''Cthulhu's Reign'' is an
anthology of original
horror short stories edited by
Darrell Schweitzer
Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...
. It was first published in paperback by
DAW Books in April 2010.
Summary
The book collects fifteen short stories by various authors, with an introduction by the editor. All share the
Cthulhu Mythos setting originated by
H. P. Lovecraft, with the twist that the dreaded revival of the fearsome "Great Old Ones" who once ruled the Earth is not a future possibility but an event that has actually come to pass, taking the Mythos from the realm of contemporary horror into that of
apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astr ...
.
Contents
*"Introduction" (
Darrell Schweitzer
Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...
)
*"The Walker in the Cemetery" (
Ian Watson)
*"Sanctuary" (
Don Webb)
*"Her Acres of Pastoral Playground" (
Mike Allen)
*"Spherical Trigonometry" (
Ken Asamatsu)
*"What Brings the Void" (
Will Murray
William Murray (born 1953) is an American novelist, journalist, short story, and comic book writer. Much of his fiction has been published under pseudonyms. With artist Steve Ditko, he co-created the superhero Squirrel Girl.
Biography
Early ...
)
*"The New Pauline Corpus" (
Matt Cardin
Matt may refer to:
*Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt
*In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance)
*Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...
)
*"Ghost Dancing" (
Darrell Schweitzer
Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...
)
*"This is How the World Ends" (
John R. Fultz)
*"The Shallows" (
John Langan
John Langan (born July 6, 1969) is an American author and writer of contemporary horror. Langan has been a finalist for International Horror Guild Award. In 2008, he was a Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Collection, and in 2016, a Bram Stoke ...
)
*"Such Bright and Risen Madness in Our Names" (
Jay Lake
Joseph Edward "Jay" Lake, Jr. (June 6, 1964 – June 1, 2014) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. In 2003 he was a quarterly first-place winner in the Writers of the Future contest. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for B ...
)
*"The Seals of New R'lyeh" (
Gregory Frost
Gregory Frost (born May 13, 1951) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy, and directs a fiction writing workshop at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa. A g ...
)
*"The Holocaust of Ecstasy" (
Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...
)
*"Vastation" (
Laird Barron
Laird Samuel Barron (born 1970) is an American author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror, noir, and dark fantasy genres. He has also been the managing editor of the online literary magazine '' Melic Review''. He lives in Ups ...
)
*"Nothing Personal" (
Richard A. Lupoff)
*"Remnants" (
Fred Chappell
Fred Davis Chappell (born May 28, 1936 in Canton, North Carolina) is an author and poet. He was an English professor for 40 years (1964–2004) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was the Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 1 ...
)
Reception
The anthology was reviewed by Martin Andersson in ''Dead Reckonings'' no. 8, Fall 2010, and Chris Braak in ''Black Gate'', Spring 2011.
Notes
2010 anthologies
Cthulhu Mythos anthologies
Darrell Schweitzer anthologies
DAW Books books
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