Short Story Saturday: The Serpent's Egg - A Dark Tale of the Cthulhu Mythos

First published seven years ago, as part of the Dreaming in Darkness collection, The Serpent's Egg was the first novella I self-published under the Green Man Books banner back in 2017.

But now I have given it a face-lift, with a new cover image of the Lambton Worm licensed from 2000AD and Magic: The Gathering artist Dave Kendall.

You can pick it up for just £1.99 on Amazon, or if you are signed up to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited plan, it won't cost you a penny.

So why not check it out today?

Thought for the Day

"I never ask a man what his business is, for it never interest me . What I ask him about are his thoughts and dreams."

~ H P Lovecraft

Cthulhu Thursday: Dreaming in Darkness

What's that you've got there, Cthulhu? Come on, boy, what is it?

A hardback copy of Dreaming in Darkness, you say? Why, that's a rare find and no mistake.

And what's that you've found? A story by me in there?

Why yes, I did write a novella called The Serpent's Egg that saw print back in 2013 in Dreaming in Darkness, but I hadn't actually seen a physical copy of the book until last weekend, when Adrian Chamberlin kindly gave me one at the Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu book launch. I believe there are only about 50 in existence.

So there you go...

One Amazon reviewer on The Serpent's Egg:

"With particularly strong resemblances to the likes of 'The Wicker Man' (1973) or indeed 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' (1936), Green's story gradually builds upon a worrying layer of mistrust with the community in which his narrator is staying. And it's from this small nugget of an idea that the tale snowballs into a tension rich occult story; unveiling a veritable avalanche of horror and Lovecraftian weirdness in the last few chapters to end the tale on a tremendous action-packed finale."

Happy Birthday, H P Lovecraft!

H P Lovecraft, creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, was born on 20 August 1890. He has inspired hundreds of writers since, including Yours Truly.

To date I have written two Cthulhu Mythos stories, The Scottish Patient* (which appears in the World War Cthulhu fiction anthology) and The Serpent's Egg (a novella first published as part of Dreaming in Darkness).

20 August was also my father's birthday, and he was another great inspiration to me and supported my early writing career whole-heartedly.

So here's to both of them - H P Lovecraft and my Dad!




* The Scottish Patient received a special mention in this review of World War Cthulhu: "What makes the volume particularly interesting is the way the authors blend history and mythos. One might expect stories of perfidious Nazis performing obscene occult rituals to call forth the Lovecraftian unnameables and enlist their effort in defeating the Allies. And they are there, as in John Llewellyn Prober’s ghastly “The Death House.” But Oliver—and Cthulhu—does not play favorites. Almost as intriguing and certainly as uncomfortable are those in which the Allies succumb to temptation…and themselves seek the services of darkness. Jonathan Green’s “The Scottish Patient,” set in a dream-like England, explores this possibility."

2013 - The Year in Review

As a number of people have remarked on various social networking sites over the last few days, many will be glad to see the back of 2013. It's not been the easiest year for Family Green either but it's also been a year of firsts for Jonathan Green, Author, including writing my first movie novelisation, attending my first movie premiere and running my first Kickstarter project. So following the example set by several of my writing colleagues, here's my writing year in review.

In 2013 I wrote a couple of pieces for SFX Magazine, five short stories and a novella - The Serpent's Egg - which were all published this year. I also wrote three Moshi Monsters books, one of which was the novelisation of the new Moshi Monsters Movie.

2013 also saw the publication of my first Warhammer Path to Victory Gamebook Shadows Over Sylvania, and my Tin Man Games app Temple of the Spider God ported to Android devices. Spider God also came out in French, as did my most recently published Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Night of the Necromancer and Stormslayer, while my first Steampunk Pax Britannia novel Unnatural History appeared in German.

I also attended a number of events up and down the country, including The Sci-Fi Weekender, Steampunk Doncaster, the first ever Geekfest, Weekend at the Asylum, the MCM London ComicCon, World FantasyCon, and Dragonmeet.

However, my writing year was mainly filled with writing YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (the aforementioned Kickstarter project) and prepping a number of other projects for the New Year. So what does 2014 have in store?

Well, all being well, as well as the publication of YOU ARE THE HERO, there's a new novel in the works, a new gamebook and a short story anthology, but more on that another time.

So all that remains to be said is to wish you all a Happy New Year and very best wishes for 2014. May it be better than 2013.

This is Horror Awards 2013

On the subject of Dreaming in Darkness and The Serpent's Egg, both (I believe) are eligible for the This is Horror Awards 2013, in the following categories:

Dreaming in Darkness - Anthology of the Year

The Serpent's Egg - Short Fiction of the Year

You may only nominate two items per category, but of course you'll only be nominating one in each category, won't you? (If you do nominate more than two This Is Horror will only recognise your first two nominations.)

You may nominate in as many categories as you like but all nominations must be emailed to awards@thisishorror.co.uk with the subject line ‘This Is Horror Award Nominations 2013′ by 12:01am GMT on 14 November 2013.

So what are you waiting for? Get nominating! ;-)

Short Story Saturday: World War Cthulhu and Dreaming in Darkness

Yesterday (8 November) was Bram Stoker's birthday. Stoker's most infamous creation is surely the vampire count Dracula, but amongst his other works is The Lair of the White Worm which takes its inspiration from the Legend of the Lambton Worm.

Vampires have cropped up one or two times in my own work (Shadows Over Sylvania and Blood Royal to name but two), but the Legend of the Lambton Worm has directly influenced my work in print four times so far.

First there was the Wodewitch's Devilworm in my first published book Spellbreaker. Then there was the Pax Britannia novella Conqueror Worm. More recently the legend inspired my new novella The Serpent's Egg that appears in Dreaming in Darkness. And now there's The Scottish Patient, published recently in World War Cthulhu by Cubicle 7 Entertainment.

Interestingly, for readers of Dreaming in Darkness, The Scottish Patient is a sort-of-prequel to The Serpent's Egg. Although it's come out second, it was actually written more than a year before The Serpent's Egg.

Edited by British Fantasy Society Award winner Jonathan Oliver, World War Cthulhu contains short stories by such luminaries as James Lovegrove, Weston Ochse, Rebecca Levene, Robin D. Laws, Simon Bestwick, Gaie Sebold, T.P. Pike, Sarah Newton, Greg Stolze, Paul Finch, John Llewellyn Probert, Yours Truly, Archie Black and World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar.

As the shadows of war gather over Europe something is stirring within the darkness; something far older than humankind. Those with evil intent will seek to harness these terrible powers, while those fighting to turn the tide of war will find themselves up against far more than bullets and bombs. In forgotten R’lyeh, Cthulhu stirs as the mighty armies of the Third Reich march.

You can download World War Cthulhu as an ebook here.

And while we're on the subject of Dreaming in Darkness here's another awesome review.

Cthulhu Tuesday: Dreaming In Darkness - a 5 star review!

Dreaming In Darkness recently received a very detailed, and very pleasing, five star review on Amazon.com. Here are just a few choice comments:

The tales of H.P. Lovecraft have inspired generations of writers. Indeed, Lovecraft has become a genre unto himself, as have his mythos. Dreaming in Darkness represents the finest efforts of four great writers to inherit and increase Lovecraft's legacy by taking it in new directions. From New York crime scenes to the English countryside to the very outer regions of eldritch terror that spawned the Great Old Ones, Dreaming in Darkness is a tour de force of some of the best themes and tropes of the Lovecraftian genre with four novellas written in unique and uncompromising style...

Jonathan Green's "The Serpent's Egg" takes us into what we expect is familiar territory, with its treatment of the legend of the Lambton Worm. However, rather than revisit Stoker's Lair of the White Worm or the film of the same name, Green takes the reader for a spin through the tried and tested satanic cult genre. However, rather than dish up the same old bill-of-faire, Green injects enough originality into his story to make it well worth our while.

Our protagonist is a writer seeking to put a new twist on the legend of the Lambton Worm. While staying at the manor house of the Earl of Lambton, the would-be writer encounters an orgiastic cult seeming to approximate some horrid ritual from De Vermis Mysteriis (another title in Lovecraft's imaginary library of the occult) and his nights become plagued with bizarre visions.

The novella treats us to many of the thrills of occult fiction. There are dusty tomes in a stately library, nightly creeping about the English countryside, a romantic interest, and all manner of occult goings on. Green maintains an orderly narrative that lulls the reader into a state of complacency before dashing cold water in your face. In a horror novella, that effect is absolutely essential, and Green manages the changing rhythms of his plotline with marvellous aplomb.

Green also achieves a remarkable consistency throughout his work. From the drawing room to the grotto of the cult of Shudde M'ell (a nod here to Brian Lumley), we are treated to all manner and shade of suspense and excitement. Dennis Wheatley would have been proud...

It is clear that these writers have brilliant careers ahead of them, and I hope to read more of their dark and sinister offerings as time goes by.

You can read the whole review here, and purchase a copy of Dreaming In Darkness here.

Pax Britannia Author Jonathan Green On “The Books That Made Me”

In case you missed it, I was on SFX.co.uk again on Thursday, this time as part of Waterstone's “The Books That Made Me” campaign. (Thanks to Scott Malthouse for making this happen.)

YOU ARE THE HERO gets a mention, as does Pax Britannia and my Dreaming In Darkness novella The Serpent's Egg.

Here's the link...

Dreaming In Darkness

Kindle edition available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Dreaming In Digitial Darkness

It's here! The ebook edition of Dreaming In Darkness (the Cthulhu collection I contributed to along with John Prescott, Adrian Chamberlin and Aaron French) is available from today!

You can read more about the book here, and read the press release here.

Short Story Saturday: Dreaming In Darkness

Something is coming, rising up from the light-less, foetid depths of oceans older than man...

That's right - the ebook edition of Dreaming In Darkness (the Cthulhu collection I contributed to along with John Prescott, Adrian Chamberlin and Aaron French) is released tomorrow worldwide, so watch this space...

You can read more about the book here, and read the press release here.

Short Story Saturday: Dreaming In Darkness - the first review!

Dreaming In Darkness was launched at World Horror Con this year, and has already received a glowing review by Michael R Collings. Here's what he had to say about my contribution to the collection:

“The Serpent’s Egg,” by Jonathan Green, eschews historical periods and instead uses the Mythos to transform another piece of fiction, Bram Stoker’s “The Lair of the White Worm” as well as Ken Russell’s subsequent “abomination of a movie” based on the Stoker story. Using language at once reminiscent of Stoker and Lovecraft, Green follows a budding novelist into the north of England, to the ‘original’ site of the horror and the legendary home of the“Lambton Worm.”

Judging by the way the review reads, Mr Collings doesn't appear to have realised that The Serpent's Egg is actually a Cthulhuisation* of the Legend of the Lambton Worm, which also happened to be the inspiration for Stoker's Lair of the White Worm. But that aside, I think he liked it.

You will be able to order the eBook version of Dreaming In Darkness very soon. More on that imminent release when I have it!


* Yes, that is a word... Well, it is now...

Cthulhu Wednesday: Dreaming In Darkness

13 June 2013 is a very special date in the Lovecraft calendar: it marks the launch of Dreaming In Darkness, a collection of four Lovecraft-inspired novellas, at the World Horror Convention in New Orleans.

DREAMING IN DARKNESS

“…for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come…” 

Shakespeare, Hamlet

Project creator John Prescott said; “I wanted to do a novella collection for a while with some other writers. I saw a piece of art a year or so ago and just fell in love with it. I knew there was a story buried there somewhere. I forgot about the piece for a while, and when I saw the piece of artwork that graces our cover the ideas meshed and fell into place pretty quick. I have worked and shared stories in anthologies with the three other authors that are in this collection. I knew they had the same strong interest in Lovecraft as mine, so it wasn’t a hard decision to ask them if they were interested in the project. Thank goodness they were and that  they all agreed to it. After reading all the novellas in our collection I feel that this book can and should sit comfortably in any horror fan’s special Lovecraft section on their bookshelf.” 

Each writer – two Americans and two from the UK - brought a unique spin on the themes of cosmic horror, madness and despair, so prevalent in Lovecraft’s fiction.

THE SERPENT’S EGG

by Jonathan Green

“When oblivion comes, it is forever, as endless as the slumber of those beings that lie buried beneath the roots of the world, dreaming in darkness.”

A writer’s research into the legend of the Lambton Worm takes a horrifying twist when he uncovers the true origin of the story: a legend that stirs, knowing the time for its rebirth is near… 

“The Legend of the Lambton Worm caught my imagination from the very first time I came across it in Carey Miller’s A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts when I was about 8 or 9 years old,” says Green. “I think this was in part because the illustrator had naively drawn the worm itself as a giant earthworm rather than in the form of a dragon, as it should have been. But that image stuck. 

“I have incorporated elements of the legend in my work before – most noticeably in my very first book Spellbreaker (1993) and more comprehensively in the short story Conqueror Worm (2009). This isn’t the first time I’ve incorporated the worm into the Cthulhu Mythos either. What you have in The Serpent’s Egg is effectively a sequel to an as yet unpublished story called The Scottish Patient. Perhaps one day you will be able to read both together, but only time – and the whim of dark gods – will tell.” 

Dreaming In Darkness will be released as a hardback book at the World Horror Convention with full-colour illustrations of each story from artist James Powell. It will be available from the Journal Stone vendor booth as well as online from all major outlets, and eBook versions will be available for all platforms the following week.

Short Story Saturday: Dreaming in Darkness launching at World Horror Con

Dreaming in Darkness, a collection of four Cthulhu-inspired novellas, is launching at World Horror Con next week* in New Orleans, in the good ol' U S of A.

My contribution is entitled The Serpent's Egg. In case you're heading along to WHC yourself, and fancy picking up a limited edition hard cover copy of the book, or you're considering ordering it when it becomes available over here in the UK, then I present for you now, for your edification, the opening to my dark tale...

* As it happens, one of the guests of honour is friend of this blog and Blood of the Zombies cover artist Greg Staples.

Short Story Saturday: Dreaming in Darkness - The Serpent's Egg

Dreaming in Darkness is a collection of four Cthulhu mythos-inspired novellas by four established or up and coming horror writers, namely John Prescott, Adrian Chamberlin, Aaron French and Yours Truly.

Those of you who know a bit about the contributors already, will realise that there are two US writers in the collection and two UK writers which gives the book its own, unique feel. And my story is a quintessentially English tale, called The Serpent's Egg.

Dreaming in Darkness is being launched at World Horror Con in New Orleans, 13-16 June, and you can find out more about the collection here.



* As you would no doubt expect.

 

Short Story Saturday: Dreaming in Darkness

Launching at World Horror Con, New Orleans, 13-16 June 2013...

To find out more, check out the Dreaming in Darkness Facebook page.

Short Story Saturday: Work In Progress

I'm working on a new short story at the moment* and these are just some of the research books I'm using...

Any ideas what it might be about? In case you're wondering, it's my contribution to this.


* Yeah, right! Try 30,000 word novella!

Happy Birthday, Mr Lovecraft!

So today is H P Lovecraft's birthday. (20 August was my Dad's birthday as well.)

That reminds me - I must crack on with my novella for Dreaming in Darkness...