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Title: Cthulhu 2000
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #12
Editor: Jim Turner
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 440
Words: 178K
I have to admit, I was hoping for a little more from this collection. The editor talks about the various stories at the beginning of the book and mentions that the final story by Zelazny might be difficult to fit into a Cthulhu collection. He wasn’t kidding. Zelazny’s story had NOTHING to do with cosmic horror and came across as nothing more than adding a big name to sell the collection. Color me unimpressed.
I did like “Pickman’s Modem”, as I love it when technology dates itself to a point where I can remember using that stuff. The modem in question is a 2400 baud modem. Oh yeah, those were the good ol’ days! The rest of the stories were simply ok (outside of Zelazny) and while I don’t regret that I read them, I do wish they’d been a little bit tastier.
Hopefully the next collection will be better.
★★★☆☆
Table of Contents:
- The Barrens, F. Paul Wilson
- Pickman’s Modem, Lawrence Watt-Evans
- Shaft Number 247, Basil Copper
- His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood, Poppy Z. Brite
- The Adder, Fred Chappell
- Fat Face, Michael Shea
- The Big Fish, Kim Newman
- “I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket … But by God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life!”, Joanna Russ
- H.P.L., Gahan Wilson
- The Unthinkable, Bruce Sterling
- Black Man with a Horn, T.E.D. Klein
- Love’s Eldritch Ichor, Esther M. Friesner
- The Last Feast of Harlequin, Thomas Ligotti
- The Shadow on the Doorstep, James P. Blaylock
- Lord of the Land, Gene Wolfe
- The Faces at Pine Dunes, Ramsey Campbell
- On the Slab, Harlan Ellison
- 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai, Roger Zelazny
