‘Strange Stones’ – Edward Lee & Mary SanGiovanni (Clash Books)

 


Page Count: 140 Pages

I’ve said it before so I’m just going to be honest (despite what happens to Professor Everard for his honesty)… I’ve got a lot of time and respect for the mythos that Lovecraft gave us, there aren’t many literary settings that have endured in quite the same way. It’s just that from where I’m sat, a number of other authors did (and still do) ‘Cosmic Horror’ with more ‘flair to the telling’ than Lovecraft’s dry prose. That’s just me though, your mileage will vary.

So when I came across ‘Strange Stones’ then, I knew that I had to give it a read; it’s cosmic horror with a little something to say about the man who started it all. Turns out that ‘Strange Stones’ had a few more things to say at the same time...

Professor Everard, weird fiction scholar and proclaimed critic of H.P Lovecraft's works, is no stranger to making people mad. Giving convention presentations on the triteness and melodrama of Lovecraft's work pays the bills, though. Sometimes he even gets laid.

When he angers a beautiful but dangerous witch and devotee of Lovecraft's work, she casts a spell on him, sending him to a dimension where Lovecraft's works are very real—and very deadly. Everard must find a way through this alternate dimension to get home, before the worst of Lovecraft's horrors prove what a master of monstrosities he really was.

After the week I’ve had, I couldn’t actually remember ordering ‘Strange Stones’ but that was okay. In the best ‘Cosmic Horror’ tradition of strange tomes, my copy arrived unexpectedly, wouldn’t let me put it down and gave me fresh insight into a universe that the likes of you and I just aren’t meant to see…

It goes without saying that you’ll get more out of ‘Strange Stones’ if you’ve already read ‘The Haunter of the Dark’, ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ and ‘The Dunwich Horror’ (I feel pretty bad, I’ve only managed one out of the three…) I still had a lot of fun though, reading what felt like Lee and SanGiovanni’s Cosmic Horror take on ‘A Christmas Carol’. There is definitely a touch of the ‘Scrooge’ about Professor Everard, a character who I suspect is often found at horror conventions and in online circles. The kind of person who only feels good when they are belittling someone else's passion, we’ve all met them ;o) I’d like to think that Everard learns his lesson but given that this is a ‘Mythos Tale’, and the consequences inevitably far outweigh Everard’s actions, well… I’m not so sure.

What I do know is that I thoroughly enjoyed watching Everard fumble his way through the last place he’d ever want to be; relying on the very knowledge, that he mocks, to stand any chance of survival. For me, good Cosmic Horror shines a light on the irony of an uncaring universe and we get plenty of that here.

When there’s an ‘author team-up’, I’m normally a little reticent to say who wrote what (a fifty/fifty chance that I never get right…) I’m feeling a little more confident here though so will stick my neck out and say that Mary SanGiovanni perfectly evokes the oppressive bleakness of Lovecraft’s setting. And if you’re looking for an author who can put a name to Lovecraft’s ‘nameless rites’, I can’t think of anyone more suitable for the task than Edward Lee. Damn, those moments on the island certainly showed me some stuff I’d rather not have seen… ;o)

‘Strange Stones’ is a cautionary tale, for fandom trolls, and a darkly humorous slice of Cosmic Horror, all rolled into one. Definitely worth a read and a little reminder that I need to fill in some gaps in my Lovecraft reading...

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