Best of
Lovecraftian

2003

The Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft


John PelanSteve Rasnic Tem - 2003
    P. Lovecraft’s shocking, terrifying, and eerily prescient Cthulhu Mythos. In twenty-one dark visions, a host of outstanding contemporary writers tap into our innermost fears, with tales set in a misbegotten new world that could have been spawned only by the master of the macabre himself, H. P. Lovecraft. Inside you’ll find:DETAILS by China Miéville: A curious boy discovers that within the splinters of cracked wood or the tangle of tree branches, the devil is in the details.VISITATION by James Robert Smith: When Edgar Allan Poe arrives, a callow man finally gets what he always wanted—and what he may eternally despise. MEET ME ON THE OTHER SIDE by Yvonne Navarro: A couple in love with terror travels beyond their wildest dreams—and into their nightmares.A FATAL EXCEPTION HAS OCCURRED AT . . . by Alan Dean Foster: Internet terrorism extends far beyond transmitting threats of evil.AND SEVENTEEN MORE HARROWING TALESFrom the Trade Paperback edition.vii • Introduction: The Call of Lovecraft • essay by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan1 • Details • short story by China Miéville21 • Visitation • short story by James Robert Smith33 • The Invisible Empire • novelette by James Van Pelt57 • A Victorian Pot Dresser • novelette by L. H. Maynard and M. P. N. Sims85 • The Cabin in the Woods • novelette by Richard Laymon109 • The Stuff of the Stars, Leaking • short story by Tim Lebbon125 • Sour Places • short story by Mark Chadbourn141 • Meet Me on the Other Side • short story by Yvonne Navarro161 • That's the Story of My Life • short story by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan181 • Long Meg and Her Daughters • novella by Paul Finch243 • A Fatal Exception Has Occurred At ... • short story by Alan Dean Foster261 • Dark of the Moon • short story by James S. Dorr275 • Red Clay • short story by Michael Reaves [as by J. Michael Reaves]291 • Principles and Parameters • novelette by Meredith L. Patterson325 • Are You Loathsome Tonight? • (1998) • short story by Poppy Z. Brite331 • The Serenade of Starlight • short story by W. H. Pugmire (variant of Serenade of Starlight) [as by W. H. Pugmire, Esq.]345 • Outside • short story by Steve Rasnic Tem355 • Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea • [Dandridge Cycle] • short story by Caitlín R. Kiernan371 • A Spectacle of a Man • short story by Weston Ochse389 • The Firebrand Symphony • (2001) • novelette by Brian Hodge437 • Teeth • novelette by Matt Cardin463 • Notes on the Contributors (Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft) • essay by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan

Shadows Over Baker Street


Michael ReavesPoppy Z. Brite - 2003
    LovecraftNew Tales of Terror!What would happen if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's peerless detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his allies were to find themselves faced with Lovecraftian mysteries whose solutions lay not only beyond the grasp of logic, but beyond sanity itself. In this collection of original tales, twenty of today's cutting-edge writers provide answers to that burning question.Contributors include Neil Gaiman, Brian Stableford, Poppy Z. Bright, Barbara Hambly, Steve Perry, and Caitlin R. Kierman. These and other masters of horror, mystery, fantasy and science fiction spin dark tales within a terrifyingly surreal universe.Includes the Hugo Award-winning story A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman.Cover design: David StevensonCover Illustration: John Jude Palencar

Ravenous Dusk


Cody Goodfellow - 2003
    They gather to be cured of their cancer, but they become much more. Soon, they will be One. When they come into their kingdom, all plant and animal life on earth will be rendered obsolete, and a billion-year old experiment called evolution will have reached its logical conclusion.CATASTROPHEAs Special Agent Martin Cundieffe pursues the trail of the mutant cult, he finds a deeper secret that reaches into the hidden heart of American power, and leaves him powerless and alone before the real enemy. Stella Orozco has traded her freedom and her humanity for something more. When her transformation is complete, she will become a goddess-and lose her mind.Sgt. Zane Storch is a soldier without an army, a species of one fighting both sides for his own survival and sanity in a body that is fast becoming his own worst enemy. How many times will he fight to defend a nation and a species that shuns him as an abomination? How many times will he die for them?CREATIONAs the Mission heats up its genocidal campaign against Radiant Dawn, the armies of the mysterious Dr. Keogh labor to open a sealed pre-human tomb in the Iraqi wasteland. This forgotten place will decide the outcome of the last war of natural selection, for what lies beyond the crumbling wall is no less than the unspeakable truth about the origin of life on earth-and what's coming next.

Sesqua Valley & Other Haunts


W.H. Pugmire - 2003
    Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, set in the mysterious Sesqua Valley - a dark and sinister locale imagined by W.H. Pugmire. The reader will find carefully crafted tales of Lovecraftian horror and the Cthulhu Mythos artfully coloured with the lavish touches for which W.H. Pugmire is famous. His stories are not mere pastiche, but finely wrought stories that transport the reader into a foreboding and enticing realm of hororr and dark fantasy.

My Life with Master


Paul Czege - 2003
    a roleplaying game of villainy, self-loathing and unrequited love