The Starry Wisdom : A Tribute To H. P. Lovecraft

Rating:
Summary: Octopussy
Review: "The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft" is far more than a tribute. It is an update, a confirmation of the First Article of Faith of the Esoteric Order of Dagon: that with strange aeons, even Death may Die.

It is a collection of illustrations and poems and wickedly twisted tales that pay homage to the Grandmaster, the Old Man of Providence---and then venture further into the darkness, without an oil lamp. Here you will find stories of a world inverted, of reason cast into the mad grinning abyss of the Universal and Uncaring, of a universe itself unhinged and gone mad. The writing is mad; the illustrations themselves, with which this nasty little volume is peppered, scream their insanity. This is not a safe volume. Here you will find no reclusive bachelor scholars penning correspondence to other sequestered academics.

This book will not comfort you. It will not give you a whiff of the familiar. It will not tuck you into bed at night. Quite possibly, it will pull itself across your floor with its toothy, fleshy suckers, crawl into bed with you, and introduce you to the glory of the polymorphous Azazoth. Here are 21 short tales (two of them pen-and-ink depictions), four "essays" on Lovecraft (penned, evidently, by deranged former academics in rubber rooms) and the collection's crowning glory, John Coulthart's masterful graphic adaptation of Lovecraft's seminal "Call of Cthulhu". This is a black tome of infestation, sexual evil, corruption.

Think back to the first time you read H.P. Lovecraft; what disturbed you? What was it about "At the Mountains of Madness", or "The Colour out of Space", or "The Call of Cthulhu", or perhaps "The Dunwich Horror" that pinioned you with its nasty pinkish-grey suction pads as you lay there reading---what peeled off your skin and got into your system, infected your blood?

For me it boiled down to two things: the uncaring, merciless, godless void of the universe, in which good and evil were meaningless conceits batted aside by the gibbering monsters barely conscious of petty, pathetic man. The other was the strong undertone of perverse, perverted Sex: think of the miscegenation implicit in virtually all of Lovecraft's work, from "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Shadow over Innsmouth" to "The Horror at Red Hook" and "The Thing on the Doorstep". There are deep and dark vanities to be sated, perversions to be explored that would not have survived the light of the Puritan day, deals to be struck, bloodlines to be entwined, new works of the Flesh to be consummated.

These Beings---these nihilistic Gods, these savage Beasts---don't just want to eat and rule. They want to breed. They want to corrupt. There lies the horror of Lovecraft: there lies the stink, the deadly pallor, the ripe rot, of this glorious collection.

I hate Lovecraft pastiches; those hollow imitators, happy to rob the Master's tomb and string together words like "eldritch" and "antediluvian". Only Brian Lumley's "The Night the Sea-Maid went Down", "Ward 23", and---surprisingly---Alan Moore's overwrought "The Courtyard" get anywhere near to that territory, and even then skirt the worst excesses of the Lovecraftian pastiche.

By far the best tale in the volume is David Conway's warped, wicked, revolutionary "Black Static", which throws SETI, bio-technology, and virtual reality into the cauldron, mixes thoroughly, sets to boil, and conjures up a black feast of horror that takes the Mythos to its logical conclusion.

Ramsey Campbell's fine "Potential", Simon Whitechapel's "Walpurgisnachtmusik", and Robert Price's "A Thousand Young" are all juicy, gory, nasty little tales of amoral players who find themselves played. J.G. Ballard is at his least obtuse and most shivery in the lyrical "Prisoner of the Coral Deep", while William S. Burroughs conjures up the Interzone, espionage, and horrific corruption in "Wind Die You Die We Die".

Grant Morrison is both sick and clever with his "Lovecraft in Heaven" a delicious literary spurt of rotten, leathery decrepitude, a revelatory little tale of realization achieved on the Old Man of Providence's deathbed, when he realizes his nihilistic little horrorverse is all too real. "Pills for Miss Betsy" actually made me physically ill---not because it's gory, but because it's patently out of its mind.

A few of the stories in "Starry Wisdom" are deranged trash---as you would expect of any Cthulhu cult, particularly at the extremes---upper and lower---of the intellectual bell curve. "Hypothetical Materfamilias", while ambitious, is one of them; "From the Mouth of the Consumer: Rotting Pig" is another. Ignore them. Or submerge yourself in them, if you're that far gone---shoggoths don't care about the sanity of their adherents.

I adore "Starry Wisdom". I adore it because it is the very embodiment of anti-pastiche: it takes everything you know about the Lovecraft Mythos and turns it on his rubbery head. And frankly, Lovecraft himself was a man far ahead of his time---and even he hadn't lived through the horror of World War II, of the atomization of human cities, the development of brutal biological weapons, mass genocide in Africa and Southeast Asia, the insanity of 9/11 and suicide bombers. His lonely New England woods and tottering Yankee farmhouses are paved beneath strip malls and 6-lane superstreets and big box stores that only get bigger and more impersonal: would he write about reclusive scholars now?

"Starry Wisdom" carries Lovecraft to the next level. It is corrupt; it is sexual; it is evil. Inject.





Rating:
Summary: A Bleary Ineptness
Review: A book consisting largely of senseless, desultory, inept prurience. Save for Burroughs and Ballard, the editors presume much in claiming for these nobodies a place approaching the original Lovecraft's style and wit. No Bloch or Clark Ashton Smith here, these are all lurid, incontinent emulators of weird fiction, and undeserving of that rubric. What's curious is that Lovecraft influenced many a great author, from Michel Houellebecq to Will Self. Why be laden with posers and third-raters? I returned this book with in 24hrs. or receiving it. Buyer be warned.

Rating:
Summary: A Bleary Ineptness
Review: A book consisting largely of senseless, desultory, inept prurience. Save for Burroughs and Ballard, the editors presume much in claiming for these nobodies a place approaching the original Lovecraft's style and wit. No Bloch or Clark Ashton Smith here, these are all lurid, incontinent emulators of weird fiction, and undeserving of that rubric. What's curious is that Lovecraft influenced many a great author, from Michel Houellebecq to Will Self. Why be laden with posers and third-raters? I returned this book with in 24hrs. or receiving it. Buyer be warned.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!Lovecraft would roll in his grave in disgust and delight
Review: Fantastic. Some of these stories are profoundly disturbing, taking the undertones of LOvecraft's work (sexual and otherwise) to incredible heights. Some stories are more like to his tales, while with most others the connection is more in shared ideas and currents of thought rather than any specific Mythos characters. In all a grand tribute to Lovecraft.

Rating:
Summary: Oy vey. What Can I Say?
Review: Freaky visions of modern Lovecraft-esque stories, and deranged images which weld themselves to your brain. In no way a waste of paper, especially the diseased tale of Lovecraft's death and the graphic novel-format retelling of THE CALL OF CTHULHU! A must-eat for any cthonian creeper

Rating:
Summary: Too many problems...
Review: I'll start with the positive aspects of the volume. Couthart's illustrated version of "The Call of Cthulhu" is really fantastic, and it's honestly almost worth the price of the entire volume. Without it the book would not have been worth publishing. As far as the tributes to Lovecraft go, Lumley's contribution is an interesting take on the encounter at sea theme. Also, Burroughs' "Wind Die. You Die. We Die." is excellent. They both capture the spirit of Lovecraft - there's something that's incomprehensibly terrible close by but never fully exposed. Some readers may find some of the other more traditional Lovecraft adaptations to be worthwhile reading, but these three pieces stick out as the best of the volume.

I didn't like the rest of the volume. Readers' opinions of this volume will vary with their attitudes toward the newer styles of Lovecraft adaptations. Those who like a more traditional and faithful approach will find the rest of the volume lacking. On the other hand, those who like modern, and even postmodern, interpretations of the Lovecraftian mythos will appreciate the rest of the book.

Many of the stories in "The Starry Wisdom" have graphic depictions of the violence and corruption that always takes place slightly out of view in the more traditional Lovecraft adaptations. Other stories have nothing to do with the Lovecraft mythos, and a few are almost nonsensical. While this is fine, the traditional Lovecraft fan should be forewarned. I have always enjoyed Lovecraft and certain of his imitators not because of what they include in stories, but because of what they leave up to the imagination. People who agree with this last opinion will most likely be disappointed by much of the volume.

Rating:
Summary: Get this for the essays and Call Of Cthulhu comic!
Review: Of course, any Lovecraft-fan would get this book no matter what any duppy would say about it. It's disturbing, wet and sopping with meat and mass, and it disgusted me at certain points, that great it is! I would say four stars for the stories, yet five stars for the comic and the essays. Go get it! Come on, you know you want to!

Rating:
Summary: A GRAND TRIBUTE TO THE GENIUS HP LOVECRAFT
Review: These stroies are fabulous. Deeply, darkly disturbing, grandiose, funny, incredible. Some have Lovecraftian themes, other references, but all are in tribute to him. Any fan of HPL should run to this like Cthulhu runs to sailor's necks. The Graphic Novel of "The Call of Cthulhu" is really a treat. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Unpleasant and disappointing
Review: This anthology, overall, is IMHO quite horrible. There are so many disgusting sexual references and appearances of excrement that one wonders if it was a requirement for the stories' acceptance for the book... In particular, "Walpurgisnachtmusik" brings to mind the ludicrous over-use of the [f word] in the first 10 minutes of Tarantino's "From Dusk Till Dawn."

The ONLY reason I don't condemn it entirely is that there ARE a few good things in here. Most notable is Coulthart's graphical adaptation of "The Call of Cthulhu," an excellent adaptation indeed. Some others stand out- Lumley's "The Night Sea-Maid Went Down" (a reprint, admittedly), Conway's "Black Static" (just ignore the unpleasantness at either end), Webb's "The Sound of a Door Opening," Moore's "The Courtyard" (again, dodge the few unpleasant bits, which seem especially superfluous here), and Mitchell's "Ward 23." Campbell's "Potential" is tolerably good, as well.

In short, if you can buy this book cheap, it's probably worth it; otherwise, give it a pass until you CAN find it cheap. If nothing else, buy it for the Coulthart segment, the one part that Lovecraft might have truly considered a tribute...

Rating:
Summary: When the Stars Smile Back
Review: Within the confines of Lovecraftian tributes there are sometimes successes that combine elements of the fantastical with the bizarre, mixed results that couple the failings of one author with the successes of another, or - in the most rare instances - there are failures that can be found utterly without merit. These are the wonderful worlds that we throw ourselves into whenever purchasing a set of names attributed to a larger creator, and its something I normally fear because I've touched the eye of the proverbial oven one too many times. Still, within The Starry Wisdom, you have something of the middle man of the bunch, giving you pieces of the lore that are actually well-written and concise, as well as pieces that have no redeeming qualities, however. Unfortunately that is the lifeblood of many collected pieces, however, and everything has to be taken as such because of this. Happily, though, I have to say that there are some things in the book that I wouldn't want to be without.

Of all the stories within the chronicled tales here, there is an artistic adaptation of Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu done by John Coulthart that is immaculately done. The quality of the work is fantastic and captures the visions within the madness so very well. Few things merit praise as much as this does, and it truly makes the book worth buying by itself. Still, there are other noteable contributions that add to this as well, including a little Robert M. Price (A Thousand Young), some Brian Lumley (The Night Sea-Maid Went Down), David Conway (Black Static), Ramsey Campbell (Potential), William S. Burroughs (Wind Die, You Die, We Die) and a little Allan Moore (The Courtyard). There are also pieces from Grant Morrison (Lovecraft in Heaven), James Havoc and Mike Philbin (Third Eye Butterfly), Henry Wessel (From This Swamp), JG Ballad (Prisoner of the Coral Deep), Dan Kellet (Red Mass), Simon Whitechapel (Walpurgisnachtmusik), DF Lewis (Meltdown), John Beal (Beyond Reflection), CG Brandrick and DM Mitchell (The Exquisite Corpse), Micheal Gira (Extracted From the Mouth of the Consumer, Rotting Pig), Adele Olivia Glawell (Hypothetical Materfamalias), Don Webb (The Sound of a Door Opening), Rick Grimes (Pills Fro Miss Betsy), Peter Smith (The Dreamers in Darkness), Stephen Sennitt (Nails), and DM Mitchell (Ward)that can be hit-or-miss depending on what you demand from your authors. Many of these titles have come and gone through various books in the past, some more than others, and there are many that I really didn't like in the set. Still, the illustrated portion of the book was done in ways that made it seems so wondrously worth obtaining and I'm glad I put it into my collection because of it.

For fans of HP Lovecraft's works, then you might want to look into these titles - provided that you don't own them already. I would also suggest picking it up because of the reason I listed before, noting that the illustrated portions of the book are something done in the most commendable of ways. Even if you aren't a fan of Lovecraft but you love some of the things doe with his ideas, then this would be worth at least looking into because of the tendrils making sweet music in the background of nightmarish dreams. To a point, depending on your ownership already, it comes recommended.