Humanity’s time is done. A modern ice age has all but stamped out human civilization and left the Earth nearly uninhabitable. For Ira Hartman and the dysfunctional band of survivors that surround her, all that’s left of the old world are ghosts trapped beneath the still forming ice sheets. Living in retrofitted tunnels beneath Riverside, California, scrounging for food, supplies, and desperately … for food, supplies, and desperately trying not to kill each other, things could be worse; but when an accident causes the generators powering their shelter’s heating system to be destroyed, hope seems to have run out.
That is until Ira discovers a strange heat signature in the San Bernardino mountains, and it leads to a secret military research facility housed deep within the mountain.
At first, it seems like the perfect shelter. Plenty of rations. Water. Warmth.
Then they discover the remnants of horrifying experiments. Corpses, strapped to operating tables, horror etched on decomposing faces, experiment rooms filled with strange machines and occult symbols, and the logs of a raving lunatic. The unmistakable feeling that something is watching them, waiting in the cold, tubular concrete tunnels, in the shadows.
What Ira and the others don’t know might just kill them.more
I’ve always loved H.P. Lovecraft’s ideas. The worlds he built were amazing with a richly detailed mythology that shows us exactly how tiny and insignificant we are in the universe. Imagine a universe where it was not only obvious that humans were terribly outgunned, there’s an undercurrent that god doesn’t really love us. It’s kind of like stepping to a guy in a bar and getting your ass handed to you and then spitting out your teeth and watching through swollen eyes as your gal goes off with him.
But here’s a funny thing: Much as I love Lovecraft’s worlds, I really have trouble getting into his writing. It’s too dense and has too many apostrophes. Maybe that’s just me, though. I’ve been bitter ever since Miskatonic University turned down my application for “not understanding magic” and “being lazy”. Anyway, the whole “universe is out to get you and, let’s face it, you’re boned” philosophy has a great vibe to it and giant world-eating things are fun to think about, even if reading Lovecraft’s prose ain’t my bag.
So, when I get a chance to read something that tracks along with Lovecraft’s “giant things about to eat the planet” mythos without his weighty prose, I jump at it.
If you look back a bit, you’ll see I reviewed one of Eric Malikyte’s books a while back. Echoes of Olympus Mons was a brilliant bit of sci-fi horror. Malikyte has recently followed up the woeful tale of Mars’s untimely death with a love letter to H.P. Lovecraft. Mind’s Horizon features all the good apocalyptic stuff you expect from Lovecraft, notably world-ending excitement, a hint of magic, and teeth. Lots of teeth.
Mind’s Horizon is a fantastic journey into a near-future world destroyed by a cataclysmic climate disaster, a new civil war and, to put the cherry on top, now faces an extra-dimensional threat that our minds can’t really comprehend. If you are looking for a mind-bending journey that will have you whispering “good lord” (in a good way), you need to pick this one up.
Eric Malikyte creates two great worlds in Mind’s Horizon – the Earth we know now covered in ice, and into the horrifying dimension that is the Astral Lands. What I loved about this book was how it build both of these worlds, not neglecting one for the other but also not leaving either feeling cheap. We are put into a time that has a strong backstory that makes us long for more, while letting us visit a place that will break our minds.
My only gripe with Mind’s Horizon, if you can call it that, is that I want more. I want to know more about the new ice age. I want to know more about the civil war. I want to see more of the Astral Lands. And that might just be me being inpatient for what comes next in the Astral Lands Mythos, so you know that it was all written well.
If you are a Lovecraft fan, a cosmic horror fan or just want to be creeped out while reading some great prose, pick up Mind’s Horizon.
This book gave me early Dean Koontz vibes, with the scifi horror/suspense. It’s written in third person and told through multiple points of view. Each character has their own unique voice. Main character Ira is an engaging mix of brave and vulnerable, slipping in and out of the roles of the younger sister to the ragtag group’s leader Nico, and tentative leader herself. Each of the survivors of this post-apocalyptic world deal with their circumstances differently, battling the elements and human nature as something even more sinister stalks them.