Questions About Brian Lumley

Geez, I read his first Necroscope book years ago, but never made it to any of the other books. If I recall correctly, it was a bit of a struggle to get through (just seemed to drag in parts).

It refers to the Titus Crow books, which I found extremely disappointing after the first (The Burrowers Beneath, I think).

If you want action Cthulhu, here are your options:

The Delta Green books by the Tynes-Cowan Corp. DG was originally designed as a modern setting for the Call of Cthulhu rpg, a modern conspiracy of government ops covertly fighting Mi-Go, Deep Ones, etc. They released 4 books of fiction - 2 novels (The Rules of Engagement and Denied to the Enemy) and two collections of short stories (Alien Intelligence and Dark Theaters), which are rather good. The story collections are beter than the novels, IMO; Dark Theaters has a story called Once More From The Top which is a recollection of the military operation to clear out Innsmouth that occurred at the end of The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and it is absolutely terrific. Link.

After that, you have a novel (actually a collection of related stories) publishd by Chaosium, the publishers of the Call of Cthulhu rpg. The book is The Spiralling Worm, and it's about spies/covert ops against Cthulhu & pals. Decent to pretty good, available on Amazon. Chaosium also has a book about Simon Magus vs the Great Old Ones called The Scroll of Thoth, basically Biblical-era sword & sorcery against the mythos.

Last is Charles Stross. One of his mythos stories, the magnificent A Colder War, is available online here. He has two books, collections of novellas and stories, about a British agency called The Laundry, that deals with supernatural and Cthulhu-esque situations. I haven't read them yet (they're on my shelf), but they come with rave reviews, and are described as an excellent blend of horror and humor.

In my opinion, Delta Green and Charles Stross are your best bets, but The Spiralling Worm is also decent. Definitely take the time to read A Colder War, you won't regret it.

As one fan to another, I hope this helps.

From a vampire thread almost 2 years ago (can you believe it?):

The first 3 Necroscope books are 'kinda' fun...after that...AVOID!!

...also AVOID Titus Crowe!!

...and above all, no matter what you hear, no matter how 'cool' the cover-art or Lovecraftian blurb on the back seems...
AVOID 'HERO OF DREAMS' and its sequels at all costs!!!



'Psychomech' on the other hand...

Lumlely lost me after "Necroscope". Cold war spying with psychics and vampires was novel and interesting, but his meandering writing and drifts into complete absurdity ruined the sequel. I've never bothered reading anything else by him since.

The Cthulhu Mythos is an interesting premise, but I found Lovecraft himself to be a terrible writer. His reliance on Things that cannot be described and too terrible to remember was deliberatly forcing the onus of his creations imagery on the reader. It's lazy writing at it's finest.

Death,
I love you, man...but your appraisal of Lovecraft, in such sweeping terms, is just plain wrong.
Lovecraft gives you enough to work with with regards to the Mythos...

Grab your MP3 player, download THIS, give yourself an hour and then come back to me on the subject.

Lovecraft ain't for everyone, though.


...But FUCK Lumley.

I liked the NEcroscope books I read, though I haven't read them all. Yes they are a mix of genres but I'm fine with that, thought it was done well.

Lumley has a lot of short stories here & there too and they are usually pretty good, if hard to find. e.g., "The Horror at Oakdeene"

Don't get me wrong. As an Idea man, Lovecraft was tops, but his execution left a lot to be desired. I've read most of his works (horror fan obligation) and even Lovecraft himself admitted to leaving some things deliberately vague for the reader's imagination could conjure worse things than he could describe. He's similar to J.R.R. Tolkien, whose ideas were epically original, but writing skills and obsession with language harmed his overall work.

As for Lumlely, he does get credit for attacking the Vampire myth from a totally different angle. Using a scientific approach of a symbiotic parasite that transforms the person into a vampire type organism was quite original, and it was a shame he let his sci-fi realism go off the rails in the later novels.

"Fruiting Bodies" is a favorite Lumley story

Death, thank you for saying what I've been rambling about for so long. This comparison is spot-on.