World Wide Web and Other Lovecraftian Upgrades by Gary Fry
icarp...@aol.com
Shocklines. Once a week or so I would browse their site for new
releases and that's how I heard about this book. Now I have no idea
how I am going to keep informed about all the new mythos books that
come out. Maybe I'll go back to relying on James Ambuehl's
inexhaustible fountain of mythos knowledge.
I know nothing about Gary Fry except what was written in his minibio
in the back of WWW. By his photo, he looks to be a young author
living in the UK, who got a psychology degree and turned into a writer
of speculative fiction. Before WWW I had read nothing by him. Like
many horror writers in the UK (and elsewhere) he seems to have been
enormously influenced early on by Lovecraft and Ramsay Campbell.
Maybe like Lumley and Campbell he will move on past the mythos,
although I can only hope he will pen a few Cthulhu stories now and
again, and compile them for us mythos fans. WWW is sold out at
Shocklines so you may have to get a used copy on Amazon or go to the
publisher, Humdrumming, to get a copy. My copy of this 2007 release
was $16.99 US, the list price, and had a signed endplate by the author
and Mark Morris, who wrote the introduction. It is a nice trade
paperback with 161 pages, not counting the bio at the end...however,
with all the introductions and acknowledgements, and a few blank and
title pages, the text starts at page 17. There are also 17 blank
pages between stories or sections of the novella, and 4 pages of the
author's afterward and a publication history. We end up with 123
pages of text...and quite a few of those are less than half full, if
they occur between sections of the novella or at the end of a short
story. Hmph! I took Mythos Books to task for Dark Wisdom by Gary
Myers which had 120 pages, and was discounted on Amazon to $10.20.
For the actual amount of content, the price here is steep. On the
other hand, after reviewing the publication history in WWW, and
considering this is an import from the UK, the Cthulhu mythos fan is
not likely to ever encounter these stories again, so I guess we have
to settle for it. The only one I ever saw before was "Servant of the
Order" is Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries #9, and maybe I acquired but
never read that issue. The cover is a photo of HPL stylized by Guy
Adams, which was OK but no wow factor.
Many of Mr. Fry's stories are set in Bradford, England, perhaps his
hometown? It is a midsize city in roughly central England a bit west
of Leeds. They tend to share some thematic elements, namely a fraying
of reality around the edges. A very ordinary character is grounded
very nicely in the mundane world when a chance encounter or vision or
conversation dislodges them. They gradually have a change in
perception so that normalcy slips away before they are aware that it's
going. All of the stories were at least influenced by Lovecraft
although only one or two wear their mythos leanings on their sleeves.
It is more a question of feel, atmosphere. Occasionally the
Necronomicon is mentioned by name. Sometimes there are nods to
Lovecraft with a name like Arkham Grove as an estate name or a
character named Phillip Howard. Once or twice HPL is mentioned as a
science fiction author, a plot device I have never liked, although it
is not so egregious here. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a French philosopher
of phenomenology (say that three time fast!), is mentioned more than
once; I suspect the author has delved into his work. For the most
part I was favorably impressed by Mr. Fry's inventiveness, shades of
mood, imagery and originality in this genre. I pretty much liked all
the stories and disliked none. If the book fell down somewhere it was
in the prose; for some reason I can't put my finger on, it just wasn't
that easy to read. I'm not sure what I thought was missing, some
elusive spark. I was not put off by the British slang, I dunno what I
thought might be missing. It took me over a week to finish this very
short book. I liked the prose better than Dead Ground or Lair of the
Dreamer, two books I am shuffling through now, but whenever I passed
my bookshelf I would stare longingly at Radiant Dawn by Goodfellow or
Dark Wisdom by Myers. In the end, I still offer a warm
recommendation. The introduction, publication history and author's
afterward were all very useful. I also appreciated the inclusion of a
photo of the author.
Here are the contents:
World Wide Web (novella)
Unnaturally Selected
Servant of the Order
Three is One Too Many or Two Few
In the World
Out of Body, Out of Mind (novelette)
Bodying Forth
"World Wide Web" follows a 13 year old caught in the middle of a
divorce, torn between his dissipated alcoholic mother and his
disinterested father. A neighbor named Phillip Howard gives him a
story to read, and he then begins to realize the truth of his and
humanity's precarious existence.
In "Unnaturally Selected" a college professor is contacted by his
rival of 20 years ago, to finally resolve their disputes over
Lamarckian evolution and whether perception creates reality.
"Servant of the Order" is the tale which is most conventionally
Cthulhu mythos although I found it refreshingly inventive. A purveyor
of used books gets an order for a copy of the Necronomicon, and thinks
it was for one of the fictional knock offs. It wasn't.
"Three is One Too Many or Too Few" uses a plot device near and dear to
the mythosian author's heart, a bewildering manuscript written by a
person whose abode is found at the epicenter of some 'natural'
disaster, leaving a cryptic narrative for authorities to puzzle over.
"In the World" was probably my favorite story in the collection. A
successful and reasonable happy real estate agent takes custom from
the wrong client. His world changes forever.
"Out of Body, Out of Mind" follows a college student who seeks
solitude to complete his final thesis, and finds that his grasp on
reality is rather more elusive than he thought.
"Bodying Forth" also uses a conventional Cthulhu mythos form where a
bystander peruses the protagonist's journal and gradually pieces
together the clues around him to make sense of the narrative.
Perception vs reality, relative perspective and point of view make us
who we are.
I pretty much liked it! In spite of wanting maybe three or four more
stories to flesh out the collection I recommend it as an introduction
to a new unique voice in horror fiction, an author who is not afraid
to put his own stamp on Lovecraftian themes. There is nothing here
that smacks of pastiche. I will seek out Mr. Fry's other weird
fantasy/horror collection and I can only hope he will continue to
write Lovecraftian fiction. Good luck finding a copy!
Matt
g....@blueyonder.co.uk
Thanks for your review of my book, which I've just seen. Very
gratifying.
With regard to your enquiry about my Lovecraft stuff, I've actually
written a novel called GOD'S EYE VIEW, which is essentially
Lovecraftian. No publisher yet, but I'm wroking on it.
Thanks again,
Gary
icarp...@aol.com
> Hi there, Matt!
>
> Thanks for your review of my book, which I've just seen. Very
> gratifying.
>
> With regard to your enquiry about my Lovecraft stuff, I've actually
> written a novel called GOD'S EYE VIEW, which is essentially
> Lovecraftian. No publisher yet, but I'm wroking on it.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Gary
Hello and welcome to ahc!
Please let us know when you find a publisher. I'd love tor ead your
novel!
Matt
g....@blueyonder.co.uk
Will do, sir!
I guess there's a novella called The Unmoored with a Lovecraftian
atmosphere in my first book The Impelled. Lovecraft informs my stuff,
whatever the ultimate results, I think.
Gary