A collection of thrilling tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos from one of horror’s biggest legends. This volume contains the very best of Brian Lumley’s Mythos novellas spanning the entire breadth of his illustrious career. From Rising With Surtsey through to the eponymous The Taint, these tales plumb the very depths of horror and show Lumley at his twisted best.
The Taint and Other Novellas
By brianlumley
Welcoming the chance to get my Lovcraftian horror on via the excellent narration of Joshua Saxon, I tore into THE TAINT AND OTHER NOVELLAS. What fun!
A collection of 5 novellas which were written back in the mid to late 1900s, these tales do not have the polish of Lumley’s later works, like the Necroscope series. These stories are more the work of a writer starting out, (while serving in the military), a writer bewitched by Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. The fun parts of the mythos are here, but they lack the racism and other issues of Lovecraft’s work.
My favorites of the 5 were:
LORD OF THE WORMS This tale featured Titus Crow, a name I remember from back in the day, though I can’t quite remember the tales in which he featured. In this story, he’s invited to a home under the pretense of cataloging a large book collection at an old estate. Of course nothing is as it appears. Throw in some mesmerizing hypnotism, (see what I did there?!), some maggots and some spiked wine and you have yourself a great time!
THE TAINT was a fun tale involving fish-men. That’s right, fish-men. With all the creepiness inherent in that phrase. It’s not as much a pulp tale as one would think, with just the right mix of horror and perhaps a bit of social commentary, (but that’s just my take.)
Finally, the last story THE TEMPLE HOUSE takes the form of a man inheriting an old estate from his uncle. He takes a friend and goes to Scotland to inspect his inheritance, and soon finds a letter from his uncle asking him to destroy the place. Why? You’ll have to read this to find out!
Regarding the narrator, Joshua Saxon-I’ve only listened to one other performance of his, which was the excellent THE CIPHER by Kathe Koja. In that book he was voicing only one character while in this collection, he voices all kinds of people and he does it quite well. English, American, Scottish, he does them all and never for a moment did I doubt the origins of any of the characters. Well done, sir!
This was a collection full of fun Lovecraftian monsters, fish people, maggots and worms. If these are the things that delight you, then you’ll enjoy the hell out of this volume!
Recommended!
*I received this audio download free from the narrator, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*
Welcoming the chance to get my Lovcraftian horror on via the excellent narration of Joshua Saxon, I tore into THE TAINT AND OTHER NOVELLAS. What fun!
A collection of 5 novellas which were written back in the mid to late 1900s, these tales do not have the polish of Lumley’s later works, like the Necroscope series. These stories are more the work of a writer starting out, (while serving in the military), a writer bewitched by Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. The fun parts of the mythos are here, but they lack the racism and other issues of Lovecraft’s work.
My favorites of the 5 were:
LORD OF THE WORMS This tale featured Titus Crow, a name I remember from back in the day, though I can’t quite remember the tales in which he featured. In this story, he’s invited to a home under the pretense of cataloging a large book collection at an old estate. Of course nothing is as it appears. Throw in some mesmerizing hypnotism, (see what I did there?!), some maggots and some spiked wine and you have yourself a great time!
THE TAINT was a fun tale involving fish-men. That’s right, fish-men. With all the creepiness inherent in that phrase. It’s not as much a pulp tale as one would think, with just the right mix of horror and perhaps a bit of social commentary, (but that’s just my take.)
Finally, the last story THE TEMPLE HOUSE takes the form of a man inheriting an old estate from his uncle. He takes a friend and goes to Scotland to inspect his inheritance, and soon finds a letter from his uncle asking him to destroy the place. Why? You’ll have to read this to find out!
Regarding the narrator, Joshua Saxon-I’ve only listened to one other performance of his, which was the excellent THE CIPHER by Kathe Koja. In that book he was voicing only one character while in this collection, he voices all kinds of people and he does it quite well. English, American, Scottish, he does them all and never for a moment did I doubt the origins of any of the characters. Well done, sir!
This was a collection full of fun Lovecraftian monsters, fish people, maggots and worms. If these are the things that delight you, then you’ll enjoy the hell out of this volume!
Recommended!
*I received this audio download free from the narrator, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!* (less)