Oh, my! I wish I were skilled enough to review this in Seussian meter. It really does get everything so right. I bought this as a bit of fun, as I’m a long-time Lovecraft fan, and enjoyed Dr Seuss’ books as a child, and then again reading them to my (now 19-year-old) daughter when she was little. I’ve also played more than my fair share of Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game in my time. Ivankovic manages to richly capture the look and feel of […]
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
I’m a pretty big horror fan. I graduated from Christopher Pike novels to Stephen King before I hit my teens. Naturally, I’m pretty familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft. So when I came across an author who Lovecraft named as a major influence on his work, I naturally had to give it a read. The similarities are apparent from page one. It has many of the ingredients of classic Lovecraft: cosmic horror, strange locals, unnamed horrors. It’s a must read for anyone who […]
Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead…
Southern Reach Trilogy is a smart and scary science fiction story that offers literate thrills for those willing to stick through it. The trilogy is LOST crossed with an apocalyptic Lovecraft scenario. It’s an ecological disaster story at heart but spends considerable amount of time examining the people and things that are exposed to the mysterious Area X and detailing the effects it has on them. Note: I read the 3 volumes that make up the Southern Reach trilogy separately. The Amazon link is for […]
Ghouls and Gods in Dreamland
Johannes Cabal is a necromancer, and one day three men appear with an offer. Messrs. Shadrach, Corde, and Bose want to hire him as their guide into the Dreamlands in order to find and destroy the Phobic Animus, the source of all fear. The Dreamlands are an alternate reality accessible to dreamers, poets, philosophers, and those under the influence of mind-altering substances. Dreamlands are full of beauty and wonder, but visitors are equally likely to meet monsters and nightmares of epic proportions. Cabal accepts this […]
A monster awakens
Eighteenth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. There’s something regal and respectable about Lovecraftian horror. It is not gut-wrenching, disgustingly gory or even scary in the right sense of the word. It does not do what a horror story is expected to do. What it does, and exceedingly well, is to fill you with a feeling of dread and leave you uneasy as you try to comprehend the nature of beings that he has described in his story. Lovecraft doesn’t write about Earthly […]
Grimscribe
Quick Synopsis: 13 short stories from a master of Lovecraftian mood Quick Review: The first and the last stories are definitely the best in my opinion, but overall an excellent study of how to create an unsettling atmostphere Read the full review here