Short Book Review: A Romp Through Lovecraft's Arkham

 The Ravening Deep (The Sanford Files), by Tim Pratt (Aconyte)

I’m a long-time fan of Tim Pratt, from his imaginative science fiction to his thoughtful, accessible novels set in gaming worlds. I quite understand why he undertook an adventure that’s part of Aconyte’s Lovecraftian “Arkham Horror” series—it’s a hoot! While it helps to have a superficial knowledge of the mythos, it’s not necessary. Pratt guides us into this world of mysteries and cults, the superficial normal, and the deeply horrific reality beneath.

Poor Abel Davenport! First, his fishing business dries up, then in a drunken stupor he unwittingly becomes the chief priest of a long-dead god (a gigantic, planet-devouring starfish, I kid you not), and before he knows it, the spirit of the aforementioned god has cloned him into extremely not-nice doppelgangers in its scheme to recover the last bit of its mortal flesh. Then there’s Diana Stanley, a shopkeeper who joined Arkham’s Silver Twilight Lodge in the mistaken belief it was a service club, only to learn, once it’s too late to back out, that its rituals are far darker…and bloodier. Ruby Standish, cat burglar par excellence, joins forces with Diana and Abel to pull off a heist at the Silver Twilight Lodge. Now the three of them must convince Carl Sanford, master of the Lodge, where the true danger lies. Part horror novel, part thriller, and very much part tongue-in-cheek romp, The Ravening Deep is a quick, delicious read that left me wishing for the next adventure…and just a wee bit wary of my seafood.

Verdict: Great fun, even for those not familiar with Lovecraft’s Arkham.

Short Book Reviews: Another Fun "Laundry Files" Novel

 Season of Skulls (A Novel in the World of the Laundry Files), by Charles Stross (Tor)

I’ve loved “The Laundry Files” by Charles Stross since the first adventure, a delicious blend of spy action adventure and Lovecraftian horror, with a dry sense of humor and a touch of romance. The series begins in a present-day world where magic is a branch of computational mathematics (i.e., if you get sufficiently powerful computers, they tap into magic, often with results you really, really don’t want, like awakening ancient powers and opening gates to other dimensions). Now, many volumes later, Britain is under “New Management” and the Prime Minister is an Elder God of terrifying power. Eve Starkey, once the hyperorganized assistant to an unscrupulous magician, is just trying to get her life back and stay under the radar…and fails at both.

This latest installment has all the tension, wit, and quirky imagination of its predecessors, but with a bit more, very satisfying romance thrown in. Poor Eve has been through so much, and her ex-boss, perhaps not-so-ex-husband is such a loathsome toad, she deserves a little happiness in the end. Stross delivers all this and more.

Great fun for lovers of the series

Short Book Reviews: The H. P. Lovecraft Elder Gods Stalk Modern London

Dead Lies Dreaming, by Charles Stross (Tordotcom)

The Elder Gods have cast their long, twisted shadow over contemporary London, the “New Management” has transformed government into a private megacorporation, and supernatural powers are popping up in people of all walks of life. One billionaire tycoon will stop at nothing to acquire the one true Necronomicon, a cursed grimoire right out of H. P. Lovecraft. When a group of psychic misfits stages a bank robbery, ex-cop Wendy Deere is put on the job as private security to track them down and soon finds herself drawn in to the hunt for the ghastly book. The plot goes from playful to horrific, from reality-bending and beyond in true Stross fashion. Although this world has much in common with The Laundry Files, and I kept waiting for our friends from those stories to show up and save the day, to my mind this is a parallel-Laundry-Files universe, just as fun and wildly inventive, and it works great as a stand-alone.

Short Book Reviews: A Female Sorceress Sherlock Holmes

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, by Alexis Hall (Ace)

A delicious mash-up of Sherlock Holmes (Shaharazad Hass, with her companion, alchemist and military veteran Captain John Wyndham), Lovecraftian mythos, Dracula, and The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.  Shaharazad Hass, a consulting detective as well as sorceress, accepts a commission from an old flame, who is threatened with blackmail unless she breaks off her engagement. The list of possible enemies is long, but as Shaharazad and John focus on the most likely suspects, one after the other is eliminated, including the vampire Contessa, another of Shaharazad’s many, many ex-lovers. I found the prose delightful in its replication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s narrative, transported into a world of magic, demons, mind-altering drugs, and a sideways-in-time journey into the mysterious, menacing world of Chambers’s Carcosa and The King in Yellow. Weird and shiveringly wonderful reading!

Short Book Reviews: HP Lovecraft Meets Shirley Jackson's Hill House

In the Shadow of Spindrift House, by Mira Grant (Subterranean) 

I made my acquaintance of the works of Seanan McGuire through Rosemary and Rue, then the “Incryptid” and “Ghost Roads” series. Mira Grant is Seanan’s horror-writing alias, and I’ve only recently dabbled in her work. Even though horror is not usually my cuppa I’m so glad I did! In the Shadow of Spindrift House is a strange little tale, novella-length if I’m not mistaken, a sort of demented love-child of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and the work of H. P. Lovecraft. And a gang of kid ghost-busters, now adults adrift in their own lives.

Spindrift House is haunted; that’s the only thing the denizens of “the half-ruined town of Port Mercy, Maine” can agree on. The land itself is valuable, but the title is clouded, and the documents that would establish claim lie within the strange Victorian edifice. The contesting families have offered a huge reward for the documents, but anyone searching for them must remain for the entire search. So our ghost-busters-now-grown embark upon this treasure hunt.

But the house isn’t safe, and neither is the ocean it overlooks (of course – this is Lovecraft territory, isn’t it?) The imagery shifts from “the sweet, beguiling whisper of the sea” to “the sound of the sea . . . like the beating of some huge, horrible heart” The house, too, is described in spine-chilling terms from “like it’s rotting from the inside out . . . the banister was slick under my fingers, damp with some scentless, unspeakable fluid . . .” “the house was moving in my veins, burrowing into my bones . . .”

The language, with its frequent references to rot and decay, the sense of creeping, nameless horror, are all evocative of Lovecraft’s work, but also Jackson’s psychological thriller, with its slow peeling-away of the veneer of normality and civilization to reveal most uncivilized secrets.

This is a quick read, full of shivery moments. Familiarity with either Lovecraft or Jackson isn’t necessary to enjoy it, although fans of either work will relish the references.

The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything in particular about it. Although chocolates and fine imported tea are always welcome.