Eternal Lovecraft : The Persistence of HPL in Popular Culture

Rating:
Summary: Decent read
Review: Fans of Lovecraft will have a good time with this book. It's par for the course as these sorts of collections go, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend a weekend. I found only maybe 1 or 2 stories not worth the trouble, and for the most part all the authors did a workmanlike job.

Rating:
Summary: Good Lovecraftian collection
Review: Interesting anthology of Lovecraft-derived and Lovecraft-inspired works. The book is divided into three sections:

1) "Lovecraft Country" includes stories most strongly connected to Lovecraft or his mythos, featuring "Her Misbegotten Son," a rather good sort-of-sequel to Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch-House"; "Daoine Domhain," an excellent story also available in SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH; and "To Mars and Providence," an interesting Lovecraftian take on the War of the Worlds originally in WAR OF THE WORLDS: GLOBAL DISPATCHES.

2) "Eldritch Influences" is the largest section of the book, including stories that allude to rather than feature the Cthulhu Mythos- the stories in this section are mainly reprints, yet some of my personal favorites, including "The Land of the Reflected Ones" by Nancy A. Collins, the nightmarish "Crouch End" by Stephen King, the cosmic "The Turret" by Richard Lupoff, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" (a Sherlock Holmes story with Mythos aspects) by Paula Volsky, and "Black as the Pit, from Pole to Pole" featuring a certain Mrs. Shelley's famous monster.

3) The last section, "Cosmic Realms," contains stories only thematically related to Lovecraft's concepts of cosmic horror; I particularly enjoyed the creepy "Events at Poroth Farm" by T.E.D. Klein and the intriguing "A Bit of the Dark World" by Fritz Leiber.

Those I have mentioned above are my favorites, but I can say I liked every story in this anthology to some degree. Wold-Newton fans may get a kick out of "To Mars," "Giant Rat" and "Black as the Pit," Mythos fans should enjoy most of the other stories, and anyone with a taste for fine horror should find this a good read.