That Is Not Dead (Cthulhu Anthology #20) 1Star

 

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Title: That Is Not Dead
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #20
Editor: Darrell Schweitzer
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 212
Words: 82K

Last time I read something edited by Schweitzer, it was Cthulhu’s Reign. I enjoyed that. This time, there was a story, by Schweitzer himself, that was out and out blasphemous. While I usually will dnf a book with issues like that, in a collection of short stories I feel ok with not. But the rating tanked right down to 1star. I was surprised, because there was a story by S.T. Joshi and he’s a total twat, so I was expecting HIS story to be the one I hated on.

It also leads to another observation about the Cthulhu Mythos that continues to bug me. It is always Christianity and Jehovah and Jesus that get the shaft in these stories. Always. No Buddha getting his serenity all butt raped. No Allah eating shit and saying he likes it. Not even Joseph Smith for goodness sake! The least they could do is make his magic glasses eat his brains or something. But nope, none of that now. And I wonder why. I have some ideas but they are pure conjecture and baseless speculation.

So really, while I enjoyed some of these stories, the ones I didn’t dragged me down paths I didn’t really want to perambulate on and I feel like I was mugged. That is NOT the feeling I want when I read a book.

★☆☆☆☆

From Wikipedia

The book collects fourteen short stories by various authors, with an introduction by the editor. All share the Cthulhu Mythos setting originated by H. P. Lovecraft, but unlike his stories, which generally take place in modern times, they are set in previous historical eras. The effect is to take the Mythos from the realm of contemporary horror into that of historical fiction. The stories are presented in chronological order from the 2nd millennium BC to the late 19th century, with the last set in the present but looking back to medieval events

TOC

• "Introduction: Horror of the Carnivàle" (Darrell Schweitzer)

• "Egypt, 1200 BC: Herald of Chaos" (Keith Taylor)

• "Mesopotamia, second millennium BC: What a Girl Needs" (Esther Friesner)

• "Judaea, second century AD: The Horn of the World’s Ending" (John Langan)

• "Central Asia, second century AD: Monsters in the Mountains at the Edge of the World" (Jay Lake)

• "Palestine, Asia Minor, and Central Asia; late eleventh and mid twelfth centuries AD: Come, Follow Me" (Darrell Schweitzer)

• "England, 1605: Ophiuchus" (Don Webb)

• "Russia, late seventeenth century: Of Queens and Pawns" (Lois H. Gresh)

• "Mexico, 1753: Smoking Mirror" (Will Murray)

• "France, 1762: Incident at Ferney" (S. T. Joshi)

• "Arizona Territory, 1781: Anno Domini Azathoth" (John R. Fultz)

• "Massachusetts, USA, early twentieth century. Italy, early nineteenth century: Slowness" (Don Webb)

• "Massachusetts, USA, and Spain, late nineteenth century: The Salamanca Encounter" (Richard A. Lupoff)

• "Seattle, Washington, USA, 1889: Old Time Entombed" (W. H. Pugmire)

• "England, twenty-first century and the Middle Ages: Nine Drowned Churches" (Harry Turtledove)

• All of My “Cthulhu Anthology” Reviews