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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