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Title: Cthulhu Lies Dreaming
Series:
Cthulhu Anthology #2
Editor: Salome Jones
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages:
389
Words: 134.5K
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Synopsis: |
Table of Contents
Foreword: Cthulhu, Lies, Dreaming by Kenneth Hite
Nikukinchaku by Matthew J. Hockey
Babatunde by Ayobami Leeman Kessler
The Myth of Proof by Greg Stolze
Service by Lynnea Glasser
The Star that is Not a Star (The Statement of Natasha Klein, April 1996) by Lucy Brady
August Lokken by Yma Johnson
Wake My Lord by M. S. Swift
Puddles by Thord D. Hedengren
Sometimes, the Void Stares Back by Marc Reichardt
Beyond the Shore by Lynne Hardy
Bleak Mathematics by Brian Fatah Steele
Father of Dread by Matthew Chabin
He Sees You in His Dreams by Samuel Morningstar
Isophase Light by Daniel Marc Chant
Icebound by Morris Kenyon
Seven Nights in a Sleep Clinic by Saul Quint
Mykes Reach by William Couper
Notes for a Life of Nightmares: A Retrospective on the Work of Henry Anthony Wilcox by Pete Rawlik
Offspring by Evey Brett
Out on Route 22 by E. Dane Anderson
The Red Brick Building by Mike Davis
The Lullaby of Erich Zann by G. K. Lomax
Cymothoa Cthulhii by Gethin A. Lynes
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My Thoughts: |
I am finding that the Cosmic Horror genre is my weakness. Mostly in the sense I would naturally abhor everything contained within it (hopelessness, dread, despair, the absolute insignificance of man) but that within these stories not only do I NOT abhor them, I practically revel in them. I was thinking about this as I was nearing the end of my read trying to figure out why this was. When I read Hard Day's Knight the other month, the very mention of Jesus not being strong enough to combat the powers of Hell sent me into a frenzy of practically calling down fire on the authors unbelieving head. Yet in this collection when God is simply dismissed as a non-entity in the face of the elder gods, I didn't blink. Why? I don't know yet but I'm keeping that question in the forefront of my mind as I continue reading this genre. Once I figure it out I'll be mentioning it in one of the reviews.
This collection started out fantastically with “Nikukinchaku”. A story about a school teacher facing budget cuts and how she cuts costs by buying nikukinchaku, a cheap food source that everybody loves. The story ends with the things eating a teacher, the dealer drowning himself in a toilet and everyone who has eaten the nikukinchaku heading out to see to answer “a call” they all can hear, including the teacher. This story had the perfect sense of dread and psychological horror. It was almost literally delicious to read. While some of the other stories had more horror, this was a great way to start.
Sadly, every collection has a low point and this one's was “Father of Dread”. Incest fantasy between adopted siblings and teen hormones. I don't need or want to read about a teen boy masturbating to thoughts of his adopted sister. This story is the main reason this was 3.5stars instead of 4.
Salome Jones has done another great job with this anthology and I'm really impressed. To the point where I'll be looking her up to see what else she has put together. That's pretty high praise coming from me. That's if I can figure out how to search for editors instead of authors of course.
I had mentioned in the previous Cthulhu Anthology that I was wanting to space these out a bit more so as to lessen the impact on myself from these soul destroying stories. After reading this my desire is intensified all the more. So instead of reading nothing but Cthulhu Lore, I'll be spacing it out with a couple of King in Yellow anthologies. Brilliant or what?!?
★★★✬☆
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