Dagon

Rating:
Summary: Creepy & somewhat evocative but deeply gross.
Review: Subhuman yokels abuse, tattoo & murder one another while worshipping demons.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed bag
Review: The first half of this book is great, becoming more and more atmospheric, moody, and tense as the main character (a more realistic version of the typical Lovecraft protagonist) investigates the mystery of his home. However, after that, the book radically shifts gears and becomes a journey into madness which, while it has some good and creepy bits, becomes primarily an exercise in psychological abuse and "gross-out" horror. Ultimately, I was unsatisfied with a book which has been so highly recommended by some.

Rating:
Summary: An H.P. Lovecraft story written by Faulkner
Review: This is a book that takes the familiar Lovecraftian, or maybe Derlethian, scenario--a young man inherits a house, is taken over by the spirit of the place and is destroyed by obsession--and explores it with deep psychological realism. The effect is uncanny: It's almost as if the cardboard characters of the Lovecraft stories (which, don't get me wrong, I love) have come to life. In order to sustain the realistic tone, the supernatural elements all happen offstage--but if you've ever wondered what it would really be like to be enslaved by a priestess of the Elder Gods, this book is for you. This edition is out of print, but the novel is reprinted in full in The Fred Chappell Reader, which is in print. I have to wonder what fans of Chappell, who is mostly a writer of Southern Literature, make of a novel whose first words are "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."