Stories by modern horror writers based on the Miskatonic University created by HP Lovecraft ( )

My reactions to reading this collection in 2005.

"A Letter from the President to Incoming Students", Stefan Dziemianowicz -- An attempt, in keeping with the theme of the anthology, to introduce newbies to the Arkham/Miskatonic references in H. P. Lovecraft’s works.

“Kali Yuga Comes”, Tina L. Jens -- For me this story was not only marred by the gratuitous swipes at James Watt and the Reagan administration by the narrator but also her usually unfunny wisecracks. The mixing of Kali (complete with rather incongruous interludes of third-person narrative in the Kali killing sections) with Lovecraft didn’t work very well. (The use of conventional mythologies in his work was something Lovecraft usually tried to avoid. It weakened his “The Horror at Red Hook” and only the inclusion of alternate dimensions and higher mathematics caused it to work in his “The Dreams in the Witch-House”).

“Teachers”, Mort Castle -- This story is not a tribute to Lovecraft but a bittersweet tribute to Castle’s friend, Robert Bloch -- not only a one time protégé and correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft’s but a comic writer on occasion. Upon his death, Bloch, here Robert Blake (the name he is known by in Lovecraft’s “The Haunter in the Dark”) has earned immortality and gets to join the faculty, including Edgar Allan Poe and Lovecraft (the other authors I didn’t recognize), in teaching at Miskatonic University. Oddly, enough this is the second story (out of two) in the anthology which makes a contemporary political reference -- here a reference to Bill Clinton lying about sex.

“Her Misbegotten Son”, Alan Rodgers -- Just when it looked like this was going to be a weak anthology with the first two stories not at all being in Lovecraft’s style, containing contemporary political references, and not being horrifying or engrossing, I read this one which is quite gripping and moving. Rodgers does a contemporary sequel to Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in the Witch-House”. Whereas there is little of happy family bonds or concerns in Lovecraft’s works -- Charles Ward’s parents are concerned for him in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, the narrator of “The Shadow Out of Time” has a son, and the protagonist feels somewhat burdened by his wife and kids in “The Strange High House in the Mist”, this story is full of family love and desperation. Keziah Brown appears at the Arkham welfare office and drops off her son. The head of the office happens to be Dan Mazurewicz, the son of Walter Gilman’s fellow lodger in the original Lovecraft story. He knows immediately the import of what he has seen. The child is given to the foster care of a Miskatonic University professor and his wife. Brown as ominous plans for her son -- either as a slave or sacrifice to Nyarlathotep. Despite the growing awareness of the danger he is in, of his natural mother’s plans for him, the son feels a natural, unwarranted affection for Brown. But, whereas the dark call of heredity is present in Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, and the marriage a sinister farce in “The Thing on the Doorstep”, love, the reciprocated love of an adopted son for his foster parents, is the theme here, and it triumphs. This was an engaging story and a nicely done variation on Lovecraftian concerns.

“Scavenger Hunt”, Brad Linaweaver -- Lame story about a student using black magic to cheat on a test. The only thing of note here is that the Necronomicon has an Apocrypha.

“Black Celebration”, Jay Bonansinga -- This story is an interesting contrast to the 1976 story “The Silence of Erika Zann” by James Wade. That story was a direct sequel to Lovecraft’s “The Music of Erich Zann”. This story simply features another musician whose music puts him in touch with malignant beings from another dimension who whisk him away.

“To Be As They”, Benjamin Adams -- Like many of the stories in this anthology so far, this story simply uses the character and place names from Lovecraft stories as a key for inclusion in the story without really doing anything significant with Lovecraft’s themes or trying to evoke a similar atmosphere. Here an art professor at Miskatonic University has his girlfriend/student killed by a fellow student who sacrifices her and the professor to what, I assume, we are to view as Cthulhoid (the killer is from Dunwich) muses who promise to make him as they are.

“Second Movement”, Benjamin Adams -- Peculiarly this is a tribute to Philip K. Dick. It’s another story that simply uses Lovecraft motifs to set up a plot that wants to go in areas Lovecraft didn’t and aren’t particularly logical extensions/counterpoints (like the Alan Rodgers “Her Misbegotten Son”) to his work. Here a Hastur cultist hurtles Charlie Marsh (presumably related to the Marsh family of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” but it’s a meaningless, reflexive reference) and Jess Wilmarth (another meaningless reference to a Lovecraftian family name) into an alternate dimension. At the beginning of the story, Marsh restarts an old romance with Wilmarth since Marsh’s wife has died. When they go into the alternate timetrack and Wilmarth needs the comfort of a familiar person who understands her situation, things are complicated by the presence of Marsh’s now alive wife. The unexplored romantic/marital entanglements are obviously Dickian territory. But they’re not Lovecraftian in the slightest nor particularly interesting -- since the story just stops there.

“A Dreaming of Dead Poets”, Jane Lindskold -- Sort of Tim Powers like alternate history set in 1964 and linking the life and death of several real poets, the disappearance of the Thresher, explicit allusions to Lovecraft and his “The Call of Cthulhu”, and the fates of its two characters -- one a painter, one a poet. They discover that they and fellow sensitives, like those dead poets, are being used by Cthulhu to amplify his power. Impatient for R’lyeh to raise, they plan on using the Thresher’s nukes to make the desired “configuration” and raise Cthulhu. The two main characters teleport themselves aboard the crippled sub and sacrifice themselves to prevent that. A clever secret history and modern updating of the Lovecraft source material.

“Mandelbrot Mindrot”, Lois H. Gresh -- This story brought weird, sentient artificial life forms to Arkham and described the mathematical chaos of the Witch House (as in Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in the Witch House”) through an interesting, disgustingly detailed grounds-eye view. However, it mostly reminded me of a Doctor Who episode in its use of technobabble ungrounded in any real science. What it called chaos was really just entropy. Exactly what the two artificial protagonists were or how they worked was undescribed. However, I did like the addition of Lord Mandelbrot (though why use a human scientist’s name?) as the controller of Lovecraft’s god of chaos, Azathoth.

“The Smile of a Mime”, Billie Sue Mosiman -- This was an ok story which didn’t overstay its welcome. Essentially, it’s narrator starts out as an immoral luster after occult powers, teams up with a sympathetic soul, and they call up some real gods who are so horrifying that, after the death of her confederate, the protagonist devotes her life to destroying the occult tomes she once lusted after. (Lovecraft would approve of the idea of suppressing knowledge since it is a common feature of his work.)

“The Sothis Radiant”, Will Murray -- I had high hopes for this story since Murray is a Lovecraft scholar (and also an author of pulp stories featuring Doc Savage, the Destroyer, and the Executioner), and I was not disappointed. It heavily features the science most beloved of Lovecraft -- astronomy. The story details the revelation (known to the US government since the late 1890s when discovered by the astronomer Azor Sparhawk) that there is a force in the universe that extends, at an ever accelerating rate, tendrils to suns and causes them to go nova (regardless of their place on the main sequence). But that’s not the end of the Lovecraftian elements. Sparhawk went mad, hearing drumming noises after staring at the tendrils too long (tendrils only discovered because he developed a unique lens to overcome chromatic aberrations). (A link is made between the Fortean events of the Taos Hum and Moodus Noises. Of course the terror in the sky is also reminiscent of Lovecraft’s “Hypnos”.) And the protagonist, unlike the government agent terrified to learn that the destruction of stars is accelerating and getting closer to Earth, exhibits an example of Lovecraft’s “cosmicism”: “We exist at the discretion of the universe, for a flicker in eternity.” At story’s end, the Alphard Tendril is identified with Azathoth and the drumming continues in the protagonist’s head.

“The Play’s the Thing”, Christie Golden -- An entertaining -- if nothing special -- story of a drama student performing a play involving rites described in Al Azif -- rites which cause his professor to be carried off by demons a lá Abdul Alhazred.

“Ghoulmaster”, Brian McNaughton -- An ok story involving ghouls beneath Arkham. The protagonist was improbably absent minded and narrated with a somewhat annoying voice. ( )

Miskatonic University is a mass market paperback from DAW, dating back to 1996. I have no idea if there was an earlier or limited edition. I've had a copy for about 5 years but for some reason never got around to reading it until now. Perhaps I read it in anticipation of William Jones' anthology Tales out of Miskatonic University, due any time now from Mythos Books. Unlike Arkham Tales, Miskatonic University owes nothing to Chaosium's rpg Call of Cthulhu. Perhaps because of this, it fares better. Editorial chores were shared by Martin H. Greenberg and Robert Weinberg, who did a fine job of choosing quality stories. This is the duo that gave us Lovecraft's Legacy back in 1990, a pretty good mythos anthology for its time. Physically, the book has held up well over the years and used copies are available for cheap on line. Cover art by Jim Warren is suitably creepy, although not especially memorable. Overall I really liked most of the stories and was kicking myself for not taking the plunge sooner.

A Letter from the President to Incoming Students by Stefan Dziemianowicz serves as an introduction, and is a modestly humorous walk through MU's hallowed halls. I could take it or leave it.

Kali Yuga Comes by Tina Jens (a writing instructor at Columbia College) is part of a series of stories about a secret society dedicated to supernatural investigations. Ms. Jens also edited Cthulhu and the Coeds, a collector's item but really only of interest to VERY dedicated collectors. At first I thought this story was going to be a fast paced, breezy romp of an adventure, but it had a very dark undercurrent and horrific denouement that the blame for which was placed squarely on the shoulders of the protagonist.

Teachers by Mort Castle was a very affectionate (and fitting) tribute to Robert Bloch, who had died only shortly before publication of the anthology. Mr. Caste has edited books on writing horror. Hmmm, lots of writing instructors and editors represented here.

Her Misbegotten Son by Alan Rodgers (editor of the superb McNaughton series at Wildside Press) was, for me, a Lovecraftian misfire. It was very well written and I enjoyed the breathless action sequences, but killing Keziah Mason and the Dark Man aspect of Nyarlathotep just did not work. Maybe HPL had Keziah Mason recoil from a crucifix, but Dreams in the Witch House was not his best work.

Scavenger Hunt by Brad Linaweaver (who has a few other lackluster mythos efforts to his name) was pretty darned good! A literature student ends up getting the best prize in the annual MU scavenger hunt.

Black Celebration by Jay Bonansinga (who moved on away from HPL with the success of his horror writing career) was a nice edgy piece about a young man whose pounding rock riffs pierce the veil of reality. It reminded me a bit of Rainey's fugue devil and his fascination with sound as a dimension.

To Be as They by Stephen Mark Rainey is superb, the creepy and effective jewel of the anthology. This story introduces us to the preternaturally gifted painter, Ivan Luserke. With so many years gone by it's not surprising that this story was reprinted in Mr. Rainey's collection, The Last Trumpet.

Second Movement by Benjamin Adams (who co-edited the very enjoyable Children of Cthulhu anthology with John Pelan, and has written some Delta Green stories) was absorbing, about a professor at good ole MU studying the script that composes the Pnakotic Manuscripts. This attracts the unwelcome attentions of a reporter who is not what he seems. I pretty much liked it.

Dreaming of Dead Poets by Jane Lindskold (who has not essayed any other mythosish stuff, as far as I know) was OK, readable if not doing too much for me. A writer and an artist start to have shared dreams or visions. Through this they discover a plot the deep ones have to steal a nuclear submarine and make R'lyeh ascend.

Mandelbrot Moldrot by Lois H. Gresh (who wrote a few mythos stories over the years) was about an AI searching for patterns in ultimate chaos. Pretty good premise, fair execution. It was readable but probably my least favorite story here.

The Smile of a Mime by Billie Sue Mosiman (a new name to me) was pretty good, with good enough prose for me to wish she had written a few more mythos stories. A young student discovers that some of the books found in the stacks at the MU library can be used to cross the veil. Her response is not typical for a protagonist in a mythos story.

The Sothis Radiant by Will Murray (a scholar of Lovecraft's writing) was terrific, showing appreciation of HPL's cosmicism. Why is the observatory at MU locked up, anyway?

The Play's the Thing by Christie Golden (another new name to me) tells about a drama student who has to come up with a dramatic scenario based on published literature and uses his professor's notes on Al Azif for inspiration. Again, I liked it pretty well even if the prose didn't blow me away.

Ghoulmaster by Brian McNaughton pays homage to HPL's ghouls is Mr. McNaughton's vivid, inimitable prose. It is a fine conclusion to a fine anthology. This story appears in the Wildside book Even More Nasty Stories.

So what can I say? I was completely entertained by this book; the best stories are superb and the lesser lights were still quite readable. Used copies are dirt cheap so there is no reason not to give it a go. I liked it better than Arkham Tales or Frontier Cthulhu, if not as well as Dead But Dreaming. I wish I had seen it back in 1996 but hey, better late than never.. ( )