Book Review: The New Lovecraft Circle

H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most renowned authors when it comes to horror. He's not that famous here in Malaysia, though. Blame it on lack of publicity for books, plus the fact that he's well, dead, and can't promote new things. His stories redefined the horror genre, in a sense, and till this day some stories are labelled as 'Lovecraftian style horror' because his style is, in essence, different than that of typical horror stories. Strangely enough, his original plan was to write sci-fi. He didn't like the fact that most sci-fi stories of that era depicted 'aliens' as 'humanly'. Indeed, the demons or Old Ones in his stories are meant to be aliens, in a sense, though they are a lot more bizarre. Think, really bizarre. Like beings that don't have actual physical form due to the fact that they live on a different plane altogether, or beings composed of sound. It's weird, but some people love it all the same. His stories are based on what he calls the Cthlhu Mythos, a chronology of events ranging from millions of years in the past since before dinosaurs were even on Earth, to the present day. All of them revolve around the 'Old Ones', who were said to have inhabited Earth at some point in time, and are now trying to come back here. Before you buy this book, you might have to decide whether you like Lovecraft's style. To try reading some of his works for FREE, click HERE.

And some knowledge on the Cthlhu Mythos itself would be helpful, though not essential. For that, click HERE.

So basically, this book is a compilation of stories based on the Mythos, written by Lovecraft's fans or friends. Truth be told, however, you don't need to be a fan of Lovecraft's works to read them. They're creepy all the same, exploring areas concerning demons, and insanity, and like Lovecraft's original stories, most are written in first person view, amplifying the horror factor when it comes to the bits about insanity. Though there are one or two stories that are more like history reports which you can skip, ones like 'The Statement of One John Gibson', where it is written as a statement, followed by a cassette recording from an asylum are REALLY good. Others to check out are 'The Plain of Sound' and 'Demoniacal'. New and bizarre concepts are explored in certain stories, like the usage of rock and roll occult music to summon a demon, and a futuristic movie set with shapeshifting actors. All in all, as it is an anthology, it's hard to judge as a whole, and it's hard to give it an accurate score.

As a newly-converted Lovecraft fan, I give it an 8 out of 10.

Aï! Aï! Cthulhu fhtagn!