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Title: Cthulhu Lies Dreaming
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #2
Editor: Salome Jones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 389
Words: 134.5K

Synopsis:

Table of Contents

Foreword: Cthulhu, Lies, Dreaming by Kenneth Hite

Nikukinchaku by Matthew J. Hockey

Babatunde by Ayobami Leeman Kessler

The Myth of Proof by Greg Stolze

Service by Lynnea Glasser

The Star that is Not a Star (The Statement of Natasha Klein, April 1996) by Lucy Brady

August Lokken by Yma Johnson

Wake My Lord by M. S. Swift

Puddles by Thord D. Hedengren

Sometimes, the Void Stares Back by Marc Reichardt

Beyond the Shore by Lynne Hardy

Bleak Mathematics by Brian Fatah Steele

Father of Dread by Matthew Chabin

He Sees You in His Dreams by Samuel Morningstar

Isophase Light by Daniel Marc Chant

Icebound by Morris Kenyon

Seven Nights in a Sleep Clinic by Saul Quint

Mykes Reach by William Couper

Notes for a Life of Nightmares: A Retrospective on the Work of Henry Anthony Wilcox by Pete Rawlik

Offspring by Evey Brett

Out on Route 22 by E. Dane Anderson

The Red Brick Building by Mike Davis

The Lullaby of Erich Zann by G. K. Lomax

Cymothoa Cthulhii by Gethin A. Lynes

My Thoughts:

I am finding that the Cosmic Horror genre is my weakness. Mostly in the sense I would naturally abhor everything contained within it (hopelessness, dread, despair, the absolute insignificance of man) but that within these stories not only do I NOT abhor them, I practically revel in them. I was thinking about this as I was nearing the end of my read trying to figure out why this was. When I read Hard Day's Knight the other month, the very mention of Jesus not being strong enough to combat the powers of Hell sent me into a frenzy of practically calling down fire on the authors unbelieving head. Yet in this collection when God is simply dismissed as a non-entity in the face of the elder gods, I didn't blink. Why? I don't know yet but I'm keeping that question in the forefront of my mind as I continue reading this genre. Once I figure it out I'll be mentioning it in one of the reviews.

This collection started out fantastically with “Nikukinchaku”. A story about a school teacher facing budget cuts and how she cuts costs by buying nikukinchaku, a cheap food source that everybody loves. The story ends with the things eating a teacher, the dealer drowning himself in a toilet and everyone who has eaten the nikukinchaku heading out to see to answer “a call” they all can hear, including the teacher. This story had the perfect sense of dread and psychological horror. It was almost literally delicious to read. While some of the other stories had more horror, this was a great way to start.

Sadly, every collection has a low point and this one's was “Father of Dread”. Incest fantasy between adopted siblings and teen hormones. I don't need or want to read about a teen boy masturbating to thoughts of his adopted sister. This story is the main reason this was 3.5stars instead of 4.

Salome Jones has done another great job with this anthology and I'm really impressed. To the point where I'll be looking her up to see what else she has put together. That's pretty high praise coming from me. That's if I can figure out how to search for editors instead of authors of course.

I had mentioned in the previous Cthulhu Anthology that I was wanting to space these out a bit more so as to lessen the impact on myself from these soul destroying stories. After reading this my desire is intensified all the more. So instead of reading nothing but Cthulhu Lore, I'll be spacing it out with a couple of King in Yellow anthologies. Brilliant or what?!?

★★★✬☆ ( )

I have mixed feelings about this book.
The writing is decent enough, but there is a boring sameness to the stories. It is almost as if all the authors were told to write a modern Lovecraft story in the old style. That is, lots of atmosphere and described feelings of dread, but told in a languid and flowery language.
I'd have to say this is a collection of stories for fans only.
( )

This book took me the better part of a year to work through, which is unfortunate because the mix of stories were pretty good for the most part, I just have read too many Lovecraftian inspired anthologies in a row recently. I hit a snag about a quarter of the way through where there were a few stories in a row that didn't work for me, but the last third picked up again so overall my read was positive.

Many of the stories were set in modern day, or at least had a very modern feel which I liked. My favorite was Bleak Mathematics where a music journalist learns about a mysterious secret indie band that plays in unannounced venues only to those in-the-know since not everyone is prepared to appreciate the cosmic music.

This anthology also did not feel repetitive which is another point in its favor so I would definitely recommend it for both Cthulhu-ethusiasts and horror readers in general. ( )

Overall, an excellent collection of Lovecraftian stories. Most of the authors manage to be quite Lovecraftian without getting overly bogged down with what that actually means. I often find that these kinds of collections try too much to emulate H.P. Lovecraft by rehashing plots and copying his style a little too closely, and that does happen in a few of the stories in this collection (those that do aren't necessarily bad), but there are some beautiful stand outs that make the collection very worthwhile. I particularly enjoyed The Myth of Proof, by Greg Stolze which has a mean little twist, and Service, by Lynnea Glassner, written in an unusual second person pov that I hated at first, then loved. ( )

This was a good selection of tales. Most are gripping and thought-provoking reads. In some stories the narration seemed clunky and broke the hold the story had on my mind. But for the most part this was an engaging read. I would recommend it to others to read at least once. My favorite story was the seventh one. ( )