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Title: Through a Mythos Darkly
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #11
Editor: Glynn Barrass & Brian Sammons
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 257
Words: 98K
The title of this anthology is a rip off of the Bible verse from 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 12 which starts out “For now we see in a mirror, darkly;” so I knew going in that this might very well be quite blasphemous. Thankfully, it wasn’t.
But it wasn’t that good either. I have built up my expectations about Glynn Barrass as an editor and he really let me down this time. I think a large part of that was the inclusion of a bunch of woke buzz words and ideas that shaped the stories into more political screeds than actual good story telling. Plus, several of them were using very modern terms (health care practitioner in the 1920’s, I don’t think so!) in stories where said words weren’t used that way. It just threw me out of the story every time it happened and damped down my enjoyment.
Plus, several of the stories had that “man is evil, man is a monster, man should just destroy himself to make the world a better place” mentality which has nothing to do with cosmic horror and more to do with the author’s thoughts and feelings about humanity. Which if they really believed that, they would put a gun in their mouth and blow their brains out. And we would all be better off not having to put up with their stupidity. But what they MEAN is that everyone ELSE is a monster and should destroy themselves, obviously not them!
The short story “Fate of the World” had a tie in with the King in Yellow in that Carcosa is a real place on Earth and is at war with the rest of world who are under the sway of various elder gods. But that was it and was barely there. The King doesn’t even appear. So it wasn’t what I expected or wanted.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed with this collection. While not egregiously bad like The Black Wings of Cthulhu, I am actually rating this lower because there wasn’t even one story that really rose above the rest. Everything was grey, mediocre pablum. That is the very antithesis of Cosmic Horror.
★★✬☆☆
Publisher’s Blurb & Table of Contents:
In this Cthulhu Mythos inspired anthology, editors Glynn Owen Barrass & Brian M. Sammons invited their authors to Take a steampunk world, fill it with giant steam powered robots, and have them herding shoggoths for the betterment of mankind. Have them rebel, and have do-gooders set about trying to free them. Fill a world with Deep Ones or Ghouls, or create a world where magic is a part of everyday life, or where America was never discovered because something kept eating the ships, or the Nazis won WWII thanks to outside influences. Perhaps the Chinese built the Great Wall to keep something out other than Mongol hordes. So, how did they do? Fantastically of course.
TOC:
Introduction (Through a Mythos Darkly) • essay by Glynn Owen Barrass and Brian M. Sammons
The Roadrunners • short fiction by Cody Goodfellow
Scrimshaw • short fiction by Jeffrey Thomas
Sweet Angie Tailor in: Subterranean Showdown • short story by John Langan
An Old and Secret Cult • short fiction by Robert M. Price
Stewert Behr—Deanimator • short fiction by Peter Rawlik [as by Pete Rawlik]
To Kill a King • short fiction by Don Webb
The Last Quest • short story by William Meikle
Fate of the World • short fiction by Christine Morgan
Red in the Water, Salt on the Earth • short fiction by Konstantine Paradias
The Night They Drove Cro Magnon Down • short fiction by D. A. Madigan
Sacrifice • short fiction by Sam Stone
Get Off Your Knees, I’m Not Your God • short fiction by Edward R. Morris
Excerpts from the Diaries of Henry P. Linklatter • short fiction by Stephen Mark Rainey
Plague Doctor • short fiction by Tim Waggoner
Amidst the Blighted Swathes of Grey Desolation • short fiction by Lee Clark Zumpe
Cognac, Communism, and Cocaine • short fiction by Nick Mamatas and Molly Tanzer
Kai Monstrai Ateik (When the Monsters Come) • short fiction by Damien Angelica Walters
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