Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror
Edited by S. T. Joshi. Cover art by Jason Van Hollander.
World Fantasy Award nominee 2011.
The work of H. P. Lovecraft continues to inspire many of the leading contemporary authors of horror and the supernatural. In this anthology, S. T. Joshi, the world’s leading expert on Lovecraft and the author of the lively treatise The Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos, tries his hand at assembling a modern-day Lovecraftian anthology, casting his net on both sides of the Atlantic and producing a volume that radically expands our notions of what constitutes “Lovecraftian” fiction.
Caitlín R. Kiernan, Brian Stableford, and Nicholas Royle produce innovative deconstructions of Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s Model” and “The Hound.” Michael Shea transfers the Cthulhu Mythos to San Francisco, Laird Barron and Philip Haldeman set their Lovecraftian horrors in the Pacific Northwest, and Donald R. Burleson and William Browning Spencer enliven the parched Southwest with cosmic monsters. Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Thomas, Jason Van Hollander, and others make Lovecraft himself a character in tales of cosmic menace, while David J. Schow and Michael Cisco ring new changes on the Lovecraftian concept of the forbidden book.
These and other stories by Michael Marshall Smith, Norman Partridge, W. H. Pugmire, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Darrell Schweitzer, Donald R. and Mollie L. Burleson, Sam Gafford, and Adam Niswander all reveal how vital and vibrant the Lovecraftian idiom remains... and how terrifying.
Contents:
- Foreword: Michael Marshall Smith
- Introduction: S. T. Joshi
- Pickman’s Other Model (1929): Caitlín R. Kiernan
- Desert Dreams: Donald R. Burleson
- Engravings: Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
- Copping Squid: Michael Shea
- Passing Spirits: Sam Gafford
- The Broadsword: Laird Barron
- Usurped: William Browning Spencer
- Denker’s Book: David J. Schow
- Inhabitants of Wraithwood: W. H. Pugmire
- The Dome: Mollie L. Burleson
- Rotterdam: Nicholas Royle
- Tempting Providence: Jonathan Thomas
- Howling in the Dark: Darrell Schweitzer
- The Truth about Pickman: Brian Stableford
- Tunnels: Philip Haldeman
- Violence, Child of Trust: Michael Cisco
- Lesser Demons: Norman Partridge
- The Correspondence of Cameron Thaddeus Nash: Ramsey Campbell
- An Eldritch Matter: Adam Niswander
- Susie: Jason Van Hollander
- Substitutions: Michael Marshall Smith
S. T. Joshi
S. T. Joshi is a leading authority on H. P. Lovecraft and the author of The Weird Tale (1990), The Modern Weird Tale (2001), The Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos (2008), and other critical and biographical studies. His biography, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (1996), won the British Fantasy Award and the Horror Writers Association award; it has now been published in an unabridged edition as I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft (2010). Joshi has prepared corrected editions of Lovecraft's fiction, poetry, and essays, and is working on a long-range project to publish Lovecraft's collected letters. He has also done work on Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, Lord Dunsany, and other writers. He has received the World Fantasy Award, the International Horror Guild Award, and the Distinguished Scholarship Award from the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. He lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Leslie, and numerous cats.
Black Wings
Black Wings consists of six primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
