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Lovecraft Unbound is one of the books I flagged up in my series of Spring Cleaning posts earlier in the year (back in April I think) where I tackled the huge started but not finished pile; and was one of the titles I thought I would definitely go back to; I finally got round to picking it up again this weekend.

What’s it all about and why did I want to read it?

[…] twenty-two of today’s most respected writers of the fantastic present their visions of HP Lovecraft’s world and creations.

What did I think of it?

Like all anthologies it was patchy but the good ones were very good indeed. Some of the Lovecraftian-ness was tenuous but there were enough set in Antarctic wastes and Tibetan planes as well as ancient horrors in modern life to make it worthwhile.

Highlights for me:

• Cold Water Survival by Holly Phillips (one of the icy ones)
• In the Black Mill by Michael Chabon (though I spotted early on what the “secret” was but I’m not sure he was trying to hide it that hard)
• Commencement by Joyce Carol Oates (because, well, it’s JCO, one of my heroes)
• Mongoose by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear – probably my favourite

There is a companion volume called Lovecraft’s Monsters which has mysteriously found its way onto my Kindle app and I’m sure I’ll dip into that shortly because *whispers* Neil Gaiman’s in it, if for no other reason 🙂

Update: and in tagging this post for publication I realise that I had already written about the first five stories as part of RIP VI back in 2011, which you can read here if you so desire!