The Womb of Time

From Britain's master of the fantastic comes a pair of insidious new novellas that combine the pulp existentialism of the Cthulhu Mythos with a counterfeiter's eye for masterful literary forgery.

THE WOMB OF TIME: The rustic English village of Dunwich is slowly crumbling into the sea, but a rare tidal event promises to roll back the waves and reveal ancient ruins, buried treasures and the lost true crown of England. Three scholarly pilgrims have come to Dunwich for their own secret reasons, but as they gather at The Hidden Crown, the mysteries that summoned them begin to take on a life of their own, and the seashore offers a brief but shattering glimpse of the ultimate Other. Dreams and debates intertwine with nameless, sentient dread to form a daring deconstruction of the meaning and menace of Cthulhu.

THE LEGACY OF ERICH ZANN: Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, but in the wrong hands, it can open doors to spheres of infinite evil. When a murderer stalks the streets of Paris on the trail of Erich Zann, only Europe's greatest criminal investigator, Auguste Dupin, can hope to foil an insane scheme to take up where the mad violinist left off. With deft craftsmanship that transcends pastiche, Stableford introduces a brilliant reincarnation of Poe's seminal detective to the cosmic irrationality of Lovecraft's Mythos, with explosive results.

Contents:

• Foreword by S. T. Joshi
• The Womb of Time
• The Legacy of Erich Zann