Short Story Saturday: World War Cthulhu

World War Cthulhu: The Fiction Anthology is now available through DriveThruRPG. Now only that but it's been marked down by 20% for the duration of this weekend!

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.

Critically-lauded editor Jonathan Oliver (The End of The Line, House of Fear, Magic) has collected together fourteen original tales of the Mythos including work by 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, Jonathan Green, Archie Black and World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar.

The World War: The Cthulhu Fiction Anthology is an ebook download, featuring ePub, mobi and prc formats.

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."

Short Story Saturday: World War Cthulhu review

World War Cthulhu - the anthology of Mythos stories set at the time of the Second World War - has received a glowing review over at Hellnotes.com, with Yours Truly getting a special mention.

Jonathan Oliver has taken an obvious but welcome step in combining these two sources in World War Cthulhu, evocative (and often provocative) Lovecraftian tales set amid the authentic horrors of World War II. With stories by Jonathan Green, Weston Ochse, Simon Bestwick, Sarah Newton, James Lovegrove, and nine other highly effective storytellers, the anthology never falters regardless of the frequent shifts in landscape, mood, and theme. Every one of the stories works, and works well...

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 favourites. 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. 

You can pick up your copy of World War Cthulhu, featuring my story The Scottish Patient, here.

And don't forget, The Scottish Patient is a sort of prequel to my novella The Serpent's Egg, which is one of the four stories that make up Dreaming in Darkness.

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.