Walking in Lovecraft’s Shadow

Lovecraft Unbound, Editor Ellen Datlow

Tuesday’s Tale of Terror, February 16, 2016 Women In Horror Month (WIHM)

In the Spotlight, author Caitlin R. Kiernan, House Under The Sea.

If you’re an H.P. Lovecraft fan and looking to discover some new writers in this genre for Women In Horror Month reading, Lovecraft Unbound, is an anthology of Lovecraftian stories, edited by the award-winning (Hugo Award) anthologist Ellen Datlow. One of the authors you’ll find here is Caitlan R. Kiernan, her short story House Under the Sea.

In House Under the Sea, we are not in Lovecraft’s famous Innsmouth, Massachusetts; we are in modern day California. Our narrator tells us about Jacova Angevine, former Berkeley professor, who led a cult of worshippers to their death into the sea. I found this story a bit choppy and fractured for my tastes but was glad I stayed with it to the end. This is a tragic love story mixed with weird and dreadful themes, and well plotted.

Kiernan is the author of several novels, including World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson award-nominated The Red Tree and the Nebula and Bram Stoker award-nominated The Drowning Girl: A Memoir. She is a very prolific short-story author. Kiernan was recently proclaimed “One of our essential dark fantasy authors” by the New York Times. She has been named H.P Lovecraft’s spiritual granddaughter.

You can read House Under the Sea online at Nightmare Magazine.

Stop by Kiernan’s journal website for more insights to this author.

Visit Bookslut.com for an interview with Kiernan.

There are plenty of modern women authors to choose from in this anthology of Lovecraft Unbound, and most of the stories are pretty amazing. I especially enjoyed The Crevasse by Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud (although not women writers, this story is compelling, remarkably atmospheric, and brilliantly written).

For a few more women writers in the Lovecraftian style, go to LovecraftEzine.com, and you’ll find a post of their Top Five Women Lovecraftian Authors.

H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937.) is considered the world’s greatest horror and sci-fi writers. He is most famous for his The Call of Cthulhu and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. He coined the literary terms, “cosmicism” or “cosmic horror.” You can watch a short bio on YouTube.com.

Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free Tales of Terror. This is a compendium of over 170 short stories by over 100 master storytellers of mystery, supernatural, horror, and ghost stories.

Join me in reading one short story every week!

Comments are welcome.