Through the Gates of the Silver Key: The Best Collaborations and Ghost Writings of H.P. Lovecraft (Review)

On January 3, 2020 By forsakenpressIn Jenna's Side (reviews), ReviewsLeave a comment

Hi guys, It’s me, Forsaken Press Social Media Manager and Official Reviewer Jenna. Welcome to the second edition of Jenna’s Side, where I give my honest reviews of all the latest Forsaken Press releases. For round two I had the treat, and terror, of reviewing Through the Gates of the Silver Key: The Best Collaborations and Ghost Writings of H.P. Lovecraft. I must admit that prior to reading this collection I wasn’t too familiar with Mr. Lovecraft’s work, having only read a handful of his stories before and knowing him mostly by reputation. So this was a fun, interesting, exciting and certainly anxiety/fear invoking experience.

Preparing this anthology for release was truly a battle against the Old Ones, with the file now holding bits and pieces of the sanity of our editor in chief and our formatting staff. Possibly some of the sanity of this reviewer too, but I leave that to you to decide. It was definitely all worth it to share some of the most underrated works of one the most influential horror writers of all time.

Just in case you thought you knew everything Lovecraft had to offer, Cameron Walker painstakingly chose some of the more obscure Lovecraft writings, poring through the ghost-writings and collaborations. Then he combined them to take the reader on a journey through the fantastical horrific visions Lovecraft is known best for, with some more traditional horror-magick sprinkled throughout. Anthologies can often read like textbooks with dull introductions, but Walker uses his introductions to add humour, insight, and controversy, keeping it from being a dry academic book.

I decided to review each story individually and then give an overall score at the end of the review to sum things up. So let’s get to it shall we?

Under the Pyramids

Under the Pyramids is a fascinating tale of horrific visions. As Walker writes in his introduction, Lovecraft lost his original draft and had to spend his wedding night hurriedly rewriting the commission with help from his wife. It reads, therefore, with a breathless energy which serves it well, making it almost seem as though Houdini, the ostentatious narrator, were telling the story aloud from memory.

Rating: 4/5

The Curse of Yig

Let me preface this: I can handle a lot of stuff in books. I’ve only stopped reading one book due to the imagery and that was The Partner by John Grisham because of its great attention to detail in its description of exactly what would happen when someone was tortured with electrical current. It’s not pretty. The Curse of Yig is wonderfully disturbing in a similar way. So I finished it, but then I was done with reading for a while. As well, I’m usually pretty good at figuring out what is about to happen, but this had two twists I didn’t see coming…

Rating: Shudder. 5/5

The Mound

Walker’s introduction describing The Mound as being akin to writing by Jules Verne got me hooked, as I have loved Jules Verne since A Journey to the Centre of the Earth was my favourite book when I was 8. I was not disappointed, as this turned out to be my favourite story in the anthology. I definitely saw the parallels with Verne in Lovecraft’s descriptions of the world below as beautiful and terrible all at once.

Rating: Can I cheat and give this one 6/5? I really do love it so.

The Man of Stone

The Man of Stone is an easy, entertaining read, which reminded me of some of Neil Gaiman’s darker short stories, one of the best compliments I can give. It doesn’t contain any of the fantastical imagery of the previous three stories, but it doesn’t need it—it is, instead, a tale of humanity’s inhumanity toward humanity, with just a little magick. It’s just disturbing enough to keep your attention even though it feels like you know what’s happening next. Plot twist, you don’t. Or at least not in the way you think you do.

Rating: 5/5

The Horror in the Museum

Remember how I said I can handle lots in books? The Horror in the Museum was where I went “Nope.” Here, Lovecraft has perfected his eldritch horrors, removing much of the sense of the fantastical, almost beautiful, which is found in the works that precede this in the anthology, leaving a simple terror. As Walker describes, this is a story of revenge for wounded pride. It feels as though it would not be out of place on an incel forum—they don’t love me, accept me, understand me, give me what I want; I’ll show them and they’ll all be sorry —which adds to the terror for these female eyes.

Rating: 5/5

Winged Death

Usually I’m pretty eloquent. Not about this. About this: GAH. I haven’t even decided if that’s good or bad. Winged Death has no fantastical creatures, no beautiful madness. A simple housefly. Or is it?

Rating: Is GAH a rating? No? Then I reluctantly give it 5/5 for getting itself stuck in the same part of my brain as cicadas and huntsman spiders. Twitch.

Through the Gates of the Silver Key

The Silver Key, to which this story is a sequel, speaks in depth of the shortcomings of the popular interpretation of post-modern existentialism: if nothing is real and nothing truly exists, then there is no reason or meaning to anything. In Through the Gates of the Silver Key, a solution is posited, which Lovecraft both relished and feared: to escape into fantasy. More than in any other story, here the fantasy dream world Lovecraft inhabits so often is understood as both joy and horror, almost as though he has forgotten it is a world of his own making. No one gets out unchanged, and Lovecraft is no exception. This realization is terrifying to him, and he shares this deep fear with us who read, including a scene which, for me, perfectly describes the awful sense of a night terror.

Rating: 4.5/5 I actually found myself drifting off reading this, because the scenery was oddly comforting.

Out of the Aeons

I love a good twist. If I couldn’t see it coming, bring it on. Out of the Aeons kept me guessing, second guessing, hoping I was wrong, then wishing I had been right because I was wrong and the reality was worse than my guess. Rinse and repeat, up until the end.

Rating: 4/5

Till A’the Seas

While I sincerely hope that this is not a view of an inevitable future, I read this story as the nightly news presents me with stories of an apocalyptic hell on earth in Australia. Our mythical frog is quickly turning into soup, and this story from Lovecraft eerily describes the nature of environmental degradation we are now seeing, and the apocalypse it is leading to unless things change. Strangely, Lovecraft apparently in all of his most horrible visions could not imagine humanity doing this to ourselves, instead blaming the changes on the sun growing toward supernova. Yet again, truth is stranger than fiction.

Rating: 4/5

The Disinterment

I wonder what it would have been like to experience this story for the first time from Lovecraft’s pen. Although I wouldn’t call The Disinterment a warm fuzzy read, it is now a familiar tale, having inspired so many similar ones. As such, you know what is coming and though it is still horror, it is almost comfortable.

Rating: 4/5

The Night Ocean

A story where nothing happens and yet everything does! Oh be still my absurdist heart. Wait, not that still.

Rating: I expected to love this from Walker’s brilliant introduction, but unfortunately I found myself…bored. 3/5 but with the caveat it was probably just as much me as it was the story.

The Diary of Alonzo Typer

Perhaps due to his attempts to keep to the style of his collaborator, this is unmistakably Lovecraft, but significantly faster paced than the other stories, save the panicked frenetic energy of Under the Pyramids. Although it is another story of meeting the old ones and their terrible gods, this one differs as it focuses on the fascination and dread Alonzo feels before he descends rather than on the journey or the destination.

Rating: 4/5

In the Walls of Eryx

As Walker writes, this is the least Lovecraftian story in the collection—were it not for his signature use of strings of adjectives, it could pass as having been written by any sci-fi author. Lovecraft leaves you to figure out what is happening along with the protagonist, only one step ahead, keeping you holding on to faint hope for him—if you could figure it out, so can he.

Rating: 4/5

Bothon

In his introduction, Walker introduces the controversy of just how much input Lovecraft had into this story before his death. If nothing else, Bothon is set in Lovecraft’s world and informed by his fantastical horrible beautiful madness. However, the hand of Whitehead, the collaborator, is evident in that the characters are not the least bit afraid of this other world and face it head-on.

Rating: 4/5

Overall I give this anthology a 5/5. I loved it. XD

Through the Gates of the Silver Key: The Best Collaborations and Ghost Writings of H.P. Lovecraft

On December 26, 2019 By forsakenpressIn releasesLeave a comment

Depending upon whom you ask, the collaborations and ghost writings of H.P. Lovecraft are either an underappreciated gem in the literary canon of American horror fiction, or an interesting, yet ultimately forgettable collection when compared to the main body of Lovecraft’s work. It is in this editor’s humble opinion that this body of work, while less known and not as appreciated as Lovecraft’s main canon, stands on its own, not as a lesser alternative or dismissive sub-body, but as a strong and equally as rich compendium that acts as an extension of the Lovecraftian world that is so revered.

The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow over Innsmouth, At the Mountains of Madness, all have their counterparts in Lovecraft’s secondary body of material with Under the Pyramids, Bothon, Through the Gates of the Silver Key, The Horror in the Museum and The Mound all standing strong on their own against anything from Lovecraft’s primary material. But I would like to present the question, should comparisons be made? Do they even need to be made to begin with?

Lovecraft compilations abound in print and Ebook formats and it seems not a year can pass without a slew of them being published by publishers here, there and everywhere. What sets this compilation apart from the rest? To begin with the vast majority of them tend to focus on Lovecraft’s main body of work with ambitious publishers hoping to make a quick buck by cashing in on the more popular and well-known works in the Lovecraft canon. Often lovingly crafted with high quality paper and hardcovers, elaborately packaged in their presentation, they all ultimately amount to much the same thing. Since Lovecraft’s work now resides in the public domain, anyone with the will to do so can release a compilation of his works and draw an income from it.

This compilation focuses on his lesser known and far more scarce collaborations and ghost-written work, of which collections of are relatively few and far between, with a best of collection such as this being virtually non-existent. Wanting to increase exposure to Lovecraft’s secondary body of work that often goes overlooked and underappreciated I decided to compile this compilation of the best of his collaborations and ghost written work as a loving tribute to the material.

So with a will and a way, and a fledging publishing house to promote and provide material for, I took it upon myself to compile just such a collection and spent many hours researching the stories behind the content for facts, trivia and details to include that would add to the majesty of this overlooked and underappreciated body of work. Not content to just engage in my own hubris I dedicated hours of additional research to ensure a “best of” collection included just that, the best of Lovecraft’s secondary works. Research was conducted online to validate the popularity, reputation, ranking and significance of the works included to ensure they were indeed worthy of inclusion into this anthology.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft is incontestably a pioneer and master of modern horror. His work has inspired generations of writers for the past eighty years, and has a lasting cultural influence upon western civilisation. His unique narrative style, voice and universe combining elements of horror, science fiction and fantasy allowed him to create a vibrant and complex mythos that has stood the test of time well beyond his death, and has only increased in popularity and relevance. Known primarily for his main body of work, Lovecraft none the less compiled a significant number of collaborations and ghost writings for other writers in a lesser known body of work that often goes overlooked and underappreciated. The purpose of this anthology is to compile the best of these works into one cohesive volume that is a tribute and testimony to their brilliance.

Featured within this volume are the stories:

Under the Pyramids
The Curse of Yig
The Mound
The Man of Stone
The Horror in the Museum
Winged Death
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
Out of the Aeons
Till Aèthe Seas
The Disinterment
The Night Ocean
The Diary of Alonzo Typer
In the Walls of Eryx
Bothon

Interview with Cassandra Castaneda: On Writing

On December 8, 2019December 13, 2019 By forsakenpressIn InterviewsLeave a comment

Welcome to another edition of our On Writing series of Forsaken Press collaborator interviews. For this edition I sat down with Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer Cassandra Castaneda to discuss reading, writing and what makes her tick, as a writer of course.

When did you first start writing and what got you into it?

I was really young actually, the first “book” I wrote was a short story I made for a school contest, where you made a short picture book about any story you wanted to tell. Me, being the ubernerd I was decided to write a book about dinosaurs, about the different types of dinosaurs, and different theories on how they went extinct. I won first place for the school, although, as far as I recall I didn’t make it at the county level. Beyond that, I continued to be a heavy reader and writer all the way until adulthood, although the last few years I have slacked quite a bit.

What’s your favourite novel?

Without a doubt, The Neverending Story. More than any book I have read has this one influenced the way I write and how I develop worlds. The book in and of itself is sort of a love letter to the art of storytelling, with the Nothing representing the lack of imagination that often comes with adult life. I would almost call it a proto-Millennial mindset in many ways. If you’ve read The Neverending Story, you can pick up little hints and nods I throw towards it in my various writings. My character Storyteller, who appears in many of my stories, although in many forms and names is representative of the idea of certain beings being able to travel across worlds, be it from Earth to Fantastica, or in her case, from Earth, to the Aether, to the Nine Realms, etc.

Who are your greatest influences?

Aside from Michal Ende and his novel, I actually have quite a few literary influences. Kevin Dean Anderson, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz and, of course, H.P. Lovecraft. It’s hard to say who has had the most influence on me, and they are a great many more I could list here, these are just the ones who come to mind.

You’re currently working on your debut novel Aether Station, what inspired the story?

This is a long story. So, I had been working on a tabletop roleplaying game, the original idea was actually to create something I could play for a Mass Effect themed game, but I decided it would be more fun to create something that was my own, although you can sort of see a small reminder of the influence in some of the races I created, the Arkdavieans and the Leirynn being similar to the Salarian and Turians, although much of that is superficial now. As I wrote down more of this universe I started to fall in love with it. I decided to write a series of short stories, that were meant to help the player (the novel takes place 100 years before the events of the game) immerse themselves in a universe that was rich in lore and not just a generic Sci Fi game. That is sort of why there are 4 parts in the novel, each part was originally a short story reworked into a novel.

What’s the most challenging thing about writing for you?

I have really bad ADHD, combined with anxiety and depression, its hard for me to motivate myself into writing. It really sucks when you have all these ideas and they seem to refuse to come out, like some sort of reverse writers block where its not that you don’t know what to write, but so many ideas you don’t know which one!

How do you create your characters?

Depends. Sometimes I create stories around characters I come up with, sometimes it’s the reverse. To narrow it down, in the case of Alicia I created her because I wanted a hero who was like me, a neurodivergent, Mexican woman. While I am not a super-scientist, many of her personality traits, especially her negative ones are very much mine. Comparatively, Rebecca was created to be a counterpart to her, to be the bad bitch I always wished I was.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about writing a novel of their own?

Read more. Not even kidding. When I started writing the first draft of Aether Station 5 or so years ago, I realised I had not read much in awhile and you can’t be a good writer if you don’t take the time to see what people want to read.

What kind of fiction do you like to read?

I’m not super picky, I do love Sci—Fi and Fantasy but I will read just about anything. I have been reading a bit of True Crime lately, most recently The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders by James Presley.

What is it about Sci-fi and fantasy that you find so alluring?

The escape. I was bullied a lot, and as an awkward LGBT person, having a fantasy realm to escape to was an important coping mechanism. I think it’s a lot of why I fell in love with The Neverending Story, the idea I could just disappear into another world, if just for a bit, was more than I could ever ask for.

What is your favourite story you’ve ever written and why?

Bob the Dieting Turkey. Wrote it when I was 12 and it was about a thanksgiving turkey that came back to life and forced the family to go on a low-carb high-protein diet. I was 12 and have no fucking clue why I thought it was funny, but me and my mom still have a laugh about it now and then.

How would you describe your writing style?

Accessible. I try to use language that conveys ideas, emotions, actions, etc without being pretentious. I think this is something I try to take from JK Rowling, wording that tells a deep story while being understandable to all groups of people.

What’s your favourite thing about writing?

Being lost in my own head for hours, coming up with new stories, new places and new people to meet!