h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Ny. Hope your present form is a pleasing one.

I too used to dabble with a bit of C of C years back, loved the sanity attribute. Oh those bleedin' Shoggoths.

As a result, I got into a few of HP's books and like a lot of people, found his style hard going at first but worth the effort. I was wondering if you had come across any of Brian Lumley's Mythos books that are a much easier read and a credible continuation. If so, how do you rate them? I know a lot of folks are quite critical of his efforts, especially the Necroscope series, but I for one like a bit of pulp fiction from time to time.

To tell the god's truth I waded through some really hard-going tomes at uni and Lovecraft was a breath of fresh air after Godwin, Lewis and Walpole.

I've often wondered about the further mythos books. Personally I'm in awe of what Derlath did for Lovecraft after his death, but I think he should have stuck to detective fiction when it comes to the mythos.

If you could recommend any titles by Lumley then I'd definitly consider taking a look at them. Do you have any experience of the other mythos writers like Ramsey Cambell?

PS: C of C was a great game. So many annecdotes; the hillbilly chaingang, the mauling by a dimensional shambler, the Winchester repeating machine-gun...

Hope to play the new D20 version of the game very soon.

Goto http://www.brianlumley.com/books/cthulhu/ where you should find details of the "Titus Crow" series. As I said, much simpler style but he uses the mythos source data well. The whole site has been revamped (no pun intended) and I can also recommend the "Necroscope" series if you want a new take on the Vampire legend.


Never touched Ramsey Cambell. Any links?

Just what is the Necroscope about? Apart form vampires, of course.

It centres around a guy Harry Keogh who develops the ability to talk to the dead. He uses this skill to learn further abilities from ex-people. Mobius teaches him how to translocate himself through multi-dimension maths, an ex-army guy teaches him self defense etc.

Armed with all these abilities, he reluctantly becomes involved with E-branch, a division of the British Secret Service who investigate and counter paranormal threats by the use of ESP enhanced agents - a bit like the X-Files with balls. The biggest problem they face is the insurgence of a major Vampire invasion from across a man-made dimensional gateway that threatens all of civilisation...

Lumley achieves a new twist to the Vampire legend in so far as explaining more rationally the source of the myths and creatures. I must admit being put off a lot of horror as it leaves a lot unexplained. Lumley succeeds in making it all seem a bit more plausible. Some of the scenes he depicts are brutally disturbing - I remember watching someone reading one of the volumes on a train and being amused at the involuntary expressions of disgust that were caused. There's no way that these books would ever get past a film censor.

13 books in all. Start with Necroscope and see what you think.