This book, published by Chaosium Inc., contains 10 stories, each of which is inspired by a role playing game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s novella The Call of Cthulhu. The stories are set in various real world locations in the 1920s. The theme behind each of the stories involves a fantasy twist in the form of dark magic loosely based around a concept of uncaring gods. Some end with tragedy, frustration and hopelessness and some end relatively more happily. As a result, none of them are predictable and all leave the reader horrified. Each story keeps the reader’s attention throughout.
There is insufficient space here to review all the stories, so here are my top four favourites.
"The Eternal Chinaman" by John Sunseri is the story of a street-wise sailor, Guy, who is employed by a distant relative, David, to protect him from the Eternal Chinaman, a character who appears directly or indirectly in many of these stories. David has something magical in his possession that the Chinaman believes is his and so a complex and deadly battle begins. David soon learns that he is dabbling with powers beyond his control and it is Guy who must do his best to save him. This tale is well told and interesting with the characters coming through strongly.
"The Whisper of Ancient Secrets" by Penelope Love is an excellent story set in Outback Australia. It is told from the bizarre point of view of The Scientist who is studying a thing he calls The Experiment. He has clearly been through some sort of metamorphosis and is now only loosely connected to reality. The strength of the story is in trying to work out what is really happening. He has a number of equally strange and very brutal companions called Johansen, Billy Hughes, Sqizzy Taylor, Don Bradman and Nellie Melba as well someone known only as R.H. These companions sacrifice cattle and humans in a set of caves they call the Cathedral much to the annoyance of the Scientist who realises that their actions will interfere with his study of The Experiment. Eventually their evil behaviour becomes known to the local population who attack the Cathedral and threaten the Scientist’s existence. The story is told well and gives a realistic insight into a man driven mad by something eldritch. In addition, the plot is compelling and satisfying. This is my favourite story from the collection and a quick search on the web shows that the author has written many other stories that might be well worth investigating.
"The Nature of Faith" by Oscar Rios shows yet another way of interpreting the horror stories of Cthulhu. It is set in the USA and the main character, Gerdy Pope, is a wild child who lives in the wilderness. The author introduces her well, showing how she is supported and respected by the local township, but she is always an outsider with strange and sublime skills. She pays for room and board with a golden coin which reveals a connection between the Celts and American Indians long before they should ever have met. This coin makes it to the hands of Professor Drake, who, as a specialist in such things, realises its significance and, wishing for fame by publishing such a find in the academic journals, makes his way to the town near Gerdy. Gerdy and Drake meet and together they investigate the origin of the coins. Gerdy helps Drake to find more of the coins which lead them into dark and sinister danger. The story presents Gerdy very well, she comes across as quite odd but also totally believable.
"Requiem for the Burning God" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings is a story of a mercenary, Max Calder, who is employed to protect a mine in Peru from attacks by local rebels. Despite his occupation Max has a strong moral belief. Max soon has concerns over the nature of the mine and so sets out to investigate with a group of his fellow mercenaries. He soon comes up against the inevitable evil and must fight it at great cost to himself and his companions. The emphasis in this story is on action rather than horror.
The other stories in this book are:
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"Old Ghost" by Peter A. Worthy
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"Captains of Industry" by John Goodrich
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"Covenant of Darkness" by William Jones
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"The Devil’s Diamonds" by Cody Goodfellow
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"Perfect Skin" by David Witteveen
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"Sister of the Sands" by David Conyers
If you like horror stories with dark magical gods then this is the series for you. The editor has chosen well.
Most of the plots are based on "Tragedy" (see The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker for more details) although there are a few that are based upon “Overcoming the Monster”. All of the plot lines are satisfying. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and recommend it to lovers of fantasy and horror.
Cthulhu's Dark Cults (2010)
David Conyers (Editor)
Chaosium Incorporated
Review by Wayne J. Harris
Published first online (12/02/11). |
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