Black Wings of Cthulhu, Volume Two

February 20, 2017
Joshi’s follow-up to 2015’s Black Wings of Cthulhu 3, like many such recent anthologies, offers little for Lovecraft fans who are seeking original stories that emulate his imagination and gift at conveying cosmic horror, despite the many distinguished contributors, who include Lois H. Gresh and Caitlín R. Kiernan. Familiar plots weaken even the better entries, such as Fred Chappell’s “Artifact,” which centers on a Babylonian ritual object. Ponderous language mars others, such as Richard Gavin’s “The Rasping Absence” (“The last mottles of daylight appeared as coins, freshly burnished and carelessly tossed from above, as the hatchback approached the tiny hamlet, like some mechanized scarab racing to inter the ailing sun”). One bright spot is Ann K. Schwader’s “Night of the Piper,” in which evil lurks behind the ostensibly beneficent facade of a charity workshop project, Piper with a Purpose, which bills itself as providing “Authentic Ancient Designs for a Stronger Community.” John Pelan and Stephen Mark Rainey’s “Contact,” about a doomed expedition to Pluto, also stands out. Fans of individual contributors, such as W.H. Pugmire, Melanie Tem, and Donald Tyson, may find this volume of interest.

January 29, 2018
The 20 short stories in Lovecraft scholar Joshi’s fifth Black Wings anthology include some imaginative variations on familiar themes of mind-bending encounters with cosmic horrors. Nicole Cushing’s “Diary of a Sane Man” is especially effective at transforming a comfortable, mundane setting—a well-to-do suburban neighborhood—into a nightmare realm as an academic goes for his nightly walk during a snowstorm. In Sam Gafford’s “Casting Fractals,” a journalist’s study of a dead colleague’s notes, which at first appear to be mere ravings, allows him to glimpse the hidden force behind the major tragic events of the mid-20th century, from political assassinations to earthquakes and other natural disasters. And Stoker Award–winner Caitlín R. Kiernan demonstrates the effectiveness of incremental, subtle suggestion in “Far from Any Shore,” about the terrifying aftermath of the unearthing of an artifact. Though there are some clunky attempts at mimicking Lovecraft’s sometimes baroque prose (“Stepping out of my hateful vehicle I spoke the remembered formula, pushing spectral language into the hungry wind”), most entries are high quality. Fans of Lovecraft pastiches will be satisfied.