishlist, but my good
lady insists that we eat regularly and pay the mortgage and various
other bills all the time. It’s a slow process.
I’ve been looking for a reasonable copy of A Night in the Lonesome
October for a while – Amazon UK did briefly list it as about to be
republished, but it has since disappeared.
As to HPL being used as a character, I’m in agreement with you. Most
are terrible (Shadows Bend springs immediately to mind), and only a
very few are any good – Cannon’s Lovecraft Chronicles and Lupoff’s
Lovecraft’s Book (recently republished in a restored text as
Marblehead, by Ramble House).
The Arcanum is merely average.
Wow, I didn’t realise that Ex Libris Miskatonici had become so pricey!
I think I got it direct from Necronomicon Press when they reissued
Joshi’s biography a few years back.
icarp...@aol.com
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/carpentermt
Until I get all my books unpcked here is my basic genre list. I will
update it when I can cross reference my books.
Matt
icarp...@aol.com
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/miskatoniclibrary/yourlibrary
It directed me to some books I've missed, although some are just way
too expensive:
The Winds of Zarr by Tierney
Young Lovecraft by Oliver
HP Lovecraft in Britain by Jones
Colder by Bryant
Necronauts by Rennie
Matt
icarp...@aol.com
> Here is a pretty good list, almost (dare I say it) comprehensive:
>
> http://www.librarything.com/catalog/miskatoniclibrary/yourlibrary
OK, I am a complete idiot. I did not realize this was another list by
you, Nick.
I was wondering how you were able to add the Rainfall cahpbooks. Also
if you check my list, which is not, alas, tagged yet, you'll find some
more for you comprehensive list.
Matt
icarp...@aol.com
released.
Am I right?
Matt
icarp...@aol.com
Well, with a little net surfing and a little luck I have managed to
order the following:
Young Lovecraft by Jose Oliver - I found a copy for $15. We'll see
what sort of condition it's in.
HP Lovecraft in Britian - I actually have no idea what this is. For
all I know it's a 30 page chapbook.
Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters
S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands - these last
2 I mainly wanted to check out the art work.
Matt
Magister
> On Aug 17, 9:51 pm, "icarpen...@aol.com" <icarpen...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Here is a pretty good list, almost (dare I say it) comprehensive:
>
> >http://www.librarything.com/catalog/miskatoniclibrary/yourlibrary
>
> > It directed me to some books I've missed, although some are just way
> > too expensive:
>
> > The Winds of Zarr by Tierney
>
> > Young Lovecraft by Oliver
>
> > HP Lovecraft in Britain by Jones
>
> > Colder by Bryant
>
> > Necronauts by Rennie
>
> > Matt
>
> Well, with a little net surfing and a little luck I have managed to
> order the following:
>
> Young Lovecraft by Jose Oliver - I found a copy for $15. We'll see
> what sort of condition it's in.
>
> HP Lovecraft in Britian - I actually have no idea what this is. For
> all I know it's a 30 page chapbook.
It's a history of Lovecraft publishing in Great Britain. Seems quite
well researched.
>
> Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters
>
> S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands - these last
> 2 I mainly wanted to check out the art work.
>
I haven't got them, but I've seen them and they are stunning.
Yrs
Martin
Magister
> Here is a pretty good list, almost (dare I say it) comprehensive:
>
> http://www.librarything.com/catalog/miskatoniclibrary/yourlibrary
>
> It directed me to some books I've missed, although some are just way
> too expensive:
>
> The Winds of Zarr by Tierney
>
I searched for THE WINDS OF ZARR on Abebooks and almost had to search
the floor for my dropped jaw when I saw the prices asked. I picked it
up from Mythos Books years ago, and IIRC I paid cover price for it
(i.e., $10).
A shame, really -- it's a good book that deserves to reach as wide an
audience as possible.
I think it's supposed to be included in THE YOG-SOTHOTH CYCLE, but Yog-
Sothoth knows when that book will appear...
Yrs
Martin
cynick
Sorry I didn't reply earlier, my net connection has been lousy for a
few days.
Yes, the miskatoniclibrary list is also me *grin*. It's more of a
virtual library rather than stuff I actually own. A bit of it I can
never hope to own - way out of my price range at the moment.
The Rainfall chapbooks I added manually (on the add books page under
Search where?, there is a list of other options), but it's time
consuming and I fell a bit behind on their backlist.
You can get a taste of Young Lovecraft from http://younglovecraft.blogspot.com/
Lovecraft in Britain is a monograph by Stephen Jones from The British
Fantasy Society, review at http://www.sfsite.com/05b/hp272.htm
The Petersen's Field Guides do have gorgeous art.
Necronauts is another HPL as character story. It's not awful, and I
think it has just been reprinted http://shop.2000adonline.com/products/necronauts
When I've got a bit more free time, I'll go through your library and
add missing stuff. Feel free to send me any suggestions.
Nick
icarp...@aol.com
Here is a list of things for your comprehensive listing that I think
are left off. These are not buying recommendations of course as some
of these suck to high heaven.
The 37th Mandala - Marc Laidlaw
The Iron Maiden - Peter Lancett
Cthulhu's Chosen - Elizabeth Loiler
Dear Cthulhu: Have a Dark Day - Patrick Thomas
Blurring the Edges of Dream - Adam Niswander
Windwalker's Mate - Margaret Carter
Tide of Desire - Sheena Clayton
Coach's Midnight Diner: The Jesus vs Cthulhu edition
Servants of Chaos - Don D'Ammassa
Clickers III: The Rise of Dagon - Keane and Gonzales
The Dark Destroyer - John Glasby
The Eden Retrieval - Matt Howarth
The Anthology of Dark Wisdom - William Jones
Threshold, Low Red Moon and Daughter of Hounds - Caitlin Kiernan
The Secret of Merrow's Bay - Richard Perry
The Haunting of Alaizable Cray - Wilding (Lovecraftian, not mythos)
all of Brian McNaughton: Gemini Rising, Downward to Darkness, Worse
Things Waiting, Nasty Stories, Even More Nasty Stories, The House
Across the Way and The Throne of Bones (ghouls in here is not mythos)
Apoplogies if these are duplicates of things you have already listed.
Matt