I tried reading Lovecraft years ago and I just wasn't in the right mindset for it. It felt hokey. I was just never really into reading horror, occult, fantasy, sword & sorcery, anything remotely like that for a long time. But after falling in love with Conan that lead to reading the original Robert E. Howard stories. I loved them. And from there I started reading more Howard, and before you know it it's a slippery slope to Lovecraft, Bloch, Moorecock, etc.
The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene was a killer novel that had overt nods to the Cthulhu mythos without actually being an "official" tale of Lovecraftian lore. I liked that book a lot and I'm definitely open to these occult/horror/fantasy stories now that I've eased my way in.
I had to own this book as the cover is a painting called "Twilight" by Bruce Pennington. Forty-five years after this book came out, Temple of Void licensed the artwork for our debut album. So I had to own it. And since I bought it I might as well read the damn thing.
It's good. Real good.
I have a few Hitchcock books that are collections of short stories, much like this, and I dug reading them. I'm on board with the whole short story thing. The book becomes an "album", which each story being a "song." I can dig it.
There were no duds amongst the stories. Just all typical tales of the mythos involving forbidden books, scholarly protagonists, occult/esoteric wisdom...and monsters and death. There's always a lot of mystery and intrigue. And in most cases curiosity kills the proverbial cat.
Recommended.
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