Cthulhu 2000

The very best are truly horrible, in the most complimentary sense of the word. "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" (Poppy Z. Brite), "The Adder"(Fred Chappell), "Fat Face" (Michael Shea), "The Unthinkable" (Bruce Sterling), "Love's Eldritch Ichor" (Esther M. Friesner) and "On the Slab"(Harlan Ellison) are the keen standouts, but most of the rest are of almost equal quality. However, there are a couple of tales that do not deserve to be amongst this company, and the tome would have been better and tighter by their absence. Certainly, at 398 pages, there's no lack of material.

In "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," Poppy Z. Brite deftly invokes a vampiric flavour to themes of decay and the forbidden, his writing style as ornate and refined as rococo and in the real spirit of the master. Fred Chappell's "The Adder" draws the dangerous and inimical from the ordinary in a tale delightful for its originality. Bruce Sterling also slings some fresh ideas around in "The Unthinkable, melding modernity and necromancy in a brief and effective story.

Horror gourmands will find a good meal here, but Cthulhu 2000 should have a bit of life outside its traditional genre, for the writing is strong, imaginative and entertaining. --Tamara Hladik

This book contains eighteen stories of varying Lovecraftianness. Some of the stories are very directly inspired by HPL, others less so; some are humorous, others are more darkly macabre.

Overall, the quality is high. I would give this book five stars, but the quality (and HPL relatedness) of just one or two stories is questionable, and so the book drops one star.

If you are in any way a fan of HPL then you should read this book. You won't be disappointed.


A very nice HPL anthology   August 22, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Recently I have beed disappointed by a number of HPL-inspired anthologies. This is an exception. Although I have read a few of the selections in other anthologies, this is a fine collection of Lovecraftian works. "The Barrens" is one of the finer works within the covers and the work at large is assembled with a fine eye towards what HPL would have considered appropriate sequels. Any collector of Cthuluesque lit will find Cthulu 200 a fine read.


Ever Hear Tell of a ~Shoggoth~?   July 8, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I highly recommend this collection to all fans of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. This is quality stuff -- some of the best Mythos stories I've ever read, and I've read many.

I have not yet read all of the stories in this collection, but standouts thus far are "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," "Fat Face," "Black Man with a Horn," and "The Barrens." The latter tale has the nice feature of adding the New Jersey pine barrens and the Jersey Devil to the Cthulhu Mythos! This is a welcome bit of local color for Philadelphians like me, who have driven through the pine barrens year after year on the way to the South Jersey shore points. Now you don't have to go to New England to be in Cthulhu country! "Fat Face" has a ~very~ frightening look at what the ~shoggoths~ have been up to lately.

The book includes some stories I'd read before in other collections, like "Black Man With a Horn," and "Shaft Number 247," but since they are excellent tales it is nice to have them all together.

This book would make excellent beach reading for the Jersey shore... but you may not want to drive through the pine barrens on your way back.