Post by GRWelsh on Mar 19, 2021 10:10:14 GMT -5
Every so often I give an anthology of Lovecraftian short stories a chance. The result is always the same: a few good stories, with most mediocre and a few bad -- overall, a way to pass the time, with most of it being forgettable. I just got this one out of the library and finished the first few stories, so I can't review it yet. The premise is intriguing, however -- the title is taken from this quote in "The Dunwich Horror":
For this book, however, the phrase 'a lonely and curious country' isn't limited to north central Massachussetts but can apply to any geography used by or alluded to in HPL's fiction. So, the location is usually a hint as to which Lovecraft story is being linked to. The other theme about this book is for the stories to not be mere pastiche, or imitations of HPL's plots and style. That is a good restriction to put on contributing authors, because then it forces them to focus on the themes rather than the trappings. I am liking it so far.
When a traveller in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork at the junction of the Aylesbury pike just beyond Dean’s Corners he comes upon a lonely and curious country. The ground gets higher, and the brier-bordered stone walls press closer and closer against the ruts of the dusty, curving road. The trees of the frequent forest belts seem too large, and the wild weeds, brambles, and grasses attain a luxuriance not often found in settled regions. At the same time the planted fields appear singularly few and barren; while the sparsely scattered houses wear a surprisingly uniform aspect of age, squalor, and dilapidation. Without knowing why, one hesitates to ask directions from the gnarled, solitary figures spied now and then on crumbling doorsteps or on the sloping, rock-strown meadows. Those figures are so silent and furtive that one feels somehow confronted by forbidden things, with which it would be better to have nothing to do.
For this book, however, the phrase 'a lonely and curious country' isn't limited to north central Massachussetts but can apply to any geography used by or alluded to in HPL's fiction. So, the location is usually a hint as to which Lovecraft story is being linked to. The other theme about this book is for the stories to not be mere pastiche, or imitations of HPL's plots and style. That is a good restriction to put on contributing authors, because then it forces them to focus on the themes rather than the trappings. I am liking it so far.
