Book Review: Wonder and Glory Forever: Awe-Inspiring Lovecraftian Fiction
A Lovecraftian anthology full of wonder and glory weirdness and squamousness.
Dover Publications, 2020, 288 pages
Even though he passed over 80 years ago, H. P. Lovecraft maintains a visceral influence over a host of contemporary writers. Inspired by the Master of the Macabre's more optimistic writings, this unique collection spotlights the weird works of nine current horror and fantasy authors, including the award-winning Michael Cisco and Livia Llewellyn plus Victor LaValle, Molly Tanzer, and Masahiko Inoue. Also includes Clark Ashton Smith's 1931 "The City of the Singing Flame" and Lovecraft's own "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" as well as an extensive Introduction by leading Lovecraftian scholar Nick Mamatas.
This volume, by Lovecraftian aficionado and critic Nick Mamatas, promises "Awe-inspiring Lovecraftian fiction." Genuine awe, like genuine fear, is hard to evoke in a short story, and while none of these stories quite did it for me, I did get transported to the bizarre, surrealistic spaces of eldritch horror and unfathomable mystery by a few of these tales. Others just had me kind of appreciating the word-smithing while not being quite sure what the writer was saying. (Looking at you, Laird Barron and Masahiko Inoue.)
None of the stories are new for this volume (though most were new to me), so putting together a themed anthology in a rather crowded Lovecraftian market means you have to have a pretty solid lineup to stand out.
The opening story, of course, is a classic by HPL himself, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The closing line of this novella provides the title of the anthology. The Shadow Over Innsmouth is Lovecraft's "Deep Ones" story, about an ordinary fellow with a mild interest in genealogical research visiting an insular old fishing town and discovering... things. I was struck by how much of the story consisted of minor characters narrating exposition at the protagonist for several pages, but when there is action, Lovecraft is quite detailed and meticulous about describing the surroundings and the events. And as Mamatas points out in his foreword, it's very evident that many of Lovecraft's protagonists were basically fictionalized versions of himself.
Closing the volume was another classic by one of Lovecraft's contemporaries, The City of the Singing Flame, by Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft gets a lot of criticism for his prose, but Smith's is purple and dense indeed. It is about a weird fiction writer (they didn't call it "science fiction" back then) stumbling through a gateway between dimensions and finding himself in a strange city inhabited by alien beings. Adventure and wonder and glory ensues.
Between these two early 20th century pieces is a collection by modern writers, ranging from Laird Barron's brutal and Lovecraftian Vastation to Nick Mamatas's own Farewell Performance, about a doomsday jester who, like many of the protagonists in this book, seems to have more than a bit of the author in him.
There are mysteries and endtimes and strange worlds and madness (lots of madness), but only a few tales that really stuck with me. I liked Molly Tanzer's post-apocalyptic Go, Go, Go, Said the Byakhee, was unsettled by Victor LaValle's Ghost Story (which isn't really a ghost story and is only by a stretch a Lovecraftian story, thought Michael Cisco's Translation had a properly weird ending, and Erica Satifka's You Will Never Be the Same pulled off a short space opera in Lovecraftian space.
The remaining stories - Seven Minutes in Heaven by Nadia Bulkin, Night Voices, Night Journeys, by Masahiko Inoue, Weird Tales, by Fred Chapell, and Bright Crown of Joy by Livia Llewellyn - were not bad at all, but while carrying the theme were not as memorable for me.
This isn't a classic "Lovecraft Mythos" book - there aren't many monsters, and no Great Old Ones rising. But they all convey the feeling of humans being small squishy gnats in a vast indifferent universe, full of mysteries that will destroy your mind if you're dumb enough to seek them out. It's not my favorite Lovecraftian collection ever, but Mamatas is a student of stories and of Lovecraft, and this anthology is giving proper due to the weird and wondrous, if occasionally ponderous, side of HPL's writing.
My complete list of book reviews.
Dover Publications, 2020, 288 pages
Even though he passed over 80 years ago, H. P. Lovecraft maintains a visceral influence over a host of contemporary writers. Inspired by the Master of the Macabre's more optimistic writings, this unique collection spotlights the weird works of nine current horror and fantasy authors, including the award-winning Michael Cisco and Livia Llewellyn plus Victor LaValle, Molly Tanzer, and Masahiko Inoue. Also includes Clark Ashton Smith's 1931 "The City of the Singing Flame" and Lovecraft's own "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" as well as an extensive Introduction by leading Lovecraftian scholar Nick Mamatas.
This volume, by Lovecraftian aficionado and critic Nick Mamatas, promises "Awe-inspiring Lovecraftian fiction." Genuine awe, like genuine fear, is hard to evoke in a short story, and while none of these stories quite did it for me, I did get transported to the bizarre, surrealistic spaces of eldritch horror and unfathomable mystery by a few of these tales. Others just had me kind of appreciating the word-smithing while not being quite sure what the writer was saying. (Looking at you, Laird Barron and Masahiko Inoue.)
None of the stories are new for this volume (though most were new to me), so putting together a themed anthology in a rather crowded Lovecraftian market means you have to have a pretty solid lineup to stand out.
The opening story, of course, is a classic by HPL himself, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The closing line of this novella provides the title of the anthology. The Shadow Over Innsmouth is Lovecraft's "Deep Ones" story, about an ordinary fellow with a mild interest in genealogical research visiting an insular old fishing town and discovering... things. I was struck by how much of the story consisted of minor characters narrating exposition at the protagonist for several pages, but when there is action, Lovecraft is quite detailed and meticulous about describing the surroundings and the events. And as Mamatas points out in his foreword, it's very evident that many of Lovecraft's protagonists were basically fictionalized versions of himself.
Closing the volume was another classic by one of Lovecraft's contemporaries, The City of the Singing Flame, by Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft gets a lot of criticism for his prose, but Smith's is purple and dense indeed. It is about a weird fiction writer (they didn't call it "science fiction" back then) stumbling through a gateway between dimensions and finding himself in a strange city inhabited by alien beings. Adventure and wonder and glory ensues.
Between these two early 20th century pieces is a collection by modern writers, ranging from Laird Barron's brutal and Lovecraftian Vastation to Nick Mamatas's own Farewell Performance, about a doomsday jester who, like many of the protagonists in this book, seems to have more than a bit of the author in him.
There are mysteries and endtimes and strange worlds and madness (lots of madness), but only a few tales that really stuck with me. I liked Molly Tanzer's post-apocalyptic Go, Go, Go, Said the Byakhee, was unsettled by Victor LaValle's Ghost Story (which isn't really a ghost story and is only by a stretch a Lovecraftian story, thought Michael Cisco's Translation had a properly weird ending, and Erica Satifka's You Will Never Be the Same pulled off a short space opera in Lovecraftian space.
The remaining stories - Seven Minutes in Heaven by Nadia Bulkin, Night Voices, Night Journeys, by Masahiko Inoue, Weird Tales, by Fred Chapell, and Bright Crown of Joy by Livia Llewellyn - were not bad at all, but while carrying the theme were not as memorable for me.
This isn't a classic "Lovecraft Mythos" book - there aren't many monsters, and no Great Old Ones rising. But they all convey the feeling of humans being small squishy gnats in a vast indifferent universe, full of mysteries that will destroy your mind if you're dumb enough to seek them out. It's not my favorite Lovecraftian collection ever, but Mamatas is a student of stories and of Lovecraft, and this anthology is giving proper due to the weird and wondrous, if occasionally ponderous, side of HPL's writing.
My complete list of book reviews.