Prior to the first American publication of Brian Lumley's ground-breaking, dead-waking, best-selling Necroscopeะ โะฒะั''ยฎ in 1988 -- the first novel in a long-lived, much-loved series -- this British author had for twenty years been earning himself something of a reputation writing short stories, novellas, and a series of novels set against H. P. Lovecraft's cosmic Cthulhu Mythos backdrop. A soldier in 1967, serving in Berlin with the Royal Military Police, Lumley jump-started his literary career by writing to August Derleth, the then dean of macabre publishers at his home in Sauk City, Wisconsin, telling of his fascination with the Mythos, and purchasing books by the Old Gentleman of Providence, RI; In addition, he sent a page or two of written work allegedly culled from the various forbidden or black books of the Mythos. Suitably impressed, the master of Arkham House invited Lumley to write something solid in the Mythos as a possible contribution to a new volume he was currently contemplating, to be titled -- what else but? -- Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. And as might well be imagined, that set everything in motion.
Forty years have passed since then and a good many words of Mythos fiction written, including critically acclaimed and award-nominated work, stories that have appeared in prestigious magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, and hardcover volumes from publishers all over the world from the USA to China and the United Kingdom to Russia. But while Lumley's novels are all currently available, many of them in hardcover format, his Mythos short stories and novellas have until now remained uncollected.
Subterranean Press is proud to correct that omission in volumes that are guaranteed to be the pride of any collector's library of Mythos fiction other than tales written by H. P. Lovecraft himself. Here in this book are found the shorter stories. Thus the best of Brian Lumley's works in this sub-genre are collected and presented for the first time in this much more worthy and durable format...
From Publishers Weekly
British novelist Lumley began his writing career as an H.P. Lovecraft emulator. This nostalgic collection, the second of two volumes (after 2007's The Taint and Other Novellas) of Lumley's best Cthulhu Mythos tales, demonstrates that his work improves the more he moves away from his model, as in the simple and unflinching title story. The more histrionic The Caller of the Black still takes a significant step away from its source, introducing the recurring character of the occultist-adventurer Titus Crow, who, like most Lumley characters, is much more of a man of action than the typical Lovecraft protagonist. Mixed among the contemporary horrors are sword-and-sorcery stories set in Lovecraft's surreal Dreamlands and the Primal Land, as florid as the rest but sometimes redeemed by irony. These straightforward tales of forbidden tomes, alien gods and hideous dooms should appeal to Lovecraft fans who care more about atmosphere than philosophy or prose. (May)
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From Booklist
In The Taint and Other Novellas (2007), Lumley reissued seven longer contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos, the macabre milieu created by H. P. Lovecraft in which Lumley fostered his reputation as a leading horror author. This companion volume contains two dozen shorter Mythos tales, including his original Mythos story, first published in 1967, to one from as late as 2003. The Mythos revolves around a race of unimaginably ancient, malevolent beings, usually hidden beneath the oceans, who enslave hapless humans via dreams and telepathic spells. Lumleyโฒs human Mythos protagonists are antiquarians, archaeologists, and eccentric explorers lured inevitably into horrific traps by their fascination with secret knowledge and unearthly powers. In ะ ะะ โะกัThe Caller of the Black,ะ ะะ โะกั an amateur parapsychologist narrowly escapes death at the hands of a murderous spell caster by bouncing a curse back on its instigator. The title story recounts the chilling fate of a marine biologist whose encounter with an undersea parasite transforms him into an aquatic monstrosity. Lumleyโฒs knack for spinning inventively gruesome scenarios provides hours of agreeably unsettling entertainment. --Carl Hays