Shadows over Innsmouth

Rating:
Summary: There's Always Been Something Fishy About Innsmouth...
Review: ...and it's all right here.

Lovecraft's own inspirational story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" - curiously, one of his own least favorite, but one of his best - leads off this terrific collection of clever spin-off tales by contemporary authors on the same theme: namely, that there are isolated seaside places around the world where the inhabitants not only pray to, but interact with, ancient subaqueous demon-gods from other worlds.

Many of the tales are more or less sequels to Lovecraft's seminal story, set in and around Innsmouth itself, the fictional Massachusetts town the author first "sailed" the concept in. Each of these reads very well as its own stand-alone piece, successful entirely independent of Lovecraft's story, but all the more entertaining for being one way or another connected to it. Other tales, such as Ramsey Campbell's "The Church In High Street," are set in other locations, like the decayed, dockside areas of Great Britain, where similar interbreeding with noxious hellspawned water-gods also is occurring. One especially good story, Kim Newman's "The Big Fish," actually reads like a credible direct sequel to Lovecraft's original, and is all the more perfect for essentially performing like a 1930s noir-horror film. Even Neil Gaiman gets in on the act, with a skin-crawling little bit of nastiness about an Innsmouth descendant coming to terms with his gruesome genetic heritage.

One thing you can count on, in this collection: something in it will definitely appeal to your Lovecraftian tastes - so long as that taste is for fish.

Rating:
Summary: There's Always Been Something Fishy About Innsmouth...
Review: ...and it's all right here.

Lovecraft's own inspirational story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" - curiously, one of his own least favorite, but one of his best - leads off this terrific collection of clever spin-off tales by contemporary authors on the same theme: namely, that there are isolated seaside places around the world where the inhabitants not only pray to, but interact with, ancient subaqueous demon-gods from other worlds.

Many of the tales are more or less sequels to Lovecraft's seminal story, set in and around Innsmouth itself, the fictional Massachusetts town the author first "sailed" the concept in. Each of these reads very well as its own stand-alone piece, successful entirely independent of Lovecraft's story, but all the more entertaining for being one way or another connected to it. Other tales, such as Ramsey Campbell's "The Church In High Street," are set in other locations, like the decayed, dockside areas of Great Britain, where similar interbreeding with noxious hellspawned water-gods also is occurring. One especially good story, Kim Newman's "The Big Fish," actually reads like a credible direct sequel to Lovecraft's original, and is all the more perfect for essentially performing like a 1930s noir-horror film. Even Neil Gaiman gets in on the act, with a skin-crawling little bit of nastiness about an Innsmouth descendant coming to terms with his gruesome genetic heritage.

One thing you can count on, in this collection: something in it will definitely appeal to your Lovecraftian tastes - so long as that taste is for fish.

Rating:
Summary: There's Always Been Something Fishy About Innsmouth...
Review: ...and it's all right here.

Lovecraft's own inspirational story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" - curiously, one of his own least favorite, but one of his best - leads off this terrific collection of clever spin-off tales by contemporary authors on the same theme: namely, that there are isolated seaside places around the world where the inhabitants not only pray to, but interact with, ancient subaqueous demon-gods from other worlds.

Many of the tales are more or less sequels to Lovecraft's seminal story, set in and around Innsmouth itself, the fictional Massachusetts town the author first "sailed" the concept in. Each of these reads very well as its own stand-alone piece, successful entirely independent of Lovecraft's story, but all the more entertaining for being one way or another connected to it. Other tales, such as Ramsey Campbell's "The Church In High Street," are set in other locations, like the decayed, dockside areas of Great Britain, where similar interbreeding with noxious hellspawned water-gods also is occurring. One especially good story, Kim Newman's "The Big Fish," actually reads like a credible direct sequel to Lovecraft's original, and is all the more perfect for essentially performing like a 1930s noir-horror film. Even Neil Gaiman gets in on the act, with a skin-crawling little bit of nastiness about an Innsmouth descendant coming to terms with his gruesome genetic heritage.

One thing you can count on, in this collection: something in it will definitely appeal to your Lovecraftian tastes - so long as that taste is for fish.

Rating:
Summary: Qualified lessers step up to the master's plate
Review: H.P Lovecraft, while unappreciated in his own time, is now widely regarded as one of the true masters of horror fiction. His proficiency at creating deeply unsettling locales and creepy atmosphere is legendary, while his imagination is viewed as limitless in its breadth. He was also very giving when it came to other authors and his personal inventions; his Cthulhu mythos, centred on beings of hideous visage and infinite age (the "Old Ones"), has been taken up by countless authors since, at his own bequest.

It is only natural, then, that his other stories also be used as fertile ground for the imaginations of others. Stephen Jones has commandeered this challenge, corralling an impressive group of authors to edit together homages and emulations to one of Lovecraft's most redoubtable tales, "The Shadow over Innsmouth." The result is much in keeping with Lovecraft's own writings; they are by turns gripping, frustrating, brilliant, and overall, unforgettable.

"The Shadow over Innsmouth" leads off the collection, an atmospheric yarn of a tiny Massachusetts hamlet which harbours a dark secret. Into this town comes a curious young man with an interest in architecture; what he discovers is a village who claims allegiance to the Esoteric Order of Dagon, a strange religion with more than simply surface connections to the sea. In what is essentially a chase novella, Lovecraft weaves an atmosphere so dank and damp, you can practically feel the sea breeze on your skin, and smell the unpleasant aroma of rotting fish.

Lovecraft has penned an exercise in suspense, a unwholesome tale of insanity and beings beyond imagination. It also displays some of Lovecraft's lesser traits; he has a prevailing habit in his writings of describing entities which "cannot be described"; things of such loathsome natures that his protagonists cannot bear to remember their features, much less describe them for the reader. As well, his dialogue, minimal though it is, is rather stilted. Stephen King, in his memoir/treatise ON WRITING, states that, in all the millions of words Lovecraft put to paper, only five thousand or so were spent on dialogue. It shows. (King has also dabbled in Lovecraft's world; see his short fiction "Jerusalem's Lot" in NIGHT SHIFT, and "Crouch End" in NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES.)

That aside, "Shadow" is a marvellous tale of the macabre, and lends itself easily to other writers's themes and styles. Nonetheless, a severe fault with this compilation is that some author's follow Lovecraft's style too lavishly. Basil Copper's "Beyond the Reef," an almost direct sequel to "Shadow," is rather confusing in its melange of Lovecraftian wordplay and Copper's plot. This is not to mean that it is worthless, far from it. It has moments of true terror and mystery; it simply doesn't hold together in the end. However, Ramsey Campbell's "The Church in High Street" manages the feat of successfully combining both Lovecraft's expressions and Campbell's ideas.

Of the stories that can trace direct themes and atmosphere to "Shadow," Michael Marshall Smith's "To See the Sea" is the most accomplished. Transferring the basic plot to the English shores, Smith tells of a tragic love story, family mystery, and horrors from beneath the waves. It is mesmerizing in its balance of the sanity of an outsider and the insanity that religion can provide. Brian Lumley's "Dagon's Bell" is almost Smith's equal, in its telling of archaeologists, hidden monsters, and local customs for dealing with said monsters. (Lumley has some experience in this area; he's used Lovecraftian themes and characters in his writings for years.)

Despite the inclusive quality of these stories, the least of them suffer somewhat through a necessary knowledge of their forefather. Reading the tales on their own, without the fortuitousness of familiarity of the original, lessens their impact. More striking and memorable are stories which take certain aspects of Lovecraft's prototype, and venture forth into new dimensions of fancy.

Neil Gaiman's entry, "Only the End of the World Again," benefits from his unusual take on the denomination of Dagon. He almost repeats the tale, but adds the unforeseen element of lycanthropy to the mix. Like the best of Lovecraft, it is eerie, confusing, and sticks in the mind long after the pages are closed.

Arguably the most entertaining piece is Jack Yeovil's "The Big Fish," which goes in a direction Lovecraft likely never dreamed of; detective fiction. In Southern California, a private eye gets enmeshed in a case involving a sultry yet off-putting screen siren, a missing child, mobsters, and human sacrifice. Yeovil conjures up a mix of Dashiell Hammett and Poppy Z. Brite, resulting in sheer enjoyment. It would make a good duo with Clive Barker's tales of his supernatural investigator Harry D'Amour.

H.P. Lovecraft is not an author for every taste; his style is far more esoteric than, say, the mundane horror fiction of Dean Koontz or Bentley Little. Yet there's no denying the influence he has had on a generation of authors. SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH is a prime starting place for anyone who craves more than Koontz can provide.

Rating:
Summary: Qualified lessers step up to the master's plate
Review: H.P Lovecraft, while unappreciated in his own time, is now widely regarded as one of the true masters of horror fiction. His proficiency at creating deeply unsettling locales and creepy atmosphere is legendary, while his imagination is viewed as limitless in its breadth. He was also very giving when it came to other authors and his personal inventions; his Cthulhu mythos, centred on beings of hideous visage and infinite age (the "Old Ones"), has been taken up by countless authors since, at his own bequest.

It is only natural, then, that his other stories also be used as fertile ground for the imaginations of others. Stephen Jones has commandeered this challenge, corralling an impressive group of authors to edit together homages and emulations to one of Lovecraft's most redoubtable tales, "The Shadow over Innsmouth." The result is much in keeping with Lovecraft's own writings; they are by turns gripping, frustrating, brilliant, and overall, unforgettable.

"The Shadow over Innsmouth" leads off the collection, an atmospheric yarn of a tiny Massachusetts hamlet which harbours a dark secret. Into this town comes a curious young man with an interest in architecture; what he discovers is a village who claims allegiance to the Esoteric Order of Dagon, a strange religion with more than simply surface connections to the sea. In what is essentially a chase novella, Lovecraft weaves an atmosphere so dank and damp, you can practically feel the sea breeze on your skin, and smell the unpleasant aroma of rotting fish.

Lovecraft has penned an exercise in suspense, a unwholesome tale of insanity and beings beyond imagination. It also displays some of Lovecraft's lesser traits; he has a prevailing habit in his writings of describing entities which "cannot be described"; things of such loathsome natures that his protagonists cannot bear to remember their features, much less describe them for the reader. As well, his dialogue, minimal though it is, is rather stilted. Stephen King, in his memoir/treatise ON WRITING, states that, in all the millions of words Lovecraft put to paper, only five thousand or so were spent on dialogue. It shows. (King has also dabbled in Lovecraft's world; see his short fiction "Jerusalem's Lot" in NIGHT SHIFT, and "Crouch End" in NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES.)

That aside, "Shadow" is a marvellous tale of the macabre, and lends itself easily to other writers's themes and styles. Nonetheless, a severe fault with this compilation is that some author's follow Lovecraft's style too lavishly. Basil Copper's "Beyond the Reef," an almost direct sequel to "Shadow," is rather confusing in its melange of Lovecraftian wordplay and Copper's plot. This is not to mean that it is worthless, far from it. It has moments of true terror and mystery; it simply doesn't hold together in the end. However, Ramsey Campbell's "The Church in High Street" manages the feat of successfully combining both Lovecraft's expressions and Campbell's ideas.

Of the stories that can trace direct themes and atmosphere to "Shadow," Michael Marshall Smith's "To See the Sea" is the most accomplished. Transferring the basic plot to the English shores, Smith tells of a tragic love story, family mystery, and horrors from beneath the waves. It is mesmerizing in its balance of the sanity of an outsider and the insanity that religion can provide. Brian Lumley's "Dagon's Bell" is almost Smith's equal, in its telling of archaeologists, hidden monsters, and local customs for dealing with said monsters. (Lumley has some experience in this area; he's used Lovecraftian themes and characters in his writings for years.)

Despite the inclusive quality of these stories, the least of them suffer somewhat through a necessary knowledge of their forefather. Reading the tales on their own, without the fortuitousness of familiarity of the original, lessens their impact. More striking and memorable are stories which take certain aspects of Lovecraft's prototype, and venture forth into new dimensions of fancy.

Neil Gaiman's entry, "Only the End of the World Again," benefits from his unusual take on the denomination of Dagon. He almost repeats the tale, but adds the unforeseen element of lycanthropy to the mix. Like the best of Lovecraft, it is eerie, confusing, and sticks in the mind long after the pages are closed.

Arguably the most entertaining piece is Jack Yeovil's "The Big Fish," which goes in a direction Lovecraft likely never dreamed of; detective fiction. In Southern California, a private eye gets enmeshed in a case involving a sultry yet off-putting screen siren, a missing child, mobsters, and human sacrifice. Yeovil conjures up a mix of Dashiell Hammett and Poppy Z. Brite, resulting in sheer enjoyment. It would make a good duo with Clive Barker's tales of his supernatural investigator Harry D'Amour.

H.P. Lovecraft is not an author for every taste; his style is far more esoteric than, say, the mundane horror fiction of Dean Koontz or Bentley Little. Yet there's no denying the influence he has had on a generation of authors. SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH is a prime starting place for anyone who craves more than Koontz can provide.

Rating:
Summary: British "fish and chips"
Review: I'd like to point out that all of these authors (excepting only HPL himself) are British. Others have pointed this out, but it bears repeating. Most of these stories are set in England, which produces a different interpretation on Innsmouth than American writers. I suspect that the British simply have a different way of viewing things.

Most of the writing was excellent, and the rest was at least innovative. "Deepnet" suggests that as far as Deep Ones taking over humanity, there is more than one way to skin a cat. "Dagon's Bell" by Lumley is one of the most Lovecraftian stories in this collection and "Beyond the Reef", while a little hard to follow, drew in many elements from Lovecraft's Massachusetts.

Some of the writing I found very difficult to appreciate; "Down to the Boots" and "Only the End of the World Again". Maybe the British write in a less concrete way than American authors, but I really had no idea what these stories were about - they seemed more like fragments. Maybe I'm too uncultured to appreciate writing like this, but I felt it brought down the quality of the collection.

There were also a number of stories that I wondered why they used the Innsmouth device. As far as I could tell, they would have been good stories on their own and then had the Innsmouth/Deep Ones jammed in. It makes a poor ad hoc plot device - why not just develop your own ideas? "Homecoming" was the absolute worst offender - it's about going home to Romania after the end of communism only to find nothing has changed. The only connection to Innsmouth was calling the secret police "Deep Ones". I suppose metaphorically it is how the non-collaborators of Innsmouth might feel about their icthyic oppressors, but it's a real stretch to say it belongs.

Well, the stories themselves have been well reviewed below, so I'll leave them alone. It's a decent collection of interesting writing, sometimes loosely connected to the Lovecraftian canon. My only concern is that many stories seem to have had the plot device forcibly inserted.

Rating:
Summary: good addition to your pulp library
Review: this collection contains a good deal of good stories like daoine domhaine and the church in high street. stories by campbell, lumley, copper, sutton..... not the most inventive stories i have read, but good storiess, well written. this is in fact one of the finest pulp collections

Rating:
Summary: The master would be pleased...
Review: Well this was certainly a pleasant surprise. I saw a new HP Lovecraft-inspired collection on the shelf, and I was thrilled. I think my friend is still seeing a chiropractor for the injuries I inflicted on her with my bear-hug.
First, for fans of Lovecraft, this is a great book filled with chilling reimaginings of the Innsmouth legends. Second, fans of authors like Neil Gaiman will TREASURE the stories contained in this book. Last, it's written in BRITISH PROSE, which, myself being an uncultured American slob, is a refreshing new way to tell the old stories. I recommend buying it. Heck, I recommend memorizing the thing. May the memory of Lovecraft live on for ages to come!