I saw this on ebay and thought it was interesting:
New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. It is a compilation of 9 short stories, edited by Ramsey Campbell.
Some of the stories include:
- "Crouch End" by Stephen King
- "The Second Wish" by Brian Lumley
- "Shaft Number 247" by Basil Copper
- "The Faces at Pine Dunes" by Ramsey Campbell
- And a collaboration: "The Black Tome of Alsophocus" by H.P. Lovecraft and Martin S. Warnes!
The book went for $55.68. (a far cry from my $5 bid.)
Wikipedia offers this summery:
On August 19, 1974, two police officers, alcoholic veteran Ted Vetter and newcomer Robert Farnham, are working the night shift in the London neighborhood of Crouch End. They are discussing the case of Doris Freeman, a young American woman who came in to report the disappearance of her husband, lawyer Leonard Freeman. Nearly hysterical, Doris' story involves monsters and other supernatural incidents.
She relates how she and her husband were looking for a potential employer's house in Crouch End, but as they did so, they became lost. As they continued searching, their surroundings started to change subtly and become infested by what appeared to be monsters and demons. Doris escapes with her life, but her husband is not so lucky, being consumed by some kind of hideous creature (possibly Shub-Niggurath, due to a reference to 'the Black Goat with a Thousand Young' made shortly before the creature's appearance).
Farnham dismisses the story as rubbish, but Vetter, who has worked in Crouch End for years, is not so sure, remembering a time previously when similar events happened before. He speaks of different dimensions and Crouch End being a place where the veil between our world and another more demonic world is at its weakest. The story ends with Farnham going out into the night, only to find that something is different about the area for him too. He is never seen again, and Vetter dies a few years later. The story ends by saying that people continued to disappear in Crouch End and sometimes are never seen again.Full Wikipedia article is HERE.
"Crouch End" is vintage King, and a great Lovecraft pastiche too. I'd love to have that book, but not for nearly $60!
ReplyDeleteThat's about the going price for vintage original Arkham House hardcovers!
ReplyDeleteWell, I''l admit I came here prepared to defend this book against naysayers. For some reason all I've heard up till now has been complaint disparaging of this story for some reason. It's nice to see some positive comments for once.
ReplyDeleteIt is vintage King and featuring a style he takes up again with N. I haven't read green god of agony yet, however I hope it's in the same vein.
ChrisC
I would not put "The Little Green God of Agony" in the same category at all; I didn't get a Lovecraftian feel from that one at all. Good story, though.
DeleteAs I noted in my review of the story, King's narrative voice in Crouch End reminded me more of Ramsey Campbell than Lovecraft.
ReplyDeleteIn my review of the television adaptation, the producer and director opted for a more "Serlingesque" setting and plot. This was a good improvement for television.
I would not argue that one was better than the other. I would say that King's story made for good reading and the TNT episode made for good viewing.